WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to sanction Russian oligarchs this week under a law targeting Moscow for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in what could be the most aggressive move so far against Russia’s business elite.
The action, which could affect people close to President Vladimir Putin, reflects Washington’s desire to hold Russia to account for allegedly interfering in the election - which Moscow denies - even as U.S. President Donald Trump holds out hope for good relations with Putin.
Trump has faced fierce criticism for doing too little to punish Russia for the election meddling and other actions, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller is probing whether his campaign colluded with the Russians, an allegation the president denies.
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WNU Editor: The unwritten rule in Russia is that you can do business, voice your opposition to the government, etc. .... but you do not get involved in politics and you definitely do not get involved in directly opposing Putin. Many of these oligarchs may know Putin and members of his government, and some probably have benefited from these contacts .... but do they really support him .... I can say no. As to these new sanctions .... it is going to be interesting to see who is going to be sanctioned by the US Treasury Department. My hope is that those who deserve to be sanctioned are the ones who get hammered.
1 comment:
"...My hope is the ones who deserve to get sanctioned are the ones who get hammered." I hope so too. We can certainly hope.
Unfortunately prior history does not offer much hope. Part of the problem is they have no idea who to sanction. US officials are trying to construct a narrative that fits in with a preconceived notion. When the facts don't mesh, they simply make them up as they go even to the point of hiring a special prosecutor to go on a never ending quest to hunt for the crimes that one thinks simply MUST be there. After all our preconceived notion fits this.
All humans are susceptible to this on some level. Generally it isn't a huge problem as the fallout is limited to the person who allowed themselves to go astray or those in their immediate vicinity. When national policy becomes based upon such things, this becomes a huge problem as you now are placing the American people in grave danger and for no good reason. While it may be necessary in a certain situation, sanctions against arguably the world's most powerful country is not something to trifle with.
If the people about to sanctioned did not support Putin before, they are almost certain to afterward as this will drive them into the arms of the Russian leader who like him or not appears to be fighting for their interests. Sanctions are an act of war. If you are going to pursue them against a chump country with few allies, maybe this isn't a huge problem.
Pursue them against a country like Russia and the blowback potential becomes enormous. The American people need to be aware of this. As such, present the evidence as to who, what, when, where, how, and what effect carefully in a meticulous manner to the American people, state your case, get Congress to declare war, and then move forward.
The proper evidence has not been submitted to justify such an action. If these people "know" Putin perhaps they should be cultivated as avenues of contact and diplomacy as channels for possible negotiation and other interactions with top members of Putin's team or Putin himself. This might be productive. It would provide opportunities to find common ground and to defuse the situation.
Oh wait, POTUS tried to do that already!! We have seen what some think of this. I don't want to believe this but sometimes it almost seems as though many in the US government are calibrating their actions to deliberately provoke a confrontation with Russia. At best, such actions require sober minded thought and a very good reason for them needs to be presented. At worst, such actions are mark of insanity.
At least at the moment, I lean towards insanity. At least looking at the article the editor linked to on the Pentagon's plan to confront Russia and China assuming it is accurate the only rational conclusion would seem to be that these people are insane. Until someone can put something on the table that has a better chance of working, the DJT plan is really the only one we have. I think it could use some tweaking and POTUS needs to develop the spine to stand up to the generals. If the Pentagon plan is to be believed, it looks like we may need a complete purging of all of the 4 and 5 star generals and perhaps even more.
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