Today, the ruble is trading at 1.8 cents, its highest level since 2015.
This is how ineffective the West’s sanctions against Russia have been. Yes, Putin’s economy is contracting; yes, inflation is at levels that would have Fed Chairman Jerome Powell run out of town on a rail. But the truth is, the West’s concerted efforts to slam Russia’s income have been a dismal failure.
Because of oil prices. Russia’s current account surplus for the five months January through May exceeded $110 billion, more than triple the amount earned during the same period last year.
This is shocking considering that Biden promised Americans that imposing the toughest-ever sanctions on Russia would “impose severe costs on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time.” Those restrictions, he promised, would “impair their ability to compete in a high-tech 21st century economy.”
Those much-ballyhooed sanctions have come up short. This means that Putin can continue his destruction of Ukraine, which according to one estimate is costing $876 million per day, or roughly the same as its revenues from energy exports, while the West continues to sit by and watch. This is unacceptable.
It also begs the question: Did no one see this coming? Did not any of the financial experts in the White House or in the United Kingdom or France imagine that cutting off a major oil exporter might drive prices higher?
Did no one imagine that western nations might want to anticipate such an outcome by pushing every means possible to increase oil and gas production elsewhere? Including, for instance, in the U.S.???
This is not Monday morning quarterbacking. This seems like common sense, and yet apparently this entirely inevitable outcome has come as a surprise.
Not least to our president, whose obdurate hostility to American oil and gas producers is as puzzling as it is harmful.
Did Biden’s family get short-changed at the local service station? What caused the peculiar animosity that Biden seems to harbor against Big Oil and Little Oil too?
Imagine: during a verifiable energy crisis, with gasoline prices so high that people are cutting back on driving, Biden will not meet with oil industry executives.
While he has met in person or virtually with other industry groups, he refuses this most important get-together of all, instead delegating the sit-down to his energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed that the president won’t attend the meeting, but is “keenly interested in its outcome,” according to one report.
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/3535437-bidens-war-on-oil-is-funding-putins-war-on-ukraine/
This is how ineffective the West’s sanctions against Russia have been. Yes, Putin’s economy is contracting; yes, inflation is at levels that would have Fed Chairman Jerome Powell run out of town on a rail. But the truth is, the West’s concerted efforts to slam Russia’s income have been a dismal failure.
Because of oil prices. Russia’s current account surplus for the five months January through May exceeded $110 billion, more than triple the amount earned during the same period last year.
This is shocking considering that Biden promised Americans that imposing the toughest-ever sanctions on Russia would “impose severe costs on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time.” Those restrictions, he promised, would “impair their ability to compete in a high-tech 21st century economy.”
Those much-ballyhooed sanctions have come up short. This means that Putin can continue his destruction of Ukraine, which according to one estimate is costing $876 million per day, or roughly the same as its revenues from energy exports, while the West continues to sit by and watch. This is unacceptable.
It also begs the question: Did no one see this coming? Did not any of the financial experts in the White House or in the United Kingdom or France imagine that cutting off a major oil exporter might drive prices higher?
Did no one imagine that western nations might want to anticipate such an outcome by pushing every means possible to increase oil and gas production elsewhere? Including, for instance, in the U.S.???
This is not Monday morning quarterbacking. This seems like common sense, and yet apparently this entirely inevitable outcome has come as a surprise.
Not least to our president, whose obdurate hostility to American oil and gas producers is as puzzling as it is harmful.
Did Biden’s family get short-changed at the local service station? What caused the peculiar animosity that Biden seems to harbor against Big Oil and Little Oil too?
Imagine: during a verifiable energy crisis, with gasoline prices so high that people are cutting back on driving, Biden will not meet with oil industry executives.
While he has met in person or virtually with other industry groups, he refuses this most important get-together of all, instead delegating the sit-down to his energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed that the president won’t attend the meeting, but is “keenly interested in its outcome,” according to one report.
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/3535437-bidens-war-on-oil-is-funding-putins-war-on-ukraine/
