Remember when Joe Biden tried to claim, because of his election, the U.S. was respected again?  Yeah, well, not so much.

Apparently, the Biden administration planned to go hat in hand to the Middle East for help with oil production.  However, Saudi Arabia and the UAE refused to even take Joe Biden’s calls.

(Wall Street Journal) […] Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the U.A.E.’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan both declined U.S. requests to speak to Mr. Biden in recent weeks, the officials said, as Saudi and Emirati officials have become more vocal in recent weeks in their criticism of American policy in the Gulf.

This is beyond ridiculous.   Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announces a $14 billion Ukraine aid package will come over from the House of Representatives inside a massive Joe Biden Ominbus spending bill, because there is no budget process being followed.

The Democrats know the Senate Republicans want to send Ukraine a bunch of money to continue funding the graft, kickback and payment schemes used by the Senate in order to enrich their donors and families.  So, Nancy Pelosi takes the massive Omnibus spending bill to fund the Biden agenda and inserts the $14 billion Ukraine package she knows the Republican Senators will vote for.  WATCH:

It’s a typical UniParty manuever.  The Republicans cannot be seen on record funding Biden’s agenda, so wink-wink, nod-nod, adding the Ukraine aid gives the Republicans political cover.  Mitch, and the DeceptiCons,will now say they had to vote for Biden’s massive spending Omnibus because it’s the only way they could get the money to support the babies in Ukraine.

A vote against the Joe Biden massive Omnibus spending package is a vote to kill the Ukrainian people by not sending them $14 billion.

House Democrats shut down the government over President Trump’s buget request for $10 billion to build the southern border wall, but House Democrats can prioritize $14 billion in deficit spending to protect the borders of Ukraine.   See the agenda?

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Gasoline is now at the highest price ever recorded. The average cost of a retail gallon of unleaded gasoline hit $4.173, according to the American Automobile Association, with many regions now far exceeding that price.  It is not uncommon to see $5/gal gasoline in many areas.

Against this backdrop, Joe Biden announced today that his administration is banning the import of oil, liquified natural gas (LNG) and coal from Russia.  [We do not import LNG or coal from Russia, so that political point is moot.]  You can read the executive order HERE.

The executive order also bans any U.S. entity from investing or facilitating the investment of Russian energy development.  That section explains why there were earlier reports of Oil companies withdrawing from Russia.  They were obviously given a heads up.

The way the order is currently written, and a lot of it has to do with extremely generous interpretations by the U.S. Treasury Dept., it would appear that any energy company currently operating in the U.S. cannot simultaneously be operating in Russia (or be part of the subsidizing and insurance network that supports energy development in Russia).  The Treasury interpretations here are fraught with complexity.

The part that matters is boiled down in this section:

(i)    the importation into the United States of the following products of Russian Federation origin:  crude oil; petroleum; petroleum fuels, oils, and products of their distillation; liquefied natural gas; coal; and coal products;

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White House Press Secretary Jennifer Psaki said today the Biden administration will try to reduce the impact of rising oil prices for American consumers but will not do anything to allow increased production of U.S. energy resources.

Oh, and it’s all Vladimir Putin’s fault, WATCH:

I’ll keep repeating it, because many people just don’t understand the unique nature of our North American position.  Energy resources are nation specific.  Ireland, the U.K, Europe, or Australia, do not have abundant oil and natural gas deposits like the U.S. does.  ANWAR has more oil than Saudi Arabia.

A U.S. president can and does control the price of gasoline.  What can a U.S. President and administration specifically do?  We have abundant U.S. energy resources.  Quite literally the strongest in the entire world.

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The propaganda effort by western media, specifically but not exclusively U.S. media, to shift blame for massive economic damage from Joe Biden to Russia is reaching a stunning level of coordinated intent.

The cognitive dissonance (fancy words for telling lies under the cloud of economic analysis) is not only happening in the U.S; a similar level of blame-shifting is happening in Europe, Australia, Canada and most western media outlets.

The global economic contraction, which was specifically and intentionally created by the collective ‘Build Back Better‘ promoters, is now being blamed on Russia; and, quite frankly, the motive behind the corporate media shifting the blame is because the underlying ideology (western policy) was/is supported by the leftist media tribe.

Throughout 2021, it is well documented how government COVID policies of lockdowns, economic consequences and insane spending, created the baseline problem behind inflation.  Simultaneously, the western approach toward energy development and the “opportunity” the EU and U.S. sought to exploit within the BBB agenda to radically transform energy use, was simply pouring super-volatile fuel on an already burning fire.

In 2021, gasoline prices increased 60 to 80 percent.  Food prices jumped 15 to 40 percent, with some sectors even higher.  By the time the EU central bankers and U.S. Federal reserve finally admitted inflation was no longer “transitory,” we were facing next harvest fertilizer prices that tripled in price from 2020, and oil prices that had doubled in the span of 12 months.

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In a public tweet tonight, Senator Lindsey Graham calls for the assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The propaganda push from the U.S. government is actually quite remarkable to watch unfold.   I mean seriously, there’s a point when you don’t go all-in because there has to be an exit option.   We are in very tenuous place, because no one is thinking about an off ramp…. it’s full speed ahead.

If Lindsey Graham, Joe Biden, NATO, the EU, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Word Economic Forum and the multinational corporations in this alliance of Public/Private geopolitical partnerships, succeed in the fight against Vladimir Putin – I promise you, we are not going to like the world on the other side of their victory.

A few weeks ago, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent a clear and specific message to citizens in Canada when he sanctioned the trucker’s bank accounts.  Joe Biden, NATO and EU are right now sending a clear message to the citizens of the world, as they sanction Putin’s bank accounts and the Russian economy.

If you can’t see the connection, you are not thinking carefully enough about it.

Everything will be different now.

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Comrades, wrong think will be punished.  There are only correct thoughts accepted.

Vladimir Putin is a totalitarian dictator who does not allow dissent within his cabinet.  Putin does not align with free thought.  As a consequence, all of the right-thinking people in the world must unite to crush the wrong thinking people… because freedom demands it, or something.

ARLINGTON, Va. — A substitute teacher is suspended after he reportedly expressed support for Russian President Vladimir Putin in the classroom.

The Washington Post reports that John Stanton was substitute teaching a Spanish class in Virginia on Friday when he said he backed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and urged students to read Russian state propaganda outlets. (read more)

It’s all so confusing.  We need Beyonce’ to tell us what to do.

In the interim, enjoy higher gas prices.

The BRICS alliance is a strategic geopolitical partnership between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.  The nature of the alliance is based on trade and big picture economics.

Readers familiar with our discussions of trade and international finance, will remember the importance we previously discussed with BRICS after the 2016 election and President Trump representing economic nationalism for the first time in several generations.  In this outline, we are going to share the bigger picture of why BRICS should now be back on the center stage of American focus.

Xi Jinping (China), Vladimir Putin (Russia), Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil), Narendra Modi (India) and Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa), the BRICS group.

The BRICS economic partnership was formed during the Obama administration.  Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) saw President Obama sub-contracting, actually giving away, U.S. trade policy to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  In the aftermath of the 2007 economic crisis created by the financial system, the BRICS group connected two central points that concerned them.

In the aftermath of the great housing/financial crisis, the relationships around the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), EU central banking system and various multinational institutions and, more importantly, multinational corporations, merged even closer with the government.  The priorities of the Davos and World Economic Forum (WEF) crowd were now virtually indistinguishable from many national governments.

We are fifteen years downstream from that inflection point, and we are now seeing the outcomes.  The WEF is now giving direct instructions to installed politicians for government policy.  Put another way, multinational corporations are now telling government officials what to do.

Think of “The Great Reset” or “Build Back Better” or climate change, as examples.  Worse yet, those governments are doing exactly what the WEF has told them to do.

This corporate control of government is exactly what the BRICS assembly foresaw when they first assembled.  When multinational corporations run the policy of western government, there is going to be a problem.  In the bigger picture, the BRICS assembly are essentially leaders who do not want corporations and multinational banks running their government.

As a result, if you really boil it down to the common denominator what you find is the BRICS group are the opposing element to the WEF assembly.

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Tonight at 9:00pm ET the installed occupant in the White House will whisper, shout and mutter out loud as he reads words written by others.  The executive is required to deliver an annual ‘state of the union’ notification to the legislative branch.

The script reading begins at 9:00pm ET and will be broadcast on all major television networks.  Consider this an open discussion thread for your thoughts and comments if you are listening to the reading.

CSPAN Livestream Link – PBS Livestream Link

The Republican Response will be delivered by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds after the president concludes his address.

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Remember that fourth quarter GDP result that seemed manipulated?  Well, I suspect the record setting trade deficit now being reported for January is an outcome of those pesky fourth quarter trade results being intentionally skewed by the withholding of December 2021 import data.

Additionally, methinks we are likely to get some increased economic clarity about why the White House needed Ukraine to become the big shiny thing with such urgency.

Just like everything else, geopolitical dynamics –especially those surrounding entrenched ideology– are always about the economics.  Someone, eventually, always has to pay.  Follow the money; there are trillions at stake.

First, keep in mind that missing Port of Los Angeles result from December as you review the import/export details:

(REUTERS) […]  The goods trade deficit jumped 7.1% to an all-time high of $107.6 billion last month. Imports of goods increased 1.7%, led by food and motor vehicles. There were also large increases in imports of industrial supplies, capital and consumer goods. Imports of other goods, however, tumbled 15.3%.

Exports dropped 1.8%, weighed down by consumer goods, motor vehicles, food and other goods. But exports of capital goods and industrial supplies increased. Trade has been a drag on gross domestic product for six straight quarters. (read more)

That missing Port of LA December import data, now being introduced into the month of January, might just be the cause of the “all time high” noted above.  I will bet one sustainable rice cake on it.

Next up, inflation.

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