An arms embargo can functionally arm one side in a conflict

Evidence

A weapon is not a particular tool or device, but a disparity between one tool and another. Against a Goliath with a club, a slingshot is a weapon. Next to a tank, a slingshot is a toy. In iggi, the NATO nations armed the Serb militants, not with arms sales as in the Iran-Iraq war or the Rwanda genocide, but with a UN declaration. — Michael A. Sells, The Bridge Betrayed, 302

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader pattern of institutional policies (like the earlier law merchant and embargo discussions) producing outcomes opposite to their stated purpose.
• SEED: Essay angle: ‘weapons as disparity, not tools’ — how abstention from action can be the decisive move in a war, and how ‘neutral’ legal instruments act as force multipliers.