Thomas Friedman

With every passing day, the war in Ukraine becomes a bigger tragedy. There is only one country that might have the power to stop it now, and it’s not the United States. It’s China. If China announced that, rather than staying neutral, it was joining the economic boycott of Russia… it might shake Vladimir Putin enough to stop this vicious war. …The most important innovation in this war is the use of the economic equivalent of a nuclear bomb, simultaneously deployed by a superpower and by superempowered people… sanctions on Russia that are crippling its economy. …Second, because the world is now so wired, superempowered individuals, companies and social activist groups can pile on their own sanctions and boycotts, without any government orders,amplifying the isolation and economic strangulation of Russia beyond what nation-states are likely to do. These new actors are collectively canceling Putin and Russia. [to access the full story a NYTimes subscription may be required]