But surely the stuff about free trade and open markets and all that is lagely PR, for people like that - in reality the game, for the big players, has always been about cornering stuff and rigging prices and cutting deals and establishing effective monopolies wherever possible. And that's actually easier on an international level, because there's no needs to worry about your domestic Trust Laws and suchlike, and it's always possible to find a country with a government that won't make waves.

Sanctions against a country with enormous stocks of oil? That just means an opportunity for crafty entrepreneurs to make loads of money by getting round the sanctions, the way it did in the case of Iraq.