India, especially under a nationalist government like the BJP, has some similarities with Putin's Russia.
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| The Perfidious Tagging Of Nations |
It has long had ties with Russia, and its predecessor the Soviet Union, especially over arms purchases (which were/are cheaper than Western suppliers), while trying at the same time to break in to the Western big boys club.
This ambivalent behaviour was at best a tricky thing to balance, but following the Russian attack and invasion of the Ukraine, the act has been much harder to pull off. India is still purchasing Russian arms, but now is buying large amounts of discounted Russian 'Ural' crude oil, apparently taking advantage of the situation, whilst Europeans are paying 30 per cent more for their crude oil ....
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| India's Imports Of Ural Crude |
So, while India continues to buy a large amount of oil from Middle Eastern countries, the most significant increase in imports is from Russia. Historically, Russia has not been a major supplier to India, indeed in January and February of 2022, India did not import any crude from Russia at all, but by June this had risen to 25 million barrels of Ural crude per month .... There have even been reports that India is refining Russian crude, and then pushing it in to Western markets at a premium mark up, by disguising its origins, and thus breaching Western sanctions.
This
dangerous act, is increasingly hard to pull off, with the USA in
particular finding it difficult to stomach, with them warning India not
to get too dependent, or used to discounted oil from Russia. However
such is India's new interests in Ural crude, that in order to bypass
banking sanctions against Russia, one of the options India is
looking at, is a transaction system based on local currencies, where
Indian exporters to Russia get paid in roubles instead of dollars or
euros. Again this has disturbed the USA, who have said that it could "prop up the rouble or undermine the dollar-based financial system"
India is playing a dangerous game .... it wants to get more access for its businesses and citizens to the rich West, while getting cheap imports of oil and arms from Putin's Russia. There is a solidarity price to being in the Western democratic club, but India seems to be unwilling or unable to pay it in full ..... during and prior to the French revolution the term "Perfidious Albion" was a pejorative phrase, based upon the political actions of England (or the United Kingdom), to describe its perceived duplicity in pursuit of political self-interest.
India is increasingly looking like it may inherit that unwanted pejorative title ......
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