In her post this morning, Diane Francis writes that the US sent a money nuke to Russia, ravaging Russia and Putin as much as sending missiles:
A small stool is placed behind a podium whenever diminutive Janet Yellen speaks so she can reach the microphone. She may be small, but she’s a larger-than-life leader who has had many important jobs but most recently has forged financial weapons more powerful than missiles designed to eventually bring Vladimir Putin to heel.
Francis also mentions, in a broader context, in her post that:
- The IMF or World Bank is not likely to help Russia this time when it runs into sovereign defaults in May.
- China is not finding it in its best interest to help Russia.
- The US might appropriate frozen Russian money to help Ukraine make up for war costs.
Francis writes about Putin in the last paragraph:
But his best-laid plans to pillage an innocent nation resulted in the unprecedented weaponization of the global economy and the U.S. dollar by America and its allies in order to strangle and eliminate a maniacal Moscow regime. This has been about morality, not money. The sanctions, said Biden in late March, are “sapping Russian strength, its ability to replenish its military, and its ability to project power”. They are working and the west must stay the course as long as it takes to bring Putin to his knees and end the suffering in Ukraine.