What's the alternative? It's forcing Russians into tough decisions, hitting Putin and friends where it hurts, or letting Putin get away with it.
And nobody dares sanction the actual gas that is flowing through the war zone itself ...
Virtue sanctions? How do you expect those companies to operate in Russia with the rouble in freefall and SWIFT cut off?
I honestly don't know what the right path is here. Sometimes all the choices are bad.
In all likelihood, Putin probably will get away with this in the long-term. Most of us are happy to change our Twitter profiles to a Ukrainian flag, but how many of us would go and fight in Ukraine ourselves, how many of us would willingly send our kids over there to fight? Not most of us, I suspect.
I think the best possible outcome, which still isn't great, is that the Ukrainian people turn this into a quagmire and the Russians leave. The Russian public, much like the public in the West probably doesn't want to send their kids to die in another country that hasn't attacked them.
Do sanctions actually work? Maybe, but I'm not 100% convinced. North Korea is still sabre rattling and developing nuclear weapons despite years of sanctions. Cuba hasn't buckled despite over 50 years of U.S. sanctions. Iran hasn't had a regime change despite all the economic levers pulled against them over the years. The boycott Israel movement hasn't stopped the construction of settlements.
I don't think a quagmire in your own country is ever a good outcome. I honestly believe it would be preferable for most civilians if Russia quickly wins the war rather than dragging it out for a decade until Russia withdraws.
Of course, ideally Russia will agree to a peace relatively soon, take a few things they already had (Crimea, parts of Donbas) and some security promises, and lick their wounds after the sanctions...
I doubt the people of Crimea for example are suffering as much as if they had been through war - I'm not even sure they would welcome a Ukrainian operation to reconquer them (even though, to be clear, I don't believe Putin's referendum was anything other than a sham). I would also ask the 500,000 to 2 million killed afghans, and the 3 million wounded, if they are happy their deaths tore down the USSR, and would gladly go through that again.
Who cares about the long term though? All that matters is what we can tweet about this afternoon.