TVn eller kylskåpet ?

Gideon Rachman, utrikesredaktör på Financial Times, beskriver i sin krönika idag den ryska dragkampen mellan ”TV-apparaten och kylskåpet”. I TVn Putinpropaganda medan kylskåpet blir allt tommare:

It is in Mr Putin’s interests to make the conflict in Ukraine a trial of military, rather than economic, strength. Ukraine’s forces are hopelessly outmatched. As Ms Merkel has observed, no amount of weaponry that the west could plausibly supply is likely to tip that military balance. Worse, if a supply of western weapons led to Russian escalation, followed by further military defeats for the Ukrainians, the pressure would mount for counter-escalation by the west. That is a dangerous road, which Moscow is much happier to go down than Berlin or Washington.

So rather than engage the Putin government where it is relatively strong, on the battlefield, it makes more sense to hit Russia at its weak point: the economy. The west should be ostentatiously preparing further packages of economic sanctions, ready to roll out if Moscow escalates the fighting again.

FT