

Diplomatic Coup: China Brokers Iran-Saudi Rapprochement
China has rearranged the power balance in the Middle East, leaving the U.S. and its main regional ally, Israel, isolated.
China has rearranged the power balance in the Middle East, leaving the U.S. and its main regional ally, Israel, isolated.
According to the company, the tax on ‘excess profits,’ whatever boon it might be for the EU’s coffers in the short term, is ultimately “counterproductive,” since it would scare off prospective investors.
The White House has warned that China’s attempts to exert its influence worldwide, as it has just done with what was traditionally a U.S. regional ally, were “not conducive” to the international order.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow had prepared for this price cap—a controversial, and according to some experts, ineffectual mechanism that would ‘force’ Russia to sell its oil for less than current market value.
In a move that left the White House “disappointed,” OPEC+ announced a cut of its oil production by 2 million barrels a day, which amounts to 2% of global oil production. The political and economical fallout may have far-reaching consequences.
While some media sources claim that Russian exports to Asian markets have fallen, others point in the opposite direction.
Kukies said that weaning from European reliance on the 158 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year of gas that Russia supplies is the block’s biggest energy challenge.
Le Pen highlighted the absurdity of Europeans purchasing oil and gas from India, which itself purchased them from Russia.
OPEC’s Secretary General, without executive power in the strict sense, usually plays a decisive diplomatic role in facilitating discussions between producer countries with often divergent interests.
With German gas reserves at a precariously low level for winter, Germany has decided to continue shunning nuclear energy, and has opted to reactivate coal plants.