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Japan Breaks with U.S. Allies, Buys Russian Oil at Prices Above Cap

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Re: Japan Breaks with U.S. Allies, Buys Russian Oil at Prices Above Cap

#21

Post by risyachka »

rayiner wrote: post #4
reducesuffering wrote: post #3

Money quote: 'It’s not as if Japan can’t manage without this. They can. They simply don’t want to,” said James Brown, a professor at Temple University’s Japan campus. Prof. Brown, who studies Russia-Japan relations, said Japan should move to withdraw from the Sakhalin projects eventually “if they’re really serious about supporting Ukraine.” Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. , two Japanese companies, collectively own…

> At least one middling positive of the invasion has been a litmus test for the levels of integrity of various countries. Russia annexed Crimea almost a decade ago. If you haven't read the writing on the wall and maneuvered independence you're incompetent or immoral. I can’t really parse this. Why should Japan care about Crimea or Ukraine?

Doing business with russia is directly sponsoring terrorism.

Why should Japan care about it? For obvious reasons.

Re: Japan Breaks with U.S. Allies, Buys Russian Oil at Prices Above Cap

#23

Post by user3939382 »

Anyone who's been paying attention I believe would agree that our foreign policy around Ukraine has come at a huge cost not only to us financially and economically, but also to our foreign relations. Under this conflict our relations with China, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia -- these are important partners -- have degraded. Having watched that unfold, this isn't a surprise to me.

Re: Japan Breaks with U.S. Allies, Buys Russian Oil at Prices Above Cap

#24

Post by ben_w »

gatlin wrote: post #11
ben_w wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking at OSM, the sea borders of Russia and Japan touch. That seems like a good reason for Japan to care about what Russia is doing to another country it shares a border with.

Is the unstated assumption here that Russia is mindlessly belligerent and going to attack any neighbor for any reason?

Mindlessly belligerent, yes.

"Any reason" is a bit of a stretch — I doubt Putin has a dice with country names on it — but given how dumb it was to invade Ukraine, it's not unreasonable to assume he's dumb enough to try Japan.

Re: Japan Breaks with U.S. Allies, Buys Russian Oil at Prices Above Cap

#25

Post by FpUser »

soco wrote: post #10
rayiner wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At least one middling positive of the invasion has been a litmus test for the levels of integrity of various countries. Russia annexed Crimea almost a decade ago. If you haven't read the writing on the wall and maneuvered independence you're incompetent or immoral. I can’t really parse this. Why should Japan care about Crimea or Ukraine?

When Japan decided to join the UN they decided they want to care about other countries. One aspect of that is joining on the sanctions front as defined and decided by said UN - which is a body where also Japan has a say.

The UN has condemned the invasion. It did not however sanction Russia. All sanctions are imposed by individual countries and blocks.

Russia holds veto power. I guess it'll be pretty hard for UN to ignore it.

Re: Japan Breaks with U.S. Allies, Buys Russian Oil at Prices Above Cap

#26

Post by EGreg »

ceejayoz wrote: post #18
pintxo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given this specific example is about islands controlled by Russia, but wanted by Japan, it sounds like Crimea is good precedent for Japan?

No? They've expressed zero interest in resolving the disagreement via force, and parts of Ukraine are currently held by Russia in a similar fashion.

Then what was the point of your example?

What does Japan gain from the idea that one country cannot take another country's territory by force, if it is in fact Russia that is in control of these islands?

If anything, Japan would like them back eventually. All attempts at diplomacy have failed, so force would be the only other option.

Re: Japan Breaks with U.S. Allies, Buys Russian Oil at Prices Above Cap

#27

Post by defrost »

yosito wrote: post #14
defrost wrote: post #9

In related news; backstory [1]: Australia is the biggest supplier of energy and key minerals to Japan, reflecting Australia’s position as a reliable, safe and competitive producer of raw resources. Australia provides around two-thirds of Japan’s coal, and a third of Japan’s LNG imports. Australia also provides about 60 per cent of Japan’s iron ore imports. and, just the other day [2]: The head of Japan's biggest oil…

Is your unspoken claim that Japan bought Russian gas because Australia just suddenly refused to sell gas anymore?

I haven't made any claim, I've reported two factoids and backed them with solid references to allow readers to verify and pursue that angle for themselves.

FWiW I was part of a mineral and energy intelligence group started decades ago that was sold onto S&P a decade ago ( mineral arm at [1] ) and the protocol there was to report solid factoids backed by solid references and where applicable create GIS links.

That was the product many paid good money to subscribe to, not our opinions or claims.

[1] https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/campaigns/met...

Re: Japan Breaks with U.S. Allies, Buys Russian Oil at Prices Above Cap

#28

Post by [deleted] »

user3939382 wrote: post #23

Anyone who's been paying attention I believe would agree that our foreign policy around Ukraine has come at a huge cost not only to us financially and economically, but also to our foreign relations. Under this conflict our relations with China, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia -- these are important partners -- have degraded. Having watched that unfold, this isn't a surprise to me.

[deleted]

Re: Japan Breaks with U.S. Allies, Buys Russian Oil at Prices Above Cap

#29

Post by rythmshifter »

Eumenes wrote: post #6
reducesuffering wrote: post #3

Money quote: 'It’s not as if Japan can’t manage without this. They can. They simply don’t want to,” said James Brown, a professor at Temple University’s Japan campus. Prof. Brown, who studies Russia-Japan relations, said Japan should move to withdraw from the Sakhalin projects eventually “if they’re really serious about supporting Ukraine.” Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. , two Japanese companies, collectively own…

[flagged]

yeah they're so tired of it that they asked for and received the blessing of the White House to do this.

Re: Japan Breaks with U.S. Allies, Buys Russian Oil at Prices Above Cap

#30

Post by st4lz »

rayiner wrote: post #4
reducesuffering wrote: post #3

Money quote: 'It’s not as if Japan can’t manage without this. They can. They simply don’t want to,” said James Brown, a professor at Temple University’s Japan campus. Prof. Brown, who studies Russia-Japan relations, said Japan should move to withdraw from the Sakhalin projects eventually “if they’re really serious about supporting Ukraine.” Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. , two Japanese companies, collectively own…

> At least one middling positive of the invasion has been a litmus test for the levels of integrity of various countries. Russia annexed Crimea almost a decade ago. If you haven't read the writing on the wall and maneuvered independence you're incompetent or immoral. I can’t really parse this. Why should Japan care about Crimea or Ukraine?

There is a shocking reality of how short-sighted and strategically shallow the opinions of people may be, even very literate ones with unlimited access to information.

There are very long tensions between Japan and Russia about the Kuril Islands, that both countries have a claim on. It is very possible, that the same vague claims used on annexing Crimea today, or Donbas, would be used against Japan, and may not stop there. What is more, Japan is an ally of the United States since WW2, and seems to benefit much both militarily and economically. What is more, another raising power in Asia and growing tensions around Taiwan may have the same consequences for Asia, which may threaten japanese influence in the reqion. We are also seeing proliferation of nuclear weapons, and the threats and blackmail is rising, when deescalation is seen as a sign of weakness.

Usually, being united against common threat is the cheapest strategy, and to pay a few bucks less for oil might turn to be very expensive in the long run. If there would be no punishment for disrespecting international law, the chaos would come.

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