"Gatekeeping" is the act of preventing others from recognizing an important, often vital, truth. In the Wizard of Oz. all the smoke and mirrors worked for a while until the All-Powerful and Mighty Oz's cover was blown as Toto, the dog, pulled the curtain open to reveal an ordinary man as he commanded, "Don't pay any attention to that man behind the curtain!" Unlike Dorothy who pursued the Mighty Oz, many people seem satisfied to take that advice and not pay further attention to who or what's behind the curtain. The political and media elite expose what they want the public to see. The global elites, powerful individual and companies, control the whole show behind the world stage. So, the Ukraine plot has players fighting on stage while behind Putin's backdrop curtain are the elites, Russian oligarchs. Who really runs the show--let's take a peak!
"Why does Russia care about Ukraine, a country that's said to be "as poor as Paraguay and as corrupt as Iran"?
Crimea in yellow circle."Vladimir Putin would like you to believe it's because he's ensuring the safety and well-being of the millions of Russians living there. And, to a certain extent, he has a case.
Of course, the Ukraine's major pipeline routes from the West Siberian gas fields to all of the Western European markets pass through their borders to Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Moldova, Russia, and Belarus--all strategicaly geographic.
"But is it possible that the true explanation is even simpler? Could it be, in fact, that Russia's decision to invade Ukraine had merely to do with a handful of natural gas discoveries off the coasts of Romania and Ukraine?
"I ask this question somewhat rhetorically, because I think the answer may be "yes." As Bloomberg reported in the middle of last year, the Black Sea remains "almost untouched by the oil industry, with fewer than 100 wells drilled, compared with more than 7,000 in the North Sea. The countries surrounding the Black Sea are throwing their doors open to Exxon and competitors to search beneath the brackish waters that run as deep as 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers)."
"To add fuel to the fire, moreover, ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) recently discovered a massive natural gas field off neighboring Romania's shores. The find, according to that country's prime minister, may end up being so substantial that Romania could become a natural gas exporter by as early as 2018.
"It's in this context, in turn, that the Russian invasion of Ukraine can arguably be best explained -- and particularly when you consider that ExxonMobil was on the verge of signing an exploration agreement with a $335 million signing bonus for Ukraine’s government and a promise to spend a further $400 million on seismic surveys and drilling two wells, according to an Energy Ministry official; until the now former fuel and energy minister, Eduard Stavytsky, put the deal on hold in late January.
"We will sign it in February," Stavytsky told the media on Jan. 27. At the time, no reason was given for the delay. Perhaps now we know."
As they say, "The fix is in." Here is the real deal: Do you think that President Obama and President Putin discussed this current 'crisis' about the Ukraine in earlier conversations? Or maybe, all of this is much ado about nothing in diplomatic circles because it's between two feckless leaders who are merely marionettes in a side show controlled by the strings pulled above by the global elites. And so, the current actions by Russia and the United States are merely a contrived publically aired show staged with loud saber rattling, bellicose hostility to present a hollow straw-man argument to bring back a 'reset button' agreement with Obama; of course, that is after Russia secures the Ukraine and Crimea territories.
Let's face realities here, ExxonMobil is the big gorilla in the room that's huge with lots of money, political connections and power. From the wells to the pump, ExxonMobil is all about oil. The company explores, produces, transports, and sells crude oil and natural gas. Logically thinking, why would ExxonMobil want to do business in an unstable area if they didn't already have the drilling rights and licenses secure, both politically and militarily? After all, their investment in time and money will yield billions of dollars as well as offering power to Russian oligarchs for a tighter Russian stranglehold around the European nations demanding more clean burning natural gas. Hmn... your thoughts?