Many are saying that the sanctions on Russia aren't only going to affect Russia itself but that there would be a cold chill that spreads across globally, not unlike the economic shock that the 2008 financial crisis brought forth. Fair point.
It is understandable why inhumane sanctions that only seek to hurt common folk are slapped on Russia, so as to display a pretense of deterrence by the international community. Sanctions, which the ruling elites oligarchs wouldn’t be affected as much as the general Russian public (and of course the mass public across the world), won’t mean much given Russia is one of the larger economies upon whose energy many (sadly) have to depend. Yet, no sanctions have been slapped on racist/apartheid states such as Israel, a country that is consistently involved in the illegal, brutal occupation and annexation of Palestinian lands with their periodic Russian-style indiscriminate bombing of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure. They also make sure to not spare schools and hospitals, killing hundreds of children within a very short space of time, despite the fact that Israel’s economy isn’t really big enough for any potential sanctions to affect the wider world.
The hypocrisy and double standards of the West is much worse than the outright despotic character of Putin’s Russia. It has never been about humanitarian or libertarian values, because, if that were the case, Israel would’ve been slapped with sanctions a long time ago; Saudi Arabia would’ve been slapped with sanctions for its bombing of Yemen (though it is yet to illegally occupy Yemen fully), the UAE for its role in brutal suppression of opposition figures and its despotic kleptocracy; India would’ve been slapped with sanctions for its one of the most war crimes-like occupation of Kashmir in 2019, etc.
It’s all about geo-politics. As simple as that. At least Putin’s Russia and China don’t pretend otherwise.
Of course, Russia needs to be punished and deterred like no other (while addressing their NATO expansion-led insecurities) because if Russia isn’t deterred, no one knows where their offensive would continue (as looking at the precedent of Crimea’s annexation, it is likely) to spread but the West. It can only be effective and command solidarity with the rest of the world aka the Global South if it’s is more “consistent” and get rid of its neo-colonial double standards masquerading as a fight for so-called freedom and democracy.
Perhaps the US or the UK could start offering full apologies for its war crimes and illegal invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and the regime change in Libya; and offer $1 trillion as reparation to the affected countries? Why not slap Russia-style sanctions on Israel for one of the longest illegal occupations in history and its war crimes as well? On that same token, they would be well advised to slap sanctions on Myanmar for its brutal textbook ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya minorities, pushing up to 1m+ Rohingya refugees in the world’s largest refugee camp (hosted by Bangladesh despite its own challenges as being one of the most disaster prone developing countries with scarce resources).
And of course there’s China, a country that is effectively running one of the world’s largest concentration camps to incarcerate its Uighur citizens -- should they not be treated as Russia is in terms of being slapped with hard sanctions?
If the rules were to be consistent, that would be a good start. Otherwise, it’s all about geopolitics and “might is right,” with human rights, liberalism, and so-called democracy being nothing more than mere facades.
Ismail Y Syed is a scholar with interest in religion and philosophy.
