War: What is it good for?
Good day to each of you reading this column on the subject above which is War: What is good for? Absolutely Nothing!
Many of you reading this column grew up in the Vietnam era and remember this song by Edwin Starr—War: What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing!
This song is so true in today’s news with the Ukraine-Russia War effecting the world’s political and economic climate.
Take a moment to read the lyrics from Edwin Starr’s War song:
War, huh yeah What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, oh hoh, oh War huh yeah What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, say it again y'all War, huh good God What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, listen to me Oh, war, I despise 'Cause it means destruction of innocent lives War means tear to thousands of mothers eyes When their sons go off to fight and lose their lives I said War, huh good God y'all What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, just say it again War whoa Lord What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, listen to me War, it ain't nothin' but a heartbreaker War, friend only to the undertaker Oh war, is an enemy to all mankind The thought of war blows my mind War has caused unrest within the younger generation Induction, then destruction who wants to die War, good God, y'all What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, say it, say it, say it War, uh huh, yeah, huh What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, listen to me War, it ain't nothin' but a heartbreaker War, it's got one friend that's the undertaker Oh, war has shattered many young man's dreams Made him disabled bitter and mean Life is much to short and precious to spend fighting wars these days War can't give life it can only take it away, ooh War, huh, good God y'all What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, say it again War, whoa, Lord What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, listen to me War, it ain't nothin' but a heartbreaker War, friend only to the undertaker Peace love and understanding tell me Is there no place for them today They say we must fight to keep our freedom But Lord knows there's got to be a better way War, huh, good God y'all What is it good for? You tell 'em, say it, say it, say it, say it War, good Lord, huh What is it good for? Stand up and shout it, nothing War, it ain't nothin' but a heartbreaker
Here is a song not so long ago written about war and the effects that it has on each of us. The thought of World War III sends chills up my spine and the reality is very simply put, that it could happen any day.
Fellow Christian, we have entered the “end of days” or the end of the ages for we are seeing the plight of mankind held by the prince of this earth, Satan and his legion.
Some of you reading this many find me crazy, but when you read the Bible and you begin to study closely, the signs of the times are aligning for we all look to our Saviour to claim his kingdom here on earth.
Here, in the past few weeks in the USA, we have seen gasoline and natural gas prices escalate to new highs. Inflation has ballooned prices at the grocery store, convenience store, drug store and favorite restaurants.
Family vacations have been put on hold, air travel is increasing 10% or more due to increased gas prices, sports and amusement attractions have raised their prices dramatically and to the point that a family of four may need a loan to attend a game or amusement.
The American farmer raises prices to keep up with the cost of buying seed, fertilizer, employees wages, fixing broken parts on the tractor, medicine for the animals, feed for the animals and other expenses that I have failed to mention.
And the latest from Bloomberg, 02/23/22, Russia is a low-cost, high-volume global producer for all major fertilizers, and it’s the world’s second-largest producer after Canada of potash, a key nutrient used on major commodity crops and produce. The tension in the region as well as sanctions on Russia could hurt trade flows. U.S.-based Mosaic Co., a major fertilizer producer, warned of potash shortages in a call with analysts Wednesday.
“Fertilizer prices are at all time highs, this is really just adding more pressure,” said Patrick Donnelly, senior analyst at Third Bridge. “It’s a very real possibility we see shortages for this coming year especially heading into the North American growing season.”
Fertilizer Giants
Canada, Russia were the top potash producers in 2021 The top four (4) producers in order:
“Lower export supply would hit the Northern Hemisphere agricultural markets first as their main consumption season occurs in the second quarter,” Alexis Maxwell, an analyst with Bloomberg’s Green Markets said. Courtesy of: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-23/russia-ukraine-tensions-spur-fears-of-fertilizer-shortages-food-price-hikes
President Biden has pursued a series of economic sanctions against Russia which include the possibility of tariffs on fertilizer. In 2021, the U.S. imported $1.28 Billion of fertilizer from Russia, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. OUCH! More Tariffs on the US Farmer! Could it be that the US Farmer would be tariff penalized?
Tariffs, as I have shown in previous articles on the depression do not make sense and do not work! In the end, we the American businessman must pay the US government the tariff and pass on the price increase to the next person in line while the government gets richer.
Here is another interesting fact concerning oil sanctions placed on Russia—According to the NY Post dated, 03/08/22– While far less reliant on Russian oil and gas than its European counterparts, the US did import some supply prior to the ban. The US imported about 672,000 barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia in 2021, according to data from the Energy Information Agency. That total accounted for roughly 8% of all US imports.
Full article available per the Wall Street Journal, written by By Joe Wallace and Anna Hirtenstein — https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-03-04/card/shell-buys-russian-oil-at-bargain-price-2ZljvO2HQlmPm5d5aAgG
Shell Buys Russian Oil at Bargain Price
Shell PLC has snapped up a cargo of Russian crude at a bargain price, ending a self-imposed embargo on Russian oil by the international energy industry.
Shell bought 100,000 metric tons of Russia’s flagship Urals crude on Friday, according to people familiar with the transaction. It paid $28.50 a barrel below the price of international benchmark Brent crude, the widest discount on record.
London-listed Shell bought the crude from Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd., one of the biggest commodity traders and largest exporters of Russian oil. Trafigura had failed to sell the cargo this week before drawing a bid from Shell after dropping the price to a massive discount.
And the rich just keep on getting richer as we face massive inflation on all fronts!
Let’s add insult to injury on the foreign oil front– Pete Buttigieg Says Buying Oil From Iran is “On the Table” – As Biden Imposes Restrictions on Domestic Drilling—from https://dcweekly.org/2022/03/03/pete-buttigieg-says-buying-oil-from-iran-is-on-the-table-as-biden-imposes-restrictions-on-domestic-drilling-video.
Let’s examine this subject a bit more and turn to Fox News dated 03/08/22– https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-push-act-ban-biden-buying-iranian-energy.
Republicans push ‘No Oil From Terrorists Act’ to ban Biden from buying Iranian energy
“When Joe Biden crushed the American energy industry on day one of his presidency, he left Americans dependent on our foreign adversaries for oil,” said Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and chairman of the RSC. “This sent gas prices through the roof and allowed Putin to fund his unprovoked war.”
Banks continued: “To add insult to injury, the Biden administration is now considering buying oil from Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terror. There is absolutely no reason to import terrorist’s oil when we can drill better, cheaper, and cleaner right here at home.”
This is so well said from Representative Banks for we can all remember that gas prices went up considerably when President Biden took office and before the Ukraine-Russian War. Where’s the back-up plan to combat high energy costs?
But it does not stop there—Let’s look at the following excerpts from https://news.yahoo.com/us-reaches-maduro-energy-talks-070147052.html
US reaches out to Maduro in energy talks with Venezuela
A US delegation met with Venezuelan government officials in Caracus at the weekend for talks that included a discussion of energy supplies, the White House said Monday as Washington looks for ways to reduce its imports of Russian oil.
Venezuela’s opposition also said it had met with the high-level US delegation, whose trip to Caracas came as Washington seeks to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
President Nicolas Maduro, with whose regime the United States broke off relations in 2019, has been among the few international figures to assure Russian President Vladimir Putin of his “strong support” in the wake of the invasion.
“As it relates to Venezuela, the purpose of the trip that was taken by administration officials was to discuss a range of issues including certainly energy, energy security,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.
Since breaking off diplomatic relations with Caracas, Washington had refused to deal with the Maduro government, instead treating opposition leader Juan Guaido as the South American country’s legitimate president.
Washington signaled last month it would be willing to review its sanctions policy toward Venezuela if talks between Maduro’s government and the opposition moved forward.
What does Iran and Venezuela have in common? Let’s begin with sanctions that have been placed on both countries by the USA, evil dictators and both countries side with Vladimir Putin and yet the USA wishes to trade with these countries, why?
We do have a third country to add to the oil equation and that is Saudi Arabia & OPEC—Here is a very interesting article dated 03/09/22– https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Oil-Prices-Crash-By-11-As-UAE-Calls-On-OPEC-To-Open-The-Taps.html.
Oil Prices Crash By 11% As UAE Calls On OPEC To Open The Taps
In a complete oil industry turnaround, The UAE’s ambassador to Washington has said in a statement to the press that they “favour production increases and will be encouraging Opec to consider higher production levels.”
Yousef al-Otaiba’s statement, carried by the FT, comes as both the UAE and Saudi Arabia—two of the very few, if not the only, OPEC members that are believed to have spare capacity—have ducked calls from President Joe Biden to discuss the crisis that is brewing the oil markets after Russia invaded Ukraine, sending oil prices sky high.
OPEC managed to lift its production by 560,000 bpd in February, according to a new S&P Platts survey, but President Biden has repeatedly asked OPEC to increase its production to ease prices for the American consumer.
While the UAE and Saudi Arabia are the most likely candidates for having spare capacity that could be turned on on short notice, they are already producing to quota. Producing more would be a violation of the OPEC agreement—and more importantly, the OPEC+ agreement that it made with other countries, including Russia.
Neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE is likely to do anything to upset this hard-fought alliance. But that doesn’t mean that they would be opposed to getting the rest of the group on board; not because President Biden attempted to ask again, but because oil prices are calling for it.
The hurdle, however, will be getting Russia—the largest non-OPEC member in the alliance—on board with this plan.
Take notice of the last sentence—the hurdle will be getting Russia on board and do you know that Alexander Novak Alexander Valentinovich Novak is the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia.
According to the NY Times dated 03/02/22 by Stanley Reed, Left unmentioned in the statement was the fact that Russia’s deputy prime minister, Alexander Novak, is a co-chair of OPEC Plus.
Do you really think the UAE or Saudi Arabia, Venezuela or Iran will do us any favors and ease our prices for gasoline and natural gas? How can President Biden blame the gas and oil crisis on the Ukraine-Russian war and why is he saying that President Biden on Tuesday said that he “can’t do much” about gas prices that are surging past all-time highs after he signed an executive order to ban Russian oil imports.
Fellow Christian, awaken from the sleep and PRAY! The alarm must be sounded and we must do what 2 Chronicles 7:14 says—If my People, who are called by name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
One must wonder why the Keystone pipeline is not complete and why we don’t utilize the resources that God has blessed this country with, but this may be too much to ask??
PRAY, HUMBLE, SEEK and Turn from our wicked ways and may God intervene to forgive our sin and heal our land.
Before God will bless us, we must begin by blessing him in all that we say and we do and to follow his commandments, statutes and laws. Otherwise, we will continue to feel the correction rod that is needed to correct this country.
