The Patriot Post® · How Putin Pushed Pump Prices Higher <em>Before</em> Invading Ukraine
The crude oil price is now dropping as the global market balances its concern about the Ukraine invasion and disruption of oil supplies. The recent price surge helped line Vladimir Putin’s pockets, but to a much greater extent that is true of the significant petroleum product price increases since Joe Biden took office — because Biden took office.
Russia is largely dependent on energy exports for revenues. More than 40% of Russia’s federal budget is funded by oil and gas sales, which account for almost 60% of its exports. Thus, the price of oil has a dramatic impact on Russia’s economy. Thus, impeding oil exports, by way of sanctions rather than boycotts, as I noted in “Biden’s ‘Russian Oil’ Smokescreen,” will hit Putin hard. But that will also hit American consumers hard and exacerbate Biden’s inflation bomb, which will undermine the Demos’ midterm election prospects.
For the record, the national average for regular gas on January 20, 2021, Donald Trump’s last day in office, was $2.39. The day Biden entered office, he killed the Keystone XL Pipeline and other oil production projects, appeasing the Left’s “climate change” radicals.
Six weeks into Biden’s rule, gas prices had already increased to $2.87. At the end of Biden’s first year in office, the price of a gallon of gas was $3.15. Clearly, the current nominal record price surge above $4.30 is related to concerns about oil supply disruption after the Ukraine invasion.
Biden’s blame-shifting to Putin responsibility for the current spike in gas prices may be partly correct, but the problem is that Biden enabled Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, so the actual blame immediately comes full circle. Biden has manifestly proven his ineptitude, leading from behind, and undeniably, Biden’s agenda since day one has been to enact policies which force higher fuel prices as he promised.
However, there is some Putin blame that Biden does not want to mention — the extent to which Putin has funded left-wing groups opposing U.S. oil development in order to keep the price of Russian oil exports higher. This is yet another case of Democrat collusion with Russians.
According to a formal inquiry regarding three environmental activist groups — the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the Sierra Club — congressional investigators want full disclosure on funding that may be tied to Russia. The allegation is that they all have ties to an organization called Sea Change, which “may be a conduit for Russian funding.”
The inquiry notes: “Provided the public reporting of Putin’s dark money influence in Europe and the concerns surrounding similar efforts in the United States, we write today to explore your connections with Sea Change. Any action by President Putin, the Russian government, or Putin’s allies to undermine American energy security must be addressed.”
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) says there is substantial emerging evidence that extremist environmental groups are, in part, being funded by Russia, in additional to their domestic socialist benefactors.
Crenshaw outlines the Russian subterfuge:
The anti-fossil fuel talking points that you’ve heard from the left for years were likely written by the Russians.
The radical environmentalists don’t want you know this.
In 2014, former NATO Secretary General Rasmussen warned of Putin’s dark money machine to undermine American energy.
“Russia… engaged actively with so-called [NGOs] — environmental organizations working against shale gas — to maintain dependence on imported Russian gas.”
Even Hillary Clinton admitted that “phony environmental groups” were funded by Russia to “stand against any effort” related to American fracking for natural gas, and that a lot of funding for the anti-fracking movement in the United States was “coming from Russia.”
In 2017, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report finding “clear evidence that the Kremlin is financing and choreographing anti-fracking propaganda in the United States.”
In 2019, former Senior Director for Europe and Russia at the U.S. National Security Council testified that Russia was doing this because Putin sees “American fracking as a great threat to Russian interests” and that a ban on fracking would “play into strengthening Putin’s hands.”
Putin allegedly uses a San Fransisco-based environmental NGO called Sea Change to funnel money into environmental advocacy efforts designed to undermine American energy. Sea Change receives funding from a Bermuda-based company called Klein Ltd.
According to a 2014 report, Klein Ltd. is used “for funneling Russian government money to American environmental groups in order to undermine U.S. natural gas and oil production to Russia’s benefit.”
We know for a fact that several high profile environmental groups in America are top recipients of funding from Sea Change. You’ll recognize their names.
That’s why we’re launching an investigation … into this potential Russian collusion.
No word how many of these “environmental” groups receive funding from the ChiComs…
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776