You can only call this backfiring if you assume part of the two-pronged purpose of all of this was not to weaken Germany and the EU and make them more subservient just when they were starting to buck the US on various issues including Russia (US told them many times not to build Nordstream and they did anyways), China, etc.
For comparison, Russia under like a million sanctions only had 2% fall in GDP. Backfire is not a strong enough word for what happened.
Libs, overdosing on copium and western propaganda: 4 > 2, more = better, therefore Germany > Russia
You can only call this backfiring if you assume part of the two-pronged purpose of all of this was not to weaken Germany and the EU and make them more subservient just when they were starting to buck the US on various issues including Russia (US told them many times not to build Nordstream and they did anyways), China, etc.
This is not a bug but a feature.
I agree.