I am not a lawyer nor do I work for the U.S. Treasury and the like. What I have been for much of my career is someone who tries to make the complexity of sanctions accessible. And that’s really what this site started out as: a way to read sanctions-related info in a more easy-to-digest way, removing layers of complexity, reformatting information so the pieces you care about are easier to identify, and using summarization to provide quicker reads.

But, this is also a working space for leveraging AI tools (most notably, Google Gemini and Anthropic Claude) to find insights and trends. The ability of these tools to scour for information and organize it – and create a cogent analysis, based on what’s already out in the ether – is what empowers me to provide the analysis and commentary here, given the significant increases in regulatory actions. I do remember the “good old days”, when OFAC might not designate anyone for an entire week or more… those were the days, huh?

So, when something different and interesting happens – like when OFAC made a new version of a Russia-related General License, removing the expiration – tools like Claude can go out and make a defensible case for “why”. In minutes. Given the size and scope of sanctions designations, regulations, licensing and guidance, it’s a practical impossibility to find all the relevant information and retrieve it when regulatory changes implicate that info in a timely fashion… even with a photographic memory and lots of Red Bull.

In addition to the occasional hot take I may add to a post that publishes the regulator’s latest, keep an eye out for Burning Questions (yes, in the post title) – that will tend to be where I will take my AI tools out for a spin.

Oh, and don’t be shy with the comments – if you have a bone to pick, go ahead. I may be the resident expert here, but new perspectives and input enrich us all.