The World for Sale
Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources
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4.5 • 54 Ratings
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
'Gripping' Economist
'Jaw-dropping' Sunday Times
'Riveting' Financial Times
'Fascinating' Reuters
We are entering an age of energy crises and food shortages. This book reveals why.
Meet the swashbuckling traders who supply the world with energy, food and metal.
Their goal: To make billions by buying and selling raw materials - flogging Russian gas to Europe, Saudi oil to America and Congolese metals to Silicon Valley.
Their methods: Whatever it takes - whether funnelling cash to Vladimir Putin's sanction-stricken Kremlin, schmoozing Russian metal oligarchs after the collapse of the Soviet Union, or striking deals with the Libyan rebels at the height of the Arab Spring.
These are the commodity traders. You've probably never heard of them. But, like it or not, you're one of their customers.
*Financial Times and Economist Book of the Year*
*Shortlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award*
'Shows how much money and global influence is concentrated in the hands of a tiny group . . . Remarkable . . . As the authors roam from oilfield to wheatfield, they reveal information so staggering you almost gasp' Sunday Times
'A globe-spanning corporate thriller, full of intrigue and double dealing . . . Changes how we see the world, often in horrifying ways' Spectator
'A rich archive of ripping yarns . . . The high level narrative is gripping enough. But it is the details of what these freewheeling companies actually got up to that give the book a thriller-like quality' Financial Times
'Some of the stories could be straight out of John le Carré. The difference is they're true' Andrew Neil
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bloomberg News journalists Blas and Farchy debut with a colorful and alarming exposé of the shadowy world of global commodity trading. Willing to go "where others fear to set foot" in order to barter the essential staples of the world (grain, oil, minerals), some commodity traders are impervious to politics, patriotism, or principles, according to the authors. They describe the chief executive of "the world's largest oil-trading company" landing in Benghazi during the Libyan civil war to do a deal with Libyan rebels, detail how a Marc Rich + Co employee pretended to be a representative of Burundi in order to buy oil at a discount, and note that traders who violated sanctions in order to do business with South Africa in the 1980s helped to sustain and prolong apartheid. Blas and Farchy also detail how the U.S. Justice Department under attorney general Eric Holder aggressively prosecuted and curtailed the activities of rogue traders. Hair-raising anecdotes about "swashbuckling" traders "walking on the edge of the knife" keep the pages turning, but Blas and Farchy sometimes get caught between glamorizing their subjects and condemning their actions. Still, this an engrossing look at an obscure yet consequential corner of the financial world.
Customer Reviews
Brilliantly insightful
Fantastic read, thoroughly insightful and absolutely gripping for people with knowledge of the markets and participants