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U.N. Vote on Iran Nuclear Deal Irks Congress

WASHINGTON — During the closed-door talks in Vienna on limiting Iran ’s nuclear program , Secretary of State John Kerry argued that the United Nations Security Council should not vote on lifting sanctions on Iran until Congress had a chance to review the deal. But he ran into a wall of opposition from Iran, Russia and even the United States’ closest European allies, who argued successfully that Security Council action should come first, according to Western officials. On Sunday, as the Obama administration submitted the Iran nuclear agreement to Congress for what promises to be a raucous 60-day debate, Mr. Kerry and President Obama began grappling with the fallout of that decision, which has complicated their efforts to secure much needed support within their own party. At least two senior Democrats have joined the Republican leadership in complaining that the Security Council action, expected Monday morning, would pre-empt the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Syria’s army says battles rebels near president’s homeland

Children run as they flee from a makeshift playground after hearing the sound of a Syrian fighter jet hovering over Idlib city, Syria July 18, 2015. Syria’s army said on Sunday it had stepped up air strikes and retaken villages in a new offensive on Islamist insurgents in areas close to President Bashar al Assad’s ancestral homeland in the coastal province of Latakia. Aerial bombardment had intensified over the past 48 hours in a bid to cut rebel supply lines in rugged territory close to Turkey’s border, an army source was quoted as saying on state media. Latakia province – home to Syria’s biggest port and a stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect – has been a key battleground of the conflict, which is now in its fifth year. Sunni Muslim jihadists, including al Qaeda’s Syrian offshoot the Nusra Front, control many villages in the borderlands north of the government-held […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Saudis Cast Net for ISIS Sympathizers

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The security forces in Saudi Arabia have carried out a nationwide dragnet in recent months that resulted in the arrest of more than 400 people believed to be connected to the Islamic State jihadist group, the Saudi Interior Ministry said on Saturday. The people who were arrested were linked to recent attacks inside the kingdom; they planned attacks or monitored potential targets, or used social media to spread extremist ideology and entice new recruits, the Interior Ministry said. The high number of arrests highlights the profound fears inside the conservative, oil-rich kingdom that the jihadists who control territory in nearby Iraq and Syria will sow further trouble inside Saudi Arabia, as the militants’ leaders have vowed to do. While Saudi Arabia’s strict version of Islam shares some aspects with the one espoused by the Islamic State, the kingdom’s leaders have denounced the group for its wanton […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Israel signs deal for $1.1 billion thermo-solar power plant

Israel signed a deal to build a 4 billion shekel ($1.05 billion) thermo-solar power plant in the country’s south, aimed at boosting electricity production from renewable energy sources, the Finance Ministry said on Sunday. The 121 megawatt plant, which will also be able to store electricity, will be built by a consortium of Israel’s Shikun & Binui and Spain’s Abengoa in Ashalim in Israel’s southern Negev desert near another solar plant. The plant, to be built under a build, operate and transfer program, is expected to come online in the first half of 2018, the ministry said. Both plants – along with a planned photovoltaic power plant nearby – will provide 2 percent of total electricity production in Israel, which has a target of 10 percent coming from renewable sources by 2020. They will be financed by the European Investment Bank and the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp. The […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Noose tightens around thousands caught in Iraq’s Anbar offensive

As Iraqi forces prepare to try to recapture the city of Falluja, tens of thousands of civilians find themselves trapped between Islamic State militants ready to use them as human shields and a government suspicious of their loyalties. With the jihadists coercing them to stay, and a government blockade and shelling closing exit routes and cutting off supplies, there is "a vice, a noose around the neck of the population", Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, told Reuters. Iraq’s Shi’ite Muslim-led government on Monday announced the start of operations to "liberate Anbar", the province west of Baghdad whose Sunni Muslim cities and towns along the Euphrates have since last year become strongholds of Islamic State. "Since military operations began, it has become impossible to leave," said one 42-year-old teacher. "They (Islamic State) have planted bombs at the entrance and exits to the city and on the main […]

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ISIS Lost Almost 10 Percent of Territory

The Islamic State group (ISIS) saw its territory in Iraq and Syria shrink almost 10 percent in the first six months of the year, as recent victories in Palmyra and Ramadi were outweighed by “significant” losses elsewhere, a report said. The area in which Islamic State is the dominant military force now spans about 82,940 square kilometers (32,000 square miles), the U.K.-based research center IHS said in a study published Friday. That’s about the size of Austria. The militants lost territory in north Syria near the Turkish border, and in Iraq around the city of Tikrit. The group’s reverses in Syria mostly came at the hands of Kurds and associated Sunni groups, starting with defeat at Kobani early in the year, report author Columb Strack said in an e-mailed reply to questions. The real breakthrough though “came with the capture of the Tal Abyad border crossing last month, which […]

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Exports of Oman crude in June outpaces production on surge in China demand

Oman exported more crude oil in June than it produced after trading giant ChinaOil picked up an unprecedented 49 cargoes during the Platts Dubai Market on Close assessment process in April. China, which has been the biggest buyer of Oman crude in recent years, accounted for 90% of the country’s overall crude exports in June, up more than 12% from May, according to data released by Oman’s oil and gas ministry over the weekend. Oman exported 912,015 b/d of crude oil in June — up 11.28% from May — even as its production was only 888,636 b/d, according to government data. In addition to exports, it also supplied 134,366 b/d of crude to domestic refineries, up from 92,534 b/d in May. While China’s share of Oman crude reached a record high, it wasn’t immediately clear where the additional export barrels came from. Traders said the extra crude could be […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China’s Economy Collapsing

Things are not looking for for China. It seems like Beijing has averted a crisis as far as their stock markets are concerned with some heavy-handed intervention. But their corporate debt has already reached $ 16.1 trillion and is still rising. Their corporate debt is currently at 160% of their GDP and that is twice as much as the US having deteriorated sharply in the last 5 years. This debt mountain is going to climb an additional 77% to $ 28.8 trillion in the next 5 years. The policy interventions in Beijing which affect corporate credit have been designed for addressing economic growth so far. But this year, it is set to reach a twenty five-year low. Interest rates have already been cut 4 times since November 2014, bank reserves have been reduced and limits have been removed from the amount of deposits which they can lend. Even though […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Cheap Oil Should Fuel Economy at Last

Pump jacks in North Dakota. Layoff announcements in the energy sector have fallen back lately. Lower oil prices have proven to be more of a bane than a boon for the U.S. economy. But that is about to change. When the price of crude started dropping sharply last fall, most economists reckoned it would be a good thing . Sure, U.S. oil production had boomed due to the shale revolution, but the country was (and is) still a net importer of petroleum products. So, the thinking went, the losses from lower investment and lost jobs in the shale basins would be more than offset by the extra money that got spent on American goods and services rather than foreign oil. Things haven’t actually worked out that way. Rather, the sharp decline in drilling activity has led to a drop in investment and a weakening in the jobs market that […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple