Sanctions on Russia: Central Asia smiles and becomes a commercial hub
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The purpose of these posts, rich in data that we will present, is presumably to invite the EU to close these holes, but it is an impossible mission: it is not easy to distinguish between legitimate exports and those which, instead, become re-exports to Russia, circumventing sanctions, especially when it comes to products for mass consumption.
Brooks notes how Central Asian countries have seen a boom in exports from the EU, Turkey and China
The export boom in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, as to a lesser extent in Georgia and Azerbaijan, is obviously not due to an economic boom in these countries, but, much more simply, to smuggling operations that end in Russia. In practice, Western, European and US regulations are easily circumvented by using intermediaries in these states. Moreover, there is no local economic growth, in such a short time, to justify such a commercial boom.
Analyzing Germany's exports to the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia. we see that the austere and good, by definition of the EU, are no exception, on the contrary, they explain many things to us:
If you are a Russian oligarch with a rich and expensive Mercedes you certainly have no problems finding spare parts for your car: simply the package you receive will carry the shipment, for example, from the Irgyzstan, or from Georgia. Even if you sometimes open a small metalworking factory in Russia you can do it easily, because the precision and quality machinery will easily arrive there probably transiting from Kazakhstan, after which you will be able to start producing quality projectiles for the Russian 152 mm howitzers, similar to those from 155 that the EU is unable to produce …
As we wrote previously, suppressing this traffic is almost impossible, because it is difficult to understand whether the Mercedes injection pump will be installed on a car traveling on the streets of Yerevan or those of Moscow. So Germany happily exports to Russia, transiting through these countries and distributing a little of its wealth there as well.
Thinking of bending Moscow with sanctions could only be a good idea in the minds of those who live in their own ideal world, like the famous "Brussels Bubble". In reality, in history, it has never happened that economic sanctions have bent anyone, even when applied in a much more strict and brutal way and towards much smaller realities. The "Malthusian" vision of war, typical of decadent political realities, cannot work in a real and vital world, in which goods and money will always find a way around the blockades.
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The article Sanctions on Russia: Central Asia smiles and becomes a commercial hub comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/sanzioni-alla-russia-lasia-centrale-sorride-e-diventa-un-nodo-commerciale/ on Sun, 03 Dec 2023 09:00:01 +0000.