Tenth Post

Here is a half-formed thought.

Russia’s leadership (not just Putin, but various other power-holders, including at least some oligarchs) may actually welcome sanctions, and Western sanctions, far from being undesirable, were in fact the intended outcome of this war. Here’s how this works: these past 30 years, since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has been a net exporter of capital. This is due to multiple reasons, but in essence businesses (both Russian and foreign) extract things and ultimately remove the capital. Putin & Co. cannot directly force Russian business to not export capital. The war and the imposed sanctions make the West do the work, and take the blame. This can help Russia to fulfill the autarchist (anti-globalist) fantasies commonly held by fascist-leaning thinkers of all stripes.

Author: JL Jones

I live in a rural part of a “red state” in the western USA. Most of my local friends, neighbors and coworkers are unabashedly Trumpist. At worst, they are openly racist, gun-hoarding xenophobes, and at best, they are anti-government, Randist “libertarian” or “prepper” types. Most of them are also weirdly quite kind and generous. I came to my current political position as a self-described libertarian. I am sympathetic to libertarian ideals, but the question I have is: if libertarianism is advocating maximum liberty, exactly what sort of liberty are we speaking of trying to maximize? View all posts by JL Jones