Everything has a beginning and an end. It could be due to mismanagement, misuse, or due to arrogance, which eventually will lead to the stage that nothing can stop the crash into ignominy.
Even Empires like the British, spanning more than half the globe, came to a sad end. 'Britannia ruled the waves' was what they touted. Now Little Britain could not even have a White man, good or capable enough, to rule over them. They can continue to sing 'God save the King' ruling over a little island, and posturing and pretending they are still an empire. Likely they need God to save the 'Fisher King' guarding the Holy Grail, the last island left in the Empire?
The illusion of perpetual hegemony, with military might giving it protection, and backing it with oil instead of gold did not work either. USA is not the only major oil producer calling all the shots. Now OPEC+ is slowly ditching the pricing of oil in US$, and that means countries do not need to keep vast amounts of US$ to buy oil. Countries are now able to do it in their own currencies, Ruble or Yuan. That is just the first step. Getting right the settlement system as an alternative to SWIFT is the next move being explored by the BRICS. That will start the real tsunami of de-dollarisation. It will take time, no doubt about that.
Janet Yellen's on the spur of the moment suggestion, to have an oil price cap against Russia, plucked from the air, is not even expected to work from the start, and crude oil prices have now moved far above the cap. And Europe in particular is having to buy Russian oil, under cover, far above the cap price of US$60, but still undoubtedly paying cheaper prices than buying from the USA. India, China, Saudi Arabia and OPEC+ are laughing all the way to the banks, making a killing and helping Russia overcome the energy sanctions imposed by the EU and USA. That, by the way is 'weaponisation' of oil to counter the 'weaponisation of US$ hegemony'.
That the West is now accusing China of helping Russia financically is plain horseshit. China can buy cheaper oil from Russia, which are highly discounted, and very much cheaper, and that is basically taking care of its own interest, the same with every country. Why are they not accusing India or the Saudis doing exactly the same thing? Are they not helping Russia in like fashion? The USA can no longer dictate. The more it tries, the more it will accelerate the de-dollarisation move by the rest of the Global South.
On a closing note, can we say that Russia is really isolated as they tried to propagate and pretend at the start of the Ukraine War? Now the USA is trying to flog a dead horse by claiming that Taiwan is not being isloated. Really? Losing recognition from nine countries since 2016 to China after Tsai became President is not material? Denial can never do its work, when reality hits!
Anonymous
On energy matters alone, Russia is not isolated. OPEC+ countries all support Russia's move to cut oil production on cue. Of course cutting production benefits everyone in OPEC+ as well.
ReplyDeleteZelenskyy can dream of asking USA and the West to cap Russian oil at US$30 per barrel. Russia is not going to sell oil at that price and may even force Russia with such a move, to cut oil production further, supported by OPEC+.
Do not mess with Putin was what Seymour Hersh warned. Putin actually gave a very telling remark - that we are all going to die sooner or later, meaning he is not too worried about pulling back his response to USA and Nato threats. When pushed to the wall, Putin will not pull his punches. Everyone has to go, sooner or later.
With all the cheap oil from Russia, China's inflation at 1% is the lowest for a country centred on manufacturing. It is an attractive destination for companies trying to flee the high energy cost countries of the EU. Besides the advantage of cheap energy, China's workforce are highly skilled and time tested, but its labour cost may be higher than India or Vietnam, the other two countries that are attractive.
But the USA is targeting India and Vietnam now, so the prospect of their leveraging on all the advantages may all be lost as well.
EU buying Russian fuel through India – Reuters.
ReplyDeleteReuters reported on Wednesday, citing preliminary ship-tracking data from Kpler and Vortexa.
According to Kpler, India supplied an average of 154,000 barrels of diesel and jet fuel per day to the EU prior to the conflict in Ukraine. Volumes surged to 200,000 bpd after the EU imposed an embargo on imports of Russian petroleum products in February, the data showed.
According to Kpler, Europe accounted for about 50% of India's jet fuel exports with France, Türkiye, Belgium and the Netherlands among the top European consumers of diesel refined in the Asian country.
- India is making money from EU by being the middleman for Russia and EU. Question comes to mind, "where are the sanctions on India from the Americans and Brits?" will the 'Indian PM' of UK close one eye or two eyes for India?" (MBAL)
When China conducts military drills around its shores, it is a threat to stability in this region. So says the Taiwanese Military.
ReplyDeleteWhen USA, thousands of miles away, conducts military drills with Japan, in the South China Seas, it is for peace. So says the warmongering hypocrites. How ridiculous is that?
How about Russia, China and Cuba conduct military drills around Cuba and see what the USA says.