From David Frum, in the Atlantic, on How Russian Sanctions Work (read the whole thing; it’s short and informative):
Remember the saying “If you owe the bank $10,000, you have a problem—but if you owe the bank $10 billion, the bank has a problem”? We, the people of the Western world, collectively owe the Russian state hundreds of billions of dollars. That’s not our problem. That’s Russia’s problem, an enormous one. Because one thing any debtor can do is … not pay when asked.
What a paragraph. This guy should write speeches for presidents.
Putin seemingly did not understand that violence is only one form of power, and not ultimately the most decisive.
This reminds me of one of my favorite lines from The Godfather. You know, the one about lawyers and briefcases. Anyways, let’s hope so.