War

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
U.S.-Saudi tensions complicate push for more oil
Strained relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States are complicating efforts by the Biden administration to convince Riyadh to step up its oil production — which could provide some relief to consumers amid high prices exacerbated by the Russian war in Ukraine.

The U.S. government has been increasingly critical of the Saudis since the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was lured to and killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

Saudi Arabia’s human rights record and tensions over Yemen’s civil war, which have led to bipartisan criticism from Congress, have added to the strife.

It puts the administration in a difficult spot as it seeks to get Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to increase production.

“I hate the fact that we have to ask the Saudis to produce more oil,” Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), who was a top human rights official during the Obama administration, told reporters this week.

“I hate that the Biden administration has to figure out how to leverage our relationship with Saudi Arabia to get them to do that so that my constituents aren’t being squeezed at the pump,” he added.

Saudi Arabia’s control over strategic oil reserves may force the Biden administration, which is under pressure ahead of the midterms to provide some relief to consumers amid inflation and high gas prices, to reassess its strategy towards Riyadh.

The president has sought to recenter the relationship as pragmatic, focused on shared security interests and energy needs, while raising concerns over Riyadh’s human rights record.

This marked a sharp reversal from the Trump administration’s overly friendly, personal dealings with Riyadh and carte blanche support for the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen’s devastating civil war.

But Biden’s strategy now appears to have put the administration at a disadvantage in a global time of need.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the day-to-day ruler of the kingdom and heir apparent, reportedly refused a call from Biden as part of outreach in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The White House refuted the report by The Wall Street Journal, with press secretary Jen Psaki calling it “inaccurate.”

“The president's focus is really on our relationship moving forward — where we can work together, how we can work together on economic and national security here at home. And he looks forward to that continuing,” she told reporters during a briefing last week.

High gasoline prices exacerbated by the invasion have put Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in strategic positions of power as members of OPEC+, the primary grouping of oil-producing nations.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE can add more oil into play because they have “spare capacity,” barrels that can be quickly moved onto the market and sustained for a period of time.

But Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have resisted calls to increase supply, part of agreements reached with Russia to strengthen their own economies, according to Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar for the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

“Saudi Arabia and, to a lesser extent, the UAE are relying on a hard-fought OPEC+ oil production agreement with Russia as the basis for their national development and economic transition planning,” he wrote in a recent article.

The Saudis and Emiratis have also resisted issuing blunt statements condemning Russia’s invasion. Instead, their top officials have criticized the U.S.

Prince Mohammed, who U.S. intelligence said approved a plot to “capture or kill” Khashoggi, said in a wide-ranging interview published this month in The Atlantic that he “simply” did not care what Biden thought of him and suggested that the U.S. alienating the Saudi monarchy would hurt the president.

“It’s up to him to think about the interests of America,” the magazine quoted him as saying and then shrugging. “Go for it.”

Senior U.S. officials last visited Riyadh on Feb. 17 in a bid to get Saudi Arabia to increase its oil output ahead of the Russian invasion. State Department spokesman Ned Price said this week that “we are in touch with our Saudi partners on a daily basis.”

But the Saudis and the UAE seem intent on nursing their grievances with the U.S.

UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba reportedly said this month that Washington and Abu Dhabi are going through a “stress test.”

“But I am confident that we will get out of it and get to a better place,” he reportedly said during a defense conference in Abu Dhabi.


The UAE is waiting for the administration to approve a delivery of F-35 fighter jets to the country and has also pressed Biden to redesignate Yemen’s Houthi separatists as a foreign terrorist organization, which the president revoked.

Biden has said he is considering reimposing the terrorist designation, but human rights groups and Democratic lawmakers have warned it would block the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

Katherine Bauer, a fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and former senior Treasury official who served in Israel and the Gulf, said specific tensions between the U.S. and Gulf nations are part of a broader feeling of American retreat from the region.

“The sense that the U.S. isn’t paying enough attention ... I think it adds to this sense, from the perspective out there, that the U.S. has not been the most reliable partner in the recent past,” she said.

But for some, warming relations with the Gulf in exchange for increased oil output is akin to accepting Russian energy exports since both are responsible for major human rights abuses.

Biden in his first month in office ended U.S. military support for offensive Saudi operations in Yemen, where human rights groups have documented thousands of civilian casualties caused by Saudi-led airstrikes, a layer of indiscriminate violence on top of the war-torn country being classified as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

“I think what the Saudis have done in Yemen is actually worse, but it's just gotten less attention,” said William Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

“I think if even a fraction of the pressure that Russia's feeling were put on Saudi Arabia, there'd be a good chance of stopping the killing in Yemen,” he added.

Republicans have made blaming Biden for the high gas prices a key attack strategy, though.

International factors, rather than Biden policies, are the main driver of high prices.

Both Republicans and some administration officials have also pushed for more U.S. drilling.

“We are on war footing, we are in an emergency, and we have to responsibly increase short-term supply,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said at an industry conference this month.

It’s a line of argument that has support from some U.S. allies in Europe, including Greece.

“I don't think that we should rely on Russia or on the Gulf countries for our oil imports, we should definitely see the U.S, as an option,” Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Varvitsiotis Miltiadis told The Hill in an interview in Washington this week.

“We have to develop the energy resources that are tangible and near to us in order to make the system more stable,” he added.

It would take time for U.S. companies to bring more oil online, however, so the administration is looking for the most immediate solution.

Kurt Volker, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, said the administration is pursuing the right strategy by looking to Gulf countries to offset energy shortfalls due to the Russian invasion. He argued that the European Union and United Kingdom should follow Biden’s lead and ban Russian oil and gas.

“I think it’s the right thing to do. We should be talking to everybody about the oil and gas markets,” Volker said.
They don't like the happy talk with Iran and Venezuela, open those two up and it can change things a lot.
 

printer

Well-Known Member
Russian lies.

Tribunal awaits Ukrainian nationalists from Mariupol, DPR Ombudsman says
DPR Ombudsman Morozova said that Ukrainian nationalists from Mariupol are waiting for a tribunal
DONETSK, March 21 - RIA Novosti. After a complete cleansing of Mariupol, the team of the DPR ombudsman, together with the law enforcement agencies of the republic, will enter the city and collect evidence of all the crimes of the Ukrainian national battalions for the tribunal, Daria Morozova, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Donetsk People's Republic, told RIA Novosti.

"We will continue the same work that is now being carried out in all the liberated territories, for example, in the city of Volnovakha. And all those who have broken the law, all those who have violated the Geneva Convention and international law, and, in principle, their own, Ukrainian legislation, are threatened with trial This will be considered in the future in the tribunal, we will not back down," Morozova said.

According to her, the released and evacuated people are already coming to the territory of the DPR and are expressing extreme indignation at the actions of the Ukrainian armed formations holding Mariupol .

“They are so outraged that the Ukrainian servicemen could hide behind them all the time. How can a mother with a child, who is hungry, is in blockade through their fault, take away food for several weeks? What should be in the head of this person who took in the hands of weapons, this is what should happen to the psyche when you have a crying child, hungry, dirty, sick, and you take away his last water and some grubs, which they don’t have so much," said the Ombudsman .

Putin called the Ukrainians not a people of their own but really Russians. Now they are calling Ukrainians Nazis.

 

doublejj

Well-Known Member
RIGA, Latvia - In a dingy Russian classroom with worn-out rugs, elementary school students lined up to form the shape of the letter Z: the symbol used on much of Russia's military equipment in Ukraine and an emblem of support at home, showing up on everywhere from bus stops to car stickers to corporate logos.
 

printer

Well-Known Member
Kremlin Warns Against Panic Buying as Food Prices Rise Fast

The Kremlin has told Russians not to panic buy staple goods such as sugar and buckwheat as prices rise at a record rate and shortages have been reported across the country.

“Russians have absolutely no need to run to the shops and buy-up buckwheat, sugar and toilet paper,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday, when asked about reports of panic buying.

“The fuss around supplies in food stores is extremely emotional,” he said.

Prices have risen at their fastest rate in more than two decades as Russia starts to feel the economic consequences from its invasion of Ukraine, data published by the Rosstat statistics agency shows.

The dramatic fall in the ruble, combined with Western financial sanctions and airspace bans, has disrupted the supply of imported goods and foods into the country.

Despite being a net exporter of sugar, prices have risen by more than 15% over the last two weeks according to government statistics. Shortages have been reported in many cities.

“Sugar deliveries are going on without interruption and factories are working round-the-clock,” Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev told the state-run Rossiya-24 TV channel later Friday.

“As for the coming season, we are significantly increasing the land dedicated to growing sugar. That will allow us to provide enough sugar not only for Russia, but also our partners in the Eurasian Economic Union,” added Patrushev, who is the son of the powerful Security Council secretary and former FSB director Nikolai Patrushev.

Peskov also said the government had “not formed a position” on whether it would seek to create a government sugar monopoly to control supply and prices.

The Kremlin has already banned some sugar and other agricultural exports and has previously rolled out price controls for staple goods at times of high inflation.

Moscow's Department Stores Empty After Western Luxury Brands Halt Sales in Russia
Hundreds of Western brands have pulled out of Russia over its invasion of its pro-Western neighbor, symbolizing Russia's growing economic isolation and its pariah status in the global community.

As a result, the glittering department stores of Russia's capital Moscow — where one could once find nearly every major fashion house's clothes — now stand empty.





 

printer

Well-Known Member
Frivolity aside, what would be the beer there?
Maybe this? Otherwise most any popular Canadian brand.

 

56nitty

Well-Known Member
None of it makes sense in light of the fact that Putin chose to invade Ukraine. It's probably fake news but a story about Ukraine using civilians as shields against bombarding buildings wouldn't have come about if not for Putin's invasion. @56nitty can talk about Mexico, bad murrica, human shields all he wants but the fact remains Putin invaded Ukraine despite international laws against it and the treaty they signed with Ukraine in 1994.

One does not follow the other.

The point of sanctions and supporting Ukrainian resistance is not to make people suffer, though people will. The point is to cripple Russia's economy to the point where they lose the capacity to invade another country again.
Okay how many countries has USA invaded? What about those leaked cables when US was killing & bombing children. All I’m saying is America can’t talk about anyone else because they have done much worse. Like drop nuclear bombs on civilians! Either way all I care about is the US first, and these politicians & corporate ppl do not have our best interest at heart. Look at our debt!
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
Ukraine war: What happened on day 25?


Kherson residents tell Russian forces to 'go home' as they confront military vehicles and Russian-backed separatists claim to have used thermobaric missiles near Mariupol. Plus, Sky News correspondent John Sparks is shown the bodies of Russian soldiers laid out in a 'Z' shape.

Here's what happened on day 25 of Russia's war in Ukraine.
 

printer

Well-Known Member
Says the coward typing behind a keyboard or cell phone! If you were anywhere near me I would punish you! You don’t even know me! Where are you from? What’s your real name? If you’re in any city where I have ppl, I’ll have someone pay your punk ass a visit. Only men that talk about sucking dick is homosexual’s! You can find a better way to insult that’s unacceptable behavior. Idc what you or anyone says if you tell someone you’re going to do something where I’m from you keep your word!
Really kind of funny when you think of it. At least the few of us who know anything about the poster in question, which you obviously do not.

An I will be talking to the administrator
Ooooo.... ...ooooo.... shivering.
 
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