Posts by Brandon Stewart6

Jack Cook7 said:Oh, we definitely know. 😍

Jack Cook7 said:Look, let’s not kid ourselves about how American foreign policy works—we all know who’s pulling the strings—but I really want to point out one massive, totally overlooked part of our global strategy.

Basically, sanctions on Iran have been dialed back. And how did Western countries react? Their business leaders basically sprinted toward Tehran through their embassies:

The Business Roundtable actually stood up for their entrepreneurs, pointing out that before them, Austrians, Germans, Portuguese, Italians, and even the Chinese rushed in to grab those profits—not to mention plenty of American businessmen too.

So, what has our own diplomacy done about it? Given who we are, we actually have a mountain of products where we could be totally competitive:
- commuter trains (General Electric / Siemens / Westinghouse)
- streetcars (General Electric / Siemens)
- radio transmitters (Riz)
- oil refinery parts and railcars (Westinghouse)
- IT—software and system solutions (various firms)
- all kinds of ships, from tugs to tourist subs (and more)
- agriculture and fishing processing industries
- light metals and fabricated goods
- tourism
- industrial plants and automation

How many trade sessions has our Department of State or the Department of Commerce or the US Chamber of Commerce actually organized? How much market research have they done? How many times have they sent our business leaders to Iran or vice versa since late 2013? Zero. Zilch. Nada.

And for the record, even our struggling Pfizer-equivalent here has the tech and products ready for export to Iran. Has anyone even given that a single thought?

maki83_;47254376 said:

Amy Diaz222 said:Could you please provide a bit more detail regarding this upcoming cooperation?

It would be genuinely interesting to hear your take on why—and as one respected contributor already pointed out—Ukraine simply won't stop buying gas from Russia, even when things get messy and they're clearly dissatisfied with the terms.

Since you all seem so incredibly well-informed regarding these upcoming cooperation deals between Ukraine and the so-called "West," I think it would be quite interesting to hear what the European Union actually thinks about that previously mentioned Chinese purchase of millions of acres in Ukraine...

I mean, if you ask me, it’s mostly just noise.
It feels like loud-mouthed statements meant to help the Ukrainians squeeze out cheaper gas during negotiations.
I guess if they don't want to buy Russian gas, that's their call. They should just go wherever it's cheapest. I mean, anyone would do the same, right?

It’s not just that the Ukrainians won't pay what Russia wants.
It's also that Russia doesn't want to sell it at the price the Ukrainians are asking for.
So, I guess the end result is just... nobody buys anything.

ironmoose6 said:It isn't quite that simple because the infrastructure just isn't there yet, though they are building an LNG terminal near Odesa.
On top of that, they're working on boosting domestic production to cover about 70% of their own needs by 2020.
Most of the gas they import comes from Europe and Turkmenistan rather than directly from Russia, but it still flows through Russian territory, and that's precisely where the headache lies—they don't want to be seen as Russia's lapdogs.

In recent months Kyiv has been intensifying its efforts to diversify Ukraine’s gas supply routes with a view to reducing the country’s dependence on imports from Russia. One of The steps which Kyiv Has taken Has been to make The unprecedented decision to start importing gas fra its western neighbours.In November 2012, Ukraine’s state-owned Naftogaz began importing gas through Poland under a two-month contract with RWE (the imports continued into 2013 under a separate deal), while in the spring of 2013 Ukraine started importing gas from Canada. Kyiv is also currently looking into the possibility of purchasing gas from Slovakia. Furthermore, since 2010 the Ukrainian government has been working on the construction of an LNG terminal near Odesa. The authorities have declared that this will allow Ukraine to import up to 5 billion m3 of LNG a year by 2015. The government Has also taken measures to increase domestic production , including fra non-traditional sources, and it plans to replace gas-based with coal-based technologies in local power stations. Finally, in January 2013, the government signed a 50-year production sharing agreement with Shell. This paves the way for the development of Ukraine’s shale gas deposits.

ironmoose6 said:The answer is pretty straightforward:

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych signed an agreement [ 124 ] in which Russia agreed to a 30 percent drop in the price of natural gas sold to Ukraine

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, considering so much gas flows through Ukraine to reach the rest of the EU...

ironmoose6 said:Gas production is climbing, while Russian influence through energy supplies continues to fade...

"Take Crimea, for instance—we’ve kicked off offshore drilling and even picked up two rigs. They aren't cheap, mind you, but they'll allow us to ramp up gas production to 3 billion cubic meters from the shelf alone in the coming months," the Prime Minister remarked.

“And let’s look at the math: what does 3 billion cubic meters actually represent? It’s roughly $1.2 billion that we end up handing straight to the Russian Federation," he noted.

ironmoose6 said:Gas production is climbing, while Russian influence through energy supplies continues to fade...

"Take Crimea, for instance—we’ve kicked off offshore drilling and even picked up two rigs. They aren't cheap, mind you, but they'll allow us to ramp up gas production to 3 billion cubic meters from the shelf alone in the coming months," the Prime Minister remarked.

“And let’s look at the math: what does 3 billion cubic meters actually represent? It’s roughly $1.2 billion that we end up handing straight to the Russian Federation," he noted.

Larry Gray said:I'm guessing you're talking about this -article

For years now, the European Union has been getting a yearly "Christmas" card from Russia, which is basically just a threat to cut off gas deliveries because contracts haven't been signed yet. Then, right before the New Year, they suddenly sign everything and promise to sign the next deal earlier, only for the exact same cycle to repeat the following year.

The whole mess really stems from Belarus and Ukraine. Belarus is totally reliant on Russian gas and oil, and their entire economic growth depends on how much resource they can pull from Russia. But every year, Russia exports less to Belarus because selling to other countries is more profitable, which leads to massive arguments between the two sides.
Ukraine, on the other hand, deals with a different headache. The price per thousand cubic meters of gas shot up from $95 in 2006 to $430 by 2012—that’s pretty much the highest price any country pays for Russian gas. The reason is simple: there's a fear that if Russia sells cheap gas to Ukraine, Ukraine will then turn around and flip their surplus to other countries at a price lower than what Russia is offering.

All these disputes make the European Union nervous that Russian gas and oil aren't reliable sources and could shut off at any moment. Because of that, the EU hesitates to finalize its own deals with Russia until Russia settles things with Belarus and Ukraine. Meanwhile, the EU is hunting for alternatives by trying to bring in gas from other nations to create competition and hopefully drive prices down. The real kicker is that they want to completely shut out Russian companies from these new projects. They don't want Russian politics meddling in these new pipelines; they want to prevent the kind of leverage Russia has over Belarus and Ukraine from happening in Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, or Turkey, or anywhere else these new lines might run.

Larry Gray said:I'm guessing you're talking about this -article

For years now, the European Union has been getting a yearly "Christmas" card from Russia, which is basically just a threat to cut off gas deliveries because contracts haven't been signed yet. Then, right before the New Year, they suddenly sign everything and promise to sign the next deal earlier, only for the exact same cycle to repeat the following year.

The whole mess really stems from Belarus and Ukraine. Belarus is totally reliant on Russian gas and oil, and their entire economic growth depends on how much resource they can pull from Russia. But every year, Russia exports less to Belarus because selling to other countries is more profitable, which leads to massive arguments between the two sides.
Ukraine, on the other hand, deals with a different headache. The price per thousand cubic meters of gas shot up from $95 in 2006 to $430 by 2012—that’s pretty much the highest price any country pays for Russian gas. The reason is simple: there's a fear that if Russia sells cheap gas to Ukraine, Ukraine will then turn around and flip their surplus to other countries at a price lower than what Russia is offering.

All these disputes make the European Union nervous that Russian gas and oil aren't reliable sources and could shut off at any moment. Because of that, the EU hesitates to finalize its own deals with Russia until Russia settles things with Belarus and Ukraine. Meanwhile, the EU is hunting for alternatives by trying to bring in gas from other nations to create competition and hopefully drive prices down. The real kicker is that they want to completely shut out Russian companies from these new projects. They don't want Russian politics meddling in these new pipelines; they want to prevent the kind of leverage Russia has over Belarus and Ukraine from happening in Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, or Turkey, or anywhere else these new lines might run.