Wednesday, December 7, 2022

The Russian oil price cap won’t work — Philip Pilkington

What Philip Pilkington does not mention is that the economic warfare program that the US has adopted and its allies have mostly gone along with is a informal declaration that the era of free markets, free trade and free flow of capital is now over. The US-led West has shifted from a peacetime to a wartime economy.

The other factor left unmentioned is "The Great Reset," meaning especially the transition from carbon-based energy sources to alternatives in order to address climate change.

Both of these shifts are in the process of exerting powerful influences on the world system and the world economy and global trade in particular.

The Post
The Russian oil price cap won’t work
Philip Pilkington

See also

Had to be devised by economists (who don't know how the system works).

Spoils of War
Oil is Today's Rhubarb
Andrew Cockburn

Also
  • While a $60-per-barrel oil price cap may sound straightforward, implementing it in what is a complex market could get very messy.
  • Physical oil is nearly never traded at fixed prices, instead being sold at a premium or discount to the forward prices of major benchmarks.
  • Traders are now worried they might inadvertently violate the cap while banks are increasingly worried about the high compliance risk.
Oilprice
The Russian Oil Price Cap Isn’t As Simple As It Seems

China Ignores Price Cap And Buys Russian Oil At Deep Discounts
Tsvetana Paraskova

Related
This financial system has provided the West with huge benefits, both directly and indirectly. By facilitating exchange and providing a stable basis for trade, the international financial system has also enabled the process of globalization from which Western states have profited enormously. One might imagine, therefore, that Western leaders would consider it a matter of the highest priority to maintain the system’s reputation for impartiality. As the developing world becomes richer, it serves the West’s interests to keep it within the existing structure rather then develop alternative structures outside of its control. This seems obvious. And yet, for the benefit of short-term political gain, Western states seem bent on doing the absolute opposite....

It is popular nowadays to talk about a “rules-based international order”. But an order in which one set of people can change the rules whenever it suits them is hardly a “rules-based” one. Nor is this the only example of Western states using their dominance of the financial system to pursue geopolitical objectives in apparent contradiction of the “rules” they claim to champion...…

Canadian Dimension
Financial war and its discontents
Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa

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