Oil

Trump’s Détente With Venezuela

March 4, 2025 Roger D. Harris, Popular Resistance. Educate! Diplomacy, Oil, Trump Administration, US Imperialism, Venezuela

Trump’s corollary to the Monroe Doctrine – “speak loudly AND carry a big stick” – has not been applied full force on Venezuela…as of yet. Instead the new administration appears to be testing a more nuanced approach. In his first administration, he succeeded in crashing the Venezuelan economy and creating misery among the populace but not in the goal of changing the “regime.” Back in 2019, the Bolivarian Revolution, initiated by Hugo Chávez and carried forward by his successor, current Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, was teetering on collapse under Trump’s “maximum pressure” offensive.

Trump: ‘Resume Kurdish Oil Exports Or Face Sanctions’

February 22, 2025 News Desk, The Cradle. Educate! Iraq, Oil, Syria, Trump Administration, US Imperialism, US Sanctions

Officials in the government of US President Donald Trump say Iraq must allow Kurdish oil exports to restart or face sanctions alongside Iran, Reuters reported on 21 February, citing eight sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Washington wants oil exports from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region to resume to offset a potential fall in Iranian oil exports. President Trump has pledged to cut oil exports from Iran to zero as part of a new "maximum pressure" campaign against the Islamic Republic. On Monday, Iraq's oil minister made a surprise announcement saying exports from Iraqi Kurdistan would resume next week.

BRICS Expands With Nine New Partner Countries

December 25, 2024 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. Resistance Report Agriculture, BRICS, Economics, Food, G7, Gas, Oil

With its nine members and nine partners, BRICS now makes up roughly half of the global population and more than 41% of world GDP (PPP). The group is an economic powerhouse, including top producers of key commodities like oil, gas, grains, meat, and minerals. At the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia in October 2024, 13 countries were invited to become BRICS partners, meaning they are on the path to full membership in the near future. Nine of these 13 nations accepted the invitation. The remaining four did not give a formal response as of the end of 2024. These were Algeria, Nigeria, Turkey/Türkiye, Vietnam.

US Senator Lindsey Graham: Ukraine Sits On ‘Trillion Dollars Of Minerals’

September 17, 2024 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. Resistance Report China, Lindsey Graham, minerals, Oil, Russia, Ukraine, US Imperialism, Volodymyr Zelensky, Wars and Militarism

US Senator Lindsey Graham has argued that Washington must support Ukraine because of its lucrative natural resources. During a visit to Kiev in September, Graham published a video standing next to Ukrainian leader Zelensky, in which the US senator said, “They’re sitting on a trillion dollars worth of minerals that could be good to our economy”. “They just need weapons”, Graham implored, calling for more arms shipments to Kiev. The US senator added that Ukraine is “trying to stop the Russians, so we don’t have to fight them”. Zelensky expressed gratitude for the “bipartisan support” he has received in Washington.

The Other Occupation: US Forces In Syria

August 19, 2024 Mohamed Nader Al-Omari, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Iran, Israel, Occupation, Oil, Resistance, Sanctions, Syria, Terrorism, US Imperialism

The strategic placement of US military bases in northeastern Syria is no coincidence. Extending from the Syrian–Jordanian–Iraqi border in the southwest of the country, to areas west of the Euphrates in the northeast, are 28 US installations – 24 of them US military bases. This deployment, carefully planned out with specific geostrategic objectives, is there only to serve Washington’s local, regional, and international interests. According to US data, the number of American occupation soldiers in Syria increased dramatically from 50 troops in 2015 to over 2,000 by the end of 2017. Reports in April 2017 even suggested that then-national security adviser Brigadier General HR McMaster considered deploying up to 50,000 troops to Iraq and Syria.

Why The United States Is Reimposing Sanctions On Venezuela

February 3, 2024 Roger D. Harris, Popular Resistance. Educate! Barbados Agreement, Elections, Gold, Joe Biden, Oil, US Sanctions, Venezuela

Even the US business magazine Forbes expressed surprise at the reimposition of US sanctions on Venezuela’s gold sales and its threat to do the same with oil. The oil sanctions especially, if reinstated, would precipitate higher gas prices and further debilitate the Venezuelan economy, forcing more people to leave the country out of economic necessity. The Venezuelan government, for its part, has not been contrite. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez protested “the wrong step of intensifying economic aggression against Venezuela.” She warned that if Washington takes the threatened measures, Venezuela will cancel repatriation flights returning Venezuelan immigrants back from the US.

China Deepens Ties With Venezuela, Challenging US ‘Hegemonic Mindset’

September 17, 2023 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. Resistance Report BRICS, China, Gas, Iran, Nicolas Maduro, Oil, Sanctions, US Imperialism, Venezuela, Xi Jinping

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro took a historic trip to China this September. There, the two nations signed 31 comprehensive agreements and formally “upgraded” their relations to an “all-weather strategic partnership”, one of Beijing’s highest designations. China and Venezuela jointly blasted the “hegemonism” of the Western powers. Beijing formally condemned the illegal sanctions that Washington has imposed on Caracas. Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized this his government will “firmly support” Venezuela’s “just cause against external interference”. The global political and economic order is changing rapidly.

New Reinforcements Reach US-Occupied Syria

September 6, 2023 News Desk, The Cradle. Educate! Oil, Syria, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

The Pentagon deployed new reinforcements from Iraq to Syria late on 5 September, as local reports say a military convoy consisting of 30 trucks entered the oil-rich Hasakah governorate via the illegal Al-Waleed border crossing. This was the second military convoy headed for US occupation bases in northeast Syria to cross from Iraq on Tuesday and the third since the start of September. According to the Sputnik correspondent in Hasakah, the convoys consist of dozens of trucks carrying “military and logistical equipment, electric generators, fuel tanks, cement blocks, and closed boxes.”

US Pressures Saudi Arabia To Sell Oil In Dollars, Not Chinese Yuan

August 11, 2023 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. Educate! De-dollarization, Israel, Oil, Saudi Arabia, Trade

The United States is negotiating behind the scenes with Saudi Arabia, pressuring the country to keep selling its oil in dollars. Washington is concerned that Riyadh may price its crude in other currencies, particularly China’s renminbi. Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s top three oil producers. Since the 1970s, Riyadh has agreed to sell its crude in dollars, helping maintain the greenback’s hegemonic status as the global reserve currency. The Wall Street Journal reported that the US is working on a diplomatic deal in which Saudi Arabia would agree to normalize relations with Israel’s apartheid regime.

Trump Boasts He Wanted To Take Venezuela’s Oil After Overthrowing Its Government

June 16, 2023 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. Resistance Report Coups, Donald Trump, Oil, US Imperialism, Venezuela

Former US President Donald Trump gave a speech in which he boasted that he wanted to “take over” Venezuela and exploit its large oil reserves. “When I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over; we would have gotten to all that oil; it would have been right next door”, Trump said. “But now we’re buying oil from Venezuela. So we’re making a dictator very rich. Can you believe this? Nobody can believe it”, he added. Trump made these remarks on June 10, at a speech for a convention organized by the North Carolina Republican Party. The US government initiated a coup attempt against Venezuela in 2019.

The West’s Economic War On Russia Has Failed

May 16, 2023 John V. Walsh, Antiwar.com. Educate! Oil, Russia, US Sanctions, Wars and Militarism

The US with its EU vassals in tow has carried out a two-pronged attack on Russia. The first is Joe Biden’s cruel proxy war on Russia, with its cynical use of Ukrainians as cannon fodder. The second prong is the sanctions war designed to destroy Russia’s economy. The economic war is a failure. Russia has won. This verdict comes not from a Russia-friendly source but from two well-known British publications. One is the UK’s oldest political magazine, The Spectator. The other is The Daily Telegraph, a British broadsheet that supports the Ukraine war and has always endorsed Conservative candidates. Boris Johnson was once the editor of the former and a columnist for the latter.

Seymour Hersh: Trading With The Enemy

April 19, 2023 Seymour Hersh. Educate! Corruption, Joe Biden, Oil, Russia, Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, Wars and Militarism

The Ukraine government, headed by Volodymyr Zelensky, has been using American taxpayers’ funds to pay dearly for the vitally needed diesel fuel that is keeping the Ukrainian army on the move in its war with Russia. It is unknown how much the Zelensky government is paying per gallon for the fuel, but the Pentagon was paying as much as $400 per gallon to transport gasoline from a port in Pakistan, via truck or parachute, into Afghanistan during the decades-long American war there. What also is unknown is that Zelensky has been buying the fuel from Russia, the country with which it, and Washington, are at war, and the Ukrainian president and many in his entourage have been skimming untold millions from the American dollars earmarked for diesel fuel payments.

OPEC: Saudis Aren’t Afraid Of US Anymore

April 10, 2023 M. K. Bhadrakumar, People's Dispatch. Educate! Multipolar World, Oil, OPEC, Saudi Arabia

The shock oil production cuts from May outlined by the OPEC+ on Sunday essentially means that eight key OPEC countries decided to join hands with Russia to reduce oil production, signaling that OPEC and OPEC+ are now back in control of the oil market. No single oil producing country is acting as the Pied Piper here. The great beauty about it is that Saudi Arabia and seven other major OPEC countries have unexpectedly decided to support Russia’s efforts and unilaterally reduce production. While the eight OPEC countries are talking about a reduction of one million b/d from May to the end of the year, Russia will extend for the same period its voluntary adjustment that already started in March, by 500,000 barrels.

Venezuelan Government And Opposition Sign ‘Social Agreement’

November 28, 2022 Andreína Chávez Alava, Venezuelanalysis. Educate! Chevron, Oil, US Sanctions, Venezuela

Following the renewed talks in Mexico, Washington issued an expanded sanctions waiver for Chevron to partly resume its Venezuela operations. The Nicolás Maduro government and the US-backed rightwing opposition have signed a partial agreement focused on social issues following the resumption of the dialogue process. After a year-long hiatus, the government delegation disclosed that the agreement had been “exhaustively discussed” in Caracas with Norway as a mediator. On Saturday, they traveled to Mexico City to present a new deal that relates to the management of US $3 billion in Venezuelan funds seized by Washington. The document established a joint commission to follow and verify the correct implementation of the agreement.

OPEC’s Body Blow To Biden Presidency

October 11, 2022 M.K. Bhadrakumar, People's Dispatch. Educate! Joe Biden, Oil, OPEC, Russia, Saudi Arabia

The Joe Biden administration is swiftly establishing a narrative that the recent OPEC decision to cut oil production by two million tonnes is a geopolitical “aligning” by Saudi Arabia and Russia. It taps into the Russophobia in the Beltway and deflects attention from the humiliating defeat of President Biden’s personal diplomacy with Saudi Arabia. But it is not without basis, either. Foreign policy was reputed to be Biden’s forte but is turning out to be his nemesis. An ignominious end is not unlikely; as with Jimmy Carter, West Asia may become the burial ground of his carefully cultivated reputation. The magnitude of what is unfolding is simply staggering. Biden realizes belatedly that territorial conquests in Ukraine is not the real story but embedded in it is the economic war and within that is the energy war that has been incubating through the past eight-month period following the Western sanctions on Russia.

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