Leading from Behind, the US Appears to Again Poke the Bear and Say – Who Me?

As Reported by Zerohedge:  US equity futures are dipping lower as bond yields in the US continue to move higher as crude continues to surge and is up another 2% on growing fears of middle-eastern escalation after a senior Iranian commander was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Syria yesterday, with Iran immediately vowing revenge, and as Ukraine once again struck oil infrastructure targets deep inside Russia, overnight hitting Russia’s 3rd largest refinery, ~800 miles from the front lines.

As OilPrice details, Ukrainian drones hit the primary refining unit of Russia’s third-largest refinery southeast of Moscow more than 800 miles from the front line, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Ukraine keeps striking Russian oil assets despite the Biden admin's unequivocal demands for a hard stop [“We do not encourage or enable attacks inside of Russia,” an NSC spokesperson said.], suggesting that diplomatic fallout is now imminent.

The Taneco refinery of Russian company Tatneft in Tatarstan, an industrialized region southeast of Moscow, was attacked by Ukrainian drones in the latest such attack from Ukraine on Russian refining infrastructure.
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The United States has repeatedly urged Ukraine to halt its drone attacks on Russian oil refineries due to Washington’s assessment that the strikes could lead to Russian retaliation and push up global oil prices, the Financial Times reported last month, citing sources familiar with the exchange.

Regarding the Financial Times reporter's reference to “sources familiar with the exchange”, this lack of sourcing without further explanation provides little value.  And the NSC statement is nothing more than a necessary disclaimer.

It is difficult to accept that Ukraine, primarily dependent on the US, would take escalatory actions without approval from the US or our CIA.  Similarly, it is quite possible the US approved Israel’s act against Iran.  As this Administration and certain war-mongering European nations work toward triggering a Russian response and global war or to justify more spending on the war, just a few days ago Putin stated that:

“around 40% of global military spending falls on the United States and Russia 3.5%.”

“Are we, having this disparity (of defense costs), going to fight with NATO or something? This is just crap!”

"What they say about us going to attack Europe after Ukraine is complete nonsense, intimidating their own population, solely with the purpose to beat money out of them, out of their people. . .”

The numerous past apparent escalatory efforts such as the mysterious destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline (where this attack reduced Russia's capacity to deliver natural gas to Germany), admissions that there are NATO troops in Ukraine (reflecting a transformative escalation with NATO boots on the ground), the bombing of the concert hall (a hideous crime against civilians) and multiple attacks on Russian infrastructure by Ukraine provided ample circumstances to trigger escalation -- and yet we haven't witnessed a meaningful retaliation.