Speaking of the plunge in Russian refinery runs, last week we learned that none other than Joe Biden himself slammed Ukraine for daring to attack the heart of Russian oil infrastructure as the guaranteed outcome are much higher gas and oil prices, which make it less likely the Fed will be able to cut rates, and thus ensure that Biden's already abysmal approval rating will slide even further. No wonder the FT said that the "White House had grown increasingly frustrated by brazen Ukrainian drone attacks that have struck oil refineries, terminals, depots and storage facilities across western Russia, hurting its oil production capacity." An NSC spokesperson told the FT that "we do not encourage or enable attacks inside of Russia."
Translation: we encourage them not to attack Russian refineries.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/oil-s ... sia-ordershttps://www.reuters.com/markets/commodi ... 024-03-25/I could well imagine Russia allowing certain drones to fulfill their mission, and Russia's mission, to cripple the Western economies through higher oil and gas prices. Just as the US ignored it's intellegence reports and stood back and let the Japanese attack Pearl and it's outdated battle wagons, moving the necessary carriers south out of harms way of course. Yes that really did happen. Like the Gulf of Tonkin and many other convenient attacks on US interests.
The Big Picture: Why didn't Russia repair the Gas pipelines to the West? Because it wants to starve the west of energy. That's what you do in War, it's why the British and Americans went into the Med in WWII. Russia will cry about it's lost refinery production, and compensate, by curtailing exports
Who won WWII? The nation with the biggest oil supply on the day.
General Erwin Rommel, “the Desert Fox,” was reputedly the best tactician in the entire German Army. For years, he led his panzers across multiple campaigns in North Africa. But what was a German army doing zipping across the deserts of Libya?
Simple: Rommel was trying to capture the Suez Canal, and with it the route to the precious, untapped oil fields of the Middle East. From the deserts of North Africa to the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the jungles of the South Pacific and the skies above Romania, World War II was defined by a struggle over a single resource - petroleum.
... But the German advance was turned back at Stalingrad. After the initial shock of the invasion, the Soviet army recovered its strength and began pushing the German forces from Russia. Hitler’s armies failed to secure access to Russian oil, and in 1943 began a slow retreat, beaten back by overwhelming Soviet forces.
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/H ... Nazis.htmlRussia didn't defeat the German's with superior soldiers, but with the limitless tanks and planes that it built with it's vast oil reserves. WWIII three though may not involve that technology, instead relying on nuclear weapons. In that event having hyper-sonic delivery vehicles will be the order of the day.
Late to the party
This story was updated March 20, 2024, with a statement from Lockheed Martin.
The U.S. Air Force on Sunday carried out what is expected to be the final test of the hypersonic AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon. The service did not say whether the test was successful.
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2024/03 ... c-missile/