Prof. ST Hsieh
Director, US-China Energy Industry Forum
626-376-7460
August 26, 2023
The proxy war in Ukraine has been going on more than 18 months with no end in sight. Unfortunately for the Ukrainians, the war is trending not in the favor of Ukraine. Although President Zelenskyy still vows that he is wining, but the supports from his allies will not last for long.
German is the first to admit that “The sanctions against Russia aren’t working!” The sad reality is that not only the sanctions against Russia so far have to not weakened Russia at all, but rather German economy has been ruined by these sanctions: German’s recent GDP growth is in the negative. If the proxy goes on, these failed sanctions will have to stay on, and German as well as EU members will keep suffering.
The admission that “The logic of democracy does not work in autocracies” is profound: does it mean that democracy will never triumph? In fact, the fault lies on the inept politicians who contrived this proxy way and conceived and enforced those “unprecedented sanctions” that would break Russia’s will to fight with Ukraine. More specifically, Germans’ Foreign Minister’s admission is a lesson for the voters. When she was asking for the job, she proclaimed that “she was unequally qualified because she had no foreign policy experience!”
These sanctions were fundamentally flawed because politicians should not dictate trade in the free market system. Admitting a mistake takes courage, but it is more important to accept the responsibilities and change course immediately!
The sanctions against Russia aren’t working, says the foreign minister of Germany
Huileng Tan
Fri, August 25, 2023 at 6:36 AM PDT·
- Germany’s foreign minister Baerbock said sanctions against Russia are not having an “economic impact,” per AFP.
- The EU launched 11 rounds of sanctions against Russia to force Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.
- But Russia’s wartime economy is booming on the back of state spending, confounding economists.
Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, is disappointed by the ineffectiveness of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
She recently acknowledged that sanctions against Russia haven’t achieved their desired impact.
“Economic sanctions should have an economic impact. But that is not the case,” Baerbock told German journalist Stephen Lamby in an interview for his book “Emergency: Governing in Times of War” which was released on Thursday, according to AFP.
“We have learned that with rational decisions, rational measures, agreed between civilized governments, it is not possible to end this war,” she added in the interview on July 10.
The European Union launched 11 rounds of sanctions against Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, to pressure the Kremlin into ending the war. The US, too, has imposed sweeping sanctions against Russia.
However, Russia’s wartime economy seems to be booming as the Kremlin has boosted the production of military equipment and raised pensions, salaries, and other benefits for people who are not well-off, among other subsidies.
Swiss bank UBS’ Global Wealth Report 2023 also showed Russians got richer last year, while the US and Europe lost trillions of dollars in private wealth.
The resilience in Russia’s economy has baffled economists who predicted catastrophic outcomes following the unprecedented sanctions — although some have warned the state spending that is boosting the bubble isn’t sustainable in the long run.
“The logic of democracy does not work in autocracies,” Baerbock told Lamby in the interview.
Germany’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request from Insider for comment sent outside regular business hours.