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

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.

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?! 🧐💭

USAID’s New Stage of Pressure and Interference against Venezuela + PSUV Approval Rating Almost Triples That of All Opposition Parties Combined in Venezuela

USAID’s New Stage of Pressure and Interference against Venezuela

Related:

Latest Poll: PSUV Approval Rating Almost Triples That of All Opposition Parties Combined in Venezuela

Venezuelan Foreign Minister: Washington Intends to Silence Venezuela’s Fight Against Drug Trafficking (+Statement)

US, Canadian War Ships Sail Through Taiwan Strait Shortly After Biden’s Pledge to Go to War with China

By Kyle Anzalone and Connor Freeman | The Libertarian Institute | September 20, 2022

US and Canadian warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait, which China views as its territorial waters, on Tuesday. Since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei last month, tensions between Washington and Beijing have soared. The transit occurred just days after President Joe Biden pledged to defend Taiwan with military force against China.

US, Canadian War Ships Sail Through Taiwan Strait Shortly After Biden’s Pledge to Go to War with China

Biden Again Says the US Would Defend Taiwan If China Attacks

Biden Again Says the US Would Defend Taiwan If China Attacks

Under the policy of strategic ambiguity, the US is not supposed to say one way or the other if it would intervene to defend Taiwan if China attacks.

Back in 2001, then-Senator Joe Biden criticized President George W. Bush for suggesting that the US would defend Taiwan, then later walking it back. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Biden wrote that “words matter” and said Bush hurt the credibility of the US by making such comments due to an “inattention to detail.”

That didn’t sound like a political gaffe to me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Lavrov says West seeks to use Gorbachev’s name for its geopolitical purposes

Lavrov says West seeks to use Gorbachev’s name for its geopolitical purposes

Lavrov also pointed out that those who spoke about relations with Gorbachev include former US Secretary of State James Baker.

“Baker said of Gorbachev: ‘I thought he was an honest negotiator and I could count on his word.’ That’s an amazing revelation. Because we were counting on Baker’s word as well. By we I mean the leadership of the Soviet Union. About the non-expansion of NATO to the east, among other things. They cheated us brazenly,” Lavrov said.

Related:

James Baker: Gorbachev will be remembered as ‘giant’ who steered his nation toward democracy

In a statement published through his eponymous Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, Baker applauded Gorbachev’s role in ending the 40-year Cold War between Russia and the U.S., referring to him as an “honest broker” who stood by his word despite experiencing pressure from Moscow.

NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard

Washington D.C., December 12, 2017 U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s famous “not one inch eastward” assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, was part of a cascade of assurances about Soviet security given by Western leaders to Gorbachev and other Soviet officials throughout the process of German unification in 1990 and on into 1991, according to declassified U.S., Soviet, German, British and French documents posted today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University