@Outlaw 09: I was a bit surprised just how much of a focus has been on Germany. I followed the Russian press through the Moscow time and Merkel as been called the 'whore' of Obama and Germany 'the strength of the EU' without not much would happen. I disagree on both, but there is some truth in the latter. The english-speaking media also point mostly to the importance of the German role.
That we hear nothing about Renzi and Italy is sadly obvious, perhaps the same goes for Spain, but there is also relative little about France and only some more about Britain. Even if the press likes to put things in simple terms the degree in which the importance of Germany was highlighted relative to other large nations is remarkable. Personally it seems that Germany rappresents pretty well the compromise or consensus opinion of the EU between the 'hard' Eastern members and the 'soft' South-Western ones.
From a political point of view it is important to point out the surprising degree of unity of the EU. It is also good that most have got the massage that Russia depends far more on Europe then the other way around.
I think now that the Crimea has been annexed a smart way to play the economic sanction game is to ratch them up over a long time to keep stirring up the insecurity in the financial markets which will harm Russia far more. As kaur pointed out, hitting a select group of Putins allies might be a good idea to divided the elite. Ideally capital flight should be encouraged to dry the Russian markets out, the Kremlins actions and words have certainly already driven out Western capital. Stopping selected Technological transfers by trade and foreign direct investment should also be high on the list, with military ones clearly being unacceptable (to you hear me Hollande?).
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