Sanctions on Russia

Watching Germans moan about being too dependent on Russian gas makes me wish Moscow would just shut off the valves entirely... They’d find out pretty quickly what happens when the supply actually dries up. It wouldn't be much of a party then. ☕

William Anderson5 said:Next he'll probably explain how he plans to settle the bill in cash...

The Federal Reserve will just print dollars and pay for gas with them.😬>

Nathan Evans78 said:The Kremlin is actually demanding that gas payments be made in rubles. 🤣🤣

USD/RUB 100.32

Well, maybe Viktor Orbán will start paying for gas in rubles too, since he’s such a loyal member of the European Union. 🤣 🤣
Or perhaps this will be the turning point where everyone tells him to either get back to normal or pack his bags and head over to join the Russians. He’s already being kept in line by an increasingly agitated group of Poles.

Linda Lee4 said:Watching Germans moan about being too dependent on Russian gas makes me wish Moscow would just shut off the valves entirely... They’d find out pretty quickly what happens when the supply actually dries up. It wouldn't be much of a party then. ☕

The Germans are really at fault for this entire mess. They spent years convincing everyone across Europe that the Russians weren't using gas as leverage, claiming it was all just American propaganda. Then, right after the annexation of Crimea, they doubled down on building ST2... Meanwhile, they don't have a single LNG terminal to show for it. It’s just pure incompetence...

Merkel will go down in history as the new Neville Chamberlain...

Linda Lee4 said:Watching Germans moan about being too dependent on Russian gas makes me wish Moscow would just shut off the valves entirely... They’d find out pretty quickly what happens when the supply actually dries up. It wouldn't be much of a party then. ☕

The Russians probably won't cut them off until they've already secured their own leverage elsewhere—perhaps just a day before, acting like a disgruntled employer who wants to say, "You can't fire me, I'm firing you!"

It's an old story. Russia stronk.

Linda Lee4 said:Watching Germans moan about being too dependent on Russian gas makes me wish Moscow would just shut off the valves entirely... They’d find out pretty quickly what happens when the supply actually dries up. It wouldn't be much of a party then. ☕

They really screwed themselves. It's no surprise they're complaining now.

William Anderson5 said:The Germans are really at fault for this entire mess. They spent years convincing everyone across Europe that the Russians weren't using gas as leverage, claiming it was all just American propaganda. Then, right after the annexation of Crimea, they doubled down on building ST2... Meanwhile, they don't have a single LNG terminal to show for it. It’s just pure incompetence...

Merkel will go down in history as the new Neville Chamberlain...

And let’s be honest, the Germans basically hold the European Union together,😁 though you can't exactly bypass the French either if you want things to move. When one of the main pillars of the EU fails this catastrophically at planning for the future, you can bet the rest of the smaller nations are going to suffer the consequences.

Besides, we all know the Americans couldn't care less; they're perfectly happy fighting Russia through a convenient Ukrainian proxy anyway.☕

William Anderson5 said:The Germans are really at fault for this entire mess. They spent years convincing everyone across Europe that the Russians weren't using gas as leverage, claiming it was all just American propaganda. Then, right after the annexation of Crimea, they doubled down on building ST2... Meanwhile, they don't have a single LNG terminal to show for it. It’s just pure incompetence...

Merkel will go down in history as the new Neville Chamberlain...

You are spot on, though thanks to the democratic process—specifically our ability to actually influence leadership—they are now moving at breakneck speed to fix the massive disaster they created.
With enough capital, which they certainly have, they might actually pull it off.
Given how aggressively they’ve pivoted, I wouldn't be surprised if they "shut down" Nord Stream 1 within a month or two, or at least walk away from coal and oil imports altogether... which would deal a massive blow to Russia.

There is also a lot of loud chatter regarding the fact that they are still funneling 200 million euros a day to Russia, which could very well be just the beginning of the shift.
Best regards,

The French authorities seized two yachts on the Riviera this morning, valued at about $100 million...
The owner? Alexei Kuzmichev, one of those guys close to Putin.

The total value of everything seized is estimated at roughly $100 million.

Since the UAE decided against slapping sanctions on Russia, we’re seeing the fallout play out in real time. The US is going to lose its grip on those F-35 sales—leaving the door wide open for the Chinese—while Bashar al-Assad, the very man Washington was trying to erase from the map, just cruised right into a friendly visit with the UAE elite.☕

https://twitter.com/thesiriusreport/...95774709153793

Nathan Evans78 said:The Kremlin is actually demanding that gas payments be made in rubles. 🤣🤣

USD/RUB 100.32

Look, if you want to buy anything from them, you have to play by their rules and use rubles.

But here’s the catch—you’re going to have to buy those rubles at whatever exchange rate the Russians decide to set that day. Let’s say they decide 1 USD equals 50 rubles.
Putin is going to act like this ultimate legalist—he'll insist on sticking to the official contract price in Euros, sure, but he'll demand the actual payment be made in rubles. In reality, you’ll end up handing over twice as many Euros just to cover the spread. So, without ever actually touching the sticker price of the gas, you've effectively doubled the cost. It's a clever little shell game. 😬

stormygardener15 said:I really hope the energy planners over at the Department of Energy have a broader perspective on this and aren't just letting their emotions drive the bus.

In no world should we be looking at any scenario where we just write Russia out of the equation for the American energy landscape, and honestly, making that same mistake with other major suppliers would be just as reckless. We need to keep our energy routes wide open to everyone so we don't end up stuck in some pathetic situation where we're totally dependent on just one single source.

I think I read somewhere—or maybe I just heard it during a late-night scroll—that the actual energy content in finished products is way lower now than it was a few decades back. I’m betting that trend is only going to get stronger. If you factor in all this green energy stuff moving in, we’re heading toward a point where gas and oil won't even be the big players in heavy industry anymore.

But if you want my honest opinion, what actually keeps me up at night is the idea of the US and its entire political machine being completely purged of Russian influence, those bought-off politicians, and all those sleeper agents lurking around. That’s gotta be the number one priority.

The reality is that all major strategic European plans were already moving toward phasing out fossil fuels entirely, regardless of what Russia was doing. This transition was supposed to be gradual; now, it’s simply being fast-tracked—though whether it actually succeeds remains to be seen.

These recent policy shifts following the invasion aren't anything revolutionary; they're just the existing plans put on steroids. 😁

Benjamin Taylor6 said:Look, if you want to buy anything from them, you have to play by their rules and use rubles.

But here’s the catch—you’re going to have to buy those rubles at whatever exchange rate the Russians decide to set that day. Let’s say they decide 1 USD equals 50 rubles.
Putin is going to act like this ultimate legalist—he'll insist on sticking to the official contract price in Euros, sure, but he'll demand the actual payment be made in rubles. In reality, you’ll end up handing over twice as many Euros just to cover the spread. So, without ever actually touching the sticker price of the gas, you've effectively doubled the cost. It's a clever little shell game. 😬

I can only imagine how consumers will react, because what Putin is pulling here is nothing short of... extortion. It’s a move where those being squeezed have the choice to comply, but certainly don't have to.
Best regards,

William Anderson5 said:Next he'll probably explain how he plans to settle the bill in cash...

The Federal Reserve will come up with something😁

Quincy:

He gave the Federal Reserve a week to figure out how to shift those payments away from other currencies.

William Anderson5 said:The Germans are really at fault for this entire mess. They spent years convincing everyone across Europe that the Russians weren't using gas as leverage, claiming it was all just American propaganda. Then, right after the annexation of Crimea, they doubled down on building ST2... Meanwhile, they don't have a single LNG terminal to show for it. It’s just pure incompetence...

Merkel will go down in history as the new Neville Chamberlain...

And let's not forget how they shut down most of the nuclear plants...

Now we get to watch our industry fall apart.🤦

Instead of pushing for collective independence regarding energy and food within the EU, they're busy babbling about butterflies that supposedly generate green electricity through flatulence. All this talk about "Fit for 55"... it’s pure idiocy.

So, Russian oil and gas prices just spiked. Great. They're basically trading away their competitive edge right now—just swapping short-term wins for permanent structural losses down the road. As the ruble loses value, it actually becomes cheaper for Europe to finally cut ties with those resources. I wonder if the Putin apologists even grasp the irony here? 😆 I assume Putin thinks Europe is going to commit suicide just to prop up the ruble. 🤣🤣

I find this entire maneuver regarding paying for natural gas in rubles completely baffling. Look, it is obviously vital for the Russians to secure Euros if they want any hope of defending their currency's exchange rate. But here is the catch: will they actually sell the gas for Euros, or are they planning to dump rubles to buy Euros first? To me, it all feels like a distinction without a difference. Besides, if the Euro can simply be used to purchase rubles from someone like China, what exactly is the Tsar going to do then?

The ruble isn't some kind of global currency you can just swap out easily... This whole thing is just Putin playing to his base—trying to convince the Russian public that:hey, now that Germany will be paying us in rubles, we don't have to worry about the currency tanking or people scrambling to trade it in for something actually stable like the dollar.

Putin’s making a wild move here. I guess he thinks this is some kind of death hug for both sides—a desperate attempt to force together two parties that clearly have zero interest in working together.

So, here’s the thing: the Germans are going to be out there buying up rubles using dollars, which is just going to drive their prices through the roof and make everything even more expensive for them. And then you have to wonder, how are the Russians supposed to get their hands on the dollars they actually need if they're stuck playing that game with rubles?
I mean, honestly, that banker of his isn't doing a bad job at all, especially when you consider the absolute mess of conditions he's forced to operate under.