Sanctions but not really makes Trump no different from NATO buyers of Russian energy, proceeds of which do and will fund the Russian war against Ukraine

 

 Trump’s diesel agreement with Putin accused of contradicting Russia sanctions law 

Trump strikes deal with Putin to supply Russian diesel to U.S. and global markets  

Kpler data shows crude exports from the Persian Gulf recovering to about 80% of pre-war, but not refined products which are still down 81%

The U.S. facilitated transits cost the U.S. taxpayer about half a billion dollars every month. 

 Oil exports through Strait of Hormuz hit prewar levels, but fuel shipments are constrained

... The world faces a global fuel crisis as supplies from the Middle East are constrained and Ukraine pounds Russian refineries. Refined products shipped through Hormuz are at a seven-day average of 677,000 bpd as of Monday compared to 3.6 million bpd before the war, according to Kpler.

Crude and product shipments together stood at a seven-day average of 14.2 million bpd which is about 80% of the Hormuz prewar baseline of about 17 million bpd, the data showed.

... more than 70% of the crude oil that crossed Hormuz in August switched tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates or Oman, according to Kpler. Shuttle tankers bring oil through Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman. The cargo is then loaded onto another tanker that delivers it to Asia.

This shuttle system is protected by the U.S. military and reduces the risk of exposure to attack from Iran. But it is unclear how long this system can be sustained given that it relies on U.S. military protection.

“It’s very expensive and it’s a huge U.S. military commitment,” Croft said.

And the Gulf states don’t view the “patchwork arrangement” of ship-to-ship transfers and military escorts as an acceptable substitute for Hormuz being open, she said.

Pipelines operated by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are also doing a lot of heavy lifting. About 40% of Gulf crude oil now bypasses Hormuz through these pipelines compared to 17% before the war, per Kpler. ...

In other words, they don't want to become Ukraine

 America’s Asian allies want a Trump-Xi truce — but not at their expense

... Trump postponed a planned $14 billion arms package for Taiwan following his previous summit with Xi in May and described arms sales as a negotiating tool in Washington’s relationship with Beijing, according to the Associated Press. 

... “Japan and the Philippines fear that Trump could soften U.S. support for Taiwan in return for economic concessions from China or Beijing’s assistance in ending the war with Iran,” Jeremy Chan, senior analyst for China and Northeast Asia told CNBC. ...  

What a coincidence: Oil empire capitals Riyadh and Moscow both under attack at the same time

 Ukraine launches heavy Moscow drone attack as Russia votes

Flames, smoke seen near Riyadh airport; Houthis claim attacks on Saudi capital 

 

April 2024

 

These are the people we want in America, but Trump doesn't want them

 

Ukraine can now target just about any Russian fuel tanker at sea and any Russian oil refinery on land whenever it wants, which lately has been daily

Zelenskyy is destroying Russia's ability to make war.

Too bad Donald Trump never does that.

 

 Ukraine escalates attacks on tankers near Crimea as Russian fuel shortages bite

... Ukraine’s drone force commander, Robert Brovdi, known as Magyar, said via Telegram that 14 Russian ships were hit in the Sea of Azov on Thursday evening, taking the number of Russian vessels stuck by Ukrainian drones to 35 over the last 96 hours. CNBC could not independently verify this report. 

... Ukraine has frequently targeted high-profile oil refineries in major cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg in recent weeks as part of a sustained push to cut off Russia’s energy revenues.

Earlier this week, Ukraine marked what appeared to be one of the country’s deepest attacks on Russian territory in the war so far.

Plumes of black smoke were seen billowing from a key oil refinery in the city of Omsk on Tuesday, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to declare that the country’s upgraded drone capabilities have put Siberia “within reach.”

The Omsk facility is situated nearly 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) from Ukrainian territory and close to Russia’s border with Kazakhstan. ...

Leon Pancetta: Putin on the ropes

 Panetta: Putin ‘not quite sure what to do’ after Ukraine drones strike Moscow 

... Panetta, who led the Pentagon during former President Obama’s administration, told NewsNation’s Leland Vittert on “On Balance” that he does not “think there’s any question” that Putin is, as Vittert asked, “on the ropes.”

“I just think that it’s clear right now that Putin is cornered in this situation and is not quite sure what to do,” Panetta said. “He obviously ought to, frankly, negotiate some kind of ceasefire, but knowing Putin, he will continue to resist that, and Russia is going to pay the price.”

He later added that the “most important” assistance that the U.S. can provide Ukraine is “whatever it needs in terms of weaponry so Ukraine can present a bigger threat to Russia,” which will “send a message to Putin” and lead to Russia losing the four-year war.”

Panetta said it was critical that President Trump “stand up to a tyrant like Putin.”

“Putin’s not going to win under any circumstances,” Panetta continued. “It would be smart for the president to pick the side that is going to win this war, and that is Ukraine.” ...

 

Social media have been featuring film of these Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries for weeks, attacks which have produced long lines for fuel across Russia

The main take away is that Ukraine easily penetrates Russian air defenses with these weapons.

If that can be done there, it can be done here, there, and everywhere.

Nota bene.

 

 Putin’s fuel shortage admission signals growing strain on Russia’s energy infrastructure

... Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian oil facilities in recent weeks, seeking to cut off Moscow’s energy revenues and try to force Putin into bringing an end to the more than four-year war. 

... Ukraine has also intensified its strikes on Crimea, which Russia seized by force in 2014, as part of a strategy to isolate the peninsula, and has benefited from a series of political tailwinds in recent weeks. 

... Ukraine’s president recently signed off on a 40-day operation designed to influence the Kremlin to bring an end to the war. Zelenskyy, who shared the announcement via Telegram on Thursday, gave no further details about the campaign. ... 

Good energy news

Russia Faces Spreading Fuel Shortages After Drones Pummel Refineries...

Zelensky had a blast at the Moscow oil refinery this week where he cooked up something extra special for Putin

 

Yes indeedy

 Ukraine Launches War's Largest Attack On Moscow: Zelensky Says "If Ukraine Burns, Moscow Will Burn As Well"

Trump is a POS, he's describing what Putin does routinely to Ukraine and for which he never lifts a finger to complain to or sanction Russia

 Israel meanwhile sends evacuation warnings ahead of strikes.

 Trump: Israeli Attacks In Lebanon Are "Vicious," "Too Much" -- "Knock Down Entire Apartment House Looking For Someone"

The Russian invasion of Ukraine began over four years ago, the U.S. first attacked Iran on June 22 last year

 Trump says Iran will ‘pay the price’ and claims they have ‘taken too long’ to agree to a deal

May 20th lol:

Trump says he’s ‘in no hurry’ to make a deal with Iran

 

This Donald Hussein Trump statement is willfully blind

 Trump: "A Little Perturbed" About Israel "Constantly Fighting With Lebanon... We've Got To Stop It"

As if Hezbollah doesn't exist in Lebanon.

Or Hamas in Gaza. 

Or Russia in Ukraine.

Who's side is he on, anyway?!

 

Russia informs Rubio what's good for the goose is good for the gander, plans decapitation strikes to get Zelenskyy after Rubio flubs up and signs his death warrant by ending talks

 

 Russia tells Rubio U.S. citizens should leave Kyiv ahead of strikes on Ukrainian capital 

... Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov “officially informed” Washington that Russia would be launching “systematic and consistent strikes” against Ukrainian military facilities and what Moscow called “decision-making centers,” in a call with Rubio on Monday, according to the Russian government. ... Rubio told journalists on Friday that U.S.-led efforts to negotiate a peace deal had ended, explaining that previous talks “were not fruitful.” ...

Trump cares as little for freedom in Taiwan as he does in Ukraine

 Trump told Xi ‘I don’t talk about’ whether U.S. would defend Taiwan from China

Biden meanwhile publicly committed to the defense of Taiwan right out of the gate in 2021 after a U.S. freedom of navigation exercise in the South China Sea by the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group in late January, and multiple times thereafter in 2021, 2022, and 2024.

Trump is truly disgraceful.

Barron's/AFP, Feb 5, 2021:

... The new US administration has said its commitment to Taiwan is "rock-solid," with officials in Washington signalling that they will not tolerate any expansionist moves by Beijing. ...

 

There is almost nothing Athenian about China, nor Spartan about the United States

But here we are.

Does THE GRAUNIAD even know that Sparta won that war?

Does Xi? 

Meanwhile "Make America Great Again" handed our adversaries the rhetorical cudgel of decline wielded by Xi against Trump. 

America is great when it stands for human freedom, something Trump is too shallow to grasp. The very word strikes terror into the hearts of the Chicoms, and is our greatest weapon against them.

But under Trump America has betrayed freedom in Ukraine, and acted more like imperial Athens in the Persian Gulf than like Sparta.

The attack on Iran is looking more and more like the failed Sicilian Expedition every day. 

Aftermath: Trump Is Wrecking the U.S. Military

If Xi wants to win, he'll act more like Sparta and let the real Athens destroy itself. 

 

 

 

Yeah, but what Trump saved with military spending cuts to Ukraine he's blowing on the Iran war, which is why he's asking for $1.5 trillion in defense spending next year

 Europe’s rearmament push drives global military spending to record $2.9 trillion despite U.S. pullback

The U.S. national debt is up $3.069 trillion to date since November 1, 2024, an annual rate of deficit spending of $2.2 trillion after seventeen months of Donald Trump. 

... Global military spending as a share of GDP climbed to 2.5%, its highest level since 2009, the report showed. Europe was the main driver of the increase in global spending, with spending rising 14% to $864 billion. ...

While global defense spending continued to grow, the growth rate slowed to 2.9% in 2025, markedly lower than the 9.7% rise in 2024. This was largely due to a 7.5% reduction in U.S. military expenditure after no new financial assistance for Ukraine was approved during the year. The U.S. remained the world’s largest defense spender at $954 billion. ...

The Pentagon has requested about $1.5 trillion in defense spending for fiscal 2027, which would mark the largest request in history. ...

SPX rallied 10% after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but ended the year down 19%

SPX is up almost 12% since March 30th.

 Investors are misreading news about the Iran war, analysts say as markets whipsaw

... The resumption of uninterrupted energy flows is what underpins any sustained stock market recovery, according to investment manager Orbis.

“It’s pretty clear to us that equity markets are viewing things with a ‘glass half full’ view,” Patrick O’Donnell, chief investment strategist at Orbis, told CNBC’s Europe Early Edition on Monday.

“What we’re focused on is whether the Strait of Hormuz is actually going to reopen again.”

He added that the ramifications of the conflict in the Middle East will have “quite a long-lasting effect” for the global economy and markets. ...

 

Dumbass Trump, who never paid the slightest attention to what's been happening in and to Ukraine, is surprised how easily Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz with drones

 

The Wall Street Journal, here:

... The strait has been a particular source of frustration. Before the U.S. went to war, Trump told his team that Iran’s government would likely capitulate before closing the strait, and that even if Tehran tried, the U.S. military could handle it, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Some of the president’s advisers were caught off guard that tanker traffic would grind to a halt so quickly after the bombing began, according to a person in contact with the White House. 

Trump has since marveled at the ease with which the strait was closed. A guy with a drone can shut it down, Trump has said to people, expressing belated irritation that the key waterway was so vulnerable. He has publicly oscillated between demanding support from allies to help open it and insisting that the U.S. doesn’t need or want military assistance. ... 

White House concerns about security threats have been heightened, aides said.

In recent weeks, for example, Trump and his team have noticed an increase in security. On a cloudless night in April at Mar-a-Lago, every umbrella was up on the patio in an unusual arrangement, guests said. Club members were told that there was an effort to limit drone visibility, a Mar-a-Lago member said. 

Rubio told others about standing outside his home at the military compound where he lives and watching a suspicious drone, administration officials said. Secret Service protection teams have expanded to carry weapons White House officials had never seen before. ...