If Slo-Joe cared about this country there'd be no more $$$ for little Zelly. The Key bridge in particular and thousands of other infrastructure projects should come first.

Here's Jr connecting the dots, pretty stunning.

^^^Far too many 'dupes' doing the establishment's bidding instead of listening when it comes to many of the things RFK Jr has to say!

Ukrainian Drones Hit Russia's Third-Largest Oil Refinery, Prompting White House Anger

As discussed in our morning wrap, US equity futures are dipping lower as bond yields in the US continue to move higher as crude continues to surge and is up another 2% on growing fears of middle-eastern escalation after a senior Iranian commander was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Syria yesterday, with Iran immediately vowing revenge, and as Ukraine once again struck oil infrastructure targets deep inside Russia, overnight hitting Russia’s 3rd largest refinery, ~800 miles from the front lines.

As OilPrice details, Ukrainian drones hit the primary refining unit of Russia’s third-largest refinery southeast of Moscow more than 800 miles from the front line, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Ukraine keeps striking Russian oil assets despite the Biden admin's unequivocal demands for a hard stop, suggesting that diplomatic fallout is now imminent.

The Taneco refinery of Russian company Tatneft in Tatarstan, an industrialized region southeast of Moscow, was attacked by Ukrainian drones in the latest such attack from Ukraine on Russian refining infrastructure.

The refinery has a capacity to process 340,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude. Its primary refining unit, with a capacity to process about 155,000 bpd, was hit in Tuesday’s attack, according to pictures seen by Reuters. The unit caught fire, which was swiftly extinguished, Russian media report.

They also quote Ramil Mullin, the mayor of the city of Nizhnekamsk, where the refinery is located, as saying that there have been no injured people in the attack.

“There are no injuries or serious damage,” Mullin wrote on Telegram. “The technological process of the enterprise has not been disrupted,” the mayor added.

A source with the Ukrainian intelligence in Kyiv told Reuters that Ukraine hit a major Russian oil facility in Tatarstan to reduce Russian oil revenues.

Ukraine has stepped up attacks on oil refineries in Russia in recent weeks, which have reduced Russian refining capacity, and which, reportedly, have the White House concerned about rising international prices.

The United States has repeatedly urged Ukraine to halt its drone attacks on Russian oil refineries due to Washington’s assessment that the strikes could lead to Russian retaliation and push up global oil prices, the Financial Times reported last month, citing sources familiar with the exchange.

According to Reuters estimates, the amount of Russian oil refining capacity that has been taken offline due to Ukrainian drone strikes is 14% of Russia’s total refining capacity.

Calculations show that 900,000 bpd of refining capacity have been taken offline by drone strikes, Reuters reported last week.

https://www.zerohedge.com/mark...largest-oil-refinery

the cost of fuel and staples is gonna bust ole joe

How about not...?

quote:

Originally posted by sse:
the cost of fuel and staples is gonna bust ole joe

GOLD Spot Price 5:13 p.m.
$2,282.91

Biden administration wants Ukraine to join NATO


https://twitter.com/RepMTG/sta...B0Zgqj8w6YGCdOw&s=19

Idiots and grifters

I read quite a few comments about both Greene’s tweet regarding Blinken’s statement. It appears that those responding with continued support of Ukraine have no idea what a potential game changer it could be bringing Ukraine into NATO. What’s been happening there already has increased the risk of a much broader war. NATO alignment is a gamble of the absolute highest stakes imaginable.

Madness.

quote:

The United States has repeatedly urged Ukraine to halt its drone attacks on Russian oil refineries …

So now we're trying to impose stupid "rules of engagement" on them. Those sound like legitimate strategic targets to me.

All 32 NATO members would have to approve of Ukraine joining NATO. What NATO country close to Russia would think this is a wise decision?

Big Trouble Brewing in Moldova: Is This Plan B for Ukraine?

https://weapons.substack.com/p...rce=post-email-title

Big Trouble may be brewing in Moldova which is starting to look like a staging area for the EU to offset an emerging Russian victory in Ukraine. Whether this plan will be successful, if it is attempted, is not clear. But Moldova is not the most stable country in the world, and the country is split between pro-EU and pro-Russian elements.

US troops are now in Moldova, along with Romanians. It is ostensibly a military exercise called JCET 2024 (Joint Command Exchange Training). The exercise started on April 1st and will continue until April 19th. According to a statement released by the Moldovan Ministry of Defense, "The aim of the exercise is joint training and exchange of experience between Moldovan, Romanian and American special forces, as well as to increase the level of interoperability between the participating contingents. This year's event will also be attended by representatives of the State Protection and Security Service and the Pantera Special Forces."

These exercises are not new. But they take on urgency now because of the developing situation in neighboring Ukraine.

The US sponsors what it calls the Moldova-U.S. Strategic Dialogue in Chisinau, Moldova's capital. The Dialogue focuses on areas of "cooperation, including justice sector and anti-corruption reforms, human rights, promoting a pluralistic media environment and rights-respecting media policies to counter disinformation, energy diversification and resilience, defense modernization and transformation, civil protection, border management, cyber security, countering cross-border threats, combating illicit trafficking in weapons and ammunition, countering proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and related materials, humanely addressing the needs of refugees, and expanding people-to-people ties."

The United States has made available nearly $320 million in new economic, security, and humanitarian assistance to help Moldova. This assistance includes $30 million in non-reimbursable budget support disbursed in December 2022 for electricity purchases. “The United States, working with Congress, also plans to make available an additional $300 million for energy assistance in Moldova to address the urgent needs created by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and to strengthen Moldova’s energy resilience and security, including another $80 million in budget support to address energy and power costs,” according to the US State Department.

The State Protection and Security Service is separate from the Moldovan army. Its purpose is to protect high government officials.

Officially Moldova is supposed to be a neutral country. There is talk of changing Moldova's Constitution to allow it to join military alliances and, potentially, to join NATO. Joint training with foreign countries (the US and Romania) would appear to violate the current constitutional neutrality provisions.

Romania is keen on building up its military relationship to Moldova. Legislation is pending in Romania to allow Romania to to intervene outside the country. Such actions are not limited to the military but may also involve other types of interventions to counter hybrid threats. The focus of the new law in Moldova and Ukraine.

Romania supplies 80 to 90 percent of Moldova's energy. It has built a gas pipeline ultimately connecting Cisenau with Romania, largely financed by grants and loans from the European community. Moldova no longer receives gas from Russia.

According to Romanian sources, there are 600,000 Romanian citizens in Moldova (most with hybrid citizenship). Romania is positioning itself to "protect" its Moldovan citizens in case of conflict.

Moldova is the second poorest country in Europe after Ukraine. In 2022 Moldova's per capita income was $5,688. Ukraine's was $4,005 (before the current war). Eastern Europe has an overall per capita income of $11,855.

Moldovan land is between the Dniester and Prut rivers, the area once known as Bessarabia. Most of the population is Eastern Orthodox. There was once a large and thriving Jewish community in the country. Chisinau, the capital, was over 46% Jewish. In the Kingdom of Romania 380,000–400,000 Jews died in Romanian-controlled areas, including Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transdniestria. "Romania ranks first among Holocaust perpetrator countries other than Nazi Germany." Today there are about 15,000 Jews in Moldova and Transdniestria.

There has been an ongoing struggle in Moldova where the country is roughly divided into two camps: the pro-EU camp on the one side and the pro-Russian camp on the other. Right now the pro-EU camp is in power. They have outlawed pro-Russian opposition parties and organizations and jailed some of its leaders. In addition, the ruling party has closed 13 TV and media outlets on the grounds they were connected to Russia. Until mid-March the pro-EU party did not allow opposition candidates to run for local or national elections.

An illustrative case is that of the current elected governor of Gagauz autonomy, Evghenia Gutsul. Gagauzia is a Turkic-speaking, Russian Orthodox entity in the southeastern part of Moldova. Gutsul was a member of the Shor (or Sor) party, a pro-Russian party that was outlawed by the current government. She was not permitted to run for office under the party banner and she was accused of helping to illegally finance the Shur party. She decided to run for office as an "independent" and won handily. Gutsul is close to Moscow and to Vladimir Putin.

In March the high court in Moldova determined that outlawing the Shor party was illegal.

Meanwhile other countries are taking a keen interest in Moldova. An interesting example are the Germans who are supplying police to reinforce the border with Ukraine. Germany joined an EU-sponsored project to "ensure the security" of Moldova. This activity is mainly concerned with stopping Ukrainians escaping conscription and returning them to Ukraine, where they either face jail terms or being thrown into the front lines fighting Russia. The police also stop smuggling. How such activity squares with European human rights laws is an open question.

France is also activating key units of its Foreign Legion, many of whom are currently out of work having been kicked out of some African countries. According to press reports, 1,500 Foreign Legion troops are likely to be deployed either to Ukraine or to Moldova, either in May or June. Macron has been working overtime trying to gin up NATO support for intervention in Ukraine.

Transdniestria

Transdniestria is a breakaway region which officially is called the Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic. It has its own government and military. It is on the eastern side of the Dnistria river. Its capital is Tiraspol. The European Parliament has declared that this area is under Russian occupation. There is a Russian military contingent in Transdniestria, but it is made up only of 1,500 soldiers. There is also a massive Russian ammunition dump located there, a subject of much interest to the ammunition-starved Ukrainians. The army of Transdniestria is made up of 5,000 active duty personnel and 16,000 reservists. Much of its equipment is antiquated. By comparison, Moldova has an army of 6,500 active duty personnel and 2,000 annual conscripts. It claims a reserve force of 65,000. How reliable any of these forces are isn't known.

In order for foreign troops to operate from Moldova on into Ukraine, either they would need to take over Transdniestria or, alternatively, put military forces into Gagauzia, which would likely trigger a civil war.

Strategic Significance

Moldova on its own is not of any strategic importance. However, it is a staging area and jumping off point for a strategy aimed at Odesa and, perhaps, the Crimea. What seems to be brewing in Europe is some sort of Plan B --in essence, what to do if the Ukrainian army collapses. Increasingly European specialists and some officials are opining that the days of Ukraine as an independent entity may be reaching an end.

The Russians are also feeding the dialogue in the sense that Russian officials want a huge buffer zone in any Ukraine settlement, a cordon sanitaire to prevent NATO from threatening Russian territory and vital interests.

Assuming that the dire predictions turn out to be right, a future Ukraine could consist of an annexed Russian area, a pro-Russian regime in Kiev, a buffer zone, and western Ukraine taken over by Poland, potentially with some of its neighbors.

NATO, however, would want to have a counter-weight to a Russian victory, and that could mean, in addition to Lviv returning to Poland, an attempt to protect Odesa and perhaps threaten Crimea, which the Russian regard as a vital territory for their security and for its historical importance.

Building up Moldova as a staging area therefore looks like an emerging potential strategy, the beginning of Plan B.

There are problems in using Moldova as a staging area. Its politics are very unsettled, and if the Russians really step up their efforts in that country, the pro-EU faction may find its future cloudy. That would potentially foreclose Moldova as an EU staging ground. Alternatively, the EU via Romania and others may send in troops to secure the pro-EU regime now in power, which could lead to an internal and bloody conflict.

Ukraine detonates drone against reactor dome at Russian-occupied nuclear power plant

https://nypost.com/2024/04/07/...nuclear-power-plant/

Ukrainian forces detonated a drone against the dome covering a shut-down nuclear reactor at the massive Russian-occupied power plant in southeast Ukraine on Sunday, according to Kremlin and international energy officials.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the unmanned device exploded against the dome above one of six reactors at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is the largest in all of Europe.

The damage was reported by the Russian-installed administration, which was placed on site after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Russian staff claimed there was no serious damage to the reactor, with radiation levels remaining normal.

The Russian-run plant said the Ukrainian strike “attacked the dome” of the building housing Reactor No. 6, which is currently in cold shutdown along with three other reactors.

The other two reactors are either shut down for repair or undergoing shut-down.

The IAEA noted that the Russian claims of the drone assault appeared to be “consistent” with their own observations, adding that radiation levels have not changed after the attack.

But IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi warned Ukraine and Russia to avoid attacks that “jeopardize nuclear safety” at the massive power plant.

More at link

Johnson eyes Ukraine aid as Greene dangles ouster threat

Attention will be focused on Johnson this week as officials in Washington and Kyiv await the Speaker’s plan for moving long-stalled Ukraine aid, which he vowed to do “right after” the current recess — a period that officially comes to a close on Tuesday.

The waiting game comes as Johnson is facing increased pressure from Greene, who filed a motion to vacate against the Speaker last month and has sharpened her rhetoric against the Louisiana Republican in recent days — especially when it comes to the looming vote on aid for Ukraine.

Asked by CNN last week if moving aid for Ukraine would spark a vote on Johnson’s ouster, Greene was coy, but she signaled in no uncertain terms that such a move would be dangerous for the Speaker.

“I’m not saying I have a red line or a trigger, and I’m not saying I don’t have a red line or trigger. And I think that’s just where I’m at right now. But I’m going to tell you right now: Funding Ukraine is probably one of the most egregious things that he can do,” Greene said.

Johnson, to be sure, has not disclosed his plan to address the White House’s foreign aid request — which includes funding for Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific allies — leaving a number of questions unanswered as the chamber heads into the hot-button issue. But he floated some details during an interview with Fox News’ Trey Gowdy last week, which he called “important innovations.”

The Speaker brought the REPO Act, which allows the U.S. to use seized frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine; he mentioned making the assistance for Kyiv in the form of a loan; and he discussed tacking on a provision that would block the Biden administration’s freeze of new permits for liquified natural gas exports.

While Democrats have expressed an openness to the loan idea, some liberals are sounding off on the energy provision, which could make matters more difficult for Johnson. On the other side of the aisle, a number of Republicans are still demanding that any aid for Ukraine be paired with border security policy, even after members of the House GOP conference rejected the Senate’s bipartisan border bill.

But even as the path forward appears murky, and Greene continues to dangle her motion to vacate, some lawmakers are brushing off the idea that Johnson’s job is in jeopardy.

“I don’t think he’s at any risk,” House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday when asked if Johnson should be worried about Greene’s motion to vacate threat.

“I think that what people have been referring to is the chaos caucus, those individuals who are seeking attention for themselves and trying to stop all of the important work in Congress, are now seen as merely disruptive,” he added.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/joh...&bt_ts=1712577098350

Bloomberg ran a breaking story this morning with the understated headline, “Russia Targets Ukraine Power System With Ballistic Missiles.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news...istic-missile-strike

It appears the Russians are in fact preparing for something big, a major offensive action, something bigger perhaps than we’ve ever seen before in the Proxy War. That’s what this looks like. Whatever it is, however big for Ukraine, it’s the tiniest part of Russia’s strategy, a tiny wooden doll in the middle of all the other dolls.

Bloomberg reported that last night Russia used over 40 of its top-end hypersonic missiles against at least five of Ukraine’s biggest cities, including its capitol Kiev, plus top cities Kharkov, Odessa, Zaporizhzhia, and even Lviv, which is far from the front lines in Western Ukraine. Russia’s attacks were carefully-planned, and despite reports that Ukraine’s biggest power plants have now been irreparably damaged, no deaths have been reported so far this morning.

For comparison, it was like someone permanently disabling the power in New York, DC, Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles in one night.

There was a short period back at the beginning of the war when I was skeptical the Russians were serious, since they didn’t wipe out Ukraine’s power infrastructure — something that was obviously within Russia’s power. It seemed to me that if Russia really wanted to win, it would first switch off the lights.

Well. That predictable strategy now seems finally to be the strategy the Russians are employing. But that’s not even close to all. The strategy that is emerging is breathtaking and hideous. Let’s dig in.

First, in an otherwise poorly-covered story, on Monday Bloomberg published this headline:
image 6.png

It was a big deal. Putin signed an executive order nationalizing a US-based conglomeration that had bought up 650,000 acres of Russian farmland. Russia just took it all, placing all that acreage under the “temporary management” of Rosimushchestvo, Russia’s federal property management agency.

Setting aside the obvious wisdom of reclaiming Russia’s strategically-critical farmland from their murky, opaque U.S. corporate owners, it was an entirely predictable response, one that Russia waited two long years to trigger. As you may recall, the U.S. sanctions war against Russia began with America seizing the personal property of “Russian oligarchs,” like their yachts and houses.

Biden stupidly bragged the seizures would lead to regime change, since the Russian billionaires would thow out Putin to placate America and get all their stuff back.

Not only did that not happen, but on Monday Putin began doing it back to us. Corporate media, which celebrated the seizures of Russia assets at the sanction war’s beginning, pretty much had nothing to say about the much bigger and more meaningful nationalization of 650,000 acres of U.S.-owned property in Russia. But it was a totally predictable tit-for-tat response.

What did Biden think would happen?

Biden’s plan was even dumber than it looks. It’s costing us a fortune to maintain all the seized Russian property, which is not easy to sell:

In other words, after two patient years, Russia has just begun to fight back economically. And Putin is fighting against DEI-promoted morons.

The military part of Russia’s emerging strategy is its — again, predictable — strengthening of America’s enemies. Also on Monday, in the Eurasian Times, we learned Russia has given nuclear North Korea access to hypersonic technology:
image 8.png

Remember: the U.S. currently lacks any effective answer to hypersonic missile technology. The missiles are so fast they defeat our air defenses. The hypersonics can easily take out an aircraft carrier. They could also be used effectively in a first strike. Now North Korea has them, since North Korea has been supplying Russia with artillary shells.

Thanks, Joe Biden!

Also Monday, the Chatham House published a story about Russia which for the first time used its Security Council veto to stop sanctions against North Korea.

Our ally South Korea is freaking out, creating a whole new major strategic demand on U.S. military resources, spreading our efforts and forces even more thinly.

Last month, media quietly informed us that somehow, the pesky Houthis — who Biden have given up trying to beat and is now trying to bribe — have also acquired indefensible hypersonic technology. Somehow.

Five months ago in November, Iran — which has been supplying Russia with drones for Ukraine — announced it had also acquired hypersonic missile technology:
image 11.png

Hypersonic missiles could defeat Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system. Like South Korea, our ally Israel is also freaking out, requiring — as we’ve seen — massive amounts of U.S. military resources staged in the Middle East. Where’d Iran get that hypersonic technology? Russia, obviously.

Yesterday — yesterday! — the Biden Administration seemed to finally awaken to the awful possiblity that, instead of being isolated by sanctions, Russia had created a massive military alliance instead, composed of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea:
image 13.png

On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that China has just sent its highest-ranking diplomat to North Korea since before the pandemic:
image 14.png

So that’s what we know. Now I will speculate some. What I think is happening is that Russia has been carefully preparing a global anti-NATO strategy for two years now, and it is now begining to pull the trigger. The tragedy is that the Russian strategy was completely obvious and utterly predictable, unless your pugnacious president has dementia and always wants to challenge everyone to pathetic push-up contests.

Russia began this war with one obvious advantage. It had developed a game-changing military technology, hypersonic missiles, which surpassed U.S. military technology — even though America’s woke generals pridefully believed they owned the category of high-tech weaponry. But in the face of existential threats from Biden’s reckless administration and escalatory rhetoric, Russia responded by arming all the U.S.’s biggest enemies, trading its high-tech missile system for other, more mundane war material that it needed in Ukraine.

Biden, Blinken, Nuland, Sullivan — without even an hour of real military experience between them — were drunk on their own self-esteem but were too stupid to envision this perfectly predictable eventuality.

We used to talk about America’s woke, diminished military needing the ability to fight wars on two fronts or three fronts. Well, how about four fronts? Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and South Korea — each an ally the U.S. has committed to defending. How about that? Are we prepared for four fronts?

I think we will soon find out, at least if Biden and his team of incompetent neocons are stupid enough to continue pushing the Russians. Give them Ukraine before you get us all killed, morons.

Meanwhile, back in Ukraine, as described in yesterday’s UK Times headline, they are running out of irreplaceable Ukrainians:
image 15.png

They are going to make an army of Amazonian female fighters! That’s the plan! I bet Russia is terrified.

According to democrats, if only the Republicans would get out of the way and approve that $61 billion, it would solve everything. It would solve everything, if by “everything” they mean “nothing at all.” The Russians have outfoxed us. We can’t possibly fight a four-front war, never mind a kinetic war against a China-Russia-North Korean nuclear axis.

Now what, Joe?

Don’t take this as defeatist. We can come out of this fine. The proper path through this treacherous quagmire is the path of humility and standing down. Get NATO and the CIA out of Ukraine. Quit poking the Russian bear.

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com...ack&utm_medium=email

So, we have exactly what many of us have been saying for nearly two years happening now: Russia is solidifying alliances with our other global rivals and enemies, and things have come to pass that have brought us to a place where we are weaker against them.

Does the Cold Warrior circlejerk brigade still think we’re buying the destruction of our enemies for cheap? I’ve been saying this whole time that we don’t know what we’re actually buying with those funds and materiel. The downstream effects of our involvement in this are yet to be seen.

Tell me, how many wars have we won since WWII? Let’s drop the farce of calling it “conflicts” and “policing actions” and so forth. I know we haven’t declared war on anybody since then, but we have been involved in armed conflict for most of that time since, and near as I can figure, only Norman Schwartzkopf put a tick in the “W” column. That’s not a great win/loss ratio, and it’s because we let our fuckwit politicians pretend they’re war college tacticians. Ladies and gentlemen, whatever you thought about how righteous it was defending Ukraine, you let Joe Biden manage it, and what he has wrought may well become the instrument of much pain and sorrow for the American people.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: fuck Ukraine, let it fall. It’s not our problem, and we can still fold that hand and walk away from the table before we go all-in and go bust. If your great-grandmother’s uncle was Ukrainian, and you’re 1/128th “proud Uke” and that offends you, I flatly don’t give a shit. Hoist the Stars and Stripes and serve our interests or go over there and volunteer to be turned into meat paste by North Korean and Chinese artillery shells if you want to “stop Putler.” The rest of us are tired of war tourism and don’t want to sell us into another generation of dead Americans for reasons nobody will agree with or care about in twenty years.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: P220 Smudge,

^^^One set of my my Great-Grandparents were Ukrainian, leaving me approx 1/8th Ukrainian...Not 100% sure on the exact percentage as they were Polish and Ukrainian, and historically that border moved around a bit. Anyway, for the record, I'm NOT offended in the least!

We need to STOP prolonging this war, and START promoting a peace agreement, before it too late!