Essay by Eric Worrall
Just as well Europe has invested hundreds of billions of Euros in renewable energy capacity /sarc.
Russia Could Cut Off Gas Supply to Europe, IEA Warns
June 23, 2022 12:49 PM
Henry RidgwellLONDON —
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that Russia could cut gas supplies to Europe entirely in order to boost its leverage against the West following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has severely restricted gas flows to Europe in recent days. The Kremlin blames a delay in servicing equipment caused by European Union sanctions, while Europe accuses the Kremlin of playing geopolitics.
“Considering this recent behavior, I wouldn’t rule out Russia continuing to find different issues here and there and continuing to find excuses to further reduce gas deliveries to Europe and maybe even cut it off completely,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a statement to the Reuters news agency. “This is the reason Europe needs contingency plans.”
Energy crisis
A full cutoff of Russian gas would plunge Europe into an energy crisis, said Tom Marzec-Manser, head of gas analytics at Independent Commodity Intelligence Services.
“Gas supplies from Russia at the moment — pipeline supplies, that is — are literally a quarter of what they were a year ago. So, the volumes are very, very low, and clearly that’s causing concerns. It means rebuilding storages, storage stocks, ahead of the upcoming winter is that much more difficult,” he told VOA.
…
Read more: https://www.voanews.com/a/russia-could-cut-off-gas-supply-to-europe-iea-warns-/6630008.html
The IEA writes positive articles about renewables, going by their website.
But the panic over the looming cutoff of Russia gas is unequivocal evidence that renewables are not a viable replacement for fossil fuel.
If a small fraction of the money Europe has wasted on renewables had instead been spent on expanding nuclear power capacity, or developing frackable gas resources in Europe, Europe could have laughed off Russian energy threats. Instead, the greenest country in Europe, Germany, is being forced to restart their coal plants to make up the energy deficit caused by Russia’s geopolitical games.
What do you expect in a war still got plenty of coal use it you can even make liquid fuel from it and frac that European gas
Intertwined world economy was never going to end well
During WW 2, Germany made oil and gas from coal to run the WEHRMACHT, etc., but they have become very lazy and confused about reality (such as believing in fairy-tale/pixie-dust wind and solar), because of getting an abundance of low-cost Russian gas for decades.
Now they are crying like stuck pigs, because Russia has had enough, and is finally removing the trough.
Russia tells them, go pond sand; our resources, our rules!!
Russia will sell to many friendly countries, including China, India, etc., a third of the world population, who cannot believe their good fortune, and who welcome Russian resources with open arms.
Germany laughed at Trump when he warned them about dependency on Russian energy.
Who’s laughing now?
At least Germany still has coal plants that can be restarted. Some nations blew theirs up after shutting them down.
What the hell is the name of the Russia to Germany pipeline that Trump managed to cancel, and Biden allowed… Trump evidently was right and nobody gives him credit for anything!
If Trump still was president:
Putin wouldn’t have invaded.
The border would be secure.
The US would still be energy independent.
Gas prices wouldn’t be at an all time high.
The economy would be flourishing.
Inflation would be closer to 1%.
The supply chain would be working fine.
This ^
Also, Mean Tweets.
Cause the Fee Fees of people on Social Media is always of National Importance 😛
Complete nonsense Trump delusion wishful thinking.
The opposite of the Trump Derangement Symptom.
The US was never energy independent since 1948
when we first started importing oil.
Trump lied.
The inflation in 2021 and 2022 was fueled by reckless monetary inflation by the Fed in 2020 and 2021. Trump was President in 2020.
Putin probably would not have invaded, but that’s a guess.
The Mexico border was not secure when Trump was President. Better than now, but not secure.
Gasoline prices might still be at or near record highs due to the Fed’s money supply expansion.
Remember that oil was $147 in 2008 ($168 in 2022 dollars)
when a Republican (Bush) was President.
The economy collapsed under Trump in 2020.
“Trumps” Covid vaccine was a total failure: All cause US deaths in 2021 were same as in 2020 = no evidence the vaccines reduced total deaths … US deaths with Covid were much higher in 2021 with vaccines than in 2020 with no vaccines.
I can only wonder if the supply chain would be working any better under Trump.
I voted for Trump in 2020. Biden is a criminal with weak mental abilities and a radical leftist. A total loser. I am not so biased pro-Trump like you are. I prefer to report on what actually happened without bias.
Why did I, even as a Brit, never feel safer in my life than when Trump was POTUS.
His achievements extend well beyond financial and tangible.
The only POTUS in living memory not to start a new war in his first term.
The guy did the impossible with the Abrahams Accord by bringing the Arab and Jewish world in the ME together by having the sense to exclude Palestine from any negotiations.
He had the good sense to withdraw from the Paris accord and threatened to withdraw from WHO and NATO.
Trump introduced the ‘vaccines’ but would he have condemned and coerced people to take them? We’ll never know.
He fostered positive international relations across the world rather than antagonise the likes of Russia and China.
The wall was never a means of physical security, it was a political statement which, as Trump promised, Mexico helped with.
Gas prices and inflation may have been as high but that’s as much speculation as your guess about Putin.
Would Trump have stopped Keystone and stymied oil and gas exploration in the US. Almost certainly not.
Would Trump be making an insane lunge at ‘greening’ the planet by punishing everyone in the west? Almost certainly not.
Would Putin have intervened in Ukraine under Trump? Doubtful, as Trump wasn’t seduced by NATO and in the four years of his Presidency the situation between Ukraine and Russia had largely stagnated.
Was the world a better place when Trump in office? Yes, by orders of magnitude.
Trump had his faults, sure, but with America’s left, financed by the likes of Soros, lined up against him, prepared to cheat and lie at every step along the way, how much better might things have been?
I thought Trump was barely even the lesser of two evils when he beat Hilary. I was as horrified as anyone when he was elected. It didn’t take him long to change my mind though.
I’m a Brit so with no skin in the game, or so I thought until Biden cheated his way into office.
The darkest day in American and western history and wholesale voter fraud isn’t over. The mid terms will be blighted by it as will the 2024 elections.
Best you stop bitching about Trump and get behind him or America will go full Venezuela over the next 10 years.
You are a Trump dreamer too but more reasonable.
You are remembering 2017, 2018 and 2019, but forgetting the disaster that was 2020. Trump / Covid left the 2020 US economy in a mess. The “Trump” Covid vaccine rushed to market set unprecedented records for adverse side effects in 2021, and failed to reduce all cause US deaths, which remained 15% to 20% higher than in 2019 (no improvement from 2020, with no vaccines — both years were a disaster).
Trump still claims “his” vaccines were a success.
There are no data to support that false claim.
The Fed’s monetary inflation in 2020, to fund unprecedented deficit spending in 2020, led to high price inflation in 2021
The Mexico wall never got built. Not even close.
China continued their intellectual property theft.
Iran continued their nuclear bomb program.
North Korea continued their missile program.
Trump failed to win or end the war in Afghanistan.
The Keystone XL pipeline was only 8% completed.
CO2 is still considered a “pollutant”.
Trump did nothing to end the Donbas Ukraine civil war which finally led to Russia intervening in 2022.
I don’t “bitch” about Trump. I report what actually happened and try not to speculate on what might have happened if he was still President. I did vote for Trump in 2020. The only Democrat I ever voted for was McGovern in 1972.
If you are honest about Trump’s accomplishments, as I am, you might prefer another Republican in 2024, perhaps Ron DeSantis.
In summary:
(1) Trump fought the “deep state” and the deep state won.
(2) With prior Presidents, it usually took two four-year terms before the opposing party regained power (Clinton, Bush, Obama). Trump failed to get re-elected. And the result has been a disaster.
Covid left every economy in a mess.
Trump wasn’t POTUS in 2021. Would he have coerced the entire country to take them? We’ll never know, but Biden did and has continued to ignore any evidence of harm.
My understanding is his claim is that getting them to market was a success. Trump also promoted HCQ and Ivermectin.
Same in every country thanks to shutting down the whole world.
No, but Trump started it. Who was the last POTUS to start building a wall?
What’s that got to do with Trump. No POTUS before or since has dealt with it.
Not with Trump’s approval.
What right does any country have to stop N. Korea building missiles?
But he didn’t abandon the country and US loyalists to the Taliban nor surrender $80bn of arms.
How was he supposed to change that with a dominant Democrat Congress?
Why should he have? Much of the problem now is thanks to NATO (US) aggression toward Russia caused by Biden, not Trump. The civil war was to all intents and purposes over during Trump’s term in office. It wasn’t until Biden got aggressive with Russia it kicked off again.
The foregoing list is testament otherwise.
I’m honest enough about Trump’s achievements to recognise there are things he could do noting about without a majority in Congress and the Senate.
DeSantis isn’t ready for the job of POTUS.
It won against JFK as well, and every other POTUS since.
And the evidence is clear, organised voter fraud was the only thing that stopped Trump’s second term.
I reported what Trump wanted to accomplish.
Many worthy goals.
Then I reported what actually happened.
Far from reaching those goals.
A President traditionally gets blamed for everything that happens while he is in office, and often for six months after he leaves.
I will vote for whatever Republican candidate for President has the best chance for winning in 2024.
But I will never pretend Trump was a great president.
Anyone looks good when compared with Obama and especially Joe Biden. I judge Trump by what actually happened while he was President rather than good intentions.
As a libertarian since 1973, who voted libertarian until 2020, my goal is less government and more personal freedom. By that standard, 2020 was a disaster while Trump was President. 2021 was even worse while Biden was President.
Trump tried to fight the “deep state”.
Good intentions.
The “deep state” won.
Bad results.
They even fixed the 2020 election, and I can only wonder what they have in store for 2022 and 2024 elections. Trump’s AG Bill Barr did nothing. Trump’s daughter even agreed with Bill Barr om the 2020 election !
No you didn’t, you’re full of it. Trump didn’t plan to deal with covid or the financial consequences, nor the vaccinations, or their health consequences. Yet this forms much of your unhinged criticism of the man.
No you didn’t, that’s a barefaced distortion.
Entirely unmentioned by you was his positive impact on the black, latino and female working population of America, a resounding success.
And what did detached observers like me ‘blame’ Trump for?
Facing down N. Korea then having the balls to visit the place and talk with Kim Jong-un?
Perhaps working with Putin and Xi rather than against them?
Maybe the Abrahams accord, monumental in its potential for global peace.
Building 450 miles of border wall in only two years – thanks to Democrat resistance, or it would have been twice as much.
I could go through the rest one by one and refute everything you have said.
Instead, I’ll refer to the single most important Trump achievement which was the resurgence of pride in the American nation, the flag, the constitution, and peoples faith in ‘the American dream’.
Trump gave Americans back the hope and faith in Conservative values which have been systematically eroded by socialism over a generation.
In fact, perhaps the best thing that could have happened to America is that Trump was robbed of an election victory. It has crystallised the Conservative position, galvanised and motivated a national movement never before seen which might be described as ‘jingoism’, (without the aggressive foreign policy) – in other words an outpouring of nationalistic patriotism the left is terrified of.
Tell me again Trump failed……..
You are confusing intentions with results.
The fourth Trump year was a disaster and then we had the biggest disaster in modern history. Trump lost to a candidate who is not all there, and Democrats gained control of the Senate. Strange that when bad things happen, it’s never Trump’s fault.
You can’t refute anything I said because they are facts.
“The single most important Trump achievement which was the resurgence of pride in the American nation, the flag, the constitution, and peoples faith in ‘the American dream’.”
That so called achievement led to Democrats controlling the Presidency, the House, the Senate and the deep state bureaucracy in 2020. That’s an achievement? I know, it’s not Trump’s fault.
Trump did improve the Supreme Court.
Trump also gave us Biden.
Achievements require winning more than one election. Telling everyone you were cheated but never offering sufficient proof is not the mark of a good politician.
You report what you want to be, not what was.
Please tell us if you find the the entire recorded history any politician or leader who got as much opposition in his own country and as little “support” (can you call going along with the enemy “support”?) from his own “elite” supporters. (The big brains of the GOP.)
The opposition was tremendous, and Trump was investigated more than any President.
He got sideswiped with Covid in 2020.
Trump got swindled on Election Day 2020.
I judge a President on what happened when he was President and the condition of the nation when he left office.
No “that wasn’t his fault” excuses.
Trump’s result after four years were disappointing. Losing the 2020 election was really disappointing. Four more years of Trump would have to be much better than Biden.
I voted Libertarian since 1973. I made my first exception in 2020 when I voted for Trump. And got the wife to vote for Trump in 2020 too. Didn’t help. He still lost Michigan.
Michigan was called for Trump on Election Night. Then Detroit “found” a couple hundred thousand votes for Biden in the early hours of the morning. Only Biden, no other candidates with votes marked. To put this in perspective, Detroit only has maybe 600,000 registered voters. The votes were contested by the local election board, and the Republicans only agreed to certify the votes with the understanding that there would be an investigation. Of course, that never happened.
The legislature had hearings, but with a useless Attorney General who’d rather go after small business owners for staying open than pursue actual crime and a Secretary of State who showed no interest in looking into the irregularities, there wasn’t much they could do except try to firm up election laws for next time.
If you live in Michigan, as your comment implies, you should know most of this already. There is also the issue of unsolicited absentee ballots and a long-term failure to clean up the voter rolls. My parents know someone who got a ballot for his father, who died in 1968!
The Mexico wall was actually started by George W Bush, I think, Obama extended it quite a bit and Trump extended it a bit further. Basically it’s been going on for several presidential terms and still bloody contentious.
“The Mexico wall never got built, not even close.”
Educate yourself Richard. You sound like you get all your news from The Huffington Post.
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2022-02-07/how-much-of-president-donald-trumps-border-wall-was-built
Amazing how few illegal immigrants the partially completed wall is stopping in 2021 and 2022.
Maybe wrong, but I am sure,
“from the track record of Trump handling the Pandemic, he never as the President of USA, mandated anything, even during the 2-3 months of declared national emergency.
Never mandated masks, never mandated lockdowns, never mandated social distancing, never reinstated the national emergency after it was terminated, no matter how much the demorats in blue states pushed for, with their anarchic plundering burning riots, in their own cities.”
(even when Fauxi and company, never stopped undermining and sabotaging during all that time)
President Donal J Trump would not have mandated or inflated the “vaccine” program for USA,
to the criminal and miserable point that demorats have got it to under Biden’s grossly irresponsible regime.
Going by the fact in evidence of President Trump track record.
Donal J Trump was not a EU president, but still if EU took seriously his advice when given, and also did for themselves the same he did for USA and followed his as an example, surely the EU would be not in the sorry state that it has fallen to.
And there would have been no much economical and/or otherwise grounds supporting a successful Russian move against Ukraine.
cheers
Unless you are so deranged as to blame Trump for COVID, then he was not responsible for the economic troubles that were caused by COVID.
Trump did nothing to educate or calm the public while letting incompetent Fauci and Birx scaremonger.
As I said above, you see what you want to see.
Trump/ Covid left the 2020 US economy in a mess.What do you think he could have done differently to preserve the economy, without totally trampling on states rights?
He let incompetent Fauci and Birx SCAREMONGER
We knew almost immediately that Covid was dangerous for the elderly and not for children and teenagers. Instead of his administration providing facts, they provided Covid scaremongering to shut down the economy.
Sweden reacted intelligently and in the long run (2020 and 2021) did well. They also had a problem with senior citizens dying in 2020 but did not clamp down their economy like many other nations.
The lockdowns did not work
Masks do not work
Vaccines do not reduce all-cause deaths.
People who recover from Covid do not need vaccines as Trump seemed to think they do (based on his own decisions)
Trump still cheerleading “his” vaccine after an unprecedented number of serious adverse side effects (50x worse than years with no Covid vaccines) and a large increase of deaths with Covid in 2021 (versus 2020), is bad politics, and ignorant.
Instead of his administration providing facts, they provided Covid scaremongering to shut down the economy.
Anything Trump even tried to say was totally twisted beyond recognition, and the same media doing that was the main purveyor of the scaremongering. Would you have him shut down the media? Disband the CDC? You really think firing Fauci would have done any good? It would have been even worse once the media got ahold of it.
He left it to the states, as he should have.
The COVID “pandemic” was really an evil curse, and would have been used by the men in robes (so called “justice”) to crush populism.
Only an armed populace willing to establish norms of decency – by rampage if needed (which even the US did not have, as stuff like Malheur was the insignificant exception rather than the rule) – could have prevented the judicial take over.
So politicians had a gun on their heads, and a lot of the people supported that gun, as a lot of anti Macron people in France actually rooted for more mandates and tyranny, notably even the French “populists”.
Which again proves that France has ZERO self rule will and ZERO analog of a Bundy BLM standoff.
In France, farmers spill manure in front of “préfecture” to get more state intervention, subsidies and they request price control and limits on imports; if BLM was French, they would push for more BLM intervention but with subsidies and import barriers.
France is such a wreck from the political philosophy, the history and from the philosophic and historical knowledge POV…
Ron DeSantis => tell us more of when DeSantis won on anything significant against organized Deep State and Big Judicial Philosophy…
How is that social media freedom of speech law going?
The president is a lobbyist trying to convince the congress to do the right thing. Rinos and Democrats in congress were the problem. The bigger problem is the current congress is very supportive of Biden’s agenda, which is essentially the total opposite of Trump’s.
“The US was never energy independent since 1948
when we first started importing oil.”
It got that far and stopped because it an obvious lie. The IEA gives the fact. The US became a Net exporter under Trump and continued to be so through 2021.
It is not a lie.
You do not understand the subject.
If a nation imports ANY oil, it is not oil independent
The US has imported oil since 1948
We are NOT oil independent.
If a nation(s) that exports oil to the US decides to stop shipments, we are in big trouble. You will have to look up the word independent in the dictionary to understand this.
A net exporter of oil does NOT mean a nation is oil independent. There are good reasons for the US importing oil. Why would any US refinery import oil if they could get the oil they need from within the US? Why pay extra for shipping the oil to the US? An oil independent nation does not import oil from other nations. That was true in the US until about 1948.
The United States imports wine and cheese from France. Does this mean we are not able to produce enough food for our population?
Like most socialists, Richard uses arguments that support his position. Whether they make sense is not relevant.
Libertarian since 1973
An anti-socialist.
I have three blogs filled with climate realism,
and other articles of interest to conservatives.
Over 320,000 page views for my climate science and energy blog refuting leftist climate scaremongering. I’m as far from socialism as a person could be.
A libertarian who loves dictators. That’s interesting.
Well, we would not be wine and cheese independent.
Have you been sampling French wine while posting?
Ignorant statement, Greene.
The US imports some oil that gets refined and then exports the refined products to Latin America for one. That doesn’t mean that the US isn’t energy independent.
The US was importing petroleum products from Russia into Hawaii simply because the Jones Act prohibits non-US flagged ships from carrying cargo between US ports. Importing petroleum wasn’t because we don’t have enough petroleum to supply Hawaii, it was because cost of meeting US regulations has killed US cargo shipping. Stupid lawmakers caused it – shipping is no more safe and the US has to import oil on top of it.
It’s patently false that importing any oil causes a country to not be energy independent.
Independent = no fossil fuel imports
“In 2021, the United States produced2 about 18.66 million b/d of petroleum and consumed3 about 19.78 million b/d. Even though U.S. annual total petroleum exports were greater than total petroleum imports in 2020 and 2021, the United States still imported some crude oil and petroleum products from other countries to help to supply domestic demand for petroleum and to supply international markets.”
SOURCE of Quote:
Oil imports and exports – U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Imports and potential troubles are the same thing.
You can import a lot and still not have troubles as many providers exist and goods are easily transportable and can be stored on site and you have huge reserves.
Or you can import little but still have issues with lack of safety reserves.
France imports all uranium but has no issue here. France is energy independent WRT uranium as many nations sell uranium, it’s easily transportable and the cycles are slow.
Once again the socialist declares that if it’s bad, it’s Trump’s fault. If it’s good, it happened despite him.
Evidence? None needed.
/The US was never energy independent since 1948/
You can’t support the Petrodollar system, demanding that all petroleum sales be settled in United States Dollars, without buying petroleum. Hence, the United States can’t ever be energy independent.
And as the US dollar is tied to petroleum, if the price of petroleum goes up, so does the need for and value of the US dollar globally. Likewise, if the price of petroleum goes down, so does the need for and value of the US dollar globally.
——
CLIMATE CHANGE
Given that relationship, a mechanism is needed to regulate the amount of petroleum on the world market. There must be some way for the United States to green-light and to veto petroleum development and pipeline projects. This would be possible if there were some cooked up existential environmental reason for the government to manipulate the petroleum markets that could serve as a cover for what is really happening financially behind the scenes. Then the projects and fuels you desire could be labeled as “green” and others could be rejected as “non-green”.
It is counter-intuitive to see it that way. but try it for a while to help yourself make sense of it all and see if it holds.
Before it was harder to see what they were up to, but in desperation, as everything collapses they expose themselves:
“No time or money for gas pipelines” USA tells Greece and Cyprus
https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2022/04/08/usa-pipelines-gas-mediterranean-greece-cyprus-nuland/
So, EastMed, Nordstream II and Keystone, etc get the axe and global consumers pay more for gasoline. And that is the general US corporate business strategy, don’t innovate/ development anything new, but force the middle classes to pay more for the basic necessities they ostensibly already have: education, housing/rent, energy, medicine, fuel, new electric vehicles, etc.
It is brilliant in a way and requires little risk and brains to execute. Just go around the world asking: “How can I make people pay more for that (basic necessity) and get a cut of the money”?
Complete nonsense wishful thinking
The opposite of Trump derangement syndrome.
But just as biased.
You are a Trump Dreamer
A variation of the Leftist Green Dreamer.
Second bite of the cherry, Richard?
Richard, you are suffering from Long TDS.
Trump has been under attack for 5 years now, it’s a miracle he got anything done with the Dems trying to dynamite him at every opportunity, same with the Rinos he inherited.
The economy was trashed by Covid in 2020, not Trump.
I voted for Trump in 2020.
How is that TDS?
I agreed with many Trump intentions.
The actual results were not very good.
Trump did not cause Covid.
He made it worse.
He gave Fauci and Birx way too much air time
to incite people with scaremongering.
Trump financed a rushed vaccine development — 9 months instead of the usual 10 to 15 years — and the result was the worst adverse side effects in vaccine history. Trump still brags about “his” vaccine. He is deluded on that subject.
In addition, Trump made NOT ONE coherent statement about climate change in his four years, plus during the campaign before he was President. On that subject he was a nitwit. He most ridiculous line was that climate change was a hoax instigated by China.
Trump made a very coherent statement about climate change in the Whitehouse garden when he left the Paris climate accord.
Duane also claims to have voted for Trump. Nobody believes him either.
Trump was sued for 4 years. The wall was blocked, small $6 Bln amount was blocked to prevent illegals and drugs pouring through the southern border. While D Oked Ukraine $40 bln.
Trump was also made the drug prices to go down (blocked drug monopoly price gouging). And he made hospitals display their prices . Both of those are huge as medical bills are out of control and they are number one cause of personal bankruptcies.
People with TDS just don’t live in reality sometimes.
but, but, no more mean tweets…
And there would a lot less “wokeness”, that undermines time-tested US values
I found out this morning that rolling your eyes is evidence of a belief in white supremecism.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/oregon-bipoc-teachers-claims-eye-rolling-example-harmful-practice-rooted-white-supremacy
I wonder if Richard blames eye rolling on Trump?
MarkW: He does not, but as a libertarian, he blames Trump for injecting gov’t into private eye-rolling matters.
Greene is an interesting mix of ideas, and he seems to get AGW is a hoax, so I save my best shots for other, more mendacious types.
State of South Australia demolished the publicly owned power stations, and did not ask the owners for permission, the citizens.
And she was so proud about that.
Scotland’s Longannet power station demolition – watch video as chimney comes crashing down
ABC radio in Aus is already ramping up the anti nuke agitprop, started the talk about all the disasters last night on LNL but then that IS typical as the shows host is rabid green and admitted card carrying communist in his younger years and very proud of it
She is a fecking idiot.
Indeed. Among other things which I’m likely to get deleted if I mention them here.
The Energiewende was a misguided failure, and Germany should recognize that. Fracking and nuclear, both demonized by greens, are probably the only way out.
Demonstrating that the Greens are totally wrongheaded might take severe privation, as the thing they are good at is propaganda, and they will gaslight endlessly.
Upcoming winter? How about air conditioning for the summer? This whole green deal is now facing the best type of Reality Check: no energy!
Now why would Russia cut off gas supplies to Europe????
Any reason at all? Anything we can think of?
In other news:
NATO tanks and artillery pour into Ukraine. Over 150 units have been delivered so far, including the M177 towed 155 mm Howitzer.
If Russia cuts off the NG, it would be unexpected.
Morons and idiots in charge.
I liked how one EU official called it “an attack”.
Do you look in the f mirror people?
To be fair if I was an East European leader my question would be who was going to be next. Sending tanks to Ukraine is cheaper than having your own cities destroyed
The west is destroying their cities without Russian “help.”
The war on fossil fuels is going to be deadly on the west. Russia will be fine.
Off base, again. A history lesson.
1) The Cold War. NATO and the Warsaw Pact face off after WWII.
2) 1991, The Soviet Union falls apart, Warsaw Pact armies go home.
3) 1993, The Stockholm Accords, NATO will not take advantage of the situation.
Agreed are:
a) NATO will not expand East and encroach of the new Russian borders.
b) Especially, NATO will leave Ukraine alone.
c) The US and NATO sign on.
4) The US ignores the Accords, NATO expands East, the US endlessly screws with Ukraine.
5) 2014, What do these 4 American politicians have in common?
Nancy Pelosi,
John Kerry,
Joe Biden,
Mitt Romney.
They all have a son working for a Ukrainian Gas company. Talk about corrupt Russian oligarchs, how about the American ones.
6) 2022, It is revealed that the US is operating 28+ bioweapons labs in eastern Ukraine.
When Russia moved in, it was all about the US.
Eastern Europe had, and has nothing to worry about. Eastern Europe has not been poking the Russian Bear, the US has. Eastern Europe knows all this, invasion is not a concern.
Eastern Europe knows all this, invasion is not a concern.
I guess that’s why Finland and Sweden now want to join NATO, and why Lithuania has decided to ban land shipments to Kalingrad.
“Lithuania has decided to ban land shipments to Kalingrad.”
I know. Lithuania is playing a very dangerous game here. It looks like they are trying to take advantage of the situation. The only thing I can make out is that they have their own agenda here and they have their own axe to grind with the Russians.
As for Finland and Sweden, it looks like they are just playing “Follow the Leader”. Why, I do not know.
For fun, look up what happened the last time Russia moved against Finland.
Enlightenment. That is what the Russians got. Not sure they are in a hurry to repeat that experiment.
TonyL, when a country, Russia in this case, invades a neighbor country, Ukraine in this case, and kills citizens (mothers, children, grandparents, etc) with such reckless abandon that it constitutes war crimes, they are not defending themselves.
According to TonyL, doing anything that Putin disagrees with is the equivalent of a military attack.
Any evidence and/or claims for war crimes or international crimes or crimes against humanity, wold have merit for consideration only when filed to the appropriate agencies, appropriate courts or the appropriate organizations, organizations and institutions like UN.
MSM, with all it’s might does not qualify or classify as one of those, even when some time it may claim some kinda of merit there due to the chaotic noise that it can throw in such given cases.
When it comes to big powerful nations like China, Russia or USA, it requires also legal accommodation from the government and the National Legislator of such nations.
cheers
“The only thing I can make out is that they have their own agenda here and they have their own axe to grind with the Russians.”
Decades of subjugation and repression will do that.
Lithuania has been a member of the EU since 2004. The EU has enforced sanctions on the trade and transit of Russian goods within its territory. Lithuania has complied with EU laws and applied sanctions on Russian goods because if it didn’t then the EU could start legal proceedings against Lithuania, as they have against other EU countries for other reasons.
It’s the EU’s agenda, not Lithuania’s – if you want clarification then look to Brussels for it (good luck).
Once again, anyone who does something that Putin doesn’t like is an evil US stooge.
Well, blocking Russia’s access to its only year-round port is sort of an invitation for them to invade.
St Petersburg in practice is ice free, with help from ice breakers. The Black Sea sports are mostly ice free as well
Bull manure.
I have seen huge ice breakers in Finland’s harbors
Duker says that St. Petersburg can be accessed using ice breakers.
Willem declares that this is bullshit because he’s seen ice breakers in Finland.
WRT the Black Sea does not Turkey , a NATO member , control a choke point at the Bosphorus . In extremis they could perhaps “do a Nasser ” and blockade the entrance.
Not if they ever want to see a penny of the profits from gas transit and sales. More Russian gas goes through Turkiye than Ukraine these days and Russia had been building more pipelines to make Turkiye into a major gas hub. Economic warfare 101.
Would that be the port that the Russians captured the last time the invaded Ukraine?
to quote Scott Adams: “…insanely provocative…”.
It is not in Russia’s long term interest to encourage Germany to develop alternative sources.
We seem to be in a very dangerous situation. Who is benefiting?
Russia will break 100% with the West, because the West has been trying to screw/breakup Russia since before Napoleon’s time
and all of the above are fools thinking usa will be there to save their butts? mighty NATO relies on majority usa funds and extras . so how much more can you guys send cash n arms wise? already depleted stores of stingers and oopsie they cant be replaced for some time due to…LOL chip and other shortages. meanwhile China..
Finland and Sweden are rattling sabres.
Putin has done precisely what he promised to do, occupy eastern Ukraine. His intention was never to invade Ukraine as a whole. His advance to Kiev etc. was to pursue and destroy Ukrainian armour, at which point he’s withdrawn to the east.
Putin has also released damming documentation on the US Bio Labs in Ukraine including the use of mosquito’s to carry diseases. Our media is, predictably, entirely silent on the issue.
Fighting between east and west Ukraine had all but stopped before Biden seized power because Trump had no interest in supporting a corrupt, tin pot, dictatorial regime, hell bent on ethnically cleansing eastern Ukraine given the opportunity, which Biden provided.
Lithuania has had its arm twisted by the EU, and both are playing a very dangerous game by holding Kalingrad hostage. Putin is presented as the aggressor, when the west delights in starving a small nation as retribution for Putin’s intervention in, what was about to become, genocide. Just what has Putin’s behaviour to do with Kalingrad?
Meanwhile, most of the world’s population, represented by the leaders of China, India, Africa and Latin America refuse to condemn Putin. Why then, do we imagine the west is correct in its behaviour, considering our past history of exporting war?
It’s also worthy of note that Russia, China, India and Africa were instrumental in stopping the WHO seizing control of global health whilst the west obediently conformed.
Putin has pledged to deal with the western elites like Soros and Gates which is more than the west is bothering to do.
He’s also doing more to encourage Christianity than, probably, any other country in the world. 30,000 Churches built across Russia since 1991 and an announcement that immigrants will conform to the Christian standards of the country or they can leave. Hardly the behaviour of a despot.
Little wonder he and Trump saw eye to eye.
Eric, Finland and Sweden are not ‘Eastern Europe’
Finland is 7 degrees more east than Poland
Very well stated TonyL!
The Stockholm Accords. Articles that are so well known that even Wikipedia don’t believe it is worth re-inventing the wheel by covering them with a dedicated page.
What exactly IS this Stockholm Accord you quote so regularly? What exactly does it say? Who signed it? How does it relate to the Helsinki Final Act (1975), the Charter of Paris (1990), the NATO-Russia Founding Act (1997) and the Charter for European Security (1999) within the context of Ukraine being able (or not) to self determine security rights?
While you are at it, explain to the readers why the use of explosive bullets is not and was never in breach of the Geneva Convention.
(hint – trick question designed to catch out people who randomly name drop conventions without actually understanding them, and, second hint, 1868 Saint Petersburg Declaration.)
5) 2014, What do these 4 American politicians have in common?
Nancy Pelosi,
John Kerry,
Joe Biden,
Mitt Romney.
They all have a son working for a Ukrainian Gas company. Talk about corrupt Russian oligarchs, how about the American ones.
NOT true.
This is FAKE news, other than Hunter.
In the age of rampant DISinformation, we should try to fact check most news, especially if it’s on social media and states something that lines up with our own belief system……..which disarms our skepticism/bs meter.
Thanks much,
Mike
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/oct/10/facebook-posts/pelosi-romney-and-kerry-dont-have-sons-working-com/
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-pelosi-kerry-romney-sons-uk/fact-check-nancy-pelosi-john-kerry-and-mitt-romney-do-not-have-sons-on-boards-of-energy-companies-doing-business-in-ukraine-idUSKBN2A42N9
There plenty of stuff on Hunter though:
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/83715/
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/83121/
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/71953/
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/60077/
True – Paul Pelosi (Nancy Pelosi’s son) has never worked for a Ukraine company; he has, however, worked for about 5 compainies involved in or investigated for fraudulent activities. Chris Heinz (John Kerry’s stepson) has never worked for a Ukraine company; he has, however, gone into partnership with Hunter Biden in a shady private equity firm. Tagg Romney (Mitt Romney’s son) has never worked for a Ukraine company and may not have done anything dodgy, apart from hiring his dad as a company adviser.
You skipped 1994, Ukraine gives Russia its nuclear weapons in exchange for a promise to recognize its current borders.
The UK and US promised to defend Ukraine
In 2014 they did nothing (Crimea)
In 2022 they sent weapons which will make
the Russians destroy more of the nation than
they intended to. Russia intended to stop the civil war
in Donbas region of Ukraine that the US and UK
had completely ignored since 2014
There had been about 14,000 deaths in that civil war:
11,000 Russian speaking citizens and
3,000 Ukrainian army troops
US and UK (and Russia) never promised to defend Ukraine.
The wording was much weaker than that , you should look it up. Which I have done so
“…..to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine.”
Clearly Russia has disrespected the borders of Ukraine, but the treaty only mentions going to the UN security council in instances of aggression. Which they did. But of course goes nowhere
Ukraine gave up the world’s third largest supply of nuclear weapons for security assurances. Those assurances turned out to be baloney. And that is a fact. Either Ukraine was foolish, or they were tricked about what they got in return for sending nuclear weapons to Russia. No matter what the weasel words were in the Budapest Memorandum, the US and UK could have helped Ukraine in 2014 (Crimea), Since when does the US need an agreement to start or enter a war? We attacked Iraq viciously even though they had no connection with the Muslim attacks on 9/11
Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances – Wikipedia
That is true, never trust Putin to keep his word.
Three states gave up the weapons. Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakstan and all got the same deal.
Sure they got weak ‘respect’ for their territory boundaries but those weapons they had were still under Moscow control for launch or arming. The Russians had in the 1970s got US assistance for the central command and control security ‘locks’ to prevent unauthorised use.
So while they were on Ukraine territory ( missiles and free fall bombs) they were for all intents and purposes non nuclear.
I think Russia didnt get the warheads them selves ( they had plenty) but the west main interest was the fissionable material staying out of the hands on non nuclear states
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/german-media-fetch-1991-document-on-nato-commitment-to-non-e
That said, I don’t think NATO expansion is the sole reason Russia invaded. NATO expansion did establish beyond reasonable doubt that the West would not keep agreements.
e
The other reasons I see are
According to the official story, Ukr is completely innocent and has done absolutely nothing to provoke Russia.
BTW, while Ukr had USSR nuclear weapons, they were not usable. Ukr never had the permissive action link codes. The most they could have done was to disassemble the weapons for raw materials. Maybe. Some countries nuclear weapons are designed to detonate HE only (no nuclear yield) if you don’t disassemble then in exactly the right way.
Good summary.
Also 11,000 Russian speaking Ukrainians who wanted independence were killed by the Ukranian military since 2014.
3 – no. Please provide your proof because everything I’ve seen contradicts this.
6 – no. They have the raw materials but not the technology, security or skills to create a viable nuclear weapons programme. Even creating a military weapons industry on the remains of one of the most advanced Soviet tank factories proved problematical – they sold the entire production run to Pakistan.
That’s the Budapest memorandum 1994 covering the nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
While the Brandon Crime Family had piggy banks in both Russia & Ukraine that were
full of corruption cash, you can’t overlook the “Queen of Corruption” who had piggy
banks in both places, too. In Cackle’s Sellout-America-World-Tour involving Uranium
One & Skolkavo- which became Russia’s “Silicon Valley” from whence they got the
hypersonic missile technology- she racked up at least $150M in “Clinton Cash”, of
which The Clinton Crime Family got to keep at least 85% (Much of that $$$ came
from US companies). Can you say “Russian Collusion”? I’m sure you can!
Add to that Obammie the Commie’s “After My Election I Have More Flexibility”
comment to Medvedev & the 2014 Ukrainian Coup, Cackles & Obammie make the
rest look like saints! With all the lying going on, it’s hard to figure out who’s lying
the least. At least with Putin, you know he’s up to no good, but how much, I don’t know!
To add a bit to the history:
(Typing off the top of my head. Feel free to correct.)
After the Bolsheviks took over the revolution against the Czars and overthrew them and took over the Russian Empire; Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, plus (and I think Finland?) then rebelled against the Communist and won their independence. 1917 or so.
WW2 and Barbarossa and Russia becomes The Soviet Union in the aftermath.
The Berlin Wall (to keep people in, not out) falls, The USSR falls apart and many of those countries regain their independence.
Now Russia invades the Ukraine.
No Ukraine didnt exist under the czars. They also had Kingdom of Poland as part. of the Russian Empire
Some Ukraine nationalists did want Versailles peace conference to recognise a ‘Greater Ukraine’ made up of former Russian and Austrian territory but they were unsuccessful.
However in 1920 Poland invaded the new Soviet state to claim the eastern Ukraine that the Versailles Curzon line had awarded to Soviet union ( based on language). Historically under Russian and Austrians the polish minor nobility had sway over the Ukrainian speaking peasants. The citys were more mixed and mostly jewish
Most of Modern Ukraine borders were created under Lenin, Stalin and Krushchev
Thank you.
But didn’t the area we now call the “Ukraine” gain it’s independence from Bolshevik Russia? In the settlement Lenin, Stalin and Krushchev may have set or agreed to the boundary after the revolt, but there was a revolt.
Why would they need to revolt against the Communist if the Bolsheviks did not control the land?
PS How did Czarist Russia divide the areas?
Was “Lithuania” Lithuania then? etc.
Look, at the second time of asking, will you please link to these “Stockholm Accords of 1993” as they do not appear to exist. Certainly might have been proposed but, as far as I can make out, never got signed by anyone. Please link to them.
Ah yes, the old Soviet lie about how the US wants to take over the world.
sending tanks is the BEST way to ensure youre on the places to remove list
aside from that..the isolation of Kaliningrad would be the fastest response for gas shutoffs
especially as the fool in neighbouring nation says hes be ever so happy to apply more sanctions the EU asks for
and shutting gas would be the least force action, it could be worse if they keep poking the Bear
E.U. leader lights into Trump: ‘With friends like that, who needs enemies?’ EU “leaders” 2017 comment on Trump.
You Europeans deserve everything you get. Who would of thought that giving a murderous dictator Putin, the keys to your power needs and not spending on NATO defence for years would have got you into the cluster f…k you are in now.
Trump was rite on the money again.
With friends like Putin who needs enemies Europe, Angela Merkel.
Let them eat snow balls.
Being that Russians have had the freedom to travel the world since the wall came down, if Putin is a murderous dictator, where are all the Russian refugees at the American southern border?
Indeed, where are all the Russians sailing across the English Channel from France for sanctuary in the UK?
Perhaps Putin’s 83% approval rating amongst Russian’s has something to do with it. Remind me again what Biden’s approval ratings are amongst Americans?
Putin intervened in what was undoubtedly going to be the invasion and ethnic cleansing of eastern Ukraine by western Ukraine. Unlike the West which stood by and watched Rwanda and Bosnia descend into genocide, Putin wasn’t willing to do nothing.
At a conference in St. Petersburg a few weeks ago he announced his determination to deal with the western elites (Soros, Gates, Schwab etc.) who are hell bent on the NWO Putin isn’t interested in.
What are our western leaders doing about these people?
Do it Russia! Do it!
Lol ….”while Europe accuses the Kremlin of playing geopolitics”
Accusing a nation of playing geopolitics is like accusing a mammal of breast feeding.
I think the Echidna and the Platypus would argue that point
#NitPicking
And some spiders, a few bird species including emperor penguins, a species of cockroach, Amazonian discus fish, great white sharks
Nitpicker King
Isn’t it all the Green politicians that volunteered to get the “smart gas meters”? I thought they all agreed as part of netzero that their gas could/should be shut off first, no??? Can’t wait for winter. /sarc
Then, again, Russia my not cut off the gas. Maybe Siemens will ship that compressor back to Russia from Canada.
Or, maybe Russia has decided to stop pulling the punches on the West. The West has sanctioned everything possible Russian, and it is aiding Ukraine in every way short of direct military intervention.
A gentle reminder. This is how the USA got into both World Wars
‘We supply the weapons and you supply the bodies.’ A rephrasing of the Mexican president’s disapproving comment.
Best if Russia cuts off the supplies in summer rather than winter.
People only take action after a crisis starts and the lessons learnt , re fossil fuels, can sink in.
“A gentle reminder. This is how the USA got into both World Wars”
Exactly correct.
Some of us have been mumbling that somebody somewhere is acting like they want to turn this into WWIII.
For some reason my new smartphone(Android) has decided I would like to be aware of what the British papers are saying each day. Well just the orther day it informed me that the Telegraph , via a journalist called Coughlin, is advocating the UK declaring war on Russia . That was the headline , all else paywalled. Is the Telegraph , once thought of a serious newspaper expressing what the idiots , aka HM Govt , are thinking or , God forbid, already planning?
Coughlin is a nutter and has been for at least 2 decades. No-one takes anything he writes seriously. I think the DT only retain him for click-bait.
Having Japan attack Pearl Harbor and Germany declare war had nothing to do with it?
Lusitania sinking? Zimmerman Telegram? Unrestricted submarine warfare?
People seem to be under the impression that war/peace is a simple binary. Either you are at Peace in which love flowers unicorns and everyone gets along with hugs and friendship, or you are at War.
Sure the War state of affairs is usually easy to understand. Usually. Rules of Engagement still exist for various reasons. It is not like playing a computer game where everything on your HUD turns red suddenly, but in board general terms if a state of war exists you are ‘allowed’ to apply violent force against the other side.
In times of ‘Peace’ it is actually fuzzy. Peace just means you are not in open ‘shoot anything marked Red’ type situations. Peace is more a condition of varying degrees of trust. Nations push each other’s boundaries for various reasons. They test each other. They will fly right to the ‘border’, both to see how quickly the other side will react, and also how they react and use that to test, provoke and intimidate. They will attend ‘flag waving’ exercises where they visit each other’s ports in a balance of both paying respect and dick measuring.
Trade will be pushed. Deals will be pushed. There is no point in getting a ‘fair’ deal if you can a slightly better ‘pro-deal’ by engaging in a bit of casual bullying. Why play $100 a ton for a product when you can, by a bit of implied conversation with a third nation, get the agreed price down to $99
International life is a constant mix of bribes, gifts, bullying and compromises. There are no unicorns and no rainbows. Only the level of ethics varies.
(Lusitania. The point here was not if it was carrying war material – it was, but that the then ‘rules’ of naval warfare if a merchant ship was suspected of carrying war materials the military force required to stop and search the ship. If they were clean? Thanks for your time, enjoy your day. If they were carrying war material? Then the ship was allowed to be seized. What you couldn’t do was spot a ship and just sink it on the suspicion and it was the surprise sinking and associated deaths of Americans that pissed off the US public.)
Yes . Very good points. Technically Russia is at the same stage US was with the invasion of Iraq . The UN failed to OK it and pre emption was a no no either.
Ok course Iraq had no involvement in 9/11 nor WMD but like Russia a few facts can be twisted to arrive at a predetermined answer.
Invasion of Ukraine happened once before , by the newly independent Poland in 1920 against the new Soviet Union. Historical reasons were behind Poland’s land grab as they are today. Eastern Ukraine under the Austrian and Russian empires was run by polish nobility with Ukrainian peasants. But the Versailles Victor’s drew borders largely along language lines. Poland was happy to take it’s borders with Germany that Versailles gave but wanted more in the east. They also fought mini wars with the Czechs and Lithuania.
The real point is ends of empires always produce wars. Thus the end of the Ottomans had it’s Balkan wars , which led yo WW1. The end of empires from WW1 led to further wars including WW2. End of Soviet empire has led to other wars of which this is mrely the latest
Nobody ever claimed that the invasion of Iraq was due to 9/11. It was the result of the failure of Iraq to live up to it’s agreements in the cease fire agreement.
9/11 and WMD were the driving arguments for the invasion. (9/11 was the weakest.
The armistace agreements after the Gulf War 1 were never raised beforehand. They were just used after the UN security council voted No. In any case the WMD factors were a figment of the US imagination for the cease fire agreement . The US used sanctions and no fly zones as its cease fire approved military measures.
I dont know the wording that allows the Gulf War 1 to resume when Saddam had been doing the same actions for a decade.
Your memory as usual is bad. 9/11 was never raised by anyone in the government. The entire argument was about the cease fire agreements, the entire WMD argument was based on this cease fire agreement, since Saddam had agreed to get rid of his weapons AND programs, AND to allow inspections. He didn’t.
How stupid can politicians be ?
The Germans are smart people but they have allowed their leaders to demolish their power plants in the vain quest of saving the world from half a degree of warmth .
How can elected people be so stupid ? For that matter their constituents .
Energy self sufficiency should be on the top of any countries goals.
We have the same stupid nuts here in New Zealand .When Jacinda Ardern was elected Prime minister she had “a nuclear moment “and issued an order that there was to be no more oil and gas exploration off our coasts. Much the same as the ban on fracking in the UK.
What advice did she take and was she looking after New Zealands interests ?
Of course she did not and this is what has happened since.
Our Huntly Power Station has had to import a million tonnes of coal from Indonesia to keep the lights on because of lack of gas even though the power station sits on a large coal field .
We have a urea plant Taranaki but another one would supply all New Zealands needs with some surplus for export .
The greens in the government coalition push this nonsense the same as in Germany with out any taking any responsibility when they stuff up .
They are saving the world .Stuff our country .
You forgot to mention Jacinda’s decision to close down our sole oil refinery, and the pouring of concrete into the pipework so it could not be recommissioned. It’s almost as if she knew that her communist pals were about to start a stoush, resulting in a worldwide oil shortage!
The enemies of the people.
Liars are enemies of the people.
NZ governments that signed the Kyoto 1999 and 2016 Paris climate treaties were the conservative party. Indeed the PM at the time Key went to Paris and told the world that he was comitting the country to 30% reduction in CO2 by 2030.
And his party unanimously voted for the following governments Net CO2 Zero legislation in 2019 which implemented Paris accords.
They are all deluded but it’s bi partisan!
NZ conservatives would be socialists in the US.
US conservatives would be far ultra right in most of the world. they are the real extremists.
Anyway many aspects of US economy has state intervention like agriculture
Once again, the socialist declares that anyone who favors personal freedom is an extremist. Just imagine, the government not running every aspect of our lives. How radical.
I think female politicians are worse than male ones.
Thatcher
The UK would be a basket case, socialist nightmare were it not for Thatcher.
as a female I hate to but have to agree
the women who get that far tend to be as corrupted and psychopathic as the blokes they fought to get to the top of the steaming heap
Shows more about your own view of the world and clearly arent a qualified psychologist
My wife is a qualified psychologist and tends to agree with me on that issue.
People’s worldview is based on past experiences. Your opinion does not trump other people’s opinions.
WELL SAID MIKE.
And the crazy part is she flies all over the world powered by fossil fuel .If she had any thought for our country she would have gone on a sailing ship as our forbearers came to New Zealand .
If there is an oil shortage what difference does it make whether or not NZ has an oil refinery. NZ does not have oil reserves or storage capacity worth mentioning and whether it imports crude oil and refines it locally or imports refined products makes no significant difference.
You are dumb.
New Zealand has oil reserves.Having domestic oil production and refining capacity matters a lot if some major Asian power cuts the sea lanes.
The oil produced in NZ is such a light grade its only suitable for mixing with heavier crudes to improve the output of the refining process. I understood all was exported to Australia and Asia refineries.
Some may have been used locally ?
There is no oil shortage. For political reasons some countries are refusing to buy the oil on offer which has created a manufactured scarcity, leading to high prices, but there is enough oil and gas available for everybody to have enough at reasonable prices.
Your first sentence should have referred to the current ‘politically motivated scarcity’ not oil shortage.
Oil companies closed the refinery , like they have in Australia in last few years..BP and Exxon. Only 2 refineries remain the Viva ( formerly Shell) at Geelong and Ampol formerly Caltex at Brisbane and they are receiving multi billion $ subsidies via the federal government but paid for by motorists.
You are living about the NZ decion coming from the government.
wow thats venal. still entire pipe system COULD be replaced if someone with brains chose to surely?
No pipe system has had concrete poured ! The tankers will still call but unload petrol – diesel- av fuel instead of crude oil. That fuel will still be pumped domestically
All thats going is the actual refining units
What “communist pals”?
what? coal from Indo rather than Aus??
The thermal power station was built over a coal field. And the state owned coal mine was producing the coal for the power station and other users ( steel mill and dairy factories were still bulk users).
The conservative government up to 2015 had dividend stripped the coal company and loaded it with massive debts. When the commodity price fell along when oil dropped they couldnt afford the l bank loans and bankruptcy ensured. Open cast mines were sold but the underground mine near the power station wasnt one of those.
How can elected people be so stupid? Asking the question is answering it. Only elected people can be so stupid because only elected people are allowed to be so stupid because they are elected. Elected people mostly are good at only one thing: getting themselves elected. Once elected, then … oops.
Due to sanctions that make the value of Euros
unpredictable to Russians, or even worthless:
Gazprom announced that their natural gas must be paid for in Rubles.
They have not cut gas exports to nations that pay in Rubles.
They have reduced or cut supply to nations that refuse to pay in Rubles.
The gas payment demand is not a geopolitical game by Russia
The economic sanctions on Russia are a geopolitical game.
Would you sell natural gas for currency that may be worthless to you?
Of course not.
EU nations get all the gas they want if they pay in Rubles.
This article completely misses that point.
The gas is available at the market price.
More gas would be available if Germany
allowed Nordstream 2 to open.
Gazprom wants to sell their gas.
But they can’t afford to give it away.
Period.
International law types will argue that of sanctions, embargoes and blockades, only the last constitutes an act of war. Personally, I think we’re playing with fire, and the only reason we haven’t started a conflagration is because US sanctions have had a much greater adverse impact on the US and its western allies than they have had on Russia.
Third bite of the cherry, Richard!
If you believe anything I post is not true,
please try to refute at least one sentence.
Your fascination with cherries is puzzling.
and remember germany took over the Gazprom buildings and management it seems, in amazing haste
Well that’s all quite true but maybe not all of the truth is it? Lying by ommission is still lying, although we tend to call it ‘spin’ or ‘public relations’ these days.
Who couldn’t see this coming from ten miles away. NATO’s whole reason for existence is to deter Russian aggression, so naturally the EU makes themselves energy-dependent on Russia.
Plenty of Germans did not see it coming. They even scoffed at Trump when he told them they were under Putin’s thumb:
You are right on the money there Steve Browne .
But East Germany was under Russian influence until the Berlin wall came down ;
If you look into German politics they are still very socialist leaning with the old East Germany cnntrolling the government .
This is a US proxy war.
Now that’s paranoia.
Old King Coal IS a very merry soul..
I expect Putin will only pinch the flow of gas to the Europeans to a point before it begins to affect his ability to wage war on the Ukrainians. Putin is an absolute nutter, but he isn’t crazy. He probably enjoys the idea that Europeans are paying for his war. For Putin, Biden must be a godsend, but then so must Xi be. China is willing to take up any slack in delivery to Europe.
Not so sure about that. The pumping station at the Russia end of Nordstream 1 had 8 turbo compressors. All 8 are requiring periodic overhaul. 5 were shipped to the Siemen’s factory in Canada, overhauled, then impounded by Canada. 1 of the remaining 3 has been shut down as it can no longer be safely operated. The 2 remaining can’t drive the full pipeline flow, and I expect that Russian is trying to extend their operation by operating the compressors below capacity. Be interesting to see how well that works.
and none of the media WILL admit to it being a Canadian caused problem of course
And I am sure there are other compressor manufacturers in the world that will cooperate with Russia vs. oligarchs controlled Siemens. Including China.
While I am at it. Putin and Russians control major energy and key resources producing factories. Like oil and gas giant Gasprom, that’s controlled by the government via 50% of shares.
This (oil income) allows Russia to have a very low 13% income tax rate.
Which , basically, means Russia shares energy profits with the population.
Of course this will be cursed by US and London, with their privately owned oil monopolies. Buh “bad dictator” but oil oligarchs have palaces while our income tax is through the roof and infrastructure is in a very poor shape.
you call Putin a Nutter? he controls a massive collection of states and the rest and keep it calm and functional
Bidet IS certifiable and senile and usa is a mess
truly god help us all if Putins harmed, because what/who follows may be a LOT worse
Yes, I call Putin a nutter. If you think Russia is in better political and economic shape than the US you haven’t looked at the comparable data. Calm and functional, that’s well off the mark. Political corruption is du jour, and since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, more than 2,000 people arrested in 53 cities nationwide in an attempt to shut down the anti-war/Putin protests.
As for getting rid of Putin. The oligarchs will probably have to do it before long. Putin’s corrupted the electoral system so badly to stay in power that how they elect their Premier and President going forward will have to be reclarified in law. And that will take a politician of an entirely different stripe than Putin.
Calm and functional? By executing everyone who opposes him?
Socialists sure do like their murderous dictators.
It appears Gazprom revenues from natural gas exports are similar t before the war in spite of the fact they are shipping much less natural gas.
Honest global warming chart Blog: Russia’s Revenues from Natural Gas Still High Despite Supply Cuts To Europe (elonionbloggle.blogspot.com)
Bring it on – or off! The sooner the pain is experienced, the sooner sanity may prevail.
“may” being the operative word…
Anyone who bought RUB with USD back in March would have tripled the value in USD terms by now. It is the only thing inflating faster than natural gas. Probably makes sense since it is backed by natural gas.
You have to wonder how long Putin had been planning the invasion of Ukraine. Did he work hard on making Europe dependent on his gas or was it just for the income?
I wonder how China will install CCP control in Taiwan. The Taiwanese may resist the inevitable but I believe the CCP would prefer a more nuanced approach than Putin has taken on in Ukraine.
The Taiwanese are like the Polish, they are some of the toughest people on the planet. Nobody’s pushover.
Poland folded in a short time after bombing Warsaw
Poland were so insistent on keeping Catholicism even the Soviets made concessions and allowed military chaplains. Russia allegedly tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II, because he was Polish and anti-Soviet – they were frightened he would cause an uprising. The Polish solidarity movement helped bring down the Soviet Union. I think all that counts as pretty tough – I’ll let them off for not managing to fend off two major powers who invaded on two fronts.
From what I have read, even after the government surrendered, the Polish people continued to give both the Russians and the Germans headaches.
Poland / Polish government did not surrender in Sep-Oct 1939. It was not just ‘Polish people’ it was the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Underground_State
that kept fighting both occupants.
Warsaw surrendered on Sep 28th, 1939 after 4 weeks of fighting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Warsaw_(1939)
Poland folded long before that, on September, 17th after https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Poland
and you know it very well comrade ‘Willem’.
Russia has observed a civil war in Ukraine since 2014. The Ukrainian army has killed about 11,000 Russian speaking Ukranian citizens in the Donbas region who have wanted their independence since 2014. No vote was allowed. They have been attacked by snipers and shelled with explosives. Many citizens died.
The Ukrainian army also lost about 3000 soldiers since 2014.
The Russians waited too long to intervene in that civil war.
Assuming the Russians would not interfere, Zelensky ordered the Donbas region citizens to stop speaking Russian and increased the attacks on those Russian speaking Ukrainians in 2022.
War in Donbas – Wikipedia
Zelinski’s mother tongue is Russian. Your last sentence is a convenient falsehood spread by separatists. Polls in the Donbas region indicated that the separatists there at mostly 30%, that means twice as many where not charmed by the idea.
The year 2014 is significant. Then Russia decided to ditch the Budapest memorandum on security guarantees, by Russia, the USA and the UK, guaranteeing the territorial integrity of ex USSR states in exchange for their nuclear disarmament. When Russia violated the agreement it was totally legal and logical that the other signatories came to Ukraine’s defence.
If I polled 30%, and believed it, I would have followed up with formal vote to solidify my position.
My understanding is that the Donbas majority is not. They don’t want to be associated with Zelensky; they don’t want to be a part of Russia; they want a quasi autonomy.
So yes 30% may want to be aligned with Russia. That does not mean that 70% like current Ukraine/Zelensky.
How would the US react if people of Mexican heritage in the US started demanding that most of the US southwest be given to Mexico? Especially if they got violent.
Keep in mind that new New Spain was a coherent political entity from 1532 to 1832, when it broke away from Spain. Fourteen years later we attacked and took the best parts. They would have plenty of historical argument to take it back. Revanchism! We in the USA have lived in a Golden Age for a long time.
Both California had broken away from Mexico before they applied to the US for entrance. The Gadsen purchase was bought fair and square.
The only time the US military invaded Mexico was when they were hunting down Pancho Villa and they left when that mission was done.
china might wish that but usa and the rest will ensure its not calm and will drag everyone in the pacific into it
As everybody knows all the Asian countries dance to America’s tune.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of guys.
China’s huge increase in purchase of Russia FF means Russia doesn’t need Europe at all.
The longer the US-NATO continue their Russophobic jihad the more China will support Russia. Eventually western “little green men” in Ukraine will be combatting Chinese troops.
Before that happens what’s left of the Russian army will fight the invading Chinese. Using Vlad’s logic Emperor Xi realises that the lands east of the Amur river was controlled by China until in the 19th century it was conquered by Tsarist Russia. Vlad thinks back 100 years, Xi goes back 500.
Russia could cut off gas supplies to Europe . .
Bri9it on.
Why is the EU being so vicious towards Russia when they are trying to save the planet? /sarc
No shit Sherlock.
If you need the /s, you aren’t smart enough to understand it.
Congrats to Griff for a successful “look the other way campaign” effort. Is there a bonus involved?
This drama has been unfolding since EU declared it was getting ride of it’s nuke power plants in 2010. The plan was to go to NG turbine plants and build LNG ports to import all that wonderful USA NG. Then Russia started a 8 year old war by invading the Ukraine in 2014, cutting off the Black Sea from USA LNG ports and much of the Eastern EU countries for the possibility of USA NG. By 2009 a gigantic ‘climate change’ propaganda push began globally and Russia’s Gazprom maintained control of the EU NG market.
Freezing to death for a good cause…or so the media tell them.
Does IEA earn bonus points for staying the obvious?
And the Germans laughed at trump to his face