Maddow's first 20 minutes last night was a must see. Putin's deal with Exxon.

[Skidmore]

If you didn't see it live, you can watch it now. I don't know how to embed this, so I'll give you a link.


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/oil-corporations-key-to-leverage-over-russia-198496835575

[Cha]

1. Thanks Skidmore K^R.. marking this for viewing later..

[Scuba]

2. Can't play the video on my laptop. Can someone please post the gist of the story? Thanks.

[Skidmore]

6. A fairly simple summary is that

Rachel basically dealt with the issues in this article from Politico about Exxon's crafting of a huge deal with their Russian equivalent for the biggest deal in history on oil Big money involved here. She posits that is the one sure way to hurt Russia with sanctions is to shut this puppy down.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/exxon-russia-oil-104556.html


Exxon's Russia ties still strong amid crisis
By: Andrew Restuccia
March 11, 2014 08:17 PM EDT

The standoff between the United States and Russia isn’t getting in the way of ExxonMobil’s lucrative relationship with Vladimir Putin’s regime. At least not yet.

The U.S.-based oil and gas giant has spent years cultivating ties with the Kremlin, reaching a multibillion-dollar exploration deal with state oil company Rosneft in 2011. Putin even awarded Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson the Order of Friendship, one of Russia’s highest honors, for the company’s “big contribution to developing cooperation in the energy sector.”

But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s Crimea region could complicate Exxon’s work in the country, especially if the United States imposes strict sanctions.

“As BP learned in the last decade, investing in Russian oil production means exposing your investment to largely unforeseeable risks,” said Paul Bledsoe, a senior fellow on energy and society at the German Marshall Fund. “While Exxon may have factored in the possibility of an embargo of Russian oil exports to their investment, they almost certainly assigned it a low probability, and now could pay a price in lower production.”

more...

[Scuba]

7. Thank you.

[cantbeserious]

3. Thanks For Sharing

eom

[Submariner]

4. EXXON profits $45 Billion in 2013

yet they are still fighting making payouts for the Valdez oil spill:

a SCOTUS decision just months before the Bush Regime and republicans sank the economy and left town.

Supreme Court drastically cuts payouts for plaintiffs in Exxon Valdez oil spill

The damage remains

Two decades later, the fragile ecosystem of Prince William Sound has yet to fully recover, especially on the hardest-hit beaches. More than 200 tons of oil remain in beach sediment. Herring — which are vital as food to 40 species of birds, mammals and fish — have never returned to pre-spill populations.

"Until herring recover, we are kind of treading water," said Riki Ott, a scientist and author in Cordova, Alaska. "Prince William Sound is beautiful, but if you take a shovel all you have to do is dig down six inches and there is oil. It smells like a gas station, still, today."

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2008018035_exxon26m.html

And the greedy bastards fight for years over a less than $5 Billion payout to clean up EXXON's damage. It was just a get rich scheme for the lawyers, but kibbles went to the destroyed ecosystem, fisheries and associated village life that went with it.

I bet these oil company a**holes call themselves patriots too.

[Ilsa]

12. These news items need to follow every

discussion of the Keystone XL pipeline. The lack of integrity and the dumping of risk onto The Commons and private property owners and businesses needs to be part of the conversation.

[Sienna86]

5. Recap here

ExxonMobil, formerly the world's largest oil company, and Rosneft (Russia owned and now the largest oil company in the world) have partnered to drill for oil and natural gas in the Arctic. The deal was signed in Putin's summer house in Sochi in 2011.

While present sanctions by the US and the EU bar certain persons from travel to the US and EU and freeze their assets, Maddow opines that going after economic sanctions would be the next step, and a much stronger one. After the recent person sanctions were announced, she said the stock markets in the US and Russia actually rose.

Escalating business sanctions to these companies, such as Exxon, PepsiCo, Ford and Boeing, and preventing banking business would have a strong effect, especially this Exxon deal with which Putin seems to have strong connections.

[NewJeffCT]

8. thanks for the summary

interesting

[Trust Buster]

9. More Right wing hypocrisy

The deal that Exxon has with Russia is a $500 Billion deal. That's half a trillion folks. The Republicans, including a Romney Op-Ed have criticized the President for a weak response to Russia's incursion into the Crimea. But, if the President moved to quash the Exxon deal with Russia, the Republicans would filibuster such a bill. American Multi-Nationals and their paid stooges in Congress will prove to be the largest impediment to serious economic sanctions.

[Fumesucker]

10. Welcome to DU

You make a good point.

[msanthrope]

11. I await the Greenwald column on this. nt

[mitty14u2]

13. Exxon Mobil teams up with Russian company in Arctic deal August 30, 2011

Exxon Mobil teams up with Russian company in Arctic deal August 30, 2011


MOSCOW -- Russia's state-owned Rosneft teamed up with U.S. company Exxon Mobil on Tuesday in a multibillion deal to develop offshore oil fields in the Russian Arctic -- one of the last regions with immense and untapped hydrocarbon deposits -- in return for access to resources in the Gulf of Mexico.

Exxon Mobil said in a statement that Tuesday's agreement includes $3.2 billion to be spent on exploring three giant undeveloped oil and gas fields in the Kara Sea -- between the northeastern corner of continental Russia and the Arctic archipelago of Novaya Zemlya -- in the Arctic as well as a sector in the Black Sea.


Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, and Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil's chief executive smile during a signing ceremony in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia Tuesday. Russia's state-owned Rosneft teamed up with U.S. company ExxonMobil on Tuesday to develop huge offshore oil fields in the Russian Arctic in return for access to resources in the Gulf of Mexico.

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/08/exxon_mobil_teams_up_with_russ.html

Only one Company made more than ExxonMobils $45 Billion in 2013, Russian State Oil Company Rosneft. Oil and Greed gave the Bush Administration the Crazy power to invade Iraq for more Oil, Russians new found money in oil is giving Crazed Putin God like enthusiasm for war with Exxon Mobil’s Rex Tiller go ahead deal. Big Oil has bought much of Washington and state politicians across the country one way or another with Oil Money from ExxonMobil to Koch Bros, Will Evil and Greed Keep winning like Bush scam election? It looks like many people love Money more then Truth or even God himself, Anything Goes GOP with a price tag on everything!