The Russian invasion and war against its peaceful neighbor Ukraine continues to escalate. We learned that Russia has hired private mercenaries, the Wagner Group, to infiltrate Kiev, locate the Ukrainian president and then murder him along with other Ukrainian political leaders.
The Daily Star reports that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin may unleash invisible drones, remote control tanks, and attack dogs on Ukrainians. The Ukrainian government today accused Russia of already using a “vacuum bomb” which is prohibited by the Geneva Convention because it ruptures the lungs, causes people to inhale burning fuel and creates a horrible, fiery death for victims. It is a war crime to use this kind of weapon. Russia has also used cluster bombs in Ukraine against civilians, yet another potential war crime. It is also targeting and killing civilians, destroying hospitals, children hospitals and preschools during its invasion of Ukraine.
Although Ukrainian forces have valiantly fought back against the invading Russian war criminals, there is no doubt that Russia maintains the upper military hand and maintains the military infrastructure and personnel to completely capture Ukraine including its capitol. It really is only a matter of time.
Meantime, after the United States’ intelligence community’s absolutely brilliant steps to undermine and expose all of Putin’s lies and attempts to muddy the water in recent weeks, the Western World, and part of the Eastern World, have imposed a series of devastating economic sanctions against Russia. The sanctions have largely cut Russia off financially from the rest of the world, have made it very difficult for the government and Russian citizens to access assets abroad, have cut off air travel to Russian commercial aircraft and have cut off much of Russian banking.
The consequence has been that the Russian currency has collapsed, at one point it was worth less than one U.S. cent. The interest rates in Russia, over night have quadrupled to 20%. There are runs on Russian banks as citizens attempt to access cash, and there is even talk of social instability due to the relatively immediate and swift economic actions by the international community.
This is only the beginning of the war and the beginning of the economic consequences in Russia.
Some have questioned the need to take steps that harm average Russians. However, the international community must make clear that an act of war, mass murder and genocide against a peaceful neighbor will be met with swift consequences that will be felt by all citizens. This is the only way to “send the message,” not to select only certain individuals for economic punishment (which they can then avoid and obfuscate by working with people who are not sanctioned). All of Russia will need to pay an economic cost for this murderous invasion much the same as the rest of the world will pay an economic cost for holding Russia rightly accountable for their attrocities.
American Rampage 