[PJ] Anti-Putin activist Alexei Navalny is slowly recovering in a Berlin hospital after being poisoned with a nerve agent. His convalescence will be long and painful.
Naturally, the finger of blame is pointed at Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose enemies continue to end up dead. In Navalny’s case, he escaped with his life. Others have not been as lucky.
In truth, Navalny, like many Russian opponents of Putin, had angered several other powerful people in Russia, so Putin isn’t the only suspect. But the poisoning has all the earmarks of a state security operation. And since the Federal Security Service (FSB) is under Putin’s direct control, putting two and two together is not that difficult.
But what can anyone do to stop it? The left in the U.S. has been screaming for more sanctions on Russia for four years, since U.S. intelligence confirmed Russian interference in the 2016 election. The EU has been mulling putting more sanctions on Russia and the various friends of the Kremlin who prop up Putin’s rule.
But the reality is that sanctions against Russia will only harm the nations that impose them. Putin has been under sanctions for years and is hardly bothered by them.
A good example is the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. |