US Hits Chinese Firms With New Sanctions Over Iranian Oil

The US has slapped new sanctions on Chinese firms related to Iran’s petrochemical and petroleum trade, after years of reports of Chinese tankers engaged in sanctions-busting activity, and at a moment that a finalized restored JCPOA nuclear deal has all but collapsed.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced punitive measures Thursday against two China-based companies, Zhonggu Storage and Transportation Co Ltd and WS Shipping Co Ltd, which stand accused of sanctions evasion.

The former has been identified as overseeing a commercial crude oil storage facility for Iranian products, and the latter operated a vessel which was caught 'illegally' transporting Iranian oil and fuel products.

These companies were said to be involved in the "sale of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petrochemicals and petroleum products to end users in South and East Asia."

And further according to the US Treasury readout, the actions target "Iranian brokers and several front companies in the UAE, Hong Kong, and India that have facilitated financial transfers and shipping of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products."

"These entities have played a critical role in concealing the origin of the Iranian shipments and enabling two sanctioned Iranian brokers, Triliance Petrochemical Co. Ltd. (Triliance) and Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industry Commercial Co. (PGPICC), to transfer funds and ship Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals to buyers in Asia."

While Iran has been subjected to crippling oil-export sanctions for the last several years, it hasn't stopped China, whose imports of Iranian oil have only increased by the month.

Much of the buying comes from independent Chinese refiners (otherwise known as "teapots"), who, traders said have embraced Iran's cheaper crude as Brent prices soared globally amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and energy sanctions against Russia.

The official position of China's foreign ministry has long been that normal business dealings between China and Iran should be respected. "China urges the US to lift the illegitimate unilateral sanctions as soon as possible," the ministry has long repeated in various statements.

https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/us-hits-chinese-firms-new-sanctions-over-iran-oil-sanctions-busting

India, China, Brazil Abstain From UN Vote Condemning Russian Annexation

Russia on Friday vetoed a Western bid to condemn its annexations of four occupied Ukrainian regions following controversial referendums - and while this move was expected from the Kremlin, China, India, Brazil and Gabon abstained.

Russia's veto came after the United States and Ukraine co-sponsored the resolution hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow would take over areas of Ukraine seized during the invasion following referendums organized by the Kremlin.

"This is exactly what the Security Council was made to do. Defend sovereignty, protect territorial integrity, promote peace and security," said US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, adding "The United Nations was built on an idea that never again would one country be allowed to take another's territory by force."

Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said that it was unprecedented to try and condemn a permanent member of the Security Council.

"Do you seriously expect Russia to consider and support such a draft? And if not, then it turns out that you are intentionally pushing us to use the right of the veto in order to then wax lyrical about the fact that Russia abuses this right," he said.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/russia-vetoes-un-resolution-ukraine-annexation-india-china-brazil-and-gabon-abstain

Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, meets with US Capitol riot committee

Conservative activist Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has met with the congressional committee probing the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of then-president Donald Trump.

Key points:

Ms Thomas was seen entering the meeting room used by the committee for its interviews just before 9.30am on Thursday

She departed just more than four hours later, having left the room multiple times to huddle with her lawyer

The panel's chairperson said Ms Thomas had reiterated her belief the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump

Ms Thomas was seen entering the meeting room used by the House of Representatives select committee for its interviews just before 9.30am on Thursday, local time.

She departed just more than four hours later, having left the room multiple times to huddle with her lawyer.

The panel's chairperson, Democratic representative Bennie Thompson, told reporters that Ms Thomas was answering some questions and had reiterated her belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Mr Trump.

Her attorney, Mark Paoletta, said she had answered all of the committee's questions.

"She was happy to cooperate with the Committee to clear up the misconceptions about her activities surrounding the 2020 elections," he said in a statement.

"As she has said from the outset, Mrs Thomas had significant concerns about fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election. And, as she told the committee, her minimal and mainstream activity focused on ensuring that reports of fraud and irregularities were investigated.

"Beyond that, she played no role in any events after the 2020 election results."

Ms Thomas, who is active in conservative political circles, attended a rally Mr Trump had held shortly before thousands of his supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's election victory.

At the rally, Mr Trump gave an incendiary speech repeating his false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud, and urged his supporters to march to the Capitol.

A committee spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

The committee had been scheduled to hold a public hearing on Wednesday, but postponed it because of the threat to Florida by powerful Hurricane Ian.

The postponement raised the possibility that a recording of Ms Thomas's statements to the panel could be included in the next public hearing.

Mr Thompson said he did not yet have a date for the rescheduled hearing, but it would take place before the mid-term elections on November 8.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-01/wife-of-supreme-court-justice-meets-with-capitol-riot-committee/101493468

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https://cyberpolygon.com/

US weighs in on Ukraine’s NATO membership

Now is not the time, says national security adviser Jake Sullivan

The US is committed to the “open door” policy when it comes to NATO, but now is the wrong time to consider Ukraine’s membership application, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday.

“Right now, our view is that the best way for us to support Ukraine is through practical, on the ground support in Ukraine, and that the process in Brussels should be taken up at a different time,” Sullivan told reporters at the White House press briefing.

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky staged a signing of a membership application to the bloc, claiming Kiev is a “de facto” ally already and demanding an “accelerated” accession procedure.

Sullivan echoed the comments made earlier by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that membership requires the consensus of all 30 members of the US-led bloc. Stoltenberg also pledged “unwavering” and “resolute” support for Ukraine, but insisted that does not make NATO a party to the conflict with Russia.

Asked about the ceremony in Moscow at which Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions were admitted into Russia, Sullivan insisted those were all territories that belonged to Ukraine, and the “sham” referendums were “held at gunpoint” as part of a “pre-staged and falsified” process.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was “raving” about satanism of the West in order to justify his “colonial and imperial land grab,” Sullivan added.

Though both Putin and Biden have described the explosions on Nord Stream pipelines as deliberate sabotage, Sullivan insisted the US and its allies were not to blame.

“The suggestions Russia has made about the US and other countries are flat-out false – Russia knows they’re false, but of course this is part of their playbook,” Sullivan told reporters.

Earlier, Biden said that Russia was “pumping out disinformation and lies” about the pipelines and that the US and its allies will conduct an investigation “at the appropriate moment” to find out what really happened.

“We don’t know that yet. Just don’t listen to what Putin’s saying – what he’s saying we know is not true,” Biden said.

https://www.rt.com/news/563835-white-house-ukraine-nato-sullivan/

WARNING: FEDS WARN OF ELECTION DAY VIOLENCE – Is Stasi FBI Plotting Their Next Assault on the American People?

BEWARE OF FEDS

The federal government ran dozens of operatives on January 6th at the US Capitol.

The FBI was running operative, the Capitol Police were running operative, ATF was running operatives. The feds were running operatives in The Proud Boys. The Feds were running operatives in The Oath Keepers.

CNN is now reporting that “federal officials” are offering training on violent confrontations on Election Day.

The “federal officials” are worried about violence on Election Day. Why?

And, of course, “federal officials” tipped off CNN on this threatening development.

For the record, despite the complete lawlessness on the left on November 3, 2020.

** The hundreds of thousands of late night ballots that mysteriously dropped at 3 AM

** The shoving of stacks of ballots in the counting machines numerous times

** Blocking GOP observers from the counting rooms

** Abusing and threatening GOP observers in counting rooms

** Sending GOP observers to lunch then locking the rooms

** Late night ballot drops in vans

** Shutting down counting for the night – then starting it up without warning

** Flipping votes from Trump to Biden on national TV

** Counting for days after the election

** Mysterious number of ballots that kept showing up after the election

** The IMPOSSIBLE results for Joe Biden

** The massive record-breaking turnout for President Trump

** The lies by Big Media

And on, and on, and on…

There was NO VIOLENCE!

But now the feds are worried about election violence?

THIS IS A CLEAR SIGNAL THAT THE FBI IS PLOTTING A NEW ASSAULT ON THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!

DO NOT FALL FOR IT!

CNN reported:

Federal officials are offering state and local election officials training to “safely de-escalate” confrontations with voters that could turn violent ahead of November’s midterm elections, according to an email to election workers obtained by CNN.

The move underlines the level of concern ahead of the upcoming elections and comes in response to a steady stream of violent threats and harassment that election officials have faced since the 2020 election, much of it from people who falsely claim that the vote was marred by fraud.

The training includes “non-confrontational techniques” for dealing with angry voters as well as how to determine if an “emergency response” is needed or if law enforcement should be alerted, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in an email this week to election industry workers.

CISA encouraged election officials to contact the agency for in-person or virtual training, because “personal safety is paramount.”

“The current environment is arguably much more complex than it’s ever been for election officials, who are doing the important work of securing their election infrastructure and protecting our democracy,” Kim Wyman, CISA’s senior election security lead, said in a statement to CNN. “This includes unprecedented levels of threats and harassment targeting election officials.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/09/warning-stasi-fbi-plotting-next-assault-american-people-feds-warn-election-day-violence/

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>>17610995

>>17611018

>>17611036