Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov rejected US threats to impose sanctions over a major oil-for-goods contract with Iran, insisting the move isn’t a political or economic challenge to the US nor something America should be involved in.
Ryabkov insisted the Russian government wouldn’t be intimidated by threats of sanctions, and that unilateral US sanctions would be illegitimate. He went on to insist Russia wants closer economic ties with Iran.
The US threats are particularly limited nowadays, since the US is already sanctioning Russia over the annexation of Crimea, and has so little trade with Russia to begin with that they can’t realistically cut that much more out.
Russia began talks with Iran about the deal after the P5+1 interim nuclear deal, and could be worth $15 to $20 billion for the two nations. Iran will be trading the oil at a value somewhat below market price, and getting goods in return since Iran’s banks are virtually impossible to transact business with anymore.
kill the petrodollar. take the usa to the level of illegitimate empire that it deserves.
in one sense, gwbush caused the invasion of iraq because saddam had decided to accept euros for iraqi hydrocarbons. a potential end of the petrodollar, saddam had to be removed.
gassafi of libya decided that he wanted gold for libya's hydrocarbons. another threat to the petrodollar. and a killer of the european economies. death to gassafi.
so, after the usa tried to perfect a coup in the ukraine[and syria] so as to implement the gazprom competitor[the trans adriatic pipeline], putin and his allies have decided to establish their competitor to the petrodollar.
will the usa and the nato countries target russia, china, iran with thermonuclear war to perserve the hegemony of the petrodollar?
if not, then the usa will, like ozymandias, sink into the sands of time.
Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".
Good for Russia and Iran. More countries should start giving the US the finger.
NONE OF AMERIKA'S BUSINESS–DUH
Similar to hot wars, economic wars can produce unintended consequences that are hard to predict and impossible to overcome.
What a wasted opportunity for the US…the Iranian market is huge and intelligent and just waiting for the chance to buy American products…oh, wait…most of the "American" products we could sell them are made in China…never mind…