Yesterday I wrote about how the nasty guy blowing up the Iran nuclear deal helped Russian president Putin by destabilizing the Middle East and driving a wedge into American-European alliances.
Mark Sumner of Daily Kos explains another way Putin was helped. The Russian economy is a mess and Putin didn’t have the cash to fix it or pay for a variety of domestic programs he had promised. The big reason for the shortfall: the price of oil had fallen. Sumner goes into the details.
The price of oil has rebounded, now about $70 a barrel, up from a low of $26 when the nasty guy was elected. That alone gives Putin’s domestic situation a boost. But maybe not enough. There is a way to boost the price even more – restrict the supply by restricting a major oil producer … such as Iran.
With sanctions renewed other countries will be wary of Iranian oil. The cool part – for Putin – is his fingerprints aren’t on the trigger. He gets little blame and all the benefit.
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