this is probably mostly prejudice and old propaganda influencing me, but i don't see them really giving much of a fuck...the only concern i see them having in the whole thing is there being someone left to sell their oil to while people are still buying it. they know almost any country that can afford it is trying to get as far away from oil as possible, so they're going to want to maximize profits as much as possible, for as long as possible. i'm not positive, but i kind of doubt they sell much oil to russia. so i would guess they're on the EU's side, officially or not, for simple financial reasons...and now i'll go do some reading to see if i'm completely wrong or not
edit:...i had not considered that a lot of the middle east buys food from russia...perhaps if we could set up a fairly friendly deal with them we could wean them away from russian wheat? perhaps even help them develop better irrigation systems, big hydroponic farms / solar farms, to help them become more self sufficient, and wean them off of their own stash? develop some good karma with them?...maybe if we had done this during the Obama administration, we would have allies in the middle east instead of casual sometimes trading partners?
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