Saudi Aramco IPO + Tulsi Gabbard's Whispered Third Party Campaign, a Mainstream Conspiracy Theory

Clifford Krauss's "Flood of Oil Is Coming, Complicating Efforts to Fight Global Warming" appeared on the front page yesterday. It tells the story of major new oil production from Norway, Canada, Brazil and Guyana coming online in the next few years. Krauss implies that this coming oil glut is behind not only the recent re-announcement of Saudi Aramco's IPO but also a likely rationale for another war drive against Iran and Venezuela:

Canada, Norway, Brazil and Guyana are all relatively stable at a time of turbulence for traditional producers like Venezuela and Libya and tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Their oil riches should undercut efforts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia to support prices with cuts in production and give American and other Western policymakers an added cushion in case there are renewed attacks on oil tankers or processing facilities in the Persian Gulf.

[snip]

There is already a glut on the world market, even with exports from Venezuela and Iran sharply curtailed by American sanctions. Should their production come back, that glut would only expand.

The Aramco IPO was first announced three years ago. But low oil prices, a botched genocidal war in neighboring Yemen, a sloppy assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, climate change, and last but not least, the devastating Houthi drone attack on Aramco production facilities in September have stymied crown prince Mohammed bin Salman from realizing his dream of a $2 trillion initial public offering.

The $2 trillion IPO has now dropped to $1.5 trillion, and it will take place sometime next month on the Riyadh exchange, not in London or New York. No date has been announced. So don't hold your breath.

****

Caitlin Johnstone makes mention of the fascinating whisper campaign regarding a third party run by Democratic Party presidential aspirant Tulsi Gabbard that has proliferated in the last few weeks:

The narrative that Gabbard is preparing a third party run is revealing, in that there’s zero evidence for it whatsoever yet they keep bringing it up. It’s literally just something pundits started saying in an authoritative tone of voice, and it was magically transformed into accepted orthodoxy. It’s a great illustration of how effective the establishment narrative managers are; they can create the illusion of a fact out of thin air just by saying something over and over again in an assertive tone.

I had not one but two coworkers question me about this. I said I would eat my cap if it turns out to be true.

U.S. ballot access laws are splintered throughout 50 states. The timetable precludes Gabbard from pursuing a viable third party challenge. She would have to drop out of the Democratic primaries now with hundreds of millions in her coffers and an enormous staff just to get on the ballot in major states in time for the election next year. It's absurd. A sanctioned mainstream conspiracy theory.

The more likely third party campaign will be by a Wall-Street backed neoliberal once it appears inevitable (early March?) that Elizabeth Warren will win the nomination.