Final Word from Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Czech President-elect Petr Pavel told a panel at the Munich Security Conference on Sat. that one of his priorities with regard to Ukraine will be to encourage the West to keep sanctions against Russia in place for as long as necessary. Pavel's fellow retired general on the panel, ex-Dir. David Petraeus of the CIA, said that the personal, financial and economic sanctions and export controls against Russia must really be ratcheted down (up). Every supply chain for every industry that is supporting the Russian war effort must be attacked, he said. The panel's moderator, Editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes of The Economist, said that sanctions aren't really working that well, despite tremendous Western-alliance unanimity, because there are many, many countries in the world that aren't applying them. This must change, Petraeus responded. Such discussion serves as a clear signal to Czech companies that are using third countries to circumvent the sanctions that the game might soon be up. [ Czech Republic sanctions-busting ]
Glossary of difficult words
to bust - to catch someone in the act of doing something wrong;
sanctions-busting - the act of trading with a country with which trade is not officially allowed;
to ratchet something up/down - to cause something to rise (or fall) as a step in what is perceived as an irreversible process;
the game is up - used to say that a dishonest plan or activity has been discovered and will no longer be allowed to continue.