Tag: quid pro quo

Welcome to Kenya’s Gen Z Revolution!

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Welcome to Kenya’s Gen Z Revolution!

Kenya had been praised to the heavens by the West in yesteryear: it was a beacon of hope and prosperity; East Africa’s most prosperous nation; a success story of capitalism and “development”; and (most important of all) a bulwark of the West amidst encroaching Chinese influence on the continent.

Kenya is a member of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Ruto just sent the Kenyan Police to Haiti. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Related/Notes:

Gen Z Will Lead the People’s Revolution in Kenya (The Elephant*)

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NATO in the Amazon: Petro Plays with Fire

Ms. Cat

By Roger D. Harris on October 26, 2022

NATO recently expanded to Sweden and Finland, has been de facto incorporated in Ukraine, and may extend to Georgia. Now, NATO’s entry into the Amazon is in the works under the aegis of newly elected President Gustavo Petro of Colombia.

NATO in the Amazon: Petro Plays with Fire

Related:

The US warns Petro of the danger of falling into the hands of China:

The Government of Colombia replies to Washington that if it wants to prevail over Beijing, it must finance the purchase of land from ranchers to distribute among the peasants

Quid pro quo?!

Biden Is Running U.S. Energy Security Into The Ground

Ms. Cat

The White House divulged late on Tuesday its plan to release 15 million barrels of crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve to be delivered in December, as the last tranche of the emergency 180 million barrel release that the Biden Administration announced in March.

Biden Is Running U.S. Energy Security Into The Ground

Related:

Biden Manipulates Oil Price To Buy More Votes

Since its inauguration the Biden administration has sold more than 220 million barrels from the 650+ reserve. Refilling it at $70/bl, nearly $50 per barrel more than Trump was going to pay, will be quite costly.

How JFK Sacrificed Adlai Stevenson and the Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Ms. Cat

How JFK Sacrificed Adlai Stevenson and the Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis

In those interim years, the fictional story of how the missile crisis was resolved became foreign-policy folklore. None of the early memoirs by top Kennedy aides, such as Schlesinger and Sorensen, contained the real history. These incomplete accounts became the basis of the foreign-policy models and paradigms in political scientist Graham Allison’s highly influential book, Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis. A full generation of scholars, analysts, foreign-policy makers, and even presidents learned the wrong lessons from the most significant superpower conflict in modern history.

Sixty years later, however, the Biden administration at least has a more complete record of history to draw on as U.S. policymakers and the world confront another time of crisis in the nuclear age. How applicable the lessons of the missile crisis will prove to be in preventing an escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war remains unknown. But the mantra of reason that Stevenson shared with Kennedy in October 1962 seems more relevant than ever: “Blackmail and intimidation never, negotiation and sanity always.”

Related:

The Cuban Missile Crisis @ 60 How John F. Kennedy Sacrificed His Most Consequential Crisis Advisor

Payback For OPEC+ Cuts? Biden May Press U.S. Companies To Limit Saudi Business, Report Says

Ms. Cat

Payback For OPEC+ Cuts? Biden May Press U.S. Companies To Limit Saudi Business, Report Says (archived)

The Biden administration wants to leverage U.S. companies with ties to Saudi Arabia but without sacrificing regional security efforts, according to the report.

…

The Biden administration will immediately begin scaling back its diplomatic and military activities in Saudi Arabia, at least until OPEC+’s next meeting on December 4, NBC reports, citing an unnamed senior administration official who said the meeting will “be a key test” of how OPEC+ will respond to European Union sanctions that ban Russian oil imports, effective December 5.

…

The OPEC+ conglomerate–a Saudi-led alliance of oil-producing countries, including Russia–plans to curb oil production by 2 million barrels a day beginning in November. The move, characterized by the Saudi government as an effort to stabilize energy markets, is expected to increase global oil prices and raise gas prices. The Biden administration has vowed “consequences” for Saudi Arabia over the announcement, and Democratic lawmakers have urged the president to halt arms sales to the kingdom, but the White House has yet to announce how, exactly, it will retaliate and is not expected to do so until Congress returns from recess after the November midterms.

Saudis say US sought 1 month delay of OPEC+ production cuts

Ms. Cat

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia said Thursday that the U.S. had urged it to postpone a decision by OPEC and its allies — including Russia — to cut oil production by a month. Such a delay could have helped reduce the risk of a spike in gas prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections next month.

Saudis say US sought 1 month delay of OPEC+ production cuts

Related:

Saudi Arabia Defied U.S. Warnings Ahead of OPEC+ Production Cut

The one-month delay requested by Washington would have meant a production cut made in the days before the election, too late to have much effect on consumers’ wallets ahead of the vote.

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To entice the Saudis to delay their decision, U.S. officials told the kingdom they would buy oil on the market to replenish Washington’s strategic stockpiles if the price of Brent, the main international benchmark, fell to $75 a barrel, according to U.S. officials and people inside the Saudi government.

Quid pro quo, huh?! 🧐💭