Twist and squirm

"For us, success is going to be not how many countries raise their hand to say 'We endorse what you're doing, we're part of the coalition.' We're not looking for that. What we want to see is that Russian oil continues to flow into the market, and that countries are using the leverage provided by the existence of this cap to bargain lower prices."

The above, as you might have guessed, is a quote by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen commenting on the latest developments in the G7 Russian price cap saga. These latest developments, according to unnamed sources who spoke to Reuters in late October, are that discussions are nearing their end and apparently the only thing left to decide is where to cap the price.

So far, so good, but let’s take a step back and I don’t mean I will be quoting Putin and Novak saying Russia will simply not sell oil to price-cappers. No. I’d like you to join me on a short trip back in time.