How sanctioning Russia may be futile: The Hill
3 Min Read
Sanctions on Russia are proving to have more damage on the states imposing them than on the Russian economy.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin
According to geostrategist and the author Brahma Chellaney, the Western sanctions against Russia are a trap.
Sanctions and escalating war boost global commodity and energy prices, resulting in more income for Moscow despite a considerable fall in exports. And, by stoking inflation, higher overseas prices spell political difficulty at home for those behind the sanctions.
Read more: EU preparing new anti-Russian sanctions for coming days
In an opinion piece for The Hill, Chellaney says that despite being cut off from the world's finance, the Russian currency has recovered tremendously thanks to governmental intervention.
Additionally, the Japanese yen (the world's third-most-traded currency) has dropped to a 20-year low against the US dollar, ranking this year as the worst-performing of the 41 currencies tracked — worse than the ruble, even though it followed the US' lead on its position on Russia.
Chellaney argues that uncontrolled inflation and supply-chain disruptions are endangering Western business earnings, while interest-rate rises to combat inflation exacerbate an already dire position for consumers. April became Wall Street's worst month since the pandemic-caused March 2020 fall.
Read more: Wall Street plummets for the second week in a row
Despite the fact that its economy is suffering as a result of Western sanctions, Russia is doing its part to keep international energy and commodity prices high, notably by shutting off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria. Moscow might hike prices even higher with larger counter-sanctions while still protecting its export revenues, he says.
Chellaney states that Russia is simply one of the world's richest countries in terms of natural resources and the largest exporters of natural gas, uranium, nickel, oil, coal, aluminum, copper, wheat, fertilizers, and precious metals such as palladium, which is more valuable than gold and is widely used in catalytic converters.
#Russia is the largest exporter of titanium in the world, an essential component for the #US Boeing aircraft manufacturing in recent years, in addition to its wide usage in many industries.#RussiaUkraine pic.twitter.com/Usp2VARLQq
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) March 12, 2022
He argues that unfortunately, the ones who truly suffer from the conflict are poorer countries.
The author describes how every day is a reminder that "this conflict is not just about the control of Ukraine or its future status. Rather, this is a full-fledged new Cold War between Washington and Moscow, with Europe as the theater of the growing confrontation."
Biden's bold claims of implying and calling for regime change in Russia also contradict his previous statements early in the war that a direct confrontation means World War 3, something that must be prevented.
The author states that sanctions, although have historically worked better against smaller, more vulnerable states, "The current Western sanctions could take years to seriously hurt the Russian economy."
He says that this is proved by Biden's incessant weapons supply to Ukraine.
