The US and EU have tried mightily to isolate Russia, even to the point of a de facto but unrecognized default on US dollars. 

Yet, total isolation is impossible, says Eurointelligence founder Wolfgang Münchau in a A BRIC, Impenetrable to Sanctions.

Remember the Brics? This acronym stood for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. They are not strategic allies of Russia. But they, and many other countries, will continue to trade with Russia.

The west, meanwhile, has taken the biggest gamble in the history of economic warfare. We have frozen the assets of the Russian central bank. 

But we did not think this through. For a central bank to freeze the accounts of another central bank is a really big deal. Economically, what this means is that the entire transatlantic west has defaulted on our most important asset: our fiat money.