From MTN / Yahoo!News:
"Trump’s Putin Diesel Deal Has a Dirty Little Secret
Donald Trump has reopened the U.S. market to Vladimir Putin's diesel, promising Russian fuel sales while energy analysts warn the deal is unlikely to provide the price relief the White House is selling...
The arrangement reverses years of U.S. policy aimed at cutting off Moscow's energy revenue after its invasion of Ukraine. Congress enacted the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act in April 2022, prohibiting imports of Russian petroleum products unless a president completed a statutory process to end that prohibition...
The Trump regime has offered consumers a geopolitical reversal wrapped in a price-cutting promise. The price-cutting part like will not materialize. But Putin will be laughing all the way to the bank...
The First Tanker Shows This Was No Last-Minute Fix
A tanker identified as the MINERVA ZEN was already nearing the U.S. East Coast as Trump publicly announced the agreement. The vessel left St. Petersburg on September 22, according to shipping-tracking accounts cited by Ukrainian outlet UNN — more than two weeks before Trump's October 9 announcement.
The Coast Guard's active certificate-of-financial-responsibility report identifies MINERVA ZEN, IMO No. 9410909, as a tanker covered through March 2027.
The timing does not establish when Trump and Putin reached their agreement. It does establish that fuel described as the first Russian diesel delivery was already in transit before Trump told Americans he had struck the deal.
Trump administration officials have linked the move directly to Ukraine's refinery strikes. A U.S. official told Axios that Trump made the diesel arrangement after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected repeated U.S. requests to stop attacking Russian oil facilities.
Zelenskyy has made clear that oil-product exports remain central to Russia's capacity to sustain its war. In a call Saturday with Finnish President Alexander Stubb, he urged partners to limit the revenue Russia receives from those exports.
Trump's deal moves in the opposite direction. It creates a new opening for Russian diesel at the moment Kyiv is trying to deny Moscow the money generated by Russian energy.
Republicans Called Russian Oil Purchases Putin's War Chest
The reversal is especially stark against the position Republicans promoted when Russia launched its full-scale assault on Ukraine. On March 8, 2022, then-Sen. Marco Rubio wrote: "Stop importing Russian oil. Start producing more American oil again. That's the plan."
That same year, Congress moved to bar Russian energy imports because lawmakers understood the basic equation: Russian petroleum sales provide revenue to a government waging war on Ukraine. The law covered crude oil, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas, and coal.
Senate Republicans were still making that case this summer. In July, Republican and Democratic senators backed legislation targeting major purchasers of Russian oil and gas, declaring that Russia relies on energy revenue to fund its war and that those enabling it should be held accountable.
Now Trump is not targeting purchasers of Russian energy. He is bringing Russian diesel back into the American market.
Europe is moving the other way. The European Union has continued to target Russian energy revenue, Moscow's military-industrial base, and networks supporting hybrid attacks against Europe.
Kaja Kallas — the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and a vice president of the European Commission — has led that effort. Her portfolio includes coordinating the EU's foreign and security policy and sustaining support for Ukraine.
Trump has chosen a different path: lower the pressure on Putin, blame Zelenskyy for refinery strikes, and present Russian fuel as an American economic victory.
What Trump Actually Put on the Table
Trump did not announce a domestic production plan. He announced an arrangement with the dictator whose energy exports Congress spent years trying to choke off.
The administration claims the deal will help consumers. But analysts have already warned that rerouting Russian diesel will do little to change the market, while Ukraine says the sales give Moscow revenue it can use to prolong the war.
That is the trade Trump is making. Americans may see little relief. Putin gets a new customer...
But the timing is the point. Trump unveiled the deal less than a month before Election Day, when diesel prices had become a political liability and his own emergency fuel measures had failed to calm the market.
The United States once barred Russian petroleum products to cut off money for Putin's war. Trump is now offering Moscow access to American buyers in the name of lowering prices.
Truckers and farmers still face high diesel costs. Ukrainians still face Russian attacks. Putin gets the revenue stream."
No comments:
Post a Comment