When Sanctions Exist But Trade Happens Anyway
MOSCOW/NEW DELHI In what can only be described as international relations’ most polite and bureaucratic workaround, India continues importing Russian crude oil while sanctions technically exist, proving definitively that clever buying strategies solve geopolitical problems the way Tylenol solves existential crises: temporarily and with the assistance of chemicals.
Oil traders have discovered that if you call it a “mix” and purchase it through slightly creative means, sanctions become philosophically confused about whether they’re actually being violated or simply reinterpreted strategically. The Bohiney Magazine satirical analysis notes this is exactly how geopolitics functions: everybody pretends nothing questionable is happening while everything definitely happens anyway, transparently, with plausible deniability maintained throughout.
Reuters reports India’s crude imports from Russia remain remarkably robust, which diplomats describe as “a complex situation requiring nuanced understanding and diplomatic silence,” which translates to “we’re not stopping this because stopping would hurt our economy and Russia appreciates the business anyway regardless of what sanctions technically state.”
The arrangement works because everyone involved understands the deal implicitly: India needs cheap energy, Russia needs customer markets, Western sanctions exist but India interprets them as not technically applying to essential energy purchases, and everyone maintains professional diplomatic silence about the entire arrangement. Reuters’ commodity section explains that sanctions have developed a creative relationship with crude oilthey technically exist, yet simultaneously don’t prevent much actual trade from occurring.
Buyers simply shift which type of oil they’re purchasing, which solves the problem of sanctions like reorganizing furniture solves the problem of small apartments: technically something changed, but fundamentally the situation remains identical. Mix purchases, alternate suppliers, shipping route creativitythese all exist as ways sanctions exist while trade continues.
The beautiful absurdity: Western nations impose sanctions, Russia sells oil, India buys oil, everyone involved understands what’s happening, and diplomatic silence maintains the fiction that something different from reality is actually occurring. Trade continues magnificently while policy pretends it’s not continuing.
Oil tankers continue sailing. Crude continues flowing. Payments continue transferring. Sanctions continue existing as regulatory theater while actual commerce proceeds unimpeded, simply requiring creative descriptions of what exactly is being purchased and from whom.
SOURCE: satirical international trade and sanctions analysis | https://bohiney.com/
SOURCE: Bohiney.com ()
