The Biden Administration has announced new sanctions on Russia as a response to the death of freedom fighter Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison last week. From the Washington Post:
"The United States will impose more than 500 new sanctions on Russian companies and individuals, according to a Treasury Department spokeswoman. The sanctions aim to hit Russian banks and suppliers that supply Russian industrial and munitions production."
We're skeptical that sanctions have worked against war criminal and murderous thug Putin and his oligarch bankers and companions, and that these will get his attention. As the Post notes:
"The West’s sanctions on Russia, though billed as among the toughest ever, have thus far failed to deter Putin from carrying out the war in Ukraine, and the announcement of new measures may raise questions about why the United States had not previously targeted these firms. Despite the predictions of some analysts, Russia’s economy grew by more than 3 percent last year — faster than the United States — as Moscow spent extensively to support the war effort." (our emphasis)
This is the umpteenth time the Administration has announced "tough" sanctions, leaving the impression that we're squeezing the Kremlin as much as possible, only to apply more sanctions later. Maybe a little less b.s. from the communications staff would be in order.
Also, as long as there are other regimes prepared to undermine the sanctions, they will leak like a sieve (see: China, North Korea, India, South Africa, etc). Resuming major weapons deliveries to the besieged Ukrainians is a much better message to send to Moscow, but a message that the Putin wing of the Republican Party and its cult leader don't want to send.
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