If I were Vladimir Putin…
I’d use a little American “chutz-pah” in dealing with the sanctionistas.
THE SITUATION IN UKRAINE HAS SUDDENLY AWAKENED ME TO MY VULNERABILITIES AS AN AMERICAN QUARTERED IN MOSCOW. SANCTIONS HAVE MADE ME AWARE THAT I WOULD BE EQUALLY DEAD - WHETHER BY MISSILE OR STARVATION. MY GOVERNMENT IS TARGETING ALL THE PEOPLE IN RUSSIA, HOPING THAT OUR UNREST WILL PUNISH THE REGIME FOR THE FAILURE OF WESTERN DIPLOMACY. IT AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN. BUT IT DOES MAKE ME WANT TO STRIKE BACK AT THE EMPIRE … ESPECIALLY AGAINST THOSE COMPANIES WHO DECIDED TO GO BEYOND SANCTIONS TO HURT ORDINARY PEOPLE. I DON’T HAVE THE WHEREWITHAL, BUT IF I WERE PUTIN, THIS IS WHAT I WOULD DO.
And thus I apply my devious American mind to the options that Putin may have.
If were Vladimir Putin, I would …
… demand payment in rubles for gas coming through the southern pipeline, while only accepting Petro dollars for gas coming through an activated Nord Stream 2.
… organize a Council of Sanctioned Nations to request that the UN resume it’s role as the only governing body legally empowered to employ and approve sanctions.
… support a class action suit by Russian citizens seeking monetary damages from companies who abandoned their consumer obligations though not required by the sanctions.
… place a heavy fine on all foreign businesses that left or paused and force them to buy back their confiscated equipment should they seek to return.
… only sell commodities like oil, wheat and fertilizer to friendly countries, who can earn middleman fees in further supplying unfriendly countries.
… invite FOX News to set up a Moscow Bureau with a 10-year no competition guarantee.
… offer Donald Trump and his entourage political asylum.
… deliver free humanitarian supplies to Ukrainian troops entrenched along the Donbass border, including unlimited vodka.
… name Tucker Carlson a Hero of the Russian Federation.
… draw a red line around Finland, which seems to be backing off its neutrality.
… use the international passenger aircraft abandoned in Russia to create a parts depot for other sanctioned nations.
… remind NATO that it is not a sovereign state and is subject to retribution when it leaves its safe haven behind European borders.
… declare Italy a “Friendly State,” remove all counter sanctions, and begin importing parmegiano and prosciutto again.
… work with India and Pakistan to invite the UN to relocate to Kashmir, which will be declared an international zone administered by the two countries.
… start a movement among UN members to return to the original mission of managing a multi-polar world as envisioned by Franklin Roosevelt and Josef Stalin.
… challenge the permanent members of the Security Council to give up their veto power.
… plead with Angela Merkel to resume leadership and restore Germany to a sane path.
… invite interested nations to form a Council for the Preservation of Eastern Values and Culture.
… call for a UN agency to fund and monitor all bio labs in the world, limit one per country.
… offer rubles to help rebuild Ukraine equal to the amount that Ukraine offers to Donbass.
… align with the ACLU, The Anti-Defamation League, BLM and the NAACP to have all violations of ethnic Russian rights in the U.S. and EU declared hate crimes.
… establish a joint committee of the Duma and the House of Representatives (right wingers and progressives) to reset U.S.-Russia relations for a younger generation.
… offer nuclear technology to any country that is occupied by an American military base - EU, UK and Australia excepted.
… pay the U.S. to hold captive Ukrainian Nazis in Guantanamo while awaiting trial before an international tribunal.
… sign non-aggression treaties with all EU and nearby countries not members of NATO.
… mass troops on the border with Baltic states to punctuate a demand that they join Finland in an unaligned and neutral bloc.
… demand that any co-existence agreement include an extension of the Poland-Belarus border wall to cover the Poland-Ukraine border.
… change the name of Donbass to Ukraine, while the current Ukraine can choose another name that either rejects or accepts its Slavic origin.
THUS ENDS MY LITTLE EXERCISE IN VIRTUAL VENGEANCE INTENDED TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF MY SLEEP THESE NIGHTS. SOMETIMES BEING ANNOYING IS BETTER THAN WINNING.
The following article envisions Russia as becoming a safe and sane haven for people fleeing the disintegrating values, the violence, and the failing economic and political systems in Western nations.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2021/12/12/is-russian-century-shaping-up-by-default/