We have seen many countries entrenched against US sanctions and thought sanctions are meaningless.
We are waking up this morning to the full brut force of what imposing sanctions can do.
The only country seeing a similar level of sanctions and the SWIFT system being off limits is Iran. While Iran has survived our sanctions they are very bitter over the casualty that is their entire economy. Because of terrible meddling by the US in their country the Iranians are trapped into opposing us.
Russia is different. Putin’s acts are self evident to the oligarchs and Russian people as more of his cruelty. He is not trapped by his relationship to the west. He is trapped by his own actions alone. The Russian economy is quickly entering a low place the Iranian economy never did.
It is a cold winter. If the Russian people can not afford to heat their homes it wont be a foreign invasion facing the winter. It will be a Russian defeat from within to the winter.