Guest “The answers are: Not much and because” by David Middleton
With the criminal Soviet invasion of Ukraine, the subject of US oil imports from Russia has popped up in the news quite a few times over the past week or so. As a petroleum geologist, I cringe whenever the media discusses almost anything related to oil & gas production. This is particularly true for political commentators on both sides of the political spectrum.
There seems to be some fairly common media misconceptions regarding this subject:
- The importation of Russian oil is a recent development.
- The volume of imported Russian oil is massive.
- The US is dependent on Russian oil.
- Greenlighting the Keystone XL pipeline would eliminate these imports.
- Resuming oil & gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico would eliminate these imports.
- Accelerating the energy “transition” to green schist would eliminate these imports (See Ron White)
- Biden caused this problem.
Starting with point #7, Biden didn’t cause this problem. However, everything he has done has made it worse and everything his maladministration is proposing to do, will make it yet even worse.
How Much Oil Does the US Import From Russia?
The volume of imported Russian oil varies widely on a monthly basis.
In June 2021, the US imported a record average of 844,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) from Russia.
Prior to 2002, the US imported less than 100,000 bbl/d from Russia. Since 2005, the US has imported 300,000 to 600,000 bbl/d from Russia,
While 300,000 to 600,000 bbl/d sounds like a lot…
It’s really just a drop in the bucket barrel. In December 2021, total US crude oil and refined product imports averaged a bit over 8.5 million bbl/d, only about 400,000 bbl/d came from Russia.
Crude Oil vs Petroleum Products
FEBRUARY 18, 2022
EIA expects U.S. petroleum trade to shift toward net imports during 2022Following its historic shift to being a net exporter of petroleum in 2020, the United States continued to export more petroleum (which includes crude oil, refined petroleum products, and other liquids) than it imported in 2021. According to our February 2022 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we expect net crude oil imports to increase, making the United States a net importer of petroleum in 2022.
A country is a net importer if it imports more of a commodity than it exports. Conversely, a country is a net exporter if it exports more of a commodity than it imports. Many factors affect net trade numbers because trade reflects supply and demand conditions both domestically and internationally.
Historically, the United States has been a net importer of petroleum. During 2020, COVID-19 mitigation efforts caused a drop in oil demand within the United States and internationally. International petroleum prices decreased in response to less consumption, which diminished incentives for key petroleum-exporting countries to increase production. This shift allowed the United States to export more petroleum in 2020 than it had in the past.
Also in 2020, the difference between U.S. crude oil imports and exports fell to its lowest point since at least 1985. Net crude oil imports subsequently rose by 19% in 2021 to an average of 3.2 million barrels per day (b/d) as crude oil consumption increased in response to rising economic activity. We forecast that the United States will continue to import more crude oil than it exports in 2022, reaching an estimated annual average of 3.9 million b/d. However, we expect net imports to fall to 3.4 million b/d in 2023 as domestic crude oil production increases to an all-time high of 12.6 million b/d.
Since 2010, the United States has exported more refined petroleum products, including distillate fuel oil, hydrocarbon gas liquids, and motor gasoline, among others, than it has imported. Net exports of refined petroleum products grew to 3.3 million b/d in 2020 and remained about the same in 2021. We expect petroleum product net exports will reach new highs of 3.6 million b/d in 2022 and 3.8 million b/d in 2023.
Principal contributor: Ornella Kaze
Tags: exports/imports, liquid fuels, crude oil, oil/petroleum, petroleum products
EIA
The US has been a net importer of crude oil for a long time. In 2010, the US became a net exporter of refined petroleum products. In 2020, the US became a net exporter of crude oil plus refined petroleum products. EIA anticipates that we will shift back to a net importer this year.
Most of our Russian imports consist of (sort of) refined petroleum products.
The vast majority of the refined petroleum product imports consist of “unfinished oils.”
| Unfinished Oils | All oils requiring further processing, except those requiring only mechanical blending. Unfinished oils are produced by partial refining of crude oil and include naphthas and lighter oils, kerosene and light gas oils, heavy gas oils, and residuum. |
Why Does the US Import Oil From Russia?
The short answer is that crude oil and refined petroleum products are globally traded commodities, the US consumes about 4 million bbl/d of crude oil more than it produces and Russia produces about 5 million bbl/d of crude oil more than it consumes. Even though, the US receives only a tiny fraction of exported Russian crude oil, the material balance calculation is global.
Note: OECD is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. EIA
The long answer is that US refinery demands match up with Russian supplies in an interesting way.
Why do we import from Russia?
U.S. West Coast (USWC) refineries rely on imports of light sweet crude oil from other countries, including Russia, because access to U.S. produced light sweet crude oil is challenged by geography, transportation and logistics.
Our refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC) import heavier crude and unfinished oils from Russia that our complex refineries can transform into other products including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
Gasoline and diesel represent only a small part of Russian imports to the United States, largely going to the East Coast. The U.S. East Coast is reliant on foreign sources of refined product due to lack of local refining capacity and infrastructure to economically move products from refining centers along the USGC to markets along the eastern seaboard.
Why have Russian imports increased?
In 2021, increased Russian imports to refineries in California and Washington state have helped offset lower volumes of light sweet crude imports into California from other countries—notably Nigeria—and lower volumes of U.S.-produced crude oil shipped by rail to Washington.
Increased imports of crude oil to the USGC region in 2021 were largely driven by disruptions to U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil production caused by Hurricane Ida and have since declined.
And, since 2019, U.S. refineries have increased imports of unfinished heavy oils from Russia to help replace heavy sour crude from Venezuela that U.S. refineries can no longer import.
American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers
West coast refineries (who knew there were any?) import light sweet crude from Russia and other countries because there is a lack of pipeline capacity to deliver enough domestically produced oil to the region. Gulf Coast refineries import some heavier Russian crude to offset Venezuelan imports that are no longer available.
Keystone XL Pipeline
On Day One of his miserable maladministration, Brandon cancelled the permits for the Keystone XL Pipeline and halted its construction. This pipeline would have been able to deliver over 800,000 bbl/d to US refineries in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions.
A year before Brandon idiotically cancelled the pipeline, TransCanada had already secured commitments from oil producers for 500,000 bbl/d for up to 20 years. This would have offset much of the crude oil we import from outside of North America.
Reversing Brandon’s moronic decision today, wouldn’t eliminate the need to import Russian oil. However, we would be one year closer to completion of the pipeline, without that moronic decision. For that matter, had the Obama maladministration not also moronically blocked its construction, it would probably already be completed.
In Nov. 2015, President Barack Obama announced his administration would not grant permits for the construction of this pipeline in order to further their commitment to fighting climate change.6 In his first week at the Oval Office, President Trump signed an executive order clearing the way for the pipeline project.7 The Republican party had believed that the construction of the pipeline will create more jobs and provide a boost to the economy. On Jan. 20, 2021, President Joe Biden rescinded the construction permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. TC Energy said it was stopping construction earlier the same day.3
Investopedia
Gulf of Mexico Leasing
While Brandon’s even more moronic (and unlawful) refusal to hold Gulf of Mexico lease sales, hasn’t significantly impacted US oil production yet, within a decade, it will likely lead to the US having to import an additional 1 million bbl/d of crude oil.
Conclusion
Regarding the Soviet Union’s Criminal War of Aggression Against Ukraine…
I wrote this two months ago:
If Putin seriously wants to seize Ukraine, this winter will probably be his best opportunity. With the US saddled with a dementia-ridden “president” and even less competent “vice president,” and a Congress controlled by left-wing zealots for at least the next 12 months, coupled with Putin’s ability to turn off Europe’s supply of natural gas on a whim, he is literally in the “catbird seat.” (Yes, I know I just wrote that Putin is literally in an idiomatic phrase.) That said, why would Putin risk triggering World War III? It’s not that there’s a long history of perceived weakness among Western democracies triggering wars in the past…
[…]
While I seriously doubt that the two nations who suffered most horribly during World War II would intentionally start World War III, why does this remind me of the 1930’s? Substitute Russia for Nazi Germany and Red China for Imperial Japan, toss in a healthy dose of western weakness… and the similarities are eerie.
“Renewable Energy Dogmatism” – The New Red Menace?
Needless to say, Jen “Circle Back” Psaki thinks doubling down on stupid is the answer to Russian oil imports…
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. needs to decrease its reliance on foreign oil by switching over to renewable energy, not increasing domestic production.
Fox News
“Russian warship, go f*** yourself”
The defiant soldiers of Snake Island are actually ‘alive and well,’ says Ukraine’s navy
By Sebastian Shukla and Lianne Kolirin, CNN
Updated 3:06 PM Thu EST, Mon February 28, 2022CNN — The Ukrainian defenders of Snake Island – who were all feared dead after their defiant response to threats from a Russian warship – are actually “alive and well,” according to the Ukrainian Navy.
All of the soldiers on the tiny island in the Black Sea were thought to have been killed in an attack on the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last Thursday.
According to a purported audio exchange, one of the Ukrainian troops had responded to a warning from an approaching Russian vessel to lay down their weapons or face bombing by saying, “Russian warship, go f*** yourself.”
[…]
According to the navy the soldiers on the island repelled two attacks by Russian forces but in the end were forced to surrender “due to the lack of ammunition.”
The statement added that Russian attackers have completely destroyed the island’s infrastructure, including lighthouses, towers and antennas.
Russian state media also showed the arrival of the Ukrainian soldiers in Sevastopol, Crimea where they are being held.
[…]
CNN
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“The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride”
Live updates: Zelenskyy declines US offer to evacuate Kyiv
By The Associated Press
February 25, 2022KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was asked to evacuate Kyiv at the behest of the U.S. government but turned down the offer.
Zelenskyy said in response: “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” according to a senior American intelligence official with direct knowledge of the conversation, who described Zelenskyy as upbeat.
[…]
AP
Reminds me of General George Patton on the relief of Bastogne…
Bastogne remained surrounded, and when the Germans demanded its surrender, the acting commander of the 101st Airborne, Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe, replied, “Nuts!” Upon hearing the now-famous response Patton said: “Any man who is that eloquent deserves to be relieved. We shall go right away.”
On Christmas Eve Patton judged that “the German General Staff is running this attack and has staked all on this offensive to regain the initiative. They are far behind schedule and, I believe beaten. If this is true, the whole army may surrender.”
PATTON’S FINEST HOUR
The brave and eloquent defenders of Ukraine deserve to be relieved.
If not for the November 2020 coup d’état…
62 percent of voters say Putin wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine if Trump were president: poll
BY CAROLINE VAKIL – 02/25/22A majority of American voters say that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine had former President Trump still been in office, according to a new survey released on Friday.
A new Harvard Center for American Political Studies (CAPS)-Harris Poll survey released Friday found that 62 percent of those polled believed Putin would not be moving against Ukraine if Trump had been president. When looking strictly at the answers of Democrats and Republicans, 85 percent of Republicans and 38 percent of Democrats answered this way.
[…]
The Hill
Trump is Putin’s bitch, and has been for more than two decades. If Americans believe that Biden caused Putin to invade Ukraine, they’re stupid including the author of this post, who is clearly Biden deranged. Putin owns Trump, Trump repeatedly defended Putin on every bad thing he did for many years going back to the 2014 invasion of Crimea and the “little green men” invasion of Donbas, and defended Putin for his attacks on our election system in 2016 which clearly benefited Trump .. and gave away deadly secret intelligence identifying specific allied agents operating in Russia, and gave that intel directly to Putin’s ambassador inside the oval office.
And of course just last week Trump cheered Putin for his invasion of Ukraine, calling it “genius” – that is until his own party blasted him for such treasonous speech, then he retracted it over the weekend.
Biden is in many ways not an effective President, but he is no traitor and he has never been Putin’s bitch like Trump has been for more than two decades (Russian oligarchs funded him after American and Euro banks refused to lend him any more money after his six serial bankruptcies in the 1990s.. and they were his main customers for his condos in Miami and New York).
Always interesting to see whether Dr. Jekyll Duane or Mr. Hyde Duane responds on any particular subject.
If the subject touches on Trump in any way shape of form, there is no Dr. Jekyll Duane.
You’ve angrily parroted the tired mischaracterizations of Trump. Right off of MSNBC talking heads junk.
He was never Putin’s anything. He never cheered the “invasion” as genius. That’s asinine of course. He was referring to Putin’s playing Biden.
There was no “attack” on out election system in 2016. That’s foolish Hillary-speak.
Trump never “gave away deadly secret intelligence”.
He also never said neo nazis were fine people.
However, all of the perpetrators of the climate crusade fraud parrot the identical junk you brought.
That says a lot.
I thought Rachel Maddow was on leave?
MadCow is not the only idiot at MSNBC.
Here’s what Trump told conservative radio hosts Buck Sexton and Clay Travis last week: “I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, ‘This is genius.’ Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful.”
The day after he made those comments, he effectively doubled down on them. “They say, ‘Trump said Putin’s smart.’ I mean, he’s taking over a country for two dollars’ worth of sanctions,” Trump told a crowd at a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, according to a recording of the event. “I’d say that’s pretty smart. He’s taking over a country — really a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking right in.”
Hitler was smart too and if he hadn’t invaded Russia his Reich might still be there now. But he was also F—cking evil. And I thank god he went too far.
Trumps not wrong and he told Putin if he invaded on his watch the Kremlin would burn, any wonder why he invaded the Crimea on ObAma’s watch and Ukraine on Bidens.
So we should pretend that Putin is an idiot, when he isn’t?
I finally figured out today that Duane gets his talking points directly from ROOTS Psaki, every day. He doesn’t need media middle men, he gets the same notes they get at the same time.
https://victorhanson.com/putins-predictabilities/?fbclid=IwAR3hptWDbP8w7a7Z1xnxFxV4H0XLDWhTz7Yzb28u7NskQxYUyd-5fINGtRw
The number of barrels a day that the US imports from Russia is a meaningless distraction, precisely because oil is fungible.
What matters is the fact that since the US is producing less, Russia (along with all the other producers) is able to produce more. It really doesn’t matter who they are selling to.
What also matters is because the US is producing less, prices have risen, which means that Russia (along with all the other producers) are earning more for each barrel they do produce.
The solution is obvious. The US needs to stop shooting ourselves in the foot and resume producing as much as we can.
David,
You said, “Prior to 2002, the US imported less than 100,000 bbl/d from Russia.”
There were some peaks over about 150,000, with some around 200,000 between about 1993 and 2002. Perhaps you should consider re-phrasing that.
That text is referencing the subsequent graph of annual average daily imports from Russia…
Concerning media reports on US oil imports:
I must read different media because I’ve noticed surprise that the US imports ant oil from Russia and wondering why the imports went up so much in 2021. Russia producers nearly tripled shipments of oil to the United States in 2021. In 2020, the United States imported from Russia on average 76,000 barrels per day (bpd), while in 2021, that figure rose to 209,000 bpd, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy. Russian crude accounts for only three percent of U.S. crude oil imports and about one percent of total crude oil processed by U.S. refineries—Russian crude oil imports are important to refineries on the West Coast and Gulf Coast.
You need a lot more study of Ukrain’es history. The government there has a tradition of being corrupt and some Biden’s were involved. Probably still corrupt. In Eastern Ukraine, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics have been fighting for self-determination for the past eight years. They have been denied any right to even vote on their independence. Zelensky seems to be more of a puppet of the West than representing his own people. The republics of Lugansk and Donetsk in the Donbas region (LPR and DPR) declared independence after the 2014 coup in Kyiv that saw the overthrown of Yanukovych who was a native Russian speaking politician from the East.
Yanukovych passed a law making both Ukrainian and Russia recognized languages. Zelensky later passed anti-Russian language laws, affecting the largely Russian-speaking population of the two Donbas republics. Only Ukrainian is the officially recognized language. Donbas has since then been fighting against the Ukrainian government defending their democratic right to vote. Kyiv has branded the two regions as separatist, launching a civil war against their own people that lasted for eight years. Zelensky has allowed shelling of the the Donbas region These are also the ultra-right-wing in Ukraine who Putin wants to be brought to justice. Western nations never defended the people in Donbas and they prefer to ignore the right-wing Ukrainians. There are extremists on both sides. The solution would have been so simple — just allow the Donbas region to vote for their independence.
The imports spiked in 2021 were due to the damage caused by Hurricane Ida. This is clearly explained in the post.
Ukraine didn’t invade Russia.
Russia signed a treaty guaranteeing that it would not invade the newly independent nation if they turned the USSR’s Ukraine based nuclear weapons over to Russia. Ukraine turned the weapons over.
Russia invaded Ukraine (Crimea) in 2014 when Obama was president. They left Ukraine alone when Trump was president. They invaded Ukraine again in 2022 with Brandon doddering around the White House.
How much oil do you get from each ant?
So when Putin says that he will not accept any NATO countries on his border, and has been saying this for months if not years we ignore him. After all the expansion of NATO is only a friendly gesture, [at least we think so. If Mexico asked Putin for troops to be stationed on the US Mexican border that of course would be provocative] . in passing judgment let us not forget how indifferent the west has been to the human tragedy that was created by our involvement in the Middle east; https://web.mit.edu/humancostiraq/ and https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1101162. [By some accounts up over 10 million displaces people in Syria alone]
Of most importance in this conflict is the complex history of this region but with so much ignorance of this by the media and government officials [our diplomats etc] not interested i will leave it up to those who care to study the history.
Even if Ukraine did join NATO, it would still be Ukrainian troops in the Ukraine. Troops from other countries would only enter the Ukraine if it were invaded.
Your example is both nonsensical and paranoid.
Dear Mr. Middleton,
Thank you for the excellent article on the petroleum industry.
After reading all the comments in the thread, I didn’t see this question asked (perhaps, because the answer is obvious, but, please know my asking is sincere, not sarcasm).
Q: If the amount of oil we purchase from Russia is “a drop in the bucket,” why is it “needed?”
That is, for the sake of taking away $$ from Russia to hinder their vicious, unjustified, attack on Ukraine, could we in the U.S. not suffer from whatever that translates to in cost to us (say, of higher price per gallon of car fuel)? I would be willing to suffer MORE than that to help Ukraine…
Sincerely,
Janice
P.S. Trivia: I, for one, DID know about the west coast refineries (since I live within 20 minutes of one and 40 of another). 🙂
The volume of oil is needed to meet refinery demand. Whether it comes from the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia or Russia doesn’t matter to the refiners. All that matters are the physical properties of the oil, when it can be delivered and the price.
PS… I was being a wee bit sarcastic on west coast refineries… 😉
Thank you for answering (and so promptly, too), Mr. Middleton. Okay. Then, if we don’t need Russian oil, why do we keep buying it from them? If we must pay more for oil from elsewhere, no problem (for those of us wanting to help Ukraine). We will pay that cost.
In other words, please forgive me, but, I still don’t get why we shouldn’t immediately stop buying Russian oil.
🥺
Unless there’s a law, prohibiting the importation of Russian oil and petroleum products, refiners will continue purchasing Russian oil when it suits their needs.
Yes. I guess I misunderstood your article. I thought you were arguing that because:
the U.S. needs Russian oil the U.S. government should not pass a law prohibiting its purchase.
So, from your remarks above, I take it, that you are for such a law.
COME ON, CONGRESS!!
(sigh — the Republicans (not the RINOS) are trying….)
Even if we did pass a law banning the purchasing of Russian oil, it would make no difference.
For the same reason why when China stopped buying Australian coal, it didn’t hurt Australia.
We stop buying Russian oil. Since our oil needs remain the same, we buy more oil from someone else.
That someone else, now needs to buy oil to replace the oil that we are now buying. He turns around and buys the Russian oil that we used to buy.
The only difference is that everybody’s transportation costs are now higher.
If we want to hurt Russia in this department, the only ways to do it are to either stop using oil, or produce more oil. No longer using oil would hurt us a lot more than it hurts Russia, while producing more oil benefits us while hurting Russia. It shouldn’t take a genius to figure out which course to take.
Unfortunately, Biden and most Democrats are not geniuses.
Thank you, Mark, for bothering to take the time to explain.
I was assuming (I need to clarify, here, so that it will not continue to appear that I am that poor a thinker, lol) that this:
someone else, now needs to buy oil to replace the oil that we are now buying
would not be necessary.
That is, I took it as given:
1) the measure would also require that we would produce more oil;
and/or
2) we would buy the oil from someone who has enough oil to sell that they neither need to send another willing buyer somewhere else to buy oil, nor buy some more oil inventory themselves.
Again, grateful for your taking the time to help me. I just wanted to clarify that this is what I was assuming.
Fungible!
The problem with embargoing Russian oil exports is that the world would suddenly be about 5 million bbl/d short of oil.
I don’t know of a quick way to sustainably replace the Russian oil exports.
But Joe just released 30 Million and the rest of the world released 30 million for strategic reserves, so that is good for (cypher, cipher, carry the aht,) 12 days. All is good now.
Brilliant!
+42×1042
Oh man, WUWT is rampant with Russian trolls today. I don’t know if good people here lack experience because they do not seem to recognize them for what they are. Here in Finland we’ve had them for years, and they have become kind of a laughing stock because everyone knows how they work.
Rule number one: they are not one of you. They pretend be, they say “we” and “us”, but they are not. They are from the troll cave:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Research_Agency
We could use a bit of comic relief (given how horrible the situation truly is in Ukraine).
I think many of us feel like “yelling” at those Russian trolls like this cockatoo yelled at the barking dog (first, LOL, he stomps around, getting madder…….. and madder…….. looks to the camera person for help……. then, keeps it under control for a bit……… then (about 1:20) SHUT-UP, shuttety-shut-shut-shut-shut-shut-shut UUUUUUPP!!! 😂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGkt94OOBUU&ab_channel=raptorboyz960
(published on YouTube)
I think the bird is trying to “talk to the dog in its own language” to get through to it. 😄
Thanks David, brilliant as always. I might say, “You can’t fix stupid, but you can vote him out of office.”
The problem is that this is a commutative equation… Stupid can be voted into office at least as easily as stupid can be voted out of office… 😎
David Middleton
I so enjoy reading everything you write and really enjoy how much humor you bring to it as well, even when I think you are wrong, now if you could just be wrong once that make my compliment a little more powerful.
You say that the West Coast imports oil because geography keeps it from being supplied by (presumably) pipelines.The East coast imports oil and petroleum products because their is not enough infrastructure (presumably pipelines). Both of these then receive their foreign supplies by ship. Correct me if I am wrong but I assume that these coasts are not supplied their needs with US products by ship because of the Jones Act.
That is one factor, the other factor is that the nearest ports are on the Gulf Coast and even those still have to go through the Panama Canal.
But not for the East coast.
Excellent article it needs wide circulation, you know to the average Joe. I can understand that David is exasperated at those who relate Russian imports and halting the Keystone pipeline or that it is Biden’s fault we are importing petroleum products from Russia. Let’s keep all those issues separate for now and discuss them individually.
Number one Russian imports vs Keystone pipeline. How is it acceptable to import petroleum from Russia yet unacceptable to import crude from Canada via Keystone? It doesn’t make sense and people should be upset not so much at the Russian import but blocking the Keystone. They are not totally unrelated.
Number two Biden can not be held totally responsible for the US importing petroleum from Russia. However if blocking imports from Canada was imperative to Biden then why isn’t it imperative to block imports from Russia? Does Biden somehow think Russia’s petroleum will contribute less to global warming than Canada’s? I don’t think even Biden is that stupid.
Third Biden is responsible for making the US more dependent on imported energy by mandating wind and solar, doing his best to shut down coal, blocking leases for oil and gas exploration/ extraction, continuing to block nuclear energy and on and on.
Even the least of us can see that all of these things are inter connected and like it or not I think everything Biden has done is making matters worse not better. You say that in your article. People have every right to be upset and disgusted that we handcuff our own producers and enrich our enemies. And always, always remember average Joe is getting the majority of his info from the main stream media a totally disgraced and unreliable source.
Criminal Invasion, of course the last criminal invasion being Iraq or was it Yemen…….been so many.
The criminal invasion was when Iraq invaded Kuwait.
That doesn’t count, Iraq wasn’t a western country.
+42×1042
If One-Term-Trump was President, Putin would not only have invaded Ukraine, but Trump would have supported him “Because he’s this genius, super smart guy”. Probably also be US boots on the ground fighting alongside the Russians because ‘Nazis’ or something, and everyone here would be applauding him because “Murica’ or something.
It’s shameful what’s happened to WuWT. It used to be a place filled with coherent, logical, well-reasoned and civil argument. Now it’s just a right wing echo chamber, full of red-neck Trumpists who see everything in terms of evil Marxist conspiracies, EU/UN warmongering, the ‘Far Left’. Not a single one of you who make such statements have the slightest clue what ‘Far Left’ means. Supporting abortion or human rights or the notion that the state might in some way look after the less fortunate is not ‘Far Left’! That’s just common decency!
Meh! The whole fecking lot of you are hideous, grotesque and disgusting caricatures of what the rest of the world thinks Americans are. I used to give a shite about climate change and how it was being distorted, people lied to, etc. etc. Not any more. If the Warmists win, it’ll be because you made yourselves irrelevant, and you only have yourselves to blame. Backing Trump because he didn’t go along with the Warmist agenda, while turning a blind eye to the endless list of his egregious thoughts and behaviour exposed you for what you are.
You lost the argument. You could – and should – have won it, but instead, you wrapped up a fairly simple and effective demolition of the Warmist position with the absolute worst kind of right-wing crackpot, numbskull, knuckle dragging, mouth breathing claptrap, and utterly failed to notice that the Eco-Taliban had outsmarted you, cut you off at the pass, and used your own position to relegate you to being an irrelevant minority. And that’s on you. Well done! Trump 2024! Won’t that be great!
You better get used to the future, all electric cars, wind turbines all over the places, sky high energy prices, blackouts and power cuts, and yes, black people, women and minorities in positions of power and authority, dishing out laws and regulations that you hate. Trump in jail, and not the Whitehouse, and yourselves endlessly arguing amongst yourselves, or scutinising plots of data for evidence of tiny discrepancies, and trumpeting your latest findings to… no-one.
Meanwhile, we have war in Europe, civilians being killed en mass, 1 million refugees in the space of a week, thanks to yet another psychopathic, paranoid Russian in the Kremlin. To hell with the lot of you.
NB: FYI – I never come back to read responses to my comments, or reply to those comments. Reply, don’t reply, who cares. Not me.
Biden walks back Putin remark, calls him ‘worthy adversary’ (nypost.com)
President Biden on Monday downplayed his previous description of Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a killer” — calling him “bright,” “tough” and a “worthy adversary” ahead of their upcoming summit meeting.
I wonder if Duane will start calling Biden “Putin’s bitch”, now?
Saying someone is “super-smart” is not to say that person is good.
Saying that someone cleverly took advantage of an opportunity to gain something she or he desired is not to approve of their act.
Ted Bundy and Bernie Madoff were “super-smart.” My asserting that doesn’t mean that I approve of their vile deeds.
You are long on words and short on logic, A.M..
The difference between Obama and Biden was that Obama was academically smart.
So much hatred, so little intelligence. Your hatred of those who don’t believe as you do has caused your brain to rot.
Saying that Putin is smart, means you would send troops to support him? Are you really as irrational as this brain dead statement makes you seem?
Oh yes, the assumption that everyone to the right of Mao is a racist and sexist, has never been true, it is however typical of leftists who can’t think for themselves but still are desperate to believe that they are morally superior to everyone they see.
And in your final act of cowardice, and in typical left wing fashion, you declare yourself too special to waste your time with sub-human types who don’t believe as you do.
Go ahead and leave, you won’t be missed and you weren’t adding anything anyway.
But Mark, you label everyone not at the right hand end of the Republican party ‘leftist’…
(On another note, I have to thoroughly agree with your insightful and honest posts on the Ukraine situation elsewhere…)
Considering the right end of the Republican party is at best center right, being to the left of that, is leftist.
Just a European American Hater. Nothing to see here, move along.
She will come back to see what effect she may have had. She is a liberal hater, she will not be able to help herself. She, why? I am using my preferred pronoun for it.
I especially like abortion is “just common decency”. Hitler and the founder of Planned Parenthood agreed on that. As long as you were killing off the right races.
Was there a private call from the Gov of Hawaii to Biden asking him to leave the Russian oil imports in place? Or was it Newsom?
probably both.
Cut them off and let them get by on solar/wind for a while.
It makes no sense for people to blame Trump or Biden for the fact we are importing Russian oil, they didn’t sign the contracts. Blame free market capitalism. We Actually export about 5 times as much domestic oil as we import Russian oil, so its not like we couldn’t make it up by cutting someone else off. It just made sense economically and logistically.
Speaking of capitalism, I saw a report that Shell snapped up a whole tanker full of Russian oil for $28 versus the spot market price of over a 100. Condemn Shell if you want to but that might have hurt the Russians a lot more than losing A few tanks would.
Indeed, much oil imported from Canada.
The US Gulf Coast is getting heavy oil from northern AB, via the present Keystone pipeline, as refineries there are built to handle it (formerly obtained from Venezuela).