US Sanctions Venezuela, China Buys Iran Oil: Unintended Consequences?
Chinese refiners are apparently expected to replace Venezuelan oil with Iranian crude, a development Al-Monitor attributes to the U.S. removing 'the country's president.' This reporting, however, neatly sidesteps the brutal truth: the US has pursued regime change and debilitating sanctions against Venezuela for years, specifically targeting its oil industry to collapse the economy and, presumably,
force out Nicolas Maduro. (Recall the 'export up to $2 billion worth of Venezuelan crude to the United States' offer, made *after* the US supposedly 'captured' Maduro - quite the negotiation tactic.) So, the US weaponizes sanctions against one oil-rich nation, then watches—or perhaps, orchestrates—as allies like China turn to *another* heavily sanctioned nation, Iran, for their supply. It’s almost
as if the architects of these policies prefer a world where their adversaries are forced into closer, resource-dependent relationships, rather than fostering global stability. The cycle of sanctions creating new market dependencies is no accident; it’s a feature, not a bug, of a foreign policy obsessed with control.