[–] brody9311 1 point 1 point 2 points (+2|-1) ago
"The idea that punishing the markets as a whole for a political 'punishment' is short sided. By having sanctions we not only hurt the countries involved but the whole worldwide marketplace. For too long the EU has regulated prices and harmed the free market. Enough is enough. I will drop all sanctions against the Russians and strongly suggest my European Brothers to do the same."
[–] PM_ME_YOUR_ARCHES 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
[M] The Swiss situation with Russia and the EU is extremely complex. Whilst Switzerland is an EFTA country, it does not have the same trade agreements as other EFTA countries, and instead has a ton of separate bilateral trade agreements that are not regulated by an EU court. This essentially means that the EU can't tell Switzerland to go and fuck itself if it lifted sanctions on Russia. However, they are currently trying to perform a balancing act between the east and west because both are important to them economically. It would be within their interests to lift sanctions on Russia, but it is also in their interests to stay friendly with the EU. For these reasons, I'm going to wait and see what the response is from other EFTA countries before making a decision, as all 4 EFTA nations lifting the sanctions might give the Swiss a little more protection from the EU, rather than them going solo with Norway.
Ping me when other countries have responded.
[–] Boukert 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Tatiana Stolyarova spoke hopefully about opening a dialogue and strengthening bilateral relations with the nordic countries which seem to slowly come to their senses, earlier tonight at russia 24 news.
(nothing detailed about this secret diplomacy, just some hope being spoken out loud)
[–] fr0stbit3 [S] 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
@brody9311, @ashekchum