Sanctions On Russia

The Russia sanctions bite Sanctions have been effective at crippling the Russian economy. That's the conclusion of a new 118-page paper from Yale's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and 18 c0-authors. ....... "Russian imports have largely collapsed," the paper says — creating massive supply shortages and denying the country crucial parts and technologies. ....... "Russian domestic production has come to a complete standstill." ....... Foreign companies that have left Russia account for 40% of Russian GDP, the author wrote, almost none of which is going to come back any time soon. ......... "Looking ahead, there is no path out of economic oblivion for Russia as long as the allied countries remain unified in maintaining and increasing sanctions pressure." ....... Russia needs Europe to buy its natural gas more than Europe needs Russian natural gas to buy. ........ Because natural gas is "a highly non-fungible commodity," delivered through pipes that take decades to build, Russia has very few alternative export markets for its gas, and 83% of its natural gas exports go to Europe. ...... The economic repercussions of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine are being felt in all countries. But they're particularly devastating in Russia — with little, if any, future upside so long as sanctions remain in place.

Global Politics Is Perhaps Star Wars

In the Star Wars movies, you see these various life forms. There are numerous groups. They look different, they weight different, they sound different, they organize different. These are fundamentally different groups. Maybe that is what global politics is. We perhaps live on a Star Wars planet.

Yesterday I felt like the bottom fell out. What is this? What's going on? Let me go read the Shia Sunni entries on the Wikipedia. They likely have been massively vandalized. All is fair in war, I guess. I guess not all terrorists are alike. Not that I am calling anyone a terrorist.

The drone attacks prove my theory. I have always felt Americans take the Star Wars movies way too seriously.

Saudi Arabia-Iran row spreads to other nations @CNN https://t.co/wcBEiTdGlC

— Paramendra Bhagat (@paramendra) January 5, 2016