- Discussion of whether economic sanctions constitute “weapons of war” versus diplomatic tools, noting that while they are widely viewed as coercive instruments, they generally do not trigger formal “act of war” clauses in international treaties.  
- Analysis of Russia’s long-term economic decline: participants traced systemic problems to post-Soviet oligarchic asset-stripping in the 1980s and a cultural fatalism that suppresses entrepreneurship, despite abundant natural resources and a well-educated population.  
- Speculation that Russia’s potential sovereign-debt default could precipitate a “Lehman moment” for Western banks heavily exposed to Russian liabilities, with some participants welcoming such an outcome as strategic damage to those institutions.  
- Debate on the likelihood of domestic political upheaval in Russia, framed as possibly the most favorable moment in decades for a popular revolution, though Russian participants were presumed to avoid commenting for safety reasons.  
- Brief request for two medical papers—DOI 10.12788/jhm.3673 and 10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.7556—neither of which was available on Sci-Hub at the time, highlighting ongoing barriers to open access in medical research.