Tag Archives: Russia

The Early Decisions That Led To The War In Ukraine

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The current war in Ukraine began in 2014 when Russia occupied and annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Things remained relatively quiet after that until 2022 when Russia launched its invasion into Ukraine. Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union from 1922 until its independence in 1991. It’s a good idea to remember that Putin has had his eye on Ukraine for a long time–taking territory in Ukraine would mean that Russia has a warm-water port. That history needs to be considered when attempting to end the current war.

On Tuesday, PJ Media posted an article illustrating how three American Presidents laid the groundwork for this war.

The first President mentioned is Bill Clinton.

The article quotes a Newsweek article:

In April 2023, Newsweek reported:

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has said he feels a “personal stake” in Ukraine’s war with Russia because of his role in persuading Kyiv to surrender nuclear weapons in the aftermath of the Cold War.

“I feel a personal stake because I got them [Ukraine] to agree to give up their nuclear weapons,” Clinton told Irish broadcaster RTÉ. “None of them believe that Russia would have pulled this stunt if Ukraine still had their weapons,” he said.

Ukraine retained a stockpile of nuclear weapons after the Soviet Union collapsed. In 1994, Ukraine gave up these nuclear weapons, although Kyiv did not have definitive control over Soviet nuclear weapons before signing up for non-proliferation.

The Second President mentioned is Barack Obama.

The article reports:

If your hats consist of tinfoil, have I got a doozy of a conspiracy for you: Imagine if President Trump was caught on a “hot” microphone telling the Russian president that he’d have “more flexibility” after the U.S. election… and then, two years later, did NOTHING when Russia invaded its neighbor.

Why, the liberal media would be outraged! They’d say it’s proof-positive that Trump was a Russian asset all along!

But that’s exactly what happened with President Obama.

This was in March of 2012 — the same year Obama chastised Mitt Romney for naming Russia as our #1 geopolitical threat

Then, two years later, the Russian military rolls into Crimea.

The third President mentioned is Joe Biden. When President Biden declared war on fossil fuels, the price of oil went up and the Russian economy flourished. At that point Russia could afford to invade Ukraine.

The article reports:

Mark Mazur, who left the Treasury Department in September, made a troubling admission last month: “We don’t want lower prices for fossil-fuel buyers. We prefer higher prices.”

All this was a godsend for Russia’s oil empire. European nations, including Germany, increased their dependence on cheap, reliable Russian petro. 

It directly funded the Russian War Machine.

Next was the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The deterrence capacity of the American military flew straight out the window when the Taliban ran roughshod in Kabul, making mincemeat of our allies. 

It was an international disgrace.

The third and final error was sleepwalking the Ukrainians into an unwinnable war with its much-larger neighbor by dangling the gift of NATO membership. On Dec. 9, 2021, Reuters ran this story: “Biden assures Zelenskiy that NATO membership in Ukraine’s hands, Kyiv says.”

Ukraine joining NATO was always going to be a flashpoint for Russia. They didn’t want NATO forces or equipment on their border.

The Economic Quest For Peace

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One of the things that President Trump does very well is the waging of economic wars. He understands the leverage America has because it represents large market opportunities for all of its trading partners. That is one of many reasons so many countries are willing to negotiate the President’s tariff policies. One way to encourage peace in countries that don’t necessarily want to make peace is to pull the rug out from under them economically. For example, oil prices today are generally between $58 and $78 a barrel, coming down from a high of $113.90 on March 25, 2022. Russia needs oil prices to be consistently about $80 a barrel in order to support its economy and the war in Ukraine. America’s reach for energy independence presents a challenge to the Russian economy and Russia’s ability to finance the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, President Trump is beginning an economic war against Iran.

On Thursday, Just the News reported:

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the United States will impose secondary sanctions on all countries or individuals that purchase oil or petrochemicals from Iran.

The announcement comes a day after the State Department sanctioned seven entities it accused of trading Iranian oil and petrochemical products. 

The president confirmed the new secondary sanctions in a post on Truth Social, warning countries they would not be allowed to do business with the U.S. if they purchase oil from Iran.

The article concludes:

The moves are part of the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran to help weaken its terrorist activities in the Middle East, including through its use of proxy forces.

The domestic economic problems these sanctions will cause will also create unrest in Iran. A regime change would be nice, but remember, history tells us that regime change does not always go in a democratic direction. Currently, we have the example of Syria. I would strongly recommend that America not meddle in any internal affairs in Iran. Our record of bringing regime change and bringing in new leadership in foreign countries is far from stellar.

Solving An Obvious Problem In North Carolina

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On Tuesday, The Carolina Journal reported that the Senate Agriculture, Energy, and Environmental Committee approved a bill prohibiting the foreign acquisition of land by adversarial nations. This should probably be done on the national level, but a number of states have passed similar laws. I know it’s just a coincidence that much of the farmland that China is buying up is very close to America’s major military installations.

The article reports:

Prohibit Foreign Ownership of NC Land (SB 394) is sponsored by Sens. Bob Brinson, R-Craven, Timothy Moffitt, R-Henderson, and Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck. The bill was voted on favorably by the committee.

“The key purpose of this bill is to both safeguard our agriculture integrity and to protect our national security,” explained Brinson. “This is a state effort to protect national security because food security is national security. This will ensure that North Carolina farmland does not come under international adversarial control and also prevent adversarial nations from acquiring land near sensitive military installations.”

The bill prohibits land acquisition by adversarial nations outlined in the bill: China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, or entities they control. It blocks these foreign entities from owning agricultural lands and lands within 25 miles of a military installation or areas designated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as special-use airspace.

Entities currently owning restricted land before the bill’s effective date must register their holdings with the secretary of state and the attorney general. Foreign entities that acquire restricted land after the bill takes effect are required to divest the property within three years.

The article notes:

The bill also introduces a new deed requirement that mandates an affidavit affirming that the buyer is in compliance and is not affiliated with any prohibited foreign entities. The affidavit is already a standard practice for mortgage loans.

The article concludes:

Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake, expressed concerns about how this bill would impact Smithfield Foods, now an independent subsidiary of the Chinese conglomerate the WH Group. The bill would have minimal impact on the company because existing land holdings are provided for within the bill, and they only have to be registered with the secretary of state and attorney general. Additional land acquisitions would be prohibited. It was pointed out that many of Smithfield’s growers are North Carolinians, so this has not been an issue yet. 

Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe, addressed concerns about a provision in the bill requiring the Registers of Deeds office to document the citizenship of both parties to any property transaction, not just transactions addressed by the legislation. It was clarified that while this is, in fact, correct, it is not an enforcement mechanism but a public record transaction mechanism. 

The bill will “protect North Carolina’s farmland, strengthen our national security, and ensure that our critical resources remain in trusted hands,” according to Brinson.

SB 394 received a favorable report and advanced to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

This bill needs to pass.

A Very Honest Picture Of The War In Ukraine

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On Thursday, Victor Davis Hanson posted an article at American Greatness detailing the current status of the war in Ukraine. The article summarizes where we have been, where we are, and where we are probably going.

The article reports:

Aside from the rhetoric, there is a growing consensus among Western diplomats, military analysts, military officers, heads of state, and even much of the media about how to end the endless Ukrainian war.

A proposed peace will see a DMZ established somewhere along an adjusted 1,200-mile Ukraine-Russia border. Tough negotiations will adjudicate how far east toward its original borders Russian forces will be leveraged to backstep.

Publicly in the U.S. and covertly in Europe, all accept that a depleted Ukraine will not have the military strength to retake Crimea and the Donbas.

In 2014, both were absorbed by Russia during the Obama administration. Neither that administration nor any since has advocated a military effort to reclaim them.

Loudly, the U.S.—and again quietly Europe—concedes that Ukraine will not be in NATO—a confirmation that Russia will use to justify to its people its disastrous invasion, and even many Ukrainians will accept.

How will the West deter Putin from his inevitable agenda of reclaiming lost Soviet territory and Russian-speaking peoples? For now, his army is exhausted, its arsenals depleted, and its reputation shattered.

In the future, a commercial corridor, anchored by concessions to American and international mining concerns, will supposedly serve as a tripwire to deter Putin from attacking in-the-way noncombatant Americans.

The media spin on a ceasefire is predictable:

If Trump can coax even a ceasefire, the oddly bellicose left will still rail about “Munich” and Trump as “Putin’s puppet.”

But after perhaps 1.5 million total Ukrainian and Russian dead, wounded, sick, and missing, transatlantic leftists will quietly admit they never had any realistic plan to win by fighting Russia to the last Ukrainian.

And they certainly were not willing—despite what they claimed in their spasms of braggadocio—to send U.S., U.K., European, or NATO ground troops into Eastern Ukraine.

The article concludes:

So, Putin knows that India, China, and others who buy his oil will not if he reneges on his willingness for a ceasefire.

If and when peace comes, we can already foresee the misinformation that will follow: Trump deserves no credit. Zelenskyy remains the true hero. A now hollowed-out Russia was the real winner.

The only mystery?

Since when did the anti-war left prefer an endless and horrific war to a difficult, messy peace?

Please follow the link to read the entire article. It is one of the best summaries of the situation I have read.

The Cost of War

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War is expensive. It costs lives, loss of infrastructure, problems with the food supply, and a basic disruption of everything when it occurs. Unfortunately, it is also profitable for some people. It should also be noted that those who declare war are rarely the people called to fight the war they declare.

Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Since that time, America has given roughly $175 Billion dollars to Ukraine to fight that war. President Trump is now in the process of attempting to end that war.

Who is profiting from that war? Obviously, the defense industry’s weapons making business is doing well—they have to replace the weapons being used. But there seem to be other people profiting from the war as well. President Zelensky claims that Ukraine has only actually received $75 Billion. I have heard reports that the difference is simply a bookkeeping technicality, but I am not necessarily convinced of that.

Let’s look at some of the things that made it possible for Russia to invade Ukraine. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The price of a barrel of oil in February 2022 was $107.69. To provide some perspective, in January 2021, when President Biden took office, oil was selling for $63.68 a barrel. Because of the Biden administration’s energy policies which ended American energy independence, by February 2022 the price of a barrel of oil was $107.69. The Russian economy is dependent on oil exports. Oil prices are determined internationally. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has some control over oil prices, but that control lessens when America is exporting oil. Because the Russian economy is dependent on oil exports (and thus dependent on the cost of a barrel of oil), when the price of oil falls, Russia experiences fiscal deficits, a weaker economy, and a weaker currency. When President Trump was in office, the price of oil was low, and Russia could not afford to invade Ukraine. The invasion of Ukraine had to do with a weak President (President Biden), but it also had to do with the escalating price of oil. That is no longer the case. Oil prices today are roughly $70 a barrel.

It is quite possible that we will see the war in Ukraine end in the coming weeks. To some degree that is due to the negotiating skills of President Trump, but it is also due to the economic and energy policies of President Trump. We are learning that putting a man in the White House with business skills will help all Americans economically as well as pave the way for peace by using economic leverage.

This Could Change By The Time I Post This Article

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On March 3rd, Townhall reported that President Trump had put a ‘pause’ on foreign aid to Ukraine.

This was posted on X:

The article includes the following statement by President Trump:

“We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure. It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations,” Trump released in a statement on Truth Social after the Oval Office meeting. “I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”

On March 4th, Townhall reported the following:

In a Tuesday post on X, Zelensky affirmed that “Ukraine is ready t o come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer” and that “Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians.”

I hope this time Zelensky keeps his word about signing the deal. If he does, his signing will be proof that a strong America helps bring peace to the world.

The March 4th article reports:

Zelensky further stated that he and his team “do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence” and that they “remember the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins.”

“We are grateful for this,” the Ukrainian leader wrote.

Zelensky referenced the meeting, saying it “did not go the way it was supposed to be” and that “it is regrettable that it happened this way.”

He further indicated that Ukraine is ready to sign an agreement that would allow the United States access to Ukraine’s mineral deposit in exchange for security. “We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees, and I truly hope it will work effectively,” Zelensky wrote.

Zelensky’s temper tantrum in the Oval Office did not play well at home–one member of the Ukrainian Parliament called for Zelensky’s impeachment. It may also be the Zelensky realized that Europe does not have the money to support the war to the degree that America does. At any rate, I am hoping this will be a step toward peace.

The Bottom Line

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On Thursday, Townhall posted an article stating ten hard facts about the war in Ukraine.

This is the list:

1. Russia is absolutely in the wrong for invading Ukraine.

2. Ukraine is not going to be able to win the war if the definition of winning the war is recovering all the conquered Ukrainian territory.

3. Zelensky will have to accept the reality that America will need to be paid back for its aid, which means, as a practical matter, access to Ukraine’s mineral reserves.

4. Ukraine is an unbelievably corrupt country, and the idea that no substantial portion of our aid money has been stolen is ridiculous.

5. The American people are, by and large, tired of subsidizing Ukraine’s end of this war.

6. China is a substantially greater threat to the United States than Russia in the macro.

7. The Europeans should be taking the lead in supporting Ukraine and should be taking the lead in defending Europe.

8. The campaign to insult critics of past Ukraine policy by calling them Putin’s puppets and so forth is a lie and is going to result in enmity towards the idea of helping the Ukrainians.

9. Some of our NATO allies are participating in internal repression, including suppression of free speech and the right to organize and participate in elections via non-establishment parties.

10. It is in America’s interest that this war ends.

One of the main trip wires that caused Russia to invade Ukraine was the threat of Ukraine joining NATO. How would we like it if Mexico formed an alliance with Russia and began placing Russian soldiers or weapons at our southern border? The Cartels are bad enough.

This war has benefited no one except those who supply weapons to Russia or Ukraine. In August 2023, Congress.gov reported the following:

The total number of Ukrainian and Russian troops killed or wounded since the war in Ukraine began 18 months ago is nearing 500,000, U.S. officials said, a staggering toll as Russia assaults its next-door neighbor and tries to seize more territory.

I shudder to think what the numbers are now.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. It is long past time for the war in Ukraine to end.

The Trump Effect Overseas

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On Tuesday, MSN reported that Marc Fogel, an American teacher, held prisoner in Russia for three years has been released and is returning to America.

The article reports:

The Trump administration secured the release of Marc Fogel, an American teacher detained for more than three years in Russia, in an “exchange,” the White House announced Tuesday.

The deal to release Fogel, who was designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department, was negotiated by President Donald Trump, Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, “and the President’s advisers,” according to a statement from national security adviser Mike Waltz.

The statement did not provide any details about the “exchange,” other than to say it was “a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine.” The National Security Council declined to offer further details.

In an extraordinary move, Witkoff personally went to Russia to bring back Fogel, the statement indicated. There has been no known high-level US travel to Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022.

The article concludes:

Fogel’s family said Tuesday they “are beyond grateful, relieved, and overwhelmed that after more than three years of detention” he is coming home.

“Thanks to the unwavering leadership of President Trump, Marc will soon be back on American soil, free where he belongs,” Jane, Ethan and Sam Fogel said in a statement.

“This has been the darkest and most painful period of our lives, but today, we begin to heal,” the family said. “For the first time in years, our family can look forward to the future with hope.”

America’s position on the world stage has obviously changed.

As Iranian Military Might In The Middle East Shrinks, China’s Grows

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On January 6th, The National Interest reported the following:

Amid Iranian defeats across the Middle East, the Houthi rebels in Yemen are increasingly turning to China for missile components to use against the West.

The Yemen-based Houthi rebels have found a new backer: the People’s Republic of China. In a recent report published by i24 News, U.S. intelligence sources detail the undercover collaboration between Beijing and the Iranian-backed terror group which has perpetuated the ongoing instability in the Red Sea. While the Houthis have indiscriminately carried out attacks targeting warships and shipping vessels alike in these waters for years, the rebel group’s maritime strikes have escalated following the October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel. According to the Israel-based news outlet, the Houthis are now using Chinese-designed weapons in their attacks. In exchange, the terror group will cease attacks on ships flying the Chinese flag. With a shared mutual contempt for the West, Beijing and Tehran’s collaboration in the region makes sense.

 Iran has suffered significant blows over the last year. From the decimation of Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah’s leadership in Lebanon to the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, Tehran’s clout in the Middle East is rapidly deteriorating. Lacking the resources and weapons needed to continue its asymmetric objectives in the region, the regime has relied on China and Russia for support. The rogue allies are largely isolated from the international community and therefore lean on each other for arms, funds and even training at times.

The article concludes:

The Chinese-Iranian collaboration on this front coincides with the allies’ determination to establish a new international order based on their own rules. Beijing, Tehran, Moscow and even Pyongyang are increasingly working together to undermine the U.S. and Western power. The People’s Republic of China has also allegedly interfered in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine by providing drones to Moscow. Now that U.S. intelligence services have uncovered China’s material support for a group perpetuating attacks against Israel, the U.S. and other Western nations, the depth of this collaboration is even more alarming.

Diplomacy in the Middle East is going to be very complicated in the coming years. China is not fighting the west directly–it is just supplying weapons to countries that will not be able to stop its rise to world domination in the future. The idea is that these countries will use the weapons against countries that might actually be able to compete with China. If China can significantly weaken the major western countries without being directly involved, there will be no barriers to China become the sole superpower of the world.

The Voice Of The People Is Making Waves In Elections

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On Sunday, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about a recent election in Romania.

The article reports:

Interesting that none of the Europeans saw this outcome looming, which is likely why Samantha Power and her USAID/CIA election operation was not present for round #1. Unfortunately, it should be expected that team USA will quickly react and dispatch assistants to help recover in round #2.

Make Romania Great Again candidate Călin Georgescu came out of nowhere and has won the first round in the presidential election.

Georgescu campaigned on an anti-EU, anti-NATO and anti-war with Russia platform; simultaneously supporting domestic farmers, domestic energy production and advocating for a Romania that is free from foreign influence.

Oh, and instead of traditional media, his campaign message was strongly directed to the Romanian people, via TikTok. Imagine that.

As noted by Politico, “Ultranationalist Călin Georgescu comes from nowhere to lead center-left PM Marcel Ciolacu and liberal Elena Lasconi in first round.

[…] According to the partial results, Georgescu leads with 22.2 percent followed by center-left Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu on 20.2 percent. Reformist candidate Elena Lasconi is on 18 percent, while another hard-right candidate, George Simion, trails with 14.1 percent support, with 96 percent of precincts reporting.

An early exit poll had suggested that Lasconi was set to qualify for the presidential runoff but Georgescu surged as vote counting continued Sunday night, heralding a result that is set to upend Romanian politics.

Georgescu, extremely religious and nationalistic, campaigned on reducing Romania’s reliance on imports, supporting farmers and increasing the domestic production of food and energy.

He has also argued that the EU and NATO do not properly represent Romanian interests and claimed Russia’s war in Ukraine, a Romanian neighbor, is manipulated by American military companies.

Just for the record, America and the other globalist countries need to stay out of other people’s elections.

Poking the Bear

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Article: : R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.

Since the end of WWII, the United States and Russia, the world’s nuclear super powers, have avoided direct armed conflict. This may be about to change. Ukraine, which is not a member of NATO and part of which has historically been linked to Russia, is losing the war of attrition started by its much larger neighbor, Russia. This, in spite of the billions of dollars of American taxpayer’s money and diminishing stockpile of our weapons being sent to Ukraine. We are not replenishing these weapons at the necessary rate. Now we have their leader, Zelenskyy, persuading the Biden/Harris regime to escalate the war by allowing American made missiles to be fired deep inside Russia. This will not end well and must be stopped.

History shows repeatedly that wars once started take on a life of their own and frequently spin out of control. The time to stop a war is before it starts. The perceived weak Biden/Harris regime failed to do this. Now, Zelenskyy is desperate and sees the only path forward is to involve the United States more directly in the conflict. Sending American troops to Ukraine will be next. The missiles in question can reach 300 miles into Russia. Let’s face reality. Putin will never allow Russia to be defeated by Ukraine. Will he use tactical nuclear missiles to keep from losing the war? He says he will. No one knows for sure. If so, the next question becomes, “How would the Biden/Harris regime respond?” The hypocrisy of Biden/Harris is obvious when they put total pressure on trying to get Israel to agree to a cease fire, but no such pressure is placed on Ukraine to negotiate with Russia. How would we respond, if we got into a war with Cuba, and Russian supplied missiles were striking deep into the southern United States? Zelenskyy’s hope that he can persuade us to escalate and get more involved against Russia keeps this war going which is actually destroying Ukraine.

Not only do we risk a war of global annihilation with Russia, we are increasingly pushing Russia closer to China, who is our actual existential threat. We are weakening our military by using armaments at a pace faster than we can replace them. The missiles in question are considered essential to our defense and cost $1.5 million each. China is watching and elated by what is occurring. They get stronger, we get weaker. How will we respond if Taiwan is attacked by China? Good question.

What is needed is a negotiated settlement that concedes some of Ukraine to Russia. Just like what happened in Korea. The cease fire there, gave the northern part to the communists but preserved the south as a free country. And remember, China was not a nuclear power at that time but it was recognized that a compromise was necessary to stop the war and preserve at least part of Korea from communism.

We must not allow ourselves to be drawn into an escalating war that is not in our interest and the consequences could be total destruction of our civilization as we know it. I do not want our existence to be dependent on the decision of one man, Putin, who is being pushed into a corner. Not a good idea. We need an exit strategy and need it fast. The Biden/Harris regime is not up to the task. Consider this when you cast your vote. Who is most likely to resolve this situation favorably for the American people?

Recognizing Marxism Part II

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

In a previous article, I outlined seven indicators that a politician or government is advocating destructive Marxist principles or actions. Here are a few more that we should be aware of if we want to protect our freedoms as true American patriots.

First: Government giveaways. Marxist governments seduce citizens for support by providing things, seemingly for free. Examples:  free healthcare for all, canceling student debt, providing guaranteed income for all, and recently, free down payment money for first time home buyers. Of course, the government does not create wealth but merely takes from a person who earned it, and gives it to another who did not earn it. This is actually wealth transfer which penalizes the hard-working person.

Second:  Inflation. Most, if not all inflation, is caused by excessive government spending that exceeds revenues. The government does this by printing money that is not backed by actual economic growth.  Printing money is the Marxist way of buying votes while at the same time devaluing the buying power of the currency. This essentially amounts to a tax that makes citizens poorer. The Harris campaign’s recent announcement that inflation will be reduced by going after corporations who are “gouging the public” is misdirected and typical of trying to blame private companies for government caused inflation. Price controls always lead to shortages and increased inflation.

Third:  Suppressing dissent. Controlling the press, limiting free speech, and prosecuting opposition occurs in all Marxist countries such as China, North Korea, Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela. Alarmingly, this is now occurring in America. Blocking people from social media platforms, falsely prosecuting January 6th demonstrators as “insurrectionists” (while allowing actual rioters after the George Floyd incident to go free) are examples of what Marist governments do. The most glaring example, of course, is the Biden/Harris administration’s persecution of Donald Trump for bogus crimes. This has never happened before in the history of this country and represents a serious change which should alarm us all.

Fourth:  Intentionally distorting the truth. Truth is not a Marxist value. Marxists will say anything in order to hide the truth from the people. This includes mislabeling their destructive actions to hide the real impact. For example, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act did nothing but increase inflation. The Biden/Harris administration spent billions of dollars on green energy and other programs that required borrowing more money, that the government did not have. Another example, is the tragic effort to encourage the surgical mutilation of children. They call it “Gender Affirming Care” when it is the exact opposite. Instead of encouraging children to accept and be content with their birth gender, they advocate gender hormone blockers and genital surgery in an effort to change the child’s true gender. Some states like California and Wisconsin (where VP candidate Tim Walz is governor) threaten to take a child away from the parents if they refuse to agree to hormone blockers or surgery.

Fifth:  Open borders. Marxism always attempts to eradicate the national traditions of any country they control. One way of doing this is to flood the country with immigrants who do not share the principles, values, and traditions of that country, thereby allowing the government to define the culture. Demeaning a country by focusing on flaws from their past diminishes patriotism and love of country and ignores the positive accomplishments.  This is especially destructive to the youth.

The issue facing America in 2024 is whether there are enough clear-thinking patriots who recognize the destructive path we are on and are willing to do what is necessary to reverse course.  The upcoming election will answer that question, once and for all.

About That Pesky First Amendment

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The First Amendment states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Our Founding Fathers had enough faith in the American people to allow them to distinguish the fake news from the real news.  Evidently at least one of today’s newspapers does not share that view. Washington Post reporter Cleve Wootson asked an amazing question at Monday’s press conference with Karine Jean-Pierre.

On Monday, The Gateway Pundit quoted the question:

“One more, Elon Musk is slated to interview Trump tonight on X. I don’t know if the president is going to — feel free to say if he is or not — but I — I think that misinformation on Twitter is not just a campaign issue. It’s a — you know, it’s an America issue. What role does the White House or the President have any sort of stopping that or stopping the spread of that or sort of inter — intervening in that. Some of that was about campaign misinformation, but you know it’s a wider thing, right?” Washington Post reporter Cleve Wootson asked Karine Jean-Pierre.

Karine Jean-Pierre went along with the far-left reporter and agreed that social media companies have the responsibility to shut down so-called misinformation.

Who determines misinformation? The Washington Post shared a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on Russiagate. All of that reporting turned out to be false. Was that misinformation?

The article notes:

It’s all hands on deck right now to silence Trump ahead of his blockbuster interview with Elon Musk.

The globalist tyrants in control of the European Union sent a letter to Elon Musk on Monday demanding the X owner censor President Donald Trump during their interview tonight.

Why is the mainstream media so afraid to let President Trump speak?

What Goes Around Really Does Come Around!

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On Tuesday, Miranda Devine posted an article at The New York Post about the role that Hunter Biden’s laptop will play in his trial in Delaware. It is very fitting that she should write this article because she was the one who was accused of all sorts of bad behavior when she reported on the laptop.

The article reports:

It’s official.

Hunter Biden’s “Laptop from Hell” is government exhibit 16 at the first son’s gun trial in Delaware.

The silver MacBook Pro 13, covered in a clear plastic wrapper, was first publicly sighted Tuesday at 2:10 p.m. when it was carried across the court by prosecutor Derek Hines to his first witness, FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen, who confirmed it was Hunter’s laptop from the serial number on the back. 

Sitting at the bar table, Hunter was inscrutable behind salmon pink reading glasses as the laptop that threatens to put him in jail and politically scorch his ­father coasted serenely across the room. 

Three years and eight months since you heard it first in the New York Post, Jensen said that the laptop was obtained by the FBI in 2019 with a subpoena from The Mac Shop in Wilmington where it had been “abandoned” by Hunter. 

She said that investigators corroborated content on the laptop with Hunter’s iCloud that they obtained from Apple with a subpoena. 

Somehow the 51 intelligence agents who called the laptop ‘Russian disinformation’ when they knew it was real have never been held accountable for trying to influence a presidential election. After what we just saw in New York, shouldn’t that case be brought?

The article notes:

Then-presidential candidate Biden lied to the American people that the laptop was a “Russian plant.”

If you were not a reader of this newspaper and simply believed the Biden lies, Tuesday’s courtroom revelations would have come as a bolt from the blue.

Hines told the jury that when Hunter bought a gun after ticking a box on a federal background form saying he was not a drug user, he “chose to illegally own a firearm” and “chose to lie . . . Nobody is allowed to lie, not even Hunter Biden.”

Then Hines led Agent Jensen through messages and images from the laptop of a half-naked Hunter with drug paraphernalia to make his case that Hunter was using drugs in the period before, during and after Oct. 12, 2018, the day he drove his father’s Cadillac to a local gun store and bought a handgun.

The jury kept an intense, unsmiling focus throughout evidence that showed Hunter spending $50,000 a month in ATM withdrawals while organizing alleged purchases of crack cocaine.

I don’t wish anyone ill, but the evidence seems to point to the fact that Hunter Biden was a drug addict who lied on a gun-purchase form. I believe that somehow his name will shield him from the consequences of his actions, but that will be simply another example of our multi-tiered justice system currently in operation in America.

 

The Sad Demise Of National Public Radio (NPR)

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On Tuesday, Uri Berliner posted an article at The Free Press about his years at National Public Radio (NPR). The article states that the far-left worldview at NPR has not always been there–in recent years it has developed and gotten worse.

The article reports:

Back in 2011, although NPR’s audience tilted a bit to the left, it still bore a resemblance to America at large. Twenty-six percent of listeners described themselves as conservative, 23 percent as middle of the road, and 37 percent as liberal.

By 2023, the picture was completely different: only 11 percent described themselves as very or somewhat conservative, 21 percent as middle of the road, and 67 percent of listeners said they were very or somewhat liberal. We weren’t just losing conservatives; we were also losing moderates and traditional liberals. 

An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don’t have an audience that reflects America. 

That wouldn’t be a problem for an openly polemical news outlet serving a niche audience. But for NPR, which purports to consider all things, it’s devastating both for its journalism and its business model. 

The article notes the coverage of the Russia Hoax:

Persistent rumors that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia over the election became the catnip that drove reporting. At NPR, we hitched our wagon to Trump’s most visible antagonist, Representative Adam Schiff. 

Schiff, who was the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, became NPR’s guiding hand, its ever-present muse. By my count, NPR hosts interviewed Schiff 25 times about Trump and Russia. During many of those conversations, Schiff alluded to purported evidence of collusion. The Schiff talking points became the drumbeat of NPR news reports.

But when the Mueller report found no credible evidence of collusion, NPR’s coverage was notably sparse. Russiagate quietly faded from our programming. 

The article also mentions Hunter Biden’s laptop:

In October 2020, the New York Post published the explosive report about the laptop Hunter Biden abandoned at a Delaware computer shop containing emails about his sordid business dealings. With the election only weeks away, NPR turned a blind eye. Here’s how NPR’s managing editor for news at the time explained the thinking: “We don’t want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don’t want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions.” 

But it wasn’t a pure distraction, or a product of Russian disinformation, as dozens of former and current intelligence officials suggested. The laptop did belong to Hunter Biden. Its contents revealed his connection to the corrupt world of multimillion-dollar influence peddling and its possible implications for his father.

The laptop was newsworthy. But the timeless journalistic instinct of following a hot story lead was being squelched. During a meeting with colleagues, I listened as one of NPR’s best and most fair-minded journalists said it was good we weren’t following the laptop story because it could help Trump. 

The article also mentions the political affiliations of the editorial staff at NPR:

So on May 3, 2021, I presented the findings at an all-hands editorial staff meeting. When I suggested we had a diversity problem with a score of 87 Democrats and zero Republicans, the response wasn’t hostile. It was worse. It was met with profound indifference. I got a few messages from surprised, curious colleagues. But the messages were of the “oh wow, that’s weird” variety, as if the lopsided tally was a random anomaly rather than a critical failure of our diversity North Star. 

Please follow the link above to read the entire story. It’s a sad saga of failing to hold to journalistic principles. Unfortunately, we support this slanted media with our tax dollars.

The Impact The Trump Administration Had On The Chinese Economy

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On Tuesday, Don Surber posted an article at Substack about the impact the Trump administration had on the Chinese economy.

The article opens with the following statement:

The news on Monday morning was dominated by stories of an economic recovery by Red China of a recession that the U.S. press had largely ignored.

Bloomberg reported, “[Red] China’s factory activity beat expectations in March, boosting optimism about the country’s ability to achieve its ambitious growth goal of around 5% this year.

“The Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 51.1 on Monday — above the 50 mark that indicates expansion for a fifth month, the longest streak in more than two years.

“Government data published on Sunday showed manufacturing PMI in March snapped a five-month contraction to rise to the highest in a year. Both numbers beat market expectations, adding to evidence that the country’s industrial sector is building momentum for an economic recovery.”

Trusting Red China numbers is like trusting its statements on covid but the encouraging news is that Red China has — or at least had — a recession. The admission by our Maoist press shows that the communists who run the joint no longer can paper reality over.

Of course, under Biden we no longer can trust our government’s numbers. Maybe we should just give up on compiling numbers because most of them are just polls (or surveys to use their language).

The narrative about Red China has changed dramatically.

The article then describes the predictions (pre-Trump administration) that China would eclipse America economically within a decade. Now those predictions are not looking accurate.

The article then explains why:

The Tax Foundation said, “The Trump administration imposed nearly $80 billion worth of new taxes on Americans by levying tariffs on thousands of products valued at approximately $380 billion in 2018 and 2019, amounting to one of the largest tax increases in decades.”

Of course, Red China ate most of the tariffs as it wanted to maintain market share. The problem for the communists was under Trump’s leadership, other countries joined in. There is more to the story of Red China’s recession, of course. Spreading covid around the world had a backlash. And communism doesn’t work. But do not discount the role of the wrecking ball we call Donald Trump.

This weekend, the New York Post posted an excerpt of Steven W. Mosher’s new book is The Devil and Communist China.

He wrote, “The Trump tariffs—imposed in 2018 and still in place today — set China back on its heels. And the covid debacle deepened China’s economic malaise.

“But most of the wounds have been self-inflicted.

‘The Chinese economy is suffering from a kind of death by a thousand cuts perpetrated by the policies of Xi Jinping, a man who models himself on one of the most monomaniacal — and deadly — communist leaders in human history.”

Reagan took down communist Russia along with Lech Walesa, Margaret Thatcher and Pope Paul II. Trump is taking down Red China with the help of Chairman Xi.

Elections matter.

 

 

 

America First: Military Defense Part II

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Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

This is a follow-up to a prior article where I outlined how our foreign policy should return to the principle of America First, which was advocated by our Founding Fathers. This article focuses on specific actions that should be taken for our defense. While I am admittedly not a military planning expert, these suggestions are based on common sense; a characteristic sorely missing in many of our current defense leadership who seem more focused on their “woke” agenda.

We are living in a dangerous time. During the Cold War, we only had to worry about the Soviet Union from the standpoint of nuclear conflict. Now with China, Russia, North Korea, Pakistan, and soon Iran, having nuclear capability, the situation is far more complex and dangerous. First: one of the things that President Reagan wisely did was to encourage the development of an effective missile defense system. This was not continued by subsequent administrations. We need to return to developing a missile defense system. If we don’t, we will be at the mercy of any rogue country that decides to launch an attack. Second: we need to establish a satellite defense system that will protect our essential satellites without which a modern war cannot be fought. President Trump’s decision to create an effective Space Force needs to be strongly supported. Third: we need to fortify and secure our electrical power grid from sabotage or direct attack. This must also include protecting the computer programs that control these systems. One of the dumbest proposals from the Left is offshore wind farms. I cannot think of anything more vulnerable than a power system fifty miles away from our shores. Fourth, we need to consolidate our current military forces. According to a recent article in the Epoch Times, we have over 200,000 military personnel scattered all over the globe. We need to refocus these deployments and encourage our allies to support their own defenses. Europe, South Korea, and Japan for example, should not be relying on us for their defense. We are 34 trillion dollars in debt!. Fifth, we need to focus on ensuring that we have the strongest Navy in the world. We should use this force as needed and then return them to proximity to our shores where their vulnerability to attack is lessoned as compared to stationing naval fleets all over the world. Sixth, we need to return to the principle contained in the Monroe Doctrine that declared the Western Hemisphere to be off limits to our adversaries. Allowing China to infiltrate countries like Venezuela and Ecuador is contrary to our interests.

The last item is dealing with the drug cartels in Mexico. The weaponization of mass illegal migration, is a direct threat of our survival as a country. The influx of fentanyl is estimated to kill 100,000 Americans each year and is now the greatest cause of death of American men between the age of 19 and 45. We fought terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq. When are we going to get serious and destroy the drug cartels? That is a fight worth having.

The above will require a refocusing of our defense efforts. However, continuing what we have been doing is no longer tenable.

The Hazards Of Using Ecology-Friendly Weapons

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On Friday, rt.com posted an article about the use of eco-friendly weapons in Ukraine.

The article reports:

Some of the military hardware supplied to Ukraine by the West has become inoperable after being damaged by rodents, Le Figaro has reported, citing a French fighter in the ranks of Kiev’s forces.

Eco-friendly weapons provided to the Ukrainian military by the country’s foreign backers are “sometimes unsuitable for the realities of the front” and “don’t come out well” in an actual conflict, the reported in an article on Thursday.

As proof of its claim, Le Figaro provided an account by an unnamed French fighter, who complained that “rodents ate the cables on some of the vehicles” used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“Some of the protective sheaths of electrical wires [in the Western-supplied hardware] are made of corn fiber,” which attracts mice and rats, he said.

Le Figaro stressed that “the phenomenon is marginal, but it tells the story of the confrontation of the Western military equipment with reality.”

“Western vehicles were designed as a technological showcase. But, in the mud and cold, they don’t always work,” the French fighter is cited as saying.

“Luckily, the Ukrainians still had a few crusts” in their arsenal, he added, referring to the old Soviet-made hardware.

There have been many jokes about having to plug electric tanks in to recharge them before battle, but this is the first article I have read about mice and rats eating the sheaths that are supposed to protect wires. I have, however, seen examples of rodents eating gas lines in vehicles parked near cornfields. Making protective sheaths out of material that is edible to rodents in a place where food is probably scarce does not seem like a good idea.

Us or Them?

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Author: R. Alan Haarrop, Ph.D

George Washington warned us to avoid getting involved in foreign wars. Like most concerns of the Founding Fathers, his warning was right on target. We are fast approaching the two year anniversary of the war between Russia and Ukraine. It appears to be at a stalemate. The spending bill recently passed by the Senate (with the support of North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis) would provide another $60 billion in addition to the $ 75 billion already authorized and spent. This is the most amount of U.S. foreign aid to a European country since the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after WWII during the Truman administration. Of course, this is borrowed money which will only add to the current national debt of over $34.3 trillion and counting (see U.D. National Debt Clock). Thanks to the Biden regime, the interest payments on the national debt are now more than the entire military budget.

The question we must ask is, “What is the endgame of our involvement in Ukraine?” Biden’s comment that we are committed to funding Ukraine  “ …As long as it takes” is just not acceptable. We cannot afford to fund endless wars! In addition to the monetary cost, there is real danger of a widening war with Russia which could lead to a nuclear conflict. As history has shown on many occasions, so-called limited wars readily escalate into total war where there are no restrictions or limits. This is especially dangerous in the age of nuclear weapons. It should be noted that this is the closest we have come to a direct war against Russia which has a nuclear arsenal equal to ours.

So what should we do about this omnibus foreign aid bill that actually totals $95 billion? First, the Biden regime must be required to tell us what their endgame objective is. Second, no more aid to Ukraine without a strict accounting for all expenditures. For example, we are being told that some of the aid money will pay for the pensions of Ukrainian government employees. Third, Ukraine should be required to enter into negotiations to end the war, or no more funds from us.

The other disturbing aspect of the $95 billion bill passed by the Senate is the $10 billion slated to go to Hamas. They start a war with one of our allies with a brutal, savage attack against defenseless civilians and we are going to give them money? This would be the equivalent of us sending money to Japan right after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Unbelievable. The Palestinians voted for Hamas as I recall.

Finally, there is no funding in this bill to seal our southern border or to begin deporting the millions of illegals who have entered this country under the Biden regime. Our country’s security should always come first, as George Washington advised.

The Real Purpose Of The Raid At Mar-a-Lago?

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If you don’t have your conspiracy hat on, you are probably going to need it for this article.

An animal is most dangerous when it is cornered. On Tuesday, The New York Post posted an article about the illegal spying on President Trump during the presidential campaign of 2016 and afterward. Obviously, that was illegal, but it seems as if Democrats are not required to abide by laws.

The article reports:

The US Intelligence Community asked foreign spy agencies to surveil 26 associates of Donald Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election, which triggered the allegations that the former president’s campaign had been colluding with Russia, according to a report. 

Former CIA Director John Brennan identified and presented the targets to the US’s intelligence-sharing partners in the so-called “Five Eyes” agencies – the intelligence-gathering organizations in the US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – according to a report published Monday on Michael Shellenberger’s Public Substack. 

The report by independent journalists Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi and Alex Gutentag has not been confirmed by The Post.

They cite multiple unnamed sources, including ones close to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, led by Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio). 

The article concludes:

Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith was sentenced to probation in 2021 after admitting that he falsified an e-mail to renew a wiretap against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. 

​​Page had been wiretapped after intelligence sources suspected he might have been targeted by Russian spies. The wiretap, which was approved by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, was renewed several times after it was first granted.

Last March, Special Counsel John Durham concluded that the FBI investigation of Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia was “seriously flawed” and had no basis in evidence, after a four-year review of the probe. 

In response, the FBI said it had “implemented dozens of corrective actions” since the improper Trump probe and that “the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented” had the reforms been in place in 2016. 

In 2022, Taibbi and Shellenberger were involved in the publishing of the Twitter Files expose, which detailed how the social media giant’s previous management team sought to silence controversial voices and suppress news items such as The Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Do you really believe all necessary corrective actions have been taken? What if there is more to this than meets the eye? What if documents detailing exactly who was involved in this illegal activity exist and the FBI does not know where they are? Would they logically be at Mar-a-Lago or in President Trump’s possession? Is it possible that was what the raid at Mar-a-Lago was really about since other Presidents have never been treated that way?

President Trump is a smart man. I suspect (and I would also suggest that the parties who broke the law spying suspect) that somewhere in a very secret place the documents showing the abuse of our justice system are in President Trump’s possession. I also think that those who engaged in the illegal spying will be brought to justice if President Trump is re-elected. That is why the deep state is working so hard to prevent President Trump from being our next President.

Exactly What Are We Supporting In Ukraine?

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How is the Ukrainian government acting any differently than the Russian government they are fighting? What citizens’ rights does the Ukrainian government under President Volodymyr Zelensky support?

On Friday, Breitbart reported:

American journalist Gonzalo Lira has died in a Ukrainian prison, according to show host Tucker Carlson.

Carlson posted on X on Friday evening:

Gonzalo Lira, Sr. says his son has died at 55 in a Ukrainian prison, where he was being held for the crime of criticizing the Zelensky and Biden governments. Gonzalo Lira was an American citizen, but the Biden administration clearly supported his imprisonment and torture. Several weeks ago we spoke to his father, who predicted his son would be killed.

In early December, Carlson interviewed Lira’s father, who blamed President Joe Biden and the State Department for allowing his son to languish in a Ukrainian prison for criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government, the West’s response to the Russian invasion, and President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Lira is a dual citizen of Chile and the U.S., and was living in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv at the time of the invasion last year, as reported by Breitbart News’s Kurt Zindulka. He began giving his on-the-ground perspective of the war, attributing it to Western antagonism to Moscow.

Lira was arrested multiple times, and was last imprisoned for attempting to cross the border of Ukraine and seek asylum in Hungary. He faced multiple years in prison under Ukraine’s wartime propaganda laws, being accused of having “criminal intent aimed at the manufacture, distribution materials containing justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine…as well as justification, recognition as legitimate of the temporary occupation of part of Ukraine territory.”

He was also reportedly accused of publishing videos with the faces of Ukrainian soldiers, despite many such videos being freely available online and published by news outlets.

“The charges against me are just because of my opinion about this conflict, I did no harm to anyone,” Lira claimed before his latest imprisonment.

In September, the State Department confirmed to Breitbart News that it was aware of Lira being imprisoned in Ukraine, saying in a statement:

We are aware of the detention of Mr. Lira in Ukraine. We take our role in assisting U.S. citizens abroad seriously and are providing all appropriate assistance. We are monitoring the situation but have no further comment at this time. We reiterate our message that U.S. citizens should not travel to Ukraine due to the active armed conflict.

Considering the fact that Mr. Lira is an investigative journalist in Ukraine, does anyone really believe that the American State Department wanted him released?

 

 

This Could Be Interesting

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One of the things that allows Russia to continue its war against Ukraine is the high price of oil. The sale of Russian oil finances that war. When America was energy independent, the price of oil was lower, and the Russian economy was struggling. Since the Biden administration declared war on American oil, the price of oil internationally has skyrocketed. That has been bad news for consumers, but good news may be on the way.

On Thursday, Zero Hedge reported the following:

Confirming a move which had been widely expected after the internal acrimony at the last OPEC+ meeting, moments ago Angola – also known as China’s gas station in Africa – announced it was leaving OPEC, the country’s news agency ANGOP reported on Thursday, quoting the African producer’s oil minister Diamantino de Azevedo.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, led by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, the news agency noted. Jornal de Angola also reported the news.

As OilPrice notes, Angola and another African OPEC member, Nigeria, had a spat with the other cartel members before the latest meeting regarding their oil production quotas.

The chart below shows the impact of announcement on oil prices:

 

This could be good news for consumers. It also might result in peace negotiations in Ukraine if the trend continues.

The article concludes:

However, it seems now that Angola doesn’t see an OPEC membership as beneficial anymore after the recent spats over its production quota.  

Angola, which joined OPEC in 2007, holds untapped oil and gas resources estimated at 9 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and 11 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves.  

The news sent oil, which had caught a bid in recent days on fears about a protracted Red Sea blockage, sharply lower and back to Tuesday levels.

Stay tuned. This could change rapidly depending on the freedom of transport in the Red Sea.

Some Of The Swamp Is Being Held Accountable

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Charles McGonigal was one of the FBI agents who was involved in trying to frame President Trump as working for the Russians. On December 14th, Charles McGonigal was sentenced to more than four years in prison for violating sanctions on Russia and working for a Russian oligarch.

On Friday, The National Review reported:

A former FBI counterintelligence chief who played a pivotal role in launching the Trump-Russia probe was sentenced to just over four years in prison for assisting a sanctioned Russian oligarch after leaving his post in 2019.

In August, Charles McGonigal, a 22-year veteran of the bureau’s field office in New York, was found guilty of a count of conspiracy for working with Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire with close ties to President Vladimir Putin. During his stint with the bureau, McGonigal received classified information that Deripaska would be designated a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin, the indictment alleged. McGonigal was legally obligated to inform the FBI of his relationship with foreign officials, which he violated by continuing communication and establishing business ties with Deripaska.

Judge Jennifer Rearden argued that McGonigal “repeatedly flouted and manipulated the sanctions regimes vital” to American security interests. “The undeniable seriousness of this and the need to respect the law,” Rearden continued, “compels a meaningful custodial sentence.”

The FBI official admitted during the hearing that he has a “deep sense of remorse and sorrow for my actions.”

Maybe the FBI needs to clean up its own backyard.

Time To Exit The United Nations?  

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D    

The United Nations (UN) was formed in 1945 right after the end of World War II.  Like the League of Nations formed after World War I, it was hoped that the UN would foster global peace among nations.  It is time to assess whether the UN has achieved that objective and whether our participation in it is beneficial to our country.  There have been many wars since the creation of the UN such as the Korean War, Vietnam War, Israeli Six Day War, Iraq War and currently Russia/Ukraine and the Israel/Hamas conflict.  

One might argue that the presence of the UN has prevented a nuclear World War III, but that would be a stretch to say the least. The threat of mutual destruction has been the controlling factor in preventing nuclear war thus far.  Whether that will continue with the spread of nuclear weapons to China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and inevitably Iran remains to be seen. The existence of the UN does not seem to have prevented nuclear proliferation.   

Is membership in the UN beneficial for the United States? The UN started with 51 countries and now has 189. The majority of these countries are not democratic and their values and principles are not consistent with our constitution.  Worse still, the structure of the UN General Assembly gives every country one vote with the weight of the smallest country (Tuvala, population 12,000) carrying the same impact of the United States.  Currently, the United States pays up to 25% of the UN annual budget of about $4 billion which amounts to $1 billion a year.  Money that could be spent on securing our borders, for example.  

Some other areas of concern are the leftist leaning decisions of the UN.  The World Health Organization arm of the UN mishandled the COVID 19 pandemic and failed to hold China in anyway responsible for the creation and spreading of the manmade virus. The UN’s unwavering support of the climate change extremist’s agenda, such as the Paris Accords, and the war against fossil fuels threatens our country and way of life, while allowing China and India to continue to build coal burning power plants.   Another example, is the UN’s failure to condemn the barbaric atrocities of Hamas for almost two months and their history of condemning Israel at the slightest excuse. They have never condemned Iran, the biggest sponsor of terror in the world.  The latest example is UNESCO’s (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) global wide guidelines that would severely restrict free speech in the media and social platforms. The guidelines require the blocking of any speech that they label as “misinformation.”  Sound familiar?  They also boldly stated that the U.S. Constitution needs to be changed to reflect these new guidelines. 

  It is time to have a serious debate as to whether we want to turn over the governance of our country to some global authority.  Some of the leftists in this country believe we should.  I do not and hope neither do you. With China increasingly controlling the UN by placing members of their communist party in key positions, we must make an honest evaluation of whether the UN has outlived its usefulness. 

The Cover Story Never Made Sense

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In September 2022, the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines were blown up. The mainstream media claimed that the Russians had blown them up. This never made any sense–it was a source of income for Russia. There was speculation in some media outlets that in fact the United States was responsible (the claim was that the United States was the only country with the technology to blow up the pipeline). Well, it looks as if the truth might have stumbled out.

On Saturday, Fox News reported:

A former senior Ukrainian official was the coordinator of the explosions that ruptured the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines, the Washington Post reported, citing Ukrainian officials and European sources, and in conjunction with German periodical Der Spiegel.

Roman Chervinsky, a former commander of one of the Ukrainian special forces units, was the “coordinator of the Nord Stream operation” and managed a six-person team that carried out the devastating multibillion-dollar infrastructure attack in September 2022, according to the report.

The outlet said Chervinsky and the group of six people rented a sailboat under false identities and used deep-sea diving equipment to place explosive charges on the gas pipelines. 

Chervinsky did not act alone and did not plan the operation, but was obeying the orders of high-ranking officers who ultimately answered to Ukraine’s highest-ranking military officer, Valery Zaluzhny, the Post said, citing people familiar with his role.

That makes sense. Blowing up the pipelines was one way to limit Russia’s income from fossil fuel revenue.

The article also notes:

In February, Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, alleged that U.S. Navy divers laid bombs that destroyed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under a direct order from President Joe Biden. 

The Seymour Hersh article reminds us that even Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists don’t always get the story right. The article makes no comment on who might have encouraged Ukraine to blow up the pipelines, so it is possible that the United States bears part of the responsibility.