Walid Shoebat Former Muslim Brotherhood
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Egyptian Official ties Obama’s Brother to Brotherhood
By Shoebat Foundation on August 19, 2013 in Blog, General
Egyptian government and mainstream media has reported a major development regarding the role of Barack Obama’s brother (presumably, his half-brother Malik Obama) with the Muslim Brotherhood. As we have reported before, Malik is a member of the Islamic Da’wa Organization (IDO), an arm of the Sudanese government, which is led by President Omar al-Bashir, who is himself a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
These facts would lend credibility to the following claims from Egypt. It is also important to note that August 25th is a very key date in Egypt; it is when imprisoned Muslim Brotherhood leaders go on trial there.
The former Chancellor of the Constitutional Court of Egypt and current adviser, Tahani Al-Jebali stated that the reason the United States cannot fight the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood is because the brother of U.S. President Barack Obama is the architect of the investments for the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood. http://shoebat.com/wp-content/upload..._Al-Jebali.jpgTahani Al-Jebali: Obama’s brother a Muslim Brotherhood investment architect
Jebali stated she would like…
“…to inform the American people that their president’s brother Obama is one of the architects of the major investments of the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
She added…
“We will carry out the law and the Americans will not stop us. We need to open the files and begin court sessions. The Obama administration cannot stop us; they know that they supported terrorism. We will open the files so these nations are exposed, to show how they collaborated with them [the terrorists]. It is for this reason why the American administration fights us.”
Here is video of Jebali explaining this, via Youm 7:
Jebali also appeared on Egyptian television to explain how important this news is to Americans who are concerned about their President’s actions, saying it “is a gift to the American people”, implying there is much more to come:
She noted that the cost to Egypt has been great and that her country will not allow any conspiracy against its people, the Egyptian state or any one of the members of the Security Council. Leading Egypt to Chapter 7 is unacceptable and would plunge her country into a dire state similar to that which exists in Iraq and Libya.
If these reports are correct, Turkey appears to play a central role in the conspiratorial nature of this activity and that Egypt has asserted to the international community that it will not tolerate such activity.
This information is reported by three very credible Arabic sources. [1][2][3]
Again, based on what we already know about Malik Obama’s affiliations, that he is a key player relative to international Muslim Brotherhood investments isn’t a shock at all.
See for yourself (again, our calls to Obama sycophant George Clooney have gone unanswered):
One person who may want to give very serious thought to singing like a canary is Lois Lerner. Her signature is at the bottom of Malik Obama’s tax-exempt approval letter. Lerner illegally granted Malik’s foundation retroactive tax exempt status, backdating it 38 months when the law prohibits doing so further back than 27 months.
On top of that, Malik may be tied to international Muslim Brotherhood investments?!
For more on Malik Obama, click here. **UPDATE on August 19, 2013 at 8:30pm EST** Al-Wafd, another prominent Arabic source is reporting similar news. Under the title, “Obama’s Brother is Muslim Brotherhood” and on Egypt’s National Television, (Tahani Al-Jebali) stated:
“There are many reasons why the United States does not take a strong stand against the Muslim Brotherhood.”
One such reason, which she says is a gift to the American people, is that Obama’s brother is a major operative with the Muslim Brotherhood in that he is the conduit for funneling monies for the organization.
She also added…
“Documents from the Egyptian national security must be brought into the light in order to confirm that this international organization (Muslim Brotherhood) shows exchanges with the CIA so as to reach the power center of (Egypt).”
Just a heads up Avvakum, Sorcha Faal/David Booth is NOT a reliable source.
It is HIGHLY recommended to verify anything you see posted by her/him with known reliable sources.
Is what ive recently posted better, lol?
I don't like Sorcha Faal, just her/his/it's links.
March 25th, 2014, 03:45
Ryan Ruck
Re: World War Three Thread....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Avvakum
Is what ive recently posted better, lol?
I don't like Sorcha Faal, just her/his/it's links.
Yeah, other stuff looks just fine.
I just want to make sure readers of the site realize what sources info is coming from. I generally prefer to avoid having unreliable sites like Alex Jone's, Hal Turner's, and Faal's/Booth's posted here so as to not "taint" our site. Despite the abundance of evidence to the contrary, there are still a lot of people out there that think a Trans-Asian Axis is nothing more than a conspiracy theory and I like to do everything I can to avoid giving naysayers ammo to lump us in with actual conspiracy nuts.
If you can't source info from reliable sites and have to post it from a source like Faal/Booth, just make sure it has a prominent caveat noting that they are an unreliable source.
March 25th, 2014, 12:59
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
The Trans-asian axis isn't a conspiracy theory, it's a true conspiracy against Western Civilization and Capitalism.
March 25th, 2014, 13:31
Ryan Ruck
Re: World War Three Thread....
Yep. But there are plenty of people, even on the right, who have their head in the sand about it.
March 26th, 2014, 00:34
Avvakum
Re: World War Three Thread....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryan Ruck
Yep. But there are plenty of people, even on the right, who have their head in the sand about it.
Well, I 'd say that while I do believe in a 'Trans-Asian Axis' and have for some time, I also believe that the particular membership in the Axis is not necessarily what say, Yosef Bodansky might believe it is. I myself differ from others as to where this Axis comes from, it's membership, and it's aims. I think most conservative Americans see North Korea as part of an Axis, along with a number of Islamic nations, and definitely see China as a would-be world Hegemon, so we're already halfway there in convincing people that there is an actual long term strategy behind this alliance we describe.
And as to the 'Sorcha Faal' sourcing, I can accept and agree with that Ryan.
March 29th, 2014, 01:19
Avvakum
Re: World War Three Thread....
The Master must confer with his Servant;
Obama seeks to reassure Saudi Arabia over Iran, Syria
RIYADH (Reuters) - President Barack Obama sought to reassure Saudi King Abdullah on Friday that he would support moderate Syrian rebels and reject a bad nuclear deal with Iran, during a visit designed to allay the kingdom's concerns that its decades-old U.S. alliance had frayed.
Flying by helicopter to the king's desert camp, Obama underscored the importance of Washington's relationship with the world's largest oil exporter in a two-hour meeting that focused on the Middle East but did not touch on energy or human rights.
Last year senior Saudi officials warned of a "major shift" away from the United States after bitter disagreements over its response to the "Arab spring" uprisings, efforts to negotiate with Iran, and Washington's decision not to intervene militarily in Syria, where Riyadh wants more American support for rebels. While the two leaders discussed "tactical differences", they both agreed their strategic interests were aligned, a U.S. official told reporters after the meeting.
"I think it was important to have the chance to come look him (King Abdullah) in the eye and explain how determined the president is to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon," the official said. View gallery http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/TP...BAMA-SAUDI.JPG
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and U.S. President Barack Obama are greeted upon their arriva …
The meeting was a chance to assure the king that "we won't accept a bad deal and that the focus on the nuclear issue doesn't mean we are not concerned about, or very much focused on, Iran's other destabilizing activities in the region."
The leaders had a full discussion about Syria, where a three-year-old civil war has killed an estimated 140,000 people and uprooted millions.
Overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia is backing the insurgents in their battle to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is supported by Riyadh's rival, Shi'ite power Iran.
The official said both countries shared the objective of a political transition in Syria and supporting moderate opposition to Assad. Riyadh has long differed from Washington about Obama's reluctance to supply rebels with surface-to-air missiles, sometimes known as MANPADS.
The Washington Post reported on Friday that the United States was ready to increase covert aid to Syrian rebels under a new plan that included training efforts by the CIA, and was considering supplying MANPADS.
The White House has not closed the door to the possibility of such a move in the future, but officials said U.S. qualms about providing those weapons to rebels had not changed.
"We have made clear that there are certain types of weapons, including MANPADS, that could pose a proliferation risk if introduced into Syria," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters on Air Force One during Obama's flight from Rome to Riyadh. "We continue to have those concerns."
REASSURANCE
Saudi officials made no immediate comment on the meeting but Saudi state media said the talks were focused on Middle East peace efforts and the Syrian crisis. View gallery http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Bb...BAMA-SAUDI.JPG
Marine helicopters bring U.S. President Barack Obama and his delegation for a meeting with Saudi Kin …
The elderly king, accompanied by a number of senior princes, had what appeared to be an oxygen tube connected to his nose at the start of the meeting at his desert farm at Rawdat Khuraim northeast of the capital Riyadh.
Saudi state television showed Obama, accompanied by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Adviser Susan Rice, listening attentively while King Abdullah spoke, gesticulating with both hands as he made a point.
While Saudi Arabia supplies less petroleum to the United States than in the past, safeguarding its energy output remains important to Washington, as does its cooperation in combating al Qaeda.
The Saudis, meanwhile, want more reassurance on American intentions regarding talks over Iran's nuclear program, which could lead to a deal that lifts sanctions on Tehran in exchange for concessions on its atomic facilities.
Riyadh fears such a deal could come at the expense of Sunni Arabs in the Middle East, some of whom fear that Shi'ite Iran would take advantage of any reduction in international pressure to spread its influence by supporting co-religionists. View gallery http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/yj...BAMA-SAUDI.JPG
U.S. President Barack Obama is greeted upon his arrival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia March 28, 2014. Obam …
Major powers suspect Iran's nuclear program is aimed at developing a nuclear weapons capability. Tehran says its work is aimed only at generating electricity.
An editorial in the semi-official al-Riyadh newspaper on Friday said Obama does not know Iran as well as the Saudis do, and could not "convince us that Iran will be peaceful".
"Our security comes first and no one can argue with us about it," it concluded.
In the run-up to the visit, officials had said Obama would aim to persuade the monarch that Saudi concerns that Washington was slowly disengaging from the Middle East and no longer listening to its old ally were unfounded.
Contrary to Saudi preferences for Syria, Obama has shown himself wary of being drawn into another conflict in the Muslim world after working hard to end or reduce American military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. View gallery http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/W0...BAMA-SAUDI.JPG
U.S. and Saudi delegations sit opposite as U.S. President Barack Obama meets with King Abdullah at R …
BETTER COORDINATION, HUMAN RIGHTS
Rhodes said coordination with the kingdom on policies toward Syria, particularly on providing help to the Syrian rebels, had improved.
"That's part of the reason why I think our relationship with the Saudis is in a stronger place today than it was in the fall when we had some tactical differences about our Syria policy," he said. The Saudi king was accompanied in the talks by Crown Prince Salman, Prince Muqrin, who was named second-in-line to rule on Thursday, and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.
Powerful Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who recently met top U.S. officials in Washington to discuss Syria, was not present.
Also present was the new American ambassador in Riyadh, Joseph Westphal, whose appointment was confirmed by the Senate late on Wednesday, apparently in order to let him attend Friday's meeting.
U.S. officials said Obama had not had time to raise concerns about the kingdom's human rights record. They said Washington would continue to press Riyadh about its concerns, which include women's rights. Obama will award Dr. Maha Al-Muneef with the Secretary of State's International Woman of Courage Award in Riyadh on Saturday, the White House said.
(Additional reporting Lesley Wroughton and Angus McDowall in Riyadh and Sami Aboudi in Dubai; Editing by William Maclean and Ken Wills)
March 29th, 2014, 01:26
Avvakum
Re: World War Three Thread....
THE PARADIGM-SHATTERING IMPACTS OF CRIMEA’S LANDSLIDE VOTE
The ballots are in, and it’s a landslide, and no one is surprised, yet, western talking heads are predictably in denial.
If only we had these sort of democratic turnouts in the west: 83% voter turnout, with 97% of voters opting for a sovereign, independent Crimean state.Even the arch-globalist and darling of Davos himself, Mikhail Gorbachev, has endorsed the result, stating that it ‘corrects a mistake made long ago by Soviet Union’. From the horse’s mouth:
“Earlier Crimea was merged with Ukraine under Soviet laws, to be more exact by the [Communist] party’s laws, without asking the people, and now the people have decided to correct that mistake. This should be welcomed instead of declaring sanctions”.
The Anglo-American Neoliberal ’regime change’ paradigm so heavily relied upon by the US and its allies for corporate expansion - is in danger of becoming irrelevant. Everyone can can see it, unless you are in Washington, or working for a major media monster. Kiev’s initial extremist coup de tat was initiated and funded by the EU and Washington DC, but that game is over, and now Russia is dictating the pace of the geopolitical game, leaving the west in a dizzy game of catch-up, trying desperately to glue their new Neo-Nazi government in Kiev into place. In he end, Kiev gets good old home-grown Nazi-leaning fascists, while Crimea gets economic and political stability. Unfortunately for the bruisers in Kiev, sooner or later, they will have to talk to Moscow.
Now we’ve got all that freedom and democracy out of the way, it’s time to face up to the real play here – it’s all about energy. Whoever can carve out their share of this pie will have the cloud necessary to call the geopolitical economic shots in this all-important Eurasian heartland.
But are our leaders and media in the west telling us the truth about the very important energy play? How can they, when they do not even know themselves…
March 17th, world stock exchanges from Moscow to New York and Frankfurt to Shanghai, all gave a whoop of joy at the symbolic-only prospect of European and American “hard hitting sanctions” being set against Russia for its ‘Crimean action’. The wait was over, the panic wasn’t needed, at least not yet, so jobbers, croupier-traders and sociopath hedge fund managers got back to doing the thing they know best of all. However…
How long it takes for the outdated geopolitical theories and rationales that bolstered the panic to crumble and then disappear, is another question. Mainstream press and media, eager to recycle Cold War-era scare stories, always backtracks to Russia’s energy grip on the Old Continent. Writing in the UK ‘Guardian’ (“Ukraine crisis is about Great Power Oil, Gas Pipeline Rivalry”), March 6th, mainstream analyst Nafeez Ahmed recycles the well-tried, well-worn theory of Putin acting against the Kiev self-proclaimed government, which was instantly recognized by Washington, London, Paris and other EU capitals, because Ukraine is a “critical energy transport corridor” that Russia wants to dominate by any means, including military invasion and an “illegal” referendum in Crimea.
This old theory says that Russia needs the Ukraine for its energy dominance, so the West and Russia have totally opposing goals, and this could mean war. So they say.
http://rt.com/files/news/nord-stream...-stream502.jpgThe first problem is the “Ukraine energy corridor theory” is a major exaggeration. Ukraine is a critical corridor country for gas supply to Europe, only. Oil has got almost nothing to do with it. Also, the gas pipeline transport role of Ukraine can only decline – and will decline, particularly as the Nord Stream (see image, left) and South Stream gas pipelines, which completely avoid Ukraine, are completed and ramped-up.
In addition LNG terminal financing and building, is now a fevered speculative boom spreading across Europe. Some countries including Poland and France intend to build enough LNG import capacity to cover their total gas needs, by or before 2017-2020. LNG supplies, almost by definition, will come from a large and increasing number of supplier countries, many of them “exotic” such as Mozambique and Australia (and Russia and the US, but in Russia’s case that is not so exotic).
Whether Crimea rejoins the Russian Federation – which it looks like it will (Russia has announced today its full recognition of the new Crimean Republic), or stays with Ukraine, has less and less real world leverage and hold on European energy.
The old geopolitical models and paradigms, which in any case were weak, are being superseded and replaced as we speak. Sadly, heirs Obama, Cameron, Kerry, Hague and the rest of the regime change sales team, will be the last to figure this out. Count on Germany to see the light first, because their mutual trade relationship with Russia is bigger and more substantial than any of the other big EU bully boys.
To be sure, Putin may have acted to force Ukraine to play the role of Russian energy subsidiary, but both the Ukraine and Russia have no other choice than to play those roles now, this is not the way western journalists want us to take it.
Long running gas price and gas debt disputes, unpaid bills between Russia and Ukraine – whatever its government, have been constant since Ukraine left the collapsed USSR in 1991. One key reason that ousted President Yanukovych was voted in by Ukrainians in 2010, and the blonde siren YuliaTymoshenko was voted out, was her extreme radical – and probably corrupt attempt to pay Russia a much higher price for domestic gas consumed by the Ukraine, partly repay gas debts, and for trading Russian-sourced gas in other EU markets. Talk about corruption in government. Her attempt using her own murky off-shore Swiss-based commodity trading and finance company, created to those ends with a few hand-picked Ukrainian oligarchs – was a total disaster, and Yanukovych largely profited politically from it.
The Multiple and Basic Faults of Dominant Theory
Today’s arguments coming out of Washington and London claim that despite appearances, or even reality, that: ‘The Ukraine’s energy transport corridor role is poised to expand. The country will become more strategic, not less. Its role will expand. Ukraine will link oil and natural gas reserves and production in the Black Sea and Caspian basins, with Europe’. The exact opposite is at least as likely, not because of the new political uncertainty, but because European gas will be transported and sourced from and through a number of other different countries – and on a much more accelerating basis.
The Russian energy dominance theory, and its subset of Ukraine’s critical transport corridor role was cobbled together during the Cold War era, and heavily used by Zbigniew Brzezkinski for his own political grandstanding. The theory seemed seductive to its writers, and Washington think tanks who were intoxicated by the sounds of their own speeches, but in reality, it is light years away from the real world situation and the powerful global energy trends happening today – which are really setting the future path.
In fact, if we take only gas pipelines serving Europe, the total quantity of lines from a few inches diameter (the industry uses inches for measuring) to 4 feet diameter, both public and private, both national and international is so huge it can only be estimated. One guess would be about 400,000 kilometres. Only the much-larger area United States has more, at about 450 000 kilometres. And the oversupply problem also concerns oil pipelines, you can be sure. Renovating and replacing, and simply keeping the lines operating and filled, is a major task.
To date, projected new east-west oil pipelines serving the EU states are almost absent. One reason is that Europe’s oil demand, like its gas demand is on a downward track that all analysts agree “has no light at the tunnel’s end”. This could or might change, but by 2005 in some EU states, long before the 2008 financial economic crisis – and since 2009 for the rest, their national oil and gas demand has been declining, every year for the straight majority of countries. This trend is called structural, by more and more analysts. In some cases their oil and gas needs, today, are back to 2000-2003 levels, and declining, making their existing energy transport infrastructures more than sufficient. Politicians tend to ignore these kind of fact because they are not being told them by their army of corporate lobbyists and their platoons of pale, sweaty ‘twenty-something’ policy hacks who generate creative writing assignments in the basements of think tanks.
When we look at electricity demand in EU28 countries, the “decline paradigm” has been operating since the late 1990s in an increasing number of countries.
One immediate result for oil is that European refining and oil transport capacity are both heavily surplus to needs. Analysts and sector specialists suggest at least 15%, even 20% of refinery capacity will have to be cut, trimmed, out-placed or shut down by 2020. Linked and associated oil pipelines, mostly local, will also have to go. Oil refining, in Europe, is a sunset industry heavily dependent on state subsidies in most countries and mostly unprofitable. Its needs for new pipelines is very low.
Transport infrastructures for oil supplied to European refineries are in surplus for another simple reason. The intensely developed “legacy network” of oil shipping routes and maritime installations including mostly seaboard refineries, throughout Europe and across SE Europe and west Central Asia, makes oil pipelines unattractive – we mean unnecessary – so the financial investment rationale for new European oil pipelines very, very weak.
Europe’s combined oil transport and refining capacities must fall – not increase. Put another way, why build new oil transport capacities with oil pipelines costing $7.5 million-per-kilometre?
Only the many projected – but few financed and built – new gas pipelines in the wide area spanning the Caspian, south and east Europe, and the MENA region are potential but small scale game changers. Apart from the Nord Stream and South Stream gas pipelines, building progress with new gas lines is however slow or very slow, in part because of the existing high level of “legacy infrastructures”.
The essential point is that Ukraine’s role in European oil transport is close to zero, and its role in European gas transport, although still significant, is declining. Massaging this reality into a major geopolitical crisis is at worst political grandstanding, and simple ignorance at best.
The Image of Scarcity
Also massaged into the media and worked to death by grandstanding politicians eager to appear clever to voters and to pick a fight with Russia (perhaps confusing it with Mali or Iraq), is the image of gas and oil scarcity. Like climate change and global warming, this favourite character role always gets a major stand-in these days. Some journalists have even claimed this scarcity was another reason former Ukraine leader Viktor Yanukovych rejected the EU association-partnership deal he was on the point of signing, in the days before he was overthrown by the Kiev Flash Mob.
Apart from Putin’s offer of a one-third (33%) cut in the extreme gas price that Yanukovych’s hapless predecessor Yulia Tymoshenko tried to force on Ukainians, and the $15 billion state debt repurchase offer by Moscow – his government also turned down US Chevron Corp’s and European Shell’s fuzzy-edge but claimed-as-enticing proposals to accelerate investment in shale gas and shale oil E&P (exploration & production) in Ukraine (now you can see who was really upset and could have stirred up this geopolitical brew).
The argument is that these proposals, if they ever became actual plans, could or might at some unspecified future date have included oil pipeline construction activity, with some of that in Ukraine, and able to bring new non-Russia gas and oil into “energy-starved” Europe. The proposals were backed by Washington and the EU, so when Yanukovych turned them down he was obviously acting to artificially maintain energy scarcity in Europe, to the benefit of Russia and Putin. That’s the narrative anyway.
In fact, hydrocarbons E&P is powering ahead in the region without any special needs for increased US or EU political support to energy corporate investment and activity.
Reported by media including the UK ‘Independent’ and energy sector ‘Offshore’ magazine, US Exxon and Russia’s Rosneft have made encouraging finds in Crimean and Russian offshore areas, while in the Romanian sector test drilling by Austria’s OMV found interesting deposits, so much so that the majors are bringing in the panoply of deepwater drilling technology. Other majors cited by the specialty press that are either already operating onshore and offshore in Ukraine and Crimea, or are considering near-term action, include Spanish, Chinese, French and Malaysian companies, among others. Canada’s Trans Euro Energy has already found commercial resources of natural gas on the Crimean mainland, underlining the distinct prospectivity and probable large gas and condensate potentials in Crimea.
Available public data only concerning Ukrainian and Crimean conventional onshore gas resources published by the IEA, EIA, CIA, European Commission, and energy majors indicate the country (or 2 countries) have around 1.25 trillion cubic metres of conventional gas – about 120 years of Ukraine’s national consumption. However, the country’s gas production peaked in 1975 and has declined ever since. Very basically, and impossible to be ignored (even by geopolitical “hawks”) this has nothing to do with resource scarcity or Ukraine “depending on Russian gas”. Ukraine profited from ultra-cheap Russian gas – and even forgot to pay for it!
Eastern Ukraine’s giant Donbas coal field is estimated by many analysts as holding very impressive quantities of coalbed methane, with published outline estimates from the US EIA and other sources extending well above 1 trillion cubic metres. The coal field is also deep, due to depletion, incurring high coal production costs and methane or coal dust explosion danger for miners, making coalbed methane extraction, instead of physical coal, the logical future path. Onshore shale gas potentials in the region, including Ukraine and Crimea are also probably large or very large. There is no shortage.
Scarcity is Off the Menu
Natural gas resource scarcity, therefore, does not apply in the Black Sea-Caspian Sea region. This is also shown by the massive gas discoveries, and start of production, from Azerbaijan’s gas and condensate fields. In the eastern and southern Mediterranean, gas E&P continues to make large new finds and extend previously-known offshore gas and condensate reserves, for example offshore Israel and Cyprus. Further away, in east Africa, truly gigantic offshore stranded gas resources have been discovered offshore Mozambique and Tanzania, since 2009.
The argument that Russia is making an “energy resource and transport corridor grab” in Crimea and perhaps subsequently in east Ukraine, driven by energy scarcity among other factors, is therefore impossible to take seriously. Another key reason includes the huge amount of cash already invested by Moscow, in oil and gas E&P in the region, helping accelerate discovery and development. This, in theory at least, would heavily play against Russia’s ability to get the whip hand on this large region’s large proven and potential reserves and so doing, dominate the energy importers of Europe. In other words, Russia is speeding hydrocarbons E&P – and is hard to portray as a geopolitical power trying to limit E&P with the sole intent of profiting from scarcity.
Especially in the Ukraine case, the scarcity theme has also been projected on gas and oil pipeline and transport capacities and oil and gas infrastructures in the region. While this applies to some extent in the east of the region, Caspian Sea and onshore, it is more possible to talk of overcapacity and oversupply in the west of the region. Ukraine, notably, is oversupplied with massive but outdated and badly maintained gas pipeline and gas storage infrastructures, while it is undersupplied with gas and oil E&P financing and technology.
In the Caspian, as Italy’s ENI and its consortium partners (Shell, Exxon, Total, Conoco, the Kazakh government and Impex) have found in their Kashagan project, extreme high costs and a harsh environment, plus a lack of infrastructures have heavily slowed down development of this giant oil and gas field. In the region’s west and Black Sea, these barriers are lower, and timelines for projects to reach export status will be shorter, making it even harder to portray Putin’s strategy as a resource grab. One clear bottom line is that Gazprom will soon have no other option than to cut gas prices, simply due to increase in total gas availability in the region.
This is hard to portray as a “resource grab” and profiting from scarcity!
Resource Scarcity Fears and Geopolitical Musings
From the right distance away, from roughly 8000 kilometres in Washington that is, in the 1990s, both eastern and western Europe could look like an energy resource depleted region, in which Russia’s Vladimir Putin would later make a thinly-disguised energy resource grab. More than 15 years ago, Zbigniev Brzezinski was advising US political leaders that the “real meaning of the Cold War” was an attempt by Russia to make Europe dependent on Russian energy and cut off western Europe’s access to energy resources and energy transport routes of the Black Sea, Caspian Sea and Central Asia. We can note Brzezinksi in the 1990s did not include the Suez Canal, because that theory of Russian conspiracy to cripple Europe’s oil transport security, by supporting Egypt’s Nasser, was put to bed long ago. Today, his 1990s-vintage theories also need putting to bed – or in the document shredder.
US energy corporations… to be sure, are still interested in eastern Europe-Central Asia, but since the 1990s the often extreme high costs, lack of infrastructures, and unpredictable local political partners – usually recycled Soviet-era party bosses now calling themselves “democratic” – have tamed US and international energy corporate hopes and their willingness to spend in the region. To be sure, the western fringe of this large region, including Ukraine, is better served with energy infrastructures, but as present events show, political turmoil and unpredictability still runs high, and at least as important, Ukraine already has more gas infrastructures than it needs. More important for US energy corporations who were drawn to the region, their own shale gas and shale oil revolution is led by and focused on North America. Home is best - for now.
US Big Energy’s political masters in Washington may still be ensnared in Cold War-vintage geopolitics, and energy resource shortage themes, but these are not the reality on the ground. Since at latest the period from 2005 to date, outlooks for hydrocarbons reserve discovery, and output development and growth have radically increased on an almost worldwide basis – including SE Europe and Central Asia. At the same time, only taking Europe, its oil and gas demand trends are on a sustained downward track, meaning the continent has overcapacity of its existing energy transport and refining infrastructures. This is the real European energy problem, today.
Europe’s key trade surplus status with Russia is also a major factor heavily shading the Cold War geopolitical musings of Brzezinski. EU trade surplus with Russia basically means that Europe trades manufactured goods and services, for Russian energy. This commercial interdependence of Europe and Russia makes it unrealistic to imagine that Washingtonian paranoia has any rational basis, suggesting again that the EU, sooner rather than later, will shelve its brave talk about sanctions against Russia and giving support to the anti-Russian aggressivity of the Kiev “government”.
As we know, political shadowboxing and geopolitical musing can fly far over the cuckoo’s nest, tempting would-be Great Statesmen or women to raise their stupidity quotient, even further. To be sure, the financially overheated SE European and Central Asian “energy and pipeline play” will likely suffer from the recent and present turn of events in Ukraine and Crimea but this will have little effect, over time, on hydrocarbon E&P and infrastructure development in the region. Among other real world results, this certainly implies a downward trend for both oil and gas prices in Europe.
April 16th, 2014, 19:17
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
The start of World War III? — ‘I do not think it an exaggeration to say this could bring us to the brink of nuclear war’
‘Vladimir Putin is striking at the heart of the West’
‘We can chose to surrender any responsibility we have to protect Ukraine and the Baltic states’
‘Or we can mount a last-ditch attempt to deter Russia from furthering its imperial ambitions’
‘If we choose to resist Putin, we will risk a terrifying military escalation’
‘I do not think it an exaggeration to say this could bring us to the brink of nuclear war’
Whipped up by the Kremlin *propaganda machine and led by Russian *military intelligence, armed men are erecting road blocks, storming police stations and ripping down the country’s flag.
They are demolishing not just their own country — bankrupt, ill-run and beleaguered — but also the post-war order that has kept most of Europe and us, here in Britain, safe and free for decades. Vladimir Putin is striking at the heart of the West.
As the situation continues to deteriorate, Ukranian soldiers stand guard beside a military helicopter to prevent pro-Russian activists from seizing the aircraft
His target is our inability to work with allies in defence against common threats. The profoundly depressing fact is that the events of the past few months, as Russia has annexed the Crimea and *suppressed opposition in Ukraine, have shown the West to be divided, humiliated and powerless in the face of these land grabs.
We are soon to face a bleak choice. We can chose to surrender any responsibility we have to protect Ukraine and the Baltic states — almost certainly Putin’s next target — from further Russian incursion. Or we can mount a last-ditch attempt to deter Russia from furthering its imperial ambitions.
If we do choose to resist Putin, we will risk a terrifying military escalation, which I do not think it an exaggeration to say could bring us to the brink of nuclear war.
Putin knows that. And he believes we will choose surrender. For the real story of recent events in Ukraine is not about whether that country has a free-trade deal with Brussels or gets its gas from Moscow.
It is about brute power. It is about whether Putin’s Russia — a rogue state on Europe’s doorstep — can hold its neighbours to *ransom, and whether we have the will to resist him. So far the answer to the first question is yes. And to the second a bleak no.
The Russian leader believes the collapse of the Soviet Union was a ‘geopolitical catastrophe’. He believes Russia was stripped of its empire by the West’s chicanery. And quite simply, he wants it back.
Every year the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) releases a study on military spending around the world. This year's report contains many interesting details.
Some things in the report presented by the United Nations Commission on disarmament on April 14 have not changed at all. As has been the case for decades, the United States remains the largest military spender in the world, despite the much heralded "defense cuts." The US, NATO, and "non-NATO US allies" account for over 64 percent of all military spending in the world. Preparations for war in the Middle East?
The report, however, pointed out that US aligned regimes in the Middle East are rapidly increasing their military spending, and purchasing modern, high-tech weapons. The list of US aligned states in the Middle East is a collection of autocratic, repressive kingdoms and emirates. These countries are not "democratic" by any stretch. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and other states are absolute monarchies. People are flogged, stoned, and beheaded routinely. Torture goes on without apology, and no elections take place. "Free speech" is nearly non-existent, as people are locked up, arbitrarily killed, and otherwise repressed for speaking out.
Those who consume US TV and print media are constantly bombarded with "journalism" demonizing the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Syrian Arab Republic, while the crimes of this lengthy list of US backed Middle Eastern states, which make not even the slightest pretense of being democratic, are ignored. The US props up these autocratic states with billions of dollars in foreign aid, and Wall Street oil corporations make trillions in profits through control of their natural resources. When the population of these states has risen up and demanded democratic and economic rights, these regimes use their stockpiles of US made weapons to gun down protesters, burn entire neighborhoods, and enforce their rule with terror and violence. The violent response to recent uprisings in Bahrain, the jailing of poets in Qatar, and the continued US coddling of their monarchs shows the complete hypocrisy of any "human rights" rhetoric from Washington D.C.
However, in the last year these US puppet regimes in the Middle East have increasingly embraced the business of war. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is now the fourth largest military spender in the entire world. It is stockpiling modern missiles, tanks, and other high tech mechanisms of destruction and death. Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are also increasing their military build-up. These regimes are currently funding, training, and arming the insurgent groups in Syria, where over 100,000 people have already died in what was once a peaceful country. The millions of refugees in Syria are desperately fleeing to other parts of the region, as "rebels" burn their homes, kidnap their children, and carry out public beheadings. Money and weapons flowing from US-backed autocratic regimes is keeping the four-year civil war going, with more people dying each day.
The rise in military spending in the Middle East points toward plans for a wider war. The turmoil in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011 that resulted in the removal of US puppet Hosni Mubarak, and the failure to overthrow the Syrian Arab Republic after years of civil war, point toward a real weakness in US influence in the Middle East. When Obama announced he intended to rain cruise missiles on Syria, he was forced to back down. As the US aligned autocratic states in the gulf build up their military power, it looks as if some kind of desperate drive to regain lost influence may be in the works. Surrounding China and North Korea
The much discussed "Asian Pivot", where the US is increasing its military activity in the Pacific, comes at the very moment that US aligned regimes in Asia are rapidly increasing their military spending.
The government of the Philippines routinely carries out extralegal executions and assassinations. Journalists who print stories critical of the government routinely disappear and later wind up dead. The Philippines, already home to many US military bases, has increased its military spending by 17 percent. Much of the military activity in the Philippines is devoted to suppressing the New People's Army, a group of communists with a great deal of popular support who have been waging a "People's War" against the US backed autocratic state.
South Korea (where "National Security Laws" can land you in prison for tweeting, and striking workers are routinely gunned down), is the 8th largest arms importer in the world. The country is also home to US military bases, and it is stockpiling missiles, military aircraft, and other modern weapons.
http://rt.com/files/opinionpost/25/73/00/00/aff-1.jpgU.S. Army soldiers with Charlie Company, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division set up a supportive position during a mission near Command Outpost Pa'in Kalay in Maiwand District, Kandahar Province February 3, 2013. (Reuters/Andrew Burton)
Azerbaijan, a US aligned regime in Central Asia, is known for its violations of human rights. Amnesty International declares that human rights in Azerbaijan are in "steady decline." Over the course of the last ten years, Azerbaijan has increased its military spending by 378 percent.
Australia, the US aligned European settler state has increased its import of arms by 83 percent.
The People's Republic of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, two Asian societies that have defied Wall Street and openly speak against international capitalism and imperialism are being surrounded by US and US aligned military forces. China's increasing economic influence around the world, especially in Latin America and Africa is a threat to Wall Street's economic power, and moves are being made to surround and suppress it. In response to a rising, hostile military presence on its borders, China has increased its military spending as well.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, despite remaining surrounded and under hostile sanctions, has actually re-adjusted its domestic budget. The "songun" policy of military first is being altered, and more money is being spent domestically on programs such as the new boom of housing construction. The successful test of nuclear weapons seems to have supplied the country with a new level of security, allowing it to cut back on its military spending.
The DPRK has a record of aligning with governments that defy Wall Street around the world, such as Zimbabwe. The DPRK has provided military aid to many countries fighting for independence from Wall Street domination over the course the last few decades. Kim Il Sung even famously welcomed a delegation from the Black Panther Party in 1969, supporting their fight against racism in the United States. The danger of a new world war
As the world economy remains in crisis, the trends in military spending are disturbing to many. Prior to WW1, exactly one hundred years ago, the US radical leader, Emma Goldman, mocked those who claimed the building up of armaments would prevent war. She declared that Woodrow Wilson's policy of "preparedness" in purchasing huge amounts of weapons was not a road to peace, but "the road to universal slaughter." She was proved correct when WW1 erupted across Europe, and millions of people died. Although Wilson had been elected on an anti-war platform, in 1917 the US entered the conflict, and those who dared protest were jailed, killed, and tortured.
In modern times, conflicts seem to be unfolding across the world at a rapid rate. Although these conflicts take place in different regions, they are all just episodes in the same global confrontation. In Venezuela, the popular democratic government, aligned with Russia and China, is fighting a group of violent opposition forces backed by Wall Street. In Syria, the government that has aligned with Palestine and provided healthcare and education, is also being attacked by violent extremists backed by Wall Street and it Gulf State puppets. In Ukraine, violent ultra-nationalists backed by Wall Street seized the government after it refused to join the IMF, and in Donetsk and other parts of the country, the people are fighting against them, hoping for support from Russia and China.
As US aligned states across the globe stockpile weapons, it looks like this trend of violence by Wall Street and its allies is not going away. They may be preparing for a much larger all-out war to keep control of the world, as their economic system grinds to a halt, and the countries seeking independent development continue to prosper.
April 24th, 2014, 19:37
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
Well, I have to say this one caught me by surprise. LOL
Let's see if it's true, there's a source at the end, which of course, I can't see cuz it's blocked. I suspect this is nonsense, but hell, you never know do you? LOL
A stunning Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that two of the United States highest ranking military generals delivered a “personal plea” to President Putin from retired four-star general and former Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the 65th United States Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, and former President Jimmy Carter for “specific military telecommunications assistance” intended to aid them in overthrowing the Obama regime that these Americans claim is “run by blackmail” and is destroying their nation.
As to the mission of these American generals, this report continues, was to obtain permission from Putin, and Russian defense authorities, for those forces loyal to Powell and Carter, the ability to utilize the highly secure encrypted military and intelligence radio channels currently available on Russia’s Meridian 2 communication satellite and which use encryption technology that has not been broken by the United States National Security Agency-Central Security Service (NSA/CSS).
The purpose of this Powell-Clinton coup-plotting faction using secure Meridian 2 communication networks, these American generals told their Russian counterparts, was to enable them to safely communicate among each other as all of America’s normal means of communication (US Postal Service/Email/Phone and Cellular Calls/Internet, etc.) have been “totally compromised”
These American generals further confirmed that this Powell-Clinton coup-plotting faction is, indeed, behind the numerous Western spies leaking top-secret Obama regime and British intelligence documents to the worlds public, and as we had reported on in our previous report Switzerland Warning Against Obama Regime Stuns Russia.
Fears that these American generals expressed of the Obama regime being “run by blackmail,” GRU analysts in this report say, were recently verified by Russ Tice, a former intelligence analyst whistleblower for the NSA-CSS, who during a televised interview with Russia Today (RT) [see video HERE] cited specific targets that he saw NSA-CSS spying orders for, including former senators Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama, Colin Powell and high ranking military leaders, mostly 3 star generals and admirals.
And during a televised interview with the American Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) [see video HERE], Tice further noted that NSA-CSS spying orders were issued for US Supreme Court Justices and top US business leaders and that the “word to word” cell, telephone and email communications of all Americans were being recorded and saved too.
Important to note about Tice’s claims of the unprecedented NSA/CSS spying now taking place in the US, is that in 2008, the popular American actor Shia LaBeouf, while being interviewed on a television programme called the Tonight Show [see video HERE] told of his experience having a high level FBI agent play back for him phone conversations he, LaBeouf, had made a few years earlier as a demonstration about how much the American government knew about the private lives of their citizens.
Even worse, in their attack on our previous report, the minions of Glenn Beck failed at even the most rudimentary level to explain to either their readers or listeners (said to be in the millions) even the most basic truths of the Sisters of Sorcha Faal, our mission, or even our purpose for being.
To how the United States can survive such hypocrisy coming from such influential media figures like Glenn Beck, and from too many left-leaning other such media types to even mention, is readily apparent in the appeal made by these two American generals pleading for Russian help to overthrow their present regime.
Should the Powell-Carter coup-plotters be successful in their overthrowing of the Obama regime, however, it remains to be seen. But, and perhaps, even more important is that should they fail, their efforts will be kept from the American people (especially by the Glenn Beck types) like was done in 1933 when the Business Plot Coup nearly overthrew the Franklin Roosevelt regime, but which to this day no American school child or college student is allowed to know about.
Standard Russian Tu-95MS “Bear” strategic bombers, accompanied by supersonic Mikoyan MiG-31 interceptors, have conducted test flights over neutral waters of the North Sea, a senior Air Force official told reporters Thursday.Russia’s strategic bomber force regularly performs flights over neutral waters of the Arctic, the Atlantic, the Black Sea and the Pacific Ocean.The flights sometimes prompt a reaction by neighboring countries. Japan has scrambled aircraft to escort such flights several times since the beginning of the month.The Russian Defense Ministry has insisted that the flights are carried out “in strict accordance with international regulations” and do not violate the borders of other countries.
For full report read …… http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20140...rn-Europe.html
April 25th, 2014, 17:42
Avvakum
Re: World War Three Thread....
Quote:
Originally Posted by American Patriot
the "Source" was her/it?
I can't see it from here. oh well.
Then garbage.
Well, this garbage peddler has an agenda, and collects information in order to spin it out as disinformation. I see another hidden pattern from the articles that 'sorcha faal' sources, a pattern 'Sorcha Faal' tries to hide.
And that would be Communist infiltration and aggression.
April 25th, 2014, 18:05
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
Ukraine crisis: Russia accused of wanting to start WW3
25 April 2014 Last updated at 14:20 BST
The war of words over the crisis in Ukraine has deepened after the the country's interim prime minister accused Russia of wanting to start World War Three.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Russia was in danger of creating a conflict that would spread to the rest of Europe.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused the West of wanting to "seize" Ukraine for its own ends.
Nick Childs reports. Read more
April 25, 2014 6:45 pm High noon looms over Ukraine
Russian leader seems determined to fuel the crisis
The Ukraine crisis looks more menacing than at any time since the Maidan revolution that toppled President Viktor Yanukovich. A military conflict between Russia and Ukraine – one that would bring war to the heart of the European continent for the first time this century – cannot be dismissed.
In a dozen towns in eastern Ukraine, pro-Russian separatists continue to occupy buildings in their bid to break away from rule by the central authorities in Kiev. The interim government in Kiev has dubbed the militants “terrorists” and is trying to dislodge them from their strongholds.
President Vladimir Putin regards the regime in Kiev as illegitimate. He has threatened to avenge what he calls Kiev’s “serious crime” in confronting the pro-Moscow activists.
Some of the 40,000 Russian troops on the Ukrainian border are once again on manoeuvres. The question is whether this is a prelude to an invasion of Ukraine, dressed up as a “humanitarian” or “peacekeeping” initiative.
Tensions have reached this pitch because of the collapse of an agreement signed in Geneva nine days ago that tried to resolve the crisis. Moscow blames Kiev for the failure of the accord, signed by Russia and Ukraine. The Geneva pact certainly requires Kiev to disarm the radical Right Sector, a group that helped to topple the Russian-backed Mr Yanukovich. Kiev has either been unwilling or unable to disarm this militia.
But the overwhelming responsibility for the failure of the Geneva pact lies with Mr Putin. Under the agreement, pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine were required to leave the official buildings they had occupied. Moscow’s claim to have no influence over these militants is not credible. The Kremlin leader has never called on them to surrender their arms. Indeed, Mr Putin has given them succour by publicly suggesting that eastern and southern Ukraine are a block of territory called “Novorossiya” that was only handed to Russia’s neighbour in the 1920s.
The US has accused Russia of actively intervening to destabilise Ukraine “with personnel, weapons, operational planning and co-ordination”. There may as yet be no dossier of hard evidence, but Mr Putin appears bent on creating a pretext for an intervention that could lead to a de facto partition and the end of Kiev’s aspiration to join the EU and the Nato military alliance.
The US is now threatening new sanctions on Russia as punishment for scuppering the Geneva accord. The Obama administration would be right to take such action. But full-scale energy and banking sanctions should only be applied if Russian tanks cross the Ukrainian border. An extension of existing targeted sanctions would send a message that Ukraine cannot be destabilised by stealth without Moscow paying a high price.
The bigger question, however, is for Mr Putin. Not for the first time, he must ask himself what possible gain there is in further Russian belligerence. Western sanctions have already taken a toll on the Russian economy. It suffered net capital flight of $64bn in the first three months of 2014. The Standard & Poor’s rating agency cut Russia’s credit rating on Friday to one notch above junk. Sanctions are tipping Russia into recession in the second half of this year.
The stand-off on Ukraine’s eastern border looks increasingly dangerous. Moscow must weigh the price of an intervention that would lead to a new cold war and a bloody civil conflict.
The alternative course is to renew diplomatic efforts to stabilise Ukraine. No solution is possible without Russia and the US. Mr Putin must abandon his revanchist journey and come back to the negotiating table. Whatever his distaste for the Kiev government, he should recognise that a civil war in Ukraine serves no one’s interest, let alone Russia’s.
April 28th, 2014, 14:45
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
` Britain is Dispatching Four Typhoon Jets to Patrol Air Space of Baltic States Part of the NATO Pact ‘
#AceWorldNews – LONDON – April 28 – Britain is dispatching four Typhoon fighter jets to patrol the airspace of Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, British media said Monday. http://videocdn.itar-tass.com/fit/81...28/1038190.jpg
They will perform their patrolling mission alongside with six fighter jets of the Polish Air Force and will serve as a replacement for six F15 jets of the US Air Force.
British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the Typhoons would support Poland’s contribution to the operation destined to calm down the apprehensions of easternmost member-states of the North-Atlantic pact.
In February 2012, NATO Council extended the patrolling of the airspace over former Soviet Baltic republics by combat aircraft of the North-Atlantic pact through to 2018. Air Forces of different NATO nations take part in the operation on the basis of rotation.
The effort also involves more than 50 members of ground personnel.
#ANS2014
April 28th, 2014, 14:46
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
Germany too:
` Germany will send 6 Euro-Fighter Jets to Patrol Airspace over Baltic Countries as part of NATO Pact ‘
#AceWorldNews – BERLIN – April 16 – Germany will send up to 6 Euro-fighter jets to patrol airspace over Baltic countries, as part of a campaign to set up security of NATO’s easternmost member-states in the wake of the crisis in Ukraine, a spokesman for the German Defence Ministry said Wednesday.
The Eurofighters will get down to patrolling missions in three former Soviet Baltic republics – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – as of September, the Defence Ministry said.
#ANS2014
April 28th, 2014, 14:47
American Patriot
Re: World War Three Thread....
U.S. Announces More Sanctions Against Russia — While Obama in Philippines
. http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/...erJumbo-v2.jpg
President Obama in Manila on Monday. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
By PETER BAKER and MARK LANDLER
The New York Times
WASHINGTON — The United States on Monday imposed additional sanctions against Russian government officials and companies deemed close to President Vladimir V. Putin, accusing Moscow of failing to live up to its agreement to defuse the crisis in Ukraine.
The Obama administration ordered travel bans and asset freezes for seven Russian officials, including two said to be in Mr. Putin’s inner circle, and froze assets for 17 companies. Thirteen Russian companies will also face additional restrictions as the government will cut off the export or re-export of American-made products to them.
Additionally, the State and Commerce Departments announced a new policy to deny export license applications for high-technology items that could contribute to Russia’s military capabilities. The two departments will revoke existing export licenses along those lines, the White House said in a statement.
Among those targeted on Monday was Igor I. Sechin, president of the state-owned Rosneft oil company and a longtime Putin adviser. Although administration officials said over the weekend that they also expected Aleksei B. Miller, the head of the energy giant Gazprom, to possibly be targeted, Mr. Obama ultimately chose a list that did not include him.
Others who face sanctions include Dmitry N. Kozak, a deputy prime minister; Vyacheslav V. Volodin, a deputy chief of staff to Mr. Putin; and Aleksei Pushkov, the chairman of the international affairs committee of the State Duma, the lower house of Parliament. The companies targeted included several banks, including Sobinbank, and energy companies like the Stroytransgaz Group and various related entities.
In imposing sanctions on Mr. Sechin, the administration has targeted a top partner of ExxonMobil, which has multiple joint ventures with Rosneft. It is not known if Mr. Sechin has any assets in the United States to freeze, but he will no longer be permitted into the country to consult with his ExxonMobil partners. ExxonMobil lawyers have been studying the possible ramifications in anticipation of the administration move.
The firms targeted on Monday were all tied to Russian businessmen who were targeted in previous rounds of sanctions. Eleven of the companies were linked to Gennady N. Timchenko, including the Volga Group, his private investment holding company. Mr. Timchenko is a co-founder of the Gunvor Group, a commodities trading firm in which the Treasury Department has previously said Mr. Putin has personal investments. Gunvor has adamantly denied that Mr. Putin has any financial ties to the company, and Mr. Timchenko has sold his shares in Gunvor. https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/...42162104_n.jpg
Three other firms targeted on Monday were tied to Arkady and Boris Rotenberg: InvestCapitalBank, SMP Bank and Stroygazmontazh. Three others were subsidiaries of Yuri V. Kovalchuk’s Bank Rossyia: Abros, Zest and Sobinbank.
“Today’s targeted sanctions, taken in close coordination with the E.U., will increase the impact we have already begun to see on Russia’s own economy as a result of Russia’s actions in Ukraine and from U.S. and international sanctions,” Jacob J. Lew, the Treasury secretary, said in a statement. “Russian economic growth forecasts have dropped sharply, capital flight has accelerated and higher borrowing costs reflect declining confidence in the market outlook.”
American officials said that the European sanctions list would diverge from theirs, but that the fact that both sides were moving on the same day signaled important unity.
“We don’t expect there to be an immediate change in Russian policy,” said a senior administration official, briefing reporters under ground rules that did not permit him to be identified. But he said the latest actions would signal that “much more severe economic pain” could still be imposed if Moscow did not back down.
Other individuals subject to the travel ban and asset freeze were Oleg Belavantsev, who was appointed by Mr. Putin last month as presidential envoy overseeing the annexed Crimean Peninsula; Sergei V. Chemezov, the director general of Rostec, the Russian state firm overseeing high-technology industries and a longtime member of Mr. Putin’s circle; and Evgeny Murov, the director of Russia’s Federal Protective Service and an army general.
The actions came shortly after President Obama, traveling here in Asia, declared that Russia was continuing to bully and threaten Ukraine and would pay a price. The fact that the announcement was made on the last stop of his weeklong Asia trip underscored the sense of urgency about fears that Russia was destabilizing eastern Ukraine.
“These sanctions represent the next stage in a calibrated effort to change Russia’s behavior,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference with President Benigno S. Aquino III of the Philippines.
But Mr. Obama acknowledged, “We don’t yet know whether it is going to work,” and he left the door open to more sweeping sanctions against Russian industries like banking and defense.
“The goal is not to go after Mr. Putin personally; the goal is to change his calculus, to encourage him to walk the walk, not just talk the talk” when it comes to diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis, Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Obama said the sanctions would affect high-tech military exports to Russia, because they are not “appropriate to be transferred in the current environment.”