Special Counsel Jack Smith is set to step down before United States President-elect Donald Trump takes office, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Smith is the prosecutor leading the federal inquiries into accusations of election meddling and the mishandling of confidential documents by Trump following the end of his presidency. He has already requested a postponement of the criminal proceedings against Trump. In an earlier discussion on the “Hugh Hewitt Show,” Trump mentioned that he would fire the counsel if he were to be elected again.
Ministry: Iran ready for oil export challenges in Trump’s Admin.
Iran’s Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad stated Wednesday that Tehran is prepared for any potential oil export restrictions following the reelection of Donald Trump, who will begin his second term in January 2025. Speaking to local journalists, Paknejad emphasized that, regardless of Trump’s return to office, Iran’s oil sales will remain unaffected. He said that the ministry has independently developed strategies to increase exports, including the expansion of small refineries supported by private sector investment. The minister also reassured that there would be no issues with supplying crude oil to these refineries. The Iranian minister mentioned that national policies regarding the oil market will continue to be implemented in the same way regardless of who is in office in the White House.
Trump’s defense choice stuns the Pentagon
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world by nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary, tapping someone largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage to take over the world’s largest and most powerful military. The news was met with bewilderment and worry among many in Washington as Trump passed on a number of established national security heavy-hitters and chose an Army National Guard captain well known in conservative circles as a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend.” While some Republican lawmakers had a muted response to the announcement, others called his combat experience an asset or said he was “tremendously capable.” Hegseth’s choice could bring sweeping changes to the military.
He has made it clear on his show and in interviews that, like Trump, he is opposed to “woke” programs that promote equity and inclusion. He also has questioned the role of women in combat and advocated pardoning service members charged with war crimes.
The 44-year-old Hegseth, a staunch conservative who embraces Trump’s “America First” policies, has pushed for making the military more lethal. During an interview on “The Shawn Ryan Show” podcast, he said allowing women to serve in combat hurts that effort. “Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat, that means casualties are worse,” Hegseth said. And while he said diversity in the military is a strength, he said it was because minority and white men can perform similarly but the same isn’t true for women. By opening combat slots to women, “we’ve changed the standards in putting them there, which means you’ve changed the capability of that unit,” Hegseth said in the podcast interview. While Trump lauded Hegseth as “tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” others were quick to point to the TV personality’s lack of experience. Some suggested he could be Pentagon chief in name only as the Trump White House runs the department. “There is reason for concern that this is not a person who is a serious enough policymaker, serious enough policy implementer, to do a successful job,” said Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Hegseth’s lack of senior national security experience makes it more difficult to get Senate confirmation. “I think Trump was tired of fighting with his secretaries of defense and picked one who would be loyal to him,” Cancian said. Military officials said the choice came out of the blue. A senior military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said Hegseth’s selection is raising concerns about whether he has the practical experience to manage a large department with an enormous budget. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down,” Trump said in a statement. “Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy.”
OPEC+ Faces Double Trouble: China Demand Weakness and Trump’s Policies
- China’s weak oil demand has already thrown OPEC+ off track in its supply-management policies.
- Trump’s energy policies could create a new challenge for OPEC in 2025.
- Amidst further uncertainties about global oil supply and demand with President Trump, OPEC+ may have to tweak their production policy more often than they have intended.
The OPEC+ group has struggled to manage oil supply and prices this year.
First, there was overproduction from several members, undermining the cuts from the other producers in the pact. Then came the summer and the first actual consumption data for the first and second quarters of the year, showing that China’s oil demand growth is nowhere near OPEC’s expectations. Toward the end of the year, just as the cartel and its allies announced they would postpone the start of the easing of the production cuts to January 2025, they now have the wildest card on the market of all—President-elect Donald Trump. China’s weak oil demand has already thrown OPEC+ off track in its supply-management policies and continues to defy OPEC forecasts with underwhelming crude consumption and imports.
The group now has to contend with some policies President-elect Trump has promised to introduce, including easier permitting for fossil fuel projects, import tariffs, and a more rigid stance toward Iran.
China Weakness
China has already undermined the OPEC+ alliance’s policy. The group is cutting production, but demand has been weaker than expected amid slower Chinese economic growth, the property crisis undermining construction activities and diesel consumption, and the surge in electric vehicle (EV) sales and registrations of LNG-fueled trucks. OPEC has been wrong-footed by the surge in electric mobility in China, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its World Energy Outlook 2024 report last month. In October, OPEC cut its 2024 global oil demand forecast in the third consecutive monthly report, citing actual consumption data so far this year and expectations of slightly lower demand in some regions, including China. In each report since August, OPEC has signaled that its estimates of Chinese oil demand growth were too optimistic when it published the first outlook for 2024 in July 2023. Despite the optimistic long-term view, OPEC’s short-term demand outlook on China has been revised down, again. Weaker-than-expected oil consumption in China and rising electric vehicle sales will continue to weigh on the world’s oil demand growth going forward, according to the IEA’s Executive Director, Fatih Birol.
“This year, global oil demand is very weak, much weaker than previous years, and we expect this will continue because of one word — China,” Birol told Bloomberg in an interview last month.China’s official crude oil import data hasn’t been encouraging for OPEC, either. Although imports are not all the crude China consumes, the import trends in the world’s top crude importer have weighed on oil prices.
The latest Chinese data showed another month of lower crude oil imports compared to the same month of 2023.
In October, China imported 10.53 million bpd of crude oil, per data from the General Administration of Customs. This was the sixth consecutive month in which crude cargo arrivals have lagged behind the imports in the same months of 2023. And imports were 9% lower compared to October 2023 and 2% below the import level of 11.07 million bpd in September 2024. Apart from China, OPEC+ will now have to navigate uncertainties and risks to oil demand and supply with the incoming American president. President-elect Trump is expected to step up sanctions on Iran, an OPEC member exempted from the production cuts, which earlier this year saw its exports hitting a six-year high. Lower Iranian supply could be bullish for oil prices if demand holds. But other policies Trump has floated, such as 10% tariffs on all U.S. imports and a 60% tariff on imports from China, could undermine global economic growth, leading to lower global oil demand overall. OPEC+ can ill-afford weak global oil demand growth if it wants to return 2.2 million bpd of supply to the market next year. Tariffs could slow U.S. and global economic growth, reducing oil demand by as much as 500,000 bpd in 2025 – one-third of Wood Mackenzie’s current projection for global oil demand growth next year.
“This has the potential to soften oil prices by US$5 to US$7/bbl from current levels, assuming no other risks such as an escalation in Israel-Iran hostilities,” Simon Flowers, chairman and chief analyst at WoodMac wrote last week.
Despite the fact that the U.S. oil and gas industry got what it had wanted for four years – a president supportive of the sector – American production is unlikely to grow by much more than the current growth trajectory, analysts say. That’s because the big public companies that dominate shale supply will continue to prefer returns to shareholders and capital discipline to “drill, baby, drill,” according to Wood Mackenzie and Rystad Energy. Moreover, WoodMac’s Flowers said tariffs would likely expose U.S. producers and services companies to cost inflation. “While the incoming administration will hold a more favourable view towards the oil and gas industry, ultimately the potential for production growth is going to be largely dictated by price,” Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, says. Amidst further uncertainties about global oil supply and demand with President Trump, OPEC+ may have to tweak their production policy more often than they have intended.
Trump Taps Huckabee as Israel Envoy, Plans Capitol Hill Trip
President-elect Donald Trump is nominating former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to be the US ambassador to Israel. Trump announced the selections on Tuesday, praising Huckabee as someone who “loves Israel, and the people of Israel” and saying he would “work tirelessly to bring about Peace in the Middle East.” Huckabee is a prominent religious conservative and his selection as Israel envoy is likely to be cheered by that bloc, which was critical to propelling Trump to the White House in both 2016 and in last week’s election. He is also the father of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s former White House press secretary and the current Arkansas governor. If Huckabee is confirmed by the US Senate he would assume his posts amid the Israel-Hamas war and heightened hostilities between Israel and Iran. Trump has said he hopes to bring an end to the conflicts. NN: A great choice. He can do a lot to help Israel in their hour of need.
Trump considering executive order to create board to purge ‘woke’ generals, admirals….Its about time
President-elect Donald Trump is preparing an executive order to establish a “warrior board” tasked with purging high-ranking generals and admirals deemed unfit for leadership, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing a draft reviewed by the newspaper. According to the report, the board of retired military officers would have the authority to review and remove three- and four-star officers who, in Trump’s view, lack the “requisite leadership qualities.” If somehow instated, the move would allow Trump to bypass traditional Pentagon procedures, signaling his intent to reshape military leadership. The former president has previously vowed to eliminate so-called “woke generals,” accusing them of prioritizing diversity over combat readiness. NN: This is a desperately needed change. Liberals hair is on fire over this one.
Trump to Nominate Hegseth as His Defense Secretary
- Hegseth is an Army veteran of Iraq, Afghanistan and an author
- Trump’s choice to lead the Defense Department was unexpected
The White House may also charge the new Pentagon boss with cutting costs from its budget and pivoting its procurement bureaucracy toward funding technology innovations. Hegseth’s confirmation hearing could surface controversial stances he’s taken on military matters, including his advocacy on behalf of American soldiers accused or convicted of war crimes in Iraq and his defense of the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Hegseth’s unit served at the US prison base in Cuba, and he subsequently volunteered to serve in Iraq. He also served in Afghanistan. The pick also conforms with Trump’s longtime preference for staff who are said to look the part. Choosing Hegseth — who wrote books including “Battle for the American Mind” and “The War on Warriors” — also signals Trump will indeed make good on his pledge to crack down on what he sees as “woke” initiatives at the Pentagon. NN: The last man in the job is a affirmative action totally unqualified liberal lefty PC choice. He has deiminated the US military with his WOK DOPE Fagit agenda. HEGSETH is a vehement anti WOK anti affirmation action leader. The military’s job is to fight wars not a equal opportunity employer or a vehicle for liberal lefty social change. I hope he can get confirmed.
Pentagon confirms Houthis attack on US vessels
United States Department of Defense (DoD) press secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder confirmed on Tuesday that the Houthis attacked American ships in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. Two American destroyers, USS Stockdale and Spruance, “were attacked by at least eight one-way attacks and two unmanned aerial systems, five anti-ship ballistic missiles, and three anti-ship cruise missiles,” Ryder said at the press conference, adding that no personnel was injured in the attacks.
OPEC Cuts Global Oil Demand Growth Forecasts For a Fourth Consecutive Month
OPEC cut its oil demand growth forecasts for this year and next for a fourth consecutive month as it belatedly recognized a slowdown in top consumer China. Global oil consumption will increase by 1.8 million barrels a day — just under 2% — in 2024, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in a monthly report. That’s 107,000 barrels a day less than previously forecast after data from across Asian nations like China and India, as well Africa, arrived below expectations, it said. OPEC has scaled back this year’s demand growth projections by almost a fifth since July, in keeping with a sharp retreat in crude prices. Yet the cartel’s outlook remains significantly more bullish than other forecasters — from Wall Street banks and trading houses, and even Saudi Arabia’s oil company, Aramco. It’s roughly double the rate anticipated by the International Energy Agency. The group’s members have shown a lack of confidence in the Vienna-based secretariat’s forecasts. Led by Saudi Arabia, OPEC and its allies have twice delayed the restart of production halted since 2022. A series of modest monthly increases is due to start early next year — pushed back from October — and will be reviewed at a meeting on Dec. 1.
OPEC Retreats Again
Cartel cuts demand forecasts a fourth time
International crude futures have declined roughly 18% since early July, trading near $72 a barrel in London, as traders grow increasingly confident that conflict in the Middle East won’t disrupt the region’s exports. Instead, they’ve focused on a slowdown in China, where demand contracted several months in a row as Beijing grapples with an array of economic challenges.The outlook may be shaken by the return next year of President-Elect Donald Trump, who has threatened to impose severe trade tariffs on China and other countries. During his previous term, Trump choked oil exports from OPEC member Iran in a dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program, and often scolded the cartel for keeping prices high. In the meantime, OPEC+’s leadership may take consolation from the improving performance of some members that have lagged in implementing their output cutbacks.Kazakhstan reduced production by 292,000 barrels a day to 1.29 million a day in October, according to the report. That’s below its quota, meaning the country has made a start on the additional curbs it pledged as compensation for previous overproduction. The reduction may simply reflect temporary maintenance at the nations’s giant Kashagan oil field. Iraq is also gradually falling in line with the quota agreed at the start of year, while still pumping above it and showing no sign of compensating for previous cheating. It reduced daily output by 66,000 barrels to 4.068 million barrels in October, still a bit higher than its target of 4 million barrels. Russia remained a little above its agreed ceiling, the report showed. OPEC predicts that world oil consumption will average 104 million barrels a day this year. Daily demand will increase by a further 1.5 million barrels in 2025, or 103,000 barrels less than the organization previously forecast. OPEC’s rival institution, the Paris-based IEA, will release its latest monthly assessment of global oil markets on Thursday. It has predicted that demand growth will slow as the world shifts away from fossil fuels toward electric vehicles, in a bid to avert disastrous climate change. NN: The world has changed. The war premium has been replaced by the Trump Drill baby surplus
Trump meets with Netanyahu’s envoy on Middle East issues
United States President-elect Donald Trump met Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer (pictured) at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday to discuss major Middle East issues, Axios reported, citing two US officials familiar with the meeting. The agenda included the ongoing Gaza and Lebanon conflicts and concerns over Iran, as Trump prepares for his upcoming presidency. According to CNN, Dermer, a close ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sought to understand Trump’s approach to these regional matters. NN: Notice how quite Iran has gotten. They realized that the WOK JOKE president is gone replaced with a real man itching to send them to their virgins.