Opinion/Foreign Relations
By Ken Timmerman, 8-8-25
| It looks like Trump has finally gotten Putin’s attention. For the past two and a half years the United States and much of Europe have imposed sanctions on Russian oligarchs and Russian banks. We have frozen Russian assets and impounded Russian yachts. We have placed travel restrictions on Russian officials. And none of it seemed to matter. Last year, the Russian economy grew by 4.3%. Why? Because we never seriously went after Russian oil. That changed when President Trump announced he was shortening the deadline for Putin to agree to a ceasefire to ten days. That deadline expired on Friday, August 8. Meanwhile, Trump sent his traveling negotiator, Steve Witkoff, back to Moscow the day before the ultimatum expired where he held three hours of talks with Putin. Trump said the talks were “productive” and apparently Putin is now asking for a meeting with Trump, because he finally understood that Trump was serious about cutting off Russia’s oil export markets. Three countries import the vast majority of Russian oil today: China, India, and Turkey. Trump vowed to impose 50% tariffs on those countries if they continue to import Russian oil. So on Friday morning, Putin held a lightning round of phone conferences with his main buyers, as well as allies Uzbekistan and Belarus. India is an interesting case in point. Trump considers Prime Minister Modi a personal friend, and recently hosted him at the White House. And yet, he was threatening to hit India with a 25% punitive tariff for purchasing Russian oil on top of the existing 25% tariff by the end of August – 50% in all. Trump explained the rational on Truth Social: “India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits. They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine.” Some of those re-exports are in the form of refined petroleum products. In 2023, for example, one year after India switched to Russian oil from Iranian oil (also under US pressure), India re-exported $86.3 billion of refined petroleum. In essence, they were buying Russian crude at a steep discount – as much as 20% below market prices – and either re-exporting it directly or refining it and reselling it for big bucks. We are talking about a lot of oil. In 2023, India imported 4.6 million barrels per day, according to the National Bureau of Asian Research, and 40% of that was coming from Russia. I would have loved to listen in to Putin’s call with Modi. Did he offer an even steeper discount on Russian oil? Did he argue that the profits Indian was making off of Russian oil more than offset the increase in US tariffs on Indian exports to the US? China is the biggest purchaser or Russian oil. Do the Chinese want to get hit by an addition 25% tarif? And then, does Putin even understand the way Trump is using tariffs as a tool of US national strategy? Recent US presidents have used economic sanctions, with limited success, but none has used tariffs or arguably even understood them. Trump is using all the levers of national power in ways never done before. I discuss this, as well as the French and British capitulation to their Muslim masses and their devotion to the mythical state of Palestine, on this week’s Prophecy Today Weekend. As always, you can listen live at 1 PM on Saturday on 104.9 FM or 550 AM in the Jacksonville, Florida area or by using the Jacksonville Way Radio app. Later, you can listen to the podcast here. Yours in freedom, Ken |
| Ken Timmerman’s 14th book of non-fiction, THE IRAN HOUSE: Tales of Revolution, Persecution, War, and Intrigue, can be ordered by clicking here or by viewing my author’s page, here. Raising Olives in Provence, can be ordered by clicking here. – Senior Fellow, America First Policy Institute (current) – Republican nominee for Congress, Maryland District 8 (2012) – President & CEO, Foundation for Democracy in Iran, www.iran.org – Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2006 Cell: 904-817-8584 NEW NUMBER Follow me on Twitter @kentimmerman Facebook: ken timmerman New personal email: [email protected] Website: kentimmerman.com |
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