The “politically inconvenient” truth is that the US is unilaterally reshaping the world order in a bid to restore unipolarity, and regardless of one’s opinion about this, it’s objectively achieved some tangible progress as of late. Treasury Secretary Scott Bennett announced that Indian refiners had just been provided with a 30-day waiver to purchase Russian oil, but only if it’s that which is already stranded at sea, thus ensuring “no significant financial benefit to the Russian government”. The stated purpose is “To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market” due to disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz caused by the Third Gulf War, which the US initiated as part of its grand strategy against China as explained here. Depriving China of the 13.4% of its oil imports that it received from Iran last year is designed to give the US enormous leverage ahead of Trump’s upcoming trip at month’s end with the hope of then coercing the People’s Republic into agreeing to a lopsided trade deal for derailing its superpower rise. It’s beyond the scope of this analysis to critique that strategy, but the point in referencing it is to draw attention to how India could have suffered collateral damage had the US not temporarily waived […]