But if SWIFT is already in play, everyone already has a reason to diversify, and will do so.
You can't be making threats and not expect people to try to avoid the thing you're threatening.
Also you can't be hesitating on everything that seems like a one-off. Then you really don't have a lot of sticks to shake at people.
This whole thing is so embarrassing for the West. We won't let Ukraine into NATO, we won't promise not to, we won't send troops, we won't send much help at all, we won't sanction all Russian nationals (yes it's heavy handed), we won't sanction a few thousand top regime officials, we won't sanction just the oligarchs, we won't stop them living in the West, we won't even stop them sending money home.
You can't be making threats and not expect people to try to avoid the thing you're threatening.
Also you can't be hesitating on everything that seems like a one-off. Then you really don't have a lot of sticks to shake at people.
This whole thing is so embarrassing for the West. We won't let Ukraine into NATO, we won't promise not to, we won't send troops, we won't send much help at all, we won't sanction all Russian nationals (yes it's heavy handed), we won't sanction a few thousand top regime officials, we won't sanction just the oligarchs, we won't stop them living in the West, we won't even stop them sending money home.