Ah, what a beautiful story.
I listened to a NPR Planet Money a few weeks back (https://www.npr.org/2025/10/17/nx-s1-5577076/shadow-fleet-russian-oil-tanker-sanctions-boracay), first time in YEARS -- Planet Money got ridiculous and stupid and retarded -- but this feature on the "the shadow oil fleet" was epic.
...and here's the same conclusioN:
Uh, actually, sanctions only add unnecessary obstacles and profit-motivated entities route around them
It will take months for Russia to find ways to evade new U.S. sanctions. But if Iran can keep its energy exports flowing under heavy restrictions, Moscow probably can too.
One story in that NPR show was that Saudi Arabia has started importing sanctioned oil for its own use while exporting its non-sanctioned "pure" oil itself. LOLZ. Turkey, too, has had a fun time importing and refining crude.
And whatever dudez-in-suits think they're doing, it ain't working:
Oil exports from Russia hit a record high last month, and exports from Iran reached their highest level since 2018, according to Claire Jungman, director of maritime risk and intelligence at Vortexa. [...] Evasion tactics have grown sophisticated and the so-called shadow fleet of vessels that transports sanctioned oil has quadrupled in size over the past three years.
The world is pretty decentralized, and oil molecules are fairly fungible/indistinguishable from one another. Wave a big fat economic incentive for people to get around silly obstacles and... getting around silly obstacles they will!
Oh wait, aren't we doing something this silly in Bitcoin too?!
OOH CRAP
It's not only Bitcoiners obsessed with silly distinctions of what's pure and unpure
Get a grip, guys.
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