For a long time I have thought that the public in Western countries would wake up to the absurdity of fossil fuel suppression when the price of energy to the consumer rose high enough. And to a substantial degree that has begun to happen.
But the cost of fossil fuel suppression is not merely a modest degradation in our comfortable lifestyles and impoverishment of the poor. As the situation in Ukraine is now demonstrating, fossil fuel suppression in the U.S., Europe and other Western countries also entails significant empowerment of our most significant geopolitical adversaries, and poses major risks to world security, and even to our national security.
The coming of the Biden administration a year ago brought a full-on government war on the fossil fuel industries: cancellation of pipelines; ending of leasing of mineral rights on government lands and offshore; an order that all government agencies work by regulation to eliminate fossil fuels from electricity generation by 2035; threats by bank regulators against banks that lend to the fossil fuel industries; initiatives by the SEC to make it more difficult and costly for industries to use fossil fuels; dozens of initiatives in places like the Department of Energy and Interior Department to block projects using fossil fuels or make them more difficult or costly; and much, much more.
As should have surprised no one, prices of fossil fuels responded by rising dramatically. Prices of crude oil have gone from a range of about $40-60 per barrel during the Trump years to close to $100 per barrel today. U.S. natural gas prices that averaged about $3/MMBtu during the Trump years are now about $4.50 (having spiked over $6 in late 2021). In Europe, where almost all fracking has been suppressed by governments out of supposed concern for the environment, the most recent price for natural gas imports is close to $30/MMBtu
Certainly, a direct impact of these rising prices has been increased costs to the consumer: increased electricity bills, increased home heating bills, increased costs for gasoline for automobiles. For example the average price of regular gasoline at the pump in the U.S. has gone from about $2.25 in January 2021 to about $3.60 today.
But equally important is the degree to which these dramatic rises in energy prices benefit all the worst actors on the world state, starting with Russia. Russia is largely dependent on energy production and exports to the West for its government budget. A year ago, with energy prices in the toilet, Vladimir Putin was basically broke. Today, with energy prices having almost doubled, he is relatively flush. And suddenly we have an invasion of Ukraine, basically financed by Western countries that have suppressed their own production of oil and gas and thus must buy the stuff from Russia.
So why, you might ask, don’t the Western countries just cut off imports from Russia and leave Putin high and dry? The simple answer is that the Western countries have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in wind and solar energy that don’t work and don’t provide the energy needed; so if these countries want to keep their electrical grid running, they need to buy natural gas, which principally comes from Russia.
Consider Germany. Germany adopted its “Energiewende” back in 2010, and fancies itself leading the world to the great clean renewable energy future. Germany’s peak electricity usage is about 90 GW. To supply that, it has built some 65 GW of wind power capacity, and almost 60 GW of solar power capacity. So that’s a total of about 125 GW of generation capacity right there, against peak usage of about 90 GW. Sounds like they have plenty of power from the wind and sun alone to take care of all their needs.
But of course wind and solar don’t work that way. Here in the winter, we have the times of cloudy days, calm winds, and long nights. Here is a chart from Agora Energiewende of Germany’s electricity generation and consumption for the past few days:
It looks like just after the sun set today the wind and sun together were generating less than 5 GW out of that supposed “capacity” of 125 GW. Usage was about 50 GW at the time. Oh, and Germany is also phasing out its nuclear reactors. So aside from those tiny amounts of hydro and “biomass” at the bottom of the chart, that leaves coal, oil and natural gas; or alternatively, a blackout. From Time, today:
Th[e] glaring omission in Biden’s sanctions package could be the consequence of a promise to the countries of Europe, cowering in fear as their dependency on Russian gas renders them impotent to fight back against Russia’s invasion. This is not unreasonable. Germany especially will suffer if Russian gas imports are blocked; Europe imports 40% of its natural gas from Russia, but for Germany it is up to 50%, on top of 45% dependency on Russian coal and 34% on Russian oil. Meanwhile, Germany is continuing to phase out nuclear, making it more reliant on Russian energy imports.
And of course the U.S. can’t supply these European energy needs because the Biden Administration is intentionally suppressing natural gas production here.
Is it time for a little energy realism from the Biden people? Here are the remarks from Climate Envoy John Kerry a couple of days ago as Russia’s Ukraine invasion got underway:
“But it could have a profound negative impact on the climate obviously. You have a war and obviously you’re going to have massive emissions consequences to the war. But equally importantly, you’re going to lose people’s focus, you’re going to lose certainly big country attention because they will be diverted and I think it could have a damaging impact. . . .”
It’s almost impossible to fathom how idiotic and clueless this guy is. And I don’t necessarily mean just to pick on Kerry. It’s all of them, not the least Biden himself.
Read the complete article here.
Along with defense budget realism and Putin realism
Defense budgets are UP under Biden compared to Trump. And everybody knows that Trump is Putin’s bitch, and that just last week Trump congratulated and cheered Putin for his invasion of Ukraine … which he then backtracked on over the weekend when he saw the horrified response from rank and file Republicans over his treasonous support of Putin, our greatest enemy in the world.
Your timing is a bit off, not that Trump is wonderful or anything. But you do know the Steele dossier was made up, right?
And as long as Biden is throttling the oil and gas sector, this is on him far more than on Trump. Putin can fuel this as long as Biden continues to practice the AGW religion. This religion requires surrendering our freedom and independence. Ukraine is paying the price for this today. Everyone else will tomorrow.
Putin’s legacy is in tatters, but as far as the rest of the world is concerned, the ones who made this possible have names like Merkel, Obama, Biden, Johnson and a host of bureaucrats in the UN who are probably richly rewarded by China for their efforts. Witness how the WHO abandoned its mission in order to protect China from responsibility for its role in spreading COVID to the world.
What is it about TDS and the utter inability of it’s sufferers to let go of lies, no matter how many times they are disproven.
The claims that Trump had anything to do with Putin were a creation of the Hillary campaign. That has been proven over and over and over again. The only ones who keep repeating the lie are those who can’t let go of their hatred.
To their existing hatred, they keep adding new lies. Trump never cheered on the invasion of the Ukraine. Even a total moron, who read the entire transcript could see that. So are you less intelligent than a moron, or did you not read the full transcript?
He doesn’t have TDS. He is a shill that wants to appear to be your buddy in most matters.
… then he steps up his act and tries to appeal to you irrational side.
He assumes that most people are stupid and easy to manipulate.
He is a turd.
Mr. Duane: If everyone knows it, it doesn’t need to be said, right?
Trump DID NOT congratulate and cheer Putin for invading Ukraine. Please give a link to where he said THAT.
At one point Trump was quoting as saying Putin’s strategy was shrewd.
In a similar vein anyone who noticed that German’s were good engineers was a closet Nazi.
If someone had said this before Hitler had started killing people, sure, the comparison would work. Trump’s offense here took place when most analysts (and Zelenskyy himself) thought the Russian troop buildup was intended to pressure Kyiv into giving up the eastern provinces – exactly as it was done in Crimea when Obama was president.
Note that The New York Times, among many, many left-leaning organizations, has showered Putin with praise over the years. It wasn’t until Trump came along that he wasn’t the left’s bestest buddy. When Mitt Romney tried to say otherwise, Obama quipped that the ’80s were calling and they wanted their foreign policy back.
So, sure, Trump needs a better filter. His comments were not helpful. But if you want to turn him into a Nazi, there’s a line of people in front of him that includes a lion’s share of those on the other side.
Calling Putin ‘smart’ after the invasion started isnt close to engineering excellence
Oh and he also called him a genius and savvy which is a familiar pattern in Trumps love for authoritarian leaders.
I dont think hes ever praised Xi for his Chemical Engineering degree
Rather thick comment. It is far better to think your enemy a genius and have him prove to be a fool, than to think him a fool later revealed as a genius. Underestimating your enemy almost always has dire consequences.
And no politician on earth has not considered how much easier the job would be if he could just call all the shots without having to justify himself, especially when the goals are noble.
I seem to remember Obama telling a Russian diplomat he could be more flexible with Putin after his re-election against Romney, who was trying to warn everyone that Russia was still an enemy of the West. Who was right, and who was underestimating the opposition?
He didn’t call Putin smart, he said that his plan was savvy.
Even if he DID call Putin smart, observation is not endorsement. Amazing how people fail to understand that.
Trump was really insulting Biden. He said Putin for the cost of a $2 sanction was cleared to invade Ukraine to achieve his objectives.
Trump’s way of saying things is always misunderstood by brain-adled TDS sufferers. In Trump’s response, he also said that under his watch, Putin would not have invaded Ukraine.
BTW most will be unaware that the country name Ukraine, comes from the Russian word край which meant outskirts (of the Russian Empire) first referenced in the 12th century. They also refer to Siberia and the Far East as ‘Kray’.
Kiev was one of the oldest of the Russian towns, and was formerly the capital of Russia. In 864 it was taken from the Khazars by Norman chiefs and exchanged hands a few times, was sacked by Mongols in the 14th century and in 1686 was restored to Russia.
Of course none of this gives Putin any legitimacy taking territory from Ukraine, but a little knowledge of history takes some of the randomness out of it.
Please give a link to where he said THAT.
He has failed to respond to all previous requests, so I doubt he’ll respond to yours. He has nothing other than his own derangement to support it.
Aaaand, the UU defense budget peaked under trump at over $730 billion in 2019. Currently about $715 billion under Biden. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about the same as Trump’s final year of $710 billion. Trump’s administration killed hundreds of Russians in Syria, opposed The Nordstream pipeline and crushed Russia’s cash flow with record US oil and gas production which held prices down. You used the word bitch. I do not think that word means what you think.
We need to increase the U.S. defense budget. After accounting for Biden’s inflation, the defense budget is not nearly big enough.
Yes, inflation is again an important part of the debate whether the budget increases. I just looked at the final 2021 fiscal year report by Treasury Department.It showed that spending for Defense was $755 Billion.That is Trump’s budget. He proposed it even though all spending was not done while he was President. The media will say the fiscal year 2023 Defense budget was up when the budget comes out next month. But the important thing, as you pointed out, is whether it is up in real terms. We will see.
Sorry but I do not agree. We need to eliminate MOST of the leftard generals and programs, remove our forces from Japan, Germany, South Korea, etc. etc. and get to work on the Moon Military Base, the ultimate HIGH GROUND.
Rehire ALL troops terminated for not vaxing with full back pay and a minimum 2 pay grade promotion. Remove any general officer who ever got a positive review from Wesley Clark, the beginning of the MASSIVE CLINTON influence in promoting leftist officers, which Bush did nothing to correct, and the chain that those promotions, and those promoted recommended, also removed. Wesley Clark was a cancer to the military and his metastasized malignancy needs to be CUT OUT.
Go down the list of ANY officer EVER registered as a democrat and retire them.
Require all defense contractors to terminate any and all non test pilot or design engineer retired military officer of Lt Colonel or above and deny any of the remaining retired military access to the current decision makers. THEN garbage weapons systems would be stopped.
People joked about how stupid TRUMP! was when he spoke of putting steam catapults board the new Aircraft Carriers, which could not be done, which TRUMP! knew. The defense industrial complex bid to deliver a system of propulsion for the catapults that Disneyland has been using on the Sky Screamer (now renamed) for over 20 years and they COULD NOT DELIVER. Like always, he was ridiculing not just the company but the Pentagon, for effect.
BTW, the system still does not work right all the time.
So people might ask, where would we get General Officers who could do the job after we get rid of all the riff raff? At the high point of WWII there were over 12 MILLION US GIs, after starting with 330 THOUSAND in 1939, with every level of officers as needed, so I don’t think that would be a problem.
Clearing out the dead weight and letting other countries police their own back yards will allow a substantial reduction in the Defense budget, BUT whatever % budget reductions the military takes, ALL OTHER federal spending should be cut double to start since MOST federal expenditures are not enumerated as powers of congress in the Constitution.
End Rant.
“Remove any general officer who ever got a positive review from Wesley Clark”
I’ll go along with that one. 🙂
If we had left things up to General Wesley Clark, we would probably have been in a nuclear war with Russia back during the Clinton adminstration.
Clark wanted to expell the Russian military from an airport they were occupying at the time, during the Kosovo war.
Fortunately, because Bill Clinton hesitated to put U.S. ground troops into the fight, command of the NATO military units was given to a British general rather than General Clark, who would normally have been in command, and the British general told Clark he was not prepared to start World War III by attacking the Russians at the airport, and they were not attacked.
The Russians eventually left the airport peacefully after some negotiations.
And then Clark becomes a talking head on MSNBC and CNN giving his military advice. That’s the ticket: A bunch of leftwing loons listening to a leftwing loon general.
The officer in charge of the recce platoon that was ordered to clear the Russians off ‘by any means necessary’ was James Blunt who went on to have a career as a singer. The airport was Pristina airport I think and Blunt wisely decided to pass the decision back to his CO rather than accept orders from someone not in his chain of command. As I recall, the American officer had previously tried to get an American unit to do it but they refused point blank.
Tom,
Great stuff I didn’t know.
Clinton with Hillbillery putting up the people, stuffed the FBI, DOJ, CIA, NSA, DOD etc. full of leftists. Bush did NOTHING to clean house, then OBama did the same for 8 years.
TRUMP! if re-elected, needs to reduce staffing at all of these departments by 80% or more, then rebuild the staff, relocated to conservative regions of the US, with Patriots.
I have ranted before about relocating the jurisdiction of federal crimes committed by federal employees and politicians from the DC district court to some conservative location so that the jury would not be a jury of LIBERAL peers as in DC, 98% democrat.
It is good to remember that Harry Reid implemented the nuclear option for appointing judges (not including SCOTUS) to pack the DC court with liberals. There were many openings to be filled. He KNEW what Obama was up to, and needed to stack the deck against conservatives.
BTW, every time I saw Clark on TV I had to go take a shower. He was such a slimy POS it would come through the TV and get all over me.
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/02/ignored-warnings-how-nato-expansion-led-to-the-current-ukraine-tragedy/
“ NATO constitutes a system of collective security, whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.”
Who would feel threatened by that other than an external party wishing to attack a member of NATO? Considering what Russia’s history is, it would have benefited them to join NATO to deter any action from China. But Putin wants to restore the USSR empire, and that is the SOLE reason for the present Ukraine invasion, one that was destined to happen as long as Putin was in power, NATO expansion or not.
Your article is garbage.
Agreed. Ukraine can join any alliance it pleases. It is a sovereign nation.
though wise to stay neutral like , Finland, not join NATO and enjoy harmonious relations with the US and Russia.
I have read about Finland and Russian wars around WWII and it is interesting reading.
Finland has geological features which allow for their defense that Ukraine does not. They seeded some lowlands to the USSR because they were hard to defend.
Ever play Risk? The US is exceptionally protected from invasion, all of the European Plains, not so much.
It goes back further to a failure of the West – led by the US in particular – to embrace Russia post USSR and guide them towards being a stable neighbour at a time when they needed help to transition from communism.
The expansion of NATO to include former USSR nations helped to create the situation where Putin could come to power. This was then backed up by the EU’s expansionist dreams of heading east to include Ukraine which resulted in the civil war.
I fail to see what more the US could have done at the time.
Name something concrete that the US and the west could have done. Touchy feely “done more” sounds great, but is utterly meaningless.
NATO is a defensive organization, it poses no threat to anyone. The reason why Putin doesn’t want the Ukraine to join NATO is because it makes retaking it harder.
it’s been flagged up for years what would happen when NATO brushed up against the borders of Russia. US went ballistic when USSR put missiles in Cuba.
Trump enacted sanctions on companies building the Russian, Nord 2 pipeline- some bitch!!
It is hard to come to grips with how stupid Kerry is, and how clueless Biden is.
I’m sure they get dizzy on the Kerry-Go-Round
Lurch is a moron.
When the Berlin Wall came down I wrote General Powell (who I had known from my Army days, years ago when he was a LTC) and suggested that all the Warsaw Pact be offered membership in NATO. After all, NATO countries don’t invade each other. They could all have been put on a track to EU membership, and maybe peace would have had a chance.
Looks to me we need to offer Russia membership in NATO to protect it from its former Warsaw Pact allies, or maybe China.
Russians ran out of gas in the middle of an attack; how funny is that!
China must be looking at its new friend and recognizing that it is a weakling, and maybe thinking it needs to review the situation. World is getting very dangerous for Putin. He should not have had his Army spend all winter camping out. Not good for morale.
“Russians ran out of gas in the middle of an attack; how funny is that!”
It shows a very serious problem with the Russian military.
“China must be looking at its new friend and recognizing that it is a weakling, and maybe thinking it needs to review the situation.”
Yes, the Chicoms have always claimed that parts of Russia are actually Chinese territory (what else is new?), and they see the Russian military stumbling around against a much less capable opponent, and the Chicoms might think there is a situation here to take advantage of.
Putin looks like he is going to go towards the scorched Earth policy using massive bombardments to level everything in an area, and it doesn’t look like he is confining it to military targets.
I’m just wondering how long the world is going to sit by and watch this slaughter of innocent people.
Putin is a scorched Earth kind of guy. It is claimed he used deep-pentrating munitions to destroy hospitals that were underground during some of Putin’s previous warmaking.
He’s definitely a psychopath. Let’s hope that doesn’t lead to nuclear war.
Yes Putin is a typical psychopath.
That fact was made clear 20 years ago in the book “Putin’s Russia” by the late Irina Politkovskaya.
even the Guardian had the sense to realize who was causing aggro back in 2014 – “It’s not Russia that’s pushed Ukraine to the brink of war” – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/30/russia-ukraine-war-kiev-conflict
The other day, Putin claimed that Ukrainian troops were using phosgene gas on his troops. I can’t help but wonder if he’s laying the ground work to justify escalating the carnage.
Just like the world sat by and watched the Donbas get shelled weekly for over 8 years. Sorry man but nobody cares. Face it, the west has 2 choices: Go nuclear or Go home and nobody is going nuclear over Ukraine. They were foolish to count on Europe or the USA doing anything in a war with Russia.
On the positive side there are 11 BSL3/4 labs in the Ukraine that we don’t have to worry about any longer.
It’s not funny, unfortunately – it happens all the time. The biggest Achilles heel of armoured vehicles is they are incredibly thirsty beasts and need huge amounts of fuel to keep them going. In Iraq, there were several times when American tank units were unable to follow up attacks until they had refuelled. It happens, it’s a feature of armoured warfare.
Nicholas, good idea for the time, but but there would have been a falling out with all the silliness of today’s cancel culture, race theory, a Qwerty of genders, anti-nuke and fossil fuel energy, anti family, toxic white males categorization, free-for-all immigration, dumbing down K-Grad school, snowflaky safe places social justice, Kool Aid …… Russians are, big on education, family, history, culture……nah, it wouldnt have lasted. Look at the blow back from Poles, Czechs Hungarians …. who also are likely to leave the EUnuchs.
Poles, Czechs and Hungarians are NOT going to leave the EU! Where on earth did you get that idea? You simply wouldn’t believe the amount of Euros that flow into these countries from the EU, and leaving would mean turning off the tap – and that’s not going to happen. Sure, they have their disputes with the EU, but that’s mostly for domestic consumption, especially when it comes to election time. Get real, for Gawds sake.
There was no reason to expand NATO once the WARSAW Pact was dismantled. This was a predictable outcome. https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/02/ignored-warnings-how-nato-expansion-led-to-the-current-ukraine-tragedy/
Garbage. See my comment above.
Utter garbage. NATO wasn’t expanded – as in, NATO didn’t make a decision to expand, and therefore make ex-Warsaw Pact countries join NATO. The Ex-Warsaw Pact countries decided to join NATO as they could see that was the best option to resist the expansionist mindset of Moscow. Try living in one of those countries. I live in Hungary and the memory of the Soviet occupation is still very fresh. They despise the Russians and would do anything to not have them come back. NATO membership is the only game in town.
Of course, Putin and the Old Guard don’t like it, well… tough tit, Vlad. Now he’s trying to ‘put the band back together’ and re-assemble the Soviet Union.
So, what led to the current Ukraine tragedy is not NATO expansion, but the cretinous psycopathy of Putin and his cadre of bootlickers who never got over the fact that their ideology failed. Obviously, numbskulls such as yourself – davetherealist – will try to lay the blame at the door of ‘The West’, but that’s wrong. Shows a complete lack of understanding of the Soviet/Russian view of the world. And that’s the thing you really need to understand. Why they think and act the way they do, and what we can do to counter it.
Lurch wants Bob Hope to go to Ukraine and sing, “Thanks for the Memories.” He’s as demented as Joe.
Biden is manifesting borderline dementia. He can’t provide a cogent answer to direst questions from anyone, period. He’s nothing but a lacquered puppet. That’s the reason he was elected in the first place. Not defending him, he just does and says what he’s told to do and say.
I’m a bit curious whether his wife, the good Dr. Biden, sits in on his training sessions and later reinforces the messaging, or she interfaces with the admin. people herself and then leads him by-tha-nose (no pun intended) to tempt him to say and do the proper thing. Lately, I’ve sort-of been leaning toward the second one. She has learned to stay just out of reach while the cameras are rolling.
Follow the money, she is part of the Biden crime family
At least she’s not part of the Trump crime syndicate, so that’s something.
I don’t think it can called borderline any longer, he’s into the irrational anger stage now.
Which one?
The irrational anger is not actually a new thing for Joe.
Seems like elder abuse.
Of course, he was never someone would normally feel sorry for so it’s okay apparently.
“elected”
Borderline? WTF? The guy is full blown senile as it gets. His brain is 90% bong water by now.
Yeah if Trump had been there none of this war thing would have happened. It is obvious Putin is totally scared of Donald.
“Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings…”
For once you have said something that has a good chance of being correct.
The sad thing is, you don’t know it.
Correct not because of fear or lack of fear. Correct because Putin couldn’t have done it without Biden’s and the EU’s ritual sacrifices to their gods of greenhouses.
Hey batterycarboi—I saw that your wacked out commie PM had her WuFlu mandates squashed by the NZ courts. I guess there are still some rational people down there.
Simon,
How much income is Russia garnering from sale of oil to the US (now at $100); as opposed to how much income two years ago at $60?
Where do you think they are spending that extra income?
So, Russia garners an extra 10 billion from the US (because of our ridiculous energy policies), and other extra income around the globe because the value of oil (necessarily) skyrockets.
So, with Biden: The books (income) look good; A main adversary (Biden) looks like he is incompetent & wandering; And the majority of the developed world want to continue with energy policies that reward Russia (into the far future); And France & Germany & USA will not commit with a significant defensive stance in favor of Ukraine until after an invasion.
Putin has his military invade….
Yes, I think it would have been different if ANYONE with a reasonable energy policy were running the show.
And it would have been way different if a reasonable energy policy was combined with diplomacy, and not looking like an idiot blowhard by calling your adversary a murderous thug that is afraid to deal with you.)
Take off the blinders Simon.
68% of US according to the polls believe that
Yep…. oh what in indictment of an entire nation. Seriously if they Trump could or would have stopped the thug that is Putin doing what he wants, they deserve the derision they are getting from the rest of the world.
Not sure anyone cares what you and a few leftards think and you are subject to a fair amount of derision yourself 🙂
You have an opinion and you want to share it … #METOO
You seem to care….
Doesn’t take you long to pull out the school yard taunts.
Without the money he’s gotten from Biden driving up oil prices, Putin couldn’t have afforded the invasion.
Without knowing that the west and the US would do nothing in response to such naked aggression, Putin couldn’t take the risk of invading the Ukraine.
Your eagerness to defend your team is as usual blinding you to reality.
What are some of the things that could have been done, short of sending troops? Crank up the economic sanctions as soon as Putin started massing troops, start sending military aid (anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons especially) to the Ukraine, shortly after that.
If Trump was president now….
Reporter: So President Trump, Putin is telling the world the Ukrainian people wanted him to invade.
Trump: Well why wouldn’t I believe him? He’s a smart honest guy. I believed him when he said they didn’t interfere in our elections, so I believe him now.
What we have is reality vs climate policy. Brandon doesn’t get it (technically, the people who write his teleprompter feed don’t get it) or he is so afraid of the far-left climate change radical big money donors that he refuses to get it.
Fortunately, his party is due for a shellacking in this fall’s elections. Unfortunately, the result will probably be gridlock instead of a return to reasonable policies and energy independence. Those elections are months away, however, and much can change.
While you can’t underestimate Brandon’s ability to fugg things up, you can also never underestimate the Republican’s ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
“ Republican’s ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”
Two sides of the same coin?
The RINOs are being exposed.
I don’t see a great deal of difference between the Republican establishment and the Democrats, so perhaps they are two sides of the same coin.
As for the grassroots, they’re as different as night and day.
More like “art” than “ability”.
Exactly – there will be no shellacking if the Republicans continue on their current trajectory.
There is virtually always just one show. The two major parties have slightly different speaking parts but never any intention of rerouting the train.
Biden and Kerry are trying really hard to make Jimmy Carter look good, as difficult as that task is.
Mission accomplished.
Compare a couple of choppers secretly smashing into each other in the Iranian desert with the full on coverage of the Afghanistan retreat
“Mission accomplished.”
Absolutely!
Joe Biden is the Worst President Evah!
Tom, you could post a spew alert, just out of courtesy!!!!
Make Jimmy Carter look good…
Check, Biden/Kerry are making Jimmy Hoffa look good
Biden and Kerry are incompetent and dishonorable. Carter was incompetent and honorable. Carter is far the better man.
I agree. Carter was just clueless, not conniving.
The political left is destroying modern society, and they are absolutely giddy over it.
“Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?”
Maurice Strong, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
“We’ve got to go straight to the heart of capitalism and overthrow it.
George Monbiot April 12, 2019
“This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the
industrial revolution.” –
Christiana Figueres, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary
________________________________________________________
Most left wingers are a bit more circumspect, but there probably more quotes of the same flavor that can be mined on the internet. If you follow the Maurice Strong link, Dan Wood quotes him as saying, “I probably shouldn’t be saying things like this” [Last page 20 lines from the end]
The suppressing of free speech by limiting debate (“Telling the truth may may someone feel badly.”) limits progress and problem solving. Impoverishing the poor and decimating the Middle Class to “solve” a non-existent climate crisis is turning out to be perhaps the worst decision ever made by any civilization.
Yet, the proponents of Globalism (who want ultimate power in THEIR hands) are totally convinced it will result in the long term maximum happiness for the survivors. Wrong!
I don’t agree that they “are totally convinced it will result in the long term happiness for the survivors”. They could care less about the happiness of the surfs. They just need enough surf survivors to serve the ruling elite and billionaire oligarchs.
Since the ’90s they have been quite open about their goals.
Isn’t it important that idiots suffer consequences for their stupidity? Maybe it doesn’t cause a Darwinian effect, but maybe they learn to shut up.
Yes, but unfortunately these idiots want to inflict the consequences of their stupidity on everybody else.
“that leaves coal, oil and natural gas; or alternatively, a blackout.”
I know without even thinking what the UK Parliament will choose.
And if you don’t, it’s the latter: blackouts rationed out by smart meters.
I personally have no problem with blackouts rationed by smart meters if:
1) Politicians who voted for this crap, even one time, are the first to be shut off, all of their houses, businesses, properties, even if rented to a non-believer, etc.
2) All leftist party headquarters, individual offices in government buildings, etc. are shut off.
3) If that is not enough, which it will not be, all liberal party registered voters houses and businesses to be shut off.
4) Any board members and middle to upper management of any corporation that has supported the woketard green BS to be shut off.
If that is not enough, Shut off the entire city or region who voted for the liberal green politicians who initiated this crap.
And while we are at it, require all waste from wind and solar being decommissioned to be stored and/or processed in the CITY CENTER of the woketard communities whose voters forced this crap on the rest of us, the % of waste to be based on their % of liberal votes, and the City government to pay for any transportation and processing costs if the “owners” of the decommissioned projects have skipped out of their obligations. In the US I would start with Central Park in NY City, the Boston Common, Chicago’s lakefront beaches and parks, Anywhere in Philly, Detroit, Baltimore, San Francisco, Oakland, LA, Atlanta, Minneapolis/St Paul, Austin etc. most of those cities are already hell holes.
I always thought actions should have consequences, so make the bad actors suffer.
You know how seriously they took lockdown partying away….
What a mad world this is! I see Bernie (Sanders) is calling for a “windfall profits tax” on the oil companies this morning. This coming after Brandon warned the oil companies not to profit from what effectively amounts to an embargo on Russian oil and gas.
Sanders is a wily old commie—as an “independent”, he can’t be primaried.
I must have missed the embargo on Russian oil and gas. When I awoke this morning, sanctions on Russian oil and gas were specifically excluded from the actions taken by the US, UK and Europe.
Note my use of the word “effectively”. If Russia’s access to the West’s banking / payment system is curtailed, there will be a commensurate impact on shipments.
By the way, don’t you consider it odd that oil and gas sanctions were specifically excluded?
Not at all. It would be odd for Europe to cut off 4mb/d of oil supply, much of it with no alternative pipeline routing, plus 40% of its gas supply when its storage will be close to empty in a month even at current depletion rates.
The western countries have been very circumspect about which banks have been cut off from SWIFT – they’ve made sure that they can still pay for oil and gas whilst looking like they’re actually doing something.
I just read and article that stated any “energy” related transfers are specifically EXCLUDED from the sanctions.
Brandon went along with that. I assume that is why Germany has claimed to be sending weapons to Ukraine and passed legislation to increase their defense spending to the agreed upon per NATO 2% of GDP, you know, what the Dems screamed about when TRUMP! demanded the NATO countries live up to their spending obligations. Less than 1/3 of NATO countries meet their obligations.
An embargo on oil and gas is extremely unlikely. Putin might cut supplies if he thinks he needs to do that to take Ukraine, or as much of it as he wants. But it’s only a little way down from a nuclear force option as an extreme measure.
Bernie and Brandon, a pair of putzes.
I still think Bernie is a bigger putz but it’s close. Bernie is a grifter.
Given he honeymooned in the Soviet Union, we know who’s side he’s on.
Bernie, like most socialists, absolutely loved Russia when it was the linchpin of the former USSR. (Free puppet shows)! Since eschewing Communism, however, not so much.
Well, if we’re going to face a return to the 18th century, I’ll have to find out if I can budget installing a small wood-fired fireplace (with a chimney, of course, and a side oven for baking) in my little house, just to be able to cook and stay warm.
Civilization was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it?
Two wood burners and a three year log pile = happiness.
But it has to have a little steam generator attached to keep the Light on
A wood-fired cookstove would be far cheaper and easier to install, and more efficient to boot. In days of yore, the kitchen was the place to hang out, especially during the colder months, as it would be toasty warm.
Unless it is running constantly, an open fireplace is a net cooler of you house.
what if I run it 20 hrs/day?
I suppose that is an energy balance calculation. Once you stop the burning, unless you can seal the fireplace air tight, all available warm air will go up the chimney. See ‘Franklin Stove’.
No chance – the romantic 18th century population was what?
We are now 8 billion. Forget any warm fuzzy feelings.
ABC-Wash Post leftist poll numbers, even the watermelon media can’t hide the truth anymore:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/02/joe-biden-approval-rating-sinks-37-54-americans-now-see-biden-mentally-incapable-serving/
Brandon’s declining mental capability is the least of our problems. I worry about the intentions of his wire pullers.
Oh yeah.
How can Joe Biden still have an approval rating of 37%? How can 37% of Americans approve of his disastrous behaviour?
Perhaps that is the combined numbers of those not affected by his policies due to being on the dole, or rich enough to insulate themselves from the negative effects.
I should have said… or the loony greens rich enough…
Did not mean to imply all people of means would support Biden.
That would be the 37% who depend on government checks for their daily bread.
Ask Simon.
That’s about the number of Trump haters that get their news from CNN, MSNBC and (don’t forget) Apple News.
Regime Change, a stolen election. Happens quite a lot to countries near you.
Look at the % of people who believe the manned moon landing was fake, the earth is flat, space aliens walk among us, or that the Steele Dossier was factual. I have lived many years, but only lately have realized that I have been grossly overestimating the intelligence of the average person my entire life. Worse, I realized I likely was not much better. The old quip that common sense is not very common is unfortunately true.
“How can Joe Biden still have an approval rating of 37%? How can 37% of Americans approve of his disastrous behaviour?”
I think this is Biden’s ignorant radical Democrat base speaking. They aren’t smart enough to know Biden is a disaster.
So when the radical Democrats claim to speak for everyone, they are really only speaking for about one-third of the population or less. This ignorant, clueless 37 percent.
SImion thinks he is a great leader so there is your answer a portion of the population is like that.
Suppression of hydrocarbon fuels via carbon tax and slowed expansion of hydrocarbon fuel infrastructure means that global hydrocarbon corporations grab a bigger share of representation in the stakeholder world of government and business using their customer’s dollars. Greater stakeholder representation in government means they can suppress any market for Next Gen Battery, Next Gen generators by facilitating policy and legislation via their stakeholder power and influence to stop private citizens/voters/customers from using next gen tech to go off grid or pursue decentralized mirco/nano solutions.. The hydrocarbon stake holders support only grid level solutions to increase hydrocarbon efficiency because they don’t really exist right now, and will take longer to implement than mirco -decentralized solutions.. The global hydrocarbon stakeholders support carbon taxes, wind and solar and climate change propaganda because neither wind or solar is a truly viable solution, (it doesn’t impower he customer or save them money) without Next Gen battery. The customer is nothing but a serf in the minds of the Global Hydrocarbon stakeholder…. solutions that empower them, means less power for them. Without Next gen battery and generator, even the smart grid, micro-NG turbine/secondary steam decentralized approach that Germany proposed in 2008-2010 requires Putin’s Gazprom because the solar and wind inputs require efficient long term storage. What the global Hydrocarbon Stakeholders fear the most is the rapid commercialization of mirco/nano-Next Gen battery/generator systems taking the globe by storm. Those systems using hydrocarbon fuel far more efficiently,( up to a factor of 8) and effectively utilizing all generation inputs, means a long term progressive reduction in demand for hydrocarbon fuel and cheaper energy for local customers. The time to grab the profit is NOW and the only way the hydrocarbon stakeholders can do this is by grabbing geographic markets, suppressing decentralization of electricity generation, and artificially limiting supply by collusion and political turmoil, ( al la Putin). This is the game. Normal people on the ground level simply want efficient, affordable energy solutions in their homes, in their neighborhoods and in their local communities. Customers don’t want to be serfs, they want to unplug the stakeholder system that seeks to disenfranchise them and to empower them selves with real capital in their own homes. The evitable is coming for hydrocarbon stakeholders especially amidst the massive glut of fuel that exists today. The next gen battery and generator is coming quickly. It’s not coming to save the globe but to empower customers with real capital in their homes and local communities. A home that efficiently generates stores and distributes all it’s own electricity it needs, (via hydrocarbon fuel, solar, wind, TEG etc) to heat, cool, runs the how and electric car, will be a truly empowered household. Climate change is supported by a cohort of believers that are being leveraged as a false flag with it’s false solutions. There is no solution without the next gen battery and generator.
(paragraphs, please!)
Griff, your posts are roughly the length of a tweet and equally absent any substance.
Most are too short to tweet but still qualify as twit
Even with paragraphs you won’t undertand it 😀
As you never understand what you mean to have read.
Climate changes says we need grid level renewable solutions to save the planet and that people are bad for the planet. See how easy it is to leverage this stupid message to grab power from local people? What we really need is to empower local people by enabling them to buy the capital they need to free themselves from leveraged markets of grid and the global hydrocarbon stakeholders who don’t care they’re customers are being turned into smart phone serfs. The corporations that develop the next- gen micro/nano multi-input electrical generation/storage/distribution products that customers really need and want will establish the next great era of global industrialization. The country that is in the forefront, will be the next great industrial/economic power. The last thing we need is more communications tech or AI.
There are multiple problems with your (ignorant) analysis, Corbin. One, in the US, fully half the population doesn’t own, many of those live in dense housing that has entirely insuffient area for solar or wind. In some other countries the fraction is even higher.
Two, local energy storage is limited to batteries which are already approaching their theoretical limit – the next generation of batteries will have only incremental improvements – not nearly the factor of 10 needed in price and performance.
Three, half or more of the population lives too far to the north to be able to count on solar in the winter – you should have had a light turn on in your head when you saw how little Germany gets from solar in the winter and how unreliable wind is.
Four, residential households only use a fraction of the energy consumed. Industry, transportation, agriculture, and business consume the most and all require sources of reliable energy.
There is never going to be a society that is individually self-sufficient for energy needs. The vast majority of people and sectors of the economy will always be reliant on the grid and other centralized sources of energy. It’s folly for a society to encourage individual distributed energy sources at the expense of centralized sources.
How would you handle Putin?
Make a deal as Trump said then. The cards are on the table.
I can’t claim that I’ve learned anything about Russia despite having been the chief scientist of a cooperative International program that worked in Russia and 54 other countries. Off and on, we had difficulties with several different countries but not like we had with Russia. The Russian participants were borderline paranoid and often couldn’t come to a decision simply because they were petrified that they might do something that would run afoul of their leaders. They took international funding when they were strapped for cash but mostly all they did was stall. Then they would host a dinner at our expense, toast us, drink vodka like a fish, and bellow rudely.
Exactly – greenies always forget industry, manufacturing, farming. Forget – no – they want total de-industrialization.
Rubbish
Nice ide but sound like something I’ve seen before:
“and a miracle happens here”
I think this is today’s version of the mythical 100 mpg carburetors. Back in the 1950s, people claimed they knew for a fact that such carburetors existed, but big oil bought up all the patents and rights to keep them off the market to sell more gasoline. P T Barnum was right about the birth rate of fools.
If “the next- gen micro/nano multi-input electrical generation/storage/distribution products” are what customers really need, the corporations making and selling them will be today’s energy companies. They have the money to develop or buy the patents and start-up companies. The are in business to make money selling energy; the are not wedded to fossil fuels. All the major players have had wind and solar divisions, fully funded, to pursue those forms of energy production if viable.
Not to be judgmental, but using the term “stakeholder” usually means the user is spewing nonsense.
I thought it indicates the user is spewing WEF nonsense.
You will own nothing and be happy is another example.
Precisely.
Like “moving forward”
Unreadable. Please edit.
It is Inedible, next course please!
another cherry picked chart to ‘prove’ Energiewende isn’t working…
do remember Germany is plugged into an Europe wide grid intended to transfer renewable electricity from places with a lot to those with less.
and it is a fantasy to say fracking would have supplied all the gas Europe needs and especially a fantasy to say it would be cheaper than world gas prices.
Get a grip, griff.
Calling something “cherry-picked” because you don’t like it doesn’t make it so. You still don’t understand the basics of markets or supply and demand.
And even if the green energy fantasies are true, they would do nothing to help the situation for years. Spoiler alert — they aren’t true.
If only energy prices reflected your optimism.
And more likes spewed by the lie spewing liar.
“it is a fantasy to say fracking would have supplied all the gas Europe needs”
But we are no longer in the EU and we do have enough gas for our own needs in the UK.
And as it is our gas we don’t pay global market rates for it. We could have a great standard of living again….
Note very carefully – Brexit was not NATOstan exit.
The EU is NATO!
Welcome to the machine!
I’m guessing that “cherry picked” is the phrase of the month for griff’s cell.
Yeah, it’s the current buzzword in the talking points his paymasters give him.
griff,
Have you yet worked out how many cubic feet of Russian gas import per Ukrainian death?
Griff, at this point it simply does not matter if the Energiewende works – consumers see a horrendous monthly energy bill, soon to go ballistic. Just imagine what will happen.
C’mon, griff, try again – it doesn’t work at all, over longer time. Inm so far, the chart is absolutely correct.
Look on the bright side the greentard won’t be able to post soon due to rolling blackouts.
Except that often the wind dies everywhere at the same time, happens often.
To even attempt what you suggest, every area of europe needs to install ~400% of their own GW requirements in renewables, link them all together and then hope for the best.
You clearly have no idea of grid management and the utter catastrophe of tens of thousands of generation point fluctuating up and down continually.
It will work for a bit but eventually will totally collapse
A cascade they call it
Why were the people of Ukraine out in the streets protesting the high electricity costs when the Madon massacre took place? Oliver Stone’s documentary “Ukraine on Fire’ showed a scene of industrial scale wind turbines in Ukraine just before the scenes of the Madon massacre?
Is that a misspelling? I can’t find any references to “Madon massacre” or even any relevant references to “Madon.”
And don’t take too much stock in Oliver Stone’s documentaries.
Try Maidan.
Read Maidan for Madon. Either the poster didn’t know the difference or autocorrect did it’s usual mess up. Renewables in Ukraine account for less than 5% of the energy totals, so why were people out on the streets during the Maidan protest? Because the US State Department paid them to be, of course – Ukraine has no social security; if you don’t work, you don’t eat and yet thousands of people were camped out for many months with no visible means of support.
First every problem in the Ukraine was caused by it’s caused by it’s corrupt government, now it’s was caused by the US state department? What will Putin be paying you to claim next week.
Last week you were being paid to claim that only paid state dept hacks believed that Putin had any intention of invading Ukraine.
Is there some connection between natural gas deals and industrial wind turbines in Ukraine?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/08/11/turns-out-wind-and-solar-have-a-secret-friend-natural-gas/
Has he invaded yet?
Actually, it is the U.S. state department invading the Ukraine. Don’t believe the propaganda.
For the slow of wit, this was sarcasm.
Has Russia invaded?
Check the US State Department financial records for the period in question – they are quite open about how much they paid to keep the Maidan protests going.
Also I never claimed anything of the sort. Any more smears, outright lies and disinformation you want to add to your deplorable record?
Mark, with all due respect, Richard made a valid point. I think everyone gets it that Putin is a very bad state actor and has a lot of blood on his hands, including that from his current invasion of Ukraine. Not to mention his cynical support of alarmist climate NGOs in order to maximize the value of Russia’s oil and gas dependent economy at the expense of European consumers.
But please keep in mind that the (US) State Department and other actors have been relentless in pushing for Ukraine’s membership in NATO. While this has been a long-standing issue for Russia, Trump, to his credit, managed to keep a lid on the situation, probably because the never-Trump Neo-Cons were on the outs during his administration. But they’re back in the saddle now under Brandon, and Putin has foolishly ignored the implications of that and invaded.
Since the Ukrainians, with a nod from the West, have to date put up more resistance than anyone initially anticipated, Putin is now faced with either withdrawing, in which case he’s done for, or going full-Stalin in his efforts, in which case a lot of people, both Ukrainian and Russian, are going to needlessly die.
But pretty please keep in mind…
There fixed it for ya.
US tax dollars, $5 billion as Victoria Nuland openly boasted, bought Maidan.
Russia said Ukraine is costing $240 billion to float it. So let them join the EU, and US tax dollars up front, pretty please?
Putin’s actions have as much to do with land and proximity to Western threats as they do to fuel. As far as I know, Putin’s oil is still flowing and he wants to keep it that way. He has leverage which he enhanced by moving in winter despite what looks like a muddy winter across Ukraine farmland. Some may think his regime – and his hold over (whatever he can take of) Ukraine – will be short lived. His tanks, I heard, were stranded by (of all things) gas shortages, his soldiers are suffering low morale, and thousands of anti-war arrests in Russia suggest that they don’t agree with Putin’s war.
The title of this post should suggest the Realpolitik solution which does consider the Ukraine mess to be a product of western meddling and we should negotiate with Putin to back off. He claims to want Ukraine as a buffer between Russia and the West and he’s been saying for decades that any incursions by NATO or the West would be cause for him to dissolve Ukraine as a nation.
Under the condition that Ukraine remain a thriving (14 percent of the world’s corn crop, 12 % of its wheat) independent state, which is in the iterest of both Russia and the West, Putin goes back into his hole and takes his troops with him.
When I heard Tulsi Gabbard speak out against Biden’s Ukraine interventionism (imposing stiffer and stiffer santions), I thought she sounded like an opportunist. She recommended that Biden put a stop to the Russian invasion “immediately” by declaring that Ukraine would never be allowed to join NATO. These and some other comments brought down lightning bolts from Biden’s supporters. But that Putin is seeing Western resolve, it might be time to talk to the tyrant.
Ultimately, this petty dictator will pass from the world stage. Let the rest of the world watch in peace from the sidelines as he fades and someone / something else will take his place.
Putin wants to reconstitute the old USSR empire. NATO, strictly a defensive agreement, is just an excuse.
NATOstan defensive – forgotten Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Belgrade already?
That comment is strictly certified.
Oligarchs paid off all politicians in every party to protect oil and gas interests. Why wouldn’t they? The Green movement is simply the marketing arm of Gazprom.
It was a DDR thing during the Cold War, sure. They are now a loose cannon…
Western democracies have traded away energy security, thus damaging their own countries’ global security, under the guise of “saving the planet”. Those responsible are in fact traitors. Ultimately, the Great Climate Lie, the biggest lie in history could in fact be responsible for WWIII. But will that stop the Climate Liars? Nope.
Indeed. It was never about “saving the planet”. It has always been about raping and plundering civilization. Traitor Joe has been waging war on America since the day he arrived.
And Putin said clearly no matter what Russia does, the US intent is to ruin their economy. He will not accept that, will you?
Biden has done nothing specific to limit gas production. The northern branch of the Keystone XL pipeline wouldn’t have delivered anything for years and, if it ever did, most would go to export. The hold on any new leases hasn’t really had an impact yet. The real problem limiting fracking investment is the risk associated with future “climate change” actions. Investors are looking for dividend payouts to recover their earlier investments and avoid bankruptcy so common in the industry. If high prices persist that scenario may change, but the “climate change” scare tactics will always be a factor dampening fossil fuel investment. Biden can do little to affect this one way or the other.
(Actually, the active rig count has been slowly increasing during the past year as prices have increased, but it’s still only at about 60% of potential capacity.)
He needs to finish Keystone by driving it to completion.
“Expectations” are extremely influential in the decision to produce goods and services. You are correct that stopping a pipe line years before its scheduled in-service date doesn’t technically effect current production, but such an arbitrary change in the regulatory environment dictated by an all-powerful government is absolutely chilling in its effects. To be more direct, when the powers that be say that they oppose your activity, there’s absolutely no reason to invest further in that activity, and every reason, in fact, to unwind any previous investments in that activity before they become worthless. Given this, your exoneration of Biden, or more accurately, his handlers, is specious.
And if you don’t get this, you might want to ask yourself why the Great Depression went on for decades, despite FDR’s Herculean efforts to reflate the economy via the New Deal. The answer is that the anti-business regulatory environment of the New Deal by itself both demoralized and scared the bejesus out of private industry, making recovery impossible until the most offensive portions of FDR’s regulations were sidelined to allow for increased war production.
Good. So you totally agree with me: It’s the chilling effect of the “climate change” drumbeat that has driven down investment in fossil fuels. And that could be a long term problem ( and I think an investment opportunity if your patient.)
But none of that nor Biden had anything to do with reducing our oil production.
U.S. oil production started to drop on March 6 2020 due to the Pandemic and bottomed out down 25% by September 6, 2020, strictly in response to the market. It’s been rising cautiously ever since.
I’m not exonerating Biden, just pointing out that he’s helpless to do anything about increasing production faster unless he wants to “manage” the market with import taxes or other financial incentives. (Just as Trump was helpless to prevent the reduction in production which happened on his watch).
I have some small investments in leases in Texas and out on the Gulf. Only about half are operating compared to when I made my investments. The operators assure me they are closely analyzing and determining when it will be the opportune time to start producing. Fingers crossed.
I expect this to be a good long term investment. Two industries are the appropriate target of the Greenies: electrical generation and transportation. At some point they will have to realize that total elimination of oil and gas from electrical generation is impossible without major technical advances in battery backup and the distribution grid. Add to that the cost of lithium and cobalt mines silica gas plants, etc.(assuming a battery breakthrough occurs) and we’re talking $5-10 trillion over the coming decades.
Going too fast to change to electric vehicles will only make the problem with electric generation worse.
Boy,
whatever you encourage, you will get more of.
whatever you discourage, you will get lees of.
Biden (or whoever is telling him what to do) policies have an impact of discouraging development of oil & gas. Both immediate & long term impacts will manifest.
Bullshit. Stopping Keystone XL and threatening other pipelines, banning new leases on federal land, appointing regulators that threaten to cut off financial services to oil and gas projects, not to mention all the rhetoric and “rejoining” (not really) the Paris farce, all that is “nothing specific”? And that is hardly a comprehensive list.
perhaps he is not very effective but he is certainly egging it on.
Nothing specific? How about pressure on the financial sector to stop financing anything related to oil and gas?
Do your own research.
Idea for a t-shirt: “Ich bin ein Kyiver”. I’m sure Putin will get the reference, and it will infuriate him. Good.
Sounds like Ich bin ein Kvetscher….
Who needs realism when you have a bottomless chalice of hype!
The dose makes the poison…
Biden despite his many years has not learnt the wisdom in the words of Jesus.
What king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. (Luke 14:31-32)
Have not found yet NATOstan in either the Bible, nor Koran. We need a New Testament!
Numbers are not the only factor in battle.
Fighting spirit and human psychology are also factors and can lead to a smaller force defeating a larger force.
It’s not the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog, that makes the difference in winning.
Even dogs do not kamikaze. Dogged determination as with ISIS ‘martyrs’ can ruin your whole day.
You know nothing about dogs. They frequently ‘kamikaze’ themselves to protect their human family.
Dogs attacking my tomcat ending up with 3 noses and 4 ears is a sight to see. Dogs then behave themselves.
The sad thing is that you just refuted your own claim.
Russia is about to default on its international debt. Russian government bonds are relegated to the junk status.
Among major creditors are number of EU and British banks.
Ides of March are in two weeks time.
Julian calendar gives some leeway. Anyway the $2 quadrillion transatlantic debts cannot be settled in either calendar. Time for Glass-Steagall, and a New Bretton Woods!
They always have oil and gas 🙂
I assume they have better things to do with hard cash from gas and oil than pay their debt or buy back their junk bonds.
Here are my thoughts.
1) We are fast becoming unable to project our military power around the world. Nations like Japan, Australia, all of South Asia, and yes, even Europe need to ask themselves how the U.S. will obtain the fossil fuels necessary to militarily support overseas operations of a major war.
2) How will poor and middle class in the U.S. continue to live with blackouts, heating and cooling poverty, etc. It’s a shame that a generation will have to learn that virtue signaling buys nothing, it is not money. The only things that count are those you have the freedom to do yourself.
3) I fear that it is possible that the western world will become vassal states owing their allegiance to Asian hegemonies. I work as a tutor at a high school and I see everyday more and more kids that expect to “be taken care of” by parents, government, or charity. They have no appreciation of the people who have died forging the country that we have, and I don’t mean just the military. I include pioneers, factory workers, menial laborers, etc.
The current narrative we hear from the MSM and from Biden and his people is that Putin is a reckless madman. The truth is that Putin isn’t a madman. He is instead a smart and ruthless chess player on the world political stage whose goal is to make Russia great again while enriching himself and his Russian oligarch allies in the process.
Putin’s long term agenda:
– Reestablish the Czarist Russian empire and keep pace with China as a world economic and military power.
– Regain control of the human capital and the industrial base lost with the fall of the Soviet Union.
– Regain access to the territory and the natural resources lost with the fall of the Soviet Union.
– Regain the worldwide political and economic influence lost with the fall of the Soviet Union.
– Enrich himself and his Russian oligarch allies in the process.
Putin’s immediate agenda:
– Regain control of Ukraine’s human capital and its industrial base.
– Regain control of Ukraine’s territory and its natural resources.
– Use the threat of potential invasion for making vassal states of key former Soviet republics such as Kazakhstan.
– Increase Russian political and economic leverage over all of Europe.
– Increase the price of oil, gas, and other strategic mineral commodities.
– Encourage the EU and the United States to abandon energy independence.
– Demonstrate the moral, economic, and military weakness of the West.
Putin’s military strategy in Ukraine:
– Limit the Russian military’s aggressiveness in the initial stages of the invasion.
– Convince President Zelensky that resistance is hopeless, thus inducing a quick capitulation.
– Bypass the major cities and trap the bulk of Ukraine’s combat forces in territorial pockets.
– Hold the bulk of Russian military forces in combat reserve while negotiations continue.
– Commit the bulk of Russia’s combat forces and escalate the intensity of Russian combat action only if Ukrainian resistance intensifies.
– Launch full force attacks on the major cities only if Ukraine refuses to capitulate and chooses to fight an urban warfare conflict.
– Unleash Russia’s full conventional military capability only if Ukraine still refuses to surrender.
– Accept a much higher level of military and civilian casualties only if this becomes necessary to conquer Ukraine.
The risks of Putin’s Ukraine strategy:
– The EU and the United States impose sanctions on Russia which have real teeth.
– The EU and it citizens accept the pain and sacrifice which goes with cutting themselves off from Russian energy supplies.
– A subjugated Ukraine population becomes an enemy of Russia and refuses to cooperate with Russia’s long term economic and political agenda.
– Germany, UK, and the EU abandon their defacto policy of pacifism and begin the process of rebuilding their military strength.
– The US military reverses course and abandons focusing on climate change as America’s principal existential threat.
– The EU and the United States reverse their current zero carbon energy policies and once again pursue energy independence.
Analysis:
The obvious weakness and feckless incompetence of Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, and the EU leadership are the major drivers for Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine in pursuit of his long term and near-term objectives.
With good reason, Putin is betting that neither Biden nor Johnson nor the EU leadership will take the kinds of truly serious economic and military actions which would thwart Russia’s long term goals.
The west’s green energy policies are crucial in Putin’s calculations. He fully expects that neither the US nor the UK will do an about face and end their current war on fossil fuels. Rather, he expects that Biden, Johnson, and the EU leadership will attempt to accelerate the transition into wind and solar, thus dealing a crippling blow to their own economies.
The truth is that Putin isn’t a madman He is instead a smart and ruthless chessman playing against opponents who are aren’t even very good at playing checkers.
By your “logic” then, Hitler was also a “smart and ruthless chess player”. Aside from being Evil incarnate, Putin has miscalculated. Badly. He will lose, and Russia will suffer greatly because of his actions.
Sez you, who?
And I
Bruce Cobb: “By your “logic” then, Hitler was also a “smart and ruthless chess player”. Aside from being Evil incarnate, Putin has miscalculated. Badly. He will lose, and Russia will suffer greatly because of his actions.”
What Putin has that Hitler lacked is strategic patience in choosing the right moment to strike, the ability to go beyond the surface in judging the strength and character of his adversaries, and the willingness to pull back if it appears the win-loss balance sheet of his aggressive military adventure is going against him.
Presuming you have read my list of items in what I believe are Putin’s long-term and immediate goals for invading Ukraine, then you should supply objective definitions for what constitutes “winning” and what constitutes “losing” for Putin and his Ukraine adventure.
The list is presented for those who want to do just that, to define what ‘winning’ and ‘losing’ mean in the context of Putin’s goals for his invasion, and in the context of the risks that he and Russia face for having begun the invasion.
Putin has overwhelming conventional military power at his disposal, military power he has yet to fully apply. His apparent strategy is to compel Ukraine’s surrender at the least cost in lives and damage to Ukraine.
But if Ukraine doesn’t comply, if it continues to hold out in the belief that NATO and the West will somehow come to its rescue, then Putin will threaten once more to go Full Stalin on them. And if they still don’t comply, then Putin will indeed go Full Stalin and take the consequences for having done so.
It is also possible Putin may offer Zelensky a deal he has little choice but to seriously consider. Let Russia take full control of Ukraine east of the Dnieper River while Zelensky gets to keep Kyiv and western Ukraine, but only as long as he agrees not to join the EU and not to become a member of NATO.
In any case, Ukraine’s apparent military success in holding back the Russians is an illusion. If the war continues too much longer, that illusion will be shattered in the most bloody way possible.
Maybe. One of the few things we actually know for sure (amid the tidal wave of propaganda and disinformation) is that Putin invaded with only about half of the troops he had on the border and none of the ones further back. It did seem crazy but makes more sense if he thought Ukraine would collapse in a few days – time will tell as to what has been going on and what the implications are.
You don’t know Ukrainians. They are a tough and resourceful nation and well educated.
I know – I merely stated a possible reason for Putin invading with far fewer troops than he had in place. I’m not running down the Ukraine people, but pointing out that Putin may have underestimated them. Time will tell.
Ireneusz Palmowski; “You don’t know Ukrainians. They are a tough and resourceful nation and well educated.”
Who says they aren’t? But the fact is that they’ve been led down the primrose path by their own past governments, by the EU, by the Obama and the Biden administrations, by the NGO’s, and by the globalists — all of whom have profited enormously from Ukraine’s past history of rampant corruption.
Richard Page: “Maybe. One of the few things we actually know for sure (amid the tidal wave of propaganda and disinformation) is that Putin invaded with only about half of the troops he had on the border and none of the ones further back.”
For Putin’s generals, limiting the intensity of the attack in the first days of their invasion of Ukraine makes sense from two perspectives. If there is a quick collapse, the casualties and the damage on both sides are greatly reduced. But if there isn’t a quick collapse, and problems are encountered which have not been foreseen, then time can be taken to readjust the tactics, the force dispositions, and the logistics to better fit the actual situation.
Richard Page: “It did seem crazy but makes more sense if he thought Ukraine would collapse in a few days – time will tell as to what has been going on and what the implications are.”
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) publishes a daily analysis of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Here is a summary from their February 28th 3 PM EST update:
ISW’s Immediate Items to Watch:
• Russian forces advancing north and east from Crimea threaten to cut off Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine if Kyiv does not withdraw them in the coming days.
• Russian forces began using artillery against residential areas in Kharkiv on February 28, likely signaling a dangerous new phase of Russian operations.
• Russian forces face growing morale and supply issues but will likely be able to overcome these handicaps.
• Russian forces continue to refrain from using their likely full spectrum of air and missile capabilities. The Ukrainian air force also remains active. Russian operations will likely steadily wear down Ukrainian air capabilities and eventually take the Ukrainian air force out of the fight.
• Russia has sufficient conventional military power to reinforce each of its current axes of advance and overpower the conventional Ukrainian forces defending them.
Thanks for that – it’s difficult to see what’s going on from the extremely limited speculation in the ‘news’ reports.
So, the initial invasion plan and resupply probably called for the early capture of an airport near Kyiv and resupply by air, and without it they’re having to improvise?
Your crystal ball is in shards…
How so?
Zelensky just applied to join the EU. That might derail the negotiations somewhat and make ‘full Stalin’ more likely. Zelensky is pushing back with everything he’s got, presumably in the vain hope that if it goes badly, it’ll force the US and NATO to step in. Zelensky is overestimating US/NATO promises and their will to go toe-to-toe with Russia, and US/NATO have seriously underestimated west Ukraine and other former occupied countries sheer hatred of the Russians.
Result is Ukraine’s economy is already totally ruined.
Maybe one day Kiev will see how they were used.
Meanwhile full security guarantees, neutrality and a reconstruction program are urgent.
It’s silly to blame Biden for the operation of the free market. Prices are high now because of COVID, which dramatically cut world wide demand for oil and gas by 30 percent instantaneously in April 2020, which ALWAYS causes a dramatic reduction in production (at one point in April 2020 the worldwide price of Brent crude oil was negative $40 a barrel, then shortly there after settled at $20 per bbl, far below US production costs … then followed in late 2020 by a rapid “V” recovery (that former president Trump certainly bragged up to the max). Crude oil production has struggled ever since to meet demand which is now the highest on record.
Unless Biden and Trump somehow repealed the Law of Supply and Demand, politicians did not cause the price hike for oil and gas this past year.
Natural gas production on Federal lands has dropped tremendously over the last 8 years – which, ahem, includes all of the Trump administration – from 35% of total domestic supply to only 21% of domestic supply. Mainly due to fracking taking place on non-Federal lands, mostly private lands in Pennsylvania and Texas. That does not mean total gas production has gone down but rather that private production has skyrocketed – an increase of 50% over the last 8 years.
Funny how propaganda fails in the face of facts.
Once again, facts that never existed in a desperate attempt to shift blame.
The reduction in energy usage caused by COVID was barely noticeable, and the worst of it lasted a a few weeks to a few months. Any drop caused by COVID was over before the first snows fell.
The reduction from COVID was 25% (very noticeable if your in the business) and it started March 6, 2020 and bottomed September 6, 2020 (on Trump’s watch). It’s been slowly rising ever since and all through the current Biden administration.
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WCRFPUS2&f=W
And neither Trump nor Biden had anything to do with it.
Very inconvenient facts for the ideologues.
(NOTE TO DUANE: Give it up Duane. You can’t reason with people who think with their ideology rather than their brain.)
Duane: “Unless Biden and Trump somehow repealed the Law of Supply and Demand, politicians did not cause the price hike for oil and gas this past year.”
The argument that COVID caused our current problems with inflation is political gaslighting at its finest. These are the true causes of the inflation we are now suffering:
The immediate spark which ignited the inflationary spiral was Biden’s signal to energy producers worldwide that he would not use America’s productive capacity to suppress oil and gas prices.
Fossil energy producers immediately responded to that signal by raising the price of oil and gas, price increases which cascaded throughout the supply chain, including the food supply chain.
Biden and the Uniparty politicians in the Congress passed massive increases in federal spending, thus pouring money into the economy which quickly increased demand for goods and services but without increasing the supply of goods and services.
The Federal Reserve supported the massive increase in federal spending by printing money to cover all that new spending, thus accelerating the process of too many dollars chasing too few goods and services.
The Congress is now set to throw gasoline on the inflationary fires by passing yet another massive spending bill. The Federal Reserve continues to support the inflationary spiral by not dialing back on its easy money policies.
We have gotten away with printing money like crazy for the past thirty years largely because the US Dollar is the world’s reserve currency. If the globalists find it useful to chooses some currency other than our own as the world’s reserve currency, then we will find ourselves becoming an economic banana republic as well as a political banana republic.
You don’t understand Leftists War on Fossil Fuels is an insane political agenda that artificially restricts fossil fuel supply in opposition to intrinsic demand.
The free market understands it’s completely impossible to meet worldwide energy demand by replacing fossil fuels with stupid wind and solar, and to short circuit the natural supply/demand for fossil fuels will lead to devastating economic consequences.
Politicians should stop trying to pick winners and losers to achieve political agendas because they absolutely suck at it and severely hurt their constituents’ lives and livelihoods.
BTW, the reason oil prices went negative at one point was because idiotic political hacks insanely shutdown their economies, and there was no place to store the excess oil supply caused by the artificial economic shutdowns..
A recent John Hopkins report shows the insane COVID economic shutdowns only delayed COVID deaths by 0.2%, far exceeding the indirect deaths caused by the economic shutdowns— the “cure” was far more detrimental to humans than the disease itself… Nice going, Lefties…
Fun fact: Germany is no way depending on russian gas, it has more than enough coal.
..but no means to use it.
That will change
Agree they will have to scramble to refire closed power stations as they are already building LNG port facilities.
“So aside from those tiny amounts of hydro and “biomass” at the bottom of the chart…”
As a forester for 50 years it’s nice to see the biomass as holding steady from day to day.
Already read with interest at Francis Menton’s website, Manhattan Contrarian …. Francis always has keen insights on wide ranging topics. You reposted without any comments / thoughts. I recommend Wuwt readers sign up for Francis Menton’s web posts directly to avoid going over and over reposting here. ..wasting time.
From the article: “It’s almost impossible to fathom how idiotic and clueless this guy is. And I don’t necessarily mean just to pick on Kerry. It’s all of them, not the least Biden himself.”
That’s the bottom line. Our leaders are clueless, idiots.
And when it comes to climate change, leaders from all across the spectrum are clueless about what is, and what is not, real about CO2.
It doesn’t matter whether the science is good or not. They are just doing the right thing for the planet. Didn’t you get the memo?
Everyone is trying to understand the craziness, and a few have put a hammer to the nail :
Tom Luongo is usually a financial ‘guru’ let’s say, a former libertarian (hope I got that right) :
EU Sanctions on Russia Equal ‘Suicide by Cop’
https://tomluongo.me/2022/02/25/eu-sanctions-suicide-by-cop/https://tomluongo.me/2022/02/25/eu-sanctions-suicide-by-cop/
It sure does look suicidal. Only problem, they could suicide the entire planet!
Also “Putin Ushers in the New Geopolitical Game Board’
And there are more insightful people around….
Look at the traffic jams of people trying to get out Ukraine. Now imagine if they all were driving EVs.
Only the Maidan Junta could possible afford an EV – the economy is totally ruined, even before the birth of the Donbass Twins.
And they will head guess where?
Why to London and Dublin, both of which opened the gates. Talk about Chickes home to Roost!
Another outstanding article.
Now that we are in February there is the summer ahead. It’s the next winter when this hits. I think Europe is going to have to try and instigate a regime change in Russia to prevent this, god help us.
I wish them all the luck with that – the US has been trying for at least 10 years and no luck so far, perhaps the EU will manage it!
Just like that: Germany U-turns, and wants unfashionable energy like nuclear, coal, and gas
All it took was a War.
Policies based on fashion can be dead-set one day and gone the next. Until Saturday Germany was about to close its last nuclear power plants, gas production had been falling for 20 years and it planned to phase out coal plants by 203o
On Sunday all that changed:
Nuclear, coal, LNG: ‘no taboos’ in Germany’s energy about-face
That’s German LNG terminals for US gas at 4 times Russia’s price. Cost to be passed to voters.
The Multipolar World is in full swing, and that means Germany dealing with Russia, China. at long last. D.C. can fume, but times are-a-changin’.
In D.C. this is well recognized : Lawrence, very well known :
“Primacy or world order.”
https://thescrum.substack.com/p/primacy-or-world-order?utm_source=url
Portable anti-tank launchers are needed for Ukraine. The Ukrainians have been at war for eight years and can fight.
For the last 8 years the well trained Ukraine military has been fighting semi trained civilians and a handful of ‘advisors’ only partially successfully at that – they need a hell of a lot more than AT missiles to prevail against a far more modern army than theirs.
It appears that many nations are now sending weapons to Ukraine. Let’s hope they get there in time.
Urakanians are fighting for the freedom of the world. Dictators have to be shown that they cannot murder innocent people with impunity in today’s world.
We should support the Ukrainians because if we let them fall to this vicious dictator, then we will be next. So let’s stop him now. Threats of nuclear war should not deter us. A nuclear war will also kill Putin and Russia, so we should call his bluff and defend the Ukranians from this slaughter. If we can’t do that, then we can’t defend ourselves from the same tactics. At some point, Putin’s bluff will have to be called.
Hungary’s attitude should exclude the country from the EU.
Hungary and Poland are already being cripled by EU daily fines, and excluded from COVID funds. They are effectively already out, just don’t know it yet.
Ukraine should look again!
No, the Hungarian government are Putin’s friends who repeat Russian propaganda in the state media.
If Hungary and Poland leave, then they’ll take a couple more states with them and with the EU shut out of the cheap labour force of the east, is likely to implode.
I see that you know Putin’s plans.
I doubt that very much! I do, however, know how pissed off at the EU leadership the Visegrad group are. Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia make up the Visegrad group within the EU – their common interests do not always align with Brussels. If one of the Visegrad group decides to leave, others will follow and likely make up a smaller, independent group of their own.
I hope some here noticed Putin put his nuclear deterrence on full alert, as Russia said statements from the UK Foreign Minister (Truss…) went beyond reason.
So who is fanning flames – why none other than Britain, again.
It should be clear who has cross-hairs on their back, because of a girl that knows less geography than Greta.
Yeah, right. I’m no fan of Liz Truss but you’ve got to be a special kind of stupid to believe that her comments somehow pushed Putin into putting missile troops on high alert status. He would have done it anyway and, this way, he might drive a wedge between UK and some of the other western countries.
Silly person and all, still represents NATOstan member UK. Now you are a nuclear target. I find that pretty dumb – this is not chess!
Putin’s “full alert” is a bluff.
U.S. intelligence says Russian nuclear forces have done nothing provocative.
The last time this bullshit happened we had Pershings on autobahns. It takes incredibly stupid, incompetent, and plainly deranged nuts to draw this upon us again.
But hey, the US-UK finance centers are deranged with $2 QUADRILLION debt that no way can be settled. And be sure Russia knows full well.
Bonbon – that will never happen. Nobody anywhere near Germany has any Pershings!
How is this for ‘realism’ – tons of fancy British/US/NATO weaponry in Ukraine are being encircled by Russia. Turns out these fancy toys use batteries, need charging, nobody told them.
EV Javelins?
Those toys have stymied Putin’s forces for days.
I want to see them work that 40-mile-long convoy over.
Here’s a hint from the Vietnam war: Catch the convoy on a narrow road, and blow up the lead vehicles and block the road, and then you can pick off those sitting behind in the traffic jam.
Too bad the Ukranians don’t have a few A-10 ground attack jets. They would make short work of that 40-mile-long Russian convoy.
Ukraine air is out. Took 90 minutes. Russia learned a lot from NATOstan in Iraq.
Denazification continues, the stated objective.
I hear that several NATO nations are going to give about 25 fighter jets to Ukrainian pilots that are currently in the NATO countries. The Ukrainian pilots will fly the aircraft into Ukraine.
So, in effect, we already have NATO calling Putin’s bluff by putting military equipment into Ukraine. If the Russians try to stop it, there will be trouble.
Putin has bitten off more than he can chew, and he is exaserbating the situation by murdering innocent Ukrainian civilians in front of the whole world.
A sane Russian general needs to fix this problem.
They’ve decided not to send any fighter planes to Ukraine now. And the convoy never was 40km long – that was a mistake; the convoy is about 17km long and when the company that caught the images stated they could see ‘more of the convoy’ some bright spark decided there must be more of the convoy to see!
“They’ve decided not to send any fighter planes to Ukraine now.”
I see that you are correct about that. It was reported on the news this morning.
Nobody seems to know the reasoning behind the delay, although I suppose we can probably guess.
The report I heard said if the 25 jets (Migs) were used, they would be flying from Poland and other nearby nations because most of the airfields in Ukraine have been cratered.
So, if that were to happen, then we would have NATO and Russia squaring off using Ukranian pilots as proxies.
That might be a reason to delay and think things over.
The slaughter of innocent civilians has to stop, one way or another. If NATO has to square off with Putin to put a stop to it, then that’s the way it will have to be.
Biden’s absolutely insane War on Oil and Gas policy of sticking rapidly increasing of wind/solar development and severely cutting fossil fuel production shows just how disconnected from reality the Biden administration is.
Oil prices have tripled since Biden’s election and will likely quintuple to $150/bbl this year due to Biden’s refusal to rapidly expand US oil and gas production, shutting down the Keystone pipeline, and at the same time allowing Russia to complete its Nord Stream 2 pipeline; insanity.
The “upside” to Russia’s unjustified and horrendous invasion of Ukraine is to show the world the economic devastation that will occur should Western counties continue their crazy CAGW goal of rapidly increasing wind/solar production and cutting fossil fuel production….
Moreover, US Leftists’ War on Oil and Gas which will lead to skyrocketing gas and energy prices, product shortages, food shortages, raw material and parts shortages, massive increase in transporting costs, factory closures, rising inflation, etc., will vastly increase the margin of Leftists’ defeat in the midterm and 2024 general elections.
Things only gets worse from here as Leftists’ utter incompetence and delusions play out.
“Biden’s absolutely insane War on Oil and Gas policy of sticking rapidly increasing of wind/solar development and severely cutting fossil fuel production shows just how disconnected from reality the Biden administration is.”
Exactly.
And unfortunately, the other leaders of Western Democracies are similarly disconnected from reality when it comes to CO2.
This CO2 crisis delusion is a serious threat to Western civilization. It causes our leaders to make really stupid decisions which are detrimental to all of us.
This contains statements from the UK minister responsible for energy…
It clearly states that more gas from N Sea or fracking will NOT reduce the price in the UK.
Yes, I know its the Guardian – hold your nose and read what the minister tweets.
Is the UK government finally seeing sense on renewables? | Energy | The Guardian
(The UK gets just 5% of its gas from Russia and with every new windfarm UK use of gas drops…)
Poor deluded Griffy. You really are in a world of your own aren’t you? Wind subsidy plants do not replace reliable energy generation – despite what the Guardian believes. Reliable energy is required no matter how many windmills are erected because the wind doesn’t blow 24/7, in fact – the more windmills you put up, the less overall energy you’ll get from them, right up to the point where you run smack into the ‘law of diminishing returns.’ You might need to go and look that one up, Griffy.
Stronger wet snowfall from over the Black Sea is now coming into Ukraine.
Huge queues on the border with Poland. Hundreds of thousands of people, mostly women and children, are fleeing. Humanitarian aid is needed on the Ukrainian side. Crossing the border may take even more than 20 days.
Even pregnant women who give birth in Polish hospitals escape.
The attack on Ukraine by Putin is a crime against humanity.
Putin must pay.
Who is Putin attacking? Kiev alone has 4 million inhabitants, Kharkiv 1.5 million.
It’s a war, all wars are crimes against humanity, but at least the Russians declared a state of war against Ukraine before starting the shooting.
No, it is the Russians who are waging war in Ukraine, and the Ukrainians are on their soil and not attacking Russia.
What? How did you get that from what I wrote, Ireneusz? I know the Russians are the aggressors and Ukrainians are the defenders – how on earth could you have thought I said something different?
FWIW Russia is in the right here. If anyone knew anything about Ukraine you would NOT stand with them.
So it’s OK to invade countries and kill their civilians whenever you don’t like their politicians.