A looming OPEC cut in oil production has the White House hyperventilating, and for good reason. As RedState previously reported, the oil cartel, which will meet on Wednesday, is planning to cut production by over one million barrels. That move would cause already spiking oil prices to rise further just before the mid-term elections, an outcome the Biden administration is desperately attempting to avoid.
According to CNN, the talks have broken down, though, and now Joe Biden and his handlers are “having a spasm and panicking.”
Members of the Saudi-led oil cartel and its allies including Russia, known as OPEC+, are expected to announce production cuts potentially up to more than one million barrels per day. That would be the largest cut since the beginning of the pandemic and could lead to a dramatic spike in oil prices.
Some of the draft talking points circulated by the White House to the Treasury Department on Monday that were obtained by CNN framed the prospect of a production cut as a “total disaster” and warned that it could be taken as a “hostile act.”
“It’s important everyone is aware of just how high the stakes are,” said a US official of what was framed as a broad administration effort that is expected to continue in the lead up to the Wednesday OPEC+ meeting.
The White House is “having a spasm and panicking,” another US official said, describing this latest administration effort as “taking the gloves off.” According to a White House official, the talking points were being drafted and exchanged by staffers and not approved by White House leadership or used with foreign partners.
I’m especially intrigued by the idea that this would be a “hostile act.” What exactly is the administration threatening with language like that? After all, like them or not, OPEC and OPEC+ are free to do what they want in regards to producing and selling a product. Would the plan be to further alienate Saudi Arabia, which holds vast influence over the cartels? How has that worked out so far after Biden promised to make them a “pariah” in favor of pursuing Iran?
These are the results of plugging in Obama’s third term, especially when it comes to foreign policy. Saudi Arabia was ready and willing to continue its relationship with the US but that was flushed down the toilet to make some reporters at The Washington Post feel better. Meanwhile, we are trying to negotiate a nuclear deal with a country that’s going through a soft revolution due to its human rights abuses. None of it makes sense, practically or morally.
Now, because of those mistakes, the Saudis have grown closer to Russia at the same time Biden has purposely handed them more leverage over US domestic energy needs. The current administration has issued the fewest new oil and gas leases in the modern era. That despite the reality that the US is the most oil rich nation on earth. And the response from the president? He whines and cries about Saudi Arabia and “Big Oil” when the solution is staring him in the face and accessible.
That all this is happening right before the mid-term elections is poetic justice. Biden and his party should be made to pay a political price for their inane policy decisions. Besides, watching them flip and flop about who is responsible for gas prices is grade-A entertainment. Get ready for a lot more “Putin’s price hike” talking points.
UPDATE:
Doom.