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Except that Europe does pay. It’s just that Russia wants them to break the law and pay with fake money instead.

• macilacilove 5y ago
  EU does pay. But then EU 'freezes' the Euro account that the payment went to, effectively erasing the transaction, right? From the Russian perspective the rouble is much less fake money.
• simonblack 5y ago
  "Fake money" is money that isn't freely usable as cash. For the Russians, the Euro is fake money because the Europeans won't let the Russians use it. However, there is no impediment to anybody using Rubles, so the Ruble can be considered non-fake money. In the greater scheme of things, if a contract transaction can't be made in one currency, the world requires that we use another. A contract is an exchange of one thing for another. There is no such thing as a legal contract in which one party gains and the other party does not. (Try buying a car from a dealer then not handing over the cash to that dealer. You could say "I've paid you the money, I'm just holding it for you at my bank." See how far you get with buying that car.)
  • trasz 5y ago
    One can pay with rare Pokémons; it doesn’t make them cash. Rubles aren’t real money, because they’re not exchangeable. Try buying a car from a dealer that insists on paying for it in cocaine.
    • simonblack 5y ago
      Rubles aren’t real money, because they’re not exchangeable. Not exchangeable... by whom? Maybe you might not be able to, but there is a whole world out there that is separate from you and which has no trouble at all. The 'Western World' is merely one-eighth of the 'Real World', but its population is too parochial to understand that.
      • trasz 5y ago
        It’s not just the western world - global volume of ruble trading is a tiny fraction of what it was before the invasion.