Stephan: Have you ever wondered why, in the face of incontrovertible scientific evidence that carbon energy is destroying the balance of the earth's biosphere, Trump continues to support it?
Could it be possible that he supports those industries for two reasons: First, they provide enormous political funding through every vector available. Second, the Russian economy is almost entirely based on petroleum. Did you ever know anyone who bought a Russian television, refrigerator, or smartphone?
Putin and Trump's relationship is usually discussed in geopolitical, nation to nation terms, and that is true of Putin, whose life was spent in the Soviet intelligence, but in Trump's world, it is personal. There is an international cohort of very rich men, and Trump lives in an edge of that world, and seeks power in it. He's obsessed with dominance and submission. Look at the proven Trump sexual stories. That's how he is operating. This is all personal. It's just hard to believe that is true, I think.
President Donald Trump’s bid to end the oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia is breeding cautious hopes in Moscow of a possible way out of the damaging stand-off, potentially reversing some of the collapse in crude prices. Credit: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to end the oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia is breeding cautious hopes in Moscow of a possible way out of the damaging stand-off, potentially reversing some of the collapse in crude prices.
The fact that it was Trump who placed the call to Vladimir Putin Monday, reversing his earlier stance welcoming the drop in oil prices, was seen in Moscow as a positive sign, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Trump’s move to appeal for Russian help in stopping the oil rout could allow Putin to appear in a stronger position even if he needs to make some concessions, according to Andrey Kortunov, director of the Kremlin-founded Russian International Affairs Council. “The Kremlin views the call itself as a kind of diplomatic victory,” he said.
