Guest essay by Eric Worrall
The European Green Energy Transition fantasy is in tatters, as Putin’s demand that Europeans pay for Russian gas in Rubles spreads panic throughout the EU.
With war in Ukraine and threats from Putin, Europeans anxiously wait for energy rationing
PUBLISHED FRI, APR 1 20221:13 AM EDT
Chloe Taylor @CHLOETAYLOR141Energy analysts and government officials have warned that Europe could soon face rationing of diesel and natural gas.
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European countries are facing the possibility of energy supplies being rationed, as a dispute between Moscow and the West over payments for Russian exports rages on.
European countries are heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas deliveries, but Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in late February saw the EU and the U.K. impose a barrage of sanctions that included cutting down on Russian energy imports.
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Germany warned on Wednesday that it may soon be facing a natural gas emergency that could necessitate the rationing of gas supplies. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said the “early warning” measure did not yet mean the country had to resort to rationing gas but called on consumers and companies to reduce their energy consumption.
Meanwhile, Austria’s government announced Wednesday that it had activated the first step of a three-stage emergency plan that would see it monitor the country’s gas market more closely. Officials cited Russia’s demand for payments in rubles as the reason for the triggering of the contingency plan, noting that if it reached the third stage in the plan, emergency control measures such as rationing may come into force.
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Putin said last week that the Kremlin will seek payment in rubles for gas sales from “unfriendly” countries — a demand that has been rejected by the G-7 nations. On Thursday, the Russian leader said he had signed a decree saying foreign buyers must pay in rubles for Russian gas from April 1.
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Diesel rationing
Meanwhile, Jim Watson, a professor of energy policy and the director of the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, said it was “certainly possible” that the U.K. could see a government-imposed rationing of fuel for cars.
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Rory Stewart, former British International Development Minister and a senior fellow at Yale’s Jackson Institute, said in a tweet earlier this month that it is possible to cut the income Russia receives from oil exports by focusing on reducing demand.
“It would take a government and civilian effort equivalent to the Covid response,” he said.
His proposed policies, which he said should remain in place throughout the crisis in Ukraine, included reducing the U.K.’s speed limits to 50 miles per hour, making all public transport free, and calling on companies like Uber to open technology that would allow free civilian ridesharing.
“This would reduce demand and price of Russian oil, [and] have a catastrophic impact on Putin,” Stewart said.
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Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/01/ukraine-war-could-european-countries-implement-oil-and-gas-rationing.html
It is impossible to impose meaningful sanctions on a country which has something you need, and cannot live without.
But it only takes 3-5 days to bring a fracking well into Production. Obviously it probably takes longer to perform detailed surveys and drill test wells, and assemble skilled people and equipment, but some of these surveys have already been performed, at least to a preliminary stage.
Britain had productive fracked shale gas wells in Lancashire, very close to where the pensioner pictured at the top of the page lives, until they decided to close them all. The British government decided at the start of February to forcibly close the productive fracking wells and seal them with concrete, against the wishes of the site owner.
The point is there is unequivocal evidence Europe could produce substantial amounts of their own gas, by embracing fracking. Europe could at least attempt to bring this gas into production, in time for next winter.
But Europe’s leaders, including British leaders, are still refusing to take obvious defensive measures against the very real shortages their people could face this winter. Going by their actions, they would rather their people freeze to death than admit Trump was right about fracking. They would rather impose rationing, hardship and suffering on ordinary European people, than admit the failure of their absurd green energy fantasies.
Remember those productive shale gas wells in Lancashire which the British government forcibly closed a few weeks ago, when your politicians demand you accept energy rationing.
Gas demand in the Uk peaks at about 350 GW in winter.
We currently have 25 GW of wind power capacity, which often drops below 2 GW when the wind does not blow.
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2022/03/31/fossil-fuels-v-renewable-energy/
Methinks Green Transition is not the answer!
Here’s a screenshot I took in late March. Wind only 0.5 % of UK electricity demand and only 1.5% of installed Wind capacity. And remember that electricity is only 20% of UK energy use. so only 0.1% of that. How could we possibly deal with a 6 week mid winter blocking high pressure area with no wind and icy temperatures?
son of mulder: “How could we possibly deal with a 6 week mid winter blocking high pressure area with no wind and icy temperatures?”
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I thought that had already been solved. Wasn’t the advice to cuddle up with the family dog under extra blankets and have a cup of hot tea or hot cocoa?
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Wait up… What if you don’t have a dog? How do you heat the water for tea or cocoa?
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OK, Plan B… Uncontrollable shivering generates some warmth.
1962-63 winter, below freezing temperatures from December to last week of March. No central heating, just a single coal fire. No indoor bathroom, outside WC. Gas supply was coal gas created locally. Electricity from coal powered power stations in the Trent valley, most of which have been demolished.
That winter is burnt into my brain forever. We were living in an isolated house without electricity and 4 miles from “civiliation”. I barely managed one day a week at school a distance of 13 miles. We couldn’t get a delivery of coal for the whole period and getting supplies was tricky and as walking was involved weight was a factor so sugar and milk were substituted.
In the last few weeks we were sawing up old fence posts we’d collected, by good fortune they’d been replaced in the summer, next to the fire and burning them the same day. Cooking was done on the Rayburn to conserve the calor gas for lights. Snow piled so high against the house doors, they both faced the same way, so we couldn’t get out of them so we had to climb out of a ground floor window. Pipes had to be unfrozen every morning. Even when the thaw came the snow lay well into the summer in high shady spots
It’s something I don’t want to experience ever again. But I would like every single politician and BBC journalist to go through the experience before they decide to consign us to at best medieval conditions and at worst the stone age.
That’s precisely why we moved to New Zealand later that year. Although I still suffered from eye-strain caused by frequent driving in snowy conditions in Britain. Changing locations is a solution not available for freezing trees!
What were the respective north and south latitudes you went from to?
Bring back bundling.
In the US, we are told we should buy electric cars to reduce energy use. Maybe in the UK, they can all migrate to the Med area until the calamity is over.
Its snowing in South west France today, EdF are desperately trying to get a coal plant working with half the nukes down.
We don’t get 6 week blocking highs. 10 days is exceptional: 2 of 3 to 5 days is the average
Even a day or two is long enough for elderly people to die from cold. How do you feel about the fact that you and your ilk are killing elderly people with your (insane) push to rely on unreliable renewables?
It’s a feature … not a bug of the “eco” frauds
Great news Griff! So you won’t mind power cuts lasting two to five days?
You may not, assuming you have connected with the truth for once, however other people do.
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/weather/how-weather-works/high-and-low-pressure/blocks
They can last for months, see the paragraph on Omega Blocks.
“There are two types of blocks; an Omega Block and a Diffluent Block, and are most common in spring. Exceptionally they can persist for months around mid-summer, like in 1976, or mid-winter, like in 1963.”
Variation on a theme.
A “Min-Max” plot of the total “Wind” generation for the GB electricity grid over the last two calendar months.
Note especially what happened from the 21st to the 29th of March (a nine-day period).
NB : I posted the following under another WUWT post at the end of last week.
Also relevant here though.
Griff,
how cold is in your house today?
the good news, Griff, is all those high energy companies in Germany, that employ large numbers of people will have to close down- that will save the planet.
How long does it take to build a coal fired power plant? Australia has plenty of the stuff just waiting…75 thousand million tons of black and 75 thousand million tons of brown they say. There’s even more in the US. So what seems to be the problem?
Total build time including planning etc is not that far off nuclear. 5-10 years sadly.
Why 5-10 years?
Just curious.
Planning regulations etc
And lawsuits.
But to ‘frack’ a gas well and have it in production would take about 6 months
Depends on a lot of factors, but a land well can generally be brought on in much shorter than 6 months.
In shallow gas wells, it can be 2-3 days from spud to production, with the majority of that time waiting for cement to set.
In deeper horizontal wells in Canada/US, it is usually 1-2 months from spud to production, with the low end being the usual.
How long to remove a concrete plug from an existing well?
Are drill rigs accurate enough to start a parallel hole a few feet from the plugged well, and curve over to connect with the original well once you are below the concrete plug?
Why bother. The original bore and casing(s) are in place and usable. I’d worry more about the well’s producibility given that the perforations in the producing zone(s) were probably ‘squeezed’ off with cement after the well was initially ‘killed’.
Probably at least as long as it took to ‘complete’ the original well. Most producing wells have to be ‘killed’ before they can be plugged. So first step is to put a rig on site that is capable of drilling out the cement and running a new completion, re-perforating, etc.
So what seems to be the problem?
Idiot “Greens”.
Are there ‘other’ kinds?
there are the idiot kind, the stupid kind, and the lying kind, and a mixture of all three.
3! + 1
Gt. Britain also has plenty of the stuff, enough for over 300 years if only the Government would allow us to use it.
It is a practical impossibility to build a coal fired plant in the UK or Australia. The question of time is irrelevant.
True but all Australian mines are at capacity as are the rail networks and ports. Adding capacity to the export, shipping and import infrastructure now takes decades not years. Buying coal on the spot market when the demand is high becomes very expensive and unaffordable for UK retirees as well as workers on average income.
Adding more buyers to a supply constrained commodity just increases the price until other buyers drop out. More buyers for Australian coal will just put another rocket under the price:
https://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=coal-australian&months=60
The price is already in “unprecedented” territory without more buyers coming into the market.
Everyone just parks their vehicles, where ever they are, and wait for the wind to pick up.
Talking about variable speed traffic!!
A perfect excuse for being late at work, etc.
During a storm you go as fast as possible to make sure none of that wind electricity is wasted
Dont you just LOVE HIGHLY SUBSIDIZED WIND AND SOLAR?
UK has announced they may build up to 7 new nuclear reactors
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/britain-nuclear-power-stations-russia-energy-b2049783.html
It has dawned on them that is the only way to guarantee energy security.
THE DAWNING OF A NEW NUCLEAR AGE
Plenty of time to phase in NUCLEAR, as we phase out FOSSIL until they are used up!!.
THE ONLY SANE APPROACH GOING FORWARD, AS EVERYONE IN EUROPE WILL SOON AGREE
THANK YOU PUTIN FOR BREAKING THROUGH THE SUPER EXPENSIVE LOGJAM PUT UP BY RE IDIOTS
Haven’t they’ve been working on one already, for years?
No and that’s the biggest problem. Work essentially stopped on Hinckley C and the commissioning date has been put back even further to 2026, which means that with Hinckley A gone and Hinckley B due for closure this year there will be a shortfall for the next 4 years. I’m wondering if there’ll be a last minute extension program for B to keep it running until C comes online.
They may or then again they may not .
Why did it take an invasion in the Ukraine to start thinking of building nuclear (those supposedly in charge of your nation )
I doubt that you will see nuclear power from new stations for at least 8 years .
Call me cynical but if any industrial country is trying to reduce fossil fuel use the only solution is nuclear.
Wind, solar ,pumped storage will never power a country with the the population and size of the UK.
It has taken a war to make them think ( a little)
Well by 2030, based on building wind, wind in the planning system and wind for which seabed allocated, we will have at least 75GW of wind power…
which will be more widely distributed geographically and much of it in high capacity offshore areas.
We will have nothing when the wind doesn’t blow. Why is it so hard for you to understand that when the wind doesn’t blow no electricity is produced from wind turbines?
Ditto solar at night.
You need expensive back up for when wind and solar don’t produce enough power.
Griff your stupidity is becoming dangerous
That’s the nameplate capacity, though, right? Isn’t the actual output typically 5-20% of nameplate capacity?
As the number of wind turbines increases, newer turbines will have to be put in less optimal spots, also additional turbines cause even more of a wind shadow that will reduce the amount of wind energy available to the turbines.
griff, planning for 2030 may damage you health… because it might reach a tipping point and be unprecedentedly irreversible.
Nameplate capacity, Griff. How many times do we have to explain that it is virtually meaningless.
I see that griff is still assuming that once built, a wind turbine will last forever.
At least half of that alleged increase in capacity will have to be used to replace turbines that are being retired because they are worn out.
Beyond that, I see he is still pretending that wind turbines produce faceplate power.
The reality is, the more windmills installed, the lower the average capacity is going to be.
Pure deluded fantasy by giffie.
Are you trans per chance. Denying reality
Stop giving him ideas – he’s bad enough with not having any of his own.
By 2035 a lot of the existing wind generators will need renewal or more likely replacing.
Can you reuse the existing concrete pad, or do you need to start from scratch? If not, how do you remove the old pad?
How much of the old wind generator is recyclable, and how much does the removal of the old generator cost, even before you incur the cost of its replacement?
” Emergency Fuel Rationing Plans ”
This means planned blackouts of all forms of energy, am I right?
Which is why we don’t have a smart meter.
Rolling black-outs have little to do with smart meters. But by all means, give serious thought to your utility’s enticements to attach their demand side management toys to your a/c compressor, heat pump, etc.
Not for most EU countries – the above article fails to mention that several EU countries, such as Germany, Italy and Hungary, have asked for, and received, assurances that these rules will not apply to them. Santa Putin is busy drawing up his naughty and nice lists for his oil and gas customers – care to lay a bet on which list the UK and USA are on?
All the more reason to never rely on Russia and Putin for power. Or anything else for that matter.
If your country does anything that Putin doesn’t like, he cuts you off. Blackmail by any other name.
To be fair, that could apply to pretty much any country in the world but Putin does appear to be the main contender right now. I’m hoping that this situation will finally serve as an alarming wake up call to those who have placed full reliance on other countries for vital equipment or raw materials but I’m afraid that most will just put their heads back in the sand.
It is true, is it not, that Russian monetary assets were frozen? It does not appear unreasonable to demand payment in your native currency when your assets were frozen. ( If only the Canadian truckers had that option.)
It was perhaps not wise to threaten Russia with bio labs and nukes, and Ukrainian membership in NATO, nor was it wise to institute regime change in Ukraine, or support the Ukrainian military faction that was responsible for thousands of atrocities against Russians living in Ukraine. Nor was it wise to Ignore what Putin clearly articulated objections. Ignorance is everywhere, 50 / 50, or there about.
In the UK all political parties are technologically inept. None of them understand basic facts about infrastructure.
And they cannot count.
Which males the collective failure to understand Putin all the more foolish. If you you can’t do technical stuff you ought to at least be able to do the diplomacy.
Yet the ruling Party failed there too.
They don’t understand the basic laws of supply and demand – more doesn’t lower prices, apparently
fretslider, the traditional basic laws of supply and demand, interaction of which produces price, have been modified, by the wild political swings of elected parties, to now include risk, which is the analysis of where the price will be artificially pushed.
It’s Orwellian.
Nor do they understand basic scientific principles, namely: The Conservation-of-Mass-Energy. But than again none of this is understanding any specific scientific principles; this is all about power and control.
The two things that got us to this level of technology are the two things they are trying to get rid of: Energy and Population: are inextricably linked to the technological prowess of civilizations.
NASA writes the laws of physics, which are the basis of all climate models.
Climate models can produce matter from nothing. The collection of CMIP5 models when averaged create atmospheric water from nothing after the third year.
All climate models can stuff heat through the surface of oceans and get it down to 2000m in a matter of decades against strong and persistent upwelling from evaporation..
All climate models (except China’s) warm tropical ocean surfaces above 30C on an annual average. Clouds are completely unresponsive to surface temperature.
Looks like the “pensioner” in the photo is thinking about voting for a Party that considers people first and CAGW nonsense last.
If he can find one. I’m looking, too.
That’s a nice thought but highly unlikely. People do not connect those dots. They just want their guys to be “smarter” next time.
Not just the UK. Our party politicians, and the permanent bureaucracy can’t do their sums, nor do they understand basic physics.
BBC are stating that Chris O’Shea CEO of Centrica (British Gas owner) has called for an informed debate on fracking. The BBC, in their usual fashion quoted 2 people, the first being Greg Hands, government minister with a degree in modern history, who said fracking would take years to develop. The other being from greenpeace who also said it would take years to develop and instead we should insulate, install heat pumps and boost unreliables (he did call them renewables). So that was their idea of an informed debate. The fracking company, Cuadrilla, who have the site in Lancashire, said they could have gas flowing within 6 to 12 months, but of course the BBC didn’t quote him.
Doesn’t the guy from Greenpeace realise that the UK Gov is only planning to roll out its heat pump programme from 2028 as its going to take that long to train all the mechanics even though it is claimed they only need a weeks training!
Actually I’m not sure I would let a guy/gal with only a weeks training anywhere near my house.
Where do heat pumps come from? Where does insulation come from?
In practice, heat pumps are an expensive disappointment in many cases.
You don’t understand, this time it’s going to work.
(Said every leftist, over and over again)
Leftists say, “I promise” too frequently and it usually leads to trouble.
Centrica is not quite the unbiased source it appears – despite owning several gas supply companies, it has also heavily bought into the renewables market, owning a large heat pump installation company and part or full ownership of several wind farms. Centrica is also the main instigator of smart meter technology, after acquiring a company specialising in such energy technology.
Yes I know, I worked for them. They are trying to dump all their current gas production and electricity generation.
Britain and much of the EU has only promised to wean themselves off Russian oil and gas by the end of the year.
Whatever conflagration is currently being opposed in Ukraine will long be settled by then.
There is no emergency … this is an attempt to gin up an emergency to impose green ideology…
WWI was all over by Christmas, too.
The prospect of Europe continiuing to depend on Russian gas is unthinkable.
There was already a fuel crisis before the invasion, too.
Leo Smith: “There was already a fuel crisis before the invasion, too.”
Repeated with emphasis so people don’t lose sight of that fact.
The same is true in the U.S., but the
bloodsucking bought and paid for parasitespoliticians are casting the blame on Russia to deflect anger that would rightfully be directed at them.Caused by Trump and Biden attacking NordStream2. US LNG is unthinkably unaffordable by poor EUropeans like the pensioner.
NATOstan must be dissolved, Balkanized itself, a fitting end.
Caused by the Energiewende, and the Green Blob blocking fracking, you mean?
EnergieWende is of course disastrous. Hidden under that was the reality of Russian gas. Without that the EnergieWende is collateral damage, and the entire German industrial economy as BASF chief openly said.
Sanctions and EnergieWende are both political, nothing to do with supply and demand. Fracking is neither here nor there….
Hi Griff
There is one constant with bonbon, everything is the fault of either Trump, or the British. No matter what it is, no matter when it happened.
He is our very own Spinmeister – there is no topic too obscure that he can’t spin or twist back to his favourite narrative. Griffy and Simon could both learn from the little sweety – let’s just hope they don’t!
I was hoping that bonbon’s long absence was evidence that he had volunteered to help Putin clear the Ukraine of all those nasty Nazis.
Everything is actually the fault of the Marks Brothers!
Get out more!
Had to check NATOstan Operation Slow-motion Barbarossa II, meeting Operation Slow Bear-Hug, – bears really do like to keep on huggin’!
WWI almost was over on Christmas Day when the soldiers along 2/3 of the front noticed the other guys were also people. Took the generals some effort to get them to shoot again. The following years they ordered bombardment on Christmas lest peace break out again.
The shale gas wells have NOT been forcibly closed as the morons in the government – led by the lying oaf Johnson – decided to suspend the order. But, there is still no progress on moving forward to extract the gas.
Unless there is an outbreak of intelligence – I know highly unlikely with the dross that is our MPs – then the UK will be in a massive crisis next winter as businesses collapse everywhere due to their energy driven costs and the loss of customers because of their energy costs.
If the seismic limit is still 0.5. Cuadrilla haven’t a chance
Cheer up! The City of London and D.C. are experiencing the Big One – a Richter Scale 10 financial seismic chock. The Petrodollar is being subducted.
Will be called the Ruble Event by future historians, if there are any…
BTC is out of their hands
As for the ludicrous ‘change the code’ campaign… Not a chance
Glazyev, President Putin’s economic advisor, from where the new world shaking moves originate, does mention digital currencies. Expect very soon an announcement.
There is only one that cannot be controlled – and yes, it’s going up.
Brandon’s fart in front of Camilla probably registered higher than 0.5.
/gratuitous snark about our pResident
But your point about the 0.5 is correct. The workers probably couldn’t even drive a heavy truck onto the site.
“But your point about the 0.5 is correct. The workers probably couldn’t even drive a heavy truck onto the site.”
That would have been catastrophic…
A 2.5 kg bag of potatoes dropping 1.98
1 kg of flour dropping to the floor 1.194
3 pans dropping to the floor 1.042
A tin of beans dropping to the floor 1.184
A small pumpkin dropping to the floor 2.699
http://datacat.liverpool.ac.uk/609/2/Seismic%20Context%20Measurements.pdf
You can see why Ed Davey (leader of the Lib Dems) boasted about setting such low limits. Fracking was strangled at birth by Davey & Co
The Geological Survey doesn’t measure anything below 2.0 and its easy to see why
There was an earthquake 5.6 the other day 35km under Mt Blanc, and being about 400km away it was enough to put a crack in the house wall. Most said it was a regular truck or train passing, but the quality of not suddenly stopping gave it away. I can fully sympathise with Holland Groningen house owners (they are light construction, mine is stone). House insurance must cover, and maybe it is the insurance firms what are blocking fracking.
Idiot. Fracking can cause micro tremors, but not ones of magnitude 5.6. Even if the insurance companies did have anything to do with it, 0.5 is a ludicrous figure.
Richter 5.6, 35km down 400km away – get it? Still cracked the house. House owners get really pissed at cracks. They lower value. Ignore at your peril! Lecturing from a city-slicker high-rise sounds awfully green!
Hmm, years ago we had a Richter 6 about 40 miles away. No damage to the house, although we watched the walls deflect. Wood-frame house, plaster walls inside, stucco outside. No damage. Get a better house. Our current home is steel framed, sheetrock interior, stucco and wood exterior. Again 6+ earthquakes ~40 miles away, and no damage.
YMMV.
I forgot to mention, we live in California, where we don’t even report earthquakes less than 3.0, and we build for earthquakes.
Yawn. What exactly, little sweety, is there to get? Natural 5.6 magnitude, 35km down, 400km away cracked a wall. Fine.
Magnitude < 3, 1m to 500 km still won't knock a teacup off a shelf.
I’ve never heard of frakking at 35km deep. Beyond that, there isn’t likely to be any oil or natural gas to be found under Mt. Blanc.
Finally the notion that a 5.6 Richter earthquake could crack walls 400km away is also highly unlikely.
So thought dreamers.
Before virtue signaling telling people to get a better house at their own cost, sounding exactly a Tesla owner to go EV, consider what you look like.
The Mt Blanc earthquake was no fracking joke.
In Germany with lots of coal mining, there is a well organized policy for house compensation – been there done that. Not sure if progressive Holland has that, nor even Bavaria or Austria.
A magnitude 5.6 tremor dissipates about 3000 times as much energy as a 2.0 tremor.
It depends on the ground geology. Jurassic sedimentary with lots of caverns, hopeless to model. Jeez, I live at the bottom of Tethys Sea, ancient corals all about.
You live in the bottom of the Tethyan Trench? Might explain a great deal.
That reminds me of when I was a kid, living in a house that couldn’t have been any more than about 1500 feet from a railroad crossing. Every time a train went past there (all freight trains) the dishes in the hutch would rattle. And then I’d hear the train’s whistle.
One night the dishes in the hutch began to rattle, and then, after a few minutes of silence, I noticed that the conductor failed to blow the whistle.
It wasn’t until the next day that I saw on TV that our region had experienced a small earthquake, about a 3.8 or so….
No wonder the conductor didn’t blow the whistle – that was no train!
Foot meet gun
Bang
Energy rationing is a Leftists wet dream.
Anyone worked out net zero in terms of dead pensioners?
Surely they have a model…
A new measurement unit?
I remember a British comedy show where the country was taken over by a green maniac. He sat back and announced… ”Today I think I will ban the motor car. I look forward to once again hearing the toot toot toot of the steam engine”
Everybody FREAKED OUT! One bloke said ”I’m going to get in my car and drive really really fast! Who’s with me?” 🙂
Planned Energyhood implies Planned Populationhood a wicked solution.
Of course. It allows the oligarchs to eliminate the poor and weak – presumably the ones not contributing to society in a meaningful way.
Social Darwinism anyone?
Quick EU, get Greta on the line. She had all the answers a while back…
https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1502004150640553990
”Oil and gas companies are facing a potential bonanza from the Ukraine war/…/and many are using soaring prices and the fear of fuel shortages to cement their position with governments in ways that could have disastrous impacts on the climate crisis.”
Greta has it all figured out….
Every crisis is a wonderful excuse for yet more government intervention and contraol
They are building Putin’s Russia for him.
Better, sanctions are building a new global economy and financial system that bypasses the belligerent liberal nations, which will force redistributive change: realization of progressive prices through inflation and reduced availability.
Sanctions are actually protective tarrif’s of the supposed target. Which means local economy development.
from the article:” The British government decided at the start of February to forcibly close the productive fracking wells and seal them with concrete, against the wishes of the site owner.”
when this is done, is the well permanently disabled?
It hasn’t been done; a sudden cold dose of reality swept over Boris and it has been dropped, we’re all rather surprised by that.
In other news, how is Jacinda Ardern getting on with her own concreting project in New Zealand?
The thing is, I would be quite happy to see the transport system in the UK, including in cities, restructured so as to allow safe use of bikes as transport and safe and pleasant walking. Which, right now, anyone who has either driven or cycled in London knows it just isn’t, and anyone who has tried to cycle on main routes in England in the country knows it also isn’t.
Yes, you can take back roads usually however only some of the way, and you then find yourself on either main roads or well trafficked smaller roads with fast cars and careless and irritable drivers.
And this would mean dramatically reducing the use of cars. It would be back to the 1950s. And it would reduce fuel consumption dramatically. You could take further steps by subsidizing home insulation to reduce heating bills.
But the deplorable thing is that this is not what the greens are advocating. They seem to want to keep everything the same, while moving to EVs which will be charged from wind generated electricity. Even if you could do that, which is obviously impossible, it would not improve quality of life or usability of the streets – or make travel by bike and foot any safer or more pleasant. You would, even if it were possible, just have the same maniacs driving at the same speeds on the same roads and making it impossible to pleasantly and safely walk or bike anywhere.
But will the greens endorse closing roads to cars? Building proper bikeways on Dutch lines? Reducing car ownership? Of course not!
And as in the UCL proposal, lets ration vehicle fuel, without providing any other way or infrastructure for people to get around.
The greens know the final solution is not bikes, just far fewer people. Exactly what Prince Philip always wished – to be reincarnated as a deadly virus to do something about population.
Some Brits are not amused : a new CH4 Documentary :
‘Edward VIII’s treachery is mind-boggling’: Viewers of Britain’s Traitor King question ‘why Duke of Windsor wasn’t executed for treason’ after he told Nazis to keep bombing England during WWII
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10659369/Viewers-new-Channel-4-documentary-Edward-VIIIs-treachery-mind-boggling.html
I gave you a down vote; not for idea but the naivete of the entire thought process.
To have that sort of thing even be possible is choosing to have population densities on the order of 10 times of current mega cities. Think Judge Dredd. To get to that place requires energy, population, and an enormous convoy of vehicles.
And it still would not get you there.
There aren’t enough basic materials available to make the same number of EV’s – by necessity (and price) this will mean far less traffic on the roads. The Greens are already aware of this and see it as a feature, not a bug.
The only problem right now it to simply pay for plentiful gas with Rubles. Simply explained by President Putin, 2 times for Chancellor Scholz.
Britain cannot even do that because of sanctions on Gazprombank.
So Far Germany and France are being petulant.
Suck it up guys, the 1974 Petrodollar is on the way out – a currency that became weaponized like the Euro, being seized, frozen, stolen.
Even Saudia is going Petroyuan, India Ruble/Rupee, Pakistan Ruble/Rupee, Iran Ruble/Yuan/Rial.
What is the City of London to do, poor things?
What is the City of London to do, poor things?
Ring up Sleepy Joe for some assistance? Err no wait a minute….
Biden rebuffed as US relations with Saudi Arabia and UAE hit new low (msn.com)
Leftys know they’re in real trouble when even The Guardian can’t ignore the bleeding obvious. Yo’all bagged Trump for having to hold his nose with the Arabs but now you’ve got a real stinker buddy with Putin that he warned you about. Welcome to tradeoffs leftys.
The stink from Hunter Biden’s laptop and bio-weapons is overpowering.
Lefties are too stupid to know they are in trouble, and the kleptocrats calling the shots will double down on control. If you can’t buy gas, buy ammunition.
From the article: “The British government decided at the start of February to forcibly close the productive fracking wells and seal them with concrete, against the wishes of the site owner.”
There’s the problem right there: The British government and their delusional view of CO2.
Is there noone in the European Union who has common sense?
You guys know your politicians put you in this vulnerable position with their lack of insight.
Now, I guess these idiots are seeing the errors of their ways. And the people end up paying the price.
We all need new politicians. This current batch is not cutting the mustard. They are a little bit too stupid, gullible or conniving to be governing the people and they end up screwing up people’s lives instead.
A self-inflicted injury.
“the delusional view of CO2”
That about sums up the entire problem, when in reality, CO2 is the basic foundation for life and always will be.
Western Europe has billions of m3 of nat gas, just ready for the taking, if they want it.
‘We all need new politicians.’
In Hayek’s ‘Road to Serfdom’, people didn’t so much have a problem with the ‘plan’, as they did with finding progressively worse leaders who they believed could make the ‘plan’ work.
Our real problem is an electorate that believes the ‘plan’, i.e., renewable energy and Russia bashing, is internally consistent and workable.
How dare these people criticize Russia. Just because they are invading a neighboring country and killing it’s citizens by the thousand. Can’t they just leave poor Putin alone.
Our real problem is an electorate that believes, rather than thinks, researches and knows. But that is hard.
Tom Abbot “You guys know your politicians put you in this vulnerable position with their lack of insight.” It’s not about lack of insight. You know the politicians are all bought and paid for. What does a new aircraft carrier cost, maybe $10bn? How many politicians can you purchase for this at $1mm each? Most probably come cheaper than that.
Next US Defense Budget $830 BILLION – to the trough everyone!
I hear that about $50 billion of that money is going towards climate change.
Wind powered aircraft carriers? Solar powered jets?
The US defense budget, as of 2019, was 3.41%, the lowest it’s been since 1960. Social spending? $5 trillion, yes, with a “T”.
Remember when then President Trump told everyone about this?
Remember when the Germans laughed and said it couldn’t happen?
Remember when when the Swamp and the New World Order conspired to defeat Trump because he was a danger to exposing their true agenda?
And Trump always said getting along with Russia is a good thing. Russiagate followed….
Even so his admin wanted to kill NordStream2. Now we see Biden’s admin using war.
You seem very dense so I will type very slowly.
Trump engaged with the authoritarian regime leaders to let them know he was keeping an eye on them.
It follows the adage; “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
It is not a coincidence that Russia invaded its neighbor during the Obama/Biden administration and now the Biden/Harris administration. They had troops stationed along the Ukraine border for years before they invaded, just waiting for the opportune time. The first opportunity was with the hapless narcissist Obama and the second was with the dementia addled corruptocrat Biden.
Biden is not using war, his handlers are using the war, started by Putin, as an opportunity for more control.
Let me repeat Trump’s statement again with pauses : g e t t i n g a l o n g w i t h R u s s i a i s a g o o d t h i n g.
And he said the war would never have happened on his watch.
The so-called Deep State, sure, wanted war. He did manage to rain on their parade.
Even your broken clock is right twice a day. You sort of got this one right, (especially about DJT) although in general, only certain elements of the DS want war. Actually, they want contracts, money and profits for the connected few. Some will be very happy with the Biden CHAOS. But I would suggest you GET SMART about some of the other stuff.
“Getting along with Russia” requires the same mindset as “getting along with the wolf pack in the valley”; vigilance and a handy semi-auto rifle.
Headline:“Rory Stewart warns it is ‘very disturbing’ that ‘liar’ Boris Johnson was ever electedIndependent
That guy was my MP while I lived in Cumbria – he wanted to be PM in the same race that Boris won. He did come across as a rather abrasive sort of chap, but primarily because of his brutal honesty. Just like Mr Trump did to those used to living in Lie Lie Land – hence Trump Derangement Syndrome.
I cannot find it now but the guy Dominic Cummings has just very recently described Boris as a ‘sociopath‘ Also at the Indy I think.
Absolutely spot on, thank you Dominic
Because that, and the Indy story I linked, perfectly describes *everybody* who drinks any amount of alcohol
The very first thing it does is turn you into a liar and then trashes your mind.
Therein lies The Real Problem in this western world.
Because when they get into power, by telling lies and making promises they can’t keep, the sociopaths do nothing more than inflict stress, worry and hurt upon everyone else.
UK Gov even has an agency especially set up to do as much. =The Behaviour Insight Team
The real SHTF when the ‘little people’ themselves turn to alcohol to relieve that stress.
They also discover sugar, Comfort Food and other drugs (esp including Trash TV) that do similar.
There comes a (haha tipping) point when only sociopaths are available for any post within Government, education, science and medicine.
All those substances are depressants and after about 10+ years of consumption, in which time the user lies to themself that they ‘can handle‘ whatever substance – they become paranoid.
i.e they become lazy & gullible, they lose mental agility and cognitive skill but worse, they over-react to trivial threats. They frighten easily. They become ‘sheeple‘
For reassurance of such ‘handling ability’ truth, they compare themselves to ‘most everyone else.
And because The Drug is then doing the talking, it does everything it can to continue its use – including electing a drunkard, sociopathic leader = the Very Last Thing that Boris would ever do is impose Prohibition. Almost every doctor in this land also.
Over-reaction, exaggeration (lies) and panic is what happened with saturated fat, salt, ozone, acid-rain, diesel-gate, Glyphosate, bread-from-air and obviously, Climate Change & Wuhan Flu
In a positive feedback self-reinforcing loop. Lies only beget bigger lies.
We really are, in that state of chemically induced panic, going to do something soooo stupid as to wipe ourselves off the map.
I don’t drink to make myself happy. I drink only when I am happy.
Goes very well with garlic Wurst, saturated with fat!
Peta
You are mostly correct, however I would have worded it differently.
The down ticks are from people who embrace this lifestyle.
Alexey says he only drinks a depresant substance when he is happy. There is no logic, just habit.
The blood samples taken from people that were put on ventilators during Covid identified that lifestyle diet was a key factor.
Western society is suffering from the sickness of affluence and very poor discipline.
Are you thinking that there is No Lower Limit (NLT)? Will a glass of wine once in a while, or a glass of Guiness for that matter, cause all this harm?
No-one is really sure is the only answer. Opinions vary on whether the human body can regularly cope with a low level of alcohol and even how much that might be – studies range from zero up to 5 or 7 units 1-3 times a week. People’s bodies differ so we’ll always get different answers to the same questions.
Inflation was hitting well before the Russian Special Operation.
Since 2019 a derivative blowout caused massive FED liquidity (not crude) pumping. Consumers are being hit with empty shelves at the Mall, and massive fuel price hikes .
Merkel’s exit from coal & nuclear (next to her refusal to raise military spending Trump insisted on) smells very much like collaboration with Putin in hindsight. The fact that she retired just in time and broke with “her” CDU right after, does not make it any better. And her predecessor Schröder is still holding Putin’s hand officially..
It is an uncanny fact that a lot of western politicians had ties to russian secret service, or ended up on the payroll of Putin after leaving office. While Merkel’s ties to Stasi remain disputed, she was virtually “embedded” with Stasi members in her early political career. That is appart from the fact that her father “fled” Western Germany in favour of Eastern Germany. There Merkel was pretty successfull, in a system where conformity was a conditio sine qua non.
Also Austria rich in such examples. After his death it was revealed that Helmut Zilk, former mayor of Vienna, was indeed working for the KGB! Wolfgang Schüssel, Alfred Gusenbauer and Christian Kern (all former chancellors) took well paid “advisory” positions in Russia. Gusenbauer, who kissed the tarmac when he first visited Moscow in 1984, for instance was also lobbying for then Putin’s puppet Viktor Yanokovich within the EU. The overthrowing of his regime of course is the reason for the Russian aggression war.
What really bugs NATOstan is that they have no more HUMINT (human intelligence) as Putin sanitized the Kremlin. Chubais just jumped ship.
Result? Why, exactly like the Climate nutjobs, they use MODELS!
Result – look at Blnken all through Feb. 2022 predicting to the hour an invasion of Ukraine.
Result – exactly like Climate Models, an array of scenarios to make IPCC jealous.
The obsession with MODELS began in the Pentagon. They got everything wrong – look at Iraq, Serbia, Afghanistan, Syria, with mass murder all along the way.
Let’s balkanize NATOstan!
This has been painfully obvious for many years. The same is true in the US, the career politicians are all bought and paid for, just like Griff in his many guises.
Angela Merkel’s dream is finally coming true, which was to destabilize (West) Germany and Europe through very bad energy policy, and be essentially reliant on Russian hydrocarbons. She learnt well at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig, East Germany in the 1970’s where she earned a degree in physics, and a doctorate in quantum chemistry. She was already 35 years old when the Berlin Wall fell.
So she can’t be blamed for being a technical illiterate, but those early days of being trained in hard core communism must have left a lasting impression on her, on how to destroy a civilization from within through destructive Marxist ideology. Slowly but surely and methodically, she slowly implemented the soul crushing ‘climate’ agenda, which is really the new war on capitalism and democracy, seen over a generation.
Just like what is happening in North America with USA and Canada falling into the same trap, but at an accelerated pace. And others around the globe. The war on ‘climate’ is the trojan horse for the war on civilization and democracy itself. Only authoritarian regimes will prevail in the future if they have their way on the ‘climate’.
Now the chickens are coming home to roost, and the hen house is going to be cold. Which is part of the plan, otherwise they would just tap into their vast supplies of nat gas that is readily abundant in Western Europe.
Whether you like it or not 27 million Germans were very happy to see the wall fall without a shot. They know directly what totalitarianism is.
Today’s tyranny comes from D.C. as many Americans see with a stolen election.
Even Zuckerberg’s FaceBook grin does not cut it.
It is perfectly clear to all that Germany is not sovereign – it takes orders from D.C. That was kept quiet under Merkel, and bust into the open with new in-sync politicos, and NordStream2.
Chancellor Scholz caved in with Euro100 billion defense for US armaments, which Merkel refused. Billions more for US LNG terminals, and gouging poor voters energy bills.
China diplomatically reminded van der Leyen/Michel, that to avoid getting into hot water again the EU must have an independent policy. So east Asia sees Germany as simply not sovereign.
Well, as Adam Smith once said, ‘There’s a lot of ruin in a nation’. It’s becoming increasingly apparent here in Progressivestan, as well.
Robert Burns : Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation
Fareweel to a’ our Scottish fame,
Fareweel our ancient glory;
Fareweel ev’n to the Scottish name,
Sae fam’d in martial story.
Now Sark rins over Solway sands,
An’ Tweed rins to the ocean,
To mark where England’s province stands-
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!
….
I find it funny that in your world view nobody has the autonomy to destroy themselves thru stupidity.
Looking at Merkle and her policies, if I had to guess if she was working for someone it would be Putin
Guessing does not cut it, nor intuition, nor feelz.
Germany is in an extremely difficult situation – with D.C. more and more erratic, an Russia with the EAEU market beckoning just nearby.
How can anyone, never mind the US itself handle D.C. is a mystery.
Idiot. If Germany really does what DC tells it to then they certainly haven’t been broken to the saddle yet. The truth is that USA has influence with Germany and other countries in the EU, but no control – this has been part of the problem with Russia all along: Putin wants the same or more influence in Europe as USA and has been pushing for that outcome for years. The power struggle between the USA and Russia for who has more influence in Europe has been fairly bitter at times with Ukraine being an unintended consequence of some of that.
As to your little sinophilic comment – China sees nothing wrong with Russia having major influence in Europe and the USA having none – their desired outcome would be to push the USA back until they had no influence beyond their own borders. There has to be balance with these things and, unfortunately, Russia and China would unbalance the systems we have in place for our western prosperity.
The EU is a CIA project funded over decades.
https://canadianpatriot.org/2020/11/12/how-the-cia-created-the-eu/
There, even Telegraph’s Pritchard details this.
NATOstan is the EU plus USA/UK, Brexit bedamned.
Today ex-Prime Minister May’s Rapid Response guarantees van der Leyen immediately confirming Blinken. It is obvious to any with one eye open. China simply stated the obvious, and that it has gotten Europe in hot water.
The Unipolar world is simply done. Better get on board the Multipolar world and leave Rhodes Trust racism in the dustbin of history.
As for Western prosperity – it depends on $1 trillion per year lent from the world to the USA. That will stop soon. Guess what happens then?
See Michael Hudson’s Super Imperialism for details.
Idiot really doesn’t begin to plumb the depths of your stupidity and gullibility with this conspiracy theory, little sweety. At first glance, this might seem plausible to the ill-informed and the unthinking, but dig even slightly deeper and it becomes obvious what a complete pile of crap it really is. A fully united and integrated Europe is not a desirable option for the USA – given how much leverage Russia has been able to exert over Germany, Hungary, France and Italy, given how much influence those countries have over the EU, do you really, I mean really, think this is anything remotely like something the USA would want? A united, integrated EU allied to Russia would be the worst nightmare for a US government, if not most of the world.
Whatever meds you’ve been taking, little sweety, they’re simply not up to the job – get a much stronger prescription next time.
suck it up – major money made the EU, not some pipsqueaks.
it is a US project. get used to it!
So damn wrong – how can one person contain that much stupidity at one time? Derail that train of thought little sweety it’s doing you no favours; I’m simply on tenterhooks waiting for you to explain how, at the time of the formation of the EEC, the USA managed to get the (mostly) left-leaning government’s in Europe to sign up to a (mostly) right – leaning capitalist idea? The answer is, of course, they didn’t – it’s not a US project, get used to it!
Frankly, whoever managed to put this EEC/EU idea together had a savvy idea of how it would affect the world markets and how it might play out to a globalist agenda – all of which points further and further away from the CIA and the USA, quite frankly.
Try a different conspiracy theory next time little sweety, I think this ones been busted.
Maybe he’s been poisoned by too much processed sugar?
Who needs data, bonbon has his Putin financed paranoia to rely on.
Zero of your assertions contradicted Earthling2.
Not certain the US government is the leader of global one world government. You appear to think so.
It’s painfully obvious to all of us sane commenters that this is a
self-imposed crisis due to the lunatic power hungry socialists that run our
western nations as any one of us can very easily come up with a much better
plan than the #%$%/!%$% in charge. (the sad reality is that it may have even
been planned). So discussing the very obvious solutions is a pure waste of
our time as those moronic jerks aren’t looking for solutions but are looking
for ways to use this situation to increase their power. It’s that simple!
(Their consistent stupidity & willingness to sacrifice our liberties in
dealing with energy & everything else is my proof.)
The good news is that we’re only at level 3 socialist stupidity as they
haven’t achieved their Nirvana of full socialist stupidity YET. The bad
news is that this is as good as we’ll ever have it so we’d better enjoy
it while it lasts as they’re pushing hard for even greater socialist
stupidity, hoping to max out at Level 10, with some wanting to “crank it
up to 11”. It’ll take a lot of overtime to be that successful!!! 😉 😉 😉
This is the pavlovian reaction of a bunch LOOSING power, by the day.
The howling when President Putin decreed Ruble payments for gas now (and vital minerals maybe soon) would make a pack of hungry wolves whine.
bonbon is overjoyed because communism is making a comeback, whether the people want it or not.
Rubles will be converted from EuroDollars at Russian FOREX. Gas for cash. TANSTAAFL.
Arab Spring… Slavic Spring… Sanctions… Green Blight… Credit/Debt Emission… wicked progression
Have the governments of Europe all been infiltrated by Putin or CCP stooges? Are the people of Europe so indoctrinated that they are willing to go cold and hungry for a nebulous concept that no one has ever experienced? Are elections so rigged in the UK and Germany that these, at best moronic, so-called leaders are untouchable?
The only thing working in Europe’s favor at this point is that Putin made the mistake of demonstrating the ineptitude of his military with his invasion of Ukraine.
Get the popcorn, and a warm blankie.
Go easy on the Grauniad there – many here already know it.
Much of the left has been financed first by the Soviet Union and now Russia and China going back over 70 years.
Heaven preserve us from those who don’t read all the words. Might I point out that the article, and original press release, refers to ‘unfriendly’ nations, not ‘all nations’? Putin has given assurances to many EU countries, Germany, Italy and Hungary among them, that this rule does not apply to them.
Unfriendly means all who sanctioned, and definitely means all EU and more. They have a week or 2 to pony up. No wiggle room.
Unfriendly means anyone Putin says it means. I suggest you might want to read the news at some point, little sweety, it’s full of articles about the countries in the EU that have received assurances that this doesn’t apply to them. Tell me again, o purveyor of sucking candy, about the sanctions imposed by the EU? You are, have been and will continue to be, an uninformed, unimaginative and ignorant idiot.
Yes, Putin in writing, who else – no exceptions. Peskov also. Forget FT, FAZ, Bloopers.
To the till gentlemen!
Plenty of wiggle room, plenty of exceptions – for those that have contracts for gas and oil. All others buying Russian gas, oil and (probably) other commodities at spot prices on the open market, it’ll be Rubles on the nose. A clever two tier system to make sure that the undecideds and the waverers sign up for those ever-so-convenient contracts; without even the need to sign in blood!
Since you’re paid in rubles, I suppose this has no impact on you?
It’s like the EU and the West generally, mocked reality with their Greenie Dreams, and Reality marched up to it and b-slapped the sheet out of it. Shocker.
Like this
Eggszactly like that.
Europe would have enough energy from Russia, but the USA wanted to make a regime change in Ukraine (Nuland scandal). USA is the biggest warmonger in the world. USA culture: https://odysee.com/@AdamFitzgerald:2/exposing-the-truth-of-abu-ghraib-(60:d
Putin’s investment in European leftists/greens is paying big dividends.
Your US-Warmonger George Soros paid this left wing greens and FFF in europe and the ukrainian Putsch. You americans are uneducated, that is the problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRh1zXFKC_o
US-Education:
George Soros is American?
Is there anything you know that is actually true?
Not knowing the details of European geography as well as Ueropeans, is small beans compared to being totally disconnected from reality, which is your specialty.
Boris Johnson is more American than Soros!
At the risk of being “cancelled”, may I suggest the EU pressure the Ukraine into a land-for-peace deal and then we can end the death & the “energy crisis.”
All Putin wants is the Crimea & a land bridge across the northern shore of the Azov sea. That has been on the negotiating table since 2014.
Maybe US & EU could try promoting a deal instead instigating war while impoverishing their own people.
Negotiations are on right now. Key points : No NATO, recognition of Crimea, Donbass Republics, no nukes. Ukraine can join EU if it wants – word there is, sure, after Turkey. Turkey – when? Never.
Kiev does not control the army – it gets orders direct from the Pentagon. Kinda makes for trouble.
All soviet era nuclear weapons held by Ukraine were handed back to Russia.There after the Obama/ Biden administration guaranteed Ukraines sovereignty. Moral of that story, never trust those two crooks!
In other words, the war doesn’t end until the bully gets everything he wants.
The bully is the USA. They steal oil from many countries.
They haven’t stolen oil from anybody. However the Putin funded activists groups have been pushing that lie for many years.
In other words, if we force the Ukraine to give the bully everything it wants, all the world’s problems will go away.
Until Putin decides he wants something else.
The story is long and complicated. (And debate is deeply lacking) However there were are and have been many betrayals of agreements on both sides. Putin has been very consistent in what he thinks Russia needs. “Next time” is neither proven or demonstrated. And a strong nation knows how to draw lines in the sand.
Peace in our times, eh?
Hardly. Even giving Putin what he wants (this time) will not end the fighting and the ‘energy crisis’ – the gas supply is a leverage tool that Putin can revisit any time he feels inclined and Ukraine will never accept a forced division of their country easily. That form of a deal will not bring about peace.
The energy supply leverage of Russia is dependent on EU and US energy policy, entirely. The history of Ukraine is far more complicated then post Soviet Union.
Easy, eh! Give away what’s not yours. Coward!
Prior to the US joining WWII, there were many people in the US who were actively pro-Nazi and many others who were adamant that the war was Europe’s problem and that the US should stay out of it.
The Nazi party of America actually had the largest membership of any of the Nazi parties outside of Germany in the 1930’s.
Any politician bringing harm to citizens over climate change should be immediately considered a crook.
Order a couple of tons of hard coal and have it dumped in the back yard. Buy a couple of steel buckets. You now have portable room heaters independent of gas and electric supplies. Spread the ash on your icy walkways.
We used to do that when I was a little kid. The truck trip to the mine with my Grandpa was always an adventure. Natural gas came to our farm in the late 60’s, a great improvement to our lifestyle, especially the “child labor” of lugging ash buckets to put on the gravel road…and the coal mine eventually became a place where we all met to play pick-up hockey in the flooded and frozen open pit, the mining operation having been shut down due to lack of demand….
This again?
Once again I point you to the multiple statements from UK and European governments doubling down on and accelerating renewables roll out…
Doubling down, all the way to the stone age.
And I point you Griff to the ONE statement from Einstein that doing the same thing over and over again (“doubling down”) and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.
Statements by politicians are clearly a very low standard for actionable information. What relevance does this have for real science and the rules of physics and economics? – essentially none.
German industry is going to need a lot of backup diesel generators to get by.
Could not possibly work. Fertilizer alone need major gas. See BASF chief’s declaration.
“Officials cited Russia’s demand for payments in rubles as the reason for the triggering of the contingency plan,”
Gee, Eric, sanctions on Russia closed down usual forms of international payment and froze its assets in Western countries. Even if Putin is the devil reincarnated he doesnt have convenient ways to be paid. Surely the EU and others arent outraged that they are not trusted. Apparently Putin has tied the ruble to gold at 60rubles/gram to give value to the ruble.
Clown governments of EU, UK, US, Canada… and apparently Australia have a made in heaven scapegoat for destruction of the world economy by crises created by their own idiot policies for Net Zero psychosis.
Perhaps Ukraine was going to be invaded anyway, but NATO and US openly intended to bring Ukraine into NATO and sent trainloads of armour and ammunition to the Russian border area before Russia moved its troops there. This was after over 20yrs of NATO expansion and invitations to not just Warsaw Pact Eastern European countries but former USSR Republics (to defend them against whom?).
Ask yourself how US would react if Russia started shipping armaments to Cuba (we know that answer) or Venezuela? The clowns even have some responsibility for the Ukraine crisis
Very well and concisely stated. You should anticipate being called a ‘communist’ shortly by one of our resident neo-cons.
When you have to lie about what your opponents have been saying, you have admitted to everyone else (even if you can’t admit it to yourself) that you have lost the argument.
This is the second time in two days that you have been forced to make such a lie.
We’ll have to see how many times you are forced into it over the next few days.
Righty-o, Mark. Except for your responding to me instead of Mr. Pearse, I stand by the accuracy of my post.
And now for some fun – If you check out the following link, I’m sure you’ll recognize one of our resident neo-cons using the c-word to disparage the comments of another poster who isn’t yet fully on board with blowing up the West’s economies in order to make the world safe for the Biden administration and NATO expansion.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/03/31/gas-rationing-germany-paying-a-horrible-price-for-green-energy-insanity/#comment-3488538
Not a single mention of communism in that entire thread.
BTW, saying that someone is supporting communism isn’t calling them a communist, unless you are desperate to change the subject.
Try the third line in the post. Also have this one from you:
‘Communists always manage to make it about evil rich guys who run the world. As if Putin wasn’t one of the richest guys on the planet.’
And here’s the link for your convenience:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/03/31/gas-rationing-germany-paying-a-horrible-price-for-green-energy-insanity/#comment-3489617
You have an objection to reality?
‘You have an objection to reality?’
Reality being, well, real, obviously not. I just don’t know, or care, if the objects of your derision are communists or not. What I do know, and have demonstrated a couple of times now, is that you often use that label to deride posters who don’t think that expanding NATO into Ukraine is worth risking a hot war with Russia and/or blowing-up the West’s economies.
Btw, for someone who professes to oppose his government’s domestic efforts to make harmful CAGW policies ‘reality’, you seem to have very little curiosity about the harmful effects of its foreign policies.
Sadly I have come to put a twist to the words of Michael Obama. Although the vanished past of most all men and nations is are both dark with many shames, and bright with noble acts as well, to paraphrase, since Obama became President ” For the first time in my life I am deeply ashamed of the vast majority of US policy, at home and abroad.”
The globalist exerted immense effort to keep Russia and Trump apart. Say what you will about Putin, he refused to play the one world anti sovereign power games. Trump was highly successful at the deal, and very likely could have convinced Russia to enter expanded positive trade with both the EU, the USA, and India, and to minimize China. The bought and paid for US government made certain that did not happen. and the world is crying because of their lies.
Ask yourself exactly what offensive weapons were put in Ukraine? Do really think Russia putting all the defensive weapons it could into Cuba would cause a ripple in the US government? Heck if Russia put a couple hundred thousand troops in Cuba who would care? Now an offensive nuclear weapon as Russia did in the 60’s might cause a reaction!
Hi Jim. Just to let you know up front, I appreciate, and learn a lot from, your climate-related posts on this site. Like you, I am highly skeptical of the so-called science that ‘supports’ CAGW and am against our government’s attempts to ram alarmists’ policies down our throats. Where I differ from some of the other posters on this blog, is that I believe that our government’s ineptness and malfeasance doesn’t start and end with ‘climate’, but extends into many other areas, including its foreign policy. In a nutshell, I think ‘Public Choice Theory’ largely explains why the Federal government has slipped out from under the Constitution that supposedly restrains it.
Re. your comment, if the Biden administration and it’s ‘neo-con’ allies have their way and bring Ukraine into NATO, then the latter’s defensive perimeter, and Article 5 trip-wire, move eastward to Russia’s border. As far as defensive weapons go, there’s no difference between an offensive cruise missile and a defensive cruise missile, except targeting. Putin and the Russians know this, hence the invasion. There’s also the fact of Ukraine using its ‘defensive’ weapons since the 2014 Maidan coup to suppress the secession of ethnic Russians in the Donbass region.
I don’t think the USSR ever had 100k’s of troops in Cuba, but they had sufficient advisors and security to install and, presumably, operate their ICBM’s. And there should have been no surprise about the Soviet missiles moving into Cuba, as the US / NATO had previously placed nuclear missiles in Turkey. These, of course, were removed, albeit without fanfare, when the Soviets withdrew their missiles from Cuba.
Frank
Please explain to me the psychology behind this post. Explain what was the thinking in the Kremlin that viewed this so-called ‘encirclement’ as a dire threat to the Russian way of life? Explain to me what happened that led Russia to view western countries as enemies? What was Russia doing or planning that required them to cast western countries in the role of the ‘bad guy’, as enemies of the Russian state?
The USA is surrounded (mostly) by other countries, shares land borders with them and rarely, if ever, feels threatened by them. The UK is surrounded (in part) by EU countries and yet rarely feels threatened by them. Why has Russia reacted this way? Why does it desperately need the west to appear to be the enemy?
NATO as a block, wasn’t or isn’t a threat to Russia. That was Russia’s own paranoia and maybe rightfully justified, having been invaded partly since the Mongols, Ottomans and before, including more recently Napoleon and Hitler. NATO would never invade Russia offensively, just because it has 7000 nuclear weapons. And we have no reason to invade, or wipe them off the map, since it would be reciprocal.
The West lost an opportunity on March 31st, 1954 to have Russia join NATO, which was proposed by the USSR as an olive branch a year after the Korean War with Stalin recently dying, and a year before the Warsaw Pact was created in 1955. It was rejected by the Western powers at the time as they didn’t take Molotov seriously, based upon post war activities and the Korean War. What could have been, we will never know, and may have never worked anyway having a blend of communism and capitalism.
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/molotovs-proposal-the-ussr-join-nato-march-1954
Boris Yeltsin also proposed something similar in 1999, just before he passed out drunk and appointed Putin acting president at midnight Jan 1st, 2000. That was rebuffed by Madeline Albright and Colin Powell although George W. Bush had sort of endorsed it, as NATO being from the Baltic to the Black Sea. So that never happened either, in part, because Prime Minister Putin was busy flattening Chechnya in 1999 for the second time in the 1990’s.
It may have never worked, but we will never know now. Perhaps Churchill and Patton were more on target with Operation Unthinkable in 1945, with taking out Stalin, but that would have been a herculean task without going full on nuclear, and after we had just been ‘allies’ in WW2. So what now I wonder, after maybe having missed opportunities to have Russia join the WEST, something that had been in the dreams of Russia since Peter and Catherine.
We can argue until the cows come home about geopolitics and history, but there is no excuse for this unwarranted and unjustified, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the brutality towards the Ukrainian people.
You are ignoring the the bio weapon threats, the threats of putting nukes there, the extensive history of Pundits articulating the danger of such provocation. You are ignoring the open atrocities against Ukrainian citizens that respect their Russian history. You are ignoring the not so subtle Globalist plots to squeeze Russia into cooperating with the one world Government tyrannical games, and the extent they were eilling to
No rationing. People should not be expected to cut back because their leaders are knuckle dragging numbskulls. The people should get a swift kick in backside for being stupid enough to vote the knuckle dragging numbskulls into office.
‘The people should get a swift kick in backside for being stupid enough to vote the knuckle dragging numbskulls into office.’
The ‘knuckle dragging numbskulls’ are working on it. By the time the next election comes around, all blame for inflation and attendant commodity and energy shortages will be squarely placed on Putin / Russia.
Perhaps Putin has inadvertently done the EU a favour?
Perhaps we should not dis Putin till we can look back and take stock with more insight?
Genocide comes in many forms and Europeans know how to do it
Will Ukrainian refugees have to dig their own coal to stay warm in host countries?
Russia will have a lot to answer for when the fighting is over. Nuremberg style tribunals wouldn’t be out of the question.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/russian-controlled-areas-ukraine-capital-kyiv-show-evidence-war-crimes
Of course the usual suspects will just declare that it was the CIA dressed as Russian soldiers that did all of this.
Don’t hold your breath, War Crimes Tribunals only happen when it’s politically convenient. Saddam Hussein should have been faced with a War Crimes Tribunal but his connections were too politically inconvenient to be made public, hence the rather more private trial by the Iraqi people.
Those Lancashire fracking wells have been given a stay of execution.
Come on WUWT, report the truth, not just what you like because it fits your story:
https://cuadrillaresources.uk/
Their only goal is drastically reduced human population, starvation is the easiest. Cold and hungry people are weak and easily frightened. Fighting GMO’s and making food/fuel to expensive is just one tactic, getting people to stop having children and youth to mutilate themselves is another. These are fundamentally evil people.