Alcibiades
Well-known member
In the latest tragic episode of the Impending Collapse of the Russian Economy, Russia's credit account surplus for Q1 2022 was the highest in history, double year-on-year. And, according to Bloomberg, it should earn 36% more money from energy exports this year than last year. It turns out that what happens when you impose sanctions that wind up increasing energy prices, energy exporters earn more money from selling to countries that aren't involved in the sanctions! While at the same time, the people who did the sanctioning have to pay more money, while having accomplished nothing. How can this be?!?!?!?
Now, a crazy person wearing a tin-foil hat might notice that the countries that are most urging the EU countries into adopting the harshest possible sanctions, despite them doing nothing significant to Russia, are in fact the U.S. and UK, countries that are a) much less vulnerable to the negative effects of rising energy and other prices and b) competitors of the EU. In fact, the second one has a long history of trying to undermine stability on the Continent as one of its primary foreign-policy goals. But that would be crazy talk.
Now, a crazy person wearing a tin-foil hat might notice that the countries that are most urging the EU countries into adopting the harshest possible sanctions, despite them doing nothing significant to Russia, are in fact the U.S. and UK, countries that are a) much less vulnerable to the negative effects of rising energy and other prices and b) competitors of the EU. In fact, the second one has a long history of trying to undermine stability on the Continent as one of its primary foreign-policy goals. But that would be crazy talk.