2014-03-24: Okay, and now what … ?
The problem with an effective sanctions régime is that it leaves the guy at the business end of the sanctions very little face-saving leeway.
That’s why it’s so worrying that the Russian government is digging itself deeper and deeper into a hole. They should know that the so-called West can’t let them get away with Crimea for free; if they insist on keeping that rather inconsequential (but for the warm-water harbour) peninsula there will be a steep price to pay.
Are the Russians really going for it? No more Western money for natural gas? No more iPhones? No more … anything, really?
I don’t think an isolated Russian government is going to last a long time. I really don’t.
