by Steve Benen | Apr 20, 2026 | Maddowblog, News, Politics, Russia
Shortly after Donald Trump launched the war in Iran, the president’s administration confronted a crisis in the energy sector that it appeared wholly unprepared to address. In early March, the Republican operation said part of its response would be temporarily lifting sanctions on Russian oil, allowing money to flow into Moscow as part of a larger effort to contain prices.
Pressed for an explanation, U.S. officials insisted that the shift would be brief and that sanctions would quickly return. It was against that backdrop that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced last week that the administration had agreed to end the policy, restoring the sanctions on Russian oil.
Two days later, Team Trump made Bessent look quite foolish. The Associated Press reported:
The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday extended its pause on sanctions on Russian oil shipments to ease shortages from the Iran war, days after Secretary Scott Bessent ruled out such a move.
The so-called general license means U.S. sanctions will not apply for 30 days on deliveries of Russian oil that has been loaded on tankers as of Friday. It extended a similar 30-day license issued in March for Russian oil that had been loaded by March 11. The extension underscores how the fallout from the Iran war has boosted Moscow’s ability to profit from its energy exports, which had been restrained since the invasion of Ukraine.
Almost immediately, three Senate Democratic leaders — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Senate Banking Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — issued a joint statement condemning the move as “shameful.”
“Make no mistake,
by Lee Schlenker | Apr 17, 2026 | cuba, Iran, News, Russia, Trump Administration, White House
Even with its hands full in an unpopular, costly and deadly war in Iran, the Trump administration seems to be ramping up preparations for military action in Cuba following weeks of relative calm between the two countries. On Tuesday, news outlet Zeteo reported that “officials at the Pentagon and elsewhere in the U.S. government were quietly given a new directive that came straight from the…
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by Ashley Smith | Apr 9, 2026 | Authoritarianism, Capitalism, ceasefire, China, Displacement, Donald Trump, economic crisis, Economy, Energy, Finance, Food Security, Fossil Fuels, Global Financial Crisis, Global South, India, Interview, Iran, iran war, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Palestine, Russia, Strait of Hormuz, War, war in Iran
On February 28, the U.S. and Israel expanded their joint genocidal war on Gaza onto Iran as well as Lebanon. After weeks of assassinations and bombing, President Donald Trump agreed to a ceasefire on April 7. This war of aggression by the U.S. and Israel is part of a continued attempt to wipe out any and all opposition to their dominance over the Middle East and its strategic energy reserves.
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by Jake Johnson | Mar 30, 2026 | Article, cuba, Oil, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint, Russia, Trump
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Mar. 30, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that his administration would let a Russia-owned tanker carrying an estimated 730,000 barrels of oil to reach Cuba, loosening the illegal fuel blockade that has intensified the island’s already-grave humanitarian crisis.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said that “if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem,” backing off his previous threat to tariff any nation that supplied the besieged island with fuel. Cuba has not received any oil imports since January 9, sparking nationwide blackouts and food shortages and leaving hospitals without critical supplies—with deadly consequences for patients.
Trump insisted that the oil on the Russian tanker—which experts say is enough to buy Cuba at least several weeks of energy—is “not going to have an impact,” declaring, “Cuba is finished.”
“They have a bad regime, and they have very bad and corrupt leadership,” added Trump, who presides over what analysts have deemed the most corrupt administration in US history. “Whether or not they get a boat of oil is not going to matter.”
Reporter: There’s a report that the US is going to let a Russian oil tanker go to Cuba? Trump: If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba, I have no problem with that.Reporter: Do you worry that that helps Putin?Trump: It doesn’t help him. He loses one boatload of oil.… pic.twitter.com/8Vh6gHwaxs— Acyn (@Acyn) March 30, 2026
Trump’s comments came after The New York Times reported that, “barring orders instructing it otherwise,” the US Coast Guard would not intercept the Russian tanker as it approached Cuba.
The Russian vessel, known
by Kenny Bruno | Mar 21, 2026 | Donald Trump, elections, Energy, Fossil Fuels, Iran, iran war, Israel, Liquified Natural Gas, LNG, Oil, Op-Ed, Russia, Trump Administration, War, war in Iran
Operation Epic Fury makes perfect sense. To understand it, you simply have to ignore previous political and military norms. The simplest explanation is that the war fits Donald Trump’s two primary principles: enrichment and domination. The consensus on the left is that the U.S. war on Iran is impulsive, senseless, incomprehensible, illogical, not strategic, and not in the U.S. national interest.
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by Glenn Diesen | Feb 25, 2026 | Article, Europe, NATO, Politics and Movements: International, Reprint, Russia, Ukraine
