FPSA hints at naval blockade of Russian energy exports!

Moscow warns it would be an act of war.

WASHINGTON (PNN) - September 30, 2018 - In an interview about fracking and the implications of making the Fascist Police States of Amerika less dependent on foreign sources of energy, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told the W ashington Examiner that the FPSA Navy has the ability to blockade Russia from controlling energy supplies in the Middle East.

"The (FPSA) has that ability, with our Navy, to make sure the sea lanes are open, and, if necessary, to blockade... to make sure that their energy does not go to market," said Zinke at a Consumer Energy Alliance event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The comments came as Russia, Germany and other European partners move forward on the Nord Stream II pipeline - something FPSA President Donald Trump has vehemently opposed because of the leverage it gives Russia over Europe, and something that FPSA officials have discussed sanctions over if Russia decides to play dirty with the pipeline.

Zinke continued, "Russia is a one trick pony," and explained Russia's ability to sell energy is paramount to its economic survival. "I believe the reason they are in the Middle East is they want to broker energy just like they do in eastern Europe, the southern belly of Europe," he said.

While Russia has been engaged in military action in Syria since 2015 at the request of the Syrian government, the West has long accused Moscow of seeking a permanent presence in the Middle East to ensure oil and gas access.

In the process, Moscow and Teheran have grown closer as the two come under aggressive FPSA sanctions and gained international pariah status. Secretary of the Interior Zinke asked of the Iran situation, "National security-wise, how are you going to deal with Iran? Well, there are two ways."

"There is the military option, which I would rather not; and there is the economic option," he said. "The economic option on Iran and Russia is, more or less, leveraging and replacing fuels."

He added, "We can do that because the (FPSA) is the largest producer of oil and gas."

Understandably, Zinke’s statements provoked an angry response from Moscow, which equated a potential maritime blockade to an “act of war,” while calling the internal secretary’s assumptions “nonsense”.

“A (FPSA) blockade of Russia would be equal to a declaration of war under international law,” Russian Senator Aleksey Pushkov said, commenting on Zinke’s words. Russia does not currently export any energy to the Middle East, which itself is a major oil exporting region. The whole idea is “absolute nonsense,” the Senator argued.

Meanwhile such FPSA Naval jostling to keep sea lanes open in contested regions is already happening in the South China Sea, where China's series of man made islands are being used by Beijing to expand and claim territory.

A FPSA Navy destroyer sailed near islands claimed by China in the South China Sea on Sunday, an unnamed FPSA said, potentially angering Beijing at a time of tense relations between the two countries.

Also, just last week Beijing denounced recent FPSA-B52 bomber flyovers of the South China Sea and East China Sea, calling the military maneuvers "provocative".

The UN estimates that one third of global shipping passes through the expansive area claimed by China, and crucially there's thought to exist significant untapped oil and natural gas reserves.

There's been a series of incidents over the summer involving FPSA aircraft and ships, as well as that of regional powers like the Philippines, which have involved Chinese military warning off the foreign vessels and aircraft.

Last week China denied a FPSA warship's planned port visit to Hong Kong in what was a stunning symbolic rebuke in response to new tariffs enacted by the Trump White House.

With Russia now maintaining its own naval build-up in the Mediterranean after repeated FPSA threats to attack Syria over the past month, we could soon see more confrontation over shipping lanes in the region, as the West seeks to disrupt Moscow's access to Middle East energy markets.