Your Wednesday briefing

The oil war between Russia and the West.
ImageAn oil tanker anchored alongside in Venezuela in 2021. Credit... Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times
Putin's oil war with the West
As Russia struggles to find new buyers for its oil amid harsh Western sanctions, it is attacking the stock market of two of its allies - Iran and Venezuela - and unleashing a price war that could hurt them all. Experts expect that if the oil battle escalates, it will increase tensions with the Kremlin even as Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, strives to solidify his alliances.
The oil competition sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine already seems to bring Venezuela a little closer to the West after years of a deep freeze in relations. Any possible deal to bring more Venezuelan crude oil to world markets would help the United States, which is increasingly desperate to cut oil prices to limit war damage to Western economies.
< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" > The resurgence in oil and gas prices - and the fact that much of the world's supply comes from Russia - has been Putin's most powerful weapon against the West, giving it disproportionate geopolitical weight. In recent months, oil prices have risen to levels not seen since 2008, boosting Russia's oil revenues and helping fuel the country's war machine.
Background: Rising energy prices have a significance they last enjoyed in the 1970s, magnifying the effect of Kremlin policies far beyond the battlefields at a time when many leaders had hoped to start phasing out oil to tame climate change.
Other news:
Negotiators Russians and Ukrainians will meet today in Istanbul, in an increasingly desperate effort to

World Jul 13, 2022 0 178 Add to Reading List

The oil war between Russia and the West.

An oil tanker anchored alongside Venezuela in 2021.

Putin's oil war with the West

As Russia struggles to find new buyers for its oil amid harsh Western sanctions, it is attacking the stock market of two of its allies - Iran and Venezuela - and unleashing a price war that could hurt them all. Experts expect that if the oil battle escalates, it will increase tensions with the Kremlin even as Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, strives to solidify his alliances.

The oil competition sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine already seems to bring Venezuela a little closer to the West after years of a deep freeze in relations. Any possible deal to bring more Venezuelan crude oil to world markets would help the United States, which is increasingly desperate to cut oil prices to limit war damage to Western economies.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" > The resurgence in oil and gas prices - and the fact that much of the world's supply comes from Russia - has been Putin's most powerful weapon against the West, giving it disproportionate geopolitical weight. In recent months, oil prices have risen to levels not seen since 2008, boosting Russia's oil revenues and helping fuel the country's war machine.

Background: Rising energy prices have a significance they last enjoyed in the 1970s, magnifying the effect of Kremlin policies far beyond the battlefields at a time when many leaders had hoped to start phasing out oil to tame climate change.

Other news:

Negotiators Russians and Ukrainians will meet today in Istanbul, in an increasingly desperate effort to