Heavenly Father, fill our hearts with thankfulness and appreciation for
their sacrifice. Give us the wisdom through Your grace, to find direct words of
prayer for comfort and strength. Help us to honor their service and retain our
focus of abiding gratitude for their unwavering resolve as they fulfill their
mission. ~Amen
O Keeper of the dawn and dusk, hold
them beneath Your steadfast wing.
Let the dust of distant roads not dim
the light within their eyes.
When the night leans heavy on their
shoulders, be the quiet fire in their hearts.
When the wind carries the scent of
danger, be the shield they cannot see.
Guide their steps through shadowed
valleys, let courage rise like rivers in their veins.
Bring them home to open arms and
gentle laughter, and for those who cannot return, wrap them in the eternal
peace that no battle can disturb.
‘Trump, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!’
President Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are facing mounting criticism for creating a window for Russia
to sell oil and gas to the global market via “narrowly tailored, short-term”
sanction relief. However, few people are putting the issue into context,
and the background here is exceptionally interesting.
According to the terms announced by Secretary Bessent, the license to sell
applies solely to Russian crude or petroleum products loaded onto vessels as of
March 12 and is valid through midnight Washington time on April 11. [Treasury
Notice Here – OFAC
Technical Details Here]
The sanction relief license to sell will be done in globally recognized
petrodollars and applies only to preexisting oil and petroleum products that
are already in transit at sea. However, here’s where it gets very
interesting and the ramifications are significant.
Immediately following the Alaska summit between Russian President Vladimir
Putin and President Trump, Russia restarted Arctic-2 LNG terminals and began
increasing oil production for storage on ‘floating platforms.’ President
Trump met with Putin on August 15, 2025, and the curious increase in
Russian production began on August 18, 2025.
In the past six months Russia has been pumping sanctioned oil and gas and
storing it on ships and mobile sea platforms, seemingly (at the time) with no
customers. Suddenly, against the background of the Iran conflict, all of
that previously stored ‘on the water‘ production, now worth double, is
authorized for global sale (in petrodollars).
Either Russian President Putin is the luckiest guy in the world, or Russia
knew something.
In 2025 what Russia did following the Alaska summit did not make sense; now
it does and the ramifications are stunning.
President Trump was looking for a way to organize a strategic partnership with Russia on the issue of energy
production but was hampered by the preexisting sanction regime and strong
opposition from domestic and international politics.
The ‘coincidental’ timing’ of Trump meeting with Putin and then subsequently
Russia producing massive amounts of oil and gas for storage on the water
suddenly starts to take on an entirely new light. Did Putin know
something was coming, something that would eventually make the Russian over production
and ‘on the sea’ storage worth billions.
The implications here are quite remarkable; however, they simultaneously
explain most of the behaviors since the Iran confrontation began.
Media reports highlight that Vladimir Putin was asked about a previous joint
agreement for military support between Iran and Russia and why Russia did not
respond when Iran was attacked. Foreknowledge would explain that
reaction.
Additionally, the Russian Federation president never responded to the Trump
operation to take down Venezuelan dictator Maduro and seize control over
Venezuela’s oil production.
If there was some discussion inferring that a ‘limited sanction relief’
protocol might be possible, that would explain why Russia began storing oil and
gas at sea.
This fact pattern would also indicate that President Trump’s decision toward
Iran was made at least six months ago, with a set of geopolitical events
planned between the Alaska summit and the eventual confrontation with Iran.
TIMELINE:Trump and Putin
meet. Three days later Russia begins pumping oil/gas and storing it at sea.
President Trump then triggers the Venezuela western hemisphere security
operation; Russia stays silent. President Trump then triggers the
confrontation with Iran; Russia rejects involvement. And then two weeks after
the Iran confrontation begins, Trump removes sanctions on Russian oil/gas “in
transit” at sea.
Suddenly all of the Russian produced and stored product ‘on the water’ has
greater value and new customers.
Just a coincidence? No way.
The United States needs the oil/gas market stability that Russia can
provide.
Venezuela was/is to Trump as Ukraine was/is to Putin.
When the Supreme Court made their ridiculous decision to nullify the import
tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) use, the
high court noted several alternate approaches would not be legally
problematic. One of those approaches would be the use of Section 301
trade tariffs
Yesterday USTR Jamieson Greer quietly announced that a Section 301 review
would be taking place for the following countries: China, the European Union,
Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Korea,
Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Japan, and India.”
♦ Section 301 tariffs are a trade
enforcement mechanism established under the Trade Act of 1974. They allow the
U.S. government to impose tariffs on imports from countries that are found to
be engaging in unfair trade practices. The Office of the United States Trade
Representative (USTR) conducts investigations to determine if a country is
violating trade agreements, and if so, it can impose tariffs as a corrective
measure {SOURCE}
USTR
PRESS RELEASE – WASHINGTON — Today, United
States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced the initiation of
investigations regarding the acts, policies, and practices of various economies
under Section 301(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 relating to structural excess
capacity and production in manufacturing sectors.
The investigations will determine whether those acts, policies, and
practices are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S.
commerce. The economies subject to these investigations are: China, the
European Union, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia,
Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Japan, and India.
“The United States will no longer sacrifice
its industrial base to other countries that may be exporting their problems
with excess capacity and production to us. Today’s investigations underscore
President Trump’s commitment to reshore critical supply chains and create
good-paying jobs for American workers across our manufacturing sectors,”
said Ambassador Greer.
“The Trump Administration’s reindustrialization efforts continue to face
significant challenges due to foreign economies’ structural excess capacity and
production in manufacturing sectors. Across numerous sectors, many U.S. trading
partners are producing more goods than they can consume domestically. This
overproduction displaces existing U.S. domestic production or prevents
investment and expansion in U.S. manufacturing production that otherwise would
have been brought online. In many sectors, the United States has lost
substantial domestic production capacity or has fallen worryingly behind
foreign competitors.” (read more)
Additionally, Section 232 [Steel
and Aluminum examples] of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. §1862, as
amended) authorizes the President to impose trade restrictions—such as a tariff
or quota—if the Secretary of Commerce determines, following an investigation,
that imports of a good “threaten to impair” U.S. national security. {SOURCE}
Section 232 is currently covering all the steel and aluminum import
tariffs.
Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows
the U.S. president to impose tariffs of up to 15% to address “large and
serious” balance-of-payments deficits. This authority can be exercised without
prior congressional approval for a limited duration of 150 days. After this period,
any tariffs must be extended by Congress. {SOURCE}
Section 122 has already been deployed to retain the “baseline reciprocity
tariffs.”
USTR Greer is now walking through the process of deploying Section 301 and
will eventually become the legal underpinning to replace Section 122 and retain
all tariff status without congressional extension needed. Most of
this is technical and legal compliance as several of the aforementioned nations
have already finalized free trade agreements.
NOTE:
This transcript was prepared by a transcription service. This version may
contain grammatical and spelling errors incurred during transcription. Please
refer to the referenced media to confirm.
President Trump has offered differing assessments of how the war with Iran
is progressing, how close it is to a successful conclusion and what comes next
with respect to that nation’s government.
One thing seems clear: The Chinese Communist Party has a lot riding on the
outcome. It needs access to cheap, sanctions-busting oil imports from Iran. Its
air defenses and other weapons have been deployed widely there – and have not
performed well, with adverse implications for their marketing elsewhere.
And the resulting external pressures only exacerbate China’s serious
domestic economic, political and demographic challenges.
So, will Chinese dictator Xi Jinping respond to these difficulties by
deferring his plans for aggression against Taiwan and other U.S. interests? Or
will he accelerate them in the hope of exploiting the current American
preoccupation with Iran?
This CPDC webinar considers these questions and others arising from the
ongoing war in Iran, the role the CCP is playing in the continuation of that
conflict, what else it might do to prop up its client regime and otherwise try
to undermine U.S. and Israel pursuit of a decisive victory over, let alone
unconditional surrender by the dead-enders in the Iranian regime.
Moderator
Frank Gaffney, President,
Institute for the American Future; Vice Chairman, Committee on the Present
Danger: China; Member, Victory Coalition; host, “Securing America”
Panelists:
Cmdr/Dr. David Wurmser, PhD, U.S.
Navy (Ret.), Former Senior Middle East advisor to an Under Secretary of
State, National Security Advisor and Vice President of the United States;
Director, Middle East program, Center for Security Policy
Lt Colonel Guermantes Lailari, U.S.
Air Force (Ret.), Former Foreign Area Officer, Senior Non-Resident Fellow,
Jewish Policy Center (Taiwan)
Capt. James Fanell, U.S.
Navy, (Ret.), Former Chief of Intelligence and Information Operations,
U.S. Pacific Fleet; Senior Fellow, Geneva Center or Security Policy;
co-author, Embracing
Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure
Gordon Chang, Senior
Distinguished Fellow, Gatestone Institute; columnist, Newsweek; author, Plan Red: China’s Project to Destroy
America
Brian T. Kennedy, President, the American Strategy Group; former
President, the Claremont Institute; author of, among other works, Communist China’s
War Inside America.
