By Benjamin Denison
Since the invasion of Ukraine, calls to increase sanctions against Russia, with the goal of degrading its ability to acquire new offensive capabilities, have increased. Sanctions are targeting banks and Russia’s industrial base, with the aim to punitively squeeze Russian leadership and oligarchs, especially those tied to the Putin regime.
In recent days, however, these calls have taken a new tenor with US senators, former CIA directors, various government officials, and commentators directly stating that these sanctions should be used to try and encourage a palace coup against President Vladimir Putin. This has the dangerous effect of possibly escalating this conflict in ways the US and its allies are not prepared for. Furthermore, it’s based on a troublesome assumption that the US is good at regime change when empirical evidence indicates otherwise.
This piece was originally published in Ink Stick on March 11, 2022. Read more HERE.