I wrote this a year ago today, in the afternoon after financial markets had closed
February 24th, 2022, 05:51 pm: Biden's long-embellished sanctions bomb turned out to be so weak that global stock markets are up on the day, and the price of oil went up less than a dollar per barrel. Over 2/3 of Russia's exports will be excepted from the sanctions, including its energy and food exports. I expected better after three months of talk about how Biden would impose the most draconian sanctions ever. They are not. Biden decided he'd rather not cause any pain to the US economy, and watered down the sanctions to the point that global stock markets applauded them.
I'm disgusted.
Putin called your bluff, Biden.
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Earlier that day at a press conference, Biden was already walking away from his threatened sanctions bomb, “No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening ... Let’s have a conversation in another month or so to see if they’re working."
Now it is a year later, and economic sanctions have done nothing to deter Russia from fighting in Ukraine. Neither has over $70 billion in US military and economic aid to Ukraine. The best that can be said for US leadership at this point is that the US and dozens of other countries have helped Ukraine fight Russia to a stalemate in which Russia holds 17% of Ukraine's 1991 territory.
Russia has now formally annexed four Ukrainian oblasts (in addition to Crimea, which it took back in 2014). It is difficult to imagine Russia walking back from this annexation anytime soon, as these are now considered Russian territory by Russia. From Russia's point of view, Ukraine is fighting Russia inside Russian territory. Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to insist on a full return to its 1991 borders. So, the fighting goes on ...
I guess in another year we'll have another anniversary and we'll see which side is "winning" compared to today. Probably about 200,000 soldiers have died over the past year, split roughly evenly between the two sides. Some tens of thousands of civilians have also died. They die because they disagree over which country will control Ukrainian territory. Parts of Ukraine have been held by several countries over the centuries, including Russia/Soviet Union, Poland, Germany, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Austria-Hungary, and Lithuania ... Borders in Eastern Europe have never been easy.
I'm disgusted.
Putin called your bluff, Biden.
-----
Earlier that day at a press conference, Biden was already walking away from his threatened sanctions bomb, “No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening ... Let’s have a conversation in another month or so to see if they’re working."
Now it is a year later, and economic sanctions have done nothing to deter Russia from fighting in Ukraine. Neither has over $70 billion in US military and economic aid to Ukraine. The best that can be said for US leadership at this point is that the US and dozens of other countries have helped Ukraine fight Russia to a stalemate in which Russia holds 17% of Ukraine's 1991 territory.
Russia has now formally annexed four Ukrainian oblasts (in addition to Crimea, which it took back in 2014). It is difficult to imagine Russia walking back from this annexation anytime soon, as these are now considered Russian territory by Russia. From Russia's point of view, Ukraine is fighting Russia inside Russian territory. Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to insist on a full return to its 1991 borders. So, the fighting goes on ...
I guess in another year we'll have another anniversary and we'll see which side is "winning" compared to today. Probably about 200,000 soldiers have died over the past year, split roughly evenly between the two sides. Some tens of thousands of civilians have also died. They die because they disagree over which country will control Ukrainian territory. Parts of Ukraine have been held by several countries over the centuries, including Russia/Soviet Union, Poland, Germany, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Austria-Hungary, and Lithuania ... Borders in Eastern Europe have never been easy.