And as I’ve said before, oil. The US doesn’t have to come rushing to Taiwan’s defense. It can do this:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-shale-apos-blows-leave-063738822.html
(Bloomberg) – The U.S. oil industry is delivering a one-two punch to Middle East producers already reeling from a collapse in prices.
A tussle is playing out in the market for so-called light oils, which have a lower sulfur content and are less dense than heavier varieties. When processed, these grades typically yield a higher amount of fuels like gasoline and naphtha. And now, American supplies are weighing on prices for such crudes as well as fuels made from them.
Light oil pumped in U.S. shale fields is increasingly making its way to Asia, undercutting sales by the likes of Saudi Arabia. Additionally, America is exporting a record amount of refined fuel, contributing to a global glut in gasoline and naphtha. That’s hurting some of the biggest members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries as they prepare to curb crude output in a bid to stabilize the market.
Middle East producers – still the dominant suppliers to Asia – are being forced to tackle American crude competition by lowering their oil pricing to defend their market share. The refiners, meanwhile, are contending with booming U.S. fuel shipments dragging down their returns from making processed products.
“It is no surprise that Middle Eastern producers are having to cut light crude prices,” said Virendra Chauhan, an analyst at industry consultant Energy Aspects Ltd. Over the course of 2018, the key sources of global oil-output growth have included light crude from U.S. shale fields and Saudi Arabia, he said.
While Middle East producers such as Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi are reducing the pricing for their lighter crudes, American exports to Asian nations such as India and South Korea are surging. Even a temporary halt by China due to its trade war with the U.S. hasn’t significantly dented overall flows this year.
So, shale oil boom, plus refined exports undercuts OPEC, halt on refined product sales to China, flood India and South Korea. There are many ways to defang the tiger.
You know, this is just as much a media narrative as Trump are dumdum is. Putin’s cards are on the table. He’s played out. His superduper hypersonic nuke is nonsense. Russia has oil to Europe. But they have no real industry, horrible demographics and a real threats of Islamic fundamentalists eating away its southern border like a cancer. He’s a KGB tyrant who consolidated power like , er a KGB tyrant would have. He would sh8t his pants if the US put nukes in say, Norway or Poland. I mean come on, his “big play” in the mid-term election here was to use the US fascination with identity politics to turn Blacks against voting. Wow man, that’s 3D chess right there.
This idiotic display was allowed to pass unassailed because he so smart an scary. gftooh. 