5 ms·
Possession is 9/10ths of the law. Is it any more unfair that Russia can't access those reserves than that foreigners can't access their Russian assets? As lon
by vba616 5y ago
Possession is 9/10ths of the law.
Is it any more unfair that Russia can't access those reserves than that foreigners can't access their Russian assets?
As long as things are frozen, they are in the hands of whoever has physical custody. If things remain as they are then the whole world has given their Russian financial assets back to Russia for free, haven't they?
Russia is huge, they should have lots of things within their borders. Plus, those borders are expanding!
- chii 5y agoFreezing is slightly different to usurping. Freezing is where your assets are still yours in name, but is unable to spend it. There may be conditions where it is unfrozen. Usurping is when they no longer belong to you, and there's no recourse. I would be wary of normalising usurping assets by western Govts, rather than merely just freezing.
- trasz 5y agoWhy? It would create a very useful precedent.
- adrianmsmith 5y agoThe precedent would be that it’s ok for the government to usurp your assets if they choose to. I don’t think that’s a good precedent.
- trasz 5y agoIn response to a war or genocide. It’s a good precedent; it’s not that different from the usual economic sanctions.
- chii 5y agoi would be against usurpment - freezing is the most that should be allowed. Otherwise, it's too easy to justify theft, and next time it might not be some despotic dictator, but citizens.
- antifa 5y agoIt might look good on paper to do this to Russia, but I think it's the first domino on a path to widespread international kleptocracy.
- vba616 5y agoI want to savor a comment by "antifa" warning that we are on a slippery slope to the breakdown of property rights worldwide. . . . You know what ELSE could be the first domino on a path to widespread international kleptocracy? Stealing whole countries with impunity. Well not the first domino. One of the middle dominoes.