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Saturday, August 29, 2026

'What the US-Venezuela oil model could mean for Iran’s energy future'

The emerging US-Venezuela oil partnership could offer a model for how Iran’s vast but underinvested energy industry might be revived under a future government able to restore ties with the West, while also reshaping oil flows in Europe.

The significance of closer US-Venezuela energy cooperation lies not only in the scale of Venezuela’s oil reserves, but also in the complementary qualities of the two countries’ crude — and in what international capital, technology and access to Western markets could mean for an oil industry weakened by years of isolation.

Most US shale crude is light and sweet, while Venezuela’s Merey 16 is an extra-heavy, high-sulfur grade. A technical estimate suggests that a blend of roughly 60% light US crude and 40% Venezuelan Merey 16 could produce a crude with an API gravity of around 31 to 32 degrees and sulfur content of roughly 1.5%, depending on the specific US grade used.

Those characteristics are close to Russia’s Urals, a medium-sour crude with an API gravity of around 31 degrees and sulfur content of about 1.4%. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Urals was one of the main feedstocks for European refineries.

The United States could therefore potentially offer European refiners three options: its own light crude, Venezuelan heavy crude for plants capable of processing it, and tailored blends suited to refineries that previously relied heavily on Russian medium-sour crude. Complex US Gulf Coast refineries could also process Venezuela’s heavy oil and export diesel, jet fuel and other refined products needed by Europe.

The United States is already the European Union’s largest supplier of petroleum oil, accounting for 17.8% of EU petroleum-oil imports in the first quarter of 2026.

It is still too early, however, to speak of US-Venezuelan dominance of the European market. Venezuela currently produces around 1.25 million barrels per day, while rebuilding its electricity network, pipelines, processing facilities, refineries and ports will require tens of billions of dollars in investment and several years.

In the short term, the agreement is therefore more significant as a political and psychological signal to the market. In the medium term, if it results in substantially higher Venezuelan production, it could increase Atlantic Basin oil supplies, further reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian and some Middle Eastern crude, redirect some Venezuelan oil from China toward Western markets, and put additional pressure on OPEC+’s ability to manage the market.

A potential model for Iran

For Iranians, however, Venezuela may carry a broader message. Like Venezuela, Iran possesses enormous oil and gas reserves, but its energy industry faces deep problems after years of sanctions, insufficient investment, aging infrastructure, limited access to advanced technology, declining pressure in some mature fields and the constraints under which many projects were developed during the sanctions era.

If the Islamic Republic were to fall, followed by a stable political transition and the establishment of a government capable of maintaining normal and constructive relations with the United States, Europe and the global economy, Iran’s oil and gas industry could become one of the main engines of the country’s economic reconstruction.

Under such conditions, the entry of major international companies, including US oil producers and oilfield-services firms, could provide the capital, technology and managerial expertise needed to rehabilitate wells, pipelines, processing facilities, refineries, ports and Iran’s export infrastructure.

American companies have extensive experience in advanced drilling, reservoir management, enhanced oil recovery, rehabilitating low-output wells, processing heavy and sour crude and designing crude blends tailored to refinery requirements. The same basic logic that makes light US crude a useful complement to Venezuela’s extra-heavy oil could also be applied to the marketing and optimization of some Iranian crude grades.

Iran, of course, has its own broad range of light, medium and heavy crudes as well as condensates. The main opportunity would therefore not simply be to import US light crude for blending, but to use Western technology, capital and commercial networks to develop competitive export blends and regain access to global markets.

The return of established American and European companies could also create an opportunity for an independent assessment of projects carried out during the sanctions era, including those undertaken by domestic and Chinese contractors, and for facilities and equipment to be upgraded or replaced where necessary.

Such a transformation could increase Iran’s production capacity, reduce energy waste and the flaring of associated gas, improve environmental standards and create substantial direct and indirect employment.

None of this, however, would happen automatically or immediately after a change of government. The lifting of sanctions, legal protection for investors, transparent oil contracts, efforts to combat corruption, an independent judiciary and political stability would all be prerequisites for attracting investment on the required scale.

Oil revenues would also need to be managed through transparent mechanisms and directed toward rebuilding the country, its infrastructure, education, healthcare and public welfare, avoiding a repeat of Iran’s historic overdependence on oil.

The US-Venezuela partnership therefore matters to Iran for more than the possibility that a blend of light American and extra-heavy Venezuelan crude could emerge as a serious competitor to Russian Urals in parts of the European market.

The more important lesson is that vast hydrocarbon reserves can regain economic value when accompanied by investment, technology and access to international markets. Iran’s oil and gas resources could still underpin a new period of economic growth if a stable and transparent government with constructive international relations emerges after the Islamic Republic.

Cooperation with American and other major international companies could then help rebuild Iran’s aging energy industry and restore the country as a significant and reliable player in the global energy market.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202608303527

Venezuela details US oil deal production targets

Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez addressed the recent oil agreement with the United States, detailing its parameters and emphasizing that it will safeguard national sovereignty.

During an address on state broadcaster VTV, Rodriguez said that "This 25-year bilateral project envisages the development of 17 strategic oilfields with a production target of more than 1.5 million barrels per day."

"That figure relates solely to the bilateral agreement between Venezuela and the United States," she added. Additional oil rights and oil blocks are part of the broader expansion plan for the country.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Venezuela-details-US-oil-deal-production-targets/67009114

Landlord who rented apartment to 9/11 terrorists speaks for 1st time about being duped

A California woman who unknowingly provided rental housing to a pair of Saudi 9/11 hijackers is speaking out about the way the pair ingrained themselves, by being “very, very friendly,” into the unsuspecting community of neighbors.

“I would have cookies and tea with them,” admitted Holly Ratchford, who managed the San Diego-area Parkwood Apartments where the hijackers lived, in her first public comments on her brush with terror.

“It wasn’t like they were just someone that came into the office and rented from us,” she told the BBC.

Ratchford rented units in the complex where she also lived to Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, who were part of the five-man terror team that hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 and horrifically crashed it into the Pentagon, killing 184.

Years later, she still recalls how the terrorists blended in. “There was absolutely nothing unusual about them. They were nice, they were polite,” she said.

al-Bayoumi also appeared to snow her, claiming to be a student while covering up his government ties, which some investigators believe lined up with involvement in Saudi intelligence.

“I bought into everything that he told me,” Ratchford said. “I really thought that’s how he was.”

al-Bayoumi had a townhouse by the pool in the complex, and would regularly attend pool parties Ratchford hosted, the outlet reported.

“He was always so bubbly and smiling,” she said, calling him “very, very friendly.”

According to her account, al-Bayoumi vouched for his two terrorist buddies when they at first tried to rent a one-bedroom apartment from Ratchford by paying in cash, saying he knew them from his mosque.

“It was a general consensus of people in the San Diego Muslim community that Bayoumi was an operative of the Saudi intelligence service,” Richard Lambert, who led the city’s FBI office investigation after 9/11, told the BBC.

The Saudi national also had a sketch book with a drawing of a plane and an equation in it. He cosigned on the two mens’ rental agreement, and helped them set up a bank account.

al-Bayoumi told investigators he met the pair at a Middle Eastern restaurant in LA. According to the FBI, he was being paid by a contractor for the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority.

Some of Ratchford’s comments appear to clash with comments al-Bayoumi made to British authorities following the 9/11 attacks where he distanced himself from the two terrorists.

Ratchford says al-Bayoumi and the hijackers were “definitely friendly.”

al-Bayoumi was released and was not charged with a crime. He moved to Saudi Arabia in 2002.

According to an FBI report released in 2021, al-Bayoumi said he met Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar “by chance.” One source quoted in the report said Bayoumi held “very high status” inside the Saudi consulate in LA.

It wasn’t until 2024 that a video clip of Bayoumi that showed him filming the US Capitol and referencing a “plan” was unsealed and released in connection with the lawsuit

Attorneys for the 9/11 families of the 2,977 victims of the terror attacks continue to fight in court for compensation — and are relying in part on Bayoumi’s role to claim the Saudi government should be held liable for the attacks.

Riyadh has categorically denied that it was involved in preparations for the heinous attacks, and is fighting the families’ claims in court.

A federal judge in 2025 ruled that Sept. 11 families could continue the trial, citing circumstantial evidence that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia assisted the hijackers, citing the “inference” that the government had employed al-Bayoumi.

https://nypost.com/2026/08/29/us-news/landlord-who-rented-california-apartment-to-9-11-terrorists-speaks-for-1st-time-about-being-duped-i-bought-into-everything/

'California set to force big companies to disclose historic links to slavery'

California is set to force big companies to disclose their historic links to slavery as a new measure passed the state legislature this week.

The measure is now headed to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk and he has until September 30 to sign or veto it.

The bill is facing pushback from insurance companies, which argue it largely repeats an earlier California law requiring insurers to disclose past policies issued to slaveholders that covered the death or injury of enslaved people.

New York Life Insurance Company, Aetna Life Insurance Company and American International Group, known as AIG, were among the companies that disclosed ties to enslaved people and slaveholders.

Some reparations advocates have viewed the measure as a significant step forward, while others have questioned how much of an impact it would actually have.

The measure would only take effect if the Legislature sets aside funding for it, a requirement added through late amendments.

Once funding is allocated, the California Civil Rights Department would be required to create a digital platform for the disclosures.

Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, D-Jefferson Park, believes there won’t be an issue building the platform.

“This is not big dollars,” he said, according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune. “And it’s not something that’s not going to happen.”

https://nypost.com/2026/08/29/us-news/california-set-to-force-big-companies-to-disclose-historic-links-to-slavery/

The CBC goes Piker?

by Silvio Canto, Jr.

What in the world is going on in Canada? Sorry, but this is not the Canada we always associated with hockey and beautiful lakes for fishing. This new version of Canada is hard to understand. Sorry to say it again, but woke is killing the Canadians!

Let’s check this post from Warren Kinsella at The Toronto Sun. He got a memo from the CBC, which is the Canadian version of PBS/NPR, except with more clout. Let’s check this out:

This week, I received a memo — presumably confidential — addressed to CBC News staff. It is authored by one Basem Boshra, who is the “Senior Director of Journalistic Standards and Public Trust at CBC News.” In Boshra’s memo, reporters are editors are told this:
“Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks.”
Boshra states that all in bold letters, italicized, as if to emphasize the point. To make clear it is a directive, not a suggestion.
It goes on. “The hijackings led to passenger jet crashes,” it reads, again in italics. There is no recognition in the CBC memo — none — that “hijacking that leads to passenger jet crashes” is not a protest, or a vote. It is a terrorist act, full stop.
I have never been among those who hate CBC. I still occasionally listen to CBC radio, and I admire some of the veteran journalists there — I send them notes, telling them so. I thought the Conservative Party’s pledge to eliminate the CBC was stupid. In remote parts of a vast country, we need a broadcaster that fairly and accurately represents the news.
Except this direction from CBC management is not that. It is not fair and it is in no way accurate. It is rewriting the historical record. It is manipulating facts to fit an ideological perspective. It is cruel and despicable. It is Orwellian.

Orwellian for sure. More like Hasan Piker (i.e., that fellow that suddenly every Democrat wants to break up with).

What are they smoking at the CBC? What about 9-11 is not terrorism? This is about as bad as having the aforementioned Piker say that we deserved 9-11.

Don’t you remember how Canada supported the US during 9-11? As I recall, US-bound planes landed in Canada to take pressure off US airports, and the Canadians were totally supportive of our position. I guess that was a different Canada, or at least a different CBC.

Last but not least, I wonder when the DSA puts pressure on NPR to stop calling the events of 9-11 terrorism, too. Think I’m crazy? Not really. The same mindset that drove the CBC to write that memo is now running the Democrat Party down here.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/08/the-cbc-goes-piker/

The Trump Revolution is Real

by J.B. Shurk

We are living through such an arrogant era in which too many people “know” preposterous things: Biological sex isn’t real. Muslims built America. Math is racist. Iran is defeating the United States. Joe Biden is “sharp as a tack.” President Trump is a Russian spy. People are certain that “their” side is right and the “other” side is wrong. There is not a lot of humility in the world today. But, as we see during the LGBTQIA+ community’s various bacchanalia each year, there is a glut of personal pride.

When I encounter people who “know everything,” I like to remind them how wrong some of the smartest people over the last century have proved to be. During a guest lecture at the University of Munich in 1924, theoretical physicist Max Planck recounted a conversation he had with his mentor, Philipp von Jolly, fifty years earlier. After Planck inquired about pursuing a career in physics, Jolly discouraged his young student from doing so, telling him that nearly everything in the field of physics had already been discovered, with little left to do aside from a few final measurements. Planck went on to win a Nobel Prize for discovering energy quanta — revolutionizing theoretical physics and our understanding of atomic particles, while setting the stage for Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity regarding space and time. At the turn of the twentieth century, plenty of physicists believed they knew almost everything; quantum mechanics and general relativity proved they knew almost nothing.

In 1919, most astronomers believed that our Milky Way Galaxy comprised the whole universe, that the size of the universe was roughly 300,000 light years across, and that the universe was infinitely old and unchanging. A hundred years later, astronomers estimate the observable universe to be ninety-four billion light years across and 13.7 billion years old. Ten years ago, astronomers adjusted the estimated number of galaxies in the universe from a hundred billion to at least two trillion. And the James Webb Space Telescope has pushed this number to as high as twenty trillion. Even that number is likely to rise. When our understanding of the size of the universe has gone from one galaxy to tens of trillions in a single century, should we not approach competing points of view with a little more open-mindedness? Does it not seem foolishly arrogant of people such as Barack Obama, Al Gore, John Kerry, and Mark Carney to claim that the “science” of “global warming” is “settled”?

It is important to acknowledge just how little we know about our world. It is important to remember that we have redefined fundamental parts of our physical reality within our own lifetimes. It is important to recognize that even the most universally accepted paradigms have been toppled and replaced.

If our understanding of physics and cosmology can be upended in a few decades, why would we expect the social sciences of politics, economics, and sociology to be more constant? Why would we expect political pundits to have an accurate grasp of the future? Why would we assume that population growth is an existential threat, that sentient robots will replace humans, that debt bombs will impoverish us, or that nuclear bombs will end us? In other words, why do we always assume the end is near?

Our generation is not the first to fear the future nor will it be the last. A thousand years ago, at the turn of the first millennium, there were plenty of people who expected the apocalypse. Instead, their descendants experienced the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution. The second millennium started with the fake threat of Y2K and the real threat of 9/11 and has continued lurching toward economic, military, technological, and political powder kegs ever since. Twenty-six years of impending doom have had an effect on the world’s collective psyche. Right now there is a dearth of optimism. Although standards of living, lifespans, and the proliferation of luxury comforts have never been higher, people talk about today as if it were the Great Depression.

Almost all of America’s leaders have failed to live up to this century’s challenges. George Bush encouraged us to fight Islamic terrorists “over there” so that we wouldn’t have to fight them “over here”; now we’ve got super-mosques, loudspeakers in major towns calling Muslims to prayer, and apologists for Islamic rapists and murderers running for high office or already serving in Congress. Barack Obama may have sold “hope and change” to the public in his run for the presidency, but then he went on a worldwide America-bashing apology tour, dismissed the idea that there was anything “exceptional” about our country, pitted black and white Americans against each other, destroyed healthcare with government mandates, and used the USA PATRIOT Act to spy on his political enemies.

Most other prominent political leaders have used the first quarter of the new century to break bad news to the American people. “The borders can’t be properly secured,” they say. “Blue-collar jobs are never coming back home,” they insist. “Global warming is killing the planet,” they claim. “Racist cops are killing black people,” they argue. Bad news rains down on us every day (especially if you watch CNN or read The New York Times). On the Democrat side of the aisle, patriotism has been wholly rejected and replaced with a litany of anti-American refrains: America is imperialist, colonialist, racist, white supremacist, Islamophobic, transphobic, patriarchal, and whatever new insults Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer’s America-hating, communist party devises next.

When was the last time you heard any global prognosticator speak of America’s future as anything other than one of certain decline?

Perhaps that’s why President Trump appeals to so many Americans. He has been the only consistently positive leader declaring this “America’s century.” While other political leaders — Democrats and Republicans — have spent the first twenty-six years of the new millennium making excuses for why our borders can’t be secured, why our industrial towns can’t be rebuilt, and why violent crime is the “new normal,” President Trump has secured the border, brought American manufacturing back to life, and cut murder and other violent crime rates across the country more sharply than any time since 1900. Those are astounding accomplishments in a short amount of time, but you won’t hear them being discussed on CNN or NPR. Nor will you hear about all the different ways President Trump has strengthened the security and economic future of the Western Hemisphere by waging war against international drug cartels, promoting hemispheric self-sufficiency, and methodically eliminating the influences of China, Russia, and Iran. Nor will you hear about the ways President Trump is deconstructing Islamic terrorism’s chokehold over energy resources in the Middle East. You certainly won’t hear how tariffs are forcing once-offshored companies to reinvest in the United States. Nor will you hear that inflation continues to sink, while wages continue to rise — exactly the opposite of Wall Street pundits’ predictions.

You won’t hear any of this positive news because the whole globalist Establishment — the bought-and-paid-for politicians, the multinational investment firm behemoths, the Wall Street and City of London make-nothing vultures, and the corporate news propaganda syndicate — are invested in a future of World Economic Forum oligarchy, Chinese communism, “climate change” totalitarianism, and steady American decline. These parasites intend to discourage you. They intend to exacerbate social conflicts, undermine American influence, disparage American history, mock American greatness, and make you feel weak.

President Trump is leading America back to the moon. We’re going to Mars. Whatever else AI turns out to be, it will have an American accent. The White House has spent all year celebrating Freedom 250 because it wishes for Americans to remember and embrace their history. The loudest pundits know nothing. The revolution is here. This is the American century.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/08/the-trump-revolution-is-real/

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