Trump ally Orbán pushes back on pressure to halt Russian oil imports

“Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday that he is putting Hungary’s national interests first in rejecting a call by President Trump for all NATO allies to halt the purchase of Russian fossil fuels.

Orbán, in remarks to state radio and reported by The Associated Press, said he told Trump that ending Russian oil imports would be an economic “disaster” for Hungary that would put the Hungarian economy “on its knees.”

Trump seemed to cut Hungary and Slovakia some slack in continuing to purchase Russian oil.

“I just don’t want to have people go blaming them when, you know, we spoke to them at length today and it seems like that, for them it’s a little bit,” the president said from the Oval Office on Thursday, trailing off and turning to his pressure campaign on Turkey to stop buying Russian energy.”

https://thehill.com/policy/international/5526962-hungary-nato-russian-oil/?tbref=hp

Ukraine’s New BOPP Strategy: The Big Oil Power Play

The hitting of refineries in Russia is creating a gas shortage that may impact civilians. This could eventually weaken Russians’ support for the invasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvha2sVzAFE

Update from Ukraine | Awesome News from Frontline! Plus Ukraine Hits Gigantic Oil Refinery

Update from Ukraine | Awesome News from Frontline! Plus Ukraine Hits Gigantic Oil Refinery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxG8QEo5Wfs

‘Clearly a low moment’: US-India relationship sours as new tariffs kick in

“The new levies — imposed, in part, to pressure Russia to end its war on Ukraine by punishing one of its largest oil buyers — will raise the country’s tariff rate to 50 percent and are likely to inflame tensions between the world’s two largest democracies.

The Indians, meanwhile, have shown little sign of budging on their Russian oil purchases, which the government has framed as purely an economic decision.

Now, India’s 50 percent tariff rate will be nearly as high as the 55 percent levy Chinese goods face.

For much of this century, U.S. presidents have sought to pull New Delhi into closer strategic ties — and pry it away from its traditional relations with Moscow — through India’s membership in the China-countering group known as the Quad, which also includes Australia, Japan and the United States.

Those efforts appeared to be bearing fruit as recently as January following a meeting in Washington with top diplomats from Quad countries when India’s Foreign Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told reporters that New Delhi was willing to nudge the grouping toward a greater defense and security focus. That initiative is likely dead as long as the Trump administration’s tariff punishment continues.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/26/clearly-a-low-moment-u-s-india-relationship-sours-as-new-tariffs-kick-in-00527196

Oil Prices Fall, Tesla Robotaxi Debuts, & Trump Media Grifts | Prof G Markets

Trump Media Group grifting Trump supporters by a large buyback. Instead of investing in the businesses, the company is raising money to put it in Trump’s pocket. Trump owns 60% of the stock, so a buyback makes him richer. Buybacks are normally done by profitable companies to reward their shareholders. Trump Media Group is not profitable. They raised money via an equity sale and then bought back their stock, essentially transferring some of the money raised into Trump’s pockets. (Discussion of this begins at 21:37).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0KLHBPsObc