Sanctions? What sanctions?

By Charles Pierce
Esquire (1/30/18)

Here’s a story that you will not find in Tuesday morning’s editions of either the New York Times or The Washington Post because reasons, I guess. On Monday, when President* Trump was fitting the employees of the Department of Justice for their armbands, he also was supposed to sign a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia for its ratfcking of the 2016 presidential election. Congress voted these new sanctions almost unanimously last year.

You know what’s coming, right? You don’t even need Reuters to see where the quid exchanges a warm embrace with the quo.

“Today, we have informed Congress that this legislation and its implementation are deterring Russian defense sales,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. “Since the enactment of the … legislation, we estimate that foreign governments have abandoned planned or announced purchases of several billion dollars in Russian defense acquisitions.” Seeking to press President Donald Trump to clamp down on Russia, the U.S. Congress voted nearly unanimously last year to pass a law setting sweeping new sanctions on Moscow. Trump, who wanted warmer ties with Moscow and had opposed the legislation as it worked its way through Congress, signed it reluctantly in August, just six months into his presidency.

Members of the Congress went predictably agog. Susan Collins of Maine, easily recognized by the neon letters “Fool Me, Please” that are attached to her forehead, was particularly gobsmacked, as The Hill reports.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Tuesday said it’s “perplexing” that the Trump administration opted to not implement additional sanctions on Russia for meddling in the 2016 election. “The one thing we know for sure already is the Russians did attempt to meddle in our election. And not only should there be a price to pay in terms of sanctions, but also we need to put safeguards in place right now for the elections for this year,” Collins said on CNN’s “New Day.”

How Collins doesn’t own 11,000 tons of cheap aluminum siding in her backyard in Maine remains a puzzle.

Don’t worry, though, because the administration* has assured us that it’s still on the case. From the earlier Reuters piece:

Shortly before midnight (0500 GMT) on Monday, the Treasury Department released an unclassified “oligarchs” list, including 114 senior Russian political figures and 96 business people. Those named on the list will not immediately face any immediate penalties like asset freezes or visa bans. But the law mandated that the U.S. Treasury and State Departments, and intelligence agencies, compile a list of political figures and business people close to Putin’s government and network, for potential future sanctions.

There’s a list. And Susan Collins is perplexed. The terror in the Kremlin must be uncontrollable.

Link to Story

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