Supply Disruption From Russia Price Cap Is Here: Tanker Jam Forms Off Turkey

"The EU and G7 price cap on Russian oil went into effect on Monday, but it's already causing disruptions in global supply chains. 

In a striking demonstration of the price cap's potential to disrupt markets, most of the oil in the delayed ships isn't even subject to the sanction regime: It's from Kazakhstan and has merely transited Russian ports after arriving there via pipeline.

The first manifestation comes from Turkey, where the Financial Times reports that a tanker traffic jam is stacking up in Turkeish waters and blocking some 18 million barrels of oil from passage, as the country's authorities demand proof that the vessels have insurance coverage: 

"Around 19 crude oil tankers were waiting to cross Turkeish waters on Monday, according to ship brokers, oil traders and satellite tracking services. The vessels had dropped anchor near the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, the two straits linking Russia's Black Sea ports to international markets." ZeroHedge

U.S. Arms Sent to Ukraine Make Their Way to Boko Haram

 

"When the U.S. sends nearly unlimited arms willy-nilly to Ukraine with little or no oversight,

no one should be surprised when some of that weaponry enters the black market and makes its way to various bad guys and scumbags around the world.  “Regrettably, the situation in the Sahel and the raging war in Ukraine serve as major sources of weapons and fighters that bolster the ranks of the terrorists in the Lake Chad Region,” lamented the Nigerian president. He decried that “the arms and ammunition procured to execute the war in Libya continues to find its way to the Lake Chad Region and other parts of the Sahel,” then continued, “Weapons being used for the war in Ukraine and Russia are equally beginning to filter to the region.” PJMedia

Russians attack Armed Forces of Ukraine with banned chemical weapons

"Russian occupiers are using banned chemical weapons against the Armed Forces of Ukraine
– the K-51 aerosol grenades." Pravada

Putin 'falls down stairs, soils himself' at official residence

"Putin has reportedly slipped down five stairs and soiled himself at his official residence in Moscow, amid speculation about the 70-year-old's declining health. Three bodyguards helped the president get to the nearest couch and summoned medics, the report said." HindustanTimes

 

Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra priest released on bail for "singing about Russia"

"District Court of Kyiv has released Father Zakharii (secular name: Anatolii Voitenok), a
priest at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (the Monastery of the Caves in Kyiv), on bail until 29 January. Father Zakharii had led a service that involved the glorification of the so-called "Russian world". Pravada

Italy to seize Russian oil refinery

"The Italian government has placed a refinery in Sicily owned by Russia’s largest private oil company Lukoil under state trusteeship, days ahead of an EU embargo on Russian crude oil imports." RT

Fresh Clashes in Guangzhou as China Threatens ‘Crackdown’ on Anti-Communist Uprising

"The uprising is still vigorous enough to push a flood of news and images past China’s censorship firewalls to the outside world, transmitting photos and videos from thousands of smartphones, so the battle that began in Guangzhou on Tuesday night was verified and reported by outlets like the Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP):

Security personnel in hazmat suits formed ranks shoulder-to-shoulder, taking cover
under see-through riot shields, to make their way down a street in the southern city’s Haizhu district as glass smashed around them, videos posted on social media showed.

In the footage people could be heard screaming and shouting, as orange and blue barricades were pictured strewn across the ground.

People are seen throwing objects at the police, and later nearly a dozen men are filmed being taken away with their hands bound with cable ties." Breitbart

U.S. Pledges $53 Million To Help Restore Ukraine's Damaged Power Grid

"The latest financial assistance from the United States comes shortly after the U.S. Agency for
International Development in October announced it would grant $55 million in emergency infrastructure support in Ukraine ahead of the winter season.

That funding will support the repairs and maintenance of pipes and other equipment necessary to deliver heating to homes, hospitals, schools, and businesses across Ukraine, officials said. It includes funding for generators, as well as money for alternative fuel sources to hospitals and shelters among others." ZH

Russians once again fire at DTEK enterprise

 "Russian troops once again fired at a building of DTEK energy company. Employees received
the necessary assistance and were taken to the hospital." Pravada

Ukraine's Security Service checks convent of Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate, find calls for "awakening of Mother Russia"

"The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has finished a counterintelligence operation within
the St. Cyril and Methodius Convent of the Mukachevo Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate in Zakarpattia Oblast.

It is reported that more than 20 people underwent in-depth counterintelligence interviews, including with the use of a polygraph.

SSU employees found numerous campaigning and propaganda materials. Most of the literature is authored by Russian figures and published by Russian printing houses." Pravada

"It’s hot" in Zaporizhzhia Oblast: Russians move hospital from Polohy to Mariupol

"The Russian occupiers are transferring equipment from a hospital in the front-line town of Polohy to occupied Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast, because "it's getting too hot" on the Zaporizhzhia front." Pravada

Facebook blocks greeting of Ukraine’s Air Force commander to radio-technical troops

"Facebook has blocked a greeting message from Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, the Commander of Ukraine’s Air Force to the soldiers of the radio engineering troops; 30 November marks their official holiday.

Oleshchuk's congratulations were published on the official page of the command, but a few hours later, they were blocked ostensibly because they "violated community standards." Pravada

NATO revisiting idea of supplying Kiev with fighter jets

"NATO leaders are considering a possible a U-turn on providing Ukraine with advanced
fighter jets, James Stavridis, retired supreme allied commander and US Navy admiral, claimed in an op-ed published by Bloomberg." RT

Ukrainian terror plot in Zaporozhye foiled

"Ukrainian authorities had planned to detonate a bomb at a market in the city of Melitopol in
Russia’s Zaporozhye Region, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement on Monday. It added that the suspects have been detained and confessed to the plot." RT

A confession from Putin suggests that the Ukraine conflict could last for years

"Russian President Vladimir Putin commented, during a meeting with soldiers’ mothers, that he now regards the Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015 as a mistake. This concession was stark in the context of the possibility of peace negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine.

Putin explained to the mothers that at the time, Moscow did not know for sure the
sentiments of the Donbass population affected by the conflict, and hoped that Donetsk and Lugansk could somehow be reunited with Ukraine on the conditions laid down in Minsk. Putin might have added – and his own actions, as well as conversations with then-Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko, confirm it – that he was prepared to give the new Kiev authorities a chance to settle the issue and rebuild a relationship with Moscow. Until rather late in the game, Putin also hoped that he could still work things out with the Germans and the French, and the US leadership. 

Admissions of mistakes are rare among incumbent leaders, but they are important as indicators of lessons they have learned. This experience has apparently made Putin decide not that the decision to launch the special military operation last February was wrong, but that eight years before, Moscow should not have put any faith in Kiev, Berlin, and Paris, and instead should have relied on its own military might to liberate the Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine.

In other words, agreeing to a Minsk-style ceasefire now would be another mistake which would allow Kiev and its backers to better prepare to resume fighting at the time of their choosing." RT