Sanctions on Russia

William Anderson5 said:But what else is there? Just sit around and let Moscow hold us hostage indefinitely? Europe needs to make a move now, if they haven't missed the window entirely. The real culprits are the Germans, who stubbornly refused to diversify because they assumed those US recommendations were just part of some broader American foreign policy agenda. Now that Putin has finally stabbed them in the back, maybe the Swabians will finally wake up...

I don't think the Germans will stay this way for long. Give it a few months—once everyone gets used to the war in Ukraine—and I bet things go right back to how they were, basically dancing to whatever tune the Green Reps want to whistle.

If it wasn't for that mess at Fukushima, who knows where we'd be right now.

Not to mention all that shale gas Europe is leaning on. If it weren't for that, gas prices would be even more insane than they already are.

William Anderson5 said:But what else is there? Just sit around and let Moscow hold us hostage indefinitely? Europe needs to make a move now, if they haven't missed the window entirely. The real culprits are the Germans, who stubbornly refused to diversify because they assumed those US recommendations were just part of some broader American foreign policy agenda. Now that Putin has finally stabbed them in the back, maybe the Swabians will finally wake up...

I actually couldn't find anything stating that the Germans are freezing over just because Putin shut off the tap. I mean, I looked, and nothing. Sure, Nord Stream 2 had to be temporarily frozen—obviously, they had to halt their own flow because that was ordered by the USA.
Blackmail implies shutting the valve completely, not just letting things flow steadily in one direction.
As for this whole crisis, it feels like it’s been dragging on way too long for some reason.

Anthony Hill5 said:Vladimir Putin's United Russia party has announced plans to nationalize the factories of Western corporations that fled Russia, claiming this move is necessary to protect workers left jobless by their departure.

Is it even believable? Very soon, we are supposedly going to see Russians producing more—and better quality—versions of Carlsberg and Heineken than the original brands themselves; they will apparently start manufacturing superior BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, and Volkswagens compared to the Germans, alongside better footwear and apparel than Adidas, Nike, and Puma, not to mention producing television series that outshine Netflix.

In reality, these sanctions will simply continue to strengthen and enrich Russia, just as they have served to bolster the nation over the last seven years.

https://www.vedomosti.ru/economics/n...t-proizvodstva

Who exactly is running this country? The level of absurdity in these claims is truly laughable. 🤣

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has signed a new law regarding the seizure of illegally obtained assets from government officials.

Under this legislation, anyone found to possess wealth that far exceeds their declared income will have those assets confiscated.

But what does this actually signify? It looks like nothing more than a calculated attempt to pressure everyone into keeping their mouths shut, lest they lose everything they’ve stolen—especially since almost everyone within Putin's inner circle has lined their pockets over the past twenty years.

https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/ne...podpisal-zakon

Maybe they should start by actually investigating their own people's assets first.

Last week, Germany Said IT would taka steps to diversify its Energy supply away fra Russia, announcing a €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) order for non-Russian liquefied natural gas and a possible slowdown of its exit from coal.

Wait, so to cut their reliance on Russian gas, the Germans are going to burn more coal? I’m struggling to see how that aligns with their green agenda and the whole fight against climate change.

The Germans can't make up their minds if they want to stand up or just fold. They talk big about sanctions, then quietly sneak in more Russian gas when nobody's looking. While Washington dictates the policy for everyone else, all of Europe—meaning us too—is going to end up footing the massive bill for their little crusade. Honestly, the USA is the only one walking away with a win here.

Justin James10 said:And isn't that precisely the problem? We are essentially trying to relegate Russia to the same status as those nations, despite them having every single ingredient necessary to be a top-tier global superpower.

See, all those countries share the exact same set of circumstances.

And those specific conditions almost practically guarantee an autocratic regime.

The raw resources in those places are worth vastly more than any actual economy the local population manages to build outside of those natural assets.

Because of that, those populations will always be treated like cattle, since they don't represent anything compared to the sheer value of the resources themselves.

Take a place like Switzerland, for example; their entire GDP is built on the productivity of their people. You can't exactly treat citizens like livestock there because they actually have value—they are the only thing that matters, so you have to keep them happy.

In Russia, though, all you have to do is keep the military and the police satisfied so they can keep the population penned up, and that's it. You rake in the cash by selling off resources on the global market. Everything else is just window dressing, a sort of theatrical performance to make it look like a functional, "normal" country.

When Putin talks about security, what he’s really talking about is extortion. It’s pure mafia rhetoric coming from a state that is essentially nothing more than organized crime loot. It hasn't always been this way, but it certainly has been for a long time.

The people in Switzerland who drive the economy aren't easy targets for a mafia-style takeover because they simply won't play ball; they’ll boycott, they'll underperform, or they'll just flee from anyone trying to devalue or oppress them. But the resources you pull out of the ground don't fight back, and the people extracting them don't need much motivation to get the job done.

That is why in Switzerland, politicians act as servants to the people, whereas in Russia, it’s the exact opposite: the people exist merely to serve the dictator's personal ambitions.

Michael Ortiz68 said:

Last week, Germany Said IT would taka steps to diversify its Energy supply away fra Russia, announcing a €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) order for non-Russian liquefied natural gas and a possible slowdown of its exit from coal.

Wait, so to cut their reliance on Russian gas, the Germans are going to burn more coal? I’m struggling to see how that aligns with their green agenda and the whole fight against climate change.

To build on that... Soder is suggesting that Germany might extend the lifespan of its nuclear plants by about five years.

A shift in the German energy strategy... it isn't exactly a complete reversal, but let's call it an "indefinite delay" of the energy transition.

Daniel Barnes53 said:US Says Its Oil Could Replace Imports of Russian Crude; All it would take is approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline

Maybe Canada could step up and cover the Russian oil imports the US currently relies on. I guess we're really only talking about about 3% of the total volume here.

What a complete burn for Biden; he basically shut that door down on his very first day in office.

Now this reporter is out here acting like they won't lower fuel prices. Maybe they won't, and honestly, who knows how the speculators are going to play it, but this move will definitely ensure Americans aren't handing their cash over to buy Russian oil.

hiddeneagle98 said:What a complete burn for Biden; he basically shut that door down on his very first day in office.

Now this reporter is out here acting like they won't lower fuel prices. Maybe they won't, and honestly, who knows how the speculators are going to play it, but this move will definitely ensure Americans aren't handing their cash over to buy Russian oil.

Trump is absolutely flailing. 😁

Michael Ortiz68 said:To build on that... Soder is suggesting that Germany might extend the lifespan of its nuclear plants by about five years.

A shift in the German energy strategy... it isn't exactly a complete reversal, but let's call it an "indefinite delay" of the energy transition.

There's plenty of gas in South Africa

Thomas Nelson25 said:There's plenty of gas in South Africa

How did nobody think of that? 😲

Jokes aside, the resources are there, but Algeria has announced they might bump up production and transfers by about 9% over the next five years... which is nowhere near enough.

Michael Ortiz68 said:To build on that... Soder is suggesting that Germany might extend the lifespan of its nuclear plants by about five years.

A shift in the German energy strategy... it isn't exactly a complete reversal, but let's call it an "indefinite delay" of the energy transition.

Yeah, those last nuclear plants were supposed to be decommissioned this year, but now? Probably not happening. The mess Germany made for itself was betting everything on renewables while trying to phase out fossil fuels and nuclear at the exact same time instead of doing it in stages. I think they even held a referendum on choosing renewables. They should have phased out fossil fuels gradually, replacing them with renewables to keep things sustainable, and then moved toward nuclear. But shutting down nuclear too fast created a massive gap they couldn't fill. So, what happened? They ramped up fossil fuel production, which ended up spiking the very CO2 emissions they were trying to slash in the first place.

Where did we lose our way? The landscape is shifting. In the hierarchy of needs, security is the foundation. When a sick regime starts attacking neighboring nations and threatening nuclear war, everything else on that pyramid just falls by the wayside.

urbanheron4 said:Yeah, those last nuclear plants were supposed to be decommissioned this year, but now? Probably not happening. The mess Germany made for itself was betting everything on renewables while trying to phase out fossil fuels and nuclear at the exact same time instead of doing it in stages. I think they even held a referendum on choosing renewables. They should have phased out fossil fuels gradually, replacing them with renewables to keep things sustainable, and then moved toward nuclear. But shutting down nuclear too fast created a massive gap they couldn't fill. So, what happened? They ramped up fossil fuel production, which ended up spiking the very CO2 emissions they were trying to slash in the first place.

I read they're already in the process of shutting them down, so you can't just hit a kill switch and stop it. You'd need to execute a full phase-out before even considering restarting them in 2023 or 2024.

Thomas Nelson25 said:There's plenty of gas in South Africa

Qatar is absolutely loaded with it, but you still have to actually build the pipelines first.

Michael Ortiz68 said:How did nobody think of that? 😲

Jokes aside, the resources are there, but Algeria has announced they might bump up production and transfers by about 9% over the next five years... which is nowhere near enough.

We've gotta find a competitor to counter NS2.
Look, I wouldn't cut off the Russians—just the business side of things... which is bound to happen once they finally pull back the curtain.

bluerider63 said:The Germans can't make up their minds if they want to stand up or just fold. They talk big about sanctions, then quietly sneak in more Russian gas when nobody's looking. While Washington dictates the policy for everyone else, all of Europe—meaning us too—is going to end up footing the massive bill for their little crusade. Honestly, the USA is the only one walking away with a win here.

Same old story about how America is going to profit from this. If you're buying into the narrative that the US is basically the devil, I guess it makes sense—but reality doesn't work like that.

Inflation in the States is already hitting record highs and causing massive headaches, and skyrocketing fossil fuel prices aren't helping. Add an energy crisis to the mix, and inflation just gets worse. Then there's the supply chain mess—titanium, palladium, cadmium, fertilizers, and those chip-making materials that have been a disaster for ages. It's a perfect storm.

If the American economy dips by even 0.5%, the fallout for its trading partners would be way more devastating than if any European nation dropped by 2%.

urbanheron4 said:Qatar is absolutely loaded with it, but you still have to actually build the pipelines first.

Is the route—the actual path—geopolitically clean?
Gotta pull up the map first.

Basically, if it can be done, do it. Cost isn't really the issue (assuming it covers decades of demand)—the main thing is making sure Russia knows there’s actually an alternative to their pipes.

It’s even happening in Israel

Thomas Nelson25 said:Is the route—the actual path—geopolitically clean?
Gotta pull up the map first.

Basically, if it can be done, do it. Cost isn't really the issue (assuming it covers decades of demand)—the main thing is making sure Russia knows there’s actually an alternative to their pipes.

Not really. 😁 You're looking at Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Basically, you'd have to find a way through Turkey first, and then maybe things would move.

But we shouldn't write Russia off forever, either. If their government collapses and someone like Navalny takes over, everything could flip overnight. Though, how realistic is that? Not sure.