Wednesday, December 30, 2020

UAE Has Become The Hub For Venezuela To Evade US Oil Sanctions

Tankers managed by the three firms have transported millions of barrels of oil produced by state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA [Hartmut Knape/Reuters]
 Reuters: Special Report: UAE emerges as hub for companies helping Venezuela avoid U.S. oil sanctions 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In June, the United States imposed sanctions on half a dozen oil tankers managed by established shipping firms. It was a major escalation of American attempts to choke off Venezuela’s oil trade. 

Within weeks, a little-known company based in the United Arab Emirates took over management of several tankers that had been shipping Venezuelan oil. The vessels got new names. And then they resumed transporting Venezuelan crude.  

The company, Muhit Maritime FZE, is one of three UAE-based entities identified by Reuters that have shipped Venezuelan crude and fuel during the second half of this year. Their role emerges from an examination of internal shipping documents from Venezuela’s state oil company as well as third-party shipping and vessel tracking data. Tankers managed by the firms have transported millions of barrels of oil produced by state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, since June, according to the internal documents and a publicly available shipping database. 

Read more .... 


WNU Editor: I am sure the UAE is not the only country that is being used by Venezuela to evade US oil sanctions.
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Israeli Spy Jonathan Pollard Who Stole Secrets From The Pentagon Arrives In Israel After 30 Years In A US Prison

 


 * Jonathan Pollard was arrested in 1985 and charged with spying for Israel 
 * The Texan spent 30 years behind bars in the US and was released in Nov 2015 
 * Pollard, 66, was given a five year parole, meaning he could leave the US in 2020 
 * Benjamin Netanyahu met Pollard on the tarmac on arrival in Israel 
 * Pollard kissed the ground and said he was 'ecstatic' to be in the country 

Jonathan Pollard, who spent 30 years in U.S. prison for spying for Israel, arrived in the country early Wednesday with his wife, triumphantly kissing the ground as he exited the aircraft in the culmination of a decades-long affair that had long strained relations between the two close allies. 

Pollard was welcomed at Israel's international airport by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who presented him and his wife Esther with Israeli ID cards granting them citizenship. 

'Welcome back. How good you've come home,' Netanyahu said, according to a statement issued by his office. 



WNU Editor: To say that Jonathan Pollard damaged U.S. - Israel relations for years is an understatement.
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U.S. Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, 41, Dies From COVID-19 Just Days Before Being Sworn In

 


 * Luke Letlow, 41, told constituents on December 18 that he had COVID-19 
 * He was taken to the hospital on December 19 and was moved to the ICU 
 * The father-of-two was treated with Remdesivir and a combination of steroids 
 * Doctors have revealed he had no underlying health conditions 
 * Letlow had held a number of campaign events - some with masks, some without 
 * Letlow, a Republican, won a runoff election on December 5 for the 5th District seat, which represents Northeast and Central Louisiana 
 * He was due to be sworn in on Sunday and is the first member or member-elect of Congress to die from the coronavirus 
 * Letlow is one of more than 7,000 people in Louisiana who have died from COVID-19 since March, according to data from the state health department 

Luke Letlow, Louisiana's incoming Republican member of the U.S. House, died Tuesday night from complications related to COVID-19 only days before he was due to be sworn into office. 

The 41-year-old died just 11 days after announcing he had tested positive for COVID-19. 

At the time, he said he was at home, 'resting, following all CDC guidelines, quarantine protocols, and the recommendations of my doctors'. 

Read more .... 


WNU Editor: According to his doctor Letlow died from a heart attack following a procedure related to the infection. He is the first member or member-elect of Congress to die from the coronavirus. This is another reminder on how dangerous this disease is. As for his seat. Another special election will be held.
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Boston Dynamics' Droids Show-Off their Capabilities While Performing An Incredible Dance

 
 

 * A new video shows four robots dancing to The Contours 'Do You Love Me' 
 * Atlas, robot dog Spot and Handle were seen shaking and moving in the video
 * The routine was choreographed and the robots each had a routine 
 * Robot dog Spot did a similar video in 2019 to Bruno Mars' 'Uptown Funk' 

Boston Dynamics typically shares videos of its robots climbing stairs, jumping onto blocks or carrying heavy objects, but the latest clip involves the crew showing off their dance moves. 

Set to The Contours ‘Do You Love Me,’ the choreographed dance features humanoid Atlas, Spot the robot dog and box-juggling Handle. 

During the two minute and 53 second clip, the robots can be seen shaking, twisting and even doing the mash potato in sequence to the beat of the 1962 hit single. 

Read more .... 

WNU Editor: Wow! They are advancing this technology and engineering every year.
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Tuesday, December 29, 2020

The Brexit War Is Over

 

Richard Little, Daily Mail: Happy Christmas, the Brexit war is over! 

The best way to assess Boris's trade deal with the EU is to look at who's for it and who's aginsit. Despite the bad blood between the two of them, Nigel Farage has given the agreement a magnanimous, if cautious, welcome. 

While Farage is wisely reserving final judgment until he's read the small print, he can see the big picture and grasps the historic significance of what has been achieved. 

'The Brexit war is over,' declared the man who has devoted the past three decades to campaigning for Britain to cast off the shackles of Brussels. 

Read more .... WNU Editor: The Brexit fight is now over. The debate will now shift to the consequences of this deal .... Rare win for Boris Johnson — but Brexit storm hasn’t passed (Politico).
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Ukraine Press Conference By Parliamentarians Tie Hunter & Joe Biden To Massive Corruption Scheme

 


A video from a press conference in Ukraine is going viral. It is the follow-up to a video press conference that Ukraine released over a year ago, in which Members of the Ukraine Parliament demanded that President Zelensky and President Trump investigate billions of dollars of corruption in Ukraine that is tied to the U.S. 

The newly released video is meant to provide documentary and eyewitness information about the corruption – and the Biden family figures prominently in the story. The video is long – over an hour – and not all of it involves the Biden family. This post quotes those portions of the press conference that address Biden family corruption. The gist of it is that, while Democrats obsess about Trump’s purported criminality, despite the absence of any evidence, their chosen standard-bearer is extraordinarily corrupt.  


WNU Editor: This is a story that WNU covered last year .... Ukraine Government Reveals How Millions Were Sent To Hunter Biden And The John Kerry Family (November 15, 2019), including how Joe Biden used his office to protect his son and the money that they were making in Ukraine .... Ukraine Lawmaker Releases Audio Of A Phone Call Between Ukrainian President Poroshenko, VP Biden, And Secretary of State Kerry On Dismissal Of Prosecutor Investigating Biden's Son (May 20, 2014). But Biden's ties to Ukraine go back years, starting 6 years ago when the Ukraine war broke out .... With Fighting Continuing In The Region, Ukraine Is Still Proceeding To Develop It's Shale Gas Deposits (July 26, 2014). 

So why rehash the story now? 

This corruption was revealed last year and it did not change anything. The media ignored it, focusing instead on President Trump and his Ukraine phone call and why he should be impeached. 

Bottom line. President-elect Biden will be sworn in a few weeks, and this corruption will be swept under the rug .... again.
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Here Are Some Of The Coolest Ancient Weapons Discovered In 2020

(Image credit: Ca' Foscari University of Venice/Andrea Avezzù) 


Archaeologists unearthed amazing swords, daggers and other weaponry this year 

Ancient swords, elaborate daggers, even early artillery — 2020 turned up a number of intriguing ancient weapons that tell the story of the violence of the past. 

These discoveries cover hundreds of thousands of years of human history, ranging from the ice age to medieval times. 

Read more .... 

WNU Editor: The 5,000 year old dagger is quite a find, as well as the 2,000 year old Roman dagger.
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Growing Backlash Against Venezuelan Migrants In Colombia

Jose Paéz (right), who migrated from Venezuela, pleads with a Colombian police officer. He was detained with about 50 other people at a roadblock in Pamplona. John Otis for NPR 


Just three days after crossing the border into Colombia to escape food shortages, joblessness and authoritarian rule in Venezuela, Alexander González says he's shocked by the xenophobia of his adopted homeland. 

"Colombians treat Venezuelans badly," says González, 19, as he takes a breather in the Colombian town of Pamplona before setting off on foot for the capital of Bogotá. "They practically spit in our faces." 

Amid Venezuela's worst-ever economic crisis, which is widely blamed on corruption and mismanagement by President Nicolás Maduro's socialist regime, more than 5 million Venezuelans have fled the country. 

Read more .... 

WNU Editor: I have friends who live in neighboring Guyana on the other side of Venezuela. They tell me that there are now more Venezuelans in the country than Guyanans, and like Colombia, no one wants them to stay. In response these migrants cannot access the services that many in Guyana take for granted. And they certainly will not be permitted to become citizens.
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Has Military Superiority Made America Less Safe? (Book Review)

 


America’s dominance wasn’t by happenstance. It was a choice. 

There’s a myth Americans tell themselves: After World War II, the United States had no choice but to be the world’s superpower and preeminent military force. No other countries were strong enough after years of fighting, and it was solely up to the US, by virtue of its position, to rebuild and reorder the world. 

The reason that’s not true, says Stephen Wertheim, author of Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of US Global Supremacy, is because the US made a conscious decision to seek military dominance before World War II ended. Such a strategy, forged in the heat of battle, would help the US thwart totalitarian regimes — namely the Soviet Union in later years — while pursuing its own interests. 


WNU Editor: The leadership in Washington made the decision to be the world’s superpower and preeminent military force, and they have been pursuing it since the end of the Second World War. But does the average American want to run an empire? And has this status of being a world superpower made the U.S. more safe? This is a debate that sorely needs to be done. Unfortunately. I do not see such a debate happening in the near future.
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Who Will Be Russia’s Next President?

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin 


The leader of Russia’s second-largest opposition party has named the eight candidates he believes are most likely to replace Vladimir Putin as Russian president. 

Vladimir Zhirinovsky also jokingly added himself to the mix. 

Famous for his passionate, patriotic rhetoric and confrontational style, Zhirinovsky is often mocked as a clown by the media and intelligentsia, but is Russia’s most popular political figure outside of the government. 

A recent Levada poll put his ‘trust rating’ at 13 percent. That’s more than four times higher than the Western-leaning opposition figure Alexey Navalny (3 percent). 

Read more .... 

WNU Editor: I am not a fan of Vladimir Zhirinovsky. But he is right that Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is the one who is best positioned to take over should Putin retire in the coming year. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is seen by many Russians to be someone who will break from the past, without all the baggage of Putin (even though he was appointed by him).  Another appeal is that he has shown himself to be a capable manager of the country's affairs during these difficult times. The fact that he has the full support of Putin also helps him. The real test will be when he campaigns in the next election (if Putin does not), and will he be able to attract the same bloc of voters that have always supported Putin .... the elderly/pensioners, the Russian Orthodox Church, the bureaucracy, and the growing middle and entrepreneurial class.
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