https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/g7-finance-ministers-set-ceiling-for-russian-oil-gas-prices

G7 finance ministers set ceiling for Russian oil, gas prices

The decision to impose price caps on Russian oil was adopted unanimously at a virtual meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank leaders on Friday, according to Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki.

The purpose of putting a price ceiling, according to the minister, is to limit Russia's income from energy sources, and Japan feels that this action will be "effective."

The price ceiling will go into force on December 5 for crude oil and February 5 for Russian refined goods. Following the G7 decision, the European Commission has already stated that it will make steps to put a price ceiling on Russia's oil by December.

On September 1, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak called the concept of a price restriction on Russian oil "absurd," and warned that Moscow would not deliver oil or oil products to countries who supported the plan.

Russia's oil export volumes have decreased since the commencement of the Ukraine war, although income increased by $700 million in June compared to May, according to the International Energy Agency in August, due to higher global oil prices.

The price ceiling, which Western leaders agreed on in principle in June, would limit the number of money refiners and merchants could pay for Russian oil. The measure is intended to reduce the Kremlin's earnings while keeping Russian oil on the market in order to avert a price upsurge.

Several unidentified G7 officials told Reuters that they doubted the ban would be successful if just the group's members - the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan - enforced it. They noted that in order for the measure to have a tangible impact on Russia's oil profits, the G7 would need the support of large oil consumers like China and India.

According to Reuters, such a situation is improbable. Furthermore, while about 95% of the world's tanker fleet now relies on London-brokered shipping insurance, the paper noted, citing unidentified analysts, that alternatives may be found.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/queen-elizabeth-ii-not-to-attend-highland-games-event

Queen Elizabeth II not to attend Highland Games event

British sources reported on Friday that Queen Elizabeth II will miss out on a traditional highlight of her summer trip to Scotland because of persistent mobility problems that have been lasting for nearly a year.

The Queen of Britain's walking and standing problems have been forcing her to cancel a series of public engagements. This has also prevented her from returning to London to appoint a new prime minister.

The queen had this weekend been expected to attend the Braemar Gathering near her remote Balmoral retreat in northeast Scotland.

The event is the most well-known on the Highland Games circuit, and it is always held on the first Saturday in September. Since the mid-nineteenth century, senior royals, including the monarch, have attended the games on a regular basis to see feats of strength and endurance.

Events include tossing the caber, in which kilted competitors endeavor to lift and throw a full-length log of Scots Pine.

Attendees this year the first since 2019 because of the coronavirus pandemic include the queen's eldest son and heir, Prince Charles.

The queen, who came to the throne in 1952, traditionally appoints the country's prime minister at an audience at Buckingham Palace in London.

In a change to a convention, she will perform the constitutional role at Balmoral next week, instead of returning to the British capital.

Normally the handover of power is a swift affair, given the palace's location, just a short distance from parliament and government offices. But the 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometre) round-trip to the Scottish Highlands will lengthen the process, delaying key appointments to the new government.

Boris Johnson, who resigned as Conservative party leader in July, will formally tender his resignation as prime minister to the queen Tuesday. She will then ask the new Tory leader either Foreign Secretary Liz Truss or former finance minister Rishi Sunak to form a new government.

Truss and Sunak have been vying to succeed Johnson. The winner of the vote of Tory MPs and grassroots party members closes on Friday, with the winner due to be announced on Monday.

>>17483685

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/trump-calls-bidens-speech-awkward-and-angry

Trump calls Biden's speech 'awkward and angry'

Republican mogul Donald Trump responded Friday to US President Joe Biden’s last speech by calling it “angry and awkward,” in addition to questioning Biden’s health and cognitive abilities via his Truth Social account.

In his speech, Biden suggested that the slogan and agenda of Make American Great Again (MAGA) is an “extremism that threatens the very foundation” of the US.

“Someone should explain to Joe Biden, slowly but passionately, that MAGA means, as powerfully as mere words can get, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! If he doesn't want to Make America Great Again, which through words, action, and thought, he doesn't, then he certainly should not be representing the United States of America," Trump wrote.

In a fiery address from Philadelphia, Biden said, “It’s in our hands, yours and mine, to stop the assault on American democracy” adding that “I believe America is at an inflection point, one of those moments that determine the shape of everything that’s to come after.”

“Donald Trump and the Maga Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic,” Biden stressed.

"MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love," he stated.

Trump highlighted that in Biden’s “awkward and angry” speech, the US president essentially threatened the US with the potential use of military force, to which he responded that “He must be insane, or suffering from late stage dementia!"

The US president has broken his promise to attempt to bring the country together, claimed a number of MAGA and Republican leaders who spoke out against Biden's remarks in his Thursday speech, in which he decided to attack the opposition by dubbing MAGA philosophy "semi-fascism."

GOP House majority leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted that "Instead of trying to bring our country together to solve the MANY problems he has created, President Biden has chosen to divide, demean, and disparage his fellow Americans—simply because they disagree with his policies.”

Furthermore, Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene shared a video that compares Biden’s latest speech to Adolf Hitler, suggesting that Biden’s managers have decided to use “Hitler imagery” to make the “frail, weak, and dementia ridden” US leader look “tough.”

Inevitable civil war looms on the horizon

This comes as Americans are feeling quite pessimistic about the future of the country, with almost half of them thinking that a civil war could break out soon.

More than two-fifths of US citizens consider a civil war inevitable in the next 10 years, a figure that rises to more than half among self-identified "strong Republicans."

The findings of YouGov and the Economist research follow similar results in previous polls.

US Senator Lindsey Graham warned on Sunday of "riots in the streets" if former US President Trump faces charges over his handling of documents found when the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home.

Eyeing the US' long history of political violence and assassination, current rising radicalism and fighting words increase jagged political division and explicitly warn of inevitable political violence.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/beijing:-us-caused-ukraine-conflict-profiteering-from-eu-gas

Beijing: US caused Ukraine conflict, profiteering from EU gas crisis

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Friday that the US initiated the Ukrainian crisis, and is now watching the energy market collapse in the EU while receiving benefits and super-profits.

"The US, being the initiator of the Ukrainian crisis, has become the biggest winner, they oversee the fire from the opposite bank and take advantage, this deserves the world community to think and be vigilant," Zhao said.

Zhao stated that the discrepancy in gas prices between the European and US markets had reached record levels, with a price differential of more than tenfold. According to the Business Insider news portal, each ship that distributes LNG to Europe may generate more than $100 million in windfall profits for US corporations.

"Clearly, while US arms and food dealers have taken advantage of the Ukrainian crisis to cash in on it, US energy sellers have not been left behind either," Zhao said.

The Ukrainian crisis lasted more than six months and proved that unilateral sanctions by the US and the West cannot solve the issue but rather exacerbate it, added Zhao.

Tensions between the two blocs have been on the rise due to the Ukraine war, which is further exposing the West's ambitions of establishing a unipolar world.

Besides the conflict in Ukraine, these tensions have likewise surfaced in a number of other issues, such as the Russian-Chinese Arctic Cooperation and the provoking visits of US officials to the island of Taiwan.

UK officials have warned that China and Russia of weakening the global security architecture due to the use and development of space and cyber technologies, calling for the reestablishment of the balance of power.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has likewise stated that the Russian-Chinese cooperation in the region was posing a "challenge" to the alliance as it did not meet NATO's interests, and urged the organization to boost its presence there.

Russian and Chinese officials have been quick to respond to the West's criticism. Recent comments delivered by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg regarding the Sino-Russian arctic cooperation were slammed as "irresponsible" by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, calling Stoltenberg out for instigating "dangerous thinking" and exporting a Cold War mentality that would recreate bloc confrontation.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also several times accused the US of irresponsible behavior and lack of remorse for misdeeds. In a letter sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Lavrov called attention to his responsibility to require the US to "behave decently" after the UNHRC attempted to suspend Russia's membership in the sub-organization per US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's request.

Lavrov also said earlier this month that attempts by the US to establish dominance in every corner of the globe are futile and reflect Washington's policy of impunity. This was made in reference to "the policy of lawlessness demonstrated by the US colleagues who are seeking to establish their dominance" on the global stage.

He also criticized the US and its allies for providing a racist division of the world through the Western-imposed "rules-based order" while highlighting that his country has been expanding and deepening "fruitful cooperation with the overwhelming majority of members of the global community who represent more than 80% of the planet’s population."

>>17483909

So V stands for Vendetta?! There are loads of 22 in military coms for the last couple of weeks.

>>17483976