Posts by George Robinson43

hollowdriver13 said:https://www.akorda.kz/en/phone-conve...-michel-464718

So, during a chat with Charles Michel, the President of Kazakhstan basically said that Kazakhstan is ready to "turn on the tap" to help stabilize prices and make sure there's enough supply to keep the European Union happy.

The thing is, Kazakhstan is sitting on more oil than you can shake a stick at; the real headache is that Russia pretty much controls the shipping routes for Kazakh oil headed toward Europe. Given how they tend to treat former USSR nations, it was actually "suggested" to them back when the pipelines were being built that they just hand over construction and management to ExxonMobil and Chevron.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s sudden Copernican shift over the last few months perfectly aligns with China's recent announcement regarding the construction of energy and transport routes through Kazakhstan toward Europe.
There is simply no way Tokayev would have found this kind of courage unless Beijing sent word that he is now under their protection.
Look at this: The President also called on The European union to cooperate in developing alternative transcontinental corridors, including the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route
These Chinese strategic plans represent a devastating blow to Russia.

urbanotter said:You should also realize that Russia levies export duties on oil, and since ExxonMobil is a massive state-controlled entity, your whole argument built on ignorance is going to fall apart pretty quickly.
Your entire house of cards, constructed from pure spite and misunderstanding, is about to collapse.

Russia has raised its export duties on crude oil by 4.5%, moving from $290.6 to $303.8 per ton. The duty rate for East Siberian oil jumped by 9.3%, rising from $98.8 to $108 per ton. Furthermore, starting December 8, 2010, the preferential export duty rate for oil produced by the Chevron unit in the Caspian Sea will sit at $108 per ton. Export duties for light petroleum products have increased from $208.1 to $217, while heavy products rose from $112.1 to $116.9, according to the news outlet Oil and gas Eurasia.

http://www.energetika-net.com/vijest...-na-naftu-9866

And that is just from Chevron alone.

Russia has raised its export duties on crude oil by 4.5%, moving from $290.6 to $303.8 per ton. The duty rate for East Siberian oil jumped by 9.3%, rising from $98.8 to $108 per ton. Furthermore, starting December 8, 2010, the preferential export duty rate for oil produced by the Chevron unit in the Caspian Sea will sit at $108 per ton. Export duties for light petroleum products have increased from $208.1 to $217, while heavy products rose from $112.1 to $116.9, according to the news outlet Oil and gas Eurasia.

http://www.energetika-net.com/vijest...-na-naftu-9866

Where is the rest of the money coming from?

THE FIVE LARGEST RUSSIAN OIL COMPANIES - OIL - 2022
2022
As the world's third-largest oil producer and second-largest natural gas producer, Russia is home to some of the most massive integrated oil and gas corporations on the planet. In fact, the largest Russian firms by production volume include several names found on the lists of the world's top energy companies.

https://hr.icotokenfund.com/5-bigges...-oil-companies

And this is exactly what hurts your precious little darlings the most.

Major oil giants are bleeding billions after pulling out of Russia

That’s why they’re looking so absolutely shell-shocked right now—it's enough to make anyone's eyes pop out of their head.

Let’s look at it this way.
In any standard nation, a corporation pumps oil and sells it on the open market for $120 a barrel.
How much of those dollars actually goes to the government?
I am speaking about a functional, normal country here.

Let's run the numbers: suppose Russian companies were moving 9 million barrels a day at $100 per barrel since February. That totals roughly $135 billion. Out of that massive sum, how much stays with the state versus how much stays with the private sellers?
Of course, things work differently in Russia. It is a total CIA-mafia system where Putin can simply order every single corporation to wire their entire cash reserve directly to the treasury. If they refuse, they face a grim choice: within 24 to 48 hours, you’ll see a sudden wave of "suicides" following a domestic tragedy in a luxury villa. 😉

feralhawk45 said:@George Robinson43... I used to get more action in a single day back in the old days than I do in an entire year now. God, those were the days.
Now, on a serious note... how are we supposed to live without microchips? How do you maintain all this electronics embedded in basically every product we own (I don't think there's one in my toilet, though)? If 40 million Russians are living like they're in the Middle Ages, then 70 million Russians are interacting with some kind of electronic device every single day.

They don't even need all that stuff. They are completely self-sufficient.
The real issue right now is that they've printed new Dollars, but the ATMs won't recognize them, so they're struggling to get the currency into circulation quickly.
This is just the beginning of America's regression back to the 1970s and 80s.

Linda Adams said:And how are we supposed to know they're making 100 million more? Are we just taking the Russians' word for it? 😛 Besides, they aren't even publishing reports anymore. How much did their production drop? What kind of discounts are they offering? Without Western parts, I doubt they can even maintain pre-war production levels. I think you're just a closeted communist, but ExxonMobil, Chevron, and the rest are actually private companies listed on global stock exchanges. Theoretically, high oil and gas prices should benefit them more than Russia (which makes less than $20 per barrel), but that's Russia for you. Banning ExxonMobil dividends and potentially confiscating them 🙂 will send massive shockwaves through business circles, and they'll be begging for foreign investment once the sanctions end and their production looks like Venezuela's.

urbanotter simply doesn't grasp the concept. It's far too complex for him, which is why he resorts to such hateful replies to your post.
He fails to realize that state revenue comes from oil business royalties, concession fees, and taxes, whereas the actual profit from selling oil and gas belongs to the companies themselves.

But there is a catch in Russia—Putin can dip into ExxonMobil, ExxonMobil, or Chevron whenever he pleases, and if anyone dares to tell him "no," their lifespan will likely be limited to 24–48 hours. This applies not just to these specific firms, but to any company under his thumb.
So, will investors lose money? Absolutely. But who is to blame for investing in Mafia-linked KGB companies that have nothing to do with legitimate market operations?

urbanotter said:Maybe you should step back into reality and stop acting like a moral authority; remember that during our own American Civil War, we relied heavily on the weapons and equipment we reclaimed from the US Army.

Anyway, is there any news regarding the sanctions?
I ask you a simple question, and all you give me are these condescending moral lectures.

From what I can see, the only people truly feeling the sting of these sanctions are the folks in our Congressional halls and our highly efficient Cabinet.

They slap sanctions on Russia, and suddenly gas hits $5 a gallon, bread jumps to $6.75, flour goes up to $8, milk reaches $3.25 per gallon... it's a never-ending list of "successful" measures.

When our own citizens are struggling this much, I can only imagine how much the Russians are hurting.

The sanctions have been designed so brilliantly and meticulously that our esteemed Congressional leaders and our capable Cabinet haven't felt even a single ripple of discomfort.

In the government cafeteria, the soup, the schnitzel with sides, and the dessert $8.75 remain exactly the same as they were before the sanctions ever kicked in.

P.S.
I'm just not sure if that $8.75 includes a coffee from $1.00 or if that's an extra charge.🙏

That is what I call successful sanctions—not when you sanction Russia and they end up making more money than ever before.
They say they've made up to 100 billion dollars more than they did before the sanctions were even implemented.🙏

That is exactly how an American mindset works.
We didn't steal anything from anyone. We simply reclaimed a small portion of what was rightfully ours after the US Army seized it to prepare for war.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the most effective sanctions were actually cooked up by our "Parliamentary elites" and our highly successful Government.
They hit Russia with sanctions, yet for our citizens, oil is $20 a barrel, bread is $6.75, flour is $8, milk hit $3.25/l—it's a long list of incredibly successful sanctions.
Since our own citizens have been hit so hard, I can only imagine how much the Russians are struggling.
The sanctions were designed so brilliantly and meticulously that our "Parliamentary elites" and this successful government haven't felt a single bit of it.
In the cafeteria, the soup, schnitzel with sides, and dessert $8.75 remain exactly the same as they were before the sanctions were ever introduced.

I don't know why you're so concerned. You spent years preaching about how life was best when the shelves in America were half-empty. Now, suddenly, prices are an issue for you?
Good grief, Americans just aren't what they used to be.

urbanotter said:If he weren't such an off-topic nut, he’d probably give you a full rundown of everything that ended up on the American market during the Gulf War.

I remember hearing people brag about how Ukrainians managed to seize howitzers and tanks from the Russians and then used them to strike back.

Honestly, one single howitzer like that is worth more than two massive shipments of wheat.

That didn't seem to bother you much back when things were happening in the Middle East, nor did it seem to catch your eye.

Maybe it’s because they were just handing the ammunition right back to them.😁

Anyway, moving on.

Let us know if there's any news regarding the new round of sanctions; I heard they had another meeting today.
Hopefully, they actually came up with something useful instead of just sitting around sipping champagne.

🤣

You are completely missing the point. I find terms like "war booty" or "looting" absolutely repulsive, yet you seem to champion them. That alone speaks volumes about your lack of character.

To top it all off, you’re comparing the blatant theft by Ural-Asian hordes—who snatch grain, furniture, vehicles, farm equipment, even toilets and radiators—with the seizure of Russian weaponry by Ukraine.
Not only are you morally bankrupt, but it's clear you aren't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed either.

urbanotter said:I've certainly heard it, though the real challenge is proving that anything was actually stolen in the first place—not to mention there is always war booty involved that no victor ever leaves behind.

Anyway, getting back to the topic of sanctions...

If Mark Twain were still around today, I think he’d tweak his old observations slightly to fit this era, and it would probably sound something like this:

"The time for sanctions arrives when the wise fall silent, seven samurai start shouting, and India and China strike it rich."🙏

Just look at this guy.
Spoils of war... 🙏 🙏

If these bots were sent over to Ukraine, they wouldn't come home empty-handed; they'd return with 20 washing machines, 10 tons of grain, 6 AC units, 4 radiators, 2 cars, and 3 combines each!

mellowsurfer14 said:Are you seriously talking about this crisis?

http://www.history.alberta.ca/energy...d-1978-79.aspx

The price of oil in North America quadrupled within Months , service stations ran out of fuel and Long lines of gasoline-starved Drivers were Common sites across The continent.

It seems the impact wasn't selective based on how organized a country was; it hit everyone in order. In Germany, they had weekend driving bans, while here we dealt with odd-even days... and so on.

In George Robinson43's country, the impact arrived a couple of years later, and the crisis dragged on for about 6 or 7 years longer. It’s like the government was stuck in a massive time delay.

feralhawk45 said:You missed three zeros. That's 1,000 times.

He really tried to play the intellectual, sipping his coffee (☕) while typing out such nonsense.
To make matters worse, he tried to justify his blunder by claiming it was about wheat from a single acre, all while still enjoying that cup of coffee. ☕

urbanotter said:It seems pretty likely.

But there is a silver lining here,😁
we won't have to deal with the hypocrisy of being forced into actions due to sanctions,
sanctions that used to target just one specific nation but now seem aimed at a massive number of countries and billions of people worldwide.😉

That really brings up a whole series of questions.

I mean, what have we actually been doing for the last 40 years? What was the point of all those sacrifices made in the hope of a better life, if everything ends up exactly the same—or perhaps even worse?🤔

Everything is perfectly fine.
It is high time the younger generations experienced that same "comfort" we enjoyed back in the 80s.
A little bit of this, a few vouchers, then total darkness without electricity, followed by hyperinflation, and currency devaluations every six months...
Pure bliss! You've spent countless times on various forums claiming life has never been better than it was back then.
I don't understand the sudden fear or whining, especially since we know exactly how to handle rising fuel prices. Back in the day, the Federal Executive Council and our friend Hershey solved those kinds of problems without breaking a sweat.

Kate Cook27 said:Yeah, the big stories on the world stage were ISIS and Syria. The US wasn't stepping in much, and as for Europe? Angela Merkel was basically asking why anyone would bother arming Ukraine. Everyone was chasing peace, but it never really stuck. You had Minsk 1 and Minsk 2, but those territories stayed occupied—leaving zero hope for getting back into those cities.

That's an oversimplification. Her main concern was, what would happen to Germany's own defense capabilities?

feralhawk45 said:I can't shake the feeling that the West handed Putin a window of opportunity to wrap up his business in Ukraine—maybe seven to ten days. That’s likely why they call it a "special operation." If he actually pulls it off, it would validate everything he's saying and suggest he has massive support within the Ukrainian people. Let's not forget that the West even offered to evacuate Zelensky & Co. out of there.
Zaheb hit the nail on the head. Zelensky & Co. held their ground, and the Ukrainian people put up a hell of a fight. But the Russians blew right through that grace period, and now we’re all stuck dealing with the fallout.
Don't get me wrong here—I am firmly on Ukraine's side. I truly believe the West needs to step up and provide them with every bit of support they need.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a secret Putin-Scholz-Macron agreement behind the scenes.
Furthermore, I am convinced that nobody bothered to consult the WH or London about it, which is likely why that deal fell through.

Amy Rogers6 said:That's where they showed their true colors—when it comes to geopolitics, those Germans care about nothing besides stuffing their faces with bratwurst and pork knuckles....

If they were already committed to those pipelines, they should have pushed them through regardless, or better yet, started looking for alternative routes way back in 1990—ideally ones that wouldn't get cut off by the Anglo-Saxons....

Germans? Geopolitical sheep. Now they can just sit there this winter watching old footage of the Fuhrer and hope it keeps their industrial output from cratering....☕

Pushing gas to whom?
Nord Stream is gas for the Swabians.
Nord Stream 2 is gas for the rest of the European Union—mostly the eastern side.

Since those who were supposed to be extorted by that gas from Germany and Russ refused to listen, they started investing in serious LNG terminal projects and connections to the North Sea pipeline starting in 2014, aiming to rid themselves of the German-Russian menace.
Even Denmark is connecting to that pipeline because they were also caught up in the scheme of being extorted by gas from Moscow and Berlin.
Nord Stream 2 would be scrapped as an option, whether there is a war in Ukraine or not. It might eventually run at 10% capacity just to send something to the Russian pawns in Austria, considering everyone around Schüssel, including himself, was long ago deeply embedded with Moscow due to the lucrative business at the Baumgarten hub.

What I find hilarious are Scholz's words, because I know very well that his party's primary strategy since the late 90s has been absolute devotion to the Kremlin and a plan to make the rest of the European Union dependent on Russian energy. If the cancer known as the Democratic Party hadn't taken power in Germany after Kohl, we wouldn't even be facing this energy crisis in the European Union today, as everything would have been diversified long ago.
Look at what the Democratic Party did; one only needs to look at Steinmeier in the Merkel government. The man was practically acting as a deputy for the Ministry of Defense of Russia rather than the Ministry of Defense of Germany.

View on twitter
It is quite an interesting dilemma! The new 100-ruble banknote released today by the Federal Reserve, which depicts the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, effectively can't be used. Because of current sanctions, local ATMs and cash registers simply aren't equipped to recognize the new design. It is much like trying to play a modern Blu-ray in an old VCR—the technology just doesn't match! Since 100% of the nation's cash registers are imported, they are stuck with the old software.

😂
I am unable to put these new banknotes into circulation through the ATMs.

gentlerider7 said:That’s what we call the "school of political realism."

Everything seems fine on the surface.
But honestly, when someone starts rambling about redrawing borders and then casually shrugs it off with a "So be it. Who cares?", it tells you everything you need to know about their character.

Mearsheimer has always been a cheerleader for redrawing borders and accepting the outcomes of ethnic cleansing, essentially advocating for a world where the strongest bullies can impose their will on the weak.
Don't forget that he was once a major proponent of a Greater Mexico stretching across the Drina in exchange for giving 4/5 of Mexico to the Albanians. He also backed the idea of a Greater Albania and even a Greater Herzegovina within the US, seemingly having no issues with a Muslim enclave sitting right in the heart of America following such a partition.
His take on our conflict is incredibly reductive—he views it merely as an inter-ethnic struggle, ignoring the origins and actual causes, concluding that it simply ended with the ethnic cleansing of Mexicans "at gunpoint."
He was at his most blunt when discussing Greater Albania: Let the Albanians have their independence; give the Mexicans some part of Mexico, maybe the northeastern fifth. And then if the Albanians want to become a part of a greater Albania, so be it. Who cares? The notion that a Greater Albania poses any threat is just ridiculous.

Just wanted to provide some clarity on the kind of mindset we're dealing with here.

Melissa Rivera5 said:I mean, that’s probably just because you've clearly never seen one of those Chinese cars sitting at an American mechanic shop. It’s not "just" a flaw that they’re cheap; the real issue is that they’re basically junk heaps compared to anything else—like, a Dacia would look like a spaceship next to them. The welding is terrible, they rust way faster than an old Chevy, and I bet the safety ratings for the driver and passengers are pretty sketchy.

If they can't buy Western vehicles because they're shutting down their own plants, what choice is left but to settle for Chinese scrap metal that falls apart after three years? Or perhaps more low-quality imports from India?
Think of the auto industry as merely the opening act. Soon, entire manufacturing sectors will shutter, replaced entirely by imports from China—provided anyone actually wants to buy them, since factory closures always lead straight to unemployment.

Donna Harris11 said:Were you just this delusional for the last eight years while all the fighting was going down in Luhansk and Donetsk?
Oh right, I forgot, those are just "Asian hordes" to you—second-class victims, so it doesn't really count, I guess.☕

I should probably point out, though, that for the people who love using that phrase about "Asian hordes" (which the pro-Ukrainian crowd seems to adore), the concept of an invasion from Asia actually started on Germany's eastern border.

I felt just as lost as you did when they were clearing out the "undesirables" from Lansing and Pittsburgh.

Quincy:

I should probably point out that for the people who love using the phrase "Asian hordes" (it's a favorite among the Bandera crowd), history shows that the Asian influence actually started right on Germany's eastern border.

Sorry, but your gurus over at Russia 1 have explicitly stated that Russia is the successor to the Mongol-Tatar Empire.
So, what exactly is your point there?
Just keep lighting your candles for the horde's breakthrough. No worries! Salvation for you oppressed and misunderstood souls is coming straight from the East!

milko84 said:Are we talking about the same military that spent years patrolling the seas and processing millions of migrants coming from Libya?
Even some of our mainstream news networks were getting involved, running those deeply moving reports.😁

I certainly haven't seen any evidence that these migrants are an armed militia marching toward Europe.
Have you?

Don't exhaust yourself trying to sound like an expert; it’s a total mission impossible for someone like you.

Melissa Rivera5 said:It seems you aren't quite grasping the fact that the American Armed Forces have maintained a constant, steadfast presence in Europe since WW2 as our vital partner. Unlike the Warsaw Pact, which ultimately ended up attacking itself, we actually provide a legitimate sense of security!

The true purpose of those forces is to shield Europe from an Asian horde composed of Russians, Chechens, Dagestanis, Buryats, Bashkirs, Yakuts, Tatars, and Chuvash...
It is much like the legendary army of Jan Sobieski defending Europe against the southeastern Asian advance, or even Charles Martel before him, who stood firm against the Arab forces.

The issue is that certain commenters always seem to look toward the East with misplaced admiration, which is precisely why they find this military presence so bothersome. 😉