[alapshin]

> There's nothing done yet, but the idea is absolutely brilliant.

It's pointless when it is not backed by real sanctions. It does nothing to punish brazen actions of autocrats while giving them fuel for propaganda.

> Punishing autocrats on their ego instead of their people sounds like a much better approach.

How about real sanctions on autocrats, their cronies, families and businesses? Sanction oligarchs, sanction businesses that are main source of income for autocrats etc. If you want to help ordinary people - simplify immigration.

> Given that economic sanctions usually fail to overthrow the regimes they are intended to punish

Maybe not, but they cripple country development and leave autocrats with less resources for a future actions.

[littlestymaar]

> How about real sanctions on autocrats, their cronies, families and businesses? Sanction oligarchs, sanction businesses that are main source of income for autocrats etc.

Sure, but these have a limited reach and they are usually being done very early in the sanction process. But once the targets have no more estate in the Western world, there is not much you can do.

> Maybe not, but they cripple country development and leave autocrats with less resources for a future actions.

But that's a really limited success at the cost of hundreds of lives, which makes it morally very difficult to justify.