China Is Beating the US in the Rare-Earths Game

For more information regarding China and the rare earths situation, see the following previous articles:

• US defense industry over-reliant on rare earth from China
• Rare Earths Rouse Pentagon Fears
• Rare-Earth Market
• China warns of backlash if U.S. presses rare-earths case with WTO
• China Preparing for Drone Warfare
• Report: US military too reliant on foreign suppliers
• China’s Drone Swarms Rise to Challenge US Power
• China Threatens to Pull Pin on Global Economic Hand Grenade

 

 

It’s time for the administration to use its powers to preserve America’s access to vital defense materials.

How to view China’s recent threat to limit domestic production of rare earths, those 16 elements that make our cellphones and smart bombs work? It’s the latest move in a game that began before the United States realized it was even playing, that has grown more complex than U.S. leaders realize, and that is nearing a very unfortunate ending.

U.S. Crude Oil Exports Could Jump To Almost 4 Million Bpd By 2020

 

U.S. crude oil exports could increase to 3.9 million bpd by 2020, mostly driven by rising production in the Permian, the Houston Chronicle reported on Tuesday, citing a new report by S&P Global Platts.

U.S. crude oil exports are expected to reach 2.2 million bpd next year, according to the estimates.

Stocking Up for World War III

 

Nuclear nonproliferation efforts are ending. A new arms race has begun.

Since the United States and the Soviet Union backed away from the precipice of nuclear war in the 1980s, the world’s stocks of nuclear weapons have declined from an estimated 60,000 to an estimated 10,000.

According to a 2014 study by science journal Earth’s Future, however, it would take just 100 nuclear detonations to create a worldwide climate catastrophe causing massive famine and death.

GREAT AGAIN: USA Is Now The Largest Global Crude Oil Producer – Surpasses Russia and Saudi Arabia

In February, U.S. crude oil production exceeded that of Saudi Arabia for the first time in more than two decades. In June and August, the United States surpassed Russia in crude oil production for the first time since February 1999.

U.S. government plutonium stolen out of truck never recovered: Report

How is it that radioactive weapons grade plutonium went missing from a government truck at such an opportune time?

SAN ANTONIO, Tex. (INTELLIHUB) — It’s not the first time that U.S. plutonium has gone missing but more than a year later the radioactive material which can be used to make a dirty bomb has not been recovered, according to a new report.

Taiwan Doubles Down On U.S. LNG

LNG Vessel. Source: OilPrice

 

Taiwan, which has seen increased military exercises off its coast by Chinese forces this year, has just inked a major energy deal with a U.S. energy firm.

On Monday, Taiwan’s CPC Corp., a major LNG importer, announced a preliminary deal to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from U.S. based LNG producer Cheniere Energy for a period of 25 years. CPC signed a Heads of Agreement to purchase 2 million tonnes of LNG annually from the major gas exporter, which is gearing up to start exports from its second export plant at Corpus Christi, Texas.

The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities

A VERY long read that is worth your while.

It reminds you of how well you don’t know your city if you’re living in one of these eight.

 

420 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

 

The secrets are hidden behind fortified walls in cities across the United States, inside towering, windowless skyscrapers and fortress-like concrete structures that were built to withstand earthquakes and even nuclear attack. Thousands of people pass by the buildings each day and rarely give them a second glance, because their function is not publicly known. They are an integral part of one of the world’s largest telecommunications networks – and they are also linked to a controversial National Security Agency surveillance program.

Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. In each of these cities, The Intercept has identified an AT&T facility containing networking equipment that transports large quantities of internet traffic across the United States and the world. A body of evidence – including classified NSA documents, public records, and interviews with several former AT&T employees – indicates that the buildings are central to an NSA spying initiative that has for years monitored billions of emails, phone calls, and online chats passing across U.S. territory.

The NSA considers AT&T to be one of its most trusted partners and has lauded the company’s “extreme willingness to help.” It is a collaboration that dates back decades. Little known, however, is that its scope is not restricted to AT&T’s customers. According to the NSA’s documents, it values AT&T not only because it “has access to information that transits the nation,” but also because it maintains unique relationships with other phone and internet providers. The NSA exploits these relationships for surveillance purposes, commandeering AT&T’s massive infrastructure and using it as a platform to covertly tap into communications processed by other companies.

U.S. B-1 Fleet Grounded

(Photo Credit: A1C Thomas Spangler/U.S. Air Force)

 

The aircraft, which have been critical to the ‘maximum pressure campaign’ against North Korea, appear to have ‘ejection seat issues.’

According to a new report this afternoon, the Pentagon has ordered all B-1B Lancer bombers to be grounded due to safety concerns related to “ejection seat issues.”

According to Military.com, the stand-down order is a direct result of an emergency landing of a B-1B that suffered “an engine flameout” on May 1 at Midland Airport in Texas. The incident occurred in broad daylight and involved an aircraft from Dyess Air Force Base—located about 150 miles east of Midland—that was not carrying a nuclear payload.

AK-47 Rifles, Claymore Mines, & Grenade Launchers Discovered On Mexico Border

 

According to Breitbart Texas, the federal government of Mexico recently deployed thousands of Mexican soldiers, Marines, and police officers to the Gulf region of the Mexico-United States border, as drug cartel violence spirals out of control.

Rival factions of the Gulf Cartel are in an all-out war against each other for the control of drug trafficking and human smuggling routes into Texas. Breitbart Texas describes how drug cartels are using military weapons in daily skirmishes in the border region.

Exclusive: FBI Confirms Jihadi Training Camps in America

This knife was one of the many weapons found in the Fuqra compound in Colorado (Photo: video screenshot)

 

Newly-released FBI documents obtained by Clarion Project confirm Clarion’s reports that Jamaat ul-Fuqra is training members in isolated communes across America and Canada.

The group’s “Islamberg” headquarters in upstate New York is its most well-known “Islamic village.”

Fuqra, which now goes by the name of the Muslims of the Americas (MOA) among other titles, is a cultish Islamist group with a history of crime and terrorism. The group is led by Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani in Pakistan.

Exclusive: Pentagon evaluating U.S. West Coast missile defense sites – officials

FILE PHOTO: A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful intercept test, in this undated handout photo provided by the U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency. U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency/Handout via Reuters/File Photo

 

SIMI VALLEY, Calif (Reuters) – The U.S. agency tasked with protecting the country from missile attacks is scouting the West Coast for places to deploy new anti-missile defenses, two Congressmen said on Saturday, as North Korea’s missile tests raise concerns about how the United States would defend itself from an attack.

West Coast defenses would likely include Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missiles, similar to those deployed in South Korea to protect against a potential North Korean attack.

The accelerated pace of North Korea’s ballistic missile testing program in 2017 and the likelihood the North Korean military could hit the U.S. mainland with a nuclear payload in the next few years has raised the pressure on the United States government to build-up missile defenses.

The fix is in! Robert Mueller now working with openly anti-Trump attorney general in transparent deep state hit against elected president

(INTELLIHUB) — While most of the country focused on the devastation in Texas inflicted by Hurricane Harvey, deep state operative Robert Mueller was busy pushing forward with his sham “investigation” into Donald Trump.

Not content with his already transparently corrupt attempt at taking out the elected president of the United States, Mueller recently teamed up with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a man with an openly anti-Trump history that in no way, shape, or form could actually conduct a fair investigation.

WARNING: “Credible threat of severe accident at two nuclear reactors” due to Hurricane Harvey — “Clear potential for major disaster” — Plant “could be overwhelmed by raging flood waters” — Officials refuse to provide public with information

 

Reuters, Aug 29, 2017 (emphasis added): [W]atchdog groups called for the [South Texas Project nuclear] facility to shut due to Tropical Storm Harvey… The groups expressed concern about workers at the plant and the safety of the general public if Harvey caused an accident at the reactors… When asked if the plant would shut if flooding worsened, [spokesman Buddy Eller] said “We are going to do what’s right from a safety standpoint.”… Eller said 250 “storm crew” workers were running the plant… Personnel from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) are also at the plant, assessing storm conditions…

“Biblical” hurricane expected to hit US nuclear plant — Experts fear epic catastrophe — Rainfall could be “nearly apocalyptic… borderline unfathomable… unprecedented” — Wind gusts near 150 MPH expected (VIDEOS)

WOAI, Aug 24, 2017 (emphasis added): Hurricane Harvey is setting its sights on the area around Corpus Christi… Located not far from where Harvey is expected to make landfall is the South Texas Nuclear Project nuclear power plant. Spokesman Buddy Eiler says the facility was ‘designed to sustain a storm,’ and there are plans in place to shut down operations if necessary…

STP Nuclear Operating Co., Aug 24, 2017: A Hurricane Warning has been declared for several counties in Southeast Texas, including Matagorda County. Hurricane Harvey is expected to make landfall near Corpus Christi on Friday, possibly as a category 3… At STP, we are tracking this storm closely and are making on-site preparations…

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve Is Slowly Dying

 

Forty years ago, in the wake of the Arab oil embargo that made the United States acutely aware of just how dependent its economy was on imported crude, the government set up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a bid to make sure there were no repeats of the painful shortages the embargo caused.

Now, there are about 700 million barrels in the SPR. The U.S. is producing 9.42 million barrels daily, as of the week ending August 4th, a figure that is set to continue rising as shale producers keep on pumping more. Imports as of last week averaged 7.8 million barrels daily, with the four-week average at 8 million bpd. This means that the SPR holds crude oil equal to 40 days of local production plus imports.