Despite Trump’s declaration yesterday that billionaire Elon Musk had removed Starlink and Starshield restrictions that cripple Ukraine’s ability to protect itself from Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said today that the restrictions continue.
An article published this evening by Anton Troianovski and Eric Lipton in the New York Times highlights the oil deals that are behind Trump’s rush to normalize relations with Russia at the expense of Ukraine, as well as repeated statements by him and his acolytes that they want to open trade deals with Russia to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop his war on Ukraine — an argument that, on its face, never made sense.
Troianovski and Lipton report that a project to liquefy natural gas in Alaska and export it would not only use Russian technology, but would also be financed with money from a Russian company close to Putin, currently under U.S. sanctions. That company, Novatek, told reporters that it plans to acquire “minority shareholder” status in the Polar LNG project, a move that reporters call “a striking effort by the Russian energy giant to gain ownership of U.S. gas production.”
U.S. sanctions against Novatek mean Polar LNG would need special permission from the Treasury Department to use Novatek equipment. The Graham Act sanctions bill recently passed by Congress specifically targets Novatek because of its ties to Putin – a likely reason why Trump just lifted the new sanctions just two days before they took effect.
Joel Riddle, the CEO of Polar LNG, resigned when he learned that the funding was not coming from the United Arab Emirates, as he had been told, but from Russia. “It is not only illegal, but it is not in the interest of the United States for Russian technology to control the marketing of Arctic gas on the North Slope,” Riddle told the newspaper. New York Times journalists. At least two other Polar LNG executives also resigned, citing concerns about Russian financing.
The Alaska gas talks were accompanied by talk of selling parts of Russian energy giant Lukoil to the U.S. government and investors, some of whom are linked to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy — and business partner — Steve Witkoff. Gentry Beach, who was a college friend of Donald Trump Jr., is also involved in the Alaska Project.
It appears that Trump, Putin and their allies in the administration are trying to replace the post-World War II international order and divide the world into a system of spheres of influence they want as quickly as possible before the midterm elections. At the heart of these systems are the private deals that enrich Trump and his acolytes.
On October 20, ProPublica’s Cate Brown, Aaron C. Davis and Sebastian Rotella reported that the deal to capture Venezuela’s oil establishes a strategic partnership between the United States and a Venezuelan oligarch, Alejandro Betancourt, who is accused of money laundering. An agreement signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls for the United States to take a 35 percent stake in Betancourt’s company, North American Blue Energy Partners, by purchasing shares in a parent company registered in Barbados.
A source told ProPublica reporters that the people behind the deal wanted to work with Betancourt because a publicly traded company should be accountable to shareholders. They wanted flexibility and secrecy. The registration of the parent company in Barbados makes it possible to hide the identity of its investors, who could make a fortune thanks to this operation.
In exchange for this investment, the United States can buy up to 20 percent of the oil produced at a deeply discounted price, but this cost does not take into account the transportation of the oil, which is so thick that it must be mixed with other products to flow through pipes. Betancourt’s company currently only produces in a year the amount of oil consumed by the United States in three days.
The United States insists the deal is good for both countries, but it appears to violate Venezuelan law, which prohibits oil concessions older than 25 years, and locks in U.S. control. The deal creates a powerful seven-member board of directors to oversee the company for 15 years. The majority of board members must be U.S. citizens. The U.S. government can appoint only one non-voting member to the board, and it can only oust Betancourt with a supermajority of five votes from the board. Any disputes regarding the company must be resolved not in Venezuela, but in Texas.
The administration also suggests it will take steps to control Cuba. At 4:35 p.m. today, Secretary of State Rubio posted on social media: “To those seeking to create positive change in Cuba, now is the time. The disappointment of broken promises, corruption, and the privileged lives of only a few; take this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discreet (sic) partnership with the CIA.”
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Remarks :
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/us/politics/in-us-gas-talks-with-kremlin-hidden-financing-for-alaska-project-emerges.html
X:
SecRubio/status/2113731069518434519
Blue sky:
noelreports.com/post/3myks7idhzk2u
ericlipton.nytimes.com/post/3mylgluqqbc2a
Gn bussni
