## Russia's Economic Blackout Will Change the World - The Atlantic ### Russia's Economic Blackout Will Change the World - The Atlantic  #### Metadata * Author: [[Derek Thompson]] * Full Title: Russia's Economic Blackout Will Change the World - The Atlantic * Category: #articles * URL: <https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/03/russia-economic-sanctions-wheat-oil/627004/?cmdid=5Y4BEXKGJ0TC9N> #### Highlights * In a matter of days, the United States, Europe, and others have excommunicated Russia from the world stage, isolating the 11th-largest economy financially, commercially, and culturally. The U.S. and Europe have frozen foreign assets held by Russia's central bank, hurting its ability to stabilize its currency. Private companies, including Apple, Netflix, Adidas, and BP, have cut off the Russian market, and the U.S. has moved to ban Russian oil imports. Sports leagues, film festivals, and other cultural institutions have banished Russian competitors. McDonald's is closing its Russian franchises. Many of these measures are unprecedented for a country of Russia's stature. Collectively, they amount to a radical worldwide experiment in moral retribution. If Vladimir Putin sought to expand the Russian empire by hard power, he has achieved the very opposite: the diminishment of Russia through an unprecedented display of global soft power. * Russia's war could accelerate the green revolution in two big ways. First, it will increase political pressure on the U.S. and European governments to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas. (The U.S. has already said it will stop importing Russian energy, and Europe is considering a similar ban.) In the short term, countries will lean harder on spare oil and gas sources to keep prices down. But over time, the boycott of Russian energy could raise the price of thermal energy enough that it compels countries to deploy significantly more wind and solar projects. For years, anti-growth fears, antinuclear sentiment, and vague NIMBYism have stood in the way of green-energy construction. The urgency of an external threat could melt away some of those anxieties. "We can not talk about renewables revolution if getting a permit to build a wind park takes seven years," said Kadri Simson, the European commissioner for energy. "It is time to treat these projects as being in the overriding public interest, because they are." * Add it all up, and it looks like China could become the counterpart of last resort for Russia. This would make Russia something like a giant North Korea. Since 2010, that rogue nation has relied on China for roughly 90 percent of its total trade. One plausible scenario, then, is that Putin's failed attempt to expand the Russian empire grows the Chinese empire, as Russia clings to China to avoid economic ruin. # Russia’s Economic Blackout Will Change the World - The Atlantic  ## Metadata - Author: [[Derek Thompson]] - Full Title: Russia’s Economic Blackout Will Change the World - The Atlantic - Category: #articles - URL: https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/03/russia-economic-sanctions-wheat-oil/627004/?cmdid=5Y4BEXKGJ0TC9N ## Highlights - In a matter of days, the United States, Europe, and others have excommunicated Russia from the world stage, isolating the 11th-largest economy financially, commercially, and culturally. The U.S. and Europe have frozen foreign assets held by Russia’s central bank, hurting its ability to stabilize its currency. Private companies, including Apple, Netflix, Adidas, and BP, have cut off the Russian market, and the U.S. has moved to ban Russian oil imports. Sports leagues, film festivals, and other cultural institutions have banished Russian competitors. McDonald’s is closing its Russian franchises. Many of these measures are unprecedented for a country of Russia’s stature. Collectively, they amount to a radical worldwide experiment in moral retribution. If Vladimir Putin sought to expand the Russian empire by hard power, he has achieved the very opposite: the diminishment of Russia through an unprecedented display of global soft power. - Russia’s war could accelerate the green revolution in two big ways. First, it will increase political pressure on the U.S. and European governments to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas. (The U.S. has already said it will stop importing Russian energy, and Europe is considering a similar ban.) In the short term, countries will lean harder on spare oil and gas sources to keep prices down. But over time, the boycott of Russian energy could raise the price of thermal energy enough that it compels countries to deploy significantly more wind and solar projects. For years, anti-growth fears, antinuclear sentiment, and vague NIMBYism have stood in the way of green-energy construction. The urgency of an external threat could melt away some of those anxieties. “We can not talk about renewables revolution if getting a permit to build a wind park takes seven years,” said Kadri Simson, the European commissioner for energy. “It is time to treat these projects as being in the overriding public interest, because they are.” - Add it all up, and it looks like China could become the counterpart of last resort for Russia. This would make Russia something like a giant North Korea. Since 2010, that rogue nation has relied on China for roughly 90 percent of its total trade. One plausible scenario, then, is that Putin’s failed attempt to expand the Russian empire grows the Chinese empire, as Russia clings to China to avoid economic ruin.