Tag: Sanctions

The Four Ways Sanctions Work (Or Don’t)

admin

The United States, the European Union, and countries around the world have cut Russia out of the global economy. Moscow’s central bank is struggling to support the ruble. Russian financial institutions are blocked from the global payments system. Far-reaching import and export bans have choked off trade to and from the country. Russian markets have seized. Will these sanctions pressure Vladimir Putin to withdraw the Russian military from Ukraine? Or will their main effect be to hurt Russian civilians and

… Read more

Inside Olaf Scholz’s historic shift on defense, Ukraine and Russia – POLITICO

admin

BERLIN — At 1:49 p.m. on Saturday, February 26, Andrij Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, finally got the message he’d been hoping to receive for more than seven years. 

“We’re changing course,” the text from a senior German politician began. “All arms deliveries to commence. Very late. I hope not too late. Finally.” 

Sitting at his cluttered desk in central Berlin, Melnyk, whose vociferous advocacy for Ukraine had made him a diplomatic pariah in the German capital, couldn’t believe his

… Read more

Russia & Ukraine: War and Sanctions

admin

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov watch the Zapad-2017 war games at a military training ground in the Leningrad Region, Russia, in 2017. (Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via Reuters)

The week of February 28: Where sanctions may lead, inflation’s next turn, antitrust, and much, much more.

If Putin had hoped for a successful, surgical strike against Ukraine, he must be disappointed. He may well also have been taken aback by

… Read more

Russian space agency boss warns against sanctions that could block cooperation on the ISS

admin

The head of the Russian space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, warned the US against introducing sanctions against its space program, threatening to stop maintenance that could see the 500 ton facility fall out of orbit and potentially land on the US.

So far the four US astronauts and two Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station have been ‘largely isolated’ from tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to experts familiar with the station’s operation.

Roscosmos Director General, Dmitry Rogozin, posted

… Read more

A ‘swift’ and ‘unified’ sanctions slam on Russia? Not exactly.

admin

The ongoing talks — both transatlantic and among European states — suggest that repeated statements by Biden and his top aides that Russia will face “swift,” “severe” and “unified” consequences from Washington and its allies are overly optimistic, and that the reality will be more messy. The discussions come as Russian leader Vladimir Putin is — for the moment — sending some signals that he might back away from another invasion of Ukraine.

… Read more

With Russian guns pointed at Ukraine, West and Moscow dive into talks – POLITICO

admin

Press play to listen to this article

GENEVA — U.S., European, and NATO officials are adamant the intense week of diplomatic meetings with Russia is a dialogue, not a negotiation.

But with upwards of 100,000 Russian soldiers quite literally pointing guns at Ukraine, with tanks and other heavy weaponry massed on the border, and President Vladimir Putin openly threatening military action if his demands for security guarantees are not met, this week’s talks have all the markings of a hostage

… Read more

Burma citizens push for gas sanctions to stop military funding

admin

The young woman in Burma decided to speak out when she realized that money from the company she loved was now in the hands of the military leaders she hated.

She and her parents had long worked for Total Energies, the French company that operates a lucrative gas field off the coast of southern Burma with a state-owned enterprise. But in February, the military took over Burma’s government and its bank accounts, including those that receive hundreds of millions of

… Read more

Busting the Merkel Myth – POLITICO

admin

Press play to listen to this article

BERLIN — In an age of us-versus-them politics, soon-to-be ex-German Chancellor Angela Merkel might be the only prominent international leader the global demos can actually agree on.

From Poland to Peru, clear majorities profess a favorable view of the East German physicist-turned-politician, whose 16-year tenure running Europe’s largest country draws to a close next week.

In contrast to her best-known contemporaries, who span ex-U.S. president George W. Bush to Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi and

… Read more

UK imposes fresh sanctions on Belarus one year after ‘fraudulent elections’ – POLITICO

admin


LONDON — The U.K. has issued fresh trade, financial and aviation sanctions on Belarus, in a bid to increase pressure on the country’s leader Alexander Lukashenko.

The U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said Monday Britain will take measures to limit the Belarusian regime’s trade on a number of goods that may be used to repress dissidents or might provide a revenue stream, such as potash, petroleum products, goods used in cigarette manufacturing and some technology devices.

The U.K.

… Read more