, Columnist
As Putin Gets Desperate, U.S. Should Remember Pearl Harbor
Economic sanctions are working now against Russia as they squeezed Japan before World War II. But the historical lesson is that they don't make adversaries less aggressive.
Day of infamy.
Source: Keystone/Hulton Archive via Getty Images
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The Western powers are tightening the screws on Russian President Vladimir Putin: The next move appears to be a phased-in European ban on purchases of Russian oil.
It’s the right policy, given that oil money is financing Putin’s war in Ukraine and keeping the Russian economy alive. But the risks may be substantial: Revisionist powers have sometimes become most violent when campaigns of economic strangulation against them are about to succeed.