Rosneft’s Venezuela model is also finding traction in the Middle East, where Russia is looking for ways to support the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, make friends in Iran and help drive a wedge between Turkey and the West.
There should be a default and the Maduro government collapses, Russia and Rosneft could be left holding bad loans that a new government might not want to pay. @goldgoatsnguns
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It's definitely a war with these places being the proxies for the U.S. v. Russia. Russia supports a country that tries to get out from underneath the dollar, that causes further escalation etc. Venezuela is vulnerable because their crude is most profitably refined here in the U.S. Gulf Coast and that market is now effectively closed to them.
The Maduro governmnet, inept as it is, is on the right track with an oil-backed crypto to end-run U.S. sanctions. Also, Russia gets to have a case study to learn from with their crypto-ruble.
There are no alliances in geopolitics, only opportunities.