Day: August 21, 2022

Saudi prince who has invested heavily in US invested $500,000,000 in Russian firms at war onset

BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2022/08/saudi-prince-who-has-invested-heavily-in-us-invested-500000000-in-russian-firms-at-war-onset;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

America finds itself in an economic nightmare and is in free fall internationally. Foreign countries and even enemies either respected or feared Donald Trump. He was wildly popular in India, which is now tightening its economic ties with Russia, and relations with Saudi Arabia were also warm. Even Putin stated that Trump should be respected for his “democratic mandate.” Joe Biden, on the other hand, is an international joke, as are his woke supporters.

Now news emerges that right before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Saudi Prince Alwaleed, who has invested heavily in American universities and other institutions, “invested more than $500 million in Russian firms around the time of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Following Saudi Arabia, Russia is the world’s largest oil and gas exporter.

Not long after the invasion, Foreign Policy magazine published an article, Biden Should Punish Saudi Arabia for Backing Russia which asserted:

As the United States and its allies stand united against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Saudi Arabia is siding with Russia. By failing to publicly condemn the invasion and reiterating its commitment to the OPEC+ agreement, the Saudi government exposed cracks in its long-standing partnership with the United States.

But action by the Saudis may not have been due to any “cracks.” One can argue that all countries with alliances that are purely economic, and not based on shared values, will experience inevitable “cracks” in the partnership. The shift in Saudi loyalties has more to do with Joe Biden, as does the shift in India. The Saudi shift, accompanied by Alwaleed’s investment, was an omen for America under Biden: a global realignment is taking place. No one respects America under Joe Biden, except the hopelessly woke.

“Saudi Billionaire Made $500 Million Russia Bet at War Onset,” by Matthew Martin, Bloomberg News, August 15, 2022:

(Bloomberg) — Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal invested more than $500 million in Russian firms around the time of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, in a sign of the careful political position the Gulf state has maintained with its OPEC+ partner.

Prince Alwaleed’s investment firm, Kingdom Holding Co., acquired depositary receipts issued by Gazprom PSJC, Lukoil PJSC and Rosneft PJSC in February, according to a stock exchange filing. Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

No specific dates for the investments were given, and the Saudi firm didn’t respond to questions about whether it still owned them. The value of all those depositary receipts dropped rapidly after the war began, when trading in Moscow was halted and western sanctions were imposed on Russia.

Alwaleed, whose grandfather was the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, is one of the country’s richest men and most high profile international investors. More recently he has been eclipsed by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, chaired by his cousin, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which acquired a 16.9% stake in Kingdom Holding Co. in May….

State Department set to grant visa to Iran’s Raisi, ‘Butcher of Baghdad,’ for UN speech despite assassination plots

BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2022/08/state-department-set-to-grant-visa-to-irans-raisi-butcher-of-baghdad-for-un-speech-despite-assassination-plots;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Joe Biden is under pressure to ban Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, known as the Butcher of Baghdad, from an upcoming U.N. appearance. In the interests of national security, Biden should refuse the Raisi visit, but as usual, his weakness and appeasement prevail.

The first commitment of the American government should be national security, which Joe Biden and his Democrat cronies have long abandoned. Just look at the Southern border to see how much American national security really matters to Joe Biden. 

“US State Department set to grant a visa to Iranian president for UN speech amid assassination plots,” by Mike Wagenheim, JNS, August 16, 2022:

(August 15, 2022 / JNS) Under pressure to deny an entry visa to Iran’s president, the U.S. State Department says it must uphold its commitments to the United Nations under its arrangement as the host country.

Seven Republican senators sent a letter on Aug. 2 to U.S. President Joe Biden urging him to deny visas for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation to attend the U.N. General Assembly in September. Raisi is scheduled to speak at the event.

A State Department spokesperson told JNS that it is “generally obligated under the United Nations Headquarters Agreement to facilitate travel” by U.N. member representatives. The spokesperson added: “We take our obligations under the U.N. Headquarters Agreement seriously. At the same time, the Biden administration has not and will not waver in protecting and defending all Americans against threats of violence and terrorism.”

The spokesperson said that visa records are confidential under U.S. law and couldn’t be discussed.

The senators wrote that “Raisi’s involvement in mass murder and the Iranian regime’s campaign to assassinate U.S. officials on American soil make allowing Raisi and his henchmen to enter our country an inexcusable threat……

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis campaigns for Doug Mastriano in Pittsburgh~DeSantis Announces 20 Voter Fraud Arrests of convicted Florida criminals~PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE?

Sen. Doug Mastriano & Gov. Ron DeSantis in Pittsburgh PA, hosted by TPAction (1hr 16min) 

DeSantis Announces 20 Voter Fraud Arrests of convicted Florida criminals

DeSantis is Sounding More and More Like a Presidential Candidate

BY RICK MORAN

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2022/08/20/stumping-for-republicans-desantis-is-sounding-more-and-more-like-a-presidential-candidate-n1622573;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is on a campaign swing on behalf of Republican candidates around the country. And if you listen to what he has to say for more than a couple of minutes, you realize that, no matter what candidate he’s supposed to be touting in his speech, his focus is on 2024 and the presidential race.

DeSantis is trying out applause lines, testing them with MAGA audiences in battleground states. “The State of Florida is where woke goes to die,” he exclaims at every stop to big cheers. His battle against COVID-19 mandates also got huge applause as he ticked off government mandates and strictures he opposed.

Since recent scientific evidence has proven DeSantis right — for the most part — that part of his presentation should resonate strongly with independent voters. But it’s Florida’s war against woke that the people come to hear. And DeSantis doesn’t disappoint.

Spectator World:

DeSantis’s recurring focus, though, and the topic that got the loudest cheers, was battling Covid mandates and woke culture. He listed off the ways in which Florida has stood up to “the woke mob,” namely: by relinquishing the Disney Corporation’s special treatment in the wake of the Parental Rights in Education law uproar, banning Critical Race Theory in schools, promoting parents’ rights, establishing an initiative to educate children on American civics and to instruct kids on the consequences of communism “and how that has destroyed so many societies.”

DeSantis called the CRT ban the biggest issue his administration has worked on, saying schools need to “educate our kids [rather than] indoctrinate them” on matters such as “woke gender ideologies.” Returning time and again to matters that concern children, DeSantis spoke about the “mind virus” of woke ideologies “totally divorced from reality,” pointing as an example to Lia Thomas, the University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer who swam on the men’s team for three years, only to become a champion after switching to the women’s team.

Most revealing was the way in which DeSantis was selling himself: a non-nonsense, hard-charging, stand-up-to-the-left kind of candidate who doesn’t apologize for having sharp elbows.

DeSantis then went on to toot his own horn, subtly. Without naming names, he said, “A governor worth his salt is somebody who’s capable of being a leader, and there’s really no substitute for that. When you’re the governor, the buck stops with you.” He said the duty of a governor is to “stand up for people in your state,” adding that when he himself was elected governor, he didn’t do things based on polls, but made decisions “on conviction” and by “doing what’s right.”

DeSantis 2024 implied, the governor wrapped up with a “go get ’em!” closer on courage. As a political leader, you “have to be willing to show some courage to take on the woke mob, fighting cancel culture — that’s what is called for right now.”

“I get attacked when I roll out of bed in the morning,” he said nonchalantly. “I’m used to it. That’s just the cost of being engaged and standing for the truth. It’s worth it.”

There’s little doubt that DeSantis is the MAGA crowd’s number-two choice. But if Trump runs, DeSantis is still likely to finish a distant second. And for those who see Trump-DeSantis as a “dream ticket, there are electoral college handicaps to such a pairing, although it’s not illegal.

Besides, with both candidates agreeing on almost every issue, DeSantis wouldn’t bring much to the ticket — not as much as a vice presidential candidate from Pennsylvania or Wisconsin.

But Trump’s availability is by no means assured. His legal problems are escalating, and he will be 78 years old if he decides to run in 2024. So DeSantis is correct in getting an early start on the campaign in case Trump would, for whatever reason, falter.

Are our doctors lying to us? With Dr. Ken Berry, MD

Dr. Ken Berry wants us all to be aware that much of what our doctors say may be a lie. Maybe not an outright malicious lie, but much of what "we" believe in medicine can be traced back to word-of-mouth teachings without a scientific basis. In his book, "Lies My Doctor Told Me" he uncovers the most common of these misconceptions. He also shares his story of how he learned the power of a ketogenic diet and how that has revolutionized his ability to help his patients. Dr. Berry has an open and honest approach and pulls no punches. That's one reason why he is always informative and entertaining!