Do the US sanctions against Russia go far enough?

When it comes to geopolitics the Americans rarely undersell their actions. The latest sanctions package is an example of that.

According to those who planned them they are historic. In speed, in unity and coordination.

They’ve gone faster and further than in 2014 when Russia first began pinching parts of Ukraine.

And incase doubters were about to question just how effective those sanctions were, the suggestion from the top is that they stopped an all out attack on Kiev.

Who would know….well maybe one man and he certainly isn’t telling.

This latest set of restrictions are described as a first wave, only the initial sharp edge of the pain that may yet be inflicted.

However, they aren’t quite at the level they were billed. There is no sign of the major banking sanctions which were promised.

The oligarchs being sanctioned are not top flight or ranking. And though cutting the Kremlin’s access to Western money through sovereign debt sanctions will have an impact, they were already wise to the threat and had sought to insulate against it.

We are told there are more severe penalties in reserve, kept back as a deterrent to further adventurism.

There would certainly need to be.

What’s been announced may have got President Putin’s attention at the moment, but sanctions at this level won’t hold it for long and may give the idea the West doesn’t have the stomach for the fight that he does.