Immediate cancellation of imported Russian oil
To the editor:
Joe Biden’s hasty exodus from Afghanistan emboldened Russia to move on Ukraine and China to move on Taiwan. They watched an American president abandon, without remorse, Americans stranded there, and loyal allies literally thrown to the wolves. Their plan, no doubt, was put in motion by Biden’s inability to create, control, manage and execute a plan that could have been better devised and executed by a West Point plebe.
Ukraine is only the beginning for Putin and when Putin’s plan of domination is well on its way, China will begin to press forward on Taiwan.
Inflation was with us long before Russia began its invasion of Ukraine even though the Biden administration hopes you have a short memory. RBOB unleaded gas was $1.0817/gal. the day after the 2020 Presidential election. By May 4, six months after Biden’s election and four months after he cancelled the Keystone pipeline and shut down oil and gas leases on federal lands, the price was $2.1512/gal. (Gasoline RBOB Nov ’20 Futures Interactive Chart – Barchart.com) That is a double, 100% increase and now we see more than triple and we’re not done yet.
Basic commodities, corn, wheat and soybeans had all made huge moves while the Biden administration “experts” were in lockstep referring to the inflation spiral that we were witnessing as “transitory.” It never was, however, their insistence appeased the masses — for a little while anyway.
Soybeans closed at $10.79/bushel the day after the election. Six months later, long before any Russian invasion, May 4, 2021, they closed at $15.77/bushel, about a 50% increase. (Soybean Nov ’20 Futures Interactive Chart – Barchart.com).
The U.S. imported an average of 209,000 barrels of oil per day in 2021. (How much oil does the U..S get from Russia? | Business and Economy News | Al Jazeera). This represents about 1/3 of the oil we would have gotten from Keystone if it had not been cancelled and about 1% of the U.S. Daily usage. (Keystone Pipeline – Wikipedia)
When Biden bailed out on Afghanistan and cancelled the leases and the Keystone pipeline, it was a clear signal to Putin that he had carte blanche in Ukraine and that the president of the U.S had just given him even more leverage with Russia’s oil production and pricing controls.
Biden’s early policies gave safe harbor to Russian and Communist Chinese plans for expansion of their borders and his continued incredible weakness, watching Ukrainians dying in their streets while continuing to buy Russian oil and financing the rockets, bombs and missiles being used to slaughter innocent people will be his undying legacy and the legacy of the indecisive and hypocritical Democratic Party.
Thank you Joe!
Max Christian,
St. James City