Tag: natural resources

US troops return to oil-rich Kirkuk despite talks to withdraw from Iraq

Troops from the US-led international coalition have returned to the K-1 military base in the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk for the first time since 2020, The New Arab (TNA) reported on 6 August.

An informed Kurdish source told TNA, “The force, comprising about 40 soldiers and 10 to 15 US-made armored Hummer vehicles, was sent from Erbil and deployed at the K-1 military base.”

The US-led coalition did not respond to requests for comment.

The reason for the new US deployment of troops to Kirkuk after four years is unclear.

The source suggested that it may be a response to increased ISIS activities in the disputed province, which leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) have long wished to annex to the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (IKR).

Another source, also speaking on condition of secrecy, told TNA that ISIS has recently resumed its insurgency in and around the Diyala province in eastern Iraq.

The Iraqi armed forces have increased security along the country’s western border with Syria following the release of hundreds of ISIS fighters from prison camps controlled by the US-backed and Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

In mid-July, authorities from the SDF-controlled Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) issued a general amnesty that has so far secured the release of over 1,500 Syrian ISIS fighters convicted of terrorism-related offenses, provided they “did not participate directly in combat” against the SDF.

Informed Iraqi sources speaking with The Cradle stated the US military ordered the release of the ISIS prisoners.

The US-backed SDF holds thousands of ISIS fighters and their family members in around two dozen prison camps in occupied northeast Syria. These include 2,000 foreigners whose home countries have refused to repatriate them.

The deployment of US and coalition troops to Kirkuk follows the Iraqi government’s signing on 1 August of a deal with UK oil giant BP to develop oil and gas fields in Kirkuk. 

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Global Instability and the Rise of the “Great Resource Grab”

In the past three years China has accelerated export agreements and industrial operations in Africa, becoming the continent’s largest bilateral trade partner. Given Africa’s complete lack of development and GDP, the Asian rush to cement economic ties might seem strange. However, I would argue that China is adapting to events that haven’t quite happened yet.

I’m referring to a major global shift away from interdependent markets (i.e. traditional globalism) into a chaotic period of trade “protectionism”. I’m talking about the end of the current model of export-based nations supplying goods to the west in exchange for advantageous trade deficits and access to dollars. This will be the era of what I call the “Great Resource Grab.”

I believe China is positioning itself for this era, perhaps out of desperation due to the disastrous economic decline they are currently trying to hide from the rest of the world, or maybe the CCP has been given a warning from globalist interests (China’s government has been exceedingly supportive of the IMF’s one-world digital currency push, and it makes sense that globalists would give them vital information on future disasters in exchange).

Why Africa? Because of the lack of modern development, Africa is a vast land mass loaded with untapped natural resources. China is importing billions in raw materials including vital metals from Africa and they are trying to establish infrastructure to increase the extraction of these commodities. If you’re familiar with China’s rotting domestic conditions, then you understand what is happening here – China has hollowed out their own country and they must spread into other regions to survive.

To be sure, Africa is not the only place in which the Chinese are quietly setting up camp. There are diplomatic agreements with Russia that have given them access to farm land in the north, and the Chinese have even been buying up farmland in the US (nearly 400,000 acres according to official reports). In America, anyone that questions this trend is immediately accused of “conspiracy theory” and I would argue this tells us A LOT about what is really happening.

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“NATO’s LIES ON MEDITERRANEAN WARS FOR GAS”. Exclusive Interview to Former Interpol EU Officer

Never before have the words that master Geppetto, a psychoanalyst ante litteram, addressed to his puppet been so timely. Lies that have effects on the mind, on the body, on relationships with others, on relationships between states.

How many conflicts – Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq – began thanks to artfully packaged lies, conflicts that continue even today with the sole purpose of plundering the energy resources of countries that have them in abundance and which Europe, but not only, desperately needs, with the complicity of the energy lobbies.

A Review of Lies Illustrated by Former Interpol Official in Jordan

The proof of these lies is found in the book “Mediterraneo. Same blood, same mud”, written by Antonio Evangelista and illustrated to Gospa News in an exclusive interview

“ is a bit of a review of the lies that have been told about the conflicts in the Balkans, in Libya, in Syria, lies that have now been verified with official sources, interviews with American officials, UN and embassy documents or secret documents that have now been declassified, like the Canadian ones, where we read a different story compared to what was the narrative of the time.”

This is according to author Antonio Evangelista , a former police director, who also served in the United Nations international police, and in Interpol as attaché at the Italian embassy in Amman, Jordan, dealing with war crimes, terrorism and Balkan mafia.

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US Senator Says Ukraine Is ‘Gold Mine’ with $12 Trillion of Minerals ‘We Can’t Afford to Lose’

Aprominent US lawmaker has referred to Ukraine as a “gold mine”, insisting the West must maintain access to its estimated $12 trillion worth of critical minerals.

US Senator Lindsey Graham made these comments in a June 10 interview on the CBS program “Face the Nation”.

“They’re sitting on $10 to $12 trillion of critical minerals in Ukraine”, Graham said.

“They could be the richest country in all of Europe. I don’t want to give that money and those assets to Putin to share with China”, he added.

Graham, a Republican, recalled that, when Donald Trump was president, he sent Ukraine military aid in the form of loans.

The senator strongly implied that Ukraine should pay the West for weapons shipments with its large mineral reserves.

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Lindsey Graham on the Real Reason Behind Ukraine

What happened to the story that “Putin attacked Ukraine unprovoked, and Ukraine was just defending itself, etc”? Now, suddenly, the problem is the natural resources in Donbas, not Ukraine itself. The first victim in war is always the truth. These people have NEVER told the truth about any war EVER!!!!!!

I have stated before that there is a huge natural gas reserve under Crimea. All the Neocons are doing is constantly trying to conquer Russia and bankrupt it so they can invade, and it has been the same scenario constantly. Obama wanted to invade Syria, and Putin came to their aid. This was all about a pipeline they wanted to put through Syria to cut off Russian energy sales to Europe. The Neocons orchestrated the blowing up of Nord Stream. That undermined Germany and Europe – but as Victoria Nuland famously said, “Fuck the EU.”

The question of Palestinian reserves was confirmed back in 2019. I covered the gas reserves in Syria’s occupied Golan Heights in 2017 involving Genie Oil. Obama wanted to invade Syria all for pipelines. What the press reports never connects the dots. Obama was pushing for a pipeline through Syria to stop Russia from supplying energy to Europe. This has been a war against Russia for decades.

The Neocons after blowing up Nord Stream, promised to pay for a pipeline from Nigeria to Europe. When the Niger coup took place, that is why Victoria Nuland was on a plane to Niger. US taxpayers fund the Neocon dreams of war. We blow up Nord Stream and then pay for a pipeline from Nigeria.  The deal with Nigeria was that they had to be the first Digital Currency guinea pig, and the US taxpayer would fund a pipeline from them to Europe to cut off energy sales from Russia.

Now, Lindsey Graham has come out and admitted that the “resources” under Crimea are worth $10 to $12 trillion, and this is again to stop Russia from gaining that natural gas.

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New York Stock Exchange Abandons Plan To Control America’s Natural Resources

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Jan. 17 withdrew its proposal to establish and list Natural Asset Companies (NAC), which would pool investors’ money from around the world to buy controlling rights to public and private land throughout the United States.

The NACs would, according to filing documents, manage the lands solely for the purpose of “sustainability.” Critics of the plan charged that wealthy investors and foreign entities would be able to use these vehicles to make decisions to allow or block the public from accessing the publicly owned land that is designated for uses such as hunting, fishing, drilling, mining, hiking, and logging. 

While some conservation groups and global warming activists had supported the initiative as a way to protect natural resources, many land-rights activists applauded its demise and questioned whether wealthy investors would be better stewards of America’s land. 

“Today’s withdrawal is a major victory for Americans,” Margaret Byfield, executive director of American Stewards of Liberty, a land-rights organization, told The Epoch Times.

“Very few people understand how close we were to losing control of our property and natural resources through this diabolical NAC scam.” 

The creation of NACs was the initiative of an organization called the Intrinsic Exchange Group (IEG), which was created with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and other unnamed investors. IEG entered into a partnership with the NYSE, where the NYSE bought a stake in IEG.

The two organizations collaborated to set up NACs, which would have been financed and traded on the exchange, while licensing IEG’s proprietary software for valuation and reporting according to guidelines based in the U.N. environmental accounting standards. Because this was a nonstandard type of company, which wouldn’t earn profits for investors in the way that other companies do, nor would it use GAAP accounting to value its assets, the NYSE applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to grant an exception to its existing rules of operation. 

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Protectionism Ruined U.S. Steel

Few people, and even fewer senators, would blink an eye at the news that the 690th most valuable company in the United States was being sold.

Unless, as is the case, that company happened to be named “U.S. Steel.”

In response to last month’s news that U.S. Steel would be purchased by Japan-based Nippon Steel, a bipartisan group of senators—including Sherrod Brown (D–Ohio), John Fetterman (D–Penn.), Josh Hawley (R–Mo.), Marco Rubio (R–Fla.), and J.D. Vance (R–Ohio)—have condemned the decision. The three Republicans have gone a step further by formally asking the Biden administration to block the deal because it represents a supposed threat to national security. As a political matter, the reactions to the sale of U.S. Steel have served as a nice reminder that the impulse to intervene in the private affairs of publicly traded companies runs across both major parties.

As a matter of economic policy, however, those senators have completely missed the point. More government intervention is not going to save U.S. Steel. Indeed, decades of protectionist policies seem to have contributed to its downfall.

“Arguably, US Steel has been a disappointment since the day it was formed,” writes Brian Potter, a senior infrastructure fellow at the Institute for Progress, in his Construction Physics Substack newsletter. “The company’s large size made it unwieldy to manage, and it was late to every major advance in steelmaking technology of the last 100 years, from continuous rolling to the basic oxygen furnace to the minimill….As far as I can tell, no major steelmaking technology over the last century came out of US Steel.”

Though U.S. Steel enjoyed global dominance in the aftermath of World War II, in no small part because the war had wrecked large portions of Europe’s and Japan’s industrial bases, it was already on the decline by the 1960s and early 1970s. After Nippon—the company now poised to buy out what remains of U.S. Steel—surpassed it as the world’s largest steel company in 1971, U.S. Steel responded “not by trying to improve their operations, but by demanding government protection from ‘unfair’ foreign trade practices,” writes Potter.

Thus began a 50-plus-year effort by the federal government to prop up U.S. Steel. Those interventions have taken many forms, including “hundreds of import restrictions; tens of billions of dollars in state, local and federal subsidies and bailouts; exemptions from environmental regulations; special ‘Buy American’ rules just for integrated steelmakers like U.S. Steel; and federal pension benefit guarantees,” wrote Scott Lincicome, vice president of the Cato Institute’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies, in a 2021 rundown on how protectionism had failed American steel companies and their employees. Even before President Donald Trump slapped 25 percent tariffs on nearly all imported steel, about half of all anti-dumping tariffs imposed by the federal government were aimed at various types of foreign-made steel, according to Lincicome.

What has all that government aid done for U.S. Steel? Today, the company makes about one-third as much steel as it did in the mid-1950s and employs about 10 percent as many people as it did during its heyday. U.S. Steel was dropped from the S&P 500 in 2014 and ranked as the 690th most valuable company based in the United States before the Nippon purchase was announced. As Potter notes, that means U.S. Steel ranks behind the Texas Roadhouse steakhouse restaurant chain and employs around the same number of people as Chewy, the online pet care delivery service.

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US Military Conducting Flight Operations in Guyana Amid Venezuela Tensions

The US military said Thursday that it would conduct flight operations in Guyana amid tensions between the Caribbean nation and its neighbor Venezuela over the disputed Guayana Esequiba region.

Guayana Esequiba is an oil-rich region that makes up about two-thirds of the territory of the state of Guyana, which gained independence from Britain in 1966. In 1899, an American-British tribunal ruled that the territory belonged to the UK, a position that was rejected by Venezuela.

Venezuela, the UK, and then-British Guiana reached a new agreement in 1966, known as the Geneva Agreement, to reach a mutually satisfactory solution to the dispute. The International Court of Justice opened a case into the dispute in 2018, but a decision is still expected to be years away.

Tensions have risen in recent years over the dispute as more oil discoveries in Guayana Esequiba continue to be made. The American energy giant ExxonMobil discovered massive oil reserves off the coast of Guyana in waters claimed by Venezuela and has been involved in a major offshore drilling project.

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Beware the SEC’s Creation of ‘Natural Asset’ Companies

To anyone who tracks the efforts of environmentalists, their policies often have an ulterior motive. They neither result in a better society nor do they produce better habitats. Their policy preferences also do not consider how using the land improves the land for man and wildlife. Instead, many environmentalists advocate for policies at the expense of farmers, miners, and others who create usable, tangible, societal benefits from the land. This often leaves observers to wonder: what are environmentalists really after?

The answer is power and money. It turns out, that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) are quietly working on a rule that may prove this ulterior motive.

On September 29, the SEC, at the request of the NYSE, proposed a rule that would create an entirely new type of company called a Natural Asset Company (NAC). NACs, according to the Proposed Rule, “hold the rights to ecological performance.” These companies would be given license to control lands, both public and private, and would be required not to conduct any “unsustainable activities, such as mining, that lead to the degradation of the ecosystems.”  In effect, this means that these companies would somehow seek to profit off the lands without using the lands. Whatever they do, it must be “sustainable.”

How might a company make control of land profitable while also not using the land? The method is admittedly confusing, perhaps intentionally. They profit from “ecological performance” such as “conservation, restoration, or sustainable management.” These NACs would quantify and monetize these natural outputs (such as air or water). The best comparison would be using the air we breathe as a cryptocurrency of sorts. And, these natural assets that collectively belong to all of us would now belong to corporations run by what many would call environmental special interests.

Another feature of these new companies is that the land belonging to sovereign nations and private landowners alike can be subject to the control of NACs. Sovereign nations, such as the United States Government, can provide their lands to private investors, including those outside the United States. China, for example, may be able to invest in an NAC and effectively be a stakeholder in our national parks. Russia could assume control of lands currently leased to produce oil and place them off limits for future natural resource development.

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These Are The Top Middle East Exports By Country

The Middle East is widely recognized for its significant role in the global energy market. However, countries in the region also foster other substantial industries, including metals, chemicals, and agriculture.

Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte and Sabrina Lam created the graphic below, using 2021 exports data from The Observatory of Economic Complexity, to help explain the economy of the Middle East.

In 2021, the Middle East’s exports reached a total value of $1.27 trillion. While the region lags behind Asia, Europe, and North America in global exports, it outpaces Africa and South America.

Despite many countries undertaking efforts to diversify their economies and reduce their oil dependence, most of the exports still come from fossil fuels.

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