Russia and China Now Have a “Prisoner’s Dilemma” with the Maduro Regime.
It looks like the Leaders of Peoples Republic of China have just validated the Forrest Gump brilliant insight “Stupid is as stupid does.”
In letting the now only significant income of the narco-fuled Maduro regime that presided over one of the greatest oil fields in the world go to utter ruin, and doing nothing about it, the Beijing bullies have put themselves in an awful dilemma:
China, the world’s largest importer of crude oil, has grown increasingly reliant on Saudi crude over the past year, official figures show, as it has reduced imports from other large suppliers like the United States and Iran in recent months amid trade tensions with Washington and US sanctions on Iran.
The gulf state – which was the victim of attacks on the Abqaiq processing facility and the Khurais oilfield on Saturday, claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels – is China’s second largest source of crude oil after Russia, supplying the fuel-hungry country with over a million barrels a day.
It is not like President Trump did not warn them and Russia.
The CIA world debt “fact sheet” states that Venezuela is in debt at about 100 Billion.
Russia and China are the leading creditors and have been watching and so far publically doing nothing as the Venezuelan ruler Maduro totally destroyed Venezuela’s Oil production capacity while fostering socialism as their ruling model.
The Venezuelan people are truly suffering while Maduro joins forces with the horrific Columbia based FARC.
The illegal Drug trade will fuel that emerging very nasty might makes right alliance.
Very insightful reporting by Monica Showalter nails perfectly the direct lineage from the late Hugo Chavez with the FARC and names the names of a crew of incredibly arrogant and blindly stupid (paging Forrest again Senator Sanders) American enablers.
Now with symbolically “Oil for the lamps of China” in huge play, it looks like Russia and China have what is known in Game Theory as “The Prisoner’s Dilemma.”
The prisoner’s dilemma is a paradox in decision analysis in which two individuals acting in their own self-interests do not produce the optimal outcome. The typical prisoner’s dilemmais set up in such a way that both parties choose to protect themselves at the expense of the other participant.
Does Putin continue, at least in public to help Maduro keep power, and this increase his countries oil revenues selling to the PRC as Venezuela Oil continues to tank?
Will China be happy about not getting their bought and paid for Oil from Venezuela?
Make no mistake China is in a vulnerable position if they lose access to energy supplies.
President “The art of the deal” Trump’s instincts were pitch perfect when he put the brakes on former NSC Director Bolton’s big fizzle saber rattling over Venezuela.
Combine PRC industry being starved for energy with a trade war against re-emerging American industrial might and China has a hugely, bigly, losing hand.
President Trump knows this game cold.
It was said that some of the greatest Generals in World War II were General Motors, and General Electric. So far without going full on kinetic to have regime change in Venezuela, the US being energy independent and now the top world energy producer along with the American economy fully engaged, all can watch Russia and China move to satisfy their own best self-interests.
Game on with the U.S. winner and over to you Russia and China.
My personal bet is that eventually Maduro will be the loser
But along the way to that moment it will be very interesting to watch what Russia and China do as interrelated but also independent self-serving nations.