The Obama Administration’s announced on Monday that 7 Russian officials and 4 Ukrainian officials would be barred from holding assets or traveling to the United States.
There was shaking coming from Moscow, but it was not from fear, it was from laughter. Russia’s deputy prime minister laughed off President Obama’s sanction against him today asking “Comrade @BarackObama” if “some prankster” came up with the list.
News of the White House sanctions did not have the intended effect. Relieved over how limited they are, the Russian market actually enjoyed a rally.
Vladimir Putin for his part reacted to President Obama’s sanctions by signing a decree on Monday recognizing Crimea as a sovereign state after the Ukrainian region declared itself independent and applied to join Russia following a weekend referendum.
Mr. Putin also announced his own sanctions on the US by banning Several U.S. Senators and officials visiting Russia, including Sen. Dick Durbin.
Vladimir Putin is expected to release his retaliation list as early as Tuesday and while the final list is still being crafted, it will include top Obama administration officials and high profile U.S. senators, in an effort to roughly mirror the U.S. sanctions against Russian officials and lawmakers, according to diplomatic sources.
Putin’s economic advisor Sergei Glazyev is also saying that Russia can avoid any real consequences to sanctions by switching to other currencies and creating its own payment system.
President Obama continues to show his weakness on foreign policy, it is almost as immature as his economic thinking and about as effective. Some are even comparing President Obama to former President Jimmy Carter. Gary Kasparov stated that Barack Obama made Jimmy Carter look like Winston Churchill by comparison.
No, Mr. President they are not laughing with you, they are laughing at you.
