It is the calm before the storm, when it comes to the likely upcoming conflict with Ukraine and Russia. Russia has agreed to hold off with any invasion until after the Geneva Conference, which runs from the 12th to the 28th. But Russia sees Ukraine like China sees Taiwan. So it feels like this conflict is very much inevitable. House Intelligence Chair Rep Schiff claims there is only one way to stop Russia, with sector-sized sanctions.
Geneva meeting 12-28th of January…
“On CBS’s Face the Nation, Schiff was asked what would stop Putin ordering an invasion.
“I think that it would require enormous sanctions on Russia to deter what appears to be a very likely Russian invasion of Ukraine again,” Schiff said. “And I think our allies need to be solidly on board with it. Russia needs to understand we are united in this.”
An invasion, Schiff said, would see “more Nato assets closer to Russia. [It] will have the opposite impact of what Putin is trying to achieve”.
Schiff said he had “no problem” with “going after Putin personally”, but thought “sector-sized sanctions will be the most important”.
Asked if he thought scheduled talks had any chance of averting an invasion, he said: “I fear that Putin is very likely to invade. I still frankly don’t understand the full motivation for why now he’s doing this, but he certainly appears intent on it unless we can persuade him otherwise.
“And I think nothing other than a level of sanctions that Russia has never seen will deter him, and that’s exactly what we need to do with our allies.”
I would take anything that Rep Schiff claims with a grain of salt since he still seems to suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome. But I do hope he is right in saying that sanctions will stop Russia from attacking. But I doubt it.