New Russia Oil Waiver

U.S. Plans New Russian Oil Waiver as War Tightens Supplies
Administration Under Pressure to Lower Fuel Prices

The U.S. is expected to issue a waiver allowing the sale of Russian crude oil and petroleum products that are already loaded on tankers, according to people familiar with the matter, just days after the previous one lapsed.

The new license, which is expected to be issued by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, could last for a period longer than 30 days or be subject to additional renewals as the war in Iran drags on, according to the people, who requested anonymity to discuss the decision before it was public.

US attacks Iran.. And has to make concessions to Russia on oil in an attempt to manage their own stupidity – It’s priceless

India purchases Russian oil regardless

Sharma, stated on Monday that her country will continue to purchase oil from Russia regardless of US decisions regarding the inclusion or exclusion of Russian oil from sanctions, affirming that New Delhi relies on commercial viability in this matter.

Sharma said during a press briefing: “Regarding the US exemption from sanctions imposed on Russia, I want to confirm that we were buying oil from Russia before, during, and even after the exemption,” according to Sputnik news agency.

She added: “There is no shortage of crude oil, and sufficient quantities of crude have been repeatedly contracted. Therefore, the presence or absence of this exemption does not change the situation in any way.”

Less sure this is about recruitment, entirely, thinking it’s about Odessa Too

Executive Order granting Russian citizenship to citizens of Transnistria

This Executive Order aims to protect human and civil rights and freedoms based on the universally recognised principles and norms of international law.

In accordance with it, the right to apply for Russian citizenship under simplified procedures, without compliance with a number of requirements, has been granted to foreign citizens and stateless persons aged above 18, who possess full legal capacity and permanently reside in Transnistria as of the date of the entry of this Executive Order into force. The document also sets out the procedure for granting citizenship to underage or incapacitated residents of that region.

It includes a list of documents that are to be submitted together with the application for Russian citizenship and stipulates the procedure for considering applications and making decisions on them.

Also France24

Russia adds 4 LNG carriers to it’s Arctic “Dark Fleet””

Four LNG carriers, Kosmos, Merkuriy, Orion, and Luch have recently changed their ownership and management to little known companies. They were previously servicing Oman’s LNG exports and were managed or owned by Oman Ship Management Co, according to Bloomberg’s findings.

The Kosmos has recently docked at a floating storage unit that’s storing the gas from the Arctic LNG 2 project, which is sanctioned by the U.S., the EU, and the UK. The Kosmos carrier has also recently switched to Russian flag, Bloomberg’s analysis shows.

Russia relies on a growing number of shadow fleet tankers to ship its sanctioned LNG out of the Arctic area in north Russia, where exports are made possible thanks to ice-breaker class tankers.

Norway getting cut out?

Europe may have freed itself from excessive reliance on Russian natural gas, but only by replacing it with another foreign supplier, according to a new analysis by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). The United States is on track to become the EU’s largest gas supplier of any kind this year, overtaking regional energy security partner Norway.

The U.S. is overcoming Norway’s pipeline-gas advantage by dint of the rapid development of U.S. Gulf Coast LNG plants, as well as the sudden unavailability of Middle Eastern supplies due to the Iran conflict. Qatar, normally the second-largest LNG exporter in the world, now finds itself on the wrong side of the Strait of Hormuz for global shipping. As a result, American liquefaction terminals now account for about two thirds of all European LNG imports – and this could rise to 80 percent by 2028, according to IEEFA.

For the same reason, shipments of Russian-sourced LNG into Europe are also rising and are now at the highest level since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, despite the EU’s plans to ban these cargoes by the end of next year. Russian LNG imports rose by 16 percent year-on-year in the first quarter alone

Batch-dependent safety of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine

The observed variation in SAE rates and seriousness between BTN162b2 vaccine batches in this nationwide study was contrary to the expected homogenous rate and distribution of SAEs between batches.

Numbers of suspected adverse events (SAEs) after BNT612b2 mRNA vaccination in Denmark (27 December 2020–11 January 2022) according to the number of doses per vaccine batch. Each dot represents a single vaccine batch. Trendlines are linear regression lines. Blue: R² = 0.78, β = 0.0898 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.0514–0.1281), green: R² = 0.89, β = 0.0025 (95% CI 0.0021–0.0029), yellow: R² = 0.68, β = 0.000087 (95% CI 0.000056–0.000118). Vaccine batches representing the blue, green and yellow trendlines comprised 4.22%, 63.69% and 32.09% of all vaccine doses, respectively, with 70.78%, 27.49% and 47.15% (blue trendline), 28.84%, 71.50% and 51.99% (green trendline), and 0.38%, 1.01%, and 0.86% (yellow trendline) of all SAEs, serious SAEs, and SAE-related deaths, respectively.

Forbes.com

A former Polish Defense Minister, Radek Sikorski, has attributed to the United States the sabotage of two pipelines, Nord Stream 1 and 2, which carry natural gas from Russia to Germany. “Thank you, USA,” Sikorski wrote on Twitter. Sikorski was Minister of National Defense from 2005 – 2007 and served as Deputy Minister of National Defense and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, previously. He is currently an elected member of the European parliament.

But President Joe Biden promised on February 7 to prevent Nord Stream 2 from becoming operational if Russia invaded Ukraine.

JUST THE FACTS

• Sikorski is no Putin apologist (he definitely isn’t)

• Sikorski is also married to Anne Applebaum, a journalist known for her hawkish views toward Russia.(She’s a neo con, in my opinion)

• Der Spiegel has reported that the CIA warned (threatened?) Germany weeks ago of a coming attack on natural gas pipelines, Nord Stream 1 and 2.

• Russia could have pulled off such the attack on the pipelines, but “It is difficult to see whether Russia or Ukraine could have an interest in such an incident.” (Russia doesn’t)

• Indeed, Russia could have restricted natural gas flows like it did earlier this month when it blamed an oil leak as the excuse, without blowing up the pipelines. (As has already been stated here)

• Russia has made no secret of its desire to continue supply Europe with natural gas. On September 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied Russia caused Europe’s energy crisis and said that if Europe wanted more natural gas it should lift the sanctions in the way of opening Nord Stream 2. “The bottom line is,” said Putin, “if you have an urge, if it’s so hard for you, just lift the sanctions on Nord Stream 2, which is 55 billion cubic metres of gas per year, just push the button and everything will get going.”

• The sabotage of Nord Stream 1 and 2 came the day before Poland and Norway opened a new, 850-kilometer natural gas pipeline, Baltic Pipe, through Denmark. European leaders praised the pipeline as a much-needed alternative to Nord Stream 1 and 2. Norway Energy Minister Terje Aasland called Baltic Pipe “a milestone on the important path towards European independence”.

And Polish EU supremacy- With the US in charge. I’m on board with this idea. It makes the most sense to me. Saying Russia did this is absurdity taken to new heights. Or stupidity taken to new lows?