Let’s see: because Brandon spiked lots of new domestic production, the U.S. is buying around 600K barrels of oil from Russia, and working on a plan to get more from Iran. And now
???? ???? scoops -> President Biden’s advisers are discussing a possible visit to Saudi Arabia this spring to help repair relations and convince the Kingdom to pump more oil, Axios has learned. https://t.co/Xfzl57agv8
— Jim VandeHei (@JimVandeHei) March 6, 2022
From the link
President Biden’s advisers are discussing a possible visit to Saudi Arabia this spring to help repair relations and convince the Kingdom to pump more oil, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: A hat-in-hand trip would illustrate the gravity of the global energy crisis driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Biden has chastised Saudi Arabia, and the CIA believes its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was involved in the dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. (snip)
Zoom in: Bin Salman isn’t making it easier on Biden to repair their relations.
He appeared to go out of his way to aggravate the White House during an interview with the Atlantic published last week.
Between the lines: Sanctions against Russia’s oil exports — including a possible ban on importing Russian oil into the U.S. — would both elevate worldwide gas prices and stoke domestic inflation.
If this happens, the Saudi’s are going to make Joe beg. And
(CBS News) Senior American officials are in Venezuela this weekend to meet with the government of Nicolás Maduro, whose authoritarian rule of the oil-producing country has meant no formal diplomatic relations between the two countries since 2019.
News of the trip was first reported by The New York Times. That report prompted Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committees and a vocal critic of the Maduro regime, to criticize the trip.
“Joe Biden using #Russia as an excuse to do the deal they always wanted to do anyway with the #MaduroRegime,” Rubio tweeted Sunday morning. “Rather than produce more American oil he wants to replace the oil we buy from one murderous dictator with oil from another murderous dictator.”
Why don’t we just do like Rubio, and pretty much every sane thinking person, thinks, and produce our own? Oh, and remember this?
Human rights should be at the core of our engagement with the world–not the periphery. As president, Joe Biden will hold accountable Saudi Arabia, China, and every nation that violates the human rights of their citizens. #DemDebate
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 21, 2019
Read: Biden Plans On Approaching Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, To Pump More Oil »