So far, sanctions have targeted individuals, although Washington and the EU have threatened to up the ante and ban Russia from using the Swift system of international banking. That would make transferring money very difficult. It has certainly crippled Iran's finances. But Swift, as Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times points out, is a double-edged sword. "Cutting Russia out of Swift would cause chaos in Moscow in the short term," but in the long term "it might hasten the day when Russia, and more significantly, China, establish alternative systems for moving money between international banks." According to Rachman, China and Russia have already discussed such a system.
The EU's army is all for rhetorical condemnation of Russia, but when it comes to increasing sanctions, its command is divided. Those countries with significant investments in Russia -- Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria and Greece -- oppose cranking up the sanctions. German Chancellor Andrea Merkel must juggle her desire to support the U.S. with polls showing that the average German really doesn't want to march east: been there, done that. The Swedes and the Poles are fire-breathers, but their stance is as much about trying to offset German power in the EU as for any concern over Ukrainians.
In short the EU looks like one of those combined armies of Austrian-Hungarians, Russians, and Prussians that Napoleon made his reputation beating up on.
For the Americans this is about expanding NATO and opening up a market of 46 million people in the heart of Eastern Europe. The key to that is getting the 28 members of the alliance to finally pull their own. The U.S. currently foots 75 percent of NATO's bills, and is caught between a shrinking military budget at home and a strategy of expanding the U.S.'s military presence in Asia, the so-called "pivot."
NATO members are supposed to spend 2 percent of their GDP on the military, but very few countries -- Britain, Estonia and Greece -- actually clear that bar. Nor is there any groundswell to do so in European economies still plagued with low growth and high unemployment. Yes, yes, get the Russkies, but not at our expense.
"Sanctions will not help anybody, they would not just hurt Russia, but also Germany and Europe as a whole," says Rainer Seele, chair of Wintershell, and energy company owned by the German chemical giant BASF.
However, NATO is pushing hard. U.S. General and NATO commander Gen. Phillip Breedlove recently called for beefing up NATO forces on the Russian border. But for all the talk about a new Russian threat, NATO is not going to war over Ukraine, anymore than it did over Georgia in 2008. A few neo-conservatives and hawks, like U.S. Senator John McCain, might make noises about intervention, but it will be a very lonely venture if they try.
In the end the solution is diplomatic. It has to take into account Russia's legitimate security interests and recognize that Ukraine is neither Russian nor Western European, but a country divided, dependent on both. The simplest way to deal with that is through a system of federal states. It is the height of hypocrisy for the U.S. to oppose such a power arrangement when its own system is based on the same formula (as are many other countries in Europe, including Germany).
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