Mr Putin expects a slap on the wrist. Sanctions must exceed his expectations. Shunning the G8 summit, which he is due to host in June, is not enough. It is time to impose visa bans and asset freezes on regime-connected Russians (snip); to stop arms sales and cut Kremlin-friendly financial firms from the global financial system; to prepare for an embargo on Russian oil and gas, in case Ukrainian troops are slaughtered in Crimea or Russia invades eastern Ukraine. And the West should strengthen its ability to resist the Kremlin’s revanchism: Europe should reduce its dependence on Russian gas; America should bin restrictions on energy exports; NATO should be invigorated.It is darned unlikely that much of the above will happen, even though it should. Where are this generation's Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher when we need them?
Comparisons with Europe's weak response to Hitler's grab of the Sudetenland - he used a similar pretext - are almost inevitable.
