I was drinking my morning cup of coffee and thinking about the Gas issue between Belarus and Russia. The Western press is all over it with comparisons to the Ukraine situation in the past. The Western press has gone all out and is accusing Russia of using gas as a political weapon and this is even as Belarus admits they owe it:
The amount is $200,000,000 and that may not seem like a lot in this day and age, but it is a lot to a country like Belarus!
I understand Gazprom’s stand on it and if you do not pay your bill a utility company will settle it for you and that involves shutting off the gas at the meter. I once had my water shut off in America for a past due amount of $2.95. I was new to living in a city and never thought twice about a tiny bill I received that said that I still owed a minuscule amount. This was an 11 day notice that if not paid my water would be shut off. I was 15 days away from the next water bill due in the mail and I knew that all would be paid in full at that time. $2.95 is not enough to worry about! Wrong…(No pay – no play!)
But when I discovered that Belarus is trying to pay by a barter method, I started to do some thinking. What is better to receive a bunch of worthless paper we call money or to get a tangible product, such as farm equipment that can be used on the farms in Russia…
Now to a giant like Gazprom they only care about the money. But on a realistic level, countries and companies that open up the possibility of bartering again as a means to pay bills is not a bad idea.
But then the banking system would hate the idea of countries and companies exchanging goods for other goods because that would leave them out of the equation…
Now a final thought on this. You can feel sorry for the Belarus people but somewhere you have to remember that someone is taking money from the system just like what was happening in Ukraine. Transit fees are paid. Money is made off of gas sold to other countries by Belarus. All kinds of little tricks and games go on. Just like in Ukraine where Ukraine was charging up to double the price to her own people for gas. The same situation is most likely happening in Belarus.
Feel sorry for the people of Belarus but do not blame Russia for the problems in Belarus…
Windows to Russia!