Democrats are in a full-throated cry for Russian blood, but when the G7 meets today new Russian sanctions will not be on the agenda.



When foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) meet in Toronto on Sunday, new sanctions against Russia will not be a topic of discussion.

Instead, the group — made up of the U.S., Canada, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Japan — will focus on ways to keep pressure on Moscow, as well as Iran's activities in the Middle East and North Korea's nuclear program, Reuters reported on Sunday.

I'm not sure what pressure they have in mind, but it won't be new sanctions because they have failed.

This is the exact opposite of what was reported earlier this week.



Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with his Russian counterpart this week to help clarify questions on recently imposed US sanctions...

The meeting comes less than a week after US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced on Sunday that the Trump administration was ready to impose further sanctions against Russia. But the administration walked back that statement, saying it had refined its strategy.

So what happened in just a week? What happened is that our European allies are crying uncle.



A Europe-wide diplomatic push is under way to persuade the Trump administration to ease US sanctions targeting Russia, as fears mount that the restrictions are so severe they risk hitting manufacturing activity across the continent.

Paris, which is marshalling the efforts after sanctions on Russian metals companies caused aluminium prices to soar, is pushing allies including Berlin, London and Rome to make a joint representation in Washington.

The French-led initiative underscores the widening concern in Europe about the consequences that sanctions could have on key EU industries from cars to aerospace.

A French official warned that the sanctions, which have crippled Russian aluminium producer Rusal, would have a “direct and major impact on the provisioning of key products” and that a number of industrial plants in Europe were threatened with closure.

Economic sanctions don't work if the rest of the world doesn't play along.

While this article points to France taking the lead against more Russia sanctions, Germany has been screaming about them earlier and longer.

Europe is the only major players cooperating with sanctions, because as I've pointed out before Asia has never cooperated with the Russia sanctions.

Russia has been making close economic ties with China and Iran for the last decade, but in recent weeks India and Pakistan and Turkey have cut deals.

What was the last straw for Europe? The China sanctions.



“We are allies,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Friday in a news conference. “We can’t live with a Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads.”

He indicated that until the U.S. removes the threat of tariffs on European steel and aluminum, the bloc wouldn’t join in Washington’s campaign to pressure Beijing.

The ruling elite might be OK with a permanent state of military war, but they aren't down with a permanent state of economic war.

Reuters reported a few weeks ago "Russian sanctions dent European share recovery".

Killing people is one thing. Killing profits, OTOH, is unacceptable.