Sanctions are what Western politicians do in order to appear to be "doing something" while in reality avoiding doing anything of significance. Sanctions have never, at any time nor in any place, prevented an aggressor from continuing to wage war. There are several reasons Western sanctions on Russia were especially pathetic. The first is that Hungary refused to allow any sanctions that would have been meaningful, as Orban and Putin are close allies. Thus all EU sanctions were intentionally non-useful so as to be acceptable to Hungary. The second reason is that it's easy for a country making billions per week from hydrocarbon sales to pay a little more for essential inputs via the black market and helpful third parties. As the price of oil and gas went up after Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Russia actually earned twice as much from exporting less oil and gas as in 2021. The third reason is that even if sanctions had been granted Harry Potter's wand and had any real impact, Putin would have ignored the economic costs because his goals aren't economic but ego-driven. He genuinely believes he is restoring the glory of the Russian Empire and the fact that ordinary Russians have to pay slightly more for their European designer clothes is irrelevant.

Of course, the most pernicious aspect of sanctions is that they let our feeble-minded politicians off the hook and permit them to prevaricate over matters of real importance: sending sufficient quantities of weapons systems quickly enough to save the lives of thousands of Ukrainians. While empty-headed Western journalists babble endlessly about HIMARS and Leopard MBTs, Ukrainians are killed by the hundreds every single day because we're not actually sending anything fast enough in sufficient quantities.

Every time a Western politician says the word "sanctions" someone should shove an enormous spiky cactus up their fundament and then drown them in a barrel of excrement.