Seems like A&A is sending a clear signal that they are going to do the minimum blocking that they can get away with

And so the death of the Internet begins in earnest.

That's a little over dramatic. All that's happened is that British people can't visit Russia Today or Sputnik unless they use easily available methods to bypass the block. Nations have been blocking access to certain websites for many years. The internet continues. If it is dying, it's for other reasons.

yup, A&A “filtering” anything is a sure sign…

That said, their solution to complying with the law seems well thought out and I appreciate their detailed explanation.

The other existing blocks are only targeted at the "big players" as they are court orders to specific ISPs, A&A are genernally not included in those orders and so they don't have to block them (These orders have been around for about 10 years now).

This is a law obliging all providers in the UK to attempt to prevent access to services run by sanctioned people so A&A are caught up in this round of blocking.