Punishing the Wrong People

The US and many other countries have activated numerous sanctions against Russia.  The people who are being hurt by those sanctions are not the oligarchs or Vladimir Putin.  They all have their money well hidden.  The general population of Russia is taking the brunt of these actions.  When I was in Russia in 1993, the exchange rate was 1250 to 1.  That meant that one American dollar bought 1250 rubles.  The impact was visible when we walked into grocery stores and saw one loaf of bread and one box of cereal on bare shelves.  People on the street were doing whatever they could just to get enough food to eat.  Some had set up makeshift grills on street corners and were selling who knows what.  Others were selling vodka by the shot from a bottle they had somehow gotten.  When we flew into the airport in Rostov after midnight, we were surrounded by people who had cars who wanted us to "rent" them to take us to our destination.  Our delegation had rented a bus to take us to our hotel, and the driver was literally having to fight people away from us to get us on board.

In the meantime our government is still on international committees with Russia and China.  The US is still buying Russian oil, and guess where that money is going?  Not to those who need it, but to those who are fomenting this ugly war.  I'm not in favor of us entering into a war, but the truth is, we fight them there or we will eventually fight them here.  We must find ways to support Ukraine directly and we have to do it soon.

I firmly believe that China is closely watching what is happening, and licking her chops.  Seeing that America is largely impotent as a helper and protector of Ukraine is setting the stage for China attacking Taiwan.  There was a time when having America as your ally meant something.  Sadly that day seems to have passed.  We can shake our heads and wag our fingers at Putin and say "Shame on you", and he just laughs because he knows that we aren't going to do anything.

Pray for peace in Ukraine.