Quote Originally Posted by carl View Post
And the key to combating them is stressing their economy like you and Firn have been saying. Those guys are not good at making things, not good at economies. We can do it. We'll see if we have the nerve. Putin and the boys do have nerve.
That would depend on who you mean by "we". If "we" is the US and Europe acting together, yes. If "we" is the US alone, no: our economy is not sufficiently connected to that of Russia to inflict enough pain.

Sanctions of course hurt both sides, and it's a question of who's willing to take the pain longest. In this case Russia would certainly have more pain, but Putin may be betting that Russians have a higher pain tolerance than, say, Germans, and fewer and less effective ways to force their government to end the pain. He may or may not be right. We'll see.