Muitas corporações globais já se mobilizam: vão bloquear sanções dos EUA contra a Rússia.
Indústria do petróleo , a mais poderosa da Terra , é contra sanções.
However, American government-owned news service Voice of America reported, on the same day, that “many global companies are lobbying against sanctions”. VOA quoted Ben Kumar, an analyst at London investment management firm 7IM, as saying: “You have this globalization now which means that everyone is linked to everyone else. Companies like BP [British Petroleum] – all the major energy companies are so multinational that if you start to threaten to shut down trade links they will kick up a fuss.” It is a fair deduction that within international business, European companies are a lot more ill at ease compared with American counterparts at the prospect of further US-led sanctions on Russia. European trade with Russia is tenfold that of American-Russian commerce.
Europe’s biggest economy Germany is most exposed having the largest bilateral partnerships with Russia. More than 6,200 German companies have long-term investments and trade deals in Russia. Some of these firms are world leaders, such as Opel, Daimler and Volkswagen for cars, BASF for chemicals and Siemens for energy infrastructure. It is estimated that total German investment in Russia stands at around $30 billion. Even with the diplomatic sanctions that Washington has imposed to date, they are hitting German businesses because of resulting devaluation of the Russian currency, the ruble, which makes German exports more expensive. “Compared with a year ago our products in ruble terms have become 25 per cent more expensive,” Wolfgang Eisser, managing director of Diosna, a machinery firm, told the Financial Times. “We see some projects have been delayed. Although business volume hasn’t fallen to zero it is smaller. The fear is that the currency could devalue further if the crisis escalates.” There are, to be sure, still plenty of capitalist forces that stand to gain from East-West conflict.
American arms manufacturers and Wall Street banks riding on the opportunities of a possible devastating war in Europe will only be too glad of Washington’s bellicose attitude towards Russia. Nonetheless, the world’s energy companies and other important trade and finance sectors across many different countries constitute a powerful counter-lobby. Obama’s threats of ramping up sanctions against Russia are therefore in danger of sounding hollow and politically isolated. At this historical juncture of sluggish growth worldwide, or even perhaps a further financial crash, the world economy literally cannot afford Washington’s reckless political agenda. We can be sure that many top corporations, including American ones, are having a stern word in Obama’s ear.
