Unfortunately, economic wars have a way of becoming shooting wars, and if leaders on both sides continue to escalate matters we could soon cross a point of no return.  As it is, relations between western governments and the Russians have totally broken down.  The Russians are never going to forgive us, and western governments are never going to forgive them.  So that means that many of the economic "punishments" that are now being implemented are likely to be permanent.

Without a doubt, the sanctions that have been imposed on the Russians have done a lot of harm.  The Russian ruble has collapsed, there have been extremely long lines at ATM machines and banks, and economic activity inside the country has been greatly disrupted.

But anyone that thought that we would get out of this unscathed was just being delusional.

In recent days, a whole host of western corporations have announced that they are pulling out of Russia, and the Russians are now saying that they could simply seize all of their assets…

Russia said it could seize the assets of Western companies that have suspended operations in the country.

Dozens of American, European and Japanese companies from almost every sector of the economy have abandoned joint ventures, factories, stores and offices in the last two weeks in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the ensuring sanctions.