Has NATO committed an act of war on Russia?

@WintaTheAngleRussia is shelling civilians; but they're not Americans so it doesn't matter to our self-styled arbitrator.

@Elessar Are you so sure? I think this is going to be detrimental for the world. Moreover, it's going to be beneficial for China who will shield Russia. The dollar compared to the yuan is weakening as we speak.

@TheArbitrator Find by yourself, just don't say you weren't warned when you'll be bankrupt

@CakeByTheOcean Be sensible here. Do sanctions work? Did they work on Iran? Did they work on North Korea? History has shown that sanctions only provoke wars; it doesn't prevent wars. The only way out of this is diplomacy or else we are headed towards WW3. It's just like a bad marriage where one side tries to take control over the other. The fact is the whole world is not against Russia - Russia has India, they Have China, and if we are being honest, they have Germany by the balls. That's enough to keep them afloat and restructure their economy into more of a domestic one.

@TheArbitrator They work but they are very long term measures. It’s been a week since the invasion began, sanctions take time to bite.

@TheArbitrator [quote]Do sanctions work?[/quote] Yes. The sanctions being enacted here are unprecedented. On the first working day in Russia after these sanctions were imposed;

- The Ruble was worth 30% less
- Interest rates jumped from 8% to 20%
- Russians can no longer use Visa, Mastercard, Google Pay or Apple Pay
- Putin was locked out of $630 billion of International Reserves
- No access to Swift

This was just the start - now they have no access to Western airspace and are seeing their assets abroad seized left right and center. Putin signed a decree to prohibit leaving Russia with more than $10,000 in foreign currency, and is likely going to enforce martial law tomorrow. These are the moves of a desperate man who simply did not expect this sever a response.

All this is going to drown out his war effort. With no money, there's no invasion. It might take a few weeks, perhaps longer - but make no mistake, these sanctions are an effective example of modern warfare.

@TexChik

@Subsumedpat Transparency International would agree w/you on that. Their Corruption Perceptions Index is pretty lousy compared to most Western countries

@ImperialAerosolKidFromEP Corruption is widespread in Ukrainian society. In 2012 Ernst & Young put Ukraine among the three most-corrupt nations of the world—alongside Colombia and Brazil. In 2015 The Guardian called Ukraine "the most corrupt nation in Europe". According to a poll conducted by Ernst & Young in 2017, experts considered Ukraine to be the ninth-most corrupt nation in the world. Basically they learned corruption from the Soviet Union and it is baked into their society so it stuck with them even after the dissolution.

@Subsumedpat It's hardly surprising in 2012--Yanukovych was still around. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have improved as much as one would have hoped