In reply to johndom90
I'm not saying we don't need it, the revenue, downstream, et al.
I'm commenting on the need for two sovereign states to get ' permission ' to do business with each other.
How often in the past 8 months have we heard that Ukraine is a sovereign state , right to self determination , join NATO etc.
TT and Venezuela as neighbors have been doing business with each other for centuries
I have not accepted the legality and moral integrity of the unilateral Venezuelan sanctions which are in place.
On top of which the only reason the US is 'allowing ' this is due to unintended domestic consequences of the
ill conceived sanctions against Russia. This is part of window dressing , a show of benevolence as cover going about replacing the loss
of Russian Heavy Oil to their market.
Hypocrisy at its best.
You are absolutely correct. BUT, the permission was to have the USA remove TT from American sanctions. TT was/is free to do business without the permission, but the consequences of doing so would have been devastating.
Small nations are at the mercy of the super powers, especially the USA in the western hemisphere.
Big countries like India and China usually tell them to go to hell and Israel has lots of radical Evangelical Fundamentalist Zionist Christians in the USA congress, so they don't have to worry about sanctions.