JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida State College at Jacksonville experts took part in a virtual panel Friday afternoon to address the war in Ukraine.
The panel consisted of nine economists, historians and political scientists who shared unique perspectives on how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is impacting people across the world.
One of the economists on the panel said the war in Ukraine could continue for months. He said this won’t stop until Russia’s government is brought down.
When it comes to sanctions, another economist said, research shows sanctions are about 40% effective.
Even if sanctions aren’t as effective, it’s better than taking military action, according to economist Dr. Susan Reilly.
“When we’re dealing with an adversary such as [Russian President Vladimir] Putin who has a nuclear arsenal at his disposal, it makes sense that we wouldn’t want to use traditional war weapons,” Reilly said. “We don’t want to shoot at Russian planes even if it’s just to close the air space down because that opens the door for other military responses from Russia such as nuclear weapons.”
Reilly said the biggest sanctions have been blocking swift payments and freezing Russian central bank assets.
She said Putin has saved $640 billion, which is half the size of the Russian economy.
Of that $640 billion, she said, only $30 billion of that is actually available because no one expected the sanctions on the financial system to be this intense.