The sanctions were just beginning to pinch Iraq's food and industrial supplies.

But, he said, "they usually give you some lead time so people with shipments can get them before the sanctions begin."

The economic sanctions should begin to bite pretty soon.

But there is also an important way in which the sanctions have begun to work against their own purposes.

As the sanctions begin to bite, who would bet the Iranian regime will survive another two years, let alone four?

Still, it will take more time before the sanctions begin to cut deeply into the economy, diplomats say.

The sanctions began to work, strangling Iraq's supplies of industrial parts, raw materials and food.

But sanctions begin to have a big effect on politics as the Serbian economy collapses.

It was something he'd dreamed of, and plotted for, since the sanctions began loosening last year.

Indeed, the illegal immigrant population may be larger now than when the sanctions began.