How is buying Russian diesel as an attempt to lower pump prices ahead of midterms not “russian collusion”?

@trollslayer Actually American businesses theoretically could benefit. Russia's economy is actually in better shape now than it was in 2022.

Sanctions forced the pro west oligarchs out of the country so are no longer able to be leveraged as a 5th column and it forced American companies out of Russia. This hurt mostly western companies. For example it handed the entire Russian automotive market to China in a gift basket.

The reality is American economic warfare has not worked as intended for many years except against small 3rd world countries.


That being said sanctions are crimes against humanity. Collective punishment is explicitly banned. We literally shot German generals for this.

Now if sanctions were lifted in theory it might in theory allow Americans and Europeans to get back into the Russian market but Russians have largely moved on and are not interested.

People need to look at this as it actually is instead of wishful thinking.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow I agree that sanctions largely do nothing, but that itself is evidence that this is not “collective punishment”. Russia is a big country and can take care of itself. A few countries saying they will no longer do business did nothing to stop the war, and is only an inconvenience for Russia citizens.

Whether this action is beneficial to American businesses is not my point. That is Trump logic.

My point is to evaluate whether doing business with a traditional adversary will actually help our problem in a meaningful way or is it just a cheap ploy to win votes with little relief for US citizens. Is Russia’s participation in said deal an attempt to influence US elections, or do they only care about money?

As Munster pointed out - it may not be “collusion” because it it out in the open. But to be a cheap trick to win votes - it kinda has to be so Trump can claim success.

@trollslayer Um no. whether something is collective punishment or not is not magically determined by whether a country is able to survive in spite of it. And lets not pretend that it is just a few companies not doing business with them. Russia is the most sanctioned country on earth. The goal was to completely destroy the country and reduce it to grinding poverty and starvation. Because that is how it has been used for decades and the US went nuclear on this.

At least Madeline Albright was honest that starving Iraqui children was the entire point.



Actually it does matter. The US in now in a position of being the net loser while trying to destroy a country economically. And this happened long before Trump.



And again. Russia is the second largest producer of diesel. Your other option is risk a literal famine to pass an arbitrary morality test.


And the USA got itself in this mess. Russia didn't start a stupid war with Iran and create a global fuel crisis by casting magical spells on Trump.

It is not collusion because you get fuel from the people who produce fuel.


If the US was facing a grain shortage they would not be approaching the UAE.

@trollslayer I'm not repeating myself. You understood. Perhaps you should reconsider the words you use since they don't accurately describe the situation.

@SumKindaMunster not all collusion is done in secret. Look further than the first line of your definition.