"In just one week’s time, we are already seeing the most stunning decline of a nation I have ever witnessed..."

"While the so-called 'peaceful' sanctions are anything but, the good news is they are wrecking considerable havoc... They have actually had leveraged impact due to the war, itself, and the existing fragility of the global economy, and especially Russia’s long-starved economy.
    "The ruble has fallen off a cliff in just a few days to its lowest level ever against the US dollar!....

    "Here is what I find most impressive: In just one week’s time, Russia has become the pariah state of the world with very few nations even slightly hesitating from distancing themselves and with the citizens of all nations that have imposed sanctions strongly behind their governments in spite of the fact that sanctions will mean even more inflation on top of the inflation we already have when we cannot afford more economic disruption. Putin has succeeded in nothing so much as superbly and tightly uniting the world against Russia and in support of Ukraine faster than any global response any of us have ever seen and to a broader extent than ever before....
    "In just one week’s time, we are already seeing the most stunning decline of a nation I have ever witnessed, and I lived through the collapse of the Soviet Empire... I saw what the Russians went through back then.
    "That was nothing compared to this unfolding catastrophe. Putin has single-handedly thrown Russia into a collapse worse than the one he railed against only days ago when he began his attempted conquest of Ukraine. Russia will end up in the dust-bin of history unless and until good Russians unite against Putin to rapidly turn this around and say, 'This is not our war!' The world is not going to let up otherwise, and time is not on Putin’s side.
    "Therefore, thank God, tens of thousands of Russians are now trying. May they succeed before the sanctions cause them great harm, as sanctions are fully intended to do..."

~ David Haggith, from his post 'Russian Ruble Turns to Rubble' [emphasis in the original]