WASHINGTON – More than a dozen former senior U.S. national security officials have pressed congressional leaders to quickly pass legislation to boost technology funding, calling it “critical” to compete against China.

A letter signed by 16 officials from past Democratic and Republican administrations – including Leon Panetta, who served as defense secretary under President Barack Obama, and President George W. Bush’s national security advisor Stephen Hadley – said the legislation would “ensure the U.S. stays on the cutting-edge of microelectronics.”

The Senate passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act last year, including $52 billion for the semiconductor industry and authorizing $190 billion to strengthen U.S. technology and research to compete with China.

The House of Representatives began considering its “America Competes” act this week. If it passes, the two chambers will have to resolve differences with the Senate bill.

“This is the time to prioritize comprehensive, bipartisan competitiveness legislation, which will ensure that federal investment matches our national security interests and allows the United States to maintain strengths and comparative advantages against rising adversaries,” the officials wrote in the letter dated Feb.1, seen by Reuters.

The letter was addressed to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as Republican House and Senate leaders Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell.

Former CIA directors John Brennan and Michael Hayden, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, deputy national security advisor in the Trump administration Matthew Pottinger, and under secretary of defense for policy during the Obama administration Michele Flournoy also signed it.

Signers also included former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, who served on a government artificial intelligence commission, and Jane Harman, a former ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee.

More than 500 amendments to the House bill have been submitted, including one that would bar semiconductor firms receiving government subsidies from paying dividends or repurchasing company stock.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said it was pleased the House had begun to consider its version of the bill, and the largest U.S. labor organization said on Monday it strongly supported the House legislation. – Reuters

LONDON – OPEC+ will likely stick to existing policies of moderate output increases on Wednesday, five sources from the producers’ group said even as it expects demand to rise to new peaks this year and as oil prices trade near their highest since 2014.

The group, which comprises of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia and produces over 40% of global supply, has faced pressure from top consumers such as the United States and India to pump more to help the economic recovery from the pandemic.

But OPEC+ has refused to adhere to speedier increases arguing that the world is facing an energy shortage due to poorly calculated energy transitions to greener fuels by consuming nations.

Several OPEC members have struggled to pump even in line with their quotas due to under-investments of the past few years.

Five OPEC+ sources told Reuters on Tuesday they expected the ministers to agree to go ahead with a planned increase of 400,000 barrels per day in March, despite high oil prices.

“The issue (of speedier increases) did not come up and I doubt it will,” an OPEC+ source said, asked if an OPEC+ expert committee meeting had discussed an increase of above 400,000 bpd when it virtually met on Tuesday.

A report prepared by the committee, known as the Joint Technical Committee (JTC), and seen by Reuters on Tuesday kept the forecast for world oil demand growth unchanged for 2022 at 4.2 million bpd.

It said it expected demand to rise to pre-pandemic levels in the second half of the year. Oil demand reached its peak of slightly above 100 million bpd in 2019.

The report still said the world would face a crude surplus in 2022 reaching 1.3 million bpd, slightly less than its previous forecast of 1.4 million bpd.

The report noted, however that a number of risks continue to linger over the oil market, including “significant uncertainties” associated with the potential impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant, ongoing supply chain bottlenecks and central bank policy to counter inflation.

The JTC also flagged other risks to the oil market recovery, citing volatility in commodity markets, restraints on oil production capacity from underinvestment, the challenge of high sovereign debt levels in many regions and geopolitical risks.

Brent crude prices were about $89 a barrel on Tuesday, not too far from the seven-year high of $91.70 reached last week, driven largely by geopolitical tensions.

Goldman Sachs said in a note there was a chance of a faster OPEC+ ramp up given the pace of the market’s recent rally. – Reuters

KYIV/MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West on Tuesday of deliberately creating a scenario designed to lure it into war and ignoring Russia’s security concerns over Ukraine.

In his first direct public comments on the crisis for nearly six weeks, a defiant Putin showed no sign of backing down from security demands that the West has called non-starters and a possible excuse to launch an invasion, which Moscow denies.

“It’s already clear now … that fundamental Russian concerns were ignored,” Putin said at a news conference with the visiting prime minister of Hungary, one of several NATO leaders trying to intercede with him as the crisis has intensified.

Putin described a potential future scenario in which Ukraine was admitted to NATO and then attempted to recapture the Crimea peninsula, territory Russia seized in 2014.

“Let’s imagine Ukraine is a NATO member and starts these military operations. Are we supposed to go to war with the NATO bloc? Has anyone given that any thought? Apparently not,” he said.

Russia has massed more than 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border and Western countries say they fear Putin may be planning to invade.

Russia denies this but has said it could take unspecified military action unless its security demands are met. Western countries say any invasion would bring sanctions on Moscow.

The Kremlin wants the West to respect a 1999 agreement that no country can strengthen its own security at the expense of others, which it considers at the heart of the crisis, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

He raised the charter signed in Istanbul by members of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which includes the United States and Canada, during a call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Lavrov said Blinken accepted the need to discuss the matter further whilst a U.S. account of the call focused on the need for Moscow to pull back.

“If President Putin truly does not intend war or regime change, the Secretary told Foreign Minister Lavrov then this is the time to pull back troops and heavy weaponry and engage in a serious discussion,” a senior State Department official told reporters.

The U.S. is willing to discuss giving the Kremlin a way to verify the absence of Tomahawk cruise missiles at NATO bases in Romania and Poland, if Russia shares similar information about missiles on certain Russian bases, Bloomberg reported.

The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment but a source familiar with the situation said the United States has only offered to have talks on a variety of Russia’s concerns, such as arms control issues in the appropriate forums.

‘INSTRUMENT’

Putin had not spoken publicly about the Ukraine crisis since Dec. 23, leaving ambiguity about his personal position while diplomats from Russia and the West have been engaged in repeated rounds of talks.

His remarks on Tuesday reflected a world view in which Russia needs to defend itself from an aggressive and hostile United States. Washington is not primarily concerned with Ukraine’s security, but with containing Russia, Putin said.

“In this sense, Ukraine itself is just an instrument to achieve this goal,” he said.

“This can be done in different ways, by drawing us into some kind of armed conflict and, with the help of their allies in Europe, forcing the introduction against us of those harsh sanctions they are talking about now in the U.S.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has often sparred with Western European leaders over democracy in his own country, said he believed after his talks with Putin that there was room for a compromise.

“I got convinced today that the existing differences in positions can be bridged and it is possible to sign an agreement that would guarantee peace, guarantee Russia’s security and is acceptable for NATO member states as well,” Orban said.

GUN TO UKRAINE’S HEAD

As Western countries rush to show solidarity with Ukraine, the U.S. urged Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to cancel a visit with Putin in Russia, a source told Reuters.

On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv and accused Putin of holding a gun to Ukraine’s head to demand changes to the security architecture in Europe.

“It is vital that Russia steps back and chooses a path of diplomacy,” Johnson said. “And I believe that is still possible. We are keen to engage in dialogue, of course we are, but we have the sanctions ready, we’re providing military support and we will also intensify our economic cooperation.”

Johnson said any Russian invasion of Ukraine would lead to a military and humanitarian disaster.

“There are 200,000 men and women under arms in Ukraine, they will put up a very, very fierce and bloody resistance,” he said. “I think that parents, mothers in Russia should reflect on that fact and I hope very much that President Putin steps back from the path of conflict and that we engage in dialogue.”

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, also visiting Kyiv, said Poland would help Ukraine with gas and arms supplies, as well as humanitarian and economic aid.

“Living close to a neighbour like Russia, we have the feeling of living at the foot of a volcano,” said Morawiecki.

Zelenskiy, who has repeatedly played down the prospect of an imminent invasion, signed a decree to boost his armed forces by 100,000 troops over three years. He urged lawmakers to stay calm and avoid panic.

The troop increase was “not because we will soon have a war … but so that soon and in the future there will be peace in Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said. – Reuters