RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/429600-40-years-later-iran-needs-another-revolution
Iran’s threats to America’s global interests are mounting as the Islamic Republic celebrates its 40th anniversary, and these threats mock repeated U.S. efforts over the years to appease a dangerous regime.

Tehran is developing longer range and more sophisticated missiles that can reach U.S. and Israeli targets; building weapons factories in Syria in hopes of establishing a permanent military presence near Israel; investing growing sums to fund, train, and direct terrorist operations; and cracking down ever more harshly at home as opposition to the odious regime continues on multiple fronts.

These developments remind us (if, alas, anyone needs reminding) that a regime that was born from the fires of a theocratic revolution in 1979 maintains its foundational fervor; that its ambitions extend far beyond its borders; that the United States and its allies would be better advised to ramp up the political and economic pressure on the regime rather than launch more misguided efforts to coax it to moderation; and that the West should put its moral voice behind the long-suffering Iranian people.

“[T]he hardliners are still very much in control of Iran,” former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the Arab TV network Al Arabiya, “and I think we in the West tend to view this sometimes very naively. We think of Iran as a state with an ideology, but actually Iran really is an ideology with a state.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/02/12/britain-now-spends-less

Britain now ranks seventh in a league table of the world’s biggest defence spenders, below India and France, after budget cuts.

Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, said in a speech on Monday that the UK was a “nation with the world’s fifth biggest defence budget”.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/02/12/britain-now-spends-less-defence-france-india-ranks-seventh-global/

Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed that while the UK ranked fifth in 2015, spending $55 billion, it has subsequently fallen to seventh in 2016 and 2017.

In 2017 the UK’s military expenditure stood at just over $47 billion.

Defence sources said there were a number of different league tables for defence spending which used different criteria and methodology which meant there was not one definitive ranking.

The United States remained top of the SIPRI league table for military spending in 2017, with its $610 billion outlay almost three times the $228 billion spent by second-placed China.

US military spending represented more than a third of the world’s total spend on defence in 2017.

Saudi Arabia ranked third with Russia in fourth, India in fifth, France in sixth and the UK in seventh.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/02/massive_oil_and_gas_reserves_found_off_south_african_coast_a_game_changer.html

But will the radical-Left government allow for the full development of the find?

While many of the world’s industrial powers are looking for ways to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels, a fabulous oil discovery off the coast of South Africa promises to alter the energy future of the continent.

French state oil company Total led a consortium of companies that had been exploring off the coast of South Africa for several years. Their find has excited the entire oil industry and promises to further reduce the influence of OPEC and other big energy-producers.

ZeroHedge:

“With this discovery, Total has opened a new world-class gas and oil play and is well positioned to test several follow-on prospects on the same block,” said Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice President Exploration at Total.

According to Total’s chief executive Patrick Pouyanne, the discovery could hold 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent of gas and condensate resources.

South Africa still imports much of its oil and gas, which makes this one find a potential game-changer for them.

South Africa is currently working on new legislation that would separate the conditions for exploring and exploiting oil and gas resources from those for traditional minerals.

Commenting on Total’s discovery, Andrew Latham, vice president, global exploration at natural resources consultancy Wood Mackenzie, said:

“Even though the well isn’t an oil discovery, if Brulpadda proves to be anywhere near as big as the estimates of up to 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources, it will still be a game-changer for South Africa.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-holds-talks-with-venezuelan-opposition-on-debt-oil-projects-11549993261

China has been holding talks with Venezuela’s political opposition to safeguard its investments in the troubled Latin American nation, hedging its bets as pressure builds on Nicolás Maduro, the embattled leader for whom Beijing has been a vital ally.

Chinese diplomats, worried over the future of its oil projects in Venezuela and nearly $20 billion that Caracas owes Beijing, have held debt negotiations in Washington in recent weeks with representatives of Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader heading the U.S.-backed efforts to oust Mr. Maduro, according to people familiar with the talks.

“China recognizes the increasing risk of a regime change and does not want to be on the bad side of a new regime,” said R. Evan Ellis, an expert on Chinese relations in Latin America at the U.S. Army War College. “While they prefer stability, they realize they have to put eggs in the other basket.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/canadian-minister-steps-down-amid-ethics-probe-11549992251

The biggest political storm of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s term in office escalated on Tuesday with the resignation of the cabinet minister at the center of allegations that his office interfered in a criminal case.

Jody Wilson-Raybould, who until last month was Canada’s justice minister, said she was tendering her resignation “with a heavy heart” from her post as veterans-affairs minister, in a statement released on her Twitter account. Her surprise decision, for which she gave no further explanation, is the latest development in a political uproar coming just months before Mr. Trudeau hits the campaign trail to seek re-election.

Ms. Wilson-Raybould has declined to comment for nearly a week since allegations emerged that officials in Mr. Trudeau’s office tried last year to persuade her as justice minister to drop a criminal prosecution and cut a plea deal with SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., a Montreal engineering company facing bribery-and-fraud charges. She had invoked solicitor-client privilege as a reason why she couldn’t discuss the matter further, given her previous role as the Canadian cabinet’s legal adviser.

Mr. Trudeau and other government officials have vehemently denied the allegations, first revealed in a report by Toronto’s Globe and Mail.