Free Republic

Tokyo: Japan has ditched the United States to purchase Russian crude oil above the $60-a-barrel cap, saying it needed it to ensure access to energy from Moscow. The oil purchases by Japan represent a break in the US-led efforts to impose a global $60 per barrel cap on purchases of Russian oil. However, a report by The Wall Street Journal said Tokyo, which is Washington’s closest allies in Asia, got the US agree to the exception. Most European nations stopped purchasing Russian oil in response to the invasion of Ukraine in February last year. The G7 nations which include Japan...

During a three-day state visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping held friendly talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a show of unity, as both countries increasingly seek to position themselves as leaders of what they call a “multipolar world order,” one that challenges U.S.-centric alliances and agreements. Among those agreements is the petrodollar, which has been in place for over 50 years. In case you’re wondering, “petrodollars” are not a real currency. They’re simply dollars being used to trade oil. Early in the 1970s, the U.S. government provided economic aid to Saudi Arabia, its chief oil-producing rival, in exchange for...

The personal consumption expenditures price index rose 6.8% in June, the biggest 12-month move since the 6.9% increase in January 1982. Excluding food and energy, so-called core PCE increased 4.8% from a year ago, up one-tenth of a percentage point from May. The employment cost index, another figure Fed policymakers follow closely, rose 1.3% in the second quarter. The index climbed 5.1% on a 12-month basis, a record for data series that goes back to 2002.

A Russian government official has threatened that Russia will limit its vital food exports to only nations it considers “friendly”. Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Russian security official who previously served as the nation’s president, has threatened that Russia may soon cut off the West from food exports.A major player in the global market for wheat and other agri-food products, Russia will instead focus on keeping itself fed, according to Medvedev, alongside supplying its friends and close allies. Posting on his Telegram, Medvedev said that cutting off the likes of North America and the European Union from its agricultural produce would...