Vladimir Putin is either crazy, stupid, or completely in denial if he thinks that he can preemptively tell the rest of the world what sanctions are appropriate to be imposed on Russia.
Obviously, this is far from the way that these economic penalties work, first of all; no leader gets to decide what’s acceptable when they are being punished. And, secondly, Putin’s ego seems to have him suggesting that he can arbitrarily draw lines in the sand regarding what these sanctions mean to Russia.
For instance, after he invaded Ukraine, (under the threat of these very sanctions), the Russian “President” tried to call the globally-agreed-upon penalties an “act of war”.
Well, Putin had better get some thicker skin, and quickly, because the US and her allies are about to sink his economic battleship.
The U.S. is in talks with European allies about banning imports of Russian oil, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday.
“I spoke to the president and the leading members of the Cabinet about this just yesterday from Europe, and we are now in very active discussions with our European partners about banning the import of Russian oil to our countries, while of course at the same time maintaining a steady global supply of oil,” Blinken said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Asked whether the U.S. would ban Russian oil “unilaterally,” Blinken told host Chuck Todd: “A hallmark of everything we’ve done to date has been this coordination with allies and partners. We are much more effective across the board.”
The move would almost certainly peeve the already frantic and flailing Kremlin cretin, and could call his bluff on a number of empty threats that he has already made regarding such sanctions.
