If your country was at war with another country, you would not be doing business with them. The effects would be indistinguishable from sanctions. This is war.

If your country was at war with another country, you would not be doing business with them. The effects would be indistinguishable from sanctions. This is war. It's just one we're the western powers are pretending they are not at war with Russia. And for good reasons. People in the US are too used to being able to wield such an asymmetrical power, namely the ability to just respond to violence with violence without really worrying about the consequences (and some people even threat to "just nuke them" etc). However here the opponent is a nuclear power, and one that can employ an effective madman strategy. I don't think these sanctions are designed to apply western soft power. They are a desperate act of war a response to Russian aggression.