Quote Originally Posted by Hooahguy View Post
I would be skeptical that he would change his tune much. He has stated that sanctions dont work, so it would be strange to do an about-face on this. But in the end though it is congress who decided sanctions so Im not too worried. What I am worried most about though is him recognizing the Russian takeover of Crimea.
Well- what's the point of sanctions?

We know they don't deliver regime change, so they're basically there to express our annoyance - which they have done. At some point persecuting Russia starts to benefit Putin's policy. Any constant enforced by one party in diplomacy ends up being turned to the advantage of the target in some way eventually because it's a constant.

At this point we should arguably be lifting all non arms-related sanctions. That will greatly reduce Putin's ability to blame Russia's systemic problems on the West whilst also forcing Russia to pay for all it's own military R&D and driving up the per-capita cost of their new equipment by reducing their ability to sell it oversees and thereby economise their production lines.