Former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon (left) chats with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the Valdai discussion club northwest of Moscow in September 2013.
RFE: French Presidential Candidate Says Russia Sanctions 'Ineffective'
French presidential candidate Francois Fillon says that the European Union's economic sanctions against Russia are ineffective and called for dialogue with Moscow.
Speaking on January 23, Fillon also expressed concern that the new administration of U.S. President Donald Trump could forge links with Russia that would sideline the EU.
"I am convinced that the economic sanctions are totally ineffective," Fillon told reporters after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. "We must find another way to talk."
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WNU Editor: I disagree. Sanctions have been effective .... the start of another Cold War and the Ukraine conflict are big concerns .... but for the average Russian on the street .... their focus is on jobs, the economy, and yes .... the impact that sanctions has on this. Russian President Putin knows this .... and his election is next year. He wants this issue to be gone or .... at least .... diminished.
4 comments:
Russian sanctions have been "ineffective" in the sense that they have not led to a change in behavior by the Russian government nor will they lead to a change in behavior. In fact, they seem to have only reinforced the behavior the sanctions were supposed to discourage. Furthermore the sanctions seem to have driven the Russian people closer to the leadership as this action reinforced an "us against them" attitude and plays perfectly into the United States as a "foreign devil." I predicted this at the time the sanctions were proposed. In fact, meaning no disrespect to anyone this prediction seemed so easy that a child of about four could have easily seen what would happen. Not only this but as an added result the sanctions have played a large role in starting Cold War II.
While it cannot be proven, I think it possible that pro-Russian forces pushed the idea of "sanctions: to gullible western leaders understanding fully what would happen. Vladimir Putin's position has been strengthened greatly, the citizens support him more than ever before, and America's position has been weakened. Surely even they do not want Cold War II. It's hard to imagine Ukraine being worth all of this to America or Western Europe for that matter.
Surely a person with a pragmatic approach would not have come up with such a hare-brained idea as sanctions against Russia over Ukraine or pretty much anything else. As the Reagan Administration negotiated an end to Cold war I, hopefully the Trump Administration along with people like the French presidential candidate can negotiate an end to Cold War II.
After all, it is people like him who will be ruling France and many other countries very soon. Sanctions may be effective against small weak countries who have few allies. Against countries like Russia they are not going to be effective and such actions actually undermine the role of the US dollar as world reserve currency.
The US and Europe should impose sanctions in the former of preventing ting US banks, along with European allies banks, from doing business with Russia, Russian companies or individuals. Then you will see real pain. They will no longer be able to borrow money, invest, or bank funds on any large, reliable, efficient or cost effective way. That could cause their economy to collapse. As it is it's only the size of Australia and presently in a death spiral. If that happens, Putin. Better learn a lesson from the last Czar.
Anon,
Very respectfully all that would be accomplished here is a quick end to the US dollar as world reserve currency and it would NOT be a soft landing either. While Russia's economy may not be the largest, the nation has numerous allies and an extremely powerful military. If one corners them, they along with their allies are very likely to strike back in ways that will cause major pain to Americans.
When in a hole, the best thing to do is stop digging. Doubling down on bad policies is unlikely to have a good ending. A better way to change Russian behavior is to end sanctions and move forward with the 500 billion dollar oil deal between it and Exxon Mobil. Both countries stand to benefit enormously.
Eventually sanctions are ending no matter what the US government does. If the US government doesn't get on board, someone else besides an American company will get this deal.
The editor of this site has done an excellent job in documenting the corruption of the Ukrainian government. In a cost benefit analysis, what do we gain by supporting them and what do we lose by doing so? They're not worth it.
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