Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will hold further discussions on the purchase of Russian energy products in rubles according to TASS (Russian News) and western media.  However, in the interim Russia will continue accepting payment in euros which will be exchanged for rubles by Gazprom bank.

(left) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz – (right) Russian President Vladimir Putin

The situation is ongoing, as an outcome of the G7 energy minister’s prior emergency meeting on Monday, where they demanded Russia continue accepting both euros and dollars for the payment of Russian gas and oil purchases.  The current short-term resolution to continue accepting euros and dollars may not last long, as Russia is continuing to emphasize their demand that purchasing nations switch to rubles for future contracts.

Despite NATO, the G7 nations and western alliance agreeing to use economic and financial sanctions to block Russia from receiving dollars and euros.  Inside the alliance, there appears to be a fear that if Russia is successful in creating a financial trade system based on rubles, the G7 may lose influence on energy policy via climate change.

Inside the western alliance, the geopolitical control mechanisms that use energy sector development are under stress.  If global oil and gas is not exchanged in euros (European centric) or petrodollars (globally), the ability of the multinational agents to pressure climate change demands will be weakened.

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While the western propaganda about the Russian objective in Ukraine remains at a fever pitch, most intellectually honest observers have always held that liberation of eastern Ukraine was the goal of Russia and western Ukraine was never part of the objective.

With a decade-long civil war in eastern Ukraine preceding the current Russian operations, and with western forces supporting one side while Russia supported the other, it was always presumed -prior to the Russian military operations- that Vladimir Putin’s central goal was removing the NATO influence from eastern Ukraine.

That objective has seemingly remained visible throughout the conflict with Russian activity in western Ukraine limited in scope to targeting inbound NATO weapons and material support.

We might remember the 20-mile-long armored convoy that sat in place for weeks north of Kyiv while the media narrative was ‘any day now’. Those troops never moved on Kyiv, and in hindsight looked more like a strategic positioning of resources to keep western Ukraine in check while the more important goal of clearing eastern Ukraine was the ongoing operation.

It seems a little silly to point out the obvious, but everything Putin said about what he was doing in Ukraine is factually what has taken place. The western media narrative spinning his ‘true intents’ to be much more significant than his open statements, has never played out when reviewing the actual military operations. In short, Putin was then (as he said), and continues now, to be carving out eastern Ukraine and the Donbas region.

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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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In this segment, CNN’s Dana Bash questions US Permanent Representative to NATO, Julianne Smith, about the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine.  However, notice throughout the conversation about who is doing what, there is a key point missing.  Where is the national debate to justify authorization?

While the Biden administration and western partner nations in NATO continue to pour money and military equipment into Ukraine, obviously, preparing for a long-term insurgency effort and proxy war against Russia, notice how there is never a single mention about the citizens in the U.S. being consulted for authorization of the government action.

There has not been a single political or U.S. national leader who has demanded a representative debate on the issue of providing increasingly escalating weapons into a nation in order to trigger a proxy war against Russia.  The same lack of public/representative debate also applies to the U.K and NATO countries.  All of the decisions being made, leading to the potential for World War 3, are being unilaterally made by detached politicians without regard for the opinion of the people.

‘We The People’ are irrelevant.

Think about it.

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An enterprising journalist from Bolivia [Twitter Link] mapped the countries that support the sanctions against Russia (yellow) versus the countries that are not participating in the western sanctions against Russia (grey).  The image provides a visual reference to consider our previous discussions about the cleaving of the global economy between two overarching ideologies.

[Source Credit]

In my estimation this intentional global cleaving, using the opportunity created by the Ukraine crisis, is going to be the major story of this year.  This global splitting can be looked at in multiple ways, but the overarching story is the ramifications of two global trade relationships.

The western alliance (in the yellow above), has forced the world to reevaluate the dollar as the global trade currency, by denying Russia and their trade partners the ability to use the financial mechanisms under western control. To work around the sanctions, Russia is working on new financial systems to sell oil and farm products in non-dollar currencies.  There is also a possibility the petro-dollar, for the global trade of oil, might be dropped.

Russia is part of OPEC.  While many countries develop their own resources, OPEC sells the majority of oil the rest of the world consumes as the basis for their economic engine.  One way to look at the global cleaving is to look at the way energy is viewed.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has long accused NATO and the collective west of trying to interfere in the nations of their adversaries. Using the recent examples of Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Syria, specifically Putin has said the United States wants to overthrow the elected leader of Russia.

Until today the western governments have denied this allegation. However, in his rambling and inarticulate speech in Poland today Joe Biden stated of Vladimir Putin “for God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” a direct call for the regime change the same Biden administration has denied.

Expect a clean-up effort in 3,… 2,… WATCH:

Overall, it was clear the people behind the Biden administration were attempting to use the background of a grand speech in Poland to reset the failing administration of Joe Biden.  However, they failed miserably.  [Transcript forthcoming]

It was yet another “democracy -vs- autocracy” narrative effort by the people trying to prop up Joe Biden.

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Joe Biden just told U.S. troops in Poland they are going into Ukraine.

Earlier today Joe Biden landed in Rzeszow, Poland, to get a firsthand look at international efforts to help some of the millions of Ukrainian refugees fleeing war in their country.  While there, he delivered remarks to the 82nd Airborne who are bolstering NATO’s eastern flank.

During his remarks, Joe Biden stated the troops are going to see heroic acts by the ordinary men and women of Ukraine.  He directly implied the 82nd airborne unit was going into Ukraine, and stated, “You are going to see when you are there.”  Standing next to Biden while those statements were made, is U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.  No one attempted to stop Biden from publicly saying we were sending troops into Ukraine.  WATCH (prompted):

After making the remarks about the troops going into Ukraine, Biden went into his ideological talking points about Democracy vs Autocracy again.  He’s literally completely oblivious to his own administration actions.

Almost the entirety of the Western government leadership including Scott Morrison (AU), Jacinda Ardern (NZ), Emmanuel Macron (FR), Justin Trudeau (CA) and Joe Biden have been far more authoritarian and autocratic in their COVID-19 rules, regulations and mandates than most non-western nations. It really is stunning that someone in the White House doesn’t pull him back from this talking point.

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Within the background game we are supposed to ignore, the people behind Joe Biden pre-select and pre-approve the questions he receives.  The approved journalists and questions are written on a sheet for him to use; today was no exception.  However, during the NATO press briefing the importance and subject matter of the venue put pressure on him to answer one non-approved question.

That singular question ‘triggered’ the angry Biden disposition to surface, when he was asked to reconcile his current sanctions regime against previous statements about sanctions being a deterrent to Russian aggression.  Biden gets agitated easily. WATCH (prompted):

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With less than a quarter of the U.S. population having any confidence in Biden’s ability to handle the Ukraine crisis [AP Poll], the installed White House occupant headed to NATO to discuss consensus opinion.

Cliff Notes from Presser – Biden was bullish about the NATO alliance, yet everyone essentially agreed to resist Ukraine’s call for them to enforce a no-fly zone in the country.  During the presser [VIDEO], Biden said he wanted Russia’s ouster from the G20 but conceded it likely won’t happen and deferred to the larger group. Biden unveiled new sanctions but acknowledged that they haven’t been and will not be a deterrent. Then said while his administration wants to get Europe to stop relying on Russian energy, he recognizes it can’t be done.

When Biden was questioned about potential food shortages, he admitted the discussion did actually take place. “With regard to food shortage… it’s gonna be real,” Biden said, while admitting the price of the sanctions is not just going to surface in Russia and Europe but is likely to show up in other nations including the United States.

Don’t downplay the food shortage issue.  The absence of food can change things very quickly.  How the various national leaders respond to food shortages, and/or prices for food that makes food insecurity a very real issue, is an unknown.  However, a food crisis -and the subsequent solutions- could change the direction of many policies.

Call me crazy or whatever, but when you watch and listen to all of these NATO members either individually or collectively, you can get the distinct impression that they’re waiting on advice from some other organization and/or entity that usually provides them instructions.

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