Submitted by fortmis in Europe

you get a sanction, you get a sanction, you get a sanction.

is it really going to make a difference??

The only real value in punishing oligarchs is that it makes the west feel and look good because it is doing something. Economic sanctions – cancelling the Nordstream II gas pipeline, or restricting Russia’s access to the Swift system – may have a greater effect, but they may also rebound on us in the form of higher energy prices.

However, there is a much bolder and more imaginative approach. Russia’s ruling class – the members of the Duma, the Senate, the presidential council, the top echelons of the security and defence services, top state television employees – is several thousands strong. These men (and some women) draft, rubber-stamp, promote and carry out Putin’s decisions. Some of them also – unlike the oligarchs – actually advise him.

These are the people to target – because when several thousand of the people Putin actually depends on begin to feel the consequences of his policies in their personal lives, there will be a groundswell of discontent.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/23/obsession-sanctions-oligarchs-putin-hurt-russian-leader-ukraine

i'm not totally on board with everything in this article -- but it's got some interesting points.

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Bezotcovschina wrote

It might be effective, if it's "Stop it or starve"

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fortmis OP wrote

the people in power to stop it will never risk starvation

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MHC wrote

Russia and China are friendly. So the former was free to move its military from east to west. And those two countries are developing economic ties. So China is reducing the effectiveness of sanctions on Russia.

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