> And yes, the US can sanction whoever they want, but such actions are far from free..

Honestly the biggest problem that's coming out of all of this is the US is finding out most of its actions actually are free... Like everyone know the US was "stronger" and better positioned than Europe 10 years ago but it's just gotten ridiculously skewed.

With Europe losing basically all ability to push back against the US because of their poor decision making we've lost a critical moderating influence on the USA.