We lost the Prince because of people like Greggy.

The seizure was the latest move in the Trump administration’s aggressive campaign against Venezuela. The US has amassed the biggest American military build-up in in decades to exert pressure on Maduro. It has labelled the Venezuelan leader as the head of drug cartels. The Pentagon has carried out air strikes on alleged drug boats in the region. Mr Trump has warned that land targets could come next.

Mr Trump has also offered Mr Maduro a chance to leave the country, the Journal has reported, though that the 63-year-old strongman hasn’t accepted. In an interview with Politico Monday, Mr Trump said Mr Maduro’s “days are numbered,” though he declined to say how far he would go to remove him.

Last month, the State Department designated Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles, which it claims is headed by Mr Maduro, as a foreign terrorist organisation. That provides a legal pathway for the US to take military action and seize certain oil tankers, said Schreiner Parker, an analyst at consulting firm Rystad Energy.

“Anything that is materially financing a foreign terrorist organisation is subject to seizure by the US,” Mr Parker said.

Frank wrote Yesterday at 9:17am:




The operation was led by the US Coast Guard with the assistance of Navy forces that have been deployed to the Caribbean, said two Pentagon officials with knowledge of the matter.

The official said the move was a warning to other tankers waiting to dock and load up Venezuelan crude. Maritime tracking data show around a dozen of the Venezuelan coast, but the official said there are more with their Automatic Identification System turned off to avoid detection.

The US has sanctions in place that prohibit companies from trading Venezuelan oil, though it has given exemptions to some companies, including Chevron, which this summer received a narrowed license to operate in the country. Mr Trump has warned that he will level hefty tariffs on countries that buy oil from Caracas.Asked about the seizure at the White House, Mr Trump joked that journalists should follow the tanker with a helicopter and said he assumed the US would keep the oil. He also said that information about the ship’s owner would be forthcoming.

Brokers in Singapore told The Wall Street Journal a tanker called the Skipper was seized off Venezuela early on Wednesday. The tanker, formerly called the Adisa, had been sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control for carrying Iranian crude. Venezuela has exported an average of 750,000 barrels a day this year with half of it going to China, according to energy consultants Kpler.

The oil is mostly moved by around 800 old and uninsured tankers with obscure ownerships that popped up after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to move sanctioned Russian crude to China and India.

greggerypeccary wrote Yesterday at 9:29am:



Sounds like something from the UN.

are they unaware they have been cancelled 

greggerypeccary wrote Yesterday at 9:29am:



Sounds like something from the UN.

are they unaware they have been cancelled 

greggerypeccary wrote Yesterday at 10:53am:


The old boy refuses to comment on on-water matters.

DRAIN THE SWAMP !!!