April 18—Since last year, Western leaders have bombastically proclaimed their plans to “punish” and “weaken” Russia for its invasion into Ukraine, even threatening to “isolate” it from the global community. This included measures from sanctions against everything and everyone Russian, to the so-called “financial nuclear bomb” of kicking Russia out of the SWIFT international payments system. However, far from bringing Russia to its knees, these and other actions have increasingly backfired, catching many with their proverbial pants down.
