🇸🇾🇸🇦 The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad bin Salman, met today with Syrian President Bashar Assad, in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, as part of the 33rd Arab Summit.

🚩 @ResistanceTrench

🇨🇳 ❌️ 🇮🇱 China is burning all its bridges with Israel

⬛️ Desire to be seen as champion of Global South drives policy tilt

🔶️ Ma Xinmin, a Foreign Ministry legal department official, set out Beijing's stance at an International Court of Justice hearing in February: "In pursuit of the right to self-determination, the Palestinian people's use of force to resist foreign oppression and to complete the establishment of an independent state is an inalienable right well founded in international law." Last month, Beijing even hosted a Hamas delegation.

🔶️ Through the fighting since October, Beijing has put all blame on Israel, while Chinese social media platforms like Weibo and WeChat have suddenly filled with antisemitism. Noting this, Aaron Keyak, the Biden administration's deputy envoy on antisemitism, observed in January, "Because we know the Chinese internet is not free, that's a conscious decision by the Chinese government to allow that kind of rhetoric to be greatly increased."

🔶️ Similarly, when Iran sent a unprecedented volley of missiles and drones toward Israel last month, Beijing referred to it as an "act of self-defense" in response to an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus. Speaking to his Iranian counterpart after the attack on Israel, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, "Iran can handle the situation well."

🔶️ China's stance appears to reflect both a desire to position itself as a viable alternative to the U.S. and the heretofore American-led order and its economic interests as the world's largest oil importer. China's growing clout in the Middle East includes not only a strengthening strategic partnership with Iran, but close ties with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states.

🔶️ Jerusalem has quietly signaled its disgruntlement with Beijing's approach. In late October, Israel signed on to a joint statement of concern with more than 50 other governments about alleged Chinese crimes against humanity in its predominantly Muslim Xinjiang region. Last month, an Israeli parliamentary delegation visited Taiwan and met with President Tsai Ing-wen who commented, "Bilateral interactions have recently been very close."

https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/China-is-burning-all-its-bridges-with-Israel

JUST IN: 937 financial firms disclosed spot Bitcoin ETF holdings in Q1 2024.

Gold ETFs had just 95 firms invested in its first quarter.

@WatcherGuru

JUST IN: Chainlink $LINK completes test with JPMorgan, Templeton, BNY Mellon and other major US banks to accelerate the tokenization of funds.

@WatcherGuru

🇺🇸⚡️- Internet and cellular outages spiked in the United States over the last hour.

⚠️ Confirmed: A significant decline in internet connectivity has been registered in parts of #Texas with high impact to Houston; the losses in service are attributed to power cuts and damaged infrastructure amid storm surges, flood and heavy rainfall 🔌📉 #TXwx

🇮🇹 Impact of ESG Pressure on Western Oil and Gas: Eni's Strategic Moves

Despite the pressure from ESG and energy transition activists, Western oil and gas companies continue to operate, exemplified by recent developments in Italy. The energy group Eni is considering allocating stakes in several oil and gas projects, including those in Indonesia and Côte d'Ivoire, to secure financing for their development. This tactic is part of Claudio Descalzi's broader strategy to divide Eni's operations into distinct entities or satellites. This restructuring allows investors interested specifically in oil and gas, and those focused solely on low-carbon activities, to invest with clarity about their involvements. Essentially, while the core operations remain unchanged, this strategy facilitates more agile investment management and risk sharing. It also enhances reputation management by highlighting low-carbon energy achievements in markets that value them more than traditional brownfield investments, all the while sustaining or expanding fossil fuel operations.

#Italy #ENI
@songofoil

🇺🇸🇨🇺 State Department removes Cuba from short list of countries deemed uncooperative on counterterrorism

Secretary of State Antony Blinken removed Cuba Wednesday from the State Department’s short list of countries that it deems less than fully cooperative against violent groups.

In a statement, the State Department said Blinken had found that Cuban and U.S. law enforcement were again working together on counterterrorism and other efforts.

The State Department had cited Cuba as a “not fully cooperating country” in 2022, saying that Cuba had refused to engage with Colombia in the extradition of members of the National Liberation Army group.

🔎 Source
#US #Cuba

☠️ Blood Meridian

At the University of Trieste.