Five Ways Sanctions Are Hitting Russia
The United States and Europe are responding with sanctions against Russia. While they target key figures in Russia and its leader Putin, the move is really a response to Russian President Rex Tillerson’s announcement that Putin will be resigning from his position as president.
It is very likely that the sanctions will hit Russia in 2018, as the new presidential year. It is not clear what the sanctions will be, as the White House has not said. It is likely that they might hit state-owned enterprises, like Rosneft and Gazprom-e, or any of the hundreds of businesses that are being owned or controlled by Russian oligarchs. It is also possible that the sanctions will target military industries, which have been under the control of private interests for decades. If the sanctions are aimed at limiting Russian military influence, they will hit defense companies, since they form the backbone of the Russian military and provide a majority of the arms sales to NATO countries. The U.S. and other countries are now trying to send a message that they are not going down the path of isolationism that led to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
Why this matters: As the sanctions are being finalized, it is more important than ever to remind people to visit the World Bank and the US Treasury departments for the most recent economic update of any country, as well as the European Union. This will give the opportunity to show that the U.S. is not retreating from Russia and that it is trying to reach an agreement with Russia to create a fairer world. It is important that the sanctions be clear, and they should be a message from all countries to Putin and Russian oligarchs that are hurting the middle class of Europe.
Putin is not the problem with Russia, the people who run the country, and the Russian people need to have a choice.
This is a very important issue for the people of the world, because we need to stop having the United States tell the countries of the world what they should think is acceptable. Russia has never been treated as if it was less than human, but one thing is clear. The people running Russia have been doing exactly what they’ve been told to do, so why should the world allow the United States to bully them into thinking that they should be treated as a human? All that our nation has allowed to happen has
