I agree with JR Ewing, oil is too precious and it is a basic daily need everywhere in the world. A lot of people love sales and bargains, so if the oil from ISIS would be sold relatively cheaper than the legal and regular oil supplies, someone will always be interested to buy. It's just so disturbing to think that we might actually be using oil which came from a much hated terrorist group.
There was a report on the BBC which said that basically everyone in the region buys oil from ISIS. Jordan, Turkey, the Saudis, even the Assad regime buys it to supply folks in the north of Syria with fuel. It appears that there isn't actually an international embargo on buying it, which seems odd. But like others have said here, oil is kind of precious, and if it's there, it'll get traded. Puts things into perspective, really.
Well an "embargo" is hardly the right word since we are not talking about a country. It's hard to make sure that NO ONE buys oil from there since you don't see where the oil is coming from or going to. But yeah I wouldn't be surprised to have a lot of the players in the area buying oil from ISIS simply because they sell it for so much cheaper. Looks like Russia is stepping up their game and targeting the ISIS oil transportation network. The US never wanted to do it but the Russians obviously don't mind as a high oil price is good for them. So looks like finally something is being done to destroy their finances.
Money knows nothing of our subjective "good" and "bad." When you have a product others want, when there is money to be made be damned sure the money will figure out a way to be traded for those goods.
Who else does ISIS sell their oil to? You won't believe this but it apparently is true. Assad's government, according to the Obama administration, has been strengthening ISIS by buying oil from them. Here's a link to the story: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-accuses-syria-of-purchasing-oil-from-islamic-state-2015-11-26 U.S. officials have long voiced concerns that the regime of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad was strengthening the Islamic State’s finances by purchasing oil produced by the group on territory previously controlled by Damascus. However, Wednesday’s charges are the most explicit and direct accusations by the U.S., and the first time sanctions have been imposed for the regime’s oil trade.
That just sounds so damn stupid. Buying oil from the guys who are taking over your country? I mean... surely even he must realise that this is helping his enemy financially? Then again it wouldn't really surprise me if this was true. Politicians do stupid shit all the time.
ISIS, although they seem nothing else than a bunch of radica goat f....ers, they are much more than that. They did not appear over the night, that's for sure. Keep in mind that they control luxury resorts and a lot of businesses as well. The leaders are connected with a lot of other radical leaders of the Muslim communities, who just happen to know the right persons. Through them, they sell cheap oil. This way, they make money, the middle man makes money and their buyers get to buy oil for cheap. It's practically a win-win deal for everybody.
Truth is there is a lot of propaganda going on. I have a feeling that in this case we're talking about Russian propaganda. Putin has said many times that US is sustaining financially many of the radical groups in the middle east, but obviously, he can't prove that. However, I'm pretty used to this type of propaganda, in which US are the bad guys, as I hear it daily in my country, and I can tell you it's always being spread by Russians.
There is such a thing as complementarity of interests uniting even presumably sworn enemies. And it is not new if you remember the Iran-Contra affair when the US shipped weapons to Iran. There is also a certain continuum that runs through humanity. ISIS members have friends and acquaintances in other countries even in the officialdom especially in the intelligence community. These are able to establish informal channels to supply oil. A good example of a clandestine affair is that of the Pakistani intelligence and the Afghan Taliban. So when push comes to shove, there are no permanent foes, only rivals.
