Behind the headline is a qualifier that most will miss. “We will urge the companies affected not to follow Putin’s demand.”  The problem for the G7 political leaders is that most of the transactions are between private companies.  The heads of the U.S, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and the U.K, can stake a position, but the ultimate decision around the transaction in the hands of the private company buyers.

Russia can set the terms.  Whether the G7 political leaders shout ‘breach of contract‘ is seemingly a moot point.  In the big picture, the politicians have already breached the terms of prior trade agreements with sanctions.  Russia can turn off the supply or demand payment in rubles as terms of sale.

BERLIN (AP) — The Group of Seven major economies agreed Monday to reject Moscow’s demand to pay for Russian natural gas exports in rubles.

German energy minister Robert Habeck told reporters that “all G-7 ministers agreed completely that this (would be) a one-sided and clear breach of the existing contracts” for natural gas, which is used to heat homes, generate electricity and power industry.

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Joe Biden said the western alliance would target any country that violated the sanctions against Russia.  Specifically, after a lengthy telephone call with Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping on March 18th: “President Biden made clear the implication and consequences of China providing material support, if China were to provide material support to Russia, as it prosecutes brutal war in Ukraine,” the senior administration official said, “not just for China’s relationship with the United States, but for the wider world.” (link)

Today, ten days later, China just called Joe Biden’s bluff.

China announces they will violate the western sanctions and continue to purchase crude oil and gas from Russia.

HONG KONG — Chinese state energy company Sinopec will continue to buy crude oil and gas from Russia, a top executive said on Monday, even as Western democracies step up sanctions in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The company, known formally as China Petroleum and Chemical, is involved in two major projects in Russia: an oil and gas production joint venture called Taihu in the Volga-Ural petroleum basin in western Russia with state-owned peer Rosneft, and the development of the Amur gas chemical complex and processing plant with Sibur in the Russian Far East, adjoining China.

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There comes a time when a person has no more tongue to bite.  Joe Biden speaking to U.S. troops in Poland about “democracies at an inflection” point in history, is jaw-dropping when you consider the behavior of every western government leader over the past two years.

Once again, Joe Biden, the same authoritarian who mandated that every American worker undergo a medical procedure in order to qualify as a person who might earn a living, sits atop his high-horse and pretends that western government leaders have some inherent claim to the protection of democracy.

Given their collective behavior over the past two years, the hypocrisy of this continued talking point is beyond outlandish.

[Transcript] …”We’re in the midst of — and I don’t want to sound too philosophic here — but you’re in the midst of a fight between democracies and oligarchs.  Xi Jinping — who I’ve spent more time with, they tell me, than any other world leader — points out to me that he believes, in China, that democracies can’t succeed in the 21st century.  The reason is things are moving so fast, change is happening so quickly that democracies require consensus, and we can’t put together consensus as quickly as autocrats can.

So, what’s at stake — not just in what we’re doing here in Ukraine to try to help the Ukrainian people and keep the massacre from continuing — but beyond that, what’s at stake is: What’s — what’s — what are your kids and grandkids going to look like in terms of their — their freedom?  What’s happening?  The last 10 years, there have been fewer democracies that have been formed than we’ve lost in the world. 

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The Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) announced today they are likely to have the financial mechanism for a Russia-India currency exchange and trade process in place within a week.   Previously, India announced their decision to continue purchasing oil from Russia despite the western sanctions.  Prime Minister Modi is a pragmatic, tactical and shrewd business-minded politician.

India is becoming a major player in the geopolitical world, as recognized by former President Trump during his Indo-Pacific trade partnership discussions.  The population of India is over 1.4 billion people, and they are industrializing as a more democratic counterbalance to China. Prime Minister Modi has been a key political leader in generating economic alliances to the benefit of his nation, while maintaining a prudent stiff-arm toward the influence of major multinational corporations.

(Via CNBC) – India is expected to announce a payment arrangement that would allow trade with Russia to continue, the president of an Indian exporters’ association told CNBC’s “Street Signs” on Wednesday. 

The so-called rupee-ruble trade mechanism could come as early as next week, according to A Sakthivel, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).  The FIEO, a government-backed association representing over 200,000 exporters, oversees India’s export promotion councils.

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The 40-year deindustrialization of America, and the subsequent destruction of jobs and the U.S. middle class, did not happen accidentally. It happened as an intentional outcome of selfish multinational business interests chasing profit, combined with the willingness of congress to accept bribes -via lobbying payments- in order to facilitative corporate greed.

The only disruption in the collective economic manipulation was the forced intermission by the American middle class when Donald J. Trump was elected.

President Trump’s tariffs, countervailing duties and protectionist policies against transnational dumping of steel and aluminum into the U.S. marketplace, was a major impediment to the corporate agenda, and it quickly resulted in the biggest economic resurgence in U.S. history.

As a result, people started demanding Congress take a new approach toward Chinese transnational shipping schemes as Beijing attempted to manipulate markets and avoid the Trump-era policies.   A few in Congress assembled legislation that would prevent companies from evading tariffs by rerouting their products through another country (i.e. transnational shipping).  That legislation has triggered the multinational business groups who are now lobbying congress to remove it.

The business groups opposed to the anti-dumping legislation are the same familiar voices who decry tariffs.  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation and the usual list of lobbying interests are all lining up once again to demand the U.S. remains a ‘service driven economy’, so they can continue their business models and exploit the U.S. market while profiting from cheap imported goods.

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Joe Biden’s press secretary was questioned today about the Biden family’s well documented dealing with Russian Billionaires, Ukraine officials and Hunter Biden’s deals with China.

The specific question was asking how the White House handles the conflicts of interest when engaging with policy decisions over Russia, Ukraine and China.  White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki nervously attempted to avoid the questions, but her responses shouted guilt. WATCH:

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Keep in mind the cunning geopolitical perspectives of Beijing’s dragon that wears the panda mask.  Recently a person attempted to dismiss the strength of China by saying they had not won a war in a thousand years, to which I replied, “tell that to U.S. workers in the rust belt.”

There are two geopolitical battle spaces in the modern era to gain superiority without kinetic warfare, economics and information; China’s arsenal in the former is massive, the U.S. strategy has been reduced to using big tech in the latter.  This is why western propaganda and censorship control over the Ukraine narrative is so important.  This statement from the White House is weak:

WHITE HOUSE – President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The conversation focused on Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. President Biden outlined the views of the United States and our Allies and partners on this crisis. President Biden detailed our efforts to prevent and then respond to the invasion, including by imposing costs on Russia. He described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians.

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Mark Twain was reported to have said, “History may not always repeat, but it rhymes.”  With the Obama foreign policy team back together again in the White House, we are watching Twain’s truism play out in real time.

Yesterday, the Biden administration specifically designated Qatar as a major non-NATO ally {LINK}.

The purpose of this designation is brutally obvious. The United States is putting Qatar back into the business of brokering arms sales from the U.S. government into Ukraine.  Following the geopolitical intervention models previously used in Egypt, Libya and Syria by President Obama and Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Antony Blinken are now repeating the process toward Ukraine.

In many ways this should not be a surprise.  Qatar is the financial hub and support network for the Muslim Brotherhood.  Qatar is also the arms broker for covert military operations when the U.S. does not want visible fingerprints.

By making this designation now, the Biden administration is setting up the groundwork for a long-term proxy war between the U.S/NATO and Russia in Ukraine.

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It is very challenging to filter through the propaganda from western media surrounding Ukraine – this doesn’t help.   Fox News host Maria Bartiromo hosts former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the former installed Ukrainian division operator of the U.S. State Dept NATO laundry operation.

As President, it was Poroschenko’s corrupt government who were supported by Senator John McCain, Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Amy Klobuchar, former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and the DC politicians who supported Joe and Hunter Biden using Ukraine for financial profit.

Under Poroschenko, Ukraine maintained its status as the number one donor to the Clinton foundation.  It was this corrupt influence system that led to frustrated citizens selecting current President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with his promise of reforms (never happened).

Senators and DC officials from both parties participated in the Ukraine influence process.  Part of those influence priorities was/is exploiting the financial opportunities within Ukraine while simultaneously protecting the background activity of Joe Biden and his family.  This is where Senator John McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham were working with Marie Yovanovitch

You might also remember Marie Yovanovitch, George Kent and U.S. chargé d’affaires to Ukraine, Bill Taylor, testifying against President Trump in the ridiculous impeachment effort surrounding Ukraine.

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Again, they are blaming this on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, but the origin of the issue goes back much further.

Last year, CTH was one of a small number of people talking about the very real possibility of food shortages due to the cumulative effects from regulatory COVID mitigation and the fracturing of the food supply chain that government intervention created. {Go Deep}

What we are witnessing now is not as much attached to the Ukraine crisis, as it is the continued ripple effects in that same supply chain.

The current grain issues are an outcome of a major supply chain disruption on the manufactured and processed food side, which is now exacerbated by higher replenishment costs and lower yields. Fertilizer costs have skyrocketed due to energy cost increases.

It is a perfect storm.

Without the Ukraine crisis surfacing, the grain (wheat, corn, soybean) and supply chain issues were already going to be a problem, and many of these current mitigation efforts -wrongly being attributed to Ukraine- would have taken placed without any regional conflict.  That’s why we predicted these issues last year, long before Ukraine-Russia was in the headlines.

The thing to keep in mind is that some smart governments, especially those nations where the government controls and monitors the food industry, can see these issues long before they surface.  If CTH could see these multinational food issues last year, you know the governments of China and Russia could also see them coming.  Some might even argue they gamed out the problem and are taking advantage of it right now. {Go Deep}

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