As of this writing the Russian stock market is up more than 4 percent
today after a 3.7 percent bump up yesterday. At this rate the
annexation of Crimea is going to spark a major rally for Russian stocks.
Wonder what the Communist leadership in Beijing is thinking now as
they contemplate the possibility of making an armed grab for the
Senkakus or some other piece of coveted real estate? Perhaps they’re
thinking that the consequences of such a move would not be all that
deleterious–a few days of bluster from the U.S. followed by sanctions on
fewer than a dozen individuals. Why not go for it?
It is imperative that President Obama
not stop with the extremely mild sanctions announced Monday. He needs to
go after the assets of major Kremlin powerbrokers and their oligarch
allies–and he needs to send a shot across Putin’s bow by barring at
least one Russian bank from conducting cross-border transactions, as suggested
by Mark Dubowitz. That is the way to really hurt Putin–to go after his
assets and those or his cronies and to prevent the financial
institutions they operate from functioning as per normal. Obama should
also be providing military aid to Ukraine, to make clear that further
Russian aggression will meet a determined response.
That, however, runs the risk of Russian retaliation which the U.S.
and EU so far have not been willing to run. So the Russian stock market
continues to waft ever upward and Putin is no doubt congratulating
himself for his successful bout of Realpolitik.
(Click link below to read more)
READ MORE
Sphere: Related Content
About Me

- Judy Chaffee
- This site is the inspiration of a former reporter/photographer for one of New England's largest daily newspapers and for various magazines. The intent is to direct readers to interesting political articles, and we urge you to visit the source sites. Any comments may be noted on site or directed to KarisChaf at gmail.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment