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Kamala Harris (US Vice President) making some statement on the Russia and Ukraine problem said US and her aligns will impose unprecedented economic sanction on Russia if they continue to evade or attack Ukraine. So I'm wondering what kind of unprecedented economic sanction can be given to Russia if they continue to evade Ukraine.

There isn't much to impose, and this is just the US flexing its muscles to Russia in an event of an invasion. They are not going to do anything, and if they did, it might send us ever closer to WW3. The US may restrict some imports to Russia, but the latter can just easily buy from someone else and the sanction is useless. Whatever type of sanction that is, Russia wouldn't flinch that's for sure. If there's a country Russia fears, it's certainly not the US because they know that the US will not do anything rash or serious.

They will impose economic sanctions on them and will ask their allies to end their trade and business with Russia but what will European and the whole world do without the Russian petroleum products? If the Russian petroleum products will stop to enter the remaining world then all of the businesses and vehicles will stop on roads because only Arabic petroleum cannot fulfill the needs of the world and the prices will multiple a dozen or more. There will be a shortage.

There is a huge difference in what can and what is going to be done.
Most likely they will stick with technology access and investment and financial sanctions as well as probably a ban on some categories of goods for good.

Not much on paper but I will have to remind everyone, especially the guys that we're cheering how Huawei will piss on US sanctions that the king of 5G is selling his flagship smartphones without 5G as they are cut from that technology, and these are sanctions on a company, not a country.

I already know what people are going to say, but Russia will seek other trade partners, bla bla bla, they will replace the western trades with somebody else.
Yeah, they might try but the success will be limited, and it's simply because of the sizes of the economy, Russia if it will cut completely western trades they must import from other places, it's a 120 billion market which might sound tempting till you realize that just 3 countries like Thailand, Malezis and Brazil export that much to the US alone, not counting the EU. Will these risk throwing away 112 billion in exports in order to battle for a piece of a pie that is just 120 billion (for now as the ruble will most likely lose more value) in total? No.

So, with who are you going to trade, a block of countries with 28 trillion in GDP or a country with the economy size of the Netherlands alone?
The answer is pretty clear.


Use logic.
Russia needs to sell that oil or it will starve, they will try to sell it cheaper to partners that now buy Arabic oil like Asian countries, Europe will simply pay a bit more and Arabic countries will export the oil that was meant for Asia oil here. Oil is easy to transport, gas was and is the problem.

Let's be honest.  If Russia invades Ukraine and all the punishment they get for it is economic sanctions, it is like a warm welcome for Russia on Ukraine's territory.  Almost like I tell you that if you beat me up, I will go tell my mommy about it.  Who cares.

I think I have heard of sanctions multiple times every year in the past decades so it almost never seemed to be a success.  I also agree Ukraine versus Russia beef being the spark of World War III is a very slim, almost zero chance.  Expect Russia to get what they want and United States to be OK with the sanctions they impose.

stompix, I do get your idea and it is an interesting outlook.  But does it not mean that limiting Russia's economical abilities and movements this much will only make them more threatening and hungry for territories and power?  Because at the end of the day, when the wolves get hungry, they go hunt their prey.

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Regards,
PrivacyG

After sanctions there will be very less countries remain with Russia because other countries will not want to get the anger of USA and the Arabic countries are unable alone to fill the needs of the whole world. There is a full pipeline spread to the whole Europe for natural gas what will they do if that line is cut off. Russia do not rely alone on petroleum but they have more source of income.

Just remember a few years ago when Russia denied to supply the aluminum to the remaining world then there was a huge shortage created. The car manufacturers were very disturbed and the price of cars spiked.

That is another product which the world need.

I am in the favor of peace and want that Russia do not attack on Ukraine but that is just a reality of the fact about this discussion which I want to clear.

It is hard to impose sanctions on major powers. Just like America imposed tax on Huawei and that sanction made them independent. First they were dependent on android and this sanction taught them to make their own software. That was a company from a major power now it show us what a major power will do after sanctions.


+1 for your research.

After reading this post I also agree that there will be a exchange in the trade agreements and and from your post I can imagine that yes Russia may face some difficulties.
At least America can stop them from any attack on Ukraine.

Oh, just 60% of their exports and 30% of the GDP, if that is not relying then I don't know what it is.
Also, you're mistaken on one thing, that oil needs to somehow keep being dispatched to all countries, no it doesn't, there is demand and offer, once the price of oil hits 150$ who do you think will afford to pay 2 euros for one liter of gas, Europe or India?  ;)
If oil becomes that expensive simply some will shut down, thus driving demand down and...majik!


The wolves will first eat each other, just like in the 80's after Brezhnev died of illness his two successors Andropov and Chernenko died also off illness in less than two years each, not mentioning two of his proposed successors Kulakov and Suslov also died of illness just as Tsvigun of cancer.
Those were other times when windows in Russia were better built and people couldn't fall from the 8th story of a 4 levels high building.
Sanctions won't bite that much the poor poeple, they just need a house and basic food, that can be achieved, but it will destroy the elites that make millions from oil and gas deals, all those on the payroll of huge Russian companies.


Yeah..but no!  ;D

https://talkimg.com/images/2023/06/12/AKtXZ.jpeg

US is building this narrative for a long time and they even set a timeline on when the war would begin as if they are like forecasting a war  :D. The same narrative they used when US was planning to invade Iraq that they have deadly weapons and the media spread those propaganda for weeks and then all of a sudden they pack their bags and set foot on Iraq and destroyed that country basically and could not find any weapon.

US had imposed sanctions in Russia for decades and the narrative continues, in the past two decade how many countries Russia invaded and destroyed and US invaded and destroyed will give you the real picture what is going on, even the Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked US to stop escalating issues which are not present in his country and still the US media is running around claiming that a war is inevitable  :D.

The US sanctions will be pointed towards the oligarchs,who are close to Putin.
They will most likely repeat and supplement the sanctions,that were imposed back in 2014,when Russia invaded Crimea.
The Russian companies will be banned from doing business in the USA and holding any funds in US bank accounts.The EU might impose the same sanctions as well.Perhaps some rich Russians will be kicked out of the western world and they won't be allowed to visit western countries anymore.
I don't think that any western country would stop Russia from exporting oil,natural gas,metals and raw materials.This would be an economic suicide.

Yes can this just be what is coming to our faces at this present time. Is this what is coming? , if this issue not resolved? I see that US is not relaxing on the threat of sanction and we Russia dare them by going ahead, can that be it? US talking about aligns and certain it is that Russia will have her aligns too and both aligns may see this opportunity to sell weapons. And within the aligns,they may disagree.

Russia can destroy that narrative pretty easy, they've said they are sending their troops home after the exercise, they've said their troops are withdrawing, they've said they will not invade so all that is left is for them to actually not invade and they will prove the US wrong.
But what would be a topic about Russia without common style whataboutism propaganda, a lot of it?


Hmm, my history book tells me that when the two blocks didn't trade even 10% of what they do now Europe was doing pretty well while the URSS went bankrupt, just like Russia did once more in 1998. So it's either that my book is wrong or something miraculous happened from 1945 to 1990 and made Europe not just survive but prosper without Russian resources.
Do you have a theory why it wouldn't be the case again?   ;D

Sanctions: United States strategies to make sanctions against a country are economic, political, bank or stock market sanctions that can cause severe inflation to the country, it's US method and Strategy, however, it applies to other weak countries, as we know US officials will take action against Russia for invading Ukraine, US will plan to burden Russia's economy.

Wait a minute, Russia is not a weak country, Russia is a superpower, they are not afraid of sanctions and threats from US officials, history has proven until now that Russia is not easy to give up in this matter, if the US does as I said above Russia can hit back and hit the US economy, as I know gas for Europe is supplied from Russia, they can cut shipping and increase cyber attacks on European and US infrastructure too, they are not the type to submit to other countries, they have the weapons to counterattack their opponents.

In my opinion, if the US can impose sanctions on Russia, Russia can counterattack, they will destroy global economic stability.
conclusion: the sanctions that the US wants to carry out against Russia could have a bad impact globally including America, America picked the wrong opponent this time.

They tried that already, no sanctions will work for Russia. They can do it as they did to most countries ever to US allies but they didn't sanction Russia GAS that is imported to the US.

There will be many threats to Russia as it always will be and it's surprising now that it comes from an unwanted vice president of the US, is she trying to win the people's vote at the expense of Russia's invasion hype?  The supposed date of invasion on Feb16 was 4 days ago, wake up, Kamala.

 I am pretty sure that Russia is aware of what could be done, and if they ever attack Ukraine then I am pretty sure that they will do it knowingly. Not like they would just attack Ukraine and when USA put sanctions they would suddenly be shocked about it, we are all aware that the USA will do something about it and if we are then Putin definitely does know it as well. So if they ever do it, then they will do it knowing there will be consequences and they are willing to face those consequences as well. All in all I would be delighted to hear what Russians want out of this and not just their government, because sanctions will hurt the citizens more than the politicians.

The sanctions will be minor, won't target major financial institutions of Russia, and then the American politicians can go back to their citizens and tell them they're being tough on Russia as the Russian army slaughters Ukrainians. The Russians control a lot of the oil exported to European countries, the incentive exists to not make them upset.

They will kick them out of SWIFT and stop there probably. The thing is the US can't do more. Biden already said that they are not going to send troops to Ukraine to fight Russia if Russia invades Ukraine.

You can't do much against a nuclear force as long as they don't threaten you directly. Getting kicked out of SWIFT would benefit Russia more in the end ironically because the USD will lose another customer.

The sanctions will apply to:
1. Financial markets, in the first place - borrowing, and transactions with government shares of the Russian Federation.
2. Locked in the supply of high-tech solutions - chips, systems, microelectronics, etc. In this direction, Russia is 20 years behind, and without Western electronics, entire segments will stop, including the military-industrial complex and the space program.
3. And be sure to be locked up on the supply of equipment and technologies for the extraction of gas and oil - you will laugh, but Russia does not have its own, integrated technologies for the extraction of oil and gas. Russia owns only the technologies for extracting oil and gas at shallow depths, but these reserves have almost run out, and already "today" it is necessary to start developing new ones, with deeper deposits.
4. And of course, a ban on the supply of dual-use technologies.

An oil and gas embargo is unlikely to be introduced now - it is necessary to prepare the infrastructure to supply the part of the EU that depends on Russian gas. After that, an embargo is possible.

               How troublesome this issue about Russia and Ukraine has become. It is causing huge effects in many oarts of the world economically already. I really hope this issue mellows down and doesn't reach a pint where US really does have to make such actions towards Russia. This will only do more harm than good IMHO. One thing that the US might do when things reach to a certain point is something like what google did to Huawei. Restricting some services or goods that the US and some allied countries provide. Man, what the hell is happening to the world. One problem after another, it just never ends.

The possible economic sanction we might see on Russia is US and other allied country will stop dealing with Russian product also with other services. And this is totally huge if US allied country will follow but I don't think Russian government are afraid on this since remember they also have allies and most provably they don't need US since they are already have ways to boost up there economy that's why there government is brave towards decision making on what they think beneficial to them.

Above all the points that you have mentioned, I was thinking if Russia is alone in all of this but I know Russia was the leader of the USSR (Soviet Union) that existed around 1922-1991. Some of these countries and more will be aligns to Russia and they are still world powers. I also did this finding if they have friends below, China being one of the friends might just be waiting for a opportunity to do attacking against US

https://i.imgur.com/ngiGY4O.png

 Russia enemies and friends (https://www.rferl.org/a/russias-friends-and-foes/27774845.html)

The above is interesting if you think about it. The countries who are listed as enemies of Russia have actually been either threatened by it like the USA (cold war and the Cuban missile crisis) or occupied and exploited as a part of the Soviet Union (Ukraine, Poland, Latvia). Turkey as NATO member is going to stand with the US against Russia if the need comes for that.  I'd also add Lithuania and Finland to the list of countries that don't like Russia too much.

When it comes to their allies, Belarus is Russia, just with a puppet leader. Now Putin wants to turn Ukraine into another puppet state to have easy land access to the Black Sea.

When it comes to war, it involves many things both the things you see as physical that you can analyse as you did and it involves also those things that you don't see. Some countries as you see them not too strong with supporting Russia may at the end finding reason of to do support for them. In the past world war it happened that it affected other countries not initially in the war.

I know and think that China is going to have some hand in this if agreement is not working and China is a big block in the Asia countries and they can reach out support for Russia. Germany doesn't look very clear a friend to US I think also.

They have enough energy to actually cause trouble for Europe and that is what they are trusting on. If you put sanctions on Russia and do not sell them anything, then they will stop giving you energy. Which means that Russia will suffer because they can't get anything from outer world but they could work with China which we all know could end up helping them financially and give them whatever alternatives, maybe Russians can't get iphone but they can get Huwaei and that's the type of situation Russia will be in and that is not ideal but not horrible.

However, Europe will be losing energy and that is not something they could get alternatively, they have some themselves but they were getting more from Russia and they will be lacking that. It would be worse for Europe then it would be for Russia.

Russia could give two shits about the threats of economic sanctions against them, because they have Europe eating out of their hands for the petroleum and oil that they are providing to them. They will simply cut their prices and the rest of the world will come running to get the cheaper oil and gas.  ::)

Russia are also backed by a lot of other countries with no sanctions .... so they will simply import from them, so they will not feel those sanctions. The thing is...... nobody can afford a World War III ..... so we will just see Russia pushing their weight around and the USA flexing their political muscles.  ::)

You forget about the Russian "big brother" - CHINA. The fate of Russia, in fact, depends on the position of China. And if now China decides that it needs Russia, but as a donor of resources or territories, then tomorrow Russia will cease to exist and become a new region of the PRC. Stories about a "strong economy" and the same fabulous "strongest army" of Russia are a myth. The only real threat from the Russian Federation is the remnants of nuclear weapons, everything else is "wearing the clothes of the deceased grandfather", i.e. the USSR

The US treasury would be directed to impose sanctions on Russian oligarchs or specific companies such as Russian banks, energy companies, or defense firms.

Another area would be cutting Russia off from the SWIFT system, which would remove Russian institutions from an important global electronic payment system.

Another key target is the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which when operational has the potential to double the amount of natural gas moved from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea. It is a major revenue source target for the Russian.

The US will no longer impose any sanctions on Russia. Even when Ukraine itself demanded that the US should impose sanctions on Russia, the US refused their request.

This is reasonable, considering that if the US imposes more sanctions on Russia this will have a bad impact on relations between Russia and the US, which will provide a strong reason for Russia to reduce their supply of oil and gas to US allies. in Europe and this will also further strengthen relations between Russia and China, which the US does not want to happen.

There are already many countries and people under sanctions by the USA and they are still living their lives without any problem so I don't think the sanctions by the USA is going to make Russia a poor country but this will definitely affect the situation in this country, about the economic sanctions as far sd I know about it there can be different levels of economic sanctions, they just suspend any financial deal between their bank and Russian banks, in this case, you may have problems while transferring your money to/from the USA from Russia and in some other cases they may suspend only transactions by the government and in this case, the government may have a problem while selling oil or their other products, however regardless of all these if they chose to use bitcoin they can bypass all these economic sanctions.

You are forgetting that China is staying away from this war for now because of a reason. If they wanted to get involved then they would have already sent some help to Russia to show their help. However lets assume that they are not right now but they will in case of a sanction, even in that situation do you really think that China would get away with it, without a problem?

Obviously they are going to end up with a big problem because China sells all of the cheap manufactured things to nations with money, all those items are going to Europe and the USA, which means if you remove ALL of Europe and USA from Chinese companies then they won't make enough money and as a nation with 1+ billion people, they really need to handle all of this in order to continue living, even a small problem would equal to another 20+ million people dead famine as well.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-02-19/Wang-Yi-attends-Munich-Security-Conference-via-video-link-17MCPuu6eti/index.html

China has officially confirmed that China supports the territorial integrity of countries in Europe, including Ukraine. And this is not at all a friendly position towards the Russian Federation. Although the Russian Federation has always "boasted" at all corners of its "strong friendship with the fraternal Chinese people." China is smart, China will not support a terrorist state, and will not shove against international laws.
PS. After Putin's speech, the Russian economy, for 1.5. hours lost 1 trillion rubles! This has not yet been imposed sanctions, and Western leaders have not made statements :)

The US and European states did not want to disclose what measures would be taken if even a single Russian soldier openly set foot on the territory of Ukraine, so that Russia could not prepare for them. But gradually some of them began to open slightly. First of all, Russia will be cut off from the use of the dollar and the euro in financial transactions. The import of the main strategic goods for Russia will either be limited or completely banned. All assets of Russian citizens outside of Russia will be frozen, and confiscated for Putin and his entourage.

We should see these sanctions in the coming days. Yesterday, Putin recognized the existence of two independent republics on the territory of Ukraine, and already tonight he openly sent his troops and heavy military equipment there. Russian troops stood on the line of contact with the troops of Ukraine. This is open warfare.

It's sad to see how the behavior of developed countries is changing. War to punish poverty riots is not the way to create a better world. I don't support what the US and the west are doing, but seeing as many problems have existed after many wars, perhaps the beneficiaries we don't know will continue to manipulate everything. What the US did before through economic sanctions only created more hatred, and we are just small people who want the operators to have a peaceful solution. I put my faith in God, as well as love the Buddha, and look at it to build a good life.

Maybe an embargo on products that's going to help with their conquest will be the one that's US is going to use, but I don't think that US is going to do enough to hinder Russia's advance since Russia has China and other former Soviet countries as allies in their fight so I think that an economic sanctions from other countries are going to be that effective.

The US authority is collecting a list of measures, this is what we can define it sanction to impose and a normal procedure to force and an ordinary methodology to prevent Russia from attacking Ukraine. I doubt Putin will care, if he is determined to invade. He won't care about bloodshed nor any financial difficulties. I think invasion isn't well for any country. Putin should avoid any fight. We should stand up, stop all this pointless sanctions, and start normal dialogue more preferred choice over militarization.

Let's divide into friends who will go to the end and support Russia, and those who do not say that "Russia is a criminal." Among the friends of the Russian Federation, 2 interesting countries are indicated - China and India.
Yes, it seems like China is making plans for world rule, does not like the West, the totalitarian regime. Everything is so, with the exception of one nuance - China is not idiots, to resist that part of the world that consumes most of the product of their economy, especially yesterday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during his speech at the Munich Conference, openly stated the need to respect and protect sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries. According to him, Ukraine is no exception to this principle. Those. China's position cannot be called partner and friendly towards the Russian Federation. The Russian Federation for China is a raw material appendage, but nothing more.
India - out of 100% of Indian exports, Russia occupies ... as much as 4%! :) In the structure of imports, Russia's place is below 12th place, with an indicator below 5%. At the same time, the USA is the leader in imports (2nd place) and exports (1st place).
Question ! Tell me - what is India's interest in supporting a terrorist country and breaking off relations with key importers-exporters of goods and services?
 
UPD 22/02/2022  Kazakhstan refused to support Russia and recognize the "independence" of obscure entities, the DNR/LNR. According to Kazakhstan, this process does not comply with international agreements. The crazy miserable copy of the Fuhrer has fewer and fewer friends :)

The current tense situation has not opened any opportunities for cooperation in favor of acceptance between both the US and Russia.  They do not want to lose the ego of a leading economy in the world with modesty.  In the worst case, the US and its NaTo ally can set up a series of sanctions against Russia, in addition, it does not exclude the possibility that the US will isolate and exclude Russian banks, ban them from dealing with American banks, Americans for example.  Of course, this only leads to retaliation from Russia.  Geopolitics now only bring pain to the people, poverty comes with inflation

Maybe the sanction given to other country is not heavy because they why can they still live normally? is USA that powerful enough? Because, why can they give such sanction to every country but I don't think that USA can make Russia poor. It is not easy as that because Russian country is large and this country is also a well developed country.

If it is about bank problems, they can use bitcoin for a while. Bitcoin has no restriction and they are free to use it for sending and receiving money but I really think they shouldn't sanction Russia if they will evade the attack but rather they should sanction Ukraine because they are the ones that want the war to continue as they keep on attacking.

I would guess that it is a bit more about politics then punishment. It is all nationalistic approach and getting some things done. Crimea was the same thing as well, there were a lot of Russian populated areas there, people were mainly Russian actually but the land belonged to Ukraine politically, Russia decided since Russians lived there, it should be liberated and they did it, and nobody did a thing about it. Since, Russia knew that it would be horrible if they kept pushing forever, Putin just enacted a plan to keep doing the same thing with just some time in between so it wouldn't look bad.

Now, they are doing it again. This probably either gains Putin votes (which he doesn't need since they are not fair elections) or it just makes him feel good about being a dictator or something. Basically, it is all bad and it all ties with Putin in the end.

Putin initially thought it would be easy for him to conquer the rest of Ukraine, much as it was relatively easy for him to do so in 2014. But here he miscalculated. Ukraine and its army has already become stronger. In addition, he did not think that this time the reaction of the world to aggressive military actions against Ukraine would be so one-sided and decisive. This time, the countries of Europe realized that Putin would not stop in Ukraine and the self-preservation instinct worked. Putin, by his actions, drove Russia into a dead end, and in order to save his face, he decided to recognize the LPR and the DPR, and also sent troops there.
With this, he played well with Ukraine, since everything fell into place and Putin’s aggressive actions and intentions are no longer in doubt. Therefore, Putin and Russia will fail anyway.

USA could be a question mark, but Europe is very very important. Why? Because they are getting a decent amount of gas from Russia and Russia needs to sell some of that gas to Europe to make money. They could keep selling it to others but suddenly zero to Europe would mean a lot of money lost as well. Plus, Russians buy a lot of stuff from Europe, but Europe also gets a lot of "cheap" stuff from Russia as well, that would be a problem.

On top of that there are tons of super wealthy Russians that made their money illegally, and then used that money in other European nations and even in the USA, so freezing those assets would be horrible for them as well since those super wealthy criminals are the ones that pay for these big politicians. All in all when you combine the USA and Europe, you end up with getting something huge in number and that matters a lot for Russian big names.

Why do you think that the USSR fell? Do you think that they woke up one morning and decided that, after all these decades and millions of dead communism was not such a great idea after all? My answer is no, the USSR fell due to the mismanagement of the economy and the strangling of the production of energy and basic goods.

Economy is not as spectacular as dropping bombs and invading with tanks, but make not mistake, it is a tool that can be as lethal as a gun.

Russia will probably build its own financial system independent of SWIFT. As long as it has its own reserves of Gold and other scarce commodities/assets, sanctions will have little to no impact over the Russian economy. By stripping Russia out of the SWIFT system, the USD will continue to lose traction as the world's reserve currency. I have a feeling countries will begin to separate themselves from the US Dollar slowly as time goes by. All of these actions will directly affect the American economy in ways that were never imagined before.

Now that Russia has invaded Ukraine, things are going to get worse. Oil prices will rise, leading to a huge blow over the global economy. Russia is one of the major producers of oil, so it doesn't have to worry about this. Who knows what will happen in the next days with rising tensions between the West and Russia? Just my opinion :)

USSR "died" because people at the top realized that they could do a democratic change while still keeping the power. Yeltsin may not be as bad as Putin but he was still a dictator that managed to control the nation and put them in many wars (look at all the wars Russia was in during 90's) and when his time was up Putin took over and for the past 20+ years he has been ruling it as well. So, technically speaking USSR didn't really disbanded, they just made it look like it was disbanded and instead put dictators with fake elections at the top. Only thing that seem to change was the number of nations under one flag, and that looks like getting lesser with each war.

The war is going on, casualties are falling from the ukraine side, I see to this day America does not dare to impose economic sanctions on Russia, UN says for the sake of humanity and conscience, please stop war and withdraw troops from ukraine, says UN chief.

It seems America doesn't dare to impose sanctions on Russia, because they are both countries that like to interfere in other countries' affairs, equally strong.

The United States, Europe and other countries have already imposed serious economic sanctions against the Putin regime and against Russia in general. Including Russia was forbidden to make payments in dollars, euros, yen, pounds. The banking system will largely be paralyzed without being disconnected from SWIFT, although this possibility is still under discussion. So far, such a shutdown is opposed by Germany, Hungary, Italy and Cyprus.
In addition, it is predicted that by the time Russia sets up its internal payment system, it will already be bankrupt.
Now there is information that China refuses to buy oil from Russia because of the uncertainty with payments and delivery of oil. In connection with the adopted sanctions, this also awaits Russia for all other goods. Gas and oil, on the contrary, may fall in price.

You got that right, and its effects are going to be global--the extent remains to be seen, and it depends on how far this situation escalates.  I still can't figure out why Putin is doing this.  I'm fairly ignorant of global politics and never really followed what was going on in the world, but everything I've read about Putin or seen from Youtube clips about him has been relatively positive....and then he goes and does this, something much worse than the leaders of countries that the US has invaded in the past (I'm talking about Iraq and wherever else we've pointed our military force at).  This is just fucking baffling.

As far as sanctions go, I don't have a clue.  Nor do I know what the repercussions of those sanctions will be, but I can't imagine they'll make Putin happy. 

When I think about this whole mess, I can't help but wonder if Russia is ever going to stop being the Evil Empire that Reagan said they were back in the 1980s.

 Sanctions will do absolutely nothing. Russia getting poorer, and I mean like seriously poorer, almost starvation level of poorer is something Putin knew would happen and yet he still went ahead. I am sorry but the reality is that if you want to put NATO at the borders of Russia, then Putin will always do something evil, dude is trying to do the "right" thing in his mind and when you are an evil horrible person thinking you are justified then there is really no limits and no consequences that are too dire. You will go to distance to kill every single person in the world if you have to. Go read on Hitler, and you will see Putin but european version.

"As we seek to impose maximum costs on Putin, there is more that we can and should do," the New Jersey Democrat said. "Congress and the Biden administration must not shy away from any options—including sanctioning the Russian Central Bank, removing Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system, crippling Russia's key industries, sanctioning Putin personally, and taking all steps to deprive Putin and his inner circle of their assets." source:https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/24/politics/biden-sanctions-russia-ukraine/index.html

 Those were the sanctions for Russia for invading Ukraine. It seems Putin is the target of all the sanctions and i can't imagine living his life in hell after having all the consequences due to the war that he has started. But we can't blame Putin after all, we know how strong Russia is and once you see your own country is already affected, you will really think of revenge.

All these sanctions mean nothing to Putin and Russia. Putin is a strong man no sanctions can affect him, if u try to stop him or block his way he will pull you out of his way. The only sanction that can affect Russia is by not letting Russian citizens travel into Europe, America and a few other countries.
The UK freezing Putin, Lavrov assets over Ukraine invasion won't shake Putin do what he wants to towards Ukraine

As they impose economic sanctions, it's not only US that will impose but as well as the EU/UK as Boris have said as well.
We can have that idea that the sanction was already activated when the stocks of Russia has fell a lot with the first attacks that Russia did to Ukraine. IIRC, Turkey has also been sanctioned by US during the Trump administration and look at their economy now. But for Russia, I don't think they'll be sitting for this sanction effect for long.

I think the Russian elite are now included in the sanction and restrictions are coming on them. Today Biden made the announcement also that Putin himself will be under sanction. Well I think Russia government would have considered the weight of possible sanctions to them before they embarked on the invasion knowing well that it will come to pass if they go ahead. Now some of Russia banks have been stopped transaction to swiss bank. I hope Putin will come down on his invasion.

Putin is prepared for it since Russia has its "friend" to trade with in case US and NATO imposed hard sanctions.

It's hard to understand him if you're used to western ideologies. He's coming from the "protect Russia from destruction" point of view if you read his translated speech. He's fearful that one day the NATO will choke Russia if Ukraine joins the Alliance. Russia already experienced a blockade in one of its sea routes before and Putin doesn't want a possible repeat of that.

Funny how he also calls the US an empire of lies.

I would also like to add that it seems Putin could not get an assurance that Ukraine will remain a neutral country from diplomatic talks which forced him to go for a military solution.

So before the threat that he is thinking of, he wants to eliminate it in the expense of thousands of lives that will be lost.
Ukraine are now in pro-democracy so I don't think what Putin was thinking will happen. He is too paranoid, in my opinion.
Hopefully, we will see fast resolution of this war. But I believe, Ukraine will surrender as they have no resources to fight Russia.
Russia seems to be very prepared on this attack. So high likely, Putin is planning this for years. And no one can stop him as he already started the war.

Maybe Putin could no longer control his temper because of Ukraine's irresponsible moves so this war might have been his last resort. But honestly, this war that will took a lot of lives should never be the best option in times like this. There could have been a peace talk prior to this. And certainly, i found a news that Putin is ready for talks with Ukraine. Hopefully this will put an end to this war. Check this link: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/25/putin-ready-to-send-delegation-to-minsk-for-ukraine-talks

You cannot dismiss the possibility that Ukraine wanted to join the alliance before the Russia made a move. Their inexperienced President already said earlier that he was asking member countries if they can beome part of NATO.

Russia has always been prepared to use its military since NATO continue to expand and militarize countries near their border.

Sanctions are there to make sure Russians suffer, and not Putin, which means that Russians will hate Putin even more after the sanctions. Even though we all know elections are not legit and fake, we could at least make sure that Russians all hate Putin enough that he couldn't leave his palace and just stay put, the moment he goes to streets there would be people who hate him surrounding him.

You may think that it is a scary thing for people to go against him, but if you know Russia, you know that if there is a better person to do what Russia has always done above Putin after he lost all the power, then even people around him will leave public alone and try to undermine Putin and put a new person in charge. Sort of like what happened to Yeltsin, that is what Europe is aiming at. Turning Putin into Yeltsin to make sure he resigns himself after finding EVERYONE around him, literally near him, starting to hate him.

Biden said it will launch one of the most effective destructive weapons it has on Russia if the evading continue and such is able to cause a massive destruction of more than three cities in Russia, is this not an opening ceremony to another third world war that Russia is trying to evoke? That's my contemplation.

This is really beginning to be frightening to hear of such attack from US. Russia doesn't look like giving up the fight despite the sanctions so far going on against Russia. More countries have decided to support in the sanction including Hungary as the latest country to join. Russia promised to attack only military facilities in Ukraine but civilians and residential premises are now getting attacked. The situation in Ukraine is getting bad and citizens are running away.

So far Russia has continued to increase their military activities in Ukraine, the threat of sanctions from America and Nato does not seem to deter Russia from continuing to carry out military attacks, America has now imposed economic sanctions on Russia and the Americans have imposed sanctions on two large Russian state-owned banks currently, besides that America has also asked the Nato countries to stop all trading activities with Russia, but I think the impact of these sanctions will not seem to have much effect on Russia because as far as I know, Russia is currently establishing trade and economic cooperation with other powerful countrie that is china.

Yes I think that Russia has prepared herself for this sanctions before now and that is making it look like it is just nothing happening to Russia. For now they have strengthen trading activities with her aligns which China is the leader. China itself has a large market network around Asian countries so Russia won't have any problem to divert to China for supplies for the economy.

Von der Leyen has just announces that Russia is effectively being cut from the SWIFT payments system and that the west will be after the Russian main oligarchs assets across the world (for those unfamiliar with how this works, it is very difficult and not 100% possible). Ursula is also speaking about freezing the Russian Central bank assets. This is along with a tech supply chain squeeze, that may not work too well since China will be taking advantage.

Yeah yeah, it will do that and this and it will end up just in the same 10 km deep shithole as the USSR did.
For 10 years that's all I've been hearing the US will crumble, Europe is ding of hunger, the US is going through a civil war, Africa South America, all of Asia is with the USSR, thousands of west germans are feeling to East Germany...and we were so damn poor we barely could afford to have anything other than staple foods.

This is current Russia, the mighty superpower, before sanctions:

Average wage 492€, on the same level as Bosnia and about 10 times lower than Switzerland
Average life expectancy, 73.2, lower than Bangladesh or Venezuela, 10 years less than Italy or Spain or France, for males just 68.2.
The homicide rate, 8.2, is higher than Tanzania or Zimbabwe, and before you ask it's 60% higher than in the USA.

So, do I have to spell it for you how it will look after they are cut off from all the trading?

You know that Aeroflot has Boeing and Airbus planes for their long-range flights, Renault makes their only cars, and they even import vodka from Sweden and Finland? Enjoy the shitshow!

Before the invasion of Ukraine of course Russia had thought about this, but their strong ally, China, of course, would help a lot in everything so I'm sure if sanctions were imposed it would not cause the Russian economy to fall or go into recession.

China strongly supports Russia, so I doubt economic sanctions will cripple Russia's ability to finance its military (among other things) in the long term. With full isolation from the global trade, Russia will have no choice but to launch a financial system of its own (based on Blockchain tech). I'd be interesting to know how other countries will react after Russia decides to make such a move. If Russia makes its proprietary blockchain dependent on public chains for security, then it would be completely unstoppable.

Imagine if the Ruble gets digitized, living on a blockchain network tied to the main Bitcoin blockchain for security (like a sidechain). To be able take down Russia's "little coin", countries are going to have to shut down Bitcoin (and the Internet) for good. You and I know this is impossible to achieve, so things will only get worse from now on. Who knows how the world will look 5-10 years from now? Just my thoughts ;D

The USA is certainly not alone in giving sanctions to Russia, I'm sure they are discussing this with their allies, namely the European Union, perhaps the toughest sanctions are strict embargoes such as those experienced by other countries such as Iraq, Cuba or North Korea. I hope peace will come soon and there will be no more war.

Currently Russia is under pressure from America and other NATO countries, many sanctions have begun to be directed at Russia by America and its allied countries, such as the prohibition of the use of dollars for international transactions by Russia, stopping imports and exports from and to Russia as well as the economic sanctions they imposed use it to weaken Russia, but I think the sanctions may not have a long-term effect on Russia and it looks like the Russian economy will not fall that easily, because many Middle Eastern countries  have relations with rusia, apart from that I know they also have pretty good trade relations with china, and so the effect of the American embargo will probably be less affected for russian ekonomic.

Russia has China's support, so current economic sanctions by the West will fail in the long run. To cripple Russia's ability to grow economically, China must also be punished. By penalizing Russia and its allies, Putin will have no choice but to stop the invasion with Ukraine. There needs to be more pressure from the West in order to show its strength. Otherwise, Russia and China will continue to advance until they destroy democracy for good.

Things aren't looking very bright for the world right now, so we can only hope for the worst. Just my thoughts ;D

Dunno if it's crazy but Russia can use cryptos if they are restricted to use other currencies for international trade because crypto is also a global currency and it doesn't have a restriction what so ever but with the restriction of the importing and exporting of goods, I don't think they can do anything about that but luckily not all countries are against with them, we know how big china and middle east countries are so this can still make them continue normally despite of the left and right sanctions that they are getting. Putin or the Russian country are strong, this is what they are going to show. They are going to carry this mentality until the end.

Clearly we haven’t done enough in sanctions to deter Putin from further war. He’s clearly expected these sanctions to happen and he may be crazy, but he’s not stupid, surely he knew that these types of sanctions were not only coming but that they would stick around for quite some time. So therefore in my opinion we really need to start ramping these up.

Putin has thought of all the consequences and solutions of the sanctions imposed on Russia and the sanctions Embargo can be an opportunity for some countries or like Russia today to develop self-sufficiency, like the countries you mentioned and not very influential, which in the end just went away.
US sanctions do not harm Russia at all, in terms of changing Russia's behavior, Russia will only respect the power of violence. That's why they laugh at the US every time we sanction them, and what's worse is that the US knows it.

Some of you live in an alternate world.
So rather than going into specific let's first give you an example of how things work here.

Do you know 1xbit (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5266815.0) situation?
They use bitcoin, nobody is shutting down their website, nobody stops them from doing signature campaigns around the forum, but, all the members who know about them avoid them like rabies. So, how does decentralization works for them?

Going into the real world:
Boeing and Airbus have stopped dealing with Russia, this means no more replacements parts, no more planes in the air in 3-4 months, how would a blockchain solve this? Are you going to print some NFTs and stick them on the engine and hope it works?
IKEA has closed its shops, around 2000 employees are now out of jobs and out of money, how do you think a blockchain will solve things? Oh they could trade and everyone will make money and everyone will be rich, right? Cause blockchain is a source of unlimited wealth, right?
BMW, Scania, Iveco, Renault alone employ over 50 000 people there, are they all going to make NFTS and sell them to..who?

I wonder if some poeple haven't completely lost touch with reality here.
When was the last time you printed a burger jpg, eat it and though it was delicious?

To seize the offshore wealth of the Russian people and the oligarchy is utter THEFT by the West. The West has taken advantage of other people's hard-earned wealth and they are doing this else in Asia, the Middle East and even Africa. This is arbitrary stealing of other people's wealth by the US and EU king pin Capitalists

Common people die, common people face sanctions, common people suffer from the beginning till the end of the war, these power-hungry bloody leaders enjoy life in their huge palaces under high security.

I feel US is more dependent on Russia economically and as such US might likely not have any sanction on Russia. Also Russia is self dependent and might not feel much impact of any sought of sanction, i believe Putin must have considered all this before taking his action and must have had enough reserves to fall back to after the war. No one goes to war unprepared

I do not think that China and Russia could survive all their own. China would not sanction Russia but they will not single handedly support and keep them at higher level neither. It means that West sanctions would have even worse results in the long run. Right now, China could help in the near term, but they can't do that for decades, that is impossible because China is not THAT rich. It means that we are looking at a thing that is not horrible for Russia right at this moment, but not great for them in the long run. I believe that they will have to eventually come to terms and leave, otherwise China can't sustain Russia forever and it will hurt Russia more than it has so far.

Russia has received a lot of sanctions now from various European countries, but as far as I can see it doesn't seem like the sanctions have affected Russia in any way, maybe now Europe is also starting to doubt if the sanctions they impose on Russia can stop Russia from invading Ukraine, and even now Russia is getting crazy by continuing to add military troops to Ukraine.
Talking about the sanctions imposed by Europe, I think these sanctions will actually make Europe difficult later, because their may lose the main suppliers of oil and gas and the main raw materials (minerals) for industries in Europe.

I disagree that China isnt that rich, it is one of the most or totally the richest country globally which they could really sustain but we know that their Leader wouldnt really be that dumb enough on babysitting a particular

country just for that kind motive and it wouldnt really going for long term which is understandable.Support would really be just temporal but if they would saw that everything turns out to be already bad
and not sustainable then it wont be a surprise that they would simply cut off ties on these things which i do also have that doubt.

It does affect Russia because even the individuals who are rich Russians are among those that are sanctioned. If it does have an effect on Russia, it will also affect on US and Europe especially since the winter in the US has finally arrived.

What's striking is that the US push the green light of the Russia-Iran deal of their nuclear deal in exchange for the deal that Iran will supply gas for them. That's quite a surprising arrangement. 

Sanctions won't stop Russia from advancing further into Ukraine. As long as Russia has China and other allies' support, it will have nothing to worry about. Only a full-scale war from the US (and possibly other NATO countries) will put an end to Putin's ambitions. But that would be a risk neither of the aforementioned countries will be willing to take since Russia has nuclear weapons in its arsenal.

If the war continues, then it's probable Russia will take over Ukraine. This will further damage the image of the West, as it'll prove that democracy is flawed/weakened. Russia will then find other ways to rise again economically in order to become as self-sustainable as possible. After that, it'll be practically impossible to directly affect the Russian economy with sanctions. Things are widely uncertain these days, so we should be prepared for the worst. Just my opinion :)

I think that the biggest sanction that can be given to Russia at the moment is that they take the purchase of oil, because given the visits of senior Biden officials to Venezuela, it became clear that they are reaching agreements to sell oil to the USA to try to replace Russian oil, perhaps the production will not be the same as that of Russia, but it is necessary for a country like the USA, which is very consumerist in nature, to be able to satisfy the needs, it will not be like before, but it will not fall to low levels where everyone in that country falls into collapse, I think that prices will increase but the services that have to do with black gold will remain.

Buying oil from Venezuela would be no different than buying oil from Russia. Everyone knows both countries (Venezuela and Russia) have strong ties with each other. Biden's efforts to punish Russia would be futile if the US buys oil from Russian allies. While current sanctions plummeted the Ruble, the effects might not last for long as Russia seeks to become as self-sufficient as possible. China would be Russia's biggest economic supporter, as previously speculated by the US.

Only a full-scale war with Russia from the US and its allies would put an end to Putin's ambitions. But the West and the EU are taking it too "soft" so things will only get worse from now on. Just my thoughts ;D

Against such a huge country, any sanctions are ineffective. For a country with such a rich history, there are no outside restrictions. People are used to shocks and nothing will scare them. The economy is not stable and this makes the country stronger. What needs to happen for Russia to be weak? Only weak government. Now we are seeing a man of genius at the main post of Russia. I think that no sanctions will stop or weaken Russia.

Doesn't really make sense isn't it? US now going back to Venezuela for oil when history tells us that they also imposed sanctions on them years ago because of corrupt leaders and it just shows the dangerous game the US is playing in either side. And now they gave warning to India for buying oil from Russia because Russia is giving them discounts? why not though is Russia is selling them for cheap now why not India can take advantage of it? double edge sword standard by the US.

Nothing but I fully agree, something that telling the world that US is playing with the cards that have a high percentage to win, they are now working with Venezuela to sanction Russia but like what you just mentioned years back they also sanctioned this country but look now; they are the one who's in need and they easily manage to work it out, not the same production that Russia can provide but enough to make sure that their country will move forward.

The US needs to rethink about economic sanctions' effectiveness against Russia, as the invasion has no signs to come to an end. Dealing with Russia's allies (like buying oil from Venezuela) would make current sanctions meaningless. Other countries might decide to deal with Russia directly for oil, but they could also face sanctions by the US and its allies. The damage on the global economy is already done, so further tightening of economic sanctions will only make matters worse in the long run.

There's only one way to stop Russia, and that is using force through military action. As long as the war is only between Ukraine and Russia, we won't be accomplishing anything soon. Just my thoughts ;D

As long as Ukraine meets the requirements set forth by Russia, we will see the war ended. No country in Europe or the United States will have a direct military confrontation with Russia, everyone understands that WW3 will break out if the West or the US intervenes in this military action of Russia.

That is why sanctions are constantly being heavily imposed on Russia to prevent Russia from stopping acts of war. but nothing seems to work.

What do you mean by "a huge country"? I was born there. And I can say - out of 100% of a really large area, there is life only on 15% -20% of this territory. Everything else is an uninhabitable area, or absolutely depressive areas of no interest!
If we talk about the economy - this is also a fake! Technologically backward resource economy, dependent on Western technologies, without "exclusive" positions - this is the real picture of the Russian economy! Try to name the technologies that were developed and brought to the world market by Russia over the past 30 years? Well ? Not ? Can't find? That's what I'm talking about! :) More or less working sectors of the Russian economy are all the legacy of the USSR, but after 30 years of mediocre exploitation, even these sectors degrade and collapse. So before repeating the mantras of Russian propaganda about greatness, I recommend that you clarify and double-check every statement!