Sanctions to cost Lithuania, Estonia and Lavia $780 million - Polidicks

[QUOTE=WhyNott;47204819]how is an irrational fear of anything a good thing[/QUOTE] Because it keeps us away from dealing with them as much as possible, and it's actually working out for us.

[QUOTE=Swineflu;47204797]I'm glad my country is so russophobic. We've understood from history that making any kind of deals with Russia, diplomatic or economic, will most likely end up badly for you. So, we're barely being affected by this whole shitstorm.[/QUOTE] [url]https://www.google.ru/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=ctPsVO-HLurhywPCooGQCA&url=http://mercury.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ISN/120639/ichaptersection_singledocument/d3138ad0-3285-42a3-9609-f4d1a2c87567/en/Chapt.4.pdf&ved=0CCgQFjAE&usg=AFQjCNFp8W8aY9PgI2_k-ZSOfpi70Vnsgw&sig2=6UeWq8ArgXZmbjRoKBWGqw[/url] Check this out. We had a lot of business and cooperation. [editline]24th February 2015[/editline] In fact Russia was your main trading partner. Not so russophobic it seems.

[QUOTE=MuffinZerg;47205208][url]https://www.google.ru/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=ctPsVO-HLurhywPCooGQCA&url=http://mercury.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ISN/120639/ichaptersection_singledocument/d3138ad0-3285-42a3-9609-f4d1a2c87567/en/Chapt.4.pdf&ved=0CCgQFjAE&usg=AFQjCNFp8W8aY9PgI2_k-ZSOfpi70Vnsgw&sig2=6UeWq8ArgXZmbjRoKBWGqw[/url] Check this out. We had a lot of business and cooperation. [editline]24th February 2015[/editline] In fact Russia was your main trading partner. Not so russophobic it seems.[/QUOTE] He's Romanian, mate...

[QUOTE=Itsjustguy;47204831]Minimal wage is 335 euros, if i remember correctly. You're being dumb.[/QUOTE] It's 360 euros.

[QUOTE=Stopper;47205231]He's Romanian, mate...[/QUOTE] Woops, messed up the flags on the phone.

[QUOTE=strazyyy;47205309]It's 360 euros.[/QUOTE] [url]https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Latvian+minimum+wage&oq=Latvian+minimum+wage&aqs=chrome..69i57.2448j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8[/url] Gosh Lithuania is indeed in a really deep shitter.

[QUOTE=Itsjustguy;47204831]Minimal wage is 335 euros, if i remember correctly. You're being dumb.[/QUOTE] Yeah I originally wrote 2Euro/month but meant hour so I just added two zeroes after 2 instead of fixing the month part.

[QUOTE=catbarf;47203738]By making it extremely damaging to keep supporting them. He keeps supporting them. So the damage continues as a punishment. Russia isn't laughing off sanctions as their economy spirals towards recession.[/QUOTE] All it's doing is giving the Russian propaganda machine fuel. They can, and will, and most likely have been for some time now, portray us as enemies. They let Russia portray the West as some evil imperialist conquerer that wants to bend Russians to their will, to deny Russia its sovreignity. And that will make the people more likely to support the actions of their government, which are portrayed as defending national sovreignity, and that makes the sanctions less than ineffective. The only thing the sanctions are doing is making it difficult for the average Russian citizen to buy food every week. They're doing fuck all to actually change Moscow's plans or convince Moscow that what they're doing in Ukraine is wrong. Worse, they're giving Moscow all the ammo it needs to galvanize the public in support of what they're doing. Sanctions do not, never have and never will work. Simple as that.

Instead of arguing who is to blame, the countries affected should look to diversify their economies so that they are not as heavily affected by similar things in the future. Instead of focusing on a momentary loss, march forward and consider the loss a business expense. You can and will recover and make greater gains in the future given competent and level-headed leadership. The worst thing people could do right now is to panic and bring everything crashing down around them.

The EU has three options. Do nothing, and let Russia do what it wants. Put boots on the ground, and escalate the conflict. Sanction Russia, and try to strangle their economy to the point that they can't keep up the conflict. Pick one.