Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †
Something odd is happening in the background of the G7 energy ministers’ announcement earlier today.
Remember that moment {HERE} when Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland seemed really uncomfortable and weird at the presser – just 36 hours before the Trudeau administration announced they were going to drop the Emergency Act banking sanctions against the truckers? {Go Deep}
Here is an encapsulation of what’s weird, and you don’t have to be an expert in geopolitics and international trade to see it:
The G7 countries (including the U.S.) announced today they were demanding that Russia accept payment for oil and gas in euros and dollars. This is happening at the same time NATO is demanding (via sanctions) that Russia be blocked from accepting payments in euros and dollars.
Something is weird. Keep in mind, the same nations in the G7 are the same nations in NATO with the exception of Japan (G7 only).
The only way this conflict could make any sense, is if the G7 energy ministers realize that forcing Russia to trade in non-euros and non-dollars will structurally undermine the G7 unilateral hold of global finance and energy policy. In essence, the G7 see the non-sanction countries, particularly India and China, lining up to replace the petro-dollar, and that not only weakens their position financially, but it also weakens their climate change position.
When Joe Biden appeared before the press corps today, the intent was to clean up the mess he created in his trip to NATO this past weekend.
When Biden makes policy statements and reads from the teleprompter, Joe Biden usually doesn’t answer questions. Today was different. Today, it was obvious the White House communication team needed Biden to clean up his NATO statements.
The evidence for that is very clear, as someone was able to capture a picture of the talking points that were prepared for him to read. One pre-printed response even reads, “I was not articulating a change in policy.”
On Monday Biden, 79, told reporters he made “no apologies” for his remarks — made off the cuff and not part of his prepared speech in a nationally televised address from Poland Saturday — and did not view it as a provocation to Russia.
There are often questions raised about whether the crises created by the Biden White House policy are incompetence or intentional. For the group that believes ‘incompetence‘ is behind the chaos, well, they gained a significant data point today.
During a White House press briefing a reporter asks, “My question is about how the White House plans to prepare for food shortages, particularly as it comes to wheat …. should U.S. farmers grow more wheat this year instead of corn and soybeans given the possible food shortages?”
The Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Cecilia Rouse, answered” …”farmers respond to price signals. So, with the price of food rising, they will be responding by making additional plantings and trying to take advantage of the increased price signal. So, the market will work as the market will work.” Please WATCH 16:32 Prompted
The reporter and the Chair of the CEA seemingly have no idea how long it takes to farm or grow a crop. As if switching from corn to wheat was just a Monday decision. Good grief, June/July harvests for winter wheat this year were planted in October of last year.
Changing a crop in the spring for harvest in the summer is not akin to changing your regular order of beverages at Starbucks.
Credit where credit is due. The question from Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy was articulate, direct and very well presented. However, the response from Biden was, well, just unreal gaslighting.
Peter Doocy questions Biden about three recent examples of his statements the White House had to clean up and clarify immediately. When Biden was confronted with his saying ‘troops were going into Ukraine’, and ‘we will respond in-kind to a chemical weapon attack, and ‘Vladimir Putin has to go’, Joe Biden said those statements never happened. This is almost unreal. WATCH:
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.
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.
In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the JoeBama Administration and Presidency.
“This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can’t be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won’t be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.”
“But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.”
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †
Two weeks ago, the United States government, State Dept., CIA and their allies in Big Tech, made a public announcement {Go Deep} that stated violence against Russians would be officially sanctioned by Facebook, Instagram and Google. In essence, Big Tech said it was now okay for Russians to be targeted on social media. Today, video footage is leaked showing graphic torture of Russian POW’s by Ukraine military units.
BACKGROUND – The purpose of the shift in Big Tech ‘terms and conditions‘ for the promotion of violence, was seemingly to enhance the western propaganda campaign. Elevating Ukraine’s victim status in the minds of the ordinary citizens, while supporting the negative promotional campaign against Russia and Vladimir Putin was part of the design. The transparent motive of the shift was obvious to those who follow the activity of U.S. intelligence and State Dept.
Deep weeds political followers will remember the first collaboration between Facebook and DoS/CIA using this approach took place in Egypt and Libya at the beginning of the 2010 U.S. Obama-inspired Islamist Spring. A more refined 2022 version was just recently deployed against Russia. The tech control agents needed to parse the nuance carefully to allow targeted and approved violence to be narrowly focused.
Soon after Big Tech made their announcement {via Reuters}, the DoS/CIA and NATO announced they would be providing western military hardware to the Azov battalion in Ukraine – essentially the Ukrainian military’s openly Nazi division. Images soon surfaced showing U.S. military “advisors” training Ukrainian ultranationalist Nazi units (Azov regiment) how to use the U.S. provided FGM-148 javelin missiles.