With Russia's annexation of Crimea and consequently the sanctions against the Federation appearing to be of an indefinite duration, long-term economic sanctions with no end in sight harm not only the Russian Federation itself but the world economy as a whole, including even Ukrain's that one would hope could benefit from such sanctions.
Due to the indefinite duration of the sanctions to be put in place, what kind of economically less harmful sanctions could we place against the Federation that could also benefit Ukraine?
The following is just a brainstorm, but could be a start to such a discussion:
1. Stop recognizing the Russian passports of anyone born one year after the new law is passed or later as a valid travel document.
2. Recognize a Ukrainian-Language Passport (ULP) that Ukrainian passport offices and embassies could issue. The rules concerning the issuance of ULP's could be as follows:
Any national under the age of 15, over the age of 70, who is proved medically unable to learn to read or write, or who passes a Ukrainian written test could obtain such a passport, the ULP of any medically able person under fifteen expiring on his birthday if that is sooner than what the expiry date would otherwise have been.
This would allow Canada to pursue otherwise friendly relations and possibly even free trade with the Russian Federation while still forcing the Federation to compensate and continue to compensate Ukraine for the illegal annexation of Crimea by promoting the Ukrainian language industry throughout Russia among Russians who intend to travel abroad.
Of course there might be other better ideas, but at least this would force the Federation to compensate Ukrain without necessarily affecting trade relations.
Recognizing that some EU countries might be more dependent on Russian travel to their countries and that imposing a ULP requirement on Russians who intend to travel to their countries could cause them noticeable economic hardship, we might want to consider allowing Ukrainian passport offices to also issue Esperanto-Language Passports (ELP) that would follow the same application rules as for the ULP but for Esperanto instead. Esperanto being multiple times easier to learn than other languages would make it much less of a barrier to obtaining that passport.
This way, states that enjoy minimal Russian travel as is could choose to recognize only the ULP, more vulnerable states that are somewhat more economically dependant on Russian travel could choose to recognize the ELP, and the weakest states could recognize both.
Due to the indefinite duration of the sanctions to be put in place, what kind of economically less harmful sanctions could we place against the Federation that could also benefit Ukraine?
The following is just a brainstorm, but could be a start to such a discussion:
1. Stop recognizing the Russian passports of anyone born one year after the new law is passed or later as a valid travel document.
2. Recognize a Ukrainian-Language Passport (ULP) that Ukrainian passport offices and embassies could issue. The rules concerning the issuance of ULP's could be as follows:
Any national under the age of 15, over the age of 70, who is proved medically unable to learn to read or write, or who passes a Ukrainian written test could obtain such a passport, the ULP of any medically able person under fifteen expiring on his birthday if that is sooner than what the expiry date would otherwise have been.
This would allow Canada to pursue otherwise friendly relations and possibly even free trade with the Russian Federation while still forcing the Federation to compensate and continue to compensate Ukraine for the illegal annexation of Crimea by promoting the Ukrainian language industry throughout Russia among Russians who intend to travel abroad.
Of course there might be other better ideas, but at least this would force the Federation to compensate Ukrain without necessarily affecting trade relations.
Recognizing that some EU countries might be more dependent on Russian travel to their countries and that imposing a ULP requirement on Russians who intend to travel to their countries could cause them noticeable economic hardship, we might want to consider allowing Ukrainian passport offices to also issue Esperanto-Language Passports (ELP) that would follow the same application rules as for the ULP but for Esperanto instead. Esperanto being multiple times easier to learn than other languages would make it much less of a barrier to obtaining that passport.
This way, states that enjoy minimal Russian travel as is could choose to recognize only the ULP, more vulnerable states that are somewhat more economically dependant on Russian travel could choose to recognize the ELP, and the weakest states could recognize both.