Just 2 days after we published an exposé on RussiLeaks (and on Daily KOS) reporting that UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum had struck an energy deal with Putin in which he agreed to continue to provide safe haven for Putin’s super yacht Titan in return for “Russian energy,” the US slapped sanctions on UAE company Lumber Marine SA for violating the $60/barrel sanctions cap on Russian oil. Coincidence? Not. The US also slapped Turkish company Ice Pearl Navigation with sanctions for the same reason.
Turkey...and the UAE, a Russian oil tanker named Aleksey Kosygin, Putin, Alexander Abramov, and their Titan superyacht. Now where have I heard those seven things in the same story before. Oh yeah, that was my story.
What is it with these two guys Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the UAE Sheikh, both of whose air forces fly American F-16 Fighting Falcon jets? Turkey is a NATO member even and yet both leaders continue to play Putin-footsies.
UAE-based Lumber Marine SA and Turkish firm Ice Pearl Navigation are the first to be sanctioned for buying Russian oil at above the $60 price cap implemented under the US/EU sanctions regime.
(See The Hill: 2 shipping companies face first sanctions over Russian oil shipments)
Putin’s Floating Locus of Evil
I first connected the dots between Putin, his Titan super yacht, Turkey, Russian oil, and the UAE a year ago in a RussiLeaks expose’ I published on October 1,2022 entitled: “A Floating Locus of Evil”.
We reported on how the Titan had fled its safe harbor in Turkey and sailed through the Suez where it hooked up in the Red Sea with a Russian oil tanker Aleksey Kosygin as is shown in the above MarineTraffic snapshot.
The Titan sailed on to Dubai where it would remain moored at the Port Said pier for a full year as the Russian war against Ukraine has raged.
The day after we received intelligence that Putin had ordered the Titan to deploy, the Titan sailed out of Dubai harbor and moored several miles offshore. We published an article detailing this Titan deployment and continued surveilling. The next day, the Titan would turn tail and slink back into Dubai harbor after Putin committed to providing the Sheikh Russian energy in return for a continuation of safe harbor. Once inside Dubai harbor, a swarm of small tender vessels began servicing the Titan, with what we don’t know. It remains there.
Biden Lowers the Boom
Now, just two days after we published the update on the Titan’s return to Dubai, the Biden Administration has lowered the boom on the Sheikh’s Lumber Marine SA business as well as Erdogan’s Ice Pearl Navigation after they purchased Putin’s oil at a price well over the $60/barrel cap in violation of US/EU sanctions.
The Moral Red Line
One wonders whether there is any moral redline for the Sheikh and President Erdogan that, were Putin to cross it (like say, kidnapping and deporting Ukrainian kids, or bombarding schools and hospitals, massacring civilians), they would stop filling Putin’s coffers and seize the Titan or perhaps allow one of their democratic allies to seize it. Oh, wait. Putin’s already crossed those redlines Your Highness, so what are you waiting for? More American/EU sanctions against more of your Russia-dealing entities?
As we say at RussiLeaks: “Evil Dies in Brightness.”
So, what are all the good people of the United Arab Emirates with cell phone cameras and boats of their own waiting for? Do we have to draw you a map?
Wait, I just did.
A Proportional Response
Since Putin has returned to bombarding Ukraine’s global grain supply chain in an effort to deny (blackmail) a hungry world their grain, which is Ukraine’s single largest source of revenue, Ukraine has more than enough moral authority and imperative to respond in kind against Putin’s global afloat fuel supply chain: Whether it’s sailing in the Black Sea, or in international or NATO or allied territorial waters like near Norway and Lithuania on (and under) the Baltic Sea. Whether oil, gas, or other fuels.
Then there’s the Red Sea, the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, The North Sea, the Artic Sea.
Israel, Ukraine and Putin and Iran-Hamas’ Capture of the House of Representatives
It is now an existential matter of life and death for our two democratic allies Israel and Ukraine. They are now both now under sustained brutal bombardment: Israel by the Iran supported Hamas and Hezbollah with Iran’s backing; and Ukraine by Russia.
This is a message to all of those both overseas and here in America who continue to enable and extend Putin’s Ukraine war by attempting to starve Ukraine of US military aid. They were doing it in Congress under the cover of the speech and debate clause.
But now, in the last week Putin’s Congressional puppets have succeeded in literally denying the House of Representatives their ability to function as a governing body, IN ANY WAY. In doing so, they have denied the House the ability to exercise their power of the purse that’s needed to continue to provide new weapons to Ukraine AND Israel that are not already appropriated or pre-authorized.
And just to name names, the culprits in Congress are my opponent Anna Luna, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan, and all the others who continue to bend the knee at the altar of the Putin-Trump.
You have a choice to make my soon-to-be constituents here in Florida’s 13th Congressional District in Pinellas County. So do you voters in FL’s 1st District where Gaetz dis-serves, SC’s 14th district where Taylor-Greene dis-serves, and in Colorado’s 3rd District where Boebert dis-serves.
Choose wisely.
John Liccione is a candidate for US Congress in Florida’s 13th Congressional District where he is the only declared Democratic Candidate running against Anna Luna in 2024. VoteLiccione.org.
He is also Founder and CEO of RussiLeaks, an online media company solely focused on exposing Putin’s secrets and those of his agents on American soil. He is also the Founder and CEO of Leaks Media, a start-up global media company just getting started whose mission is “Exposing the Secrets of the Enemies of Democracy.”