Biden is 'a day late and a dollar short' in supporting Ukraine: Sen. Cotton
U.S. Petroleum Imports from Russia Set a Record in Biden’s First Year
(CNSNews.com) - In 2021, which was President Joe Biden’s first year in office, the United States imported a record volume of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia, according to the preliminary numbers for 2021 published Monday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
During 2021, the United States imported a monthly average of 670,000 barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum products, according to the EIA’s preliminary numbers.
Prior to 2021, according to historical numbers published in the EIA’s Monthly Energy Review, the largest volume of crude oil and petroleum products imported into the United States from Russia came in 2011. That year, the United States imported an average of 624,000 barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia.
The 670,000 barrels per day in Russian oil and petroleum products that the United States imported from Russia in 2021 was up from 540,000 barrels per day in 2020; 520,000 in 2019; and 375,000 in 2018.
In 1992, the first year after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States imported an average of only 18,000 thousand barrels per day in crude oil and petroleum products from Russia. By 2001, it had climbed to 90,000 barrels per day; and, in 2002, it jumped to 210,000.
When President Biden joined with allies last week in imposing economic sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s oil and gas exports were not targeted.
“As we respond, my administration is using the tools — every tool at our disposal--to protect American families and businesses from rising prices at the gas pump,” Biden explained in an address on Thursday.
“You know, we’re taking active steps to bring down the costs. And American oil and gas companies should not--should not--exploit this moment to hike their prices to raise profits,” said Biden.
“You know, in our sanctions package, we specifically designed to allow energy payments to continue,” he said.
“I will do everything in my power to limit the pain the American people are feeling at the gas pump,” said Biden. “This is critical to me.”
Daleep Singh, Biden’s Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics, joined White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki at a press briefing that same day and explained the administration’s position.
“To be clear: Our sanctions are not designed to cause any disruption to the current flow of energy from Russia to the world,” said Singh.
“When it comes to energy: This is the one area — this is the one area--where Russia has systemic importance in the global economy,” said Singh. “We know it’s the second-largest natural gas producer in the world. It’s also the second-largest crude oil producer in the world.
“That’s not to say that we have a dependence on Russia; Russia depends on those revenues just as much as the world needs its energy,” he said. “But we’re not going to--we’re not going to--do anything which causes an unintended disruption to the flow of energy, as the global economic recovery is still underway.”
The Left Isn’t Letting the Ukraine Crisis Go to Waste
Biden doesn’t want to stop the invasion. He wants to use it.
Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.
The Biden administration is doing everything possible to exploit the Ukraine crisis without doing anything to actually stop it. Its policies are a laundry list of leftist agendas that cynically betray the people fighting and dying on the ground without doing anything to actually halt the invasion.
An unpopular administration has been gifted a crisis by Putin and is seeing to it that it doesn’t go to waste. Biden had been unable to evade the blame for rising gas and food prices, but going forward the skyrocketing price of gas and food, in particular anything with wheat, will be blamed on the Russian invasion. While the invasion will certainly impact energy and food prices, the fundamental force driving the price hikes is still inflation caused by government spending.
Putin’s invasion provides a perfect pretext for allowing the Biden administration and its congressional allies to go on printing money and shutting down the economy with regulatory impositions while blaming the resulting economic crisis on the situation in Ukraine.
That is why Biden doesn’t want to stop Putin. Our intelligence people had all the necessary information on the invasion plans. We knew everything that was going to happen. Had Biden really wanted to deter the invasion, there were multiple options for heading off the war. Instead Biden made it clear that there would be no intervention, just sanctions he knew would not work.
Bloomberg News reported that the Biden officials who created the sanctions knew they wouldn't work.
“No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening," Biden later admitted.
Indeed the Biden administration fiercely fought against the efforts of Senator Ted Cruz and other Republicans to impose sanctions before the invasion because they wanted Putin to invade.
Only if Putin invaded Ukraine would they have the leverage to maintain a crisis, ransack the economy, consolidate corporate economic responses, and transform our foreign policy.
The sanctions regime, under which we import massive amounts of Russian oil but payment processors are ordered to cut off access, make no sense as a means of stopping Putin. But they are not meant to stop Putin or to do anything to help Ukraine. That’s not what this is about.
Anything however can be sold as means of stopping Russia even when it actually helps Russia.
That’s why the Biden administration is cutting deals with Russian allies like Iran and Venezuela.
Even as the Biden administration claims to be doing everything possible to sanction Russia, it outsourced the negotiations for a new and even worse nuclear deal with Iran to Russia.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has suggested that the administration is considering buying oil from Iran.
Buying Iranian oil directly finances Islamic terrorism against America, but it, like many other previously unacceptable moves, can be sold as a patriotic response to the invasion of Ukraine.
Biden administration officials are also headed to Venezuela for talks with socialist strongman Maduro, the leader of a murderous drug cartel and an ally of Iran and Russia, to restart relations with his regime and bail it out by buying oil from a narcoterrorist state.
And no one is supposed to ask how helping Russia’s allies is supposed to be stopping Russia.
The Biden administration is willing to buy oil from anyone except Americans. While a Republican administration might have used the Ukraine crisis as leverage for restarting domestic drilling, the Biden administration is using it to cut deals with our enemies.
Does the Biden administration actually want oil from Iran and Venezuela? No, it does not.
The green energy agenda means that the Biden administration is thrilled with high oil prices and an international pretext for keeping them high. At the same time it can build relations with Islamist and leftist enemies under the guise of trying to fix the high oil prices even though it has no intention of doing so except during election years when it can claim credit for lowering prices.
What the Ukraine crisis really means is more green energy and more outreach to our enemies.
These are the same Obama administration policies being dusted off and treated like a new response to the crisis. Much as they were the default responses to any crisis that came along.
People often dismiss any military intervention as another case of ‘Wag the Dog’, but they forget that the movie actually featured a fictional war in which there were no real soldiers involved.
The Biden administration has managed to actually have war fever without a war. There are Ukrainian flags flying and vodka being poured down the drain without a single American soldier being on the battlefield. And, despite what some on both sides think, it’s going to stay that way.
In a real case of ‘Wag the Dog’, an unpopular old incumbent has managed to have a war in an election year without taking any of the political risks of military involvement. The Russians and the Ukranians do the actual fighting while the Biden administration sits back and exploits it.
Whatever happens, Biden is safe because no American soldiers will be killed in the fighting.
He also has a defense against the kitchen table concerns of most Americans. The rising prices which were previously devastating his polling numbers are suddenly no longer his fault.
Americans are being encouraged to “patriotically” accept rising prices as a consequence of the invasion. And some will fall for it and forget that prices were rising long before the invasion.
The unprecedented consolidation of corporate responses won’t salvage Ukraine, but it’s not meant to. Rather it’s another field test for the growing socialization of the American economy with corporations being coordinated to act in unison and cut off access when they’re told.
After running through the farce of looking for oil in Iran and Venezuela, and any other terror state that has any for sale, the Biden administration will double down on green energy. We will be told that the Ukraine crisis is more evidence that we need to invest all our money into windmills and solar panels. Even though the entire crisis only happened because the Europeans decided to invest in wind and solar which made them dependent on Russia and Ukraine.
In the name of stopping Russia, America will also become increasingly dependent on Russia.
Tethering America’s energy market to unstable players like Russia and Ukraine, or Iran and Venezuela, or Saudi Arabia and the Muslim world, forces us into bad binary choices like war or appeasement. Instead of breaking the cycle of dependency by embracing the potential of our own oil, gas, nuclear, and future energy capabilities, we’re trapped in the same dead end maze.
The green energy investors who fund the Democrats win and so do America’s enemies.
Biden isn’t trying to stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he is trying to stop America’s economy while deftly avoiding the blame for the economic misery resulting from his domestic policies.
The sudden embrace of Ukrainian patriotism isn’t about helping that country, but consolidating unquestioning support behind the leftist agendas that are being carried out in Ukraine’s name.
When the crisis has been fully exploited, the blue and yellow flags will be tossed into the trash, along with the red, white and blue ones, and Biden will shake hands with Putin again.
Especially if both men have managed to get what they really wanted with each other’s help.
VIDEO
The 'audacity’ and ‘ineptitude’: Biden questions how Russia can invade Ukraine
Kamala Saves The Day
GOP Sen. Marshall: ‘All of America Thinks We Should Ban Russian Oil Except for One Person’ — Joe Biden
Monday on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) voiced his support for the ban on Russian oil as gas prices in the United States skyrocket.
Marshall asserted that “all of America thinks we should ban Russian oil except for one person” — President Joe Biden. He added that Biden “has declared an all-out war on oil.”
“All of America thinks we should ban Russian oil except for one person, and that’s Joe Biden,” Marshall told host Maria Bartiromo. “But American energy independence is a message we’ve been preaching of for a year. I grew up in the oil patch. I know exactly how important affordable energy is to make this economy run, but Joe Biden has declared an all-out war on oil. It’s not just pipelines. It’s also the Federal Reserve. It’s the EPA. It’s the Interior Department. They’ve all declared war on drilling oil, but, look, there’s a good appetite up here.”
“Joe Manchin stepping up once again –you talk about a profile in courage — Joe Manchin stepping up to lead the Democrats, but the president’s going to have to admit his mistake for once and let us turn this policy around,” he concluded.
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
White House Rejects Idea of Boosting Domestic Oil Production to Lower Gas Prices
The White House on Sunday rejected the argument that increasing domestic oil production would help lower gas prices, as the cost of oil moves toward record highs.
Crude oil prices rose as high as $130.50 a barrel on Sunday evening.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki released a set of talking points on social media, arguing against a focus on boosting oil production in the United States.
“It’s a reminder that real energy security comes from reducing our dependence on fossil fuels,” Psaki wrote, noting that Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine was causing a spike in oil prices.
Psaki pushed back against Republicans calling for more domestic oil production.
She argued that domestic oil production was up after the coronavirus pandemic but that the United States was still vulnerable to global oil markets.
“[D]omestic production has not insulated us from the price volatility of fossil fuels or the whims of those who control them, such as President Putin,” she said. “Americans know that.”
Gas prices over $5.00 a gallon are displayed at gas stations on February 23, 2022 in San Francisco, California. The Ukraine-Russia conflict is pushing gas prices to record highs in California and across the nation. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden’s administration is exploring diplomatic shifts with oil producing countries including Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Iran, as Russia’s latest Ukrainian offensive has disrupted oil markets.
But Psaki argued the only way to truly be free from high gas prices was to stop using oil.
“The only way to protect US over the long term is to become energy independent,” she wrote, pointing to Biden’s efforts on subsidizing wind and solar energy.
The Biden administration continues to struggle to explain the president’s decision to end the Keystone XL pipeline project, his effort to shut down drilling permitting on federal land, and his decision to suspend drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
In his State of the Union speech, Biden acknowledged that gas prices were rising, but offered subsidies for an electric cars as a solution.
He called for Congress to help him “lower the price of electric vehicles, saving you another $80 a month because you’ll never have to pay at the gas pump again.”
Biden also said he would continue releasing oil from America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, even though it failed to significantly affect gas prices.
“I know the news about what’s happening can seem alarming,” he said. “But I want you to know that we are going to be okay.”
Nolte: Back Domestic Drilling or Shut Up About Opposing Putin
Hey, I see you changed your profile photo to the Ukrainian flag. Yeah, that should do it.
Oh, my, yes… Be still my heart at the bravery it must have taken for you to pour out all your Russian vodka (that was made in the U.S.A.) and then directly fund Putin’s war crimes by filling your gas tank.
You know, I just don’t want to hear it from America’s Keyboard Generals, those with lives and heads so empty they’re sure they can win this war under a blanket holding an iPhone — and that includes Joe Biden.
What? You think your hashtag campaign calling for the blacklisting of Russian civilians is a battle won? You think sitting there in your pajamas directly targeting the Russian people and their sopranos and conductors and filmmakers (something we didn’t even do during the Cold War when the adults really were in charge) means you qualify for battle pay? Boy, nothing wins wars like losing hearts and minds to China.
Oh, look at the badass who made #PutinTrumpHitler trend.
Y’all are so full of shit.
There is only one thing — one — that will make Putin pay for his war crimes, and that’s for the West, including the good ole U.S. of A., to become energy independent. And I don’t mean a hundred years from now when green unicorn farts keep the Netflix streaming. I mean now, right now… I mean, 16 months ago before Joe Biden was wheeled into office and deliberately killed America’s energy independence by, among other things, killing our pipeline while — get this! — approving Putin’s pipeline!
Energy independence. That’s the silver bullet. That’s what will bring Putin down. That’s what will bankrupt his war crimes. That’s what will remove his leverage over the West.
You want to help Ukraine — I mean help Ukraine in a way that will make you uncomfortable but still allow you to remain under a blanket with your iPhone? Demand this White House move as quickly as possible make the Keystone XL Pipeline operational. Demand more drilling, more fracking, more coal digging, more nuclear power… Demand Germany put back online three operational nuclear power plants that that stupid country just shut down after Stupid Joe Biden approved Putin’s Nord Stream II pipeline.
Yes, you read that correctly; Germany shut down three working nuclear power plants (that emit no carbon) to purchase Putin’s natural gas (that does emit carbon).
Oh, and as far as your #PutinTrumpHitler hashtag, here’s a video of “TrumpHitler” publicly shaming Germany at the UN for enriching the war criminal with green blood money:
Oh, and here’s a video of Trump shaming the EU for empowering Putin with green blood money:
Oh, and it was Trump who turned America into an energy EXPORTER, and it was YOUR GUY who deliberately reversed all of that, and now we get ten percent of our oil from the war criminal Putin.
Please explain this to me…
Because even pre-Ukraine invasion, I was a tad baffled…
If this is all about carbon, why would you prefer to burn Russian oil instead of our own? What difference does it make? Is oil from our enemies, like Iran and Venezuela, carbon-free?
If this is all about carbon, why did Germany shut down three nuclear plants (that do not emit carbon) to purchase natural gas from Russia (that does emit carbon)?
But that’s the past. The question now is, what are you going to do today? Because I am going to tell you what you ARE doing… Your stupid, regressive environmental policies ARE funding Putin’s war crimes, ARE giving Putin leverage over the West, and ARE devastating the poor with what will soon be — probably this week — the highest energy prices in the history of ever.
The silver bullet against Putin is not your stupid hashtag; it’s domestic energy production.
The silver bullet to give the poor some relief is not your stupid profile photo of the Ukrainian flag; it’s domestic energy production.
The silver bullet to help Ukraine is not your stupid “Donate for Ukraine Relief” Facebook button; it’s domestic energy production.
And the silver bullet against the inflation that is also killing the poor is not your tweets OWNING Vlad; it’s the domestic energy production that will help bring the cost down on everything because energy is required to produce and ship everything.
This is a binary choice, as binary as they come. You’re either with Putin or against him, and if you oppose domestic energy production, you are not only with Putin; you are his quisling, his gull, his rube, his stupe, his most useful of idiots.
As far as those of you who would prefer to send other people’s sons into a war with Putin before you’ll dare scar the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve, you’re something worse — gutless, selfish sociopaths.
Poll: Nearly 1 in 3 Americans Driving Less, Majority Cite Joe Biden’s High Gas Prices
Nearly one in three (30 percent) of Americans drove less in February, with the majority of those citing President Joe Biden’s high gas prices as the cause for less time on the road, a Monday Morning Consult poll revealed.
While about 85 percent of Americans commute to work by car, 57 percent of Americans who drove less in February did so because of the high price of gas. Thirty-three percent said they utilized their cars less because their routine was different. Fourteen percent cited “other” reasons.
Overall, 53 percent said they drove the same amount of time in February. Only nine percent said they drove more.
The poll comes as the price of gas per gallon has reached more than $4.00 amid inflationary pressures. Breitbart News reported:
West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, rose as high as $130.50 a barrel before retreating to $123.09. WTI’s highest price since 1983 was $143.67 in 2008. Adjusted for inflation that would be $186.73.
Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, traded as high as $139.13 on Sunday evening. By 8:45 P.M. EST, Brent was down to $126.30.
Oil prices have risen on fears of a full embargo against Russian oil, which accounted for about 10 percent of the global supply before the invasion of Ukraine. As well, many in the market are refusing to bid, ship, or unload Russian oil, pushing up demand for other sources. The Russian benchmark, known as Urals, has traded at a steep discount to Brent over the past week.
Meanwhile, Biden reportedly sent a delegation to meet Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro to discuss buying Venezuelan oil. Venezuela is likely perceived by Biden as a source for oil to replace Russia’s energy supply to the West.
Biden seems to prefer purchasing oil from socialist Venezuela to ramping up domestic oil supply from American producers. America’s dependence on foreign oil contributed to the $1.00 per gallon gas price increase over Biden’s first year as president.
The poll surveyed 2210 adults February 17-19. The margin of error is + / – 2 percent.
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