Listen to the story if you prefer.
Dr. Sal Mercogliano has five shipping stories in the clip below.
The second story about the failure of Russian sanctions is most concerning. Russian President Putin boasts about the failures and has found some obvious ways around them.
The first story concerns chokepoints. UK Prime Minister Starmer said Russia’s aggression has caused more chokepoints for shipping. He says it shows that Putin is willing to risk the world’s food supply.
The second story is about sanctions. They haven’t worked on Russia. Russia’s economy is doing quite well. It seems Russia operates a fleet of vessels called “The Dark Fleet.” Samir Madani uncovered the covert armada that keeps Russia’s oil moving, circumventing sanctions. It keeps Russia’s economic lifeline alive and well.
Russians also established a shadowy insurance market to protect the ships.
The demand for Russian oil has actually increased ahead of winter. The UK put more sanctions on Russia, so Russia avoids the UK and finds other ways to get oil there.
The West wants Russian oil but doesn’t want Russia to profit from it. However, they are. Russia’s economy is booming as it establishes parallel economies. The 60 Minutes episode on the issue is interesting.
After Russian crude oil is refined, it’s untraceable, says Samir Madani, who runs a company that tracks oil tankers. https://t.co/0lLjX09S5A pic.twitter.com/VPh7ypw4Om
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 28, 2024
“Most of the oil that departs Russia by sea nowadays is going to China and India,” says Samir Madani, who runs a company that tracks oil tankers. https://t.co/DeBfDGdxJn pic.twitter.com/FHDCuuUuYa
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 28, 2024
Dr. Sal only deals with the shipping end of it. Still, the concern for the US dollar and the primacy of the West in the World Order is that the BRICS’ parallel economy is surpassing the Western-dominated world economy.
India EY reports:
Ernst and Young India has projected that the BRICS group could overtake the G7 countries in terms of their share of global merchandise exports by 2026.
According to a report issued on Wednesday, BRICS nations’ combined share of global merchandise exports rose from 10.7% in 2000 to 23.3% last year.
In contrast, the G7 share has declined from 45.1% to 28.9%. The rest of the world’s share in global merchandise exports has increased slightly from 44.2% to 47.9% during the same period.
The report highlighted that textiles had the highest share in global exports by BRICS in 2022, at 49.6%, followed by telecommunications equipment at 41.3%, clothing at 36%, electronic data processing and office equipment at 35.7%, and fuels at 30.3%.
It also noted a substantial increase, from 5.0% in 2000 to 32.8% in 2022, in the share of high technology exports from BRICS nations.
This was inevitable given the overwhelming population of BRICS countries and the cheap labor. However, bad US and EU policies rushed it along.
In Other Seafaring Stories
Somali pirates: they’re baaack.
Starmer said he plans to check China’s reach on the seas. They can’t do much.
Biden-Harris is cutting down Guam’s nuclear missile defense.
The UK will crack down on dubious tanker vessels in international waters.
The last story is about Panama cleaning up sanctions lists.
Watch:
The Opening Links
Global Shipping in Crisis: How Vulnerable Maritime Chokepoints Threaten the Global Economy https://gcaptain.com/global-shipping-…
Maritime Industry on Edge as Russia Intensifies Attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea Grain Corridor https://gcaptain.com/maritime-industr…
After Five Months of Calm, Somali Pirates May Be Back on the Hunt https://gcaptain.com/after-five-month…
Merchant Vessel Targeted in Multiple Attacks in Bab-el-Mandeb Strait https://gcaptain.com/merchant-vessel-…
Britain’s Pacific Pivot: Starmer’s Bold Plan to Counter China’s Maritime Moves https://gcaptain.com/britains-pacific…
Biden-Harris To Scale Back Missile Defense Of Guam https://gcaptain.com/biden-harris-sca…
UK Cracking Down on ‘Dubious’ Oil Tankers in the English Channel https://gcaptain.com/uk-cracking-down…
Fed Up: The World’s Largest Ship Registry is Giving Sanctioned Vessels the Boot https://gcaptain.com/fed-up-the-world…
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