Russia and China “are very active and of course, they have a different financing model, which allows them to move more flexibly, including in international markets, so that is the challenge for American companies abroad.”

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Grossi

Source: TASS

Energy cooperation was one of the key areas of discussion during the Russia-Africa Summit held in St. Petersburg in July 2023. The summit made the official Western media and think tanks scoff and some politicians scramble to “counter Russian influence” in the region. There was so much scrambling, in fact, that the official West brought out the big guns: a well-known ancient Chthonic Creature known for its poisonous Cookies of Doom was sent on a mission to Africa.

Russia is known as a global commodity and energy powerhouse, including the oil-and-gas sector. So much so that those particularly green with envy once called it “a gas station masquerading as a country.” It was not until the self-defeating sanctions courtesy of the so-called Euro-Atlantic community—all tens of thousands of them—were implemented against Russia starting in 2022, that the extent to which commodities and real-world industrial production matter became truly clear. As Europe’s industrial leader, Germany, reels from the effects of these misguided sanctions, its business community, no doubt, misses cheap Russian gas.

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