Economic sanctions have always been a blunt weapon. But they never turned against their authors as quickly as they are now.
There are many reasons why it is difficult to find an adequate response to Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine. One is that after the end of communism, the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the collapse of the USSR, the US and its allies no longer consider a full-scale war in Europe. The hole in the ozone layer, particulate matter pollution and climate change have been identified as new threats to humanity. So why invest in deterrence and increase defense spending?
No one liked to hear the warning that whoever wants peace must prepare for war. Gradually, European countries reduced their military potential. Donald Trump’s demand that NATO partners invest at least two percent of GDP in armaments has been indignantly rejected. Putin realized his chance had arrived. Assessing that the struggling American superpower is centered in East Asia and that Europe cannot be defended without US involvement, he tested how far he could go in Georgia in 2008 and in Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014. It was not until February 24 that European governments realized that the war unfolding before their eyes might not be the last test of its kind. Then Putin could, for example, demand a corridor to Kaliningrad and trigger a war in the Baltic.