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" Late in the day, the president announced that new and harsher sanctions would be placed on Russia. The European Union finally came around and joined him, which means, I guess, that knocking a civilian airliner out of the sky is what gets the EU&amp;#039;s attention. Analysts say the restrictions could inflict serious damage on the already listing Russian economy, which relies heavily on Europe as a market for its oil and gas, as a source of financing and as a supplier of components for its military. All three areas will take a hit under the measures announced Tuesday. Europe&amp;#039;s harder line has long been sought by Washington, but was for months resisted by European officials who have been anxious about the implications for their own economies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel led a faction of European leaders who sought to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine through dialogue with Moscow, rather than punitive measures. But the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine this month galvanized politicians in capitals across Europe to move swiftly against Moscow in retaliation for an attack that the West has blamed on pro-Russian rebels. Further, the president was right in knocking down the notion that this represents a new Cold War. First of all, there&amp;#039;s no Russian bloc this time. There&amp;#039;s just Vladimir Putin, who is a Russian nationalist and an autocrat, but not a Tsar or a General Secretary, who fights his proxy wars on his own borders, and not around the world. And, like any autocrat, he is theoretically most vulnerable to other autocrats, either individually or in combination. Like any nationalist, he is most vulnerable to pragmatists who like to hold onto the lifestyles the country has provided them. As nearly as I can tell, beyond a desire to re-establish Russia as a world power, and to establish himself as a world leader, Putin&amp;#039;s not motivated by any ideology that isn&amp;#039;t vulnerable to financial pressure. (The only truly stupid thing we could do would be to intervene militarily somehow and give him a chance to become the Alexander Nevsky of the digital age to his people back home. This would include arming the Ukrainians, something the president also realizes, since he made a point today of saying that the issue was not whether the Ukrainians could &amp;quot;outfight&amp;quot; their adversaries.) I&amp;#039;ve thought all along that the sanctions were aimed less at Putin than at all the other Russian oligarchs who might not share his mythic dreams of Russian glory and would rather make fk-tons of money without European or American complications. No matter how iron his grip is on the Russian government, those are likely the only people who can shake it at all. And it&amp;#039;s a damned sight better than shipping more shoulder-fired missiles into the war zone. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a21284/more-sanctions-for-russia/>