By Rhod Mackenzie
The collective West, led by the United States, seems to have miscalculated once again. This time, Washington, London and Brussels clearly overestimated the importance of Western insurance companies, which were seen as the main means of enforcing the price cap on Russian oil intro...
By Rhod Mackenzie
For most of the last decade, the price of gold has been driven by the cost of money (interest rates): the lower the base rate fell, the higher the gold price went, and vice versa. Most analysts say that gold is the "anti-dollar", i.e. the asset that investors who do not trust fia...
By Rhod Mackenzie
China has achieved a new success in its confrontation with the United States over chip production. In March, Huawei CEO Eric Xu said that the Chinese semiconductor industry would be "reborn" as a result of US sanctions. At the time, the businessman's words were seen as polemical...
By Rhod Mackenzie
The US's desperate attempts to isolate Russia and China through its intimidation,threats and sanctions have not provided Washington with the results they have craved.The rapid expansion of BRICS to 11 countries at their recent summit threatens to turn the political West into a g...
By Rhod Mackenzie
For the last half a century or so, the world's demand for fuel has remained constant at between 0.15 and 0.2 gallons (0.7-0.9 litres) of fuel per person per day. During the Covidien pandemic, this figure fell, but not below the lower limit. Plus it only seemed to remain at the lo...
By Ivan Timofeev.
Sanctions have caused damage and continue to distort normal market relations, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Ivan Timofeev. But business continues to find alternative ways. The regime of Western sanctions against Russia is likely to continue for decades. Therefore, investi...