11 December 2016. Which Side Are YOU On?

******

____________________________________

Last Sunday night at Standing Rock, with fellow veterans at their camp. They established a command team and an operational TOC, and are assisting with safety and security operations in the camp. I’m honoured to have met these incredible veterans, who inspire as they continue their mission of service. They are in this for the long haul, planning to stay until the drilling pad and construction equipment are removed.

Tulsi Gabbard

Facebook

Editor:

The top image is of militarised police of the sort set out by the oligarchs to beat and abuse the protestors. As Jay Gould put it, “I’ll hire half the working-class to beat the other half”. These men serve evil… if you serve evil, your goodness becomes weaker and weaker. This is the “conservative” mindset (especially noxious are so-called “paleocons”… they came up with the racist “Southern Strategy”). Evil strides across our land in ten-league boots; it calls itself “Conservative” and “Christian” (it’s why anti-religion is growing in the USA… true Christians must distance themselves from “Evangelical” sectarians or risk being lumped in with them).

The second image is of military veterans who are onsite with the First Nations protestors at Standing Rock. These people serve good… if you serve good, your bad impulses become weaker and weaker. This is Justice… Equity… Conservation… Fairness… everything that the “Conservative” Moloch opposes. These people stand on the barricades defending us from “Conservative” rapine and greed. They stand for everything that our Church truly teaches (our Church is NOT the plaything of the rightwing loudmouths, as much as that appears to be so here in the diaspora).

You must stand with one side or the other. You can choose Evil or you can choose Good. There’s no way around it; there’s no “middle ground”. Note well that the Fathers-quoting fanatics amongst us have chosen Evil. Yes… they chose it, with their eyes open. Remember what Our Lord said of those who claimed to have served Him and what His response was. Yes… the fate of our immortal souls are in the balance. Choose wisely…

BMD

Advertisement

KSA Determined to Crash Oil Prices Until American Shale Oil Breathes Its Last

______________________________

American-German economic researcher and historian F William Engdahl observed that never in its wildest dreams did the Obama administration expect that it’d face a financial disaster after it conspired with Riyadh to drop oil prices and flood the market with cheap petroleum, trying to rerun the highly successful American-Saudi deal of 1986 that weakened the USSR. Although it wasn’t  not made public, on 11 September 2014 US Secretary of State John Kerry and King Abdullah concluded a secret deal to use Saudi “oil muscle” to bring Russia and the Kremlin to its knees. Remarkably, on the very next day, the US Treasury’s aptly-named Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, headed by Treasury Under-Secretary David Cohen imposed new sanctions on Russia’s energy companies Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Lukoil, Surgutneftgas, and Rosneft and prohibited American oil corporations from participating in Russian offshore oil projects in the Arctic. Engdahl said, with a touch of irony, “Then, just as the rouble was rapidly falling and Russian major corporations were scrambling for dollars for their year-end settlements, a collapse of world oil prices would end Putin’s reign. Clearly, that was the thinking of the hollowed-out souls who pass for statesmen in Washington today. Victoria Nuland was jubilant, praising the precision new financial warfare weapon at David Cohen’s Treasury financial terrorism unit”.

Meanwhile, nothing hinted at any trouble in July 2014… West Texas Intermediate traded at 101 USD (6,460 Roubles. 627 Renminbi. 6,440 INR. 133 CAD. 136 AUD. 92 Euros. 65 UK Pounds) a barrel, and Engdahl noted, “The shale oil bonanza was booming, making the USA into a major oil player for the first time since the 1970’s”. However, when WTI slid to 46 USD (2,940 Roubles. 286 Renminbi. 2,930 INR. 60 CAD. 62 AUD. 42 Euros. 30 UK Pounds) per barrel in January 2015, American strategists suddenly realised that they’d cut their own throat. Indeed, “the over-indebted US shale oil industry” was about to breathe its last because of the plummeting oil price. Although Washington and Wall Street made every effort to artificially stabilise the dire situation (resulting in a slowly rising oil price since February to May, when it hit 62 USD (3,970 Roubles. 385 Renminbi. 3,950 INR. 82 CAD. 84 AUD. 57 Euros. 40 UK Pounds) per barrel), the American political and financial élite underestimated the Saudi factor’s importance.

Engdahl said, “Reportedly, al-Naimi [the Saudi Oil Minister] saw a golden opportunity in the Kerry proposal to use the chance to, at the same time, kill off the growing market challenge from the rising output of the unconventional American shale oil industry. Often, al-Naimi said that he’s determined to eliminate the American shale oil ‘disturbance’ to Saudi domination of world oil market”. Alas, the Saudis are very unhappy with Washington’s shale oil advance and the Iranian nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration with Tehran. Engdahl emphasised, “In fact, the Saudis are beside themselves with rage against Washington. This has all added up to an iron Saudi determination, aided by close Gulf Arab allies, to further crash oil prices until the expected wave of shale oil company bankruptcies. On 29 July 2015, WTI fell to 49 USD (3,140 Roubles. 305 Renminbi. 3,130 INR. 65 CAD. 66 AUD. 45 Euros. 32 UK Pounds)”.

Morgan Stanley, the Wall Street bank, reported in panic, “We anticipated that OPEC wouldn’t cut, but we didn’t foresee such a sharp increase. This downturn would be more severe than that in 1986. As there was no sharp downturn in the 15 years before that, the current downturn could be the worst of the last 45+ years. If this were to be the case, there would be nothing in our experience that would be a guide to the next phases of this cycle… in fact, there may be nothing in analysable history”. What makes matters even worse for Washington, is that Saudi Arabia, its longstanding and subservient ally, has begun to play its own geopolitical games. On 18 June 2015 Muhammad bin Salman, the Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister and son of King Salman visited Russia and met with  President V V Putin. The parties discussed up to 10 billion USD (640 billion Roubles. 62.07 billion Renminbi. 637.48 billion INR. 13.14 billion CAD. 13.48 billion AUD. 9.12 billion Euros. 6.46 billion UK Pounds) trade deals.

Engdahl remarked, “Today, Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil producer and Russia a close second. A Saudi-Russian alliance on whatever level was hardly in the strategy book of Washington State Department planners”. Engdahl went on to say, “October 2015 is the next key point for American shale oil companies… banks will decide whether to keep funding fading American shale oil production or rollover their loans. At the same time, if the Federal Reserve raises American interest rates in September, highly indebted American shale oil manufacturers would face “disaster of a new scale”. Unfortunately, such a “doomsday” scenario may be accompanied with further unintended consequences for American and global financial system. Indeed, as a proverb says, “Curses, like chickens, come home to roost.”

8 August 2015

Sputnik International

http://sputniknews.com/politics/20150808/1025540019.html

Saudi Arabia Collapses Texas Oil to a Critical Level

______________________________

Analysts said that reduced prices by Saudi Arabian Oil of WTI light oil exported to the USA and Asia lowered the cost of deliveries WTI in Monday trading on the New York Stock Exchange to 78.78 USD (3,026 Roubles. 481.50 Renminbi. 4,835 INR. 90.08 CAD. 90.58 AUD. 62.94 Euros. 49.24 UK Pounds) a barrel, down 2.2 percent over the price at the previous auction. John Kildaf, an employee of hedge fund Again Capital LLC, said, “This move by Saudi Arabia indicates that it’s trying to keep its market share in the USA, which recently declined slightly. Apparently, the Saudis feel comfortable at this price and this level of demand. It seems that Saudi Arabia expects that growth in demand for oil in the winter will allow them to strengthen their position”. On 31 October, WTI on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by 0.7 percent to 80.54 USD (3,576 Roubles. 492 Renminbi. 4,944 INR. 91.95 CAD. 92.41 AUD. 64.23 Euros. 50.36 UK Pounds) per barrel. Then, analysts noted that some members of OPEC, particularly Saudi Arabia, are ready to keep prices low to preserve their market share.

4 November 2014

Pravda.ru

http://www.pravda.ru/news/economics/04-11-2014/1234014-neft-0/

Editor:

Crude is now BELOW the breakeven point for shale oil and deep-drilled crude. This means that the oil wells in North Dakota are now unprofitable. Big Oil is in a quandary… it can keep the facilities open, and sell at a loss, hoping that the price will rebound… or, it can shut down the facilities until the price recovers, smashing the local economy. You see, the GOP is in the shitter. Their sugar daddies in Big Oil are going to take big hits, which means that they’ll have less available for greedy corrupt pols such as Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, and Rick Santorum. It’ll make them MORE dependent on Big Pharma than they are… which’ll lead to desperate attempts to repeal the ACA, which President Obama will veto, and they won’t have the votes to override. In short, the situation will play right into BHO’s hands. Played correctly and soberly, it’ll snooker all GOP chances for 2016.

Ironic, ain’t it… the GOP “wins big”, only to find out their paymasters are getting the short end. To put it plainly, the GOP’s sponsors no longer have the cash to subsidise the beginning of the 2016 campaign (which it needs IMMEDIATELY). It also means that the USA no longer has any energy alternative to offer the EU. Saudi and Russian crude are cheaper than any American offering… so, what would any normal person choose? There’s nothing that the USA can do, either… short of attacking the Saudis, which isn’t going to happen. The GOP fires the gun… and finds it full of blanks. L’comédie humaine goes on its merry way.

BMD

Moscow Holds the Trump Cards in the Confrontation Between Russia and the West

______________________________

Lower prices in the oil market have a negative impact, especially on the US economy, but not so much for Russia. According to some experts, the current decline in oil prices is artificial, that the West is trying to coerce Russia into geopolitical surrender. They allege that the USA fully controls the global internet, and that it can kick Russia out of it at any time. Furthermore, these sources claim that Russian high-tech industry is largely (in some areas, critically) dependent on Western imports. Finally, they state that the West controls the lion’s share of the global news media, which allows it to form the informational picture that the world receives. Can Russia effectively face the West under such conditions and defend its national interests, in particular, in the Ukraine? To find out the answers, we turned to well-known journalist and political pundit A A Vasserman.

As for oil, the claim that the oil sheikhs of Arabia are in cahoots with the USA against Russia is without foundation. The real initiator of the partial collapse of the world oil market is Saudi Arabia, but it isn’t playing on the American side, rather, it’s against them. Fact is, the Americans are actively developing shale oil and gas fields, and want to sell on the world market. If they were to do so, it’d spoil the Arabs’ business. Therefore, Riyadh took preventive measures. Using a decline in world oil prices, the Saudis sought to make the development of shale deposits in the USA (the cost of which is very high) unprofitable. Such deposits are financially insolvent when the price of oil falls below 80 USD (3,350 Roubles. 490 Renminbi. 4,920 INR. 90 CAD. 92 AUD. 64 Euros. 50 UK Pounds) per barrel. The Saudis have accumulated sufficient financial reserves to wait about two years before the current American wells are exhausted. They calculated their budget upon a 90 USD (3,920 Roubles. 550 Renminbi. 5,530 INR. 101 CAD. 103 AUD. 72 Euros. 56 UK Pounds) per barrel oil price. Russia’s budget assumes a 95 USD (4,140 Roubles. 580 Renminbi. 5,840 INR. 107 CAD. 109 AUD. 76 Euros. 60 UK Pounds) price… the difference is insignificant. However, the cost of oil production in Russia is somewhere around 35 USD (1,470 Roubles. 215 Renminbi. 2,150 INR. 39 CAD. 40 AUD. 28 Euros. 22 UK Pounds)… American shale oil costs about 80 USD to extract. Therefore, even if the USA leaves the oil and gas market due to falling energy prices, we’d still make a profit. Consequently, even if we assume that the USA is playing this game to harm Russia, it’d be very difficult for the Americans to win it.

As regards the so-called “critical dependency” of Russia upon Western goods, I’d emphasise that Russia isn’t Papua New Guinea (with all due respect to the Papuans); our country still has a strong scientific and engineering base, which is quite able to replace supposedly critical imports with articles of own development. They can bar us from the global internet, but it wouldn’t be as disastrous as some think. Fact is, RF sources already duplicate virtually all essential online internet resources; today, work in this direction has significantly accelerated. In addition, the West would hardly dare to take such a step, for the simple reason that it distributes the lion’s share of its anti-Russian propaganda through the internet. Therefore, it’s positively fruitless. If they do have a go at it, then, they’d realise that they’d landed themselves in a situation where they’d lose the information war. However, by then, it’d be over; it’d turn out like when people say, “It’s too late to drink Borzhomi“*. Don’t forget, Russia can use very effectively to its advantage in its confrontation with the West the fact that the modern West is extremely heterogeneous and internally contradictory. Playing on these differences, especially between the USA and the EU, Russia could come up with a very significant positive result. Therefore, in fact, Russia holds the trump cards in its confrontation with the West in its confrontation with the West… the West doesn’t.

25 October 2014

Ukraina.ru Rossiya Segodnya

http://www.ukraina.ru/opinions/20141025/1010963007.html

* «Поздно пить боржоми, когда почки отказали»… “When your kidneys crap out, it’s too late to drink Borzhomi”. A Russian way of saying, “To lock the gate after the horse escaped”. This proverbial expression expresses the idea that something isn’t only futile; it’s fatuous and vacuous.

BMD