Lithuania To Lift Ban On Nuclear Weapons, Following Finland

The US and Saudi Arabia launched major airstrikes in Iraq overnight, targeting the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a coalition of mostly Shia militias formed in 2014 to fight ISIS. The US-Saudi strikes targeted PMF facilities in Baghdad and five Iraqi provinces, killing at least 20 PMF fighters, according to the group. President Trump claimed the […]

Russia Vows To 'Fill China's Energy Resource Gap' Amid Hormuz Crisis In Lavrov-Xi Meeting At a moment it remains a serious open question over just how vulnerable China is to the Hormuz Strait crisis, and now with the US-imposed US naval blockade of the vital oil transit waterway, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is in Beijing pledging energy support to China.  Lavrov met with President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, during which Xi urged China and Russia to "give full play to the advantages of geographic proximity and complementarity, deepen all-round cooperation and raise...

Supertanker Rates Hit Six-Year High: Here's What Driving It Global very large crude carrier (VLCC) rates have jumped to six-year highs due to two recent catalysts: first, a growing war-risk premium tied to the possibility of a US-Iran conflict, and second, ongoing consolidation in fleet ownership that is tightening vessel availability. Let's begin by noting that war-risk insurance premiums are rapidly being priced into VLCC tanker rates. The Strait of Hormuz has once again come into focus as the world's most important energy chokepoint, where any flare-up in a US-Iran...