August 18, 2014
Pointless Punishment
The Obama administration has responded to increasing Russian aggression by stepping up its own efforts to inflict economic pain on Moscow and isolate it diplomatically. The United States and the European Union announced a new round of sanctions on July 29 that bar a number of Russian banks from U.S. and European capital markets, deny Russian energy companies sophisticated oil development technologies, and expand restrictions on Russian defense technology.
Even worse for Moscow, the new measures make it harder for Russian companies to raise medium- and long-term financing in Western markets, and extract oil from the Arctic and new deep water and shale reserves. They also hurt the Russian economy by increasing investor anxiety, which is likely to accelerate capital flight and cause foreign bankers to cut back on loans to Russia.
After announcing the latest sanctions, U.S. diplomats traveled to China, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea to urge their Asian partners to support efforts to tighten the economic vice on Russia.
More from CNAS
-
On Foreign Policy, Graham’s Influence May Have Been Felt the Most
Podcast
Over the course of his three decades in Congress, Lindsey Graham was a major influence on Capitol Hill and throughout the world as one of the most vocal advocates for U.S. mil...
By Richard Fontaine
-
U.S. Iran Talks Face Persistent Impasse
Bloomberg Economics analysts Becca Wasser and Dina Esfandiary say the U.S. and Iran remain far apart on key issues, with intermittent strikes and negotiations likely to define...
By Becca Wasser
-
Ziemba: Alternates Pipelines as Hormuz Pressure Remains
Video
Risks around the Strait of Hormuz remain elevated as U.S.-Iran tensions pressure a fragile truce. Ziemba Insights founder [and Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New Am...
By Rachel Ziemba
-
Defense Tech’s Big Test
Commentary
Introduction The U.S. defense sector is at the front end of the largest private capital cycle it has ever seen, with venture capital investment assuming an inceasingly powerfu...
By Mela Louise Norman
