The sanctions against russia is just like a teenager being punished

[William769]

by taking away his iPad but still having access to his desktop computer.

Shame on Europe for not willing to give up comfort now given their history, and yes shame on the U.S. taken the same route pre-WWII.

People who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.

Pity on the ones who do not see this.

[lagomorph777]

1. Are you saying we need to shut off SWIFT access, as well?

I agree, if so.

[PortTack]

21. President Biden said what they have done will hurt Russia as much as cutting them off from SWIFT

I trust his judgement.

[EndlessWire]

23. That option

is in reserve. It will happen later.

[artemisia1]

24. Exactly! President Biden is reserving some arrows to fire if/when the Russians start rounding up

Ukrainian citizens and putting them against walls to be shot to death.

[BannonsLiver]

2. Let's hear your ideas.

[William769]

4. Shut russia off from the rest of the world.

[BannonsLiver]

6. Oh. Ok.

Now do the “how” part?

[William769]

12. Start with SWIFT.

I will not play tit for tat with you.

You seem to be a smart person.

[Hortensis]

19. I believe you're fundamentally mistaken in your assumption

that we're on the same route as pre- WWII. Surely you can find some basic differences that might make you at least wonder.

[blogslug]

8. How?

Can you explain further?

[brooklynite]

26. Some folks here are "idea" people...

Mechanics are up to someone else.

[VMA131Marine]

3. The effect of the sanctions will not be immediate

But they will be lasting, painful and extremely damaging to a fragile Russian economy. Add to that all the wealthy Russians who will no longer be able to visit their Tony condos in S Florida and Putin has a problem on his hands.
BTW, we just sold a bunch of M1 tanks to “Poland.”

[William769]

7. They have planned for sanctions for years.

It could be decades before sanctions are felt.

[VMA131Marine]

10. BS

More like weeks, especially as the Russian military has trouble getting the high tech parts they need to service and maintain their equipment.

[William769]

16. Russia has spent years preparing for international sanctions

With no appetite for military confrontation, the U.S. and its allies are relying on sweeping economic sanctions to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to pull out of Ukraine.

But the effectiveness of those measures are anything but certain, relying on a host of factors that includes how much China is willing to come to Moscow’s aid.

Placing a stranglehold on Russia’s $1.5-trillion economy will not be easy, especially since it began trying to buffer itself from international sanctions after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Russia has sidelined growth to pare down its debt and built up its reserves of foreign currency and gold — so much so that it reached record levels this year at over $640 billion.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-has-spent-years-preparing-for-international-sanctions/ar-AAUjllR?ocid=uxbndlbing

So much for your BS comment.

[Hortensis]

20. Sanctions won't take decades to be felt but also obviously weren't enough

to deter invasion, and we don't expect them to lead to pullout now of course. Their deterrent effects should kick in much sooner than decades, though. I read your article, in the LA Times, btw. Putin's going to have to please Xi for some time to come. And Ukrainian resistance may continue to drain Russian wealth while denying Russia much of the wheat and other products more advanced Ukraine produces.

A big part of Putin's "preparation" is to tighten down on growth and plan for effects of the sanctions to be absorbed by Russia's people, whose "prosperity" is already at a low level, even for them. He goes into this with incomes already averaging something like 10% lower now than roughly a decade ago. He also goes in with over 50% approving his actions amidst floods of pro-Russia propaganda and bellicosity, and we'll get to see how that holds up.

At the other end of absolute statements on this is an interesting article in Foreign Affairs making a case that Putin is making the same disastrous mistakes as the Soviet Union. It describes several decades of Soviet aggression continually foiling itself by strengthening resistance in various ways. If the title turns out not absolutely true, it's likely that Putin is at least making some of the same mistakes and hoping this time they work, but right now we're seeing the same old effect.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukraine/2022-02-24/putin-repeating-ussrs-mistakes

[uponit7771]

5. No, it's like taking away internet access and if you don't think that's hard hitting you don't have

... teenagers.

[William769]

9. Seems to me they still have internet access.

[BlackSkimmer]

11. They have internet access.

Surely you know that?

[uponit7771]

14. keyword ... like ...

[True Blue American]

18. The sanctions are cutting ogff money. Putin and Lavrov just went on the list.

Other countries are confiscating yachts.

[Aristus]

13. I really dislike it when the perception is anything less than nuclear annihilation is

"not doing enough."

[BannonsLiver]

15. Americans really struggle with nuance.

And I say that as an American. We’re impatient and generally VERY low info.

[William769]

17. I refer to my OP.

[Demsrule86]

25. This isn't close to the same as WWII... this is not history repeating itself...I suggest you read

Shirley Temple Black's eyewitness account when Russian invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968.

[PortTack]

22. Please stop with the arm chair politics..it isn't helpful.

I highly doubt President Biden thinks he’s simply taking away an iPad, and it’s insulting of you to say so!

Sanctions are part of..not whole picture

[William769]

27. So, I take it your posts are not armchair politics?

There's a word for that.