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Javier Blas is chief energy correspondent at Bloomberg News and coauthor of The World For Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources.
The book aims to lift the lid on the billionaire commodity traders who buy, hoard and sell the earth's resources no matter how corrupt, famine-stricken or worn-torn the country they come from.
Some traders also gain political power despite sanctions and regulations - helping Saddam Hussein to sell his oil, fuelling the Libyan rebel army during the Arab Spring, and funnelling cash to Vladimir Putin's Kremlin.