[pettusftw]

That's an interesting perspective. So you would say any economic disincentive used against a country is a violation because the population is impacted by the economic pains? Are reparations a violation of the same in your mind?

It seems any/many actions taken against an adversary will have knock-on effects of the population of the adversary, whether financial/economic or militaristic.

Does the focused nature of the sanctions thus far not change your calculus? Or is it SWIFT only that you're referring to? What about: banning private Russian flights from air space throughout Europe; FedEx refusing to make deliveries to Russia; Arming Ukraine to enable a quagmire, costing the Russian government several billions per day to sustain their effort, and harming their economic position; even broad and impactful tariffs could be seen as a Collective Punishment?

I'm having a hard time determining what actions are not a violation of the Collective Punishment ban under your generous interpretation, short of direct military conflict. I don't think incentivizing hot war was the intention of those rules. My understanding was that they are meant to apply to POWs and noncombatants under rule of a warring party.