News Analysis The Ukraine war is driving sanctions on Russia that limit sources of oil and gas for U.S. and European markets. Buyers are now seeking alternate non-Russian sources, driving renewed interest in renewable energy such as wind and solar—both sectors in which Chinese companies are increasingly competitive. Energy buyers are also seeking oil and gas from currently sanctioned countries like Iran and Venezuela, relieving pressure on them meant to improve their human rights, and giving them bargaining leverage on issues like their authoritarian forms of government and nuclear proliferation. While Russian sanctions are ramping up, pressure on other illiberal countries is necessarily decreasing due to a lack of an even and sustainable approach to the application of sanctions. China and its de facto allies—Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela—are actually the bigger long-term threat, compared to Russia, and so shifting markets there could hurt democracy more in the long term. …