Putin only exists because Russians resent the west after having been sidelined despite foregoing communism (which Gorbachev did in the hope that Russia would be able to join, and benefit from trade with, the liberal bloc)
If you think they’ll resent Putin and not the west for every minor (and some major) annoyance brought by sanctions, you are ignoring decades of policies done in the same spirit and resulting in the exact opposite of the intended effect. All this does is demonstrate to the Russians that the west is indeed their enemy, and thereby reinforce Putin and the likes of him.
All sanctions do is target innocents and reinforce whatever government the US is supposedly targeting. See literally every single country sanctioned by the US.
And now some Russians get mad a the corrupt Putinlord because his actions have consequences and they have to go trough all kinds of hoops to get it.
Sometimes the annoyance is important too.
Putin only exists because Russians resent the west after having been sidelined despite foregoing communism (which Gorbachev did in the hope that Russia would be able to join, and benefit from trade with, the liberal bloc)
If you think they’ll resent Putin and not the west for every minor (and some major) annoyance brought by sanctions, you are ignoring decades of policies done in the same spirit and resulting in the exact opposite of the intended effect. All this does is demonstrate to the Russians that the west is indeed their enemy, and thereby reinforce Putin and the likes of him.
All sanctions do is target innocents and reinforce whatever government the US is supposedly targeting. See literally every single country sanctioned by the US.
Can I blame Trump on 9/11 or something?