Well the weeks have gone by since Russia took over control of Crimea with little, to no real sanctions to pressure Mr. Putin and his inner circle. What have we done so far? Sanctions on a select few within the Russian government and companies/banks that are close to the upper echelon of the government. These sanctions may have long term consequences but nothing that will be felt for quite a while. So what more can be done?
Lets first look at hitting the top decision makers within the Russian government. I am talking Mr. Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev. How about placing hard hitting sanctions on these guys, freeze their foreign assets, restrict air travel etc, make these sanctions be felt by the heads of state.
Next we need to look at getting the message across to the people of Russia, they are being hoodwinked by their government. But how do you do this with most media strictly controlled by Putin? You need to look at the media not controlled by the government and feed them the true stories, I mean a Ukrainian Mayor shot in the back by a pro-Russian assailant, what are the chances that this is being reported in Russia.....slim to none I would think and you can guarantee it is not being reported on any of the state controlled media outlets.
There are other ways to get the word out as well, social media is the best way in my opinion, problem is that the government is making sure nothing is being passed on that they do not want their people to know. The EU, US, Canada and others can look at ways to unlock these social media sites and make others like Facebook and Twitter more accessible. The top Russian social media site VKontakte, was just taken over by pro-Putin supporters after founder Pavel Durov stated he would not censor his site. Durov has since fled the country and will not return fearing for his safety. Durov says that VKontakte is "under the complete control of Igor Sechin and Alisher Usmanov", the chief executive of state-owned oil company Rosneft and Putin's former deputy chief of staff, and the richest man in Russia, respectively. Is it time for this site to be infiltrated by the international community, although governments say they do not take part in this type of activity there is no doubt in anyone's mind that this is the case.
Energy is of course the big stumbling block here, Russia controls it's neighbours by controlling their energy needs. Ukraine, Poland, Georgia, UK, and many others are held hostage by Russia in this department. For years they have wielded this power over these countries by pressuring them into concessions on state matters They have just recently dramatically increased prices for gas going into Ukraine and increase are sure to come for the rest of the countries dependent on Russia for natural gas imports. Russia will strike back at any of these nations that impose sanctions on them so in the coming months you will see the cost of natural gas go up dramatically in the rest of Europe. So what can we do? Canada, the US, and the Middle East need to do their part here, make our energy more accessible to Europe and thus try to ring in this stranglehold Russia has on them. We can also look at domestic energy within these nations, maybe give some sort of tax breaks for companies willing to go into these countries and drill. Poland, Spain, France and the Uk have enough domestic oil and gas that could supply the rest of the continent in a few short years, all they need is the expertise and money. This is where targeted tax breaks by not only the EU but maybe Canada and the US as well that would go a long ways in helping to unlock these resources.
I am sure I am going to miss hundreds of other options but the last option I want to talk about is military support. We should be looking to beef up the Ukrainian defenses and help them take back their government buildings in east Ukraine that have been taken by heavily(re:Russian Paramilitary) armed pro-Russian rebels. We don't want a civil war to break out here but there needs to be law and order instilled which should be the ultimate goal.
The one thing I do know is that Obama, and the rest of the world need to make a hard stand here and let Russia know that they cannot just go around annexing their neighbour's land nor bullying them in any way. The world is civilized Mr. Putin, it is time for you to get on board.
Lets first look at hitting the top decision makers within the Russian government. I am talking Mr. Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev. How about placing hard hitting sanctions on these guys, freeze their foreign assets, restrict air travel etc, make these sanctions be felt by the heads of state.
Next we need to look at getting the message across to the people of Russia, they are being hoodwinked by their government. But how do you do this with most media strictly controlled by Putin? You need to look at the media not controlled by the government and feed them the true stories, I mean a Ukrainian Mayor shot in the back by a pro-Russian assailant, what are the chances that this is being reported in Russia.....slim to none I would think and you can guarantee it is not being reported on any of the state controlled media outlets.
There are other ways to get the word out as well, social media is the best way in my opinion, problem is that the government is making sure nothing is being passed on that they do not want their people to know. The EU, US, Canada and others can look at ways to unlock these social media sites and make others like Facebook and Twitter more accessible. The top Russian social media site VKontakte, was just taken over by pro-Putin supporters after founder Pavel Durov stated he would not censor his site. Durov has since fled the country and will not return fearing for his safety. Durov says that VKontakte is "under the complete control of Igor Sechin and Alisher Usmanov", the chief executive of state-owned oil company Rosneft and Putin's former deputy chief of staff, and the richest man in Russia, respectively. Is it time for this site to be infiltrated by the international community, although governments say they do not take part in this type of activity there is no doubt in anyone's mind that this is the case.
Energy is of course the big stumbling block here, Russia controls it's neighbours by controlling their energy needs. Ukraine, Poland, Georgia, UK, and many others are held hostage by Russia in this department. For years they have wielded this power over these countries by pressuring them into concessions on state matters They have just recently dramatically increased prices for gas going into Ukraine and increase are sure to come for the rest of the countries dependent on Russia for natural gas imports. Russia will strike back at any of these nations that impose sanctions on them so in the coming months you will see the cost of natural gas go up dramatically in the rest of Europe. So what can we do? Canada, the US, and the Middle East need to do their part here, make our energy more accessible to Europe and thus try to ring in this stranglehold Russia has on them. We can also look at domestic energy within these nations, maybe give some sort of tax breaks for companies willing to go into these countries and drill. Poland, Spain, France and the Uk have enough domestic oil and gas that could supply the rest of the continent in a few short years, all they need is the expertise and money. This is where targeted tax breaks by not only the EU but maybe Canada and the US as well that would go a long ways in helping to unlock these resources.
I am sure I am going to miss hundreds of other options but the last option I want to talk about is military support. We should be looking to beef up the Ukrainian defenses and help them take back their government buildings in east Ukraine that have been taken by heavily(re:Russian Paramilitary) armed pro-Russian rebels. We don't want a civil war to break out here but there needs to be law and order instilled which should be the ultimate goal.
The one thing I do know is that Obama, and the rest of the world need to make a hard stand here and let Russia know that they cannot just go around annexing their neighbour's land nor bullying them in any way. The world is civilized Mr. Putin, it is time for you to get on board.
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