Today for Tough Times Tuesday, we check in on the latest challenges for European sanctions on Russian oil and gas. If these last two years have taught us anything, it's that our global energy systems are too tightly enmeshed in the same ruinous reliance on petroleum products for us to be able to exert sufficient pressure on other states in war.
#Energy #War #Economics #UkraineRussiaWar
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/whats-oil-got-to-do-with-it
☝🏻 One note I only touched on, re: Azeri journalist crackdowns, ties into Georgia's recent struggles, too.
It's unfortunately very useful to autocrats for citizens to see any foreign presence as proof of "infiltration"--because that legitimizes crackdowns on media & dissent.
I say "unfortunately" because it is also *true* that some foreign presence has an infiltration aim.
The trick is not doing the infiltrator's or autocrat's work for them, by losing democracy in the process of state defence.
In other words, like last Tuesday: another real cheerful one, folks! 🙃