4 ms·

Getting fossil fuels below market prices sounds like a way to fund the transfers to me.

• sudosysgen 6y ago
  In theory, yes, but it's often more complicated than that. Often those agreements don't allow the governments to actually sell them internationally at below market prices. Also, you completely glossed over the rest of the comment, which complicates things even more.
  • fulafel 6y ago
    These agreements sound curious as they're tantamount to foregoing fuel sales income to the counterparty. Are you really free favours that the governments are getting? Re bank accounts and embezzling, these are no worse problems, subsidized fuel is also vulnerable to smuggling abroad and other kinds of corruption and systems of exchange other than gasoline are well known technology in history of human societies, however attractive the mad max model is...
    • sudosysgen 6y ago
      Governments of oil-producing poorer nations often ask of companies producing fossil fuels that they give some part of their production at a profitable, but under market prices, in order to be allowed to operate. My point wasn't just embezzling, it was just distribution. A large section of your population might just not have a bank account. Also, it's way harder to embezzled fuel that money, and I'm baffled that you'd think some kind of government official could steal an appreciably high volume of fuel to be worth enough for the risk without involving a large number of accomplices and thus exponentially more risk. It's really incomparable.