Sanctions are Blunt Instruments Which Punish Entire Populations But Hurt Leaders Least

"I spent years writing about how sanctions were leading to children dying in hospitals because there were not enough oxygen cylinders and the forecourts of the hospitals were full of immobile ambulances which had been cannibalised for spare parts"

"Excesses of Russophobia such as banning the sale of vodka or ending all sporting contacts make an impressive rhetorical point about disapproval of the invasion. But such hostility also hands a patriotic card to Putin who can blame Russia’s troubles on the West’s visceral hatred of Russia and divert attention from his own cataclysmic miscalculation in launching the war in the first place."

More in the article by Patrick Cockburn

Sanctions are Blunt Instruments Which Punish Entire Populations But Hurt Leaders Least - CounterPunch.org