Free Republic

Gal Luft, a Dual U.S.-Israeli Citizen, Allegedly Evaded FARA Registration While Working to Advance the Interests of China in the United States and Sought to Broker the Illicit Sales of Chinese-Manufactured Weapons and Iranian Oil to China... U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged, Gal Luft, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen and co-head of a Maryland think tank, engaged in multiple, serious criminal schemes. He subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies by acting through a former high-ranking U.S. Government official; he acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian...

Since last summer, Bob Dudley, the CEO of the British oil giant BP, has been cautioning that he expects oil prices to stay “lower for longer.” Now he believes he’s determined how much longer those prices may decline, and when they may start rising again. “A low point could be in the first quarter [of 2016],” Dudley said in an interview broadcast Saturday by the BBC. “But 2016’s third and fourth quarters could witness a more natural balance between supply and demand, after which stock levels could start to wear off.”

In recent weeks, there has been increasing American interest in a previously little-watched judicial saga unfolding in New York district court. Like a Turkish soap opera, it involves a dashing businessman with a pop-star wife, corruption allegations, leaked tapes of private conversations and intrigue at the highest levels of government. The trial of Reza Zarrab on charges of evading Iran sanctions, including any revelations he makes about corruption in the Turkish government, could have significant political and economic implications for Turkey. It could also damage already fraught relations between Turkey and the United States.

PEMEX You might say Mexican state-owned petroleum company Pemex had a bad day Thursday. As Reuters reported, there were fires at three different facilities owned by the company — two in Mexico and one in Texas. And while there are still some unknowns, in an update, the wire service gives what details are known:(Reuters) – A Thursday night fire at Pemex’s 312,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Deer Park, Texas refinery broke out in a crude distillation unit (CDU), said people familiar with plant operations.The sources did not know which of two Deer Park CDUs were hit by fire. The plant has a...

Estonian authorities detained and boarded a ship in the Baltic Sea that belongs to Russia’s shadow fleet, Prime Minister Kristen Michal said Friday. The vessel, which Michal said did not sail under any nation’s flag but was previously registered to Djibouti according to publicly available records, was detained near Tallinn Bay in an operation involving helicopters. “Early this morning, the Estonian Navy detained a sanctioned vessel with no flag state,” Michal said in a post on social media. “Our authorities are currently on board, inspecting its legal status and safety.” The ship was heading to the port of Ust-Luga, a...

Islamic State was selling oil and gas to the Syrian regime and to Turkey, while the militants were ruling over large areas in Syria and Iraq over the past three years, a senior ISIS commander said in an interview with the Kurdistan 24 news outlet on Sunday. “Oil and gas obtained by the Islamic State was sold to Turkey and the Syrian regime,” Razeek Radeek Maksimo, an Azerbaijani national and formerly senior ISIS commander, told Kurdistan 24 from a prison in Rojava where he is held by Syrian Kurdish authorities.

IRBIL, North Iraq, March 30 (KUNA) -- A Kurdish official on Thursday disclosed "substantial smuggling operations" of the Iraqi crude oil via a border gateway in northern Iraq and warned terrorists were involved in illegal oil sales. Daoud Al-Baghestani, in charge of the so-called "integrity authority," said at a news conference that returns from illegal sales of the crude "have become a major resource of income for the terrorists." The northern Rabiaa border passageway has been witnessing many smuggling and illegal transactions of crude sales, Al-Baghestani said, adding that his authority, several days ago, found that drivers of 1,200 trucks...

UN inspectors in Iraq spent their working hours drinking vodka while ignoring a shadowy nocturnal fleet believed to be smuggling goods for Saddam Hussein, a former senior inspector told the US Senate yesterday. In a move that provoked fury from officials of the Swiss firm Cotecna, an Australian former inspector detailed a picture of incompetence, indifference and drunkeness among the men acting as the frontline for UN sanctions. Arthur Ventham, a former Australian army officer and customs officer, joined the operation in 2002 and worked at various sites in Iraq and neighbouring states. He said that at Iskendurun in eastern...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Paul Volcker, who is heading an investigation of alleged corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program, said in an interview that most of the money illegally obtained by Saddam Hussein was from smuggling, which was known by the U.N. Security Council but not stopped. In the interview set for broadcast Tuesday with Alhurra, the U.S. government-backed television station tailored for Arab audiences, Volcker questioned the reliability of reports that Saddam diverted amounts ranging from $1.7 billion to $21 billion from the $60 billion oil-for-food program. The former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman said there was a lot of...

As tension in the Gulf continues, ITV News has learned that the Royal Navy is operating just four miles from the coast of Iraq - closer than ever before - to enforce tough new rules on oil smuggling. In the last few months Royal Marines have boarded 100 vessels and seized illegal oil worth more than £1 million. HMS Argyll is patrolling Iraq's main route to the open sea and ITV News Defence Correspondent Kevin Dunn has been on board to file an exclusive report. The Royal Navy frigate, along with American and Australian warships, is enforcing a blockade of...

TEHRAN -- Iran has recently stopped allowing tankers carrying smuggled Iraqi oil to dodge international monitoring ships in the Persian Gulf by staying inside Iran's territorial waters, the DPA quoted the Pentagon as saying on Thursday. The loss of the Iranian safe haven has led smugglers to change tactics, loading the oil from the large tankers onto smaller vessels in hopes of evading U.S. navy ships trying to enforce United Nations sanctions against Iraq, said General Richard Myers, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. On Tuesday, Iran accepted Bush's offer of humanitarian assistance to victims of Saturday's earthquake...