The above is very important because if you consider all these factors you can come to an absolutely unavoidable conclusion: western sanctions have exactly zero chance of achieving any change at all in Russian foreign policy and exactly zero chance of weakening the current regime. In fact, if anything, these sanctions strengthen the Eurasian Sovereignists by allowing them to blame all the pain of economic reforms on the sanctions and they weaken the Atlantic Integrationists by making any overt support for, or association with, the West a huge political liability.…The Vineyard of the Saker
Western sanctions and Russian perceptions
The Saker
1 comment:
As an aside;
I really think the Edward Snowden affair - leading to Russia granting him safe haven very much irked President Obama on a personal level.
Obama seemed to be dismayed that his diktat to the Russians was rebuffed. Going so far to have Holder write a public letter promising not to torture or kill Snowden if he was turned over.
To me this seemed to be a turning point in US - Russian relations.
The demonization and often disparaging remarks / undiplomatic language used to characterize Russian leaders by senior US representatives took a profound up-tick.
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