Doesnt even really work then. In Iraq it just meant a million people people/babies dying from preventable disease and the rest resenting the US for it.
It's blunt, ineffectual weapon at the best of times. Target an economy that's too strong and the sanctioner ends up hit almost as badly as the sanctionee. If we did it to China we'd probably be hit with 20-50% inflation instead of 9%.
I dont really see how US war planners can back out of the Russian sanctions though, even at 9% inflation. It would mean losing so much face to kowtow to Putin, but Ill bet theyll be far more hesitant to use it elsewhere.
It's now a calculation of whether they lose more face sticking pigheadedly to a bad decision, that the rest of world is moving on from, or losing more face by admitting they were wrong and quickly changing tactics.
Based on the fact that marijuana is still considered a schedule one drug, with no accepted medical use, at the US federal level, I'm going to put my money on pigheadedly continuing with a likely wrong strategy.
The US government is facing a rapidly accelerating legitimacy crisis due to its apparent inability to say "we were wrong".
Plus all the election fortification efforts that made this timeline happen. Trump was hated for being friendly with Putin by top Democrats but also by many in the Republican party. Mass Mail-in voting was to Trumps huge disadvantage, yet Republicans went along with it. Makes you think.
It's blunt, ineffectual weapon at the best of times. Target an economy that's too strong and the sanctioner ends up hit almost as badly as the sanctionee. If we did it to China we'd probably be hit with 20-50% inflation instead of 9%.
I dont really see how US war planners can back out of the Russian sanctions though, even at 9% inflation. It would mean losing so much face to kowtow to Putin, but Ill bet theyll be far more hesitant to use it elsewhere.