Russian oil sold to India at 30% above Western price cap, traders say
reuters.com
reuters.com
Now, I just don't understand why nobody has said anything yet. The delta is just way too big and oil far too valuable a resource for stuff like this to go unnoticed for as long as it has.
Granted, I understand that India is kind of on its own geopolitically and part of their strategic interests might be securing a closer tie with Russia (for whatever reason), and this might be a bribe-in-kind of some sort, but still, I am quite confused as to how this has gone under the radar for as long as it has.
(you maths is out a little but you have the right idea, India pays 30% over the $60 price cap - paying them $80 then sells on at market price to everyone else for ~$90)
New Delhi is confident the US is so desperate for an alliance against China, it can't afford to do anything about it.
That's also why it expects no serious repercussions for assassinating a Canadian citizen in Canada.
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/india/ottawa-denies-report...
I feel like there's a lot of holes here; wouldn't people notice Trudeau's 2 day absence from his 3 day visit to India?
Pretty sure India's ambassadors are as trustworthy as when Russia's said UK [2] bombed Nord Stream 2.
https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2023/08/30/prime-...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_G20_New_Delhi_summit
[2]: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-says-british-nav...
Then the joke got misrepresented either accidentally or purposefully for clicks.
Only colonies are obliged to follow empires interests. India is independent for quite a while and in this case does what it deems it’s best for it.
It is an open, yet officially unstated, policy of the Indian government since the 1950s that the USSR/Russia must never be put in a position wherein it fully tilts towards China.
India, China and Russia are the three powers on the Asian continent. A 2v1 situation would be catastrophic for India. Sensible people in power in the West may not agree with the India, but they understand this. Arm chair generals on social media and those writing for Western media outlets do not.
There's a lot of nuance to geopolitics, clearly!
India is also a massive importer of energy. 30% above the price cap is still cheaper than market.
On dividing Beijing and Moscow, I think the ship has sailed. Russia is increasingly dependent on China. The leadership in Moscow is beholden to Xi in a way that has no historic comparison. If China initiated military action against India, Russia is no longer in a position to say no.
I don’t want to oversimplify things, and yet: how did that come about?
For dysfunctional or undemocratic nations, it's different.
Now the Philippines are inviting the US military back to deter Chinese aggression.
There's a reason despite the US military routinely asking congress to close down local bases and consolidate buildings to decrease costs that congress never lets them. That's money their district no longer gets!
You can search for more years if you're inclined.
Washington wants New Delhi for countering China. That’s a longer-term threat than Russia. If the U.S. Navy wanted to cripple India, it would do so by blockade. This energy insecurity is a well-known weakness of India’s; it’s not a coincidence that China has naval ports in Lahore and Sri Lanka. (It’s also why you don’t see Washington lighting up about India’s coal. A coal-burning India is less sensitive to e.g. the PLA Navy disrupting its seaborne crude imports.)
For a cleaner illustration of this trade-off, see Washington twiddling its thumbs while gazing into the distance while Ottawa and New Delhi duke it out.
Within another 3 months we might have mainstream media finally admit that Azerbaijan and/or Turkey are reexporting large quantities of Russian gas for the foreseeable future.
[1] https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/ukrain...
[2] https://www.ukrainianworldcongress.org/united24/
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Russo-Ukrain...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_crimes_in_the_Russian_inva...
(four of my siblings have served multiple tours of duty in various branches of service; I rely on them for subject matter expertise in this domain)
You could have fooled me.
Germany (and Europe as a whole) is paying for this in the form of LNG imports from the US and the UAE.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fresh-leads-point-to-poland-as-...
In any case, why would the US have to pay? It's not like anyone else has the power to extract a payment. In fact, for now the US is the country getting paid in the form of increased natural gas exports.
The US will have to pay twofolds, financially and morally. As Larry Johnson said: 'What has happened in Ukraine in the last 19 months — over 500,000 dead Ukrainians. What we’re talking about is something that is off the charts. There’s going to be blood on American hands. If there is such a thing as Karma, the US will have a terrible bill to pay."
If you threaten to kill someone and he later turns up dead then the police will investigate you as a suspect. But the victim might have had other enemies who got him first.
As for the moral culpability, let's remember that Russia is the aggressor here. The USA hasn't killed any Ukrainians. And it's up to the Ukrainians to decide what price they're willing to pay.