I agree that Russia should make better decisions with their foreign policy and they should not have helped the peasant uprising in the east. The EU and the USA make bad decisions as well so in the end the little guys just get screwed over anyway.
There are costs associated with national defense. At time, like in the USA back in the early 1980s.. you win a war, not with soldiers and tanks, but with beating your opponents economy. Yes, everyone is suffering a bit, but the alternative to this little economic war would be for NATO to put troops in the Ukraine, and then you are just one accident away from a full blown war with a country with nuclear weapons. And let us not forget, their is a huge financial cost to real wars.. Iraq helped wreck our economy. I think it is just a wise decision on the part of the EU and USA to just crush Russia´s economy rather than risking a real war.
I guess the decisions by the EU are dictated by the more powerful countries (the UK, Germany and France), but partly orchestrated by the US. I guess the way they see it is they'll be able to protect the weaker countries in the event of needing support as they consider the longer term implications. The reality is the for eastern European countries would never take these decisions - they have too many entrenched historical and economic ties.
We can't keep playing games in a time where there isn't a single but a GLOBAL economy which is influenced by every country alone. EU doesn't seem to have learned from past mistakes, and keep repeating the same ones all over and over again. Oh, man...
Germany, France and UK HAVE LEARNED from past mistakes, it is called WW2. Yes, there is an economic bit that everyone is going to suffer for the next few years because of Russia, but it is a small bit compared to what would happen if we ´punished´ Russia by putting troops on the ground and risking a huge ware. A minor economic downturn for a year or two is NOTHING compared to what would happen to our economies if some spark set off a war. The USA did the same thing against the USSR in the early 1980s.. we hurt our economy, but won a war without firing a shot.
Russia may have a lot when it comes to naturak resources but I think the EU can still pull through despite the imposed sanctions.
Europe still depends on Russia immensely because of the size of that country and the amount of money it brings in per year. Russia is a large powerhouse whenever it comes to economic terms.
Really, it was a smart decision for the UK to keep their own currency. They are ahead of the majority of the rest of the other European countries. I would think that the continent would decide on going back to the separate currency system because it is proven that it works better.
The EU does not care about its individual member states that will suffer as a result of this, it simply wants to pursue a political agenda. This is why so many of the states of the EU (if not all) do not benefit from it overall. Greece, the UK, Germany, and now these other countries have all been dragged down in one way of another by the EU.
Some countries in Europe depend on Russia for natural gas. That is the main issue. Of course they are also an important trade partner but that has kinda diminished now with the weak ruble, companies can't really make a good profit in the Russian market with the current currency exchange rates.
