Being the eternal optimist, I imagine pro-Israel Jared Kushner and pro-oil Rex Tillerson (no oil in Israel!) somehow brokering the impossible mid-East peace that — if ever attained — would solve so many of the world’s problems.
This is almost surely a fantasy.
What’s not a fantasy are the 63.7 million acres in Russia Exxon has rights to drill on . . . but is prevented by U.S. sanctions against Russia from exploiting.
(That’s more than double its drilling rights in all the other countries of the world combined. The U.S. ranks second at 14 million acres, Canada third at 6 million.)
Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson testified yesterday he was unaware of any lobbying Exxon might have done to lift the sanctions, and when confronted with signed disclosure forms confirming that Exxon did lobby on this topic, he noted — quite remarkably I thought — that those forms left open the question whether Exxon was lobbying for or against the sanctions. (Just as NRA lobbying disclosure forms don’t specify whether they are lobbying for or against gun safety measures.)
If you can find the time, it’s laid out by Rachel Maddow in fascinating detail here.
