Business as usual indeed.TheReal_ND wrote:In other words, business as usual.
Now the story line explained well:
Hence the Rosneft deal and the possible link to Carter Page is interesting. That Carter page would be a middle man with Rosneft here is fascinating, because then you have the serious money thing behind the whole mess. This is because Rosneft is the Company that Exxon was attempting to do a lucrative deal, which then unfortunately didn't happen as the sanctions were put into effect. Who benefited from the deal, other than Putin and the Kremlin insiders, is interesting. (Who bought a share of Rosneft we don't know).
The tapping of Russia's oil resources in the Arctic sea is extremely important for Russia. Many have said it is a "do or die" thing for the Russian economy that is so dependent on oil revenues. Naturally the Russians or Putin wouldn't tolerate any foreign companies involvement, but the fact is that the Arctic Sea isn't the most easiest places to produce oil, hence western know-how and assistance and above all, money, would be an OK thing. The investment Exxon was planning to in the long run into Russia was over 3 billion dollars. Not only was this important to Russia, it is important to Russia.Rosneft sale should start by looking at the 2014 deal between Exxon and Rosneft, valued at $500 billion, and eventually killed by sanctions imposed by the Obama administration. That deal would have married ExxonMobil, with its expertise in Arctic drilling, to Rosneft, Russia’s state-owned (i.e. Putin-controlled) oil giant, with its vast reserves in inhospitable locations.
The planned areas, that Exxon was to explore and build up with Rosneft:
In happier times, Tillerson, Putin and Rosneft's Sechin, before sanctions:
HOWEVER... and hope the pro-Trumpers made this far, what is interesting here is that once in office, Trump has indeed pivoted in his Russia stance.
No lovetalk about Putin. Trump himself has, even if mildly, backed the line that Russia invaded Crimea and should give it back to Ukraine. And the Tillerson-Mattis-Pence line is quite your standard Republican line. The sanctions are in place. Tillerson, even if for his former Company the deal would be important, understands quite well that this is a no-brainer, one cannot touch it as all a scandal would ensue. Hence Tillerson has actually been quite on similar lines as Mattis in the Trump administer. The little debacle that Tillerson was going to skip a NATO meeting and go to Russia isn't happening, he is going to the NATO meeting. And just to give an example that likely (at least in my view) Tillerson understands that he isn't anymore the CEO of Exxon and has to approach issues from the viewpoint of the US, here's how the meeting with Tillerson and the Ukrainian foreign minister went:
See Ukrainian FM Says Tillerson Pledges U.S. Support Against 'Russian Aggression'Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin says U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has assured him that Washington will continue to support Kyiv in its standoff with Russia."[Tillerson] assured me that the United States would consistently continue to support Ukraine in its struggle against Russian aggression, that Ukraine is a key partner of the U.S. in the region, that the U.S. would also consistently support Ukraine on its path of reforms," Klimkin told reporters.
Russia rejects accusations by Kyiv, NATO, the EU, and the United States that it is backing the separatists with weapons and personnel despite substantial evidence of such support. Trump suggested during the election campaign that he would consider lifting sanctions imposed on Russia by his predecessor, Barack Obama, in response to its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine and the Kremlin's support for separatists in the country's east. But Tillerson and other senior U.S. administration officials have publicly voiced a tough stance since Trump's inauguration on January 20, saying that Russia must return Crimea to Ukraine and de-escalate violence in eastern Ukraine.
Hence after the inauguration, if there were promises By the Trump team and the Russians, those haven't gone through. The sanctions are still there. And any circumvention of them will be a major scandal for any US entity... if they are involved.
At least the thing won't go away, will just get more interesting.
