A year ago one of the focuses of how this conflict was unfolding was that the United States and the West in general was capable of making Russia pay a price for Ukraine's invasion. Despite all of that the rubble has rebounded Russia is able to continue funding the war like why haven't those economic sanctions been more effective? Galen Droop: The really big question for me long term is how effective sanctions are depriving Russia access to Western technology and how much that effect has on Russia over the long term.
To mark a year since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Galen Druke brings back two experts who first joined the podcast when the war began. Samuel Charap is a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation and author of the book “Everyone Loses: The Ukraine Crisis and the Ruinous Contest for Post-Soviet Eurasia.” James Acton is a physicist and co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Together they describe why the war has not turned out as originally expected, what the risks of escalation are today and how the conflict might come to an end.