Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Self destructive Western climate policies have left major nations, including the USA, helplessly dependent on Russian energy, and unable to impose the one sanction which could financially cripple Putin’s Wehrmacht.
Anger explodes at Germany, Italy, and Hungary over Europe’s failure to cut Russia off from SWIFT payment network
BY DAVID MEYER
February 25, 2022 9:22 PM GMT+10
As Russian troops enter Kyiv and the European Union prepares to sign off on fresh sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, there is widespread fury against the countries that are blocking the heaviest potential sanctions.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Thursday that Russia should not yet be cut off from the SWIFT global payments system, because it is “very important” to keep such drastic measures “for a situation where it may be necessary.” Italy is also reported to have opposed the measure in order to maintain some leverage over Russia’s dictatorial president, Vladimir Putin.
Both Germany and Italy are highly dependent on Russian natural gas, which would be difficult to pay for if Russia really were to be cut off from SWIFT; Austria has the same dilemma, and is taking a similar approach. All three of these countries have other extensive business ties with Russia, with Italian and Austrian banks being highly exposed right now. French banks do a lot of business in Russia as well, and France has declared a SWIFT cutoff to be “the very last resort.”
And then there’s Hungary, whose hard-right leader Viktor Orbán has long had a friendly relationship with fellow culture warrior Putin. As with President Miloš Zeman of the neighboring Czech Republic, Orbán appears to have changed tack in the past couple days, condemning Russia’s invasion and professing to stand with Ukraine. However, he has yet to follow Zeman in calling for the SWIFT option, which the Czech leader says is “needed to isolate a madman.”
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Read more: https://fortune.com/2022/02/25/ukraine-anger-sanctions-germany-italy-hungary-europe-eu-failure-cut-russia-swift-payment-network/
It didn’t have to be this way. European countries have access to more than enough frackable hydrocarbons to supply their own needs. But pressure from green groups and a weak, innumerate political class has sabotaged the development of genuine energy independence in Europe.
Fracking: UK’s only shale gas wells to be sealed and abandoned
Published 10 February
The UK’s only two shale gas wells are to be abandoned after the industry regulator ordered them to be sealed.
The Lancashire wells have not been used since 2019 after test drilling was suspended due to earth tremors and the government halted shale gas extraction in England.
The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) ordered that they now be plugged with concrete.
The site’s owners, energy firm Cuadrilla, said the decision was “ridiculous” amid rising gas prices.
…
Cuadrilla’s chief executive Francis Egan said the OGA order “had not been properly thought through” amid an “energy crisis”.
“It will be incredibly costly and difficult to rectify this mistake,” he said.
“What is more ridiculous is that leaving our own shale gas in the ground will make reducing global emissions even harder.
“Shale gas from the North of England has the potential to meet the UK’s energy needs for decades to come, yet ministers have chosen now, at the height of an energy crisis, to take us to this point.”
However, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said shale gas from fracking was “not a short-term fix” and was “still unproven as a resource in the UK”.
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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-60341226
France has a level of energy independence, thanks to their 1970s national security initiative to replace fossil fuel with affordable nuclear power. France kept prices down by mass producing standardised components, and implementing a national security mandated predictable planning process.
I’m no fan of French President Macron, who went out of his way to attack President Trump and belittle America, but it has to be said that French energy policy is an island of sanity in the midst of the green European Russian gas dependency disaster.
Macron sets out plan for French nuclear renaissance
11 February 2022
France will construct six new nuclear power reactors, consider building a further eight and push ahead with the development of small modular reactors, President Emmanuel Macron has said.
Speaking at GE Steam Power’s manufacturing site at Belfort in eastern France on Thursday, Macron, who faces a presidential election in April, said the main objective of the new policy was to reduce the country’s energy consumption while increasing its carbon-free energy production capacity.
He said in the coming decades France must produce more carbon-free electricity, because even if it reduces its energy consumption by 40%, the exit from oil and gas within 30 years implies that it will replace part of the consumption of fossil fuels with electricity. The country must therefore be able to produce up to 60% more electricity than today.
“Key to producing this electricity in the most carbon-free, safest and most sovereign way is precisely to have a plural strategy … to develop both renewable and nuclear energies,” Macron stated.
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Read more: https://world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Macron-announces-French-nuclear-renaissance
The USA is not far behind Europe when it comes to self inflicted energy dependence on hostile powers. Biden’s attacks on Keystone and fossil fuel leases have left the US economy utterly vulnerable to shifts in global energy prices. This US dependence on imports gives President Putin substantial leverage over US gasoline prices. Through his influence over US gasoline prices, Putin has leverage over the political fortunes of the US Democrats.
In my opinion it is no accident Putin struck during a US election year, during a period when Democrats are desperate keep gasoline prices under control.
Oil steadies as U.S. seen unlikely to sanction Russian exports
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Oil prices rose on Tuesday on fears that sanctions imposed by Western nations on Russia, after it sent troops into two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, could hit energy supplies.
Sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union, Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan were focused on Russian banks and elites, while Germany halted certification of a gas pipeline from Russia.
But the United States made it clear that sanctions agreed and those which may be imposed will not target oil and gas flows. read more
The Biden administration is not expected to target Russia’s crude oil and refined fuel sector with sanctions due to concerns about inflation and the harm it could do to its European allies, global oil markets and U.S. consumers, administration officials told Reuters. read more
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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-pulls-back-view-western-sanctions-russia-wont-choke-supply-2022-02-23/
The only people doing anything to impede Russia’s advance are the Ukrainians themselves, who thanks to their courage, and to President Zalenskyy’s last minute decision to open the national armouries and distribute guns and other weapons to anyone who wants to fight, appear to be causing President Putin’s invasion forces a real headache.
If the conflict continues, there is a real chance someone will blow up the Ukrainian pipeline, either drugged up Russian conscripts shooting at random targets, or Ukrainian Partisans fighting a desperate scorched Earth campaign against the Russian invaders.
I’m only speculating, but given Europe’s desperate energy situation, it would not surprise me if European leaders actually want Russia to score a quick win, to crush Ukrainian opposition and secure the gas pipeline which feeds Europe against partisan attacks. Perhaps that is why Germany blocked NATO from supplying heavy weapons to the Ukraine, in the leadup to the current war.
As Europe suffers sky high energy prices and faces an aggressive Russian army right on their doorstep, and witnesses the destruction of a democratic country very like any other European nation, perhaps the European people will finally wake up, and begin to hold their leaders accountable for their gross green energy negligence and incompetence.
Update (EW): It looks like some weapons did get through, Breitbart reports the Ukrainian resistance are using US and British anti-tank weapons to inflict significant casualties on Russian forces, with more weapons on the way.
Update (EW): Chechen strongman Kadyrov has offered Putin 70,000 hill tribe fanatics to back Putin’s incursion into the Ukraine.
The green blob is utterly barking mad, and any energy policy that meets their satisfaction is sure to be a failure. Johnson and Merkel bought into green dreams, and it is now biting them or their successors somewhere uncomfortable.
The green blob is not mad. The green blob is totally sane and very clever. The green blob is well on the way to achieving its objectives, namely the destruction of the industrialised west. It’s all part of a scheme, along with all the social justice – cultural Marxism – BLM – which works in parallel to erode our sense of belonging to robust and fair societies. Our so-called leaders are just the useful idiots.
And the worst of it is, that you can’t even point to an evil mastermind hiding in a volcano and orchestrating it all. We’ve collectively done it to ourselves and if we don’t wake up and fight back, Russia and China deserve to walk all over us. It won’t stop with Ukraine. India may be the last democracy standing. Dark times ahead.
Jesus, I hope I’m wrong, but it just feels like 1938.
you could look n see where soros in placing his bets, hes always got a finger in the pie
The mastermind Follow the yellow brick road. Who has been able to print all that was needed to corrupt/buy the system ?
And now needed a war because of their failing centrally controlled economic system. It is the West deliberately provoking Russia who left them no choice.
Bingo!
Most can’t see the volcano because most were raised on msm, left, right and center…presently the west looks to win the darwin award. Some in the far east may eventually clean out the volcano, or perhaps succumb to it like the west. My guess is the older culture with the larger population will win in the end.
I do wonder if the anti fossil fuel companies will realise that their difficulties are being caused by the reliance on state owned energy companies. They wail and flail at the big private companies who produce about a third of global fossil fuel based energy products while totally ignoring big government owned oil.
Absolutely agree.
Russia is building nuclear plants while selling Gas and Oil to Europe that render NATO countries – except France – totally dependent on Russian whim.
Now the strategic downside of that folly is plain for all to see.
In Germany gas and oil are responsible overall for 50% of their energy, overall. But on days without wind or sun, gas, in particular, is essential. Germans can now freeze in winter, and suffer massive blackouts, any moment that Putin snaps his fingers. No wonder the Germans are doing everything they can to avoid provoking Putin. That’s why they are NOT supporting the Ukraine. It’s disgraceful.
This is a disastrous moment for democracy around the globe. The US and NATO’s weakness – specifically their failure to commit to providing military support a sovereign democracy, if invaded and if asked to, is deplorable. A firm response from the outset, making it clear that an invasion would not be tolerated regardless of whether Ukraine was in NATO or not, would have averted the bloodshed that will only get worse in coming days. This blood is not just on Putin’s hands. It’s on the hands of those who let it happen.
I’m hopeful that the NATO countries will ‘wake up’. They should follow France – and indeed Russia – and move to clean CO2-free nuclear power as quickly as possible. And they should implement an air exclusion zone over Ukraine as soon as possible.
THE UKRAINE PLOT IS THICKENING WITH GERMANY AND FRANCE BARELY IN LOCKSTEP WITH US/UK-LED NATO
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-plot-is-thickening-with-germany-and-france-no-longer-in
CO2 isn’t “dirty”. In fact, the more the better. So the best bet is to use whatever fossil fuels they have available, in addition to nuclear.
And don’t forget, we are part of NATO, so I doubt the US would have agreed to going into Ukraine because that would almost certainly have meant WWIII. Of course, that could still happen anyway.
Chris, have you considered going to the U-crane to join the resistance rather than volunteering the lives of others… perhaps you should lead by example and go show us how it’s done?
You are falling into Putin’s trap. More worried about your utility bills than tanks, artillery, and recruiting for your armed forces. We’ve seen this before in Europe, where military success emboldens the country with the most tanks, until met with sufficient counter force. Start casting tank turrets and chassis TODAY. If you sold your heavy manufacturing to China, you’re just a soldier without weapons.
“This is a disastrous moment for democracy around the globe. ”
Chris, hasn’t our own attack on and neglect of democracy and the war on western capitalism from within already eroded our way of life, values, economies and security. Don’t we know we’ve been under attack for about 3 decades?
Perversely, this demonstration of totalitarian indifference to reasonable behaviour will almost certainly reverse Putin’s fortunes around the world. It is a timely reminder of how important a strong democracy and a free press is, and the dangers that follow from allowing an autocrat to gain total authority.
“..perhaps the European people will finally wake up ….”
All pigs are now on the runway, fully fuelled, and ready for take-off….
There is hope. Marine Le Pen got 1/3 of the vote during the last Presidential Election. Although she has been a little inconsistent on environmental issues, she is no fan of international climate agreements.
Éric Zemmour is another rising star, a Trump like figure on the French political stage. My closet conservative French friend raves about Zemmour every time we catch up.
And of course there are other standout European climate skeptic politicians, like former Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who wrote Blue Planet in Green Shackles.
I think the current Ukrainian situation will really throw the cat among the pigeons. A profound shakeup of the current European political order is a real possibility.
Zemmour is a mixed bag. Unlike Trump, he has no business experience, he is like a non academic historian or a “Think Tank” member… His economic ideas tend to be lunatic.
Lunatic?
Reducing taxes on small companies and simplifying the administration system.
Yeah, lunacy.
He’s totally “make France great again”, I can’t disagree with that.
From the 15th of February:
“Eric Zemmour and Donald Trump had a long and warm telephone interview last night.
In particular, they mentioned the migratory, security and economic topics of their two countries.
Eric Zemmour and Donald Trump have addressed the reasons for the success of the 2016 victorious campaign and the record number of votes obtained for an outgoing US president, or 12 million more votes than in 2016. They also discussed the Campaign currently conducted by Éric Zemmour and what characterizes it: authenticity, sincerity and courage.
Finally, the meaning of their commitment is the same: Donald Trump wants the United States to remain the United States. Eric Zemmour wants France to remain France.”
Zemmour like many Frenchies think the French language is superior… LOL
He reminds me of Claude Hagège, the know nothing French linguist who hates the English language and who thinks English sucks because “turn left, right now” once caused an issue on the sky.
[There are tons of phonetically ambiguous sentences in French, much more IMO than English (“je veux plus de X” = I want more X, “je ne veux plus de X”= I want no X).]
Zemmour would probably like to locally source everything which is not realistic and not desirable.
Yet Zemmour may be our best hope!!!!!
Marine Le Pen has cotton wool for brains, she would be a disaster for France and not because she’s far right, (she isn’t btw), it’s because she’s as dumb as brick.
That didn’t stop our lying oaf Johnson becoming Prime Minister.
Nor did it stop dementia Joe !
Your rationale would be nice if the French electoral system was not designed to maintain the power in the same hands, election after election. Take a note of a single fact: in most democracies, directly elected officers propose themselves or are proposed by a certain number of citizens; not in France! Candidates to the presidency of the republic must be endrsed by 500 ELECTED incumbents. Then you can analyse the delicate legal filigree of all the details of the electoral system, especially the “two rounds”: the majority candidate does not win if he does not reach 50% of the votes; that is to say, there are two (or three?) more weks so that the deep state organizes itself to elect the “no structural changes” president.
My bet is Micron will win.
“Candidates to the presidency of the republic must be endrsed by 500 ELECTED incumbents.”
… which at the last election produced 11 different contenders ranging from the Far Right to the Far Left.
You don’t get that in America or the UK.
It is not the system that keeps electing the same incompetents, it’s the people.
Notwithstanding that there is a very similar cabal in Western democracies … it’s called the “public” service but in reality serves the socialista.
I’m a rat bastard, but I hope Putin marches straight through to Lisbon. Europe is a lost cause not worth a bucket of warm piss, never mind a single drop of US blood. The US needs to exit NATO yesterday.
Sort of where I am at, as was said “Cheese eating surrender monkeys”
Wow, because they didn’t support the totally illegal and rather disgusting war in Iraq.( A war you lost) Talking of surrender monkeys , how is the war in Afganistan going?
The EU encouraged Ukraine to seek to become an EU member. It talked the big game like that it would determine who could become an EU member and if Russia did anything it would impose massive sanctions blah blah blah.
Did the EU do anything ? No they are full of wind and bluster they are morally responsible for what is happening to Ukraine as much as Putin.
I doubt Ukraine if it survives will ever want anything to do with the EU and many of us looking from afar think that equally.
There is a saying
“Crisis doesn’t create character it reveals it”
That lies at the root of all this and caused the 2014 civil war. The then president declined to sign an agreement with the EU that although claimed to be no more than a ‘trade agreement’ by those pro-EU, it was actually the start of the accession process to membership. Pro-EU people – funded by the EU – forced him out and then the fighting started. Had the West stepped up to help Russia evolve into a new role post-USSR things would be a lot better.
Just remember Anthony, the type of Americans that landed on Omaha beach back in ’44 don’t exist anymore sadly.
These days they like to sit on their fat arses behind their keyboards telling everybody else what to do… like they don’t have any problems in their own phuked up country.
Everything the American military industrial complex touches goes to shit.
Yeah, we can see how dancing with the devil in ’44 worked out can’t we? Sad so many americans were put to death for the globalist cause.
There was nothing illegal about the war in Iraq, either phase 1 or phase 2.
European socialists always get upset when socialist totalitarians get removed from power.
Or rifles for sale—never fired, only thrown down in surrender twice.
Heck yeah!
Not too swift, is it?
Glad I am not the only one angry. Personally I think Australia should do what it can for the Ukraine people who were badly let down and misled by the EU but we should continue trading with Russia. What is clear is the EU would do nothing if Australia was invaded so why give a rats about the EU and why should we financial disadvantage ourselves. Nothing we do will help Ukraine short of what we can do as direct action.
It’s just like WW2 history the EU expects US,UK and former colonies like Australia, Canada to come and save it again.
Australia could support the Ukrainians by flooding the world with cheap fossil fuel, undercutting Russia’s profits, but our idiot federal treasurer Josh Frydenburg is too busy pimping for the imaginary green hydrogen market to bother with supporting real export industries.
I would prefer that the Australian government support Australians first.
Following the Greens is simply the blind following the blind.
As I have said before, when a young man of 17,18,19,20, I was often called green by my more mature colleagues. Back then, being green, meant being very gullible & naive, ready to swallow any lefty propaganda fed to me!!! As far as I am concerned, that definition has never changed!!!
“The United States was energy dominant, we had more energy production than consumption, more exports than imports, we were the largest producer of oil and gas. Then President Biden was elected and everything changed. America hit an 11-year high for Russian oil imports in 2021” and is filling Russia’s coffers with more money for for its war machine.
Yes, Joe Biden has enabled Putin in more ways than one.
Biden is a puppet like most politicians.
When will the msm investigate? And call for impeachment?
Why would they? They are the ones that put Biden where he is.
As I stated yesterday in a similar post, the greens must be held accountable for their role in this travesty ! This needs to be shouted from the rooftops to stop their insanity!
maybe it “needs” to but that is unlikely to be even mentioned by anyone in the power majority
no cos they make money from mil goods
isnt it amusing?
NO ONE EVER mentions the co2 outputs from bombing the beejeezus outta syria afghans or anywhere else for that?
rather like the greentards didnt start yowling about the coral atoll ruination when china remodelled it a lot(entirely) and green ohbummer was dearleader then
Interesting information in this article. Embarrassingly similar to suddenly realising there are trees in the wood.
With a successful result for Russian backed forces, NordStream 1 can go full speed ahead. It won’t be as useful to green europe as having NordStream 2 fully operational, but it will help keep the lights on.
Nobody has threatened sanctions against Russian gas or oil. The calls to suspend Russia from international payment and banking systems is not enthusiastically supported either.
Sanctions being proposed seem to be nothing more than a threat to fire blanks at Russia.
Putin is so out of order under international laws, but he seems to be the one with the winning game plan…_
The MSM has had little to say about Trump’s remark, “Brilliant,” other than to cast it in an unpatriotic light. Knowing Trump’s patriotic actions, I suspect that the MSM has quoted him out of context. One can honestly admire an opponent’s moves without approving of them. That is, acknowledging a “winning game plan,” is not treasonous. It is just being honest. In the meantime, Pelosi is praising Biden’s ineffective sanctions as “Brilliant!” What a bunch of incestuous retards!
The simple fact of the matter is that the Russians are in control of the situation and the west is just reacting, and what a reaction.
Perhaps Germany can send another two million war surplus WW11 helmets.
The idiot in charge of Ukraine has opened the armouries and issued every gang member/idiot civilian with unlimited ammunition and guns. I’m sure when this is over, they will return the guns.
What a clusterf@ck. Probably part of the Russian plan.
This sh!tfight has been brewing for a couple of decades.
Keep in mind that the current government of Ukraine is a result of a coup that also eliminated opposition to the coup. I can’t remember the USA and EU stepping up to ‘save democracy’ in that situation.
Russia’s crooks are so much nicer than the Ukraine’s crooks.
If there are dead Russians or even Ukrainian soldiers lying around, and the criminal element wants firearms, they can just pick them up off the ground. You can’t keep the criminal element from arming itself. On the other hand, if they actually use them to fight the Russians, all the better. If they sit it out and hoard the weapons picked up from the battle field, then whoever is left in charge when the fighting is over, they should punish any criminal activity, armed or not. I don’t have first hand knowledge about Ukrainian criminals, but in the US rifles are rarely used in crime. Concealable handguns are much preferred by criminals. My guess is that the Ukranian criminals already have all the handguns they need, and they probably won’t have much need for rifles in the future. Something that the average citizen doesn’t appreciate is that fully automatic weapons typically have a cycle rate of 750-1500 rounds per minute. At $1 a round, the average person can’t afford to shoot one. If criminals can afford to shoot them, they probably have enough money to buy whatever they want on the Black Market. I wouldn’t get too excited about arming the populace.
You may have a different feeling for humanity than I do. Your experiences are vastly different to mine.
I have lived most of my life in Australia and a reasonable amount in China. Looking at my neighbours, in both countries, I wouldn’t like it if they were armed. A lot of crazies. I would probably be more concerned about my neighbours than the enemy.
Funny you should mention China, where Kung Fu was invented as a response to weapons being restricted among the peasants, as was the case with many martial arts. As long as a person has hands and feet, and there are solid objects around like baseball bats or the jawbone of an ass, people will be armed. What is important is how they choose to use those arms.
Women and elderly men are usually at a significant physical disadvantage to young men, who are typically the criminal aggressors. A firearm levels the playing field, as it were.
The US has a reputation for being a violent country, and it is usually blamed on the ready availability of firearms. However, the homicide rate from knives and other edged weapons alone is several times greater than the total homicide rate of most other advanced countries in the world. The US is a violent country, for many reasons, but much of the blame can be placed at the door of urban gangs and the drug trade. It is more important where you are in the country than how many people around you are armed, despite nearly uniform laws.
Mexico has very restrictive firearm laws. There is one legal gun store in the whole country. Americans crossing the border, who have carelessly dropped a couple of rounds of small caliber ammunition after being at a gun range, and didn’t pick it up, have been imprisoned. Yet, Mexico has a firearm homicide rate much higher than the US. Drugs play a significant role in that too.
https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2022/02/25/ukraine-gun-rights-n55865
“Looking at my neighbours, in both countries, I wouldn’t like it if they were armed.”
Pretty lousy neighbors, then.
Almost all of my neighbors are armed, and I’ve haven’t had any problems.
The simple fact of the matter is that the Russians are in control of the situation and the west is just reacting, and what a reaction.
Perhaps Germany can send another two million war surplus WW11 helmets.
The idiot in charge of Ukraine has opened the armouries and issued every gang member/idiot civilian with unlimited ammunition and guns. I’m sure when this is over, they will return the guns.
What a clusterintercourse. Probably part of the Russian plan.
This excretafight has been brewing for a couple of decades.
Keep in mind that the current government of Ukraine is a result of a coup that also eliminated opposition to the coup. I can’t remember the USA and EU stepping up to ‘save democracy’ in that situation.
“The simple fact of the matter is that the Russians are in control of the situation”
It sounds to me like the Ukrainians have something to say about this situation.
The Ukrainians are doing the fighting for the West. And doing a pretty good job of it. Wait until they actually get organized, then they will do even better.
Putin may have bitten off more than he can chew.
Let’s hope so. When the Russians go home with their tails between their legs, perhaps this will influence the Chicoms and make them think that maybe Taiwan might be a tougher nut to crack than they thought at first.
Show the rest of the world the way, Ukrainians. Show them how to resist tyranny. “Russan warship, go F*** yourself” About 40 million Ukranians are saying that today..
13 Ukraine border guards immediately after those words – are you asking for the deaths of the 37.3 million Ukrainians?
Apologies – I missed out the word ‘died’ between guards and immediately. Oops.
No, I’m just saying the defiance these Urkanians showed in the face of certain death is the character that will give the Ukrainians the win in the end.
It appears many Ukrainians are showing this defiance.
It also appears that many Russians in Russia are defying Putin and protesting against Putin’s war.
And other protestors all over the world are coming out against Putin’s war.
Events may be running away with Putin.
Many Ukrainians are definitely showing this spirit of futile defiance, which is noble and admirable in a way. Sadly their army isn’t showing that same spirit, or if it is they are simply being ploughed under by the Russians. I have a lot of sympathy for the Ukrainian people, but none whatsoever for the Ukraine, USA, Russian and EU leadership that have put them front and centre in the firing line. If those same leaders hadn’t been playing silly buggers for the last 8 or 9 years they might, just might, have achieved something worthwhile for the Ukraine people rather than the only thing they have left – futile defiance against 14,000 tons of Russian warships.
This from the guy who believed Putin when he said that he had no intention of invading in the first place.
I don’t listen to Putin, or Biden for that matter. I honestly believed that a deal could have been worked out for the benefit of the Ukraine and was far more likely than an invasion. How was I to know that Biden, the EU, the Ukraine and NATO would all underestimate how far Putin would push this. If those leaders had actually believed an invasion was imminent, troops would have been sent to Ukraine rather than the empty rhetoric that they’ve been spouting for the last few months.
Perhaps you have learned that Biden can’t be trusted anymore than Putin.
You should inform your position more thoroughly by ensuring that you do know the ins and outs of the situation. There was never going to be a “deal struck”, Putin wants Ukraine back under his control, the rest of it was just a ruse … history repeats itself.
“If those leaders had actually believed an invasion was imminent, troops would have been sent to Ukraine rather than the empty rhetoric that they’ve been spouting for the last few months.”
That would require strong leaders willing to take a stand. We don’t have any of those. Putin knew it.
Well if there is only “14,000 tons of Russian warships” then I’m buoyed by the idea that they can be undone by a few high speed attack motor boats. A few local fishermen could do that job ! Ha!
throw in stinger missile donations from nearby tinpot nations to uke as well
wont that be fun
I don’t think any of this is fun. It’s not a video game.
Yes…it could be even worse than the 2020 US election…bad tv at its finest, maybe the real show will go live world wide.
It’s so much fun that Putin is having to conscript soldiers to fight in it.
Yes there are several countries flying in shipments of Stingers and antitank missiles but who’s training the soldiers to use them? These things aren’t something you can learn as you go.
“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary for the security of a free state, …”
The original meaning of “well-regulated” was ‘trained.’ Obviously, training people after war breaks out is short-sighted.
They are not difficult to operate … literally just follow pictorial instruction on the side of the weapon.
Indeed, and let’s not forget Putin is still on a high from his success in Syria.
If one does not respect one’s enemies, one is destined for a big fall. It’s similar across all walks of life. A football/rugby/baseball/rugby team that has contempt for its opponents, is likely to have a great fall, it’s the same off the pitch as well as on it!!!
“Knowing Trump’s patriotic actions, I suspect that the MSM has quoted him out of context.”
As far as I can tell, the MSM has *never* quoted Trump correctly.
Unless you see or hear Trump’s own words yourself, you should assume that the MSM is distorting anything and everything he says. The MSM are out to destroy Trump and lying continuously about him is part of their plan.
Not just the words themselves, but the paragraph before and after.
Trump’s not a politician so he rarely speaks in sound bites.
Ah, so Hitler was “brilliant” then. Got it.
Why bring Hitler into it? Unless your goal is to beclown yourself?
I don’t know if Putin’s plans qualify as brilliant or not, but the fact remains that he HAS made the other so called world leaders look like idiots. Noting that Putin has outplayed his political opponents is not an endorsement of Putin, but rather an acknowledgement of a rather obvious fact.
On the other hand, dust bunnies can make Biden look like an idiot.
I think that we have to understand that Trump was previously privy to a lot of intelligence that is kept from the general public. I expect he has a better grasp of the politics of the area than most journalists. My suspicion is that Trump was just reacting to his better understanding of the big picture.
One thing that comes out of this is that the UN was created to prevent future wars. They have demonstrated that a single vote by the aggressor country nullifies any power the UN might have. They need to change their charter so that if a member nation is an aggressor, they don’t get a vote.
“Putin is so out of order under international laws, but he seems to be the one with the winning game plan”
I wouldn’t go that far. It’s not clear that Putin is winning.
He wiped out the entire Ukraine air force in one morning’s work, he’s surrounded several key major cities and poised to surround the capital. Half of the Ukraine army is on the wrong side of the country and the other half is retreating westward, away from the advancing Russians; honestly – I think he’s winning. The only thing Ukraine has left is propaganda – they have been ramping that up for days now – according to them, they’ve killed over 2,500 Russians, wiped out entire companies of tanks and the invasion is stalling, absolutely none of which is borne out from other reports from the country.
Apologies – as of this morning, the Ukrainians have upped the figures – they now claim to have killed over 3,500 Russians. The International Red Cross have asked for all of the bodies of the dead Russian soldiers to be returned to Russia – I’m guessing they will be extremely surprised by the result.
I have read that the Russians have mobile crematoriums to dispose of their bodies.
That was in the ‘Daily Express’ in the UK – basically it’s exactly the same story they ran during the earlier Donbas invasion. Their angle in both instances was that Putin was trying to hide the evidence of Russian casualties. I have no confidence in the Daily Express and no idea if the Russian army does that or not.
As everyone knows, everything Putin says is pure truth without any prevarication or error.
I don’t believe the Russians have commented one way or another. These are from verified sources in Ukraine which paint a different picture than the propaganda used to bolster the resistance of the Ukraine people. Unlike you, I prefer to try digging for the facts rather than take the unsupported propaganda at face value.
A slightly more believable, but still unconfirmed estimate puts the Russian casualties as up to 450. Ukraine casualties may well be higher than that given the attacks on airfields and air defence units across Ukraine. Even that amount is appalling.
Have you noticed that, compared to WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc., the MSM is not giving this very thorough coverage? Some information is coming out, but the MSM did a better job of covering the BLM riots. I wonder why that is?
NORD1 is still running and supplying gas to europe as normal
Sadly the more likely outcome is, ‘we need to build more wind turbines so we don’t have to rely on oil from Russia’.
You can bet that’s what the Climate Change Idiots will be suggesting.
There’s only so much wind, for goodness sake! They’ll start taking the wind out of each other’s sails…
Already happened. Yesterday, an “energy expert” (sorry, can’t remember his name) was interviewed on GB News. He said in view of the current crisis, we need to invest more in renewables and impose heavier “carbon” taxes. I despair..
You can bet that’s what the Climate Change Idiots will be suggesting.
The view from catching up on the weekend articles – that’s exactly what they’ve done.
That is a stupid plan
And don’t forget the miracle-gas of the future, the Super-H, hydrogen!
Didn’t Trudeau just demonstrate how to handle such a situation?
They could have Putin.
He’s not known for his sense of humor, but this is pretty good.
https://youtu.be/bBtW9uGjd8U
Apologies. “They could have asked Putin.”
I liked your first suggestion better.
Yes, we may need to be sending aid to the Canadian people to fight off their homegrown dictator.
Who really is buying this crap? People saw what happened during the Trump administration and know we could be energy independent if the government would just get out of the way.
Yes, and they should be able to see the huge bind Biden has put the U.S. and allies in with his war on fossil fuels.
We have a delusional fool running our nation right now and our nation is suffering for it.
He is part of Obama…same people.
He is not delusional. He knows very well what flavor of ice cream is his favorite. Nobody has to tell him.
I’m afraid our MSM is feeding us propaganda.
Who really is buying this crap?
Way too many, unfortunately.
US to Ukraine after independence from the USSR: As defenders of democracy, we are with you.
US to Ukraine after Russian invasion: As defenders of democracy, our prayers are with you.
It’s important to say the right thing.
Biden is supposedly sending an additional $350 million in aid to Ukraine.
Too bad the West didn’t arm up Ukraine before this attack. The Russians would be in terrible shape if they didn’t control the air. Their ground attack is not going well even with air superiority.
They did, sort of. The Ukrainians had an opportunity to take the hundreds of abandoned T-80 and T-64 tanks at the Kharkov factory and refit them with modern western electronics and armour upgrades. So they did – the Ukraine army got the T-64’s which weren’t modified while the refurbished, upgraded and capable T-80UD’s were all sold to Pakistan for a hefty profit. The Ukraine army is still equipped with equipment from the 1960’s and 70’s by corrupt leadership, not because they didn’t have the opportunity to modernise.
Give them the weapons and the advisors and that is it. Really though, I fear that now it is too late for the Ukrainians. To be quite frank the ONLY European country worth fighting for is Poland, IMO. They GET IT!
I like Poland and its leadership.
It appears the climate has changed. Thanks to Putin, energy reality is taking centre stage with weather dependent energy being rapidly relegated to history.
Lurch can condemn Putin’s lack of woke but reality was bound to be a tough educator for those with faith in fairy farts and diversity fairies.
“It appears the climate has changed. Thanks to Putin, energy reality is taking centre stage with weather dependent energy being rapidly relegated to history.”
I hope you are right, but I haven’t seen any evidence of it.
The West better start getting off Russian gas because Putin is very likely to cut off that gas in the future. You have been warned.
Remember the term MAD (mutually assured destruction)? If Putin shuts down the gas, countries like Germany will go into constant blackouts. But also, Russia gets 50% of its national income from gas sales. Neither side can afford to stop the gas sales.
Won’t Russia just sell their oil to the Chicoms? The Chicoms are always looking for more oil. Although, considering the circumstances, the Chicoms may want to pay a cheaper price for Russia’s oil. Still, Putin will make a little money.
I don’t think the Chicoms are looking for natural gas. It is far away, mostly. It would have to ship through pipelines and the expensive insulated and nearly frozen to the pipes.
Unfortunately Russia would be better off using the nat gas themselves.
No wonder the west is going down the gurgler. WordPress thinks I have to say ‘clusterintercourse’ and ‘excretafight’. As an adult, I find this tiresome.
Apparently, using ‘retard’,’Biden’, ‘Obama’, is not offensive.
Microsquish has its priorities wrong.
Latest sanction against Russia is that it has been kicked out of Eurovision – now that is certain to have Putin begging for forgiveness.
The Russian airlines are not faring so well.
And they’ll still get more votes than post-brexit UK..
Never forget this:
Former French prime minister François Fillon worked for Gazprom; before that, he was the minister of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Before being elected, Sarkozy signed Hulot’s green pledge:
https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/video/3277208001003/10-candidats-a-la-presidentielle-ont-signe-le-pacte-ecologique-de
“même si certains [Nicolas Sarkozy] affichent leur différence”
= even though some have a different take
But from that point, you will have to trust me with zero source – I expected to find ton of stuff cause it’s important -, as he found exactly nothing on the Web:
Sarkozy at the time made clear that he had strong opposition to some of Hulot’s mantras, and he was not avidly antinuc unlike other candidates. I remember the fact that presidential candidate Sarkozy, and only him, made clear that he could not blindly follow all of Hulot’s ideas. (Failed socialist candidate Ségolène Royal later said she too made her criticisms of the pledge clear before signing it, but I never heard of her criticisms before that election, and I follow politics closely.)
I only post with zero sources describing Sarkozy’s criticisms (except for the short video clip where Sarkozy is making very general criticisms of political “écologisme”).
President Sarkozy was pressed to close some nuclear plants by greenies and did nothing to appease them.
Later presidential candidate François Hollande (father of failed candidate Ségolène Royal’s children) made dirty pact with the green party to close two nuclear reactors but never did so. (The French communist party was of course opposed to that promise.)
Later president Macron, a so-called centrist, realist, “Mozart” of stuff (Mozart of finance, economy, politics, everything) did close the Fessenheim NPP, nearly after it was restarted after major investment in costly (and probably useless) additional safety (core catcher).
Macron was worse than Hollande, the most inept president we could imagine at the time.
President Sarkozy did nothing to hurt our nuclear industry (and nothing to help it restart on sound foundations either).
But François Fillon is dirty for working for Russian gas?
I don’t think so! Macron is dirty.
I think I get it now. You buy into a country to supply you with all the energy you need, because you’ve allowed airhead greenalists to subvert most political institutions, you then become, to all intents & purposes, wholly dependent upon that supplier, meaning that if they cut you off on a whim, the lights all go out. Makes sense, at least to Putin, that is!!! We have brought this on ourselves, the ludicrous lefty anti-fracking yobs & thugs, have stopped a practical & efficient energy supply system, based purely on emotive, mythical, scary stories, put about by those of dubious ethical standards, the Western European nations, depressingly including the UK, are completely stuffed, all part of the Socialists grand plan of global domination!!! History has shown the Left are very, very patient, but they achieve their objectives in the end, largely through complacency!!! All fully predictable!!!
This all goes back to the lies Michael Mann and Phil Jones and cronies told about the Earth’s climate and CO2.
From those lies, all these idiotic policies flow.
A Big Climate Change Lie told to a lot of Small Minds. A recipe for disaster.
Putin’s Wehrmacht….
No Red army or Spetznaz then
Seemed more fitting.
It isn’t quite living up to the legend of the Blitzkrieg.
beg to differ
russia doesnt supply ussa as far as i knew
werent your pollies bragging about giant stockpiles and being selfsuffient enough to go flog natgas TO eu? err yes you were
usa interference with germany to block nord2 to try n swipe the sales
and usa interference with dipstickbidet n son n other megalomaniacs looking to make a buck and stir the place up
dont poke the bear..Putin was SO patient for so long it amazed me
and the ripoff fuel prices predate the ukie fuss because opec all decided to slow production to force prices up to regain lost profits during lockdowns
The obvious stratrgy for Ukraine is to blow up the pipelines and blame the Russians.
Without Russian gas, combined with winter cold, the rest of Europe will be forced to get off the pot and end the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine from day 1 when Russian troops started massing should have made this vlear to Germany. If you let the Russians invade the pipeline will be blown up and it will take years to repair.
And if the Russians do defeat Ukraine then Germany will still be in pickle because you cannot defend everywhere along the pipeline at the same time. Sabotage will be a regular occurence as the Ukranians will be unhappy with both Russia and Europe.
The Russians don’t want to repair the pipelines. This has been one of the big problems in the region – Ukraine relies on the pipelines for hefty transit fees and to siphon off gas for their own use. Gazprom had to take Ukraine to court to get back billions of dollars for the gas they’d illegally siphoned and were told “not going to happen anytime soon.” Russia built Nordstream 2 to circumvent the problems in Ukraine and fully intended to shut off the Ukraine pipelines once it was up and running. Blowing up the pipelines would benefit Russia and cripple Ukraine even more.
Canada has almost twice the proven oil reserves as does Russia. Yet the world and especially Europe are dependent on Russian oil. Even Canada imports hundreds of $$ millions of oil from Russia each year.
Yet Canada leaves its oil in the ground while Russia uses our money to finance the war in Ukraine while at the same time developing hypersonic nuclear weapon that no country can defend against.
Without petro dolkars from the west, Russia would be bankrupt, unable to afford a war or to developed advanced nuclear weapons.
Yet our timid leaders fail to sanction Russian oil and Putin is laughing all the way to the bank.
Oh Canada. Where are you? Why are you not shipping oil to the world?
Northern Gateway pipeline shut down when feds said they would not allow export permits from West coast ports due to the possible effects on whales, salmon, and kermode bears. Energy East was stopped on a vague cabinet order that the non-partisan National Energy board had not properly considered the downstream carbon emissions; Keystone XL was shutdown on day 1 of Biden’s administration due to campaign promises to 350.org supporters; Trans-Mountain pipeline continually delayed by injunctions by Indian bands until its legal costs exceed construction cost; only last week in Houston, BC, workers were held hostage, the building set on fire with hostages inside, a $million worth of high-hoes were toppled over, poorly covered by the media as Trudeau declared martial law on a trucker’s strike in Ottawa….RCMP called in “couldn’t find those responsible”, while in Ottawa arrested hundreds of protesters.
Despite this Canadian oil companies have exported an additional million barrels a day to US refineries by optimizing pipeline flows and railroad transportation. Railroad companies have been major Biden campaign contributors, a factor seldom mentioned.
Unfortunately, there is no end in sight to the green takeover of Canada’s politics, universities, and schools by those who have watched too much Disney in their childhood….
You are seeing it upside down: in so doing, Trudeau is saving the whole world from climate emergency! Those who are irresponsible enough to put forward those unacceptable ideas will have no oil!
It was in the news. Russia and China recently signed a non aggression pact. Agreement in hand Putin then invaded Ukraine.
1939. The Nazis and Soviets signed a non aggression pact. A week later Germany invaded Poland and started WWII.
In both cases there was weak leadership in the West. Chamberlain/Biden. While the leaders signing the pacts had ambitions beyond their borders.
Those that ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.
Sanctions dont work. One of the main reasons Japan attacked the US to start the war in the Pacific was because of US sanctions on Japan for their invasion of China.
Yes, that is a cautionary tale that if the west makes the punishment too severe, Russia might just feel it has no choice but to go to war, just as the Japanese did.
Simple answer is to re-open all US pipelines/sources of “fossil” fuels and let the petro dollars flow via sales to EU and others. Trump showed what could happen by removing the feds from the energy equation. US became the largest exporter of oil/nat gas in short order. Then, the stupids installed Obiteme and the world went to hell in a proverbial handbasket. Time for the greenies to take their well deserved eternal rest and the rest of us live in peace and prosperity.
dream on
Without listing the amounts, in Canada refineries in Quebec get crude from Russia carried by evil tankers up the pristine waters of the St. Lawrence River. The same for refineries in the Atlantic Provinces where the tankers only put the pristine waters of the Atlantic at risk.
And this holds for Maine as well. Why? Because the anti-pipeline lobby has been so powerful.
Biden helped raise crude prices which helps fund Putin’s aggression.
Abso—effing–lutely crazy!!!!
I don’t know about crazy, but I do think that there is something about the right-brain dominated greenies that makes them poor chess players.
Just so you know, Yahoo is rejecting comments that include the word “Russians” at this time. I’m deleting all connections to yahoo websites etc.
How outrageous.
Quoting Alan the Brit, “All fully predictable!!!”
I gave up on WordPress. They lost all my info several times. To H with them.
When did Yahoo start allowing comments on anything other than Hollywood gossip?
It’s Big Oil and Gas in cahoots with the Russians so we should suck up to China with Big Wind and Solar instead while they annexe Taiwan-
Fossil fuel companies are trying to exploit this war for their gain. We can’t let them (msn.com)
Lefty logic.