The final communiqué was resolute, with defense budgets of NATO members finally rising and continued, generous humanitarian support for Ukraine celebrated with warm, shared applause. Yet despite all of this critical support, the West has had the power to end this war long ago—and at relatively modest cost—had it possessed the consistency to match its spirit with its actions.
How the private sector fought Putin
Beyond superior military power and a unified diplomatic voice, the West holds overwhelming economic power. The Ankara gathering promoted a comforting fiction of joint action, an exercise in self-congratulation that obscured an uncomfortable truth: the private sector has fought this war with greater consistency and greater courage than many of the governments now praising one another.
We write neither as passive bystanders nor as combatants, but as active parties nonetheless. Within days of Russia’s invasion, our Yale team mobilized nearly 200 volunteer researchers working around the clock—on the ground in Russia and neighboring countries, and deep in customs records, shipping manifests, and corporate filings—to track every major multinational operating in Russia and publicly grade each one from A to F.
