More Sanctions Theater
Trump Is Not Going to Help Ukraine
The Solution the US Refuses to Implement
Everyone knows that Russia can continue the war because of its huge revenue from oil and natural gas. Ukraine is already systematically destroying that infrastructure with its drones and new missiles, striking refineries and storage facilities deep inside Russian territory but it’s a slog.
If the USA would give them Tomahawk missiles—with their 1,000-mile range and precision guidance—the war would end tomorrow. Ukraine could take out every major oil and gas facility funding Putin’s war machine in a matter of weeks.
Giving Ukraine Tomahawks is clearly not going to happen.
Sanctions Without Teeth
On October 23, the United States and European Union unveiled their latest measures against Russia with the usual fanfare. Trump imposed sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil—Russia’s two largest oil companies that together account for over half of Russia’s crude oil exports and 5 percent of global oil production. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared these “tremendous sanctions” would force an immediate ceasefire. EU leaders called it their “strongest sanctions yet” on Russia’s energy sector.
Sounds big but it means little in practice and Russia laughed it off. Give five Pinocchios to anyone saying this will change anything.
The $300 Billion Nobody Will Touch
There’s another lever sitting unused: €183 billion in frozen Russian central bank assets held at Euroclear in Brussels, with the total frozen in the West reaching roughly $300 billion—enough to fund Ukraine’s defense for years.
Never going to happen but has been and will be talked about forever.
Europe’s Sanctimony
Europe is a continent of self-righteousness and selfishness.
The United States had to cross an ocean twice in the last century to save Europe from destroying itself. Millions of American soldiers fought on European soil in wars that weren’t theirs. And Ukrainians bled to liberate Europe from the Nazis—over 7 million died in World War II.
Europe is interested in saving their collective asses from possible future Russian aggression and likes Ukraine weakening Russia but that’s as far as Europe’s sanctimony goes.
The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same
The pattern is now unmistakable. Trump’s interest in Ukraine extends exactly as far as the photo op, the press release, the appearance of engagement. He’ll impose sanctions he knows won’t work, float weapon deliveries he’ll never approve, and ensure that nothing America provides actually changes the battlefield calculus.
Europe issues stern statements and congratulates itself on its 19th sanctions package while carefully avoiding anything that might require difficult decisions or shared risk.
The frozen assets sit frozen. The long-range missiles stay in American arsenals. The sanctions target what Russia has already routed around.
And Ukraine is left to fight this war alone.