Briefly Noted: Vanguard Flips Off Davos; Middle East Shift Continues; Wokesters Soldier On

There’s good news on the home front.

Tom Luongo (The Bots Have Returned!) @TFL1728

Signpost. Blackrock's Fink whines on Bloomberg to save his hide, Vanguard just says, you know what? Piss off, Klaus.

zerohedge.comVanguard CEO Abandons ESG Investing Alliance: “Not In The Game Of Politics”“It would be hubris to presume that we know the right strategy for the thousands of companies that Vanguard invests with...”

Zerohedge writes:

The seemingly unquestioned march towards corporate utopia has met with resistance among those who oppose the idea that government oligarchs should dictate the affairs of private business firms. The long-term effects of the ESG movement are largely ignored by the mainstream.

It may or may not be connected, but back in the latter part of 2022 JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon was hauled in front of Congress where he was harangued to commit to ESG investing. His response was an angry: “Absolutely not.” My guess is that when JPMorgan speaks Vanguard listens. Dimon then, against all expectations, showed up in Davos, where he proclaimed that oil would be with us for the foreseeable future. That was definitely a flip-off, too. I’m not sure if this is enough to constitute a pattern, but I certainly tend that way.

Russia continues to strengthen its hand in the Middle East. Putin has recently given Turkey’s Erdogan a glowing endorsement in advance of Turkey’s May elections. Erdogan is a tough nut, but Putin has cultivated him assiduously and the results are showing. The two have been on the phone regularly. It’s a safe bet that Ukraine and Syria are high up on the topics discussed. In the meantime, Arab states are continuing to reconcile with Syria’s Assad, even as the US/UK tag team continue to try to thwart these developments:

Arab Leaders Bring Syria's Assad Back 'In From The Cold', Angering US

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry arrived in Damascus on Monday to meet with President Bashar al-Assad and express his country’s solidarity with Syria following the devastating earthquake, signifying continued warming of relations between the Syrian government and regional states.

The visit to Syria represents the first by a high-level Egyptian official since the start of the US-backed war in 2011. Upon his arrival at Damascus International Airport, Shoukry was received by Syria’s Foreign Minister, Faisal Mekdad.

The US position in Syria is becoming increasingly isolated, and US anger doesn’t appear to be having much effect. Tom Luongo wants us to remember one of his predictions for 2023:

5) The US Will Leave Syria in 2023

The recent meeting between Russian, Syrian and Turkish Defense Ministers paves the way for a similar upcoming meeting between the three countries’ Foreign Ministers.

Once that happens, Syrian President Assad and Turkish President Erdogan will presumably sit down with Russian President Putin and end Turkiye’s involvement in Syria. This will hang their pet jihadists in Idlib out to dry and leave the US forces there heavily exposed.

We’re already seeing them come under rocket fire though you’d never hear about this in the Western press. I went over this in grave detail in a recent post.

By making the deals with Erdogan over becoming the new “Gas Hub” into Europe, Putin has effectively done to the US and UK what they always try to do to Russia, open up another front to distract it from the main problem, i.e. Ukraine.

Now Syria becomes the 2nd battleground for the US to decide if it will defend or will it suffer another ignominious retreat like Afghanistan?

These are very important developments. Look for steady movement.

Meanwhile, back on the home front, the federal government wokesters continue to seek new ways to oppress the citizenry:

Biden Admin Proposes To Block Half Of Current Gas Range Models

Authored by Allen Zhong via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

An efficiency proposal by the Department of Energy (DOE) would block half of current gas cooking appliances from the U.S. market, an analysis by the federal agency shows.