swordfish

https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-emirati-leaders-decline-calls-with-biden-during-ukraine-crisis-11646779430 Saudi, Emirati Leaders Decline Calls With Biden During Ukraine Crisis Persian Gulf monarchies have signaled they won’t help ease surging oil prices unless Washington supports them in Yemen, elsewhere By Dion Nissenbaum , Stephen Kalin and David S. Cloud Updated March 8, 2022 7:48 pm ET The White House unsuccessfully tried to arrange calls between President Biden and the de facto leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as the U.S. was working to build international support for Ukraine and contain a surge in oil prices, said Middle East and U.S. officials. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the U.A.E.’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan both declined U.S. requests to speak to Mr. Biden in recent weeks, the officials said, as Saudi and Emirati officials have become more vocal in recent weeks in their criticism of American policy in the Gulf. “There was some expectation of a phone call, but it didn’t happen,” said a U.S. official of the planned discussion between the Saudi Prince Mohammed and Mr. Biden. “It was part of turning on the spigot [of Saudi oil].” Mr. Biden did speak with Prince Mohammed’s 86-year-old father, King Salman, on Feb. 9, when the two men reiterated their countries’ longstanding partnership. The U.A.E.’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the call between Mr. Biden and Sheikh Mohammed would be rescheduled. The Saudis have signaled that their relationship with Washington has deteriorated under the Biden administration, and they want more support for their intervention in Yemen’s civil war, help with their own civilian nuclear program as Iran’s moves ahead, and legal immunity for Prince Mohammed in the U.S., Saudi officials said. The crown prince faces multiple lawsuits in the U.S., including over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The Emiratis share Saudi concerns about the restrained U.S. response to recent missile strikes by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen against the U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia, officials said. Both governments are also concerned about the revival of the Iran nuclear deal, which doesn’t address other security concerns of theirs and has entered the final stages of negotiations in recent weeks. The White House has worked to repair relations with two key Middle Eastern countries it needs on its side as oil prices push over $130 a barrel for the first time in almost 14 years. Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. are the only two major oil producers that can pump millions of more barrels of more oil—a capacity that, if used, could help calm the crude market at a time when American gasoline prices are at high levels. Brett McGurk, the National Security Council’s Middle East coordinator, and Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s energy envoy, both traveled to Riyadh late last month to try to mend fences with Saudi officials. Mr. McGurk also met with Sheikh Mohammed in Abu Dhabi in a bid to address Emirati frustrations over the U.S. response to the Houthi attacks. The call with Sheikh Mohammed in early February was expected to focus on ways the two countries could counter Houthi attacks from Yemen. One U.S. official said the Biden administration has worked diligently to strengthen Saudi and Emirati missile defenses, and that America would be doing more in the coming months to help the two Gulf nations protect themselves. It may not be all the two countries want, the official said, but the U.S. is trying to address their security concerns. But the Saudis and Emiratis have declined to pump more oil, saying they are sticking to a production plan approved between their group, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and a group of other producers led by Russia. The energy alliance with Russia, one of the world’s top oil producers, has enhanced OPEC’s power while also bringing the Saudis and Emiratis closer to Moscow. Both Prince Mohammed and Sheikh Mohammed took phone calls from Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, after declining to speak with Mr. Biden. They both later spoke with Ukraine’s president, and a Saudi official said the U.S. had requested that Prince Mohammed mediate in the conflict, which he said the kingdom is embarking on. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said earlier this week that there were no plans to talk to Prince Mohammed anytime soon about oil, and that there were no plans for Mr. Biden to travel to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. forged deep ties with former President Donald Trump, who sided with them in a regional dispute with Qatar, pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal that they had opposed, made his first trip abroad to Riyadh in 2017 and stood by Prince Mohammed after the killing of Mr. Khashoggi. But Mr. Trump’s decision not to respond to an Iranian drone and missile attack on major Saudi oil sites in 2019 rattled Gulf partners who have relied for decades on the promise of U.S. security protection. Iran denied involvement in the oil facility attacks. The rift between Mr. Biden and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince stretches back to the 2020 presidential election, when the Democratic candidate vowed to treat the kingdom as a “pariah” state after a Saudi hit team killed Mr. Khashoggi in 2018 in Istanbul. There is “very little social redeeming value in the present government in Saudi Arabia,” Mr. Biden said during a presidential debate in 2019. After taking office, Mr. Biden released a U.S. intelligence report that concluded that Prince Mohammed had approved the plan to capture or kill Mr. Khashoggi, who had been an outspoken critic of the young Saudi ruler. Prince Mohammed has denied knowing anything about the plot, even though people close to the crown prince were convicted by a Saudi court of taking part in murdering the journalist. Mr. Biden also publicly castigated Saudi Arabia over its protracted war in Yemen and cut off the flow of some weapons Riyadh could use to target Houthis. The president also reversed a move by his predecessor that put the Houthis on America’s official list of global terrorist groups, a move that Saudi leaders said had emboldened the Yemeni force and thwarted efforts to broker a cease-fire. On Monday, Ms. Psaki said the president stood by his view that Saudi Arabia should be treated like a “pariah” state and that the leadership had little redeeming social value. When asked in an interview with the Atlantic magazine released last week if Mr. Biden misunderstood the Saudi leader, Prince Mohammed responded: “Simply, I do not care.” Prince Mohammed said alienating the Saudi leaders would hurt the U.S. president. “It’s up to him to think about the interests of America,” he said. “Go for it.” One U.S. official acknowledged that Prince Mohammed is the key Saudi decision maker, and that the Biden administration will have to find ways to work with the crown prince on everything from energy policy to normalizing relations with Israel. Along with Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. has urged the U.S. to put the Houthis on its list of terrorist groups and to send more military aid to help defend the country from more attacks. But the U.S. hasn’t moved to address those Emirati concerns, according to Gulf officials. Last month, Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, flew to Abu Dhabi for a series of meetings with Emirati leaders to discuss ways to beef up security in the wake of the Houthi missile strikes. Gen. McKenzie wanted to meet with Sheikh Mohammed, but was unable to get time with the Emirati leader, according to a Middle East official. Last week, Yousef Al Otaiba, the U.A.E. ambassador to the U.S., said that relations between the two countries were strained. “It is like any relationship,” he said in Abu Dhabi. “It has strong days where the relationship is very healthy and days where the relationship is under question. Today, we’re going through a stress test, but I am confident that we will get out of it and get to a better place.” FTA - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the U.A.E.’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan both declined U.S. requests to speak to Mr. Biden in recent weeks, the officials said, as Saudi and Emirati officials have become more vocal in recent weeks in their criticism of American policy in the Gulf. There once was a time when a call by the US President was welcomed. Gee - And here I thought President Biden had all that "working with Foreign heads of state experience" over DJT.......and was going to potentially be able to secure us more oil since he kinda torpedoed our own oil drilling and pipeline access from Canada to the Gulf......Yeah, he's an idiot, but Again - at least he doesn't tweet mean stuff though. Yeah, let's go ask Venezuela for help.....That's the ticket.....

https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/united-states/kamala-harris-becoming-president-would-be-a-tragedy/video/f1424332d5208555867e048f0febb103 Former press secretary to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Iuliia Mendel, has criticised Kamala Harris for laughing following a question about Ukrainian refugees. In a now deleted Tweet, Ms Mendel wrote “it would be a tragedy if this woman won the presidency.” Yes, Ms. Mendel, there are a lot of us in the US that feel the same way. BUT - at least there are no mean tweets......

Again - it is SF's deeply held belief that President Biden won't last in his position past January 2023 for any number of reasons.......It was never the Democrat's intention, he's a puppet. We will have our first female President in 2023, who will (IMHO) choose Hillary as her VP.

Yeah - Nothing to see here......Keep moving along...... There's more to Ukraine than "Putin just wants it back". Yes he does want it to be part of Mother Russia again, but I also think he doesn't like the fact that he's not in control of the corruption anymore.....

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/watch-biden-called-out-for-racist-statement-about-three-representatives While speaking to U.S. military veterans and caregivers at Veterans Affairs facilities in Texas on Tuesday, President Joe Biden made a perplexing comment in reference to representatives joining him at the event. The president was joined by Texas Reps. Marc Veasey, Jake Ellzey, and Colin Allred to discuss environmental exposures that military servicemen and women experience. “The three congressmen you have here, two of them look like they really could and did play ball and the other one looks like he can bomb you,” Biden said. Prior to saying this, Biden spoke directly to Ellzey, who was sitting in the crowd. “Jake, you’re a fighter pilot. You get this stuff. I mean, you know what I mean. You can smile, Jake. It's OK. It’s OK,” Biden said as the crowd laughed. “Jake’s a Republican, but I like the hell out of him. He’s got — no, I’m serious. This guy’s the real deal.” Biden finished by adding that the three congressmen are “a tough group but a good group.” The video of his comment has been shared widely across social media, with many calling it racist “The context does not change the idiocy of Biden’s comment,” one Twitter user wrote. “Black guys make good ball players in Joe's racist view." “The three congressmen you have here, two of them look like they really could and did play ball and the other one looks like he can bomb you,” Biden said. 2 black guys and 1 white guy - ALL of media if Trump had said this.........

https://www.newsweek.com/us-biological-weapons-ukraine-labs-germ-warfare-1685956 As part of its latest attempts to justify its invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials are once again pushing a false narrative that the Eastern European country is developing biological weapons with the assistance of the U.S. On March 6, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed it had obtained evidence Ukraine and the U.S. had collaborated to develop biological weapons. The claim was made by Major General Igor Konashenkov and widely reported in Russian media. Konashenkov alleged that pathogens for deadly diseases such as the plague, anthrax and cholera were being created to be used for biological warfare in Ukrainian laboratories funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. Has anyone seen the Great and Powerful Dr. Fauci? Guessing he would be a great guy to ask about this.......Everyone trusts him right? Wait, did he get suicided yet? Maybe that's where he disappeared to.....

As SF sits and contemplates the current situation in Ukraine now 2 weeks in, I'm starting to realize, Zelinsky must have the goods on Putin, and whoever else in the US is or was involved in the ongoing corruption in Ukraine and has let them know (potentially - with my tin foil hat on here) he will release all the information he can on them all if he is killed.......The only reason I could come up with for why Putin hasn't blown him to bits so far...... As I stated before, he should have finished the job he started in 2014 back then instead of relying on Hillary winning the 2016 election and not being a problem for him...... But what do I know......

There's a real reason Putin didn't continue into Ukraine after "annexing" Crimea in 2014. Hillary didn't win the 2016 election......Had to wait an extra 4 years......

Thanks for the explanation. The ???? was "I really don't know".

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10587073/Harris-pushes-green-energy-Americans-face-record-gas-prices.html Kamala Harris say it is time to make a 'transition' to green energy as she pushes electric cars and 'clean transit' with Pete Buttigieg while Americans face record gas prices Biden administration pushing transition to green energy and electric cars 'We are all in the midst of a turning point. We have the technologies to transition to a zero emission fleet,' Vice President Kamala Harris said Announcement comes as AAA reported Sunday that the national average for a gallon of gas hit $4.009 -- the highest since 2008 White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Biden is doing ‘everything he can to reduce the impact’ of gas prices on the American people She blamed high prices on Putin and snapped at Fox News' Peter Doocy for asking her why the federal government wasn't doing more The Cackler in Chief is back - And here we go again.....

https://wsbt.com/news/local/breaking-former-jimtown-teacher-charged-with-criminal-misdemeanor Charges filed - Released on bond. ????

Copied: Hard to swallow reality pill: A lot of what Russia has claimed against Ukraine in Donbas is true. Putin has also exaggerated those claims to weaponize propaganda against Ukraine by creating a neo-Nazi boogeyman (Nazis are a very real problem in the Donbas war, but not Ukraine at large). Ukraine has done the same. Both sides are dirty as hell in this. **People who voted for a vegetable instead of an effective leader provided Putin an opportunity to finally reunify Russia, Ukraine, and Little Russia. He took it. Most of Ukraine is a tolerant and diversified country. Struggling to come out of the darkness of Poroshenko's corruption. They deserve to have independence from Russia but their leaders and the world have failed them. If a country has traitorous information on you and your family and you are in a powerful position. How would you make sure that evidence NEVER got out and proven?

I guess everyone forgets that Ukraine (at one time) was the go to place for corrupt money laundering and even more corrupt business deals for the US and Russia......Until Zelensky became President..... Russia wants it back.....and so do the US politicians that have benefitted for decades because of it's lawless existence....

Wondering where the Uranians are from actually....... Uranus?

So just a thought.....If (due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine that triggered the "severe" sanctions from the US and it's allies) the Russian Ruble is hitting rock bottom (.013 on Feb 7 to .0085 today) https://www.x-rates.com/graph/?from=RUB&to=USD&amount=1 and the US along with the rest of Europe is still buying oil from Russia, shouldn't we all be getting a serious deal on oil prices right now? Yet, crude is over $113/barrel today......Sooooo, who's making some serious coin right now? And SF is noticing we all are no longer paying attention to the Bidens/Clintons/Putins interests in Ukraine that was actually being investigated, while Vlad is moving in and will most likely destroy (or capture) any and all evidence of improper involvement from the US political establishment........In other words, Putin will own the US political left wing for quite a while coming.......Wonder if he will get suicided sooner or later...... Just some SF ramblings......

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10571705/Shocking-moment-high-school-teacher-slaps-student-face.html Shocking moment former Teacher of the Year chases student down a hallway and SLAPS him across his face 'for wearing a hoodie to class': Teacher was allowed to take early retirement Jimtown High School teacher Mike Hosinski was fired is seen on video slapping at student in the hallway at school on Friday Hosinski confronted the student about a hoodie he was wearing Hosinski slaps the student in the face so hard that the student's head hits a wall The student suffered visible injuries and was treated by medical staff The Baugo Community School Board decided on Monday to allow Hosinski to take an early retirement and retain his full pension Parents and students backed Hosinski Indiana Department of Child Services and the Elkhart County Sheriff's Office are investigating the incident https://www.abc57.com/news/parents-and-students-show-their-support-of-jimtown-teacher-who-slapped-student https://www.953mnc.com/2022/02/28/several-jimtown-students-walk-out-monday-in-support-of-teacher/ https://www.southbendtribune.com/story/news/local/2022/02/28/teacher-striking-student-video-leaves-jimtown-baugo-community-schools/6972930001/ SF was incredibly shocked to see this video. Now even more shocked that it made International news, not just a blurb on the US MSM. Unfortunately, the incident has been misrepresented that it was the improper wearing of a hoodie that caused it. Knowing what I know about the incident from a reliable source in the school district with direct knowledge, this kid who has a long history of trouble including multiple suspensions from just about all the schools in E.C. had just been very disruptive during class, using extremely foul language in this classroom and was ordered to report to the Principal's office had just verbally assaulted a student threatening her with rape in a graphic manner. Apparently this caused the teacher Mr. Hosinski a 40 year veteran to lose it and the result was caught on video. I can't condone what he did, since it is clearly against the rules and frankly dangerous, but I have to think "the kid had it coming". If I were the threatened girl's parents, I would be throwing an extravagant retirement party for the teacher. Based on the reaction(s) of the students, other staff and parents that know the real story, I think I'm right. I just hope the kid maybe got some sense knocked into his thick skull, but I don't hold much hope given his past and his parent's reaction.

Just when I thought the current POTUS couldn't be any stupider........Lest anyone forgets Biden's original "SOB" moment in Ukraine in 2014 as VP...... https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110331/documents/HMKP-116-JU00-20191211-SD067.pdf https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10570649/Biden-repeats-attack-isolated-Putin.html Biden falsely suggests Capitol rioters killed FIVE cops as he says Putin's actions were inspired by January 6 because Russian president thought he could divide the West