Bannons War Room
4 hours ago
Bill Gertz: America Is Not Prepared For War With The Chinese Communist Party.They have hypersonic and supersonic missiles, the Chinese have been cranking them out like sausage, to take Taiwan and to destroy our destroyers! All our arms are going to Ukraine. This is how you know Bidan is making good on his promise to Xi
https://gertzfile.com/
https://rumble.com/embed/v2glzmw/?pub=4
Biden plays fool and pawn to Russia’s oil king
Trump's strategic energy dominance is in rearview mirror
Tuesday April 18, 2023
In relentless pursuit of American strategic energy dominance, Donald Trump made the United States a net oil exporter while his peace through strength doctrine contained Vladimir Putin’s revanchist ambitions. Pursuing a Green New World,President Biden has rapidly achieved strategic energy subserviencewhile transforming Mr. Putin from a contained wolf to an unchained jackal nowwielding enormous power over world energy markets.
For more than 70 years, the global oil patch was largely ruled by a U.S.-Saudi Arabia “oil for security” pact: America promised to protect Saudi Arabia from its numerous enemies in the region while the Saudis cooperated in setting oil prices. Of course, once Mr. Trump achieved U.S. energy dominance — and surpassed Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest petroleum producer — America assumed the dominant role in setting oil prices — OPEC be damned.
Here, I personally remember, on more than one occasion, Mr. Trump calling the Saudi king and letting him know that oil prices had gotten too high and they needed to turn on the production spigot. He always did.
Mr.Biden has screwed this critical strategic relationshipup every which way since Sunday. During the 2020 presidential campaign, candidate Biden promised to stop Mr. Trump’s arms sales to the Saudis — sales I myself had worked hard on to create American manufacturing jobs.
Candidate Biden also made much political hay of the role of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the assassination of Jamaal Khashoggi.The Saudis gotMr. Biden’s menacing message —look for friends and security elsewhere.
Today, with Mr. Trump’s strategic energy dominance in their rearview mirror, it is a Saudi-Russia duo now calling the oil price shots. With Russia, the world’s third-largest petroleum producer behind only the Saudis and U.S.,Saudi Arabia and Russia are the tails now wagging the OPEC cartel dog.
You would not have found a single Western analyst who would have foreseen this outcome when Russia invaded Ukraine. The United States, together with Europe and other allies like India and Japan, would quickly crush the Russian economy by refusing to buy their oil and gas. Of course, this conventional thinking quickly gave way to realpolitik.
Countries around the world — American friends and foes alike — need their oil and natural gas, andnone wanted to endure the political painof higher energy prices that would be necessaryto crush Russia. So Russian oil quickly leaked onto world markets — not just to rogue states likeChina but also to putative allies like India, Japan, Europe and even here to the United States
What Mr. Putin and the Russians have learned is that oligopolistic production cutbacks work. They work only because theUnited States no longer has the productive capacityto surge petroleum into the market to offset such cuts. Today, at the right price, Russia can gainmore revenue even while it sells less oil.
One must ask here whether Mr. Putin must be declared the ultimate chess master for seeing this seemingly odd result in advance and therefore having no fear of invading Ukraine. Or maybe he just got lucky. Either way,America under Mr. Bidenis now at themercy of Saudi Arabia and Russia.
This should chill your bones: In order for the Saudis to balance their budget — they spend lavishly on social programs to buy off the restless masses — they need oil prices to be at about $80 a barrel. To pay for its war machine, Russia needs oil to be at about $100 a barrel. Perhaps not coincidentally,oil prices are forecast to averageas much as$90for the next several years — the midway point between Saudi and Russian fiscal needs.
Contrast this new American energy future with theroughly $60 a barrel averaged during the Trump years, and you quickly see what an inflationary shock this has been. If current forecasts hold, the Saudi-Russian cartel willlikely add 1% to 2% to the U.S. inflationrate, which is already high.
Plus, the extra money American consumers and businesses have to shell out goes right into the pockets of countries that, at best, hate us and, at worst, want to destroy us.That’s a pure negative wealth transfer.
This, then, is Mr. Biden’s brave new green energy future. We are both poorer and less safe. Absent a quick mid-course policy correction, this will end badly. Elections do indeed have consequences.
• Peter Navarro
https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/apr/18/biden-plays-fool-and-pawn-to-russias-oil-king/
19 Apr, 2023 18:47
Western sanctions ‘tougher than expected' – Russian central bank
Balanced financial policy and crisis management experience have helped Moscow withstand unprecedented pressure, Elvira Nabiullina has said
The Russian economy hasdemonstrated its sustainability and resilienceby weathering an unprecedented barrage of Western sanctions defying even the worst expectations, the head of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina told the State Duma on Wednesday.
The level of pressure Russia had to face last year was so high no one could have potentially predicted it or prepared for it beforehand, the central bank head believes. The Russian people and industries demonstratedremarkable adaptabilityin this new reality, she said.
“No one could have prepared for this insane onslaught of sanctions,” Nabiullina said, adding that external conditions for the Russian economy had been worse than “even the most pessimistic scenario.” The “balanced and unwavering policy” the Russian financial authorities have stuck to in previous years as well as“crisis management experience” are what helped the governmentreact to developments effectively, she explained.
The central bank head particularly praised the work of the nation’s banks that kept the financial sector “stable” and provided the nation with the necessary financial resources. She also described the government support measures as “adequate and timely,” adding that they helped the economy to “weather the sanctions storm.”
Russia has faced unprecedented sanctions imposed by the US and its allies last year over Moscow’s decision to launch a military operation in neighboring Ukraine. The Russian financial system and banks, as well as the aviation and space industries were among the first to be impacted.
The US and the EU have introduced a total of ten rounds of sanctions over roughly a year while the conflict between Moscow and Kiev has raged. In December, the EU, along with the G7 countries and Australia, introduced a price cap on Russian seaborne oil, set at $60 per barrel.
Many Western officials and media outlets predicted that the Russian economy would collapse under the pressure of sanctions and military expenditures, only to admit later that Moscow has managed to defy the doom and gloom forecasts.
Last August, Bloomberg and the Washington Post reported that thesanctions had failedto bring about the economic collapse that Western leaders had hoped for. In December 2022, President Putin said that Russia was outperforming many of the G20 nations despite sanctions.
In April, theWorld Bank admittedthat the Russian economy was doingconsiderably better than expected. It changed its Russian GDP forecast by saying that it would likely fall by mere 0.2% in 2023 – up from the 3.3% contraction forecast in its January outlook.
Russia’s economy minister was even more optimistic in his April forecast, saying the nation’sGDP is expected to grow 2.8% by 2026.
(The US and EU are destroying themselves and are failing badly)
https://www.rt.com/russia/575025-western-sanctions-russia-central-bank/
19 Apr, 2023 17:38
US debt default a matter of time – Musk
The billionaire’s warning comes as the White House and Republicans in Congress are at an impasse over raising the debt ceiling
Tesla and Twitter chief executive Elon Musk, who has been calling for US government spending reductions, said on Wednesday that a debt default was just a question of time.
“Given Federal expenditures, it is a matter of when, not if, we default,” Musk wrote responding to a Twitter post by the White House that the Republican plan may be to default on US debt.
Earlier this week, US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy warned in a speech at the New York Stock Exchange that the US debt is unsustainable and poses a threat to the nation. He said that Republicans would not allow the country to default on its debt, taking a jab at President Biden for refusing to negotiate on cost-cutting measures.
McCarthy added that the House of Representatives would soon vote on a bill to raise the debt ceiling through 2023.
US President Joe Biden urged the Republicans to first release their proposed budget, with the White House stressing it would not negotiate the debt ceiling until the GOP releases its counterproposal to the administration’s budget plan, which was put out in March.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre alleged late last month that the Republicans were threatening to wreak havoc on US economy, saying that it was time for the GOP to “stop playing games” and agree to pass a “clean” debt ceiling bill.
In January, the Treasury Department notified Congress of the start of “extraordinary measures” until June 5 in order to continue paying the government’s obligations as the US has reached its $31.4 trillion debt limit. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen then called on lawmakers to “act promptly” to increase borrowing limits in order to avoid a default.
(Congress is demanding the cutbacks so defaulting is not possible. Musk is right if the spending goes on unabated, Bidan will destroy our country. Thats why he won’t get what he wants. And all those republican senators that voted for Bidan’s budgets twice should be hung)
https://www.rt.com/business/575016-elon-musk-us-debt-default/
19 Apr, 2023 17:48
Power outage stunt stymies Macron’s regional tour
Union workers greeted the French leader with a blackout during a factory visit
French President Emmanuel Macron was left (partially) in the dark whenunion workersat a factory he was visiting in northeastern Francecut off the power. The country remains gripped by mass protests over the deeply unpopular pension reform.
Macron visited several communes on Wednesday during a tour of the northeast of the country. His stop in Muttersholtz, which included a meeting with workers, officials, and media at a woodworking factory, was marred by a gesture of discontent from his critics. Minutes before the president’s arrival, theelectricity was cut in the entire neighborhood, French media reported. The delegation had to spend some time in a poorly-lit environment, though the sky windows allowed some light in, images from the scene show.
“Energy companies will be everywhere and the president will be in darkness!” Fabrice Coudour, a senior officer of the CGT union, which claimed credit for the protest action, explained to the Huffington Post.
Macron expressed defiance, dismissing a rally of pension protesters outside the factory, which greeted him by banging on pans. People who only want to complain will not move France forward, he told journalists.
“The reality is there are also a lot of men and women in the country who are now at work, who want to make a better living, to earn more and for the working conditions to improve,” he said.
The Macron government recently pushed through reforms that raise the retirement age by two years, claiming it is necessary to prop up the country’s pension system. This led to nationwide protests and union strikes. The use of his constitutional power to avoid putting the reform to a vote in parliament only added fuel to the public’s discontent.
A French MP representing the regional constituency used Macron’s visit to object to the controversial legislative tactics. Emmanuel Fernandes, who was among the local officials accompanying the president, wore a cover over his mouth with the number 49-3 written on it, in reference to the constitutional article which allowed the government to circumvent parliament.
Speaking to BFMTV after the stunt, he dismissed Macron’s tour as an attempt to make people “forget his isolation.”
(Macron is going down, his arrogance doesn’t allow him to see it.)
https://www.rt.com/news/575017-macrong-factory-blackout-protest/
19 Apr, 2023 17:49
British depleted uranium a ‘terrible thing’ for Ukraine – ambassador
Russian ambassador to the UK talks to RT about tank ammunition, censorship and diplomacy
London’s decision to supply Kiev with depleted uranium (DU) ammunition will hurt the Ukrainian people the most, as they will have to live with theconsequences of the toxic metal for generations, Andrey Kelin, the Russian ambassador to the UK, told RT on Wednesday.
In addition to sending Ukraine main battle tanks, the British government has promised to deliver armor-penetrating ammunition made with DU, and has already trained some Ukrainian troops in its use.
Ambassador Kelin told RT that he will “continue to explain” the harmful effects of the ammunition, including thedrastic increase in cancer rates, birth defects, and the contamination of the water and the soil “for at leastsix generations.”
“This is a terrible thing, and if it happens in Ukraine, it will be bigtrouble, for the agricultureand for the people that are living over there,” Kelin told RT. He admitted there is little chance that London will change its mind, because that would mean admitting a mistake.
Kelin made headlines recently when The Sunday Times published an extensive interview with him, only to quietly delete itseveral days later, without an explanation. The Russian Embassy subsequently published a copy of the article in full, to protest the censorship.
“I have very controversial experience with dealing with British journalists,” the ambassador told RT, noting that sometimes they are “very aggressive” and ask loaded questions. The Times sent “a very experienced political observer” who spoke with him for an hour, and produced an article “reflecting in fact what I have said, without distortions or phrases taken out of context.”
That such a prominent paper as theTimes found itself under “serious pressure” to remove the article shows the extent of censorship in the UK, Kelin said.
Relations between Russia and the UK were dismantled by London, and Moscow intends to wait for the British to come to their senses before attempting to rebuild them. Normalization of contacts “is not an issue for today or tomorrow,” Kelin told RT, but for some point in the future.
Anglo-Russian relations go back 450 years, he noted, and the full disruption “happens only when two countries are in a state of war.” This is not yet the case, even though the UK is getting more involved in the Ukraine conflict by the day
“So far wehaven’t seen any revelations of common senseon the part of official London,”Kelin said. However, even the British authorities recognize that it is important to maintain channels of communication, so the embassy’s work continues.
https://www.rt.com/russia/575018-russian-ambassador-kelin-london/
19 Apr, 2023 18:48
US weapons manufacturer sponsors ‘drone opera’ in US capital
Funded by General Dynamics, the production tells the story of a female drone operator raising a daughter by night and bombing Afghanistan by day
Residents of Washington DC looking for highbrow entertainment will soon be able to watch an opera about the home life of a “hot shot” drone operator sponsored by one of the US’ largest weapons companies.
‘Grounded’ premieres at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts this October, according to a recent announcement on the theater’s website. With music composed by Jeanine Tesori and based on a 2013 play by George Brant, the opera tells the story of “Jess,” a “hot shot F-16 pilot” who finds herself unable to fly due to an unexpected pregnancy.
Jess is reassigned to pilot dronesin Afghanistan from the comfort of a trailer in Las Vegas, and “tracks terrorists by dayand rocks her daughter to sleep by night.” The story examines “what’s lost when technology distances us from the horror of war? And what price is inflicted upon the operator of a lone drone in a blue sky?” according to the theater’s website.
The opera is sponsored by General Dynamics, which is the fifth-largest weapons manufacturer in the world. General Dynamics builds the F-16 fighter jets piloted by the opera’s fictional heroine as well as a number of vehicle-launched attack drones. Its former subsidiary, General Atomics, manufactures theMQ-9 Reaper dronesthat saw extensive use in Afghanistan, including in the 2021 strike that killed a family of unarmed civilians in Kabul.
Whether the opera will end on an anti-war note is unclear, although the DC-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft noted last week that “productions involving arms companies or the Pentagon rarely find much room to critique America’s wars abroad.”
TheUS military-industrial complexoften gets involved in events that promote its products. Back in December,Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Pratt & Whitney, and Lockheed Martin all sponsored a party at the Ukrainian embassy== honoring the country’s military. Logos for all four arms makers were emblazoned on invitations to the event.
“Ukrainian diplomats should probably think harder about how it looks for them to be throwing parties with the defense contractors who are making bank off of this horrible war,”Carnegie Endowment for International Peace fellow Matt Duss told Vox at the time.
(The difference between Trump and Bidan, Trump showed off tractor trailers and production and keeping the economy running and Bidan sponsors armaments of war and death! These people are literally sick.)
https://www.rt.com/news/575022-drone-opera-general-dynamics/
19 Apr, 2023 18:58
NYC will track carbon footprint of residents’ food purchases
Mayor Eric Adams admitted New Yorkers were probably not “ready for this conversation”
New York City will track the carbon footprint of residents’ food consumption as part of a sweeping initiative to decrease the city’s carbon emissions from food by a third this year, Mayor Eric Adams revealed on Monday at an event for the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice.
About a fifth of New York’s greenhouse gas emissions come from household food consumption, Adams told reporters, blaming much of that total on meat and dairy. Household food consumption is supposedly the third largest contributor to city emissions totals, trailing only buildings and transportation.
The Mayor’s Office of Food Policy has ordered city agencies to reduce their food consumption by 33% by 2030, and Adams has asked private corporations to cut their own emissions by 25% by 2030, insisting New Yorkers’ wasteful eating habits cannot continue without imperiling the planet.
“It is easy to talk about emissions that are coming from vehicles and how it impacts our carbon footprint,” he said. “But now we have to talk about beef.” City officials urged New Yorkers to put down the burgers and pick up vegetables and beans.
“A plant-based diet is better for your physical and mental health, I’m living proof of that, but…thanks to this new inventory, we’re finding out it is better for the planet,” Adams quipped. While the mayor has long professed to be a vegan, even publishing a cookbook touting his supposedly plant-based diet, he admitted last year that he enjoyed the occasional fish after a restaurant whistleblower came forward.
The household consumption carbon footprint tracker will be viewable on the same website as the city’s breakdown of its annual greenhouse gas totals, which also includes data on producing consumer goods and using professional services.
Last year, Adams signed New York onto theC40 Good Food Cities program, a global pledge to reduce food waste and incentivize healthier eating habits. The program aims to enforce compliance with UN climate goals by ‘nudging’ populations toward more nutritious meals, mandating a “planetary health diet” for all residents.
Adams admitted that monitoring what’s on the end of New York’s forks was not going to be easy, telling the outlet Gothamist, “I don’t know if people are really ready for this conversation.” When his predecessor Michael Bloomberg tried to legally enforce healthy eating in 2012 with a heavy-handed ban on super-size sugary drinks, the state Supreme Court struck it down as arbitrary and capricious.Bloomberg, however, now runs the C40 program’s board of directors.
https://www.rt.com/news/575026-adams-nyc-monitor-food-consumption/
Finally the dam is cracking
You are right anon, finally a judgement that makes utter sense and logical along with a healthy dose of justice and shame for Bragg, including Bragg gets raked over the coals with this one for his lack of judgement to even get involved.
His big mistake was caving to political pressure, he will lose his career over this stupid vendetta. Enjoyable read!Trump Curse Once Again
Forgot to mention Boutrous charges $1,500-$2,000 an hour and Boutrous has probably put at least a 100 hours into this, if not more. If Boutrous wrote the 50 page screed against Jordan and the committee another 100 hours. If its 200 hours time $2,000, Bragg just wasted $400,000 of the publics money. He should be sued by taxpayers
God, Bragg made so many legal errors on each page she points out 1 or 2. Thats calledPANIC, the guy fucking lost his mind! This is hilarious because I’ve never seen any lawyer get dressed down so descriptively as this. I read every motion of the Durham cases and you had to read between the lines to understand it.This document is like a mom going on a rant for an hour of all dirty deeds you did all your life