Sanctions on Russia

https://www.reuters.com/business/ene...es-2022-03-25/

Sinopec, the state-owned giant over in China, is pulling the plug on all their Russian projects and freezing any more investments.

🤔 I mean, weren't all those Putin fans claiming China would just swoop in and grab every last drop of Russian fossil fuel production? They made it sound like they’d easily just replace the European Union market. But nope—turns out Europe is basically just sabotaging itself by cutting off Russia, and apparently, Beijing isn't actually going to bail them out. Who would've thought?

https://twitter.com/jeancharlesgand/...02610713280512

The Moscow stock market just took a massive dive, basically wiping out all those gains from the start of the week. Honestly, even if they hadn't crashed, most of that profit was kind of a mirage anyway because the central bank stepped in and banned foreign investors from selling their holdings. 😬

Gerald Chavez7 said:What a load of nonsense 🤦... it’s going to be an uphill battle for the pro-Putin crowd over the next few years. Europe is ramping up both renewables and nuclear energy, while Russian gas supplies just keep shrinking year after year.

Speaking of nuclear energy and the West. Look at Italy. The Montalto di Castro nuclear plant. Construction started and they finished the facility in 1988. Not long after completion, Italians head to the polls in a referendum and vote to scrap nuclear energy entirely. That finished plant never even went online. Just hundreds of millions of dollars dumped into a concrete tomb. Berlusconi tried to jumpstart Italy's nuclear potential once, but after the Fukushima disaster, the Italians went back to the ballot box and voted 94% to suspend all nuclear activity indefinitely in 2011. So, Italy stays hooked on gas. ☕

As for renewables? Think about the scale. To meet domestic needs, you'd need a cube of solar panels measuring 100x100x100 meters. And in 50 years, what then? You'll have an ecological time bomb sitting there that you have to figure out how to dump somewhere. ☕

Wind turbines were welcomed with open arms initially, but go down to rural Texas or the Midwest and ask the locals what they think now. You might be surprised.

In my view, nuclear plants are the ideal solution, but I’m skeptical—especially if the contract to build them goes to Joe's crew of train robbers. Given the intense aversion to nuclear energy, it's hard to see another one being built. ☕

So we're stuck with coal, gas, and hydro. Since we've entered this era of extreme climate shifts—if you haven't noticed, it hasn't rained in months—reservoir levels have plummeted, forcing us to lean on coal and gas plants. We're running low on Russian coal and no alternative has surfaced yet (I haven't checked how many months of reserves we actually have left). As for gas, government reports say we have maybe six months left, and still no backup plan. Not to mention LPG is way more expensive than natural gas.

Sure, gas will be available, but the distributors won't give a damn about empathy; they'll sell to the highest bidder, and that certainly won't be America. That's why the populist Viktor Orbán visited Vladimir Putin to cut deals; he doesn't care about Ukraine. They call Orbán a populist, but maybe he just negotiated fixed, cheaper oil and gas prices with Putin, which explains why gas is cheaper in Canada. For us, a massive price hike is coming on April 1st because the companies distributing energy to households took out loans last month just to cover payroll. I'd offer a conclusion here, but I assume you're smart enough to draw your own.☕

rowdyraven112 said:Speaking of nuclear energy and the West. Look at Italy. The Montalto di Castro nuclear plant. Construction started and they finished the facility in 1988. Not long after completion, Italians head to the polls in a referendum and vote to scrap nuclear energy entirely. That finished plant never even went online. Just hundreds of millions of dollars dumped into a concrete tomb. Berlusconi tried to jumpstart Italy's nuclear potential once, but after the Fukushima disaster, the Italians went back to the ballot box and voted 94% to suspend all nuclear activity indefinitely in 2011. So, Italy stays hooked on gas. ☕

As for renewables? Think about the scale. To meet domestic needs, you'd need a cube of solar panels measuring 100x100x100 meters. And in 50 years, what then? You'll have an ecological time bomb sitting there that you have to figure out how to dump somewhere. ☕

Wind turbines were welcomed with open arms initially, but go down to rural Texas or the Midwest and ask the locals what they think now. You might be surprised.

In my view, nuclear plants are the ideal solution, but I’m skeptical—especially if the contract to build them goes to Joe's crew of train robbers. Given the intense aversion to nuclear energy, it's hard to see another one being built. ☕

So we're stuck with coal, gas, and hydro. Since we've entered this era of extreme climate shifts—if you haven't noticed, it hasn't rained in months—reservoir levels have plummeted, forcing us to lean on coal and gas plants. We're running low on Russian coal and no alternative has surfaced yet (I haven't checked how many months of reserves we actually have left). As for gas, government reports say we have maybe six months left, and still no backup plan. Not to mention LPG is way more expensive than natural gas.

Sure, gas will be available, but the distributors won't give a damn about empathy; they'll sell to the highest bidder, and that certainly won't be America. That's why the populist Viktor Orbán visited Vladimir Putin to cut deals; he doesn't care about Ukraine. They call Orbán a populist, but maybe he just negotiated fixed, cheaper oil and gas prices with Putin, which explains why gas is cheaper in Canada. For us, a massive price hike is coming on April 1st because the companies distributing energy to households took out loans last month just to cover payroll. I'd offer a conclusion here, but I assume you're smart enough to draw your own.☕

Here we go again. Everything you're saying is right—Russia invaded Ukraine and now the whole deck is being reshuffled. It's pretty simple. There isn't an economic reason in the world that justifies the Russian invasion. Even if they gave away oil and gas for free, it wouldn't work. I don't know what people aren't getting.

hollowdriver13 said:https://www.reuters.com/business/ene...es-2022-03-25/

Sinopec, the state-owned giant over in China, is pulling the plug on all their Russian projects and freezing any more investments.

🤔 I mean, weren't all those Putin fans claiming China would just swoop in and grab every last drop of Russian fossil fuel production? They made it sound like they’d easily just replace the European Union market. But nope—turns out Europe is basically just sabotaging itself by cutting off Russia, and apparently, Beijing isn't actually going to bail them out. Who would've thought?

They're pulling back because their margins look terrible without their top customers. It's not about fearing sanctions—the Chinese aren't exactly shaking in their boots over that right now.

Dennis Price said:Here we go again. Everything you're saying is right—Russia invaded Ukraine and now the whole deck is being reshuffled. It's pretty simple. There isn't an economic reason in the world that justifies the Russian invasion. Even if they gave away oil and gas for free, it wouldn't work. I don't know what people aren't getting.

It’s entirely possible for Russia to "give away" gas for a long stretch just to cover the costs of war reparations.🤔

lp

If Europe actually acted as a single entity with a unified policy—turning off the gas and focusing inward—they could manage. They would find ways to squeeze through the tight spots, discover new solutions, and draft entirely new strategic plans. This would mean redefining their relationships with America, Russia, and China, while establishing a cohesive internal agenda. But instead, everyone is just out for themselves, chasing their own separate interests.

So you're saying everyone just dances to whatever tune the Germans play.

analogbear5 said:So you're saying everyone just dances to whatever tune the Germans play.

I wouldn't be so broad. Germany carries the heavy weight of WWII history, which limits their ability to act as the sole political leader of a new Europe. This is the moment where nations like France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland, and the smaller states need to architect a unified energy policy, a cohesive foreign strategy, and economic alliances to strengthen their collective integrity against everyone—including the Americans, the Russians, and China. For instance, if they decided to cut off gas supplies to Russia, all of Europe would have to react as one unit. Germany needs that gas, but so does Poland, Italy, or maybe Romania. It’s about total cooperation through shared policy. If we have already labeled such actions as aggression, then the question remains: is it true aggression, or is there some nuance we are ignoring?

hollowdriver13 said:https://www.reuters.com/business/ene...es-2022-03-25/

Sinopec, the state-owned giant over in China, is pulling the plug on all their Russian projects and freezing any more investments.

🤔 I mean, weren't all those Putin fans claiming China would just swoop in and grab every last drop of Russian fossil fuel production? They made it sound like they’d easily just replace the European Union market. But nope—turns out Europe is basically just sabotaging itself by cutting off Russia, and apparently, Beijing isn't actually going to bail them out. Who would've thought?

Maybe do some actual reading. They’re moving forward with everything already on the books.
They just paused talks on a new project that was still being hashed out.
I'm guessing they don't want to stick their necks out too far until things settle down in Ukraine.☕

wiredseal7 said:Maybe do some actual reading. They’re moving forward with everything already on the books.
They just paused talks on a new project that was still being hashed out.
I'm guessing they don't want to stick their necks out too far until things settle down in Ukraine.☕

And honestly, why should they care what the angry West thinks about them? At the end of the day, China and Russia are probably going to tear the West apart anyway, right? Plus, China might just ditch Western markets entirely if it means saving Russia's skin.
They really ought to be subsidizing investments to bail out their allies, especially since Russian oil is practically dirt cheap right now.
Or... hey, maybe those cold, calculating capitalists wrapped in communist colors over in Beijing actually find the wealthy West a little too important to ignore after all? ☕

Betty Patel172 said:I wouldn't be so broad. Germany carries the heavy weight of WWII history, which limits their ability to act as the sole political leader of a new Europe. This is the moment where nations like France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland, and the smaller states need to architect a unified energy policy, a cohesive foreign strategy, and economic alliances to strengthen their collective integrity against everyone—including the Americans, the Russians, and China. For instance, if they decided to cut off gas supplies to Russia, all of Europe would have to react as one unit. Germany needs that gas, but so does Poland, Italy, or maybe Romania. It’s about total cooperation through shared policy. If we have already labeled such actions as aggression, then the question remains: is it true aggression, or is there some nuance we are ignoring?

And honestly, that right there? That should be the ideological foundation for a new power bloc..
Even if everyone ends up dumping a massive amount of cash into military spending, we desperately need to make the European Union sustainable..
Ugh, but man, the corruption and the endless bureaucracy... what a mess.

wiredseal7 said:Maybe do some actual reading. They’re moving forward with everything already on the books.
They just paused talks on a new project that was still being hashed out.
I'm guessing they don't want to stick their necks out too far until things settle down in Ukraine.☕

But hey, like they say—it wasn't a chase, the dog just had an accident!

hollowdriver13 said:And honestly, why should they care what the angry West thinks about them? At the end of the day, China and Russia are probably going to tear the West apart anyway, right? Plus, China might just ditch Western markets entirely if it means saving Russia's skin.
They really ought to be subsidizing investments to bail out their allies, especially since Russian oil is practically dirt cheap right now.
Or... hey, maybe those cold, calculating capitalists wrapped in communist colors over in Beijing actually find the wealthy West a little too important to ignore after all? ☕

It’s possible this company is exposed to the West through its business dealings, making them an easy target for sanctions.
If that happens, the Chinese will have to reorganize which companies take part in those ventures—pretty much like how they're handling the increasing amount of oil they buy from Iran.

Going straight to war via sanctions clearly isn't their first move, but if they get backed into a corner by someone being too aggressive, they’ll start playing that game too. During the Trump administration, they avoided it, even though they had the option to block rare earth elements. To play in that arena, they first need to offload Western bonds and anything else that can be frozen or canceled with a single stroke of a pen—all while ramping up trade using the yuan.

De-dollarization: you were all cheering for it when it was happening in Russia, but now look at what’s unfolding in China! 🤣

Delta Airlines is reportedly slashing its aircraft fleet by a staggering 40%. The plan involves stripping these planes down for spare parts just to keep the remaining fleet operational.

https://theins.ru/news/249664

Anthony Hill5 said:Delta Airlines is reportedly slashing its aircraft fleet by a staggering 40%. The plan involves stripping these planes down for spare parts just to keep the remaining fleet operational.

https://theins.ru/news/249664

If you're looking for deep dives into civil aviation, Mentour is an excellent YouTube channel. He actually has a great breakdown of what’s happening with the Russian airlines right now and the limited paths they have left to navigate.

This image shows exactly how much Russian gas can be replaced by other sources: https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Wj...efdba80d4c729d

So, it’s doable. What they’re dealing with right now is just reduced capacity. They could pull 80% from alternative sources if they wanted to. They're doing this on purpose—it's only the start of the year.

As the European Union pivots toward green energy, and with several new gas fields being discovered in Ukraine, Putin is sensing a potential decline for Russia, given that 60% of their GDP relies on oil and gas exports.
But that clown has misread the situation entirely.
Instead of reinvesting those oil and gas revenues into economic growth, cutting-edge technology, improving the standard of living for his people, or elevating Russia's technological standing, he has chosen the simplest possible model for an absolute dictator: a ruler and his peasants.

Sanctions don't bother Putin. He and his inner circle have more than enough to get by.
The real question is, how much does the average American—or rather, the average Russian citizen—actually have?
Who among them will finally decide to say "enough" to Putin?!!

Ukrainians are fighting for their very future, while the Russians have mostly just hunkered down in their holes, praying this Putin-esque madness blows over so they can go back to business as usual. They’re burying their heads in the sand, seemingly unaware that this apathy will eventually cost them far more than any revolution or civil unrest ever could. I realize it isn't a simple fix, but I'm holding out hope that the Russian people will soon realize they need to stand up and fight for their own future collectively.
If they actually start pushing back against Putin, they'll have my sympathy—and I suspect they'll have plenty of it—specifically in hoping that sanctions don't linger so long that they completely crush the nation. On the other hand, if it turns out that the Russian people truly support what Putin is doing, then let them sit under those sanctions for another twenty years; I won't be the one coming to their rescue.

No matter how intense street protests against Putin might look, they still pale in comparison to the horror unfolding in Ukraine.