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Is sanctions-evasion a good thing?

Russia is currently fighting a war of aggression, applying controls on the flow of money in or out of there is one way in which the war machine can be starved.



Whether sanctions evasion is good depends principally on which side of the sanction line you fall.


"Aggression" is an objective measure. There is no subjectivity who starts a war and wo is in another country's territory. Those are observable facts.

And obviously Russia did not believe Ukraine to be a threat - or they would have not done this haphazard invasion with too little preparation and too few soldiers, so there is no excuse.


The world isn't as black and white as you paint it.


I'm no expert, but restricting the flow of goods seems both necessary and sufficient. The war machine doesn't run on money.

A state can always find a way to hide the transactions, on the other hand.


A state can always find a way to hide the transactions, on the other hand

I think the risk of sanctions, means that while there are work arounds, the cost of those work arounds, and the restrictions on who will do business with you, dramatically increase the costs of certain goods.

So sure, the cash moves, but now you pay more. A lot more. Death by 1000 cuts, and all that...


> The war machine doesn't run on money.

I think it might, particularly where the war machine has a partner willing to sell it arms.


The partner can sell arms on a loan. There's a million of possible arrangements.


Sure, but that’s going to be less likely if the buyer’s economy is slowly grinding to a halt.




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