B--"
| Russia seeking military aid from China, says U.S. official | |
| WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. official said Russia asked China for military equipment to use in its invasion of Ukraine, a... | |
|
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Always embolden your enemy by purchasing from them.
Biden Eyes Venezuelan Oil
The administration seeks engagement with Maduro’s criminal regime.
Murals alluding to oil companies adorn one of the buildings of the state-owned company Petroleos de Venezuela in Caracas, Venezuela, March 9.
Photo: miguel gutierrez/Shutterstock
War profiteering is the world’s second-oldest profession, and it’s silly to feign shock over efforts by petroleum companies and financiers to use the bloodshed in Ukraine to make money in Venezuela.
It’s harder to understand why the Biden administration would rush to help the oil industry and its bankers at the expense of the long-suffering Venezuelan people and U.S. national security. But that seems to be where we’re headed.
On March 5 representatives from the White House and the State Department visited Caracas to negotiate with dictator Nicolás Maduro. The meeting wasn’t public. But judging from press reports, citing people familiar with the matter, it’s pretty clear that the administration is thinking about lifting the U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil imports and that it wanted to see what it could get in return.
The White House plays down that speculation. The meeting just happened to take place amid surging gasoline prices and ahead of Mr. Biden’s Tuesday announcement that the U.S. will forbid Russian oil imports.
Oil investors, like Chevron, aren’t so coy. Its four joint-venture operations in Venezuela are hurt by the sanctions, as are several U.S. oil-service companies.
On Feb. 7, even before Russia attacked its neighbor, Reuters reported that Chevron was asking the White House to ease the sanctions in the hope it could begin to recoup “the hundreds of millions of dollars” that the regime owes it. Owners of distressed Venezuelan debt, restricted by the sanctions, also have been lobbying for relief.
You’d think that woke American corporations and Wall Street would be embarrassed to be seen doing business with gangsters propped up by Russia, China, Cuba and Iran.
Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PdVSA, is an environmental wrecking ball. Satellite images of Lake Maracaibo show the complete devastation the company has caused. Similar degradation has occurred in the Amazonas and Orinoco regions, where the Maduro regime collaborates with criminal groups engaged in mining that trashes the environment.
On human rights, Caracas’s record of imprisonment, torture and extrajudicial killings is chilling. Some five million Venezuelans have fled the country. Those who remain suffer unimaginable privation, often without running water or adequate nutrition for their children.
But now Kremlin bankruptcy and isolation have pushed the Venezuelan strongman into deep water. His reliance on Russian banking—to launder cash from drug-trafficking, illicit precious-metals trading and looting PdVSA—makes him vulnerable. The U.S. has a $15 million bounty on his head for drug trafficking, and his Colombian-born front man, Alex Saab, has been extradited to the U.S. on money-laundering charges.
This would be a good time to make life more difficult for Mr. Maduro. Instead the Biden delegation’s visit to Caracas bestowed upon him much-craved legitimacy, which he used as propaganda in a triumphant nationally televised speech after the Americans left. The White House emissaries brought home two American hostages. At least seven more remain Maduro bargaining chips.
It’s an open secret that the administration seeks engagement with rogue nations, including Cuba and Iran. To that end, it may believe that it can use the Ukrainian crisis as a pretext to lift sanctions on Venezuela. But importing from Venezuela is unlikely to damp U.S. gasoline prices.
In 2021, according to OPEC’s secondary source reports—the most accurate available snapshot of crude production—Venezuela pumped 558,000 barrels a day. The week of March 7 daily output was 643,000 barrels.
Of this, some 50,000 barrels a day go to Cuba. Around 200,000 barrels daily stay in Venezuela; much of the rest goes to Asia.
The only production that can be ramped up in the next 18 months will come from existing inactive wells and some development drilling. That’s likely to add only about 120,000 to 200,000 barrels a day, according to Luis Pacheco, a nonresident fellow at Rice University and a former PdVSA executive. Even then, the regime would first need to resolve outstanding debts with joint-venture partners, remove existing legal and fiscal obstacles, and improve security.
On paper, the restart of foreign-owned joint ventures looks promising. But reality kicks in fast. After years of neglect and lawlessness, electricity is in short supply and rampant crime plagues the oil fields. Production and transport infrastructure has broken down.
New investment requires a fresh hydrocarbon legal framework to rebuild confidence in the rule of law, a highly unlikely outcome without regime change. The lifting of U.S. sanctions would take things in the opposite direction.
Venezuela might come up with more oil to sell to the U.S. if Mr. Maduro’s Asian buyers begin drawing their oil from the discounted Russian pool. In that case Venezuela will happily sell its excess inventory to the U.S. But what wisdom is there in refusing Russian crude and replacing it with oil from one of the most dangerous Russian proxies in the Western Hemisphere?
And:
Biden Pursuing Iran Deal Even After Tehran Attacks Consulate, Threatens Trump Officials
The attack in Iraq involved at least 12 ballistic missiles. They were launched from Iran overnight and landed near the American consulate at Erbil, Iraq.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Biden controlled by "Greens," consumers turn red with anger and blue over inflation.
Biden’s War on Oil Hits Consumers
The American energy industry is ready to help if Washington stops trying to put us out of business.
By Harold Hamm
A drilling rig near Karnes City, Texas, Oct. 31, 2021.
Photo: tannen maury/Shutterstock
Gasoline prices are higher than we have ever seen. The government reported a year-over-year inflation rate of 7.9% for February, the highest since 1982. Americans need relief, and one thing stands in the way: President Biden’s unwillingness to reverse course on his administration’s commitment to put the American oil-and-gas industry out of business at the consumer’s expense.
In the year since the administration froze new drilling leases on 26% of federal land and more than a third of the nation’s resources in productivity, the U.S. has been falling further from energy independence, putting national security at risk. There is no good reason for America to become more reliant on energy imports. It constrains our policy choices, forces us to cede our national security to foreign players and enriches those who would do us harm. This administration is working with the Saudis, Venezuela and even Iran to come to the rescue. Why?
The U.S. needs domestically produced oil and natural gas. In 2019 the U.S. became energy-independent, a net exporter. Gas and electricity prices were low, and the U.S. was the largest producer of energy on the planet. Thanks to abundant and affordable clean-burning natural gas, brought to us by horizontal drilling, the reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions was the most successful in the industrialized world.
Modern life is predicated on cheap, abundant and reliable energy. This administration has manufactured scarcity and mandated insecurity around the globe. Energy prices are rising everywhere, and releasing a couple of days’ supply from our strategic reserves is a temporary patch. The largest strategic reserve in the world is under our feet.
The solution lies in three simple actions: First, make it official U.S. policy to restore energy-independence by using all sources of available energy. Announce the intent to bring on more supply of oil and gas in the U.S. This provides certainty for producers to bring new capital and supplies to the market, meeting current world demand.
Second, open federal lands for energy development. The 9,000 permits the White House keeps touting is misleading at best. Thousands of those sites can’t be developed as they are held up in litigation. Others require new permits and leases to make a full unit. Thousands more await approval. Conservatively, our data tells us the number of available permits ready for production today stands closer to 1,500, and many of those are already drilling. No leases have been issued for federal land since 2020.
Third, support energy infrastructure, including pipelines to transport natural gas, oil and CO2 safely. Projects such as the Mountain Valley Pipeline would increase energy availability and enhance our ability to export to our allies.
Last week we heard for the first time that Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is ready to work with “everyone and anyone who is willing to take a lead into the future by diversifying your energy portfolios to add clean fuels and technologies.” The American oil-and-gas industry has done just that. My message to the administration is this: The people of American oil and gas stand ready to work with you on U.S. energy development.
Mr. Hamm is chairman of the Hamm Institute for American Energy, the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance and the Council for a Secure America. He is founder and chairman of Continental Resources.
+++++++++++++++++++
Deplorables and diners:
Diner breakfasts are perfectly normal, no matter what D.C. elites think
By Salena Zito
BLAIRSVILLE, Pa. — For nine years, Shawn Stanford has called Dean’s Diner her second home. On a recent grey Tuesday afternoon, the petite 30-year-old in a crisp white uniform offered an infectious smile and warm greeting to anyone who walked in the door.
At the heart of the reason she loves her job is a sense of community — “outside of the money,” Ms. Stanford said, laughing. “There is a great mix of regulars who I know what their order will be as soon as they walk in the door as well as travelers passing through on the highway looking for some good homemade food and a place that feels welcoming.”
The Hay family from State College were the latter; they quickly grabbed one of the green leather booths located by a window overlooking U.S. Rt. 22 and ordered some stick-to-your-ribs nourishment for their drive from Pittsburgh back to Happy Valley.
Veronica and Paul Hay chose a BLT and a double cheeseburger, respectively. As daughter Paula Prisbylla, who’s moving back home to State College from Pittsburgh, took some time to decide, a guy at the counter suggested none of them leave without trying one of the diner’s homemade pies.
“I am sure glad we stopped,” Ms. Prisbylla said. “We always try to go to diners. Even back home, we loved going to the Ye Old College Diner all of the time; it was sad it closed a couple years ago.”
Her father chimed in: “Oh God, I miss those grilled stickies,” a flattened combo of a sticky bun and a cinnamon roll. Today he decides to follow the advice of the guy at the counter and try the pie: “Peanut butter cream has my name all over it.”
Craig Piper and Craig Peterson are regulars, sitting in their regular booth next to the entrance. Mr. Piper restores antique cars; Mr. Peterson is an artist.
Mr. Peterson, 33, said no matter where his profession takes him, his first and second choice is always a diner for the food, and a local brewery for refreshments. “Even when I’m doing my art festivals, like I’ll go to Knoxville, Tennessee, then I go to Memphis. I always try to find the local diner and brewery; there’s always a sense of welcoming in these places.”
For 95 years Dean’s Diner has served not just the community of this Indiana County town, but also anyone on their way through. Dean’s has almost literally always been here.
Breck Dean said his great-grandfather started the business in 1927, when he opened the family’s first diner in the town of Indiana: “At one time there were five of them all in operation all over western Pennsylvania. The one here, which is the only remaining one in business, was moved to this spot in Blairsville when U.S. 22 was realigned, and the highway passed our original Blairsville location by.”
For everyone in the place, their visit to Dean’s Diner was part of either a weekly routine or a customary traveling experience; in short, it was normal to pick a diner over a fast-food restaurant or a corporate franchise. They liked supporting a local business, the hardy yet inexpensive meals and the sense of belonging — even if they’d never been to this particular diner before.
A Washington, D.C.-based journalist working for a well-respected newspaper — seeing someone being interviewed at a diner for another reporter’s story — recently tweeted: “Who has time to sit down for breakfast at a diner on a weekday? Feels like people who have time for a leisurely weekday diner breakfast are not normal!”
It was another reminder that those who work for our cultural curators — corporations, academia, Hollywood, Silicon Valley and our national newsrooms — often have very little in common culturally with many of the people who buy their products, attend their schools, stream their shows, use their social media platforms or read their news stories.
(It was also a swipe at yours-truly, made explicit in a follow-up tweet about “the salena zito-style real american interview.”)
Unfortunately, many of these people who live and work and socialize in the “super zip codes” amuse themselves by mocking people who frequent diners, gas stations, Dollar Generals, Dunkin Donuts and other un-trendy places.
Keystone College political science professor Jeff Brauer sees it as a big part of the cultural divide in this country that has caused both the Republican and Democratic coalitions to shift so significantly over the past few years.
“Too many journalists, academicians and Washington insiders are still misreading the current political climate and divide in the U.S.,” explained Mr. Brauer. “There is still too much focus on left versus right, liberal versus conservative and Democrat versus Republican.”
The divide, he said, is much more inside versus outside, and has contributed to the rise of populism in both parties.
“At the heart of this populism is not traditional political ideology and debate; the heart is the haves versus the have-nots, the insiders versus the outsiders, the out-of-touch decision-makers versus the everyday folks trying to get by — folks who don’t care about ideology, folks who just care about helping their families and neighbors have a good, productive life.”
Mr. Brauer added that it’s also about the rejection of the elites — like people who poke fun at those who eat at diners, and “who use their position, influence and power pushing their world view on those without power. The rejection of paternalistic elites who are ever-so-ready to tell others what is best for them, what they should believe, and what is ‘normal.’”
After all, the diner is far from a dying business model: Last year breakfast restaurants and diners did $11.1 billion in business in the U.S., according to IBISWorld, the leading data researcher for the industry. IBIS also predicts a 9.8% growth in the industry in 2022.
Mr. Dean said his diner in Blairsville is one of the last, classic Art Deco-style Fodero diners. He and his brother toyed with the idea of selling it, but Breck eventually bought his brother out and runs it remotely from his home in Philadelphia, with a lot of heavy lifting from Marilyn Hamer, who manages it day to day.
“I have been here for over 40 years since high school,” said Ms. Hamer, who is on call day and night. The diner is locally famous not only for its pies but also for being open 24 hours.
Ms. Hamer stands on the business side of the Formica-topped counter overlooking the chrome stools and nine booths; off to the side is a dining room filled with a dozen construction workers in hard hats who just walked in for a lunch break from the quarry a couple miles away.
“I miss waiting on people,” she said of her management position, “but I love that I am part of this place still being here — and that I am part of this community. That is what Dean’s Diner is, what every diner is: a community.”
Ms. Stanford added, “I feel bad for anyone who doesn’t think that’s normal.
Click here for the full story.
++++++++++++++++++++++
Day late and weapons and training short.
The Eagle Bows to the Bear as America Fails
Senior US army commanders informed senators in December 2021 they planned to send a “few hundred” more special operations forces to Ukraine to give military assistance and unconventional warfare instruction.
Russia gathered around 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border at the time; fears of an expanding invasion are increasing in the USA and Europe.
Russia has everyone shaking
As per two people involved with the two December discussions with legislators and legislative aides, White House officials were concerned about the commitment; the soldiers were never sent.
They also claimed that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin planned to ask President Biden for his approval of the mission immediately.
According to the two persons, a senior military officer informed House legislators the White House was worried deploying the soldiers would exacerbate an already volatile situation with Russia.
According to a third legislative source, a Pentagon official informed the Senate Armed Services Committee the plans had been canceled, due to the concerns.
The Biden government thought diplomacy could still succeed, but was concerned an inflow of US soldiers would jeopardize such efforts.
The discussions took place at a very difficult time for the United States and Ukraine, as American officials experience precise intelligence with NATO members about Russia’s impending invasion
“No such proposals” for further training exercises, according to a White House official, “were ever brought” to the White House or the National Security Agency.
Biden, as well as the White House, did not “stop any organized training efforts for Ukraine until U.S. soldiers were shifted in February,” according to a Defense Department source.
Neither source would speak on the briefings on Capitol Hill or whether a plan was considered unofficially with the White House that did not meet the criteria for an initial proposal.
Interview requests were not returned by European Command or Special Operations Command.
The choice not to send in staff was part of a trend, according to Ilan Berman, a senior vice president of the American Foreign Affairs Institute, who has spoken with the CIA and the Department of State.
Ukrainians desperately needed the training
As per the three sources, the operatives would have educated Ukrainian forces in resistance movements and guerrilla warfare approaches.
For years, the United States has provided Ukraine with armaments, including Javelin anti-tank rockets, as well as training on how to employ them.
At the Yavoriv site, US Green Berets, as well as National Guard soldiers, have been teaching the Ukrainian military since 2015. On Sunday, a volley of around 30 Russian cruise missiles hit that training site near the Polish border, killing nearly 35 people.
Ukraine’s special operations troops have spent years operating with American and NATO special operations units, with close ties to the United Kingdom, Norway, and a number of Balkan countries.
They’ve also flown across Europe to take part in NATO exercises, such as the Combined Resolve training in Germany in December, where they were joined by American regular and special operations personnel.
The series of predicaments facing the United States manifests ongoing disarray in the Biden White House. Time and time again, the list of problems associated with the Biden administration appears to get longer and longer. If this White House were committed to solving problems, this wouldn’t be so bad. |
+++++++++++++++++++++++ Inconsistencies Abound: In America Biden wants to keep the price of energy down so he shuts off the oil and gas industry's ability to increase drilling and then turns to our enemies to increase their own drilling. Biden wants Ukrainians to protect their borders from incursions by Russia but opens our own borders to illegal immigrants who are flooding our country. Democrats want to improve American infrastructure so they pass a trillion dollar plus spending bill for increasing welfare. Biden campaigned on a government that would be open so Pelosi allows the budget bill to be approved at 2 AM in the morning. The black school age population is among the largest undereducated class in America so Democrats favor unions/failing schools over charter schools and vouchers. Progressives want Covid vaccination cards be used for identification but are against identification to vote. Voting and honest elections are among one the most sacred of rights citizens have. Capitalism, free markets and balanced budgets made America pre-eminent yet, progressives seek to embrace failing Socialism, believe in deficit spending and favor government rules, regulations and control of large swaths of GDP. Democrats consistently cut defense spending in favor of welfare while our adversaries are increasing their military preparedness. Congress passes legislation for "We The People" and exclude themselves from it's impact. Democrats favor teaching an entire generation to believe America is a racist nation while peoples' of all colors, religions and ethnicity want to come to America. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hillary Pilloried In Durham Report? More Damning Evidence Surfaces Against Hillary Clinton in Durham ProbeOPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.One top Republican is warning that while more damning information continues to surface, Hillary Clinton appears to be off the hook in terms of Special Counsel John Durham’s criminal inquiry.During an interview with journalist Sharyl Attkisson, California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa argued that Durham’s investigation into the origins and conduct of the Trump-Russia investigation has taken too long.“Justice delayed is justice denied is not some sort of a trite statement. It’s very true,” Issa told Attkisson“Anything that comes out of the Durham report,” Issa said before stopping to scoff and shake his head. “It could lynch Hillary Clinton, and it wouldn’t change a thing.”“The fact is, the time has passed. It is pretty irrelevant, except it’s a lesson to Congress that putting real-time limits and putting real meat in activities, including inspector general’s reports and so on, is more important than ever. The time it takes to complete an investigation, or the time it takes for Congress to get to the truth, impacts whether or not you’re going to get the truth and compliance in a timely fashion. If you can hold an administration accountable in real-time, they will cooperate. If they know they can run out the clock, as they often do, they won’t,” Issa said.Last week, a federal judge rejected a bid by Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann to “strike” a “factual background” section of Special Counsel John Durham’s early February court filing.Last month, Sussmann’s legal team filed a motion demanding that the court remove portions of the Feb. 11 filing that included the “Factual Background” section by claiming that it would “taint” a jury.“I’m not going to strike anything from the record,” noted U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Christopher Cooper during a status hearing. “Whatever effect the filing has had has already passed.”The Epoch Times reported in February:…Sussmann was representing the Clinton campaign when in 2016 he passed along information to an FBI counsel. His lawyers say the documents “raised national security concerns” while prosecutors describe them as purportedly detailing a covert channel between a Russian bank and the business of Donald Trump, Clinton’s rival at the time.Sussmann was charged with lying to the FBI because he falsely told the counsel he was not providing the allegations to the FBI on behalf of any client despite presenting the information on behalf of the Clinton campaign, prosecutors say.In a filing in February, Sussmann’s lawyers moved to dismiss the charge, claiming their client “did not make any false statement to the FBI” but even if he had, “the false statement alleged in the indictment is immaterial as a matter of law.”“Allowing this case to go forward would risk criminalizing ordinary conduct, raise First Amendment concerns, dissuade honest citizens from coming forward with tips, and chill the advocacy of lawyers who interact with the government,” the filing stated.+++++++++++++++++++ As I keep writing, time for Israel to go it alone and take out Iran's energy grid and level their oil infrastructure.If America cannot depend on Biden how can Israel. +++ 2 Nukes in 4 Weeks’: UN Rings Alarm Over Iran’s Nuclear Capabilities By Pesach Benson, United With Israel, 3/14/22 According to data from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a United Nations agency, Iran has enough highly enriched uranium to build two nuclear bombs in just four weeks. The data was recently disclosed to the Jewish Chronicle (JC) and indicates that the Iranian nuclear program is more advanced than has been previously reported. It also casts doubt on U.S. insistence that the JCPOA would leave Iran months, rather than weeks, away from nuclear weapons. Conventional wisdom posited that Iran would need six months until it had enough fissile uranium for just one nuclear weapon. CONTINUE +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ As an American, I don't have much to be proud of since Biden became president. Everything he has done has turned into a disaster, a sign of weakness and/or questionable morality. He presided over some important Senate Committees during his almost 50 year career as a politician but accomplished nothing of note. Biden Sycophant's would have you believe his response to the Ukraine War has been amazing and he has unified NATO. Anyone who concludes Biden's Ukraine response has been outstanding is a misguided dreamer. Even yesterday China made fools of us after 7 hours of being berated for telling China they had to cease their support of Russia or else. China is buying all of Russia's oil, all of their wheat and when transported in Chinese carriers there is nothing we dare do. Xi has outfoxed Biden at every turn and Chinese negotiators have consistently insulted our own because Xi has concluded we are a fading power and China is the emerging one. Where would we be if China stopped buying our own bonds? They already own over two trillion dollars of our promise to pay paper. China has it's own issues but they are gaining on America commercially, militarily and strategically. Even The Saudis have refused to take Biden's frantic phone call and have invited China to visit. Our Sec. of State is appropriately named because he is constantly being forced to blink. Being Jewish, I, at least, have a fall back opportunity. Israel seems to do most things effectively and take no crap. Israel destroyed hundreds of Iranian drones in massive attackIsrael reportedly attacked airbase in western Iran, wiping out hundreds of Iranian drone aircraft.Israeli forces devastated an Iranian airbase recently, destroying hundreds of drone aircraft in a massive airstrike, Ha’aretz reported Tuesday morning. According to the report, six Israeli drone aircraft carried out an attack on an airbase in western Iran near Kermanshah in mid-February, destroying hundreds of drones. The incident went unreported until this week, and was first disclosed by Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based media outlet aligned with the Hezbollah terrorist group and the Iranian government. Iran, an Al Mayadeen report Sunday said, has blamed Israel, though the Jewish state has neither confirmed nor denied the claim. Al Mayadeen linked the attack on the drone base to Saturday’s missile attack by Iran on a base in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, claiming the Erbil strike was a retaliation for Israel’s drone attack last month. The New York Times cited a senior US official who said that the building hit in the Erbil attack also served as an Israeli training facility. The Kurdistan regional government has denied the claim, saying that the building struck in Erbil was a civilian facility. |
No comments:
Post a Comment