President Obama issued new sanctions against Russia. Well, sort of. The sanctions were not against Russia as a whole, but individuals and companies. In keeping with earlier sanctions, NATO countries are also sanctioning individuals and corporations rather than a country as a whole. Will these sanctions work? Maybe, but I don't think they will. In targeting Putin's supporters directly, the NATO countries are attempting to keep sanctions from hurting the general population of Russia. The only thing that might dissuade Putin from annexing a huge chunk of Ukraine is popular opposition. Hurting his supporters won't accomplish that. Plus, did earlier sanctions (that were similar) have any effect? I don't think so. I think there will be military action by Russia and there will be little or no ramifications for doing so (except if you are Putin's friends). The reality is that the U.S. (and by extension the rest of NATO) is weak. Russia will exploit this weakness as much as possible, and that includes annexing part of Ukraine.
What do you think?
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