We are all financing Putin's war

The globe's insatiable appetite for commodities is financing the war in Ukraine.

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Oil pumping jacks in an oilfield near Neftekamsk, Russia. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg In early March, as the US and its allies unleashed a wave of sanctions on Russia, President Joe Biden declared he wanted to deal a "powerful blow to Putin's war machine." But as the war in Ukraine approaches its 100th day, that machine is still very much operational. Moscow is receiving a flood of cash that could average $800 million a day this year — and that's just from oil and gas. Effectively, the globe's insatiable appetite for commodities is financing Putin's war.  Read The Big Take.

From today's story "The vast majority of the world is not involved in imposing sanctions. The trade will go on, the need for fuels will be there." — Wouter Jacobs Founder and director of the Erasmus Commodity & Trade Centre Speaking on how the world is inadvertently funding Russia's war machine

ICYMI   Global power grids are about to face their biggest test in decades with global electricity generation strangled.   The world's addiction to coal, an energy source many thought would soon be on the way out, is stronger than ever. From March: Europe needs new fuel sources in the wake of Russia's attack on Ukraine. Read more from The Big Take.

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