Sanctions/pressure are conditional; the Global South asserts buyer autonomy

This position holds that sanctions and Western pressure are conditional and self-serving, and that countries of the Global South may buy energy and goods from whomever they choose. Its advocates call such pressure a double standard and describe buying as a sovereign choice, with India stressing that it sets its own terms.

Outlets associated with India carry it most strongly. On sanctions against Iran it is joined by outlets associated with Russia, and on Latin America by Global South voices. It appears in the tension between the US and India, in the relationship between the US and Russia, framed as navigating rather than choosing sides, in the debate over sanctions relief as leverage, in the sanctions on Iran, called illegal coercion that buyers defy, and in the role of outside powers in Latin America.

Nearby positions say the US alliance is unreliable, that events vindicate Russia, or that the reopened US-Russia channel is pragmatic realism. The pressure the position pushes back on is visible in recent events: a US law allowing tariffs of up to 100 percent on buyers of Russian oil, with India and China named as possible targets, and new US sanctions on Iran. India said it would take all necessary measures to protect its economic interests.