On big purchasers – Edward Wong and Vivian Nereim in NYT:

‘Biden aides have tried to get Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations to oppose Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Prince Mohammed invited President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to speak at an Arab League summit last month, but the Arab countries have remained neutral. There are strains in Saudi-Russia ties on oil policy, but Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are big purchasers of Russian oil because of its current discounted price.
In his juggling of superpowers, Mr. Goldberg said, the prince is “pulling levers to get the White House’s attention,” and American officials are puzzled over “whether he’s in a permanent policy of hedging or whether he’s playing hard to get.”’

Read the article here.

Let’s forget the hedging, I would say permanent hedging, but what’s permanent?

Let’s just look at the big purchasers of cheap Russian oil, UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Do they need oil? No. They are resellers. And who is buying from them? The EU.

Of course because of the sanctions Russia is selling oil at discounted prices, but the gains of UAE and Saudi Arabia are I assume more substantial and the losses of Russia.

So far, the unintended consequences of sanctions. For more information about sanctions, see recent history, Serbia and Iraq. Sanctions are a windfall for criminals, not even very smart businessmen and third countries.

But yes, symbolism is important. There is no alternative

Asl, as reported today in NYT and also in Haaretz, the alliance between Russia and Iran is deepening. See here and also here.

The war in Ukraine is reshaping also the Middle East, with new winners and new losers. For now the US is definitely not on the winning side, neither is Israel, Iran is, Assad is, Saudi Arabia is. And China is.