https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-13-2026
"Despite reports that Russia is providing Iran with intelligence that permits
it to target U.S. forces in the Middle East, late last night the Trump
administration lifted sanctions on shipments of Russian oil until April 11,
permitting it to be sold to buyers around the world for the next month. The
U.S., along with the rest of the Group of Seven (G7) nations with advanced
economies, has maintained sanctions against Russia since it invaded Ukraine in
2022.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has been eager to get those sanctions dropped
because oil sales will help the flailing Russian economy. Treasury Secretary
Scott Bessent says the move is necessary to help ease oil prices, which are
skyrocketing because Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for
the attack by the U.S. and Israel. But German chancellor Friedrich Merz said
the heads of the G7 had urged Trump not to ease the sanctions, saying “[t]here
is currently a price problem, but not a supply problem.” He added that he
“would like to know what additional motives led the US government to make this
decision.”
After Trump lifted sanctions on Russian oil that was already in ships,
Democrats cried foul. At a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting yesterday,
Senator Angus King (I-ME) said: “There is a clear winner in this war. The clear
winner is Vladimir Putin and Russia. Estimates released a few hours ago are
that Russia has reaped $6 billion of benefit from this war since it began just
two weeks ago. That’s about $400 million a day from the increase in oil prices
and the easing of sanctions, which is somewhat puzzling to me…. I just think
the record should show that the real winner so far is Vladimir Putin to the
tune of $6 billion in two weeks.”
Meanwhile, Kim Barker of the
New York Times reports that, at the request of
the United States, Ukraine has sent interceptor drones and a team of drone
experts to Jordan to protect U.S. military bases there. “We reacted
immediately,” Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky told Barker. “I said, yes,
of course, we will send our experts.” In a phone call to the
Brian Kilmeade
Show on
Fox Radio this morning, President Donald J. Trump denied that
Ukraine was helping the U.S. with drone defense, saying “we don’t need their
help…. We know more about drones than anybody. We have the best drones in the
world, actually.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
