The idea of sanctions being the ‘cure all’ to rid the world of Iranian nukes is just plain silly, JE Dyer shows us why.
Sanctions on Iran: Ushering in the post-American world
posted at 5:59 pm on January 26, 2012 by J.E. Dyer
If you get your news from the mainstream media, you probably think that China – in spite of repeatedly opposing the Western sanctions on Iran – has effectively joined the sanctions effort by cutting oil orders with the Iranians.
In the context of Beijing’s deep involvement in the Iranian oil and gas industry, however, this media narrative is not just invalid, it’s wildly, grotesquely invalid. China is investing heavily not just in oil and gas, but in other industries in Iran, including arms manufacturing and railway development. The investment in the oil and gas industry is robust by itself, however. It is also geographically interesting, and financially interesting.
All aboard for evading the sanctions
The point to begin with is that China is continuing at this moment to buy large quantities of oil from Iran and have it shipped to China. An equally salient point is that the explanation for the cut in orders in the first month of 2012 was provided by the Wall Street Journal on 6 January: China and Iran have been negotiating a pricing dispute. In dealing with the state oil and gas companies of China and Russia, clients and partners run into this problem all the time. Russia has become particularly famous for stalling on purchases and deliveries during negotiations, but China does it too. If you want to understand how prices and deliveries will be negotiated in a world ruled by the oligarchs of the Asian powers, watch how they deal today with their global partners in the oil and gas industry.
NOTE: [HotAir says: Admin note: there are multiple maps associated with this piece, but only one can be uploaded to Hot Air. For the remaining maps, please see this piece at The Optimistic Conservative.]
