The reprehensible war Russia launched in Ukraine last week has quickly brought into focus the interconnectedness of our globalized economy. A cocktail sipped in Los Angeles might be mixed with Russian vodka. A fill-up at an Irvine gas pump could hand money to a Russian oil company. A monthly pension check for a retired firefighter in Riverside may include dividends from investments in Russian companies.
Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked attack on a sovereign democratic nation has many Americans considering cutting these and other economic ties to Russia. Boycotting vodka might not do much to influence Putin (just 1.2% of vodka imported to the U.S. comes from Russia), but we support the spirit of companies, government leaders and individuals seeking ways to use their dollars to show solidarity with Ukraine — even if some are more symbolic than substantive.
More effective and potentially more influential will be decisions that involve big money, such as the actions taken by leading oil companies BP, Shell and Exxon Mobil to dump investments in Russian oil and gas projects. The same would be true for California, the world’s fifth-largest economy, in divesting from Russia.
