BAN IT FROM ALL NON-DEMOCRATIC REGIMES:

Given that energy represents almost 60 percent of Russia's exports, it's too important a target to leave unscathed. That's true both for symbolic reasons and for the effect a larger boycott could have on Vladimir Putin's war machine.

Canada, which until 2019 imported about 18,000 barrels from Russia each day, announced a ban on Russian crude oil and refined petroleum products this week. But asked about ending Russian oil imports on Wednesday, President Biden was noncommittal, saying only that "nothing is off the table."

Biden has been hesitant for obvious reasons. With his political standing already badly eroded by inflation, whose duration he seriously underestimated, he and his team are reluctant to take actions that could spike prices further.

Still, momentum is growing. Some oil brokers and refiners are refusing to buy Russian oil, either to show solidarity with Ukraine or out of fear that sanctions are coming. Now liberal US Senator Ed Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, centrist Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, and moderate Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are pushing legislation to end US imports of Russian oil, the latter two in a joint effort.

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