Free Republic

The Biden Administration has become quickly and justly infamous for damaging American industry in every way possible. If there’s a way to make it difficult or impossible for Americans to make lawful products or provide lawful services, if there’s a way for them to force American manufacturing out of America and into the waiting arms of our enemies, they’ve discovered and implemented it. This is nowhere as true as in the energy and firearm sectors. Graphic: Lake City Army Ammunition Plant Pallet.This morning [04-25-24], a briefing will be held by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)...

The Port of Baltimore is “closed until further notice” following the Francis Scott Key Bridge tragedy, sending several industries into disarray and jeopardizing national security. In 2023, the port handled a record amount of international cargo, ranked ninth for both dollar value and tonnage in the United States. Vital for both imports and exports of a variety of commodities, the Port of Baltimore has always had international significance and the impact of its closure will be wide-ranging and long-term for the supply chain in the United States and beyond. Given the seriousness of this issue, Congress must come together to...

For decades, the USSR and then the Russian Federation competed with the US to dominate the global arms market. In 2023, according to SIPRI, Russia didn't even make the top five list of exporters. In this episode, I look at the evolution of Russian arms exports in 2022 and 2023, examine the drivers, and look at some of the nations (like France) that have taken market share as Russia drops.

Ever since 2016, talk to a liberal and there’s a good chance that they will blame “Russia” for something. Election interference, inflation, record-high gas prices, the list goes on and on. Since taking office, Joe Biden continues to take this deflection to a new level. As a gallon of gas soared past $5 in the summer of 2022 it was all Russia’s fault. And who can forget the ill-fated #PutinsPriceHike campaign as Team Biden tried to dodge criticism for skyrocketing inflation.Yet according to recent revelations, there may be more to Biden’s “America Last" energy policy than meets the eye, and...

Bukele's war on gangs is credited with slashing homicide rates while restoring security and dignity to citizens of what was once one of the world's most dangerous countries. There is no sign of Bukele's crackdown coming to an end any time soon. The president, who describes himself as the 'world's coolest dictator', appears to have swept to victory in last weekend's election, so far winning 83 percent of the vote. His war on El Salvador's gangs is cited as a major reason behind his popularity.

On Friday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm stated that the pause in liquid natural gas (LNG) export approvals might actually be a pause on exports that are actually beneficial to the environment because LNG can replace far dirtier coal. Granholm stated, “[W]e just need to update the data associated with the factors. So, the factors are, does this impact — what is the impact on national security, what is the impact on foreign policy, what is the impact — in other words, our allies and whether they’re able to access the energy that they need, what...

President Joe Biden announced a temporary pause on exports of liquefied natural gas to countries without free trade agreements Friday, a move that experts warn will drive up the price of energy and empower Russian President Vladimir Putin. “President Biden has been clear that climate change is the existential threat of our time—and we must act with the urgency it demands to protect the future for generations to come,” the White House said in a news release on the move. The administration is temporarily pausing pending decisions on LNG exports until the Department of Energy can “update the underlying analyses...

The U.S. has become the world’s top exporter of liquefied natural gas. President Biden is finding that this superpower status comes with its own set of headaches. In the past two years, hundreds of cargoes loaded with supercooled gas departed the U.S. Gulf Coast as foreign buyers turned to America for energy supplies. Developers of export terminals have seized the momentum to advance plans to build new plants and crank out even more LNG. Now, climate activists and Democratic lawmakers are exhorting the Biden administration to halt this expansion. They argue that the federal government, which has to approve LNG...

WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. has stopped issuing export licenses for most civilian firearms and ammunition for 90 days for all non-governmental users, the Commerce Department said on Friday, citing national security and foreign policy interests.The Commerce Department did not provide further details for the pause, which also includes shotguns and optical sights, but said an urgent review will assess the "risk of firearms being diverted to entities or activities that promote regional instability, violate human rights, or fuel criminal activities."

Japan’s new restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductor production equipment went into effect on Sunday. Drawn up at the instigation of the United States and formally announced three months ago, they are couched in broad terms but are aimed primarily at China. At this stage, it is difficult to predict their impact on Japanese equipment makers or Japan-China relations, but a group of Japanese politicians are already questioning the wisdom of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s seeming eagerness to side with the US in a trade war with China. These politicians are followers of Ishibashi Tanzan, a journalist-turned-politician who advocated for...

5 key points: Russia wants a massive famine in Africa because they believe the result will be lifting economic sanctions on the Kremlin. They don't care if hundreds of thousands of Africans die.

Exxon Mobil’s CEO, Darren Woods, warned that the Biden administration’s plan to cut back on fuel exports could reduce global supplies and hike gas prices, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Woods told the Department of Energy (DOE) in a letter that oil and gas producers should avoid curbing exports and stockpiling fuel, according to the WSJ which cited a letter sent by Exxon. Exxon claimed that cutting exports would not help the Northeast’s fuel shortages because it would force Gulf Coast refineries to slow their operations, which would reduce fuel supplies and raise gas prices.

Russian exports of crude oil and refined products declined substantially in September... total Russian crude oil exports averaged 3.15 million barrels daily this month, which was down by 280,000 bpd from August (-9%). Crude exports to Europe slumped by 314,000 bpd from August to about 900,000 bpd (-26%). The data shows that crude oil exports to Asia - now Russia’s biggest market - in September were down by more than 250,000 bpd to an average daily of 1.6 million barrels (-14%)... some 187,000 bpd of Russian oil on water still had no fixed destination. Exports of refined oil products declined...

India has restricted exports of some varieties of rice, effective Friday, as the world's largest supplier tries to ensure domestic provisions amid global pressure on the food market. The government said it has prohibited exports of broken rice -- fragmented grains that are generally cheaper and more accessible to the poor. It has also imposed a 20% tax on export sales of some varieties, including husked brown rice and semi-milled or wholly milled white rice. The move comes amid concerns over lower rice production during the ongoing crop season as uneven monsoon rains have left some areas parched. Outside India,...

ran has earned as much money from the export of gas in the past four months as it had received during the whole last year, the oil minister said. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Oil Minister Javad Owji said the income generated by the sale of gas in the first four months of the current Iranian year (March 21- July 22) has stood at around $4 billion, equal to the total gas export revenues during the year 1400 (March 2021 – March 2022).

The US is exporting diesel at the fastest ever rate as the global market’s thirst for fuel remains insatiable. As much as 1.39 million barrels a day of diesel has left the US Gulf Coast so far this month, around 10% higher than the previous daily record for month set in July, 2017, according to oil analytics firm Vortexa, which began trading the data in 2016. Adding gasoline, fuel exports out of the Gulf Coast topped 2 million barrels a day in the first half of July, also a record.

Oil exports leaving the Gulf Coast are projected to reach record highs in the coming weeks as releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve boost domestic oil supplies but insufficient refining operations squeeze the ability to process it. The amount of Gulf Coast crude bound for other countries could reach 3.3 million barrels per day in the second quarter, researcher Rystad Energy says. The current record, 3.2 million, was set in the first quarter of 2020, before the pandemic wiped out global demand for oil.

Brent Crude prices could jump to well above $150 per barrel if Russia’s oil exports fall off a cliff in the coming months, according to Bank of America. “With our $120/bbl Brent target now in sight, we believe that a sharp contraction in Russian oil exports could …. push Brent well past $150/bbl,” analysts at Bank of America (BofA) Global Research wrote in a research note on Friday carried by Reuters. In a base-case scenario, Bank of America expects Brent Crude prices to average $104.48 a barrel this year and $100 a barrel in 2023. Early on Friday, Brent Crude...

Italy says it’s working to intervene diplomatically with Russia to allow Ukrainian ports to open amid a growing global wheat and food supply crisis, given some 30% of the world’s wheat comes from war-ravaged Ukraine and Russia. This culminated in a Thursday phone call between Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, wherein the Italian leader is believed to have pressed Putin to order his military to unblock Black Sea ports. A statement from the Kremlin following the call said “Vladimir Putin emphasizes that the Russian Federation is ready to make a significant contribution to overcoming the food...

More than a month ago, we wrote why with the yen at risk of an “Explosive” downward spiral – which has since been confirmed – we explained why China may soon devalue the yuan, and a few weeks later when this latest prediction was again promptly confirmed, we wrote “Whispers Of Yuan Devaluation After Biggest Weekly Plunge Since 2015.” Fast forward to Monday, when China’s Onshore yuan’s selloff has accelerated to levels which until recently most “experts” FX strategists (with a few exceptions) said were impossible, and after breaking 6.7 per dollar for the first time since 2020 the yuan...