Final Word from Monday, September 15, 2014
Conventional wisdom has it that the sanctions will hurt Russia far more than Europe or the United States, because Russia is more dependent on the West than the West is on Russia. However, Russia has more options than it might seem; natural gas and oil aren't its only weapons. For example, it could suspend its agreements on protecting intellectual property rights and become an unabashed promoter of free Hollywood and music downloads. Russia could also grant immunity to all its citizens who have taken bribes from Western companies and encourage them to send corrupt-practices affidavits to OLAF or the U.S. Justice Department. Even without this, HP pleaded guilty last week to corruption in Russia. Imagine what Russian companies could say about their various deals with Czech Export Bank. Of course the mother of all retaliations would be for Russia to leak the KGB files showing who was on its payroll for all those years. [Czech Republic European Union Ukraine crisis]
Glossary of difficult words
conventional wisdom - the body of ideas generally accepted as true by the public or by experts in the field;
unabashed - not embarrassed, disconcerted or ashamed;
affidavit - a written statement confirmed by oath or affirmation, for use as evidence in court;
the mother of all ... - an extreme example of something;
payroll - a list of a company's employees and the amount of money they are paid.