Sanctions on Russia

That said, according to a list compiled by Yale Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and his research team, Koch Industries is just one of about thirty companies pushing back against calls to pull out or scale down operations in Russia. They aren't alone, either. Other names on that list include Reebok, Cargill, Halliburton, LG, Cinnabon, and Subway.

Russia is in desperate need of an economic lifeline right now. They’re staring down the barrel of massive sanctions imposed by the USA and its allies following that February 24th invasion. It’s getting ugly. The country is actually flirting with a debt default; they have two interest payments coming up this Wednesday. Sure, they might get a 30-day grace period to breathe, but still... how much longer can they keep this up?

Moscow can't exactly get its hands on all $640 billion of its gold and foreign exchange reserves right now, but they’ve still got a chunk of that sitting in yuan. It looks like Beijing might be ready to step in and provide an emergency lifeline if things get desperate..

There’s this growing sense of pessimism over in Washington right now. People are starting to wonder if there's any way to actually steer China away from a confrontation with Russia. It’s hard to stay optimistic when it looks like the whole partnership is being driven straight from the top.

"This is really Xi Jinping's project. He's fully backing this closer partnership with Russia," an American official noted. There’s definitely more skepticism bubbling up through the lower ranks, but let's be honest—Xi and Putin are fundamentally aligned on their view of the USA. They seem pretty hell-bent on bringing an end to the era of American global dominance.

If China decides to back Russia in its standoff with the West, the Biden administration is going to have to pivot hard. The main goal will likely shift toward convincing allies—especially over in Europe—that they need to take a much closer look at their ties with Beijing. To that end, Sullivan is headed to Paris this Tuesday to sit down with the French government. It’ll be interesting to see if they can actually get everyone on the same page.

Nathan Evans78 said:It’s honestly pretty fascinating how much of a free pass India seems to have when it comes to working with the Russians. I suppose the folks running the numbers in the West are starting to realize that it wouldn't be a smart move to end up with an extra 1.5 billion people standing on the opposite side of the fence from us. ☕

As for oil, things don't seem to be cooling down anytime soon. It might not be that wild speculative spike we saw the other day, but it’s still enough to drain thousands of dollars out of Americans' pockets this year.

Nathan Evans78 said:It’s honestly pretty fascinating how much of a free pass India seems to have when it comes to working with the Russians. I suppose the folks running the numbers in the West are starting to realize that it wouldn't be a smart move to end up with an extra 1.5 billion people standing on the opposite side of the fence from us. ☕

As for oil, things don't seem to be cooling down anytime soon. It might not be that wild speculative spike we saw the other day, but it’s still enough to drain thousands of dollars out of Americans' pockets this year.

Mark Carter14 said:It looks like China has already made up its mind about backing Russia, and honestly, US officials are starting to sweat over it. Is anyone actually surprised? It feels like we’ve seen this script before.

Russia is in desperate need of an economic lifeline right now. They’re staring down the barrel of massive sanctions imposed by the USA and its allies following that February 24th invasion. It’s getting ugly. The country is actually flirting with a debt default; they have two interest payments coming up this Wednesday. Sure, they might get a 30-day grace period to breathe, but still... how much longer can they keep this up?

Moscow can't exactly get its hands on all $640 billion of its gold and foreign exchange reserves right now, but they’ve still got a chunk of that sitting in yuan. It looks like Beijing might be ready to step in and provide an emergency lifeline if things get desperate..

There’s this growing sense of pessimism over in Washington right now. People are starting to wonder if there's any way to actually steer China away from a confrontation with Russia. It’s hard to stay optimistic when it looks like the whole partnership is being driven straight from the top.

"This is really Xi Jinping's project. He's fully backing this closer partnership with Russia," an American official noted. There’s definitely more skepticism bubbling up through the lower ranks, but let's be honest—Xi and Putin are fundamentally aligned on their view of the USA. They seem pretty hell-bent on bringing an end to the era of American global dominance.

If China decides to back Russia in its standoff with the West, the Biden administration is going to have to pivot hard. The main goal will likely shift toward convincing allies—especially over in Europe—that they need to take a much closer look at their ties with Beijing. To that end, Sullivan is headed to Paris this Tuesday to sit down with the French government. It’ll be interesting to see if they can actually get everyone on the same page.

wiredseal7 said:Just your classic American way of blowing smoke.
China isn't actually meddling—it's just that certain people keep cooking up these fake accusations, hoping to drive a wedge between China and the EU.

wiredseal7 said:Just your classic American way of blowing smoke.
China isn't actually meddling—it's just that certain people keep cooking up these fake accusations, hoping to drive a wedge between China and the EU.

slyfox43 said:Sanctions are really just a long-term fix that won't be necessary anyway, since nobody is actually going to race to do business with North Korea, let alone sink any real investment into it.