This is isolationism on steroids. America is considering the feasibility ofWhen buying natural gas is now considered a national security threat...
Washington DC is nuts.
Good.
This is isolationism on steroids. America is considering the feasibility ofWhen buying natural gas is now considered a national security threat...
Washington DC is nuts.
This reporter is making her job very difficult, and that guarantees us a lot of laughs.Thanks, everybody
On the one hand, "China is going to invade Taiwan before the end of the year"According to the Energy Information Administration as of October 14, 2022, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve holds 405 million barrels of crude oil, the lowest inventory level since June 1984.
View attachment 100343
This is due to recent failures to force Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and even Iraq to increase oil production, as well as loosen sanctions on Venezuela and Iran. The US was left to squander its reserves like there was no tomorrow.
The tendency is to decrease after the midturn elections, giving a sharp increase in the cost of living for the population.
source:
On the one hand, "China is going to invade Taiwan before the end of the year"
On the other hand, "Lets sell all our strategic oil reserve"
Even with reduced production from OPEC there was no need to empty the SPR. It was a decision Biden made to keep gas prices artificially low to help him win the midterms.According to the Energy Information Administration as of October 14, 2022, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve holds 405 million barrels of crude oil, the lowest inventory level since June 1984.
View attachment 100343
This is due to recent failures to force Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and even Iraq to increase oil production, as well as loosen sanctions on Venezuela and Iran. The US was left to squander its reserves like there was no tomorrow.
The tendency is to decrease after the midturn elections, giving a sharp increase in the cost of living for the population.
source:
Semiconductor export curbs hitting China to be followed by biotech and AI restrictions: US official
- American national security, rather than ‘economic destruction of China’, drives ‘targeted shutdown’ of industry, senior official contends
- Effectiveness of unilateral controls said to depend on unified stance from key allies, including advanced chip tool maker Japan
Sweeping export controls announced earlier this month on high-end semiconductors and chip-making tools to China will almost certainly be followed by similar curbs on quantum computing, high-end biotechnology and artificial intelligence software given an overriding US focus on protecting national security over trade or the implications for US companies or the Chinese economy, a senior US official said Thursday.
The administration of President Joe Biden has announced these rules unilaterally, but is aware their effectiveness depends on a unified stance from key allies, including advanced chip tool makers Japan and the Netherlands, with a multilateral agreement expected soon, said Alan Estevez, industry and security undersecretary at the US Commerce Department, adding that the intent is not to impede China economically
“Will we end up doing something in those areas? If I was a betting person, I would put money on that,” said Estevez, who oversees the Bureau of Industry and Security charged with crafting and enforcing the new rules.
“That is not, despite some of the views out there, about the economic destruction of China,” he added. “This is about national security.”
Fake news alert, again!The US official said he hoped China would recognise that the measures were targeted and carefully designed.
“I don’t want to conjecture what they’re going to do,” said Estevez. “It’s not a massive shutdown of Chinese industry. It’s a targeted shutdown of using our capability against us, and we hope that they’re going to respond, take that into account.”
Estevez, speaking at the Centre for a New American Security, likened Washington’s expanded use of hi-tech export restrictions to “an anaconda slowly squeezing and squeezing and squeezing”