but I'm grateful to the WSJ for at least keeping the subject alive as often as possible.
And just as an observation from the Easter European point of view, why would Putin worry about sanctions? It seems like President Obama is not old enough to remember the cold war too well, but I can tell you from personal experience that my grandma and I shopped in the "dollar" store of communist Hungary at the height of the Cold War with cash dollars my father would send right in the mail. Fine perfumes to blue jeans, didn't even have to go under-ground, perfectly legit. How naive once again on "our" part to believe luxury goods or vacations or Mercedes Benz or pate or whatever will be cut off from the Russian Oligarchy with our sanctions. And guess what, during the Cold War, much of the West's stuff was made in America's factories, and here only. Now everything is made (or copied) in China to begin with, so our goods will not be missed even if they are desired since some imitation of everything is available everywhere. Get it? Just who is about to suffer to the point of braking because of any sanctions? North Korea has been under sanctions for five decades, and I hear Kim's got more expensive a taste than his father ever did. That is not realistic from a political or economic stance. Russia now holds the spigot to a necessary commodity that feeds Eastern Europe plus, and they will keep buying it because they have no other choice. Nope, Putin or Assad or Kim or any of them, they are not afraid. So the world will keep turning with all the bad guys doing their thing unfettered, and we wait for another day and another hero.
And just as an observation from the Easter European point of view, why would Putin worry about sanctions? It seems like President Obama is not old enough to remember the cold war too well, but I can tell you from personal experience that my grandma and I shopped in the "dollar" store of communist Hungary at the height of the Cold War with cash dollars my father would send right in the mail. Fine perfumes to blue jeans, didn't even have to go under-ground, perfectly legit. How naive once again on "our" part to believe luxury goods or vacations or Mercedes Benz or pate or whatever will be cut off from the Russian Oligarchy with our sanctions. And guess what, during the Cold War, much of the West's stuff was made in America's factories, and here only. Now everything is made (or copied) in China to begin with, so our goods will not be missed even if they are desired since some imitation of everything is available everywhere. Get it? Just who is about to suffer to the point of braking because of any sanctions? North Korea has been under sanctions for five decades, and I hear Kim's got more expensive a taste than his father ever did. That is not realistic from a political or economic stance. Russia now holds the spigot to a necessary commodity that feeds Eastern Europe plus, and they will keep buying it because they have no other choice. Nope, Putin or Assad or Kim or any of them, they are not afraid. So the world will keep turning with all the bad guys doing their thing unfettered, and we wait for another day and another hero.
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