Could be because a few days ago a few Yanks I'm friends with on Facebook were doing a song and dance with something shared around about how BIDEN was still buying Russian oil. Sometimes people need to be handheld but I'm sure the same people after the giving out will now be saying "Sure it's hardly anything anyway"
Likely it's mostly just where refined imported or partly processed imports start out from.
"I, Vladimir Putin, hereby super-duper pinky swear never to instruct the forces of the Russian Federation to conduct a 'special military operation' in the territory of Ukraine ever, ever again. For one year."
This presents a huge problem for the Russian media. How are they going to explain away a "special military operation" that goes on for weeks or months? It will quickly become evident to the Russian public that things must be going badly.
Ouch!
A Chinese tycoon who built a massive short position in nickel futures is facing billions of dollars in mark-to-market losses after the metal surged more than 170% in two days, according to people familiar with the matter.
And on Russian oil.
Quite intense behind the scenes effort. The west is using Israel as the messenger. Meetings and phone calls. The latest seems to be something of a potential deal...
Every day hundreds of "experts" are predicting how this war will evolve, a new day brings a whole new avalanche of opinions. Truth is none of us know what Putin will do. But unlike many Ukrainians, we'll find out
In case it has not already been posted, a well conducted interview with a historian, John Mearsheimer.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-john-mearsheimer-blames-the-us-for-the-crisis-in-ukraine
Fiona Hill, who was one of Trump's advisors in the White House, told Politico she thinks Putin would be willing to use nukes and mentioned the Salisbury nerve-agent attack to support her point.
But the difference is that Putin would not have plausible deniability if he did use a nuke. He can impose all the censorship he wants but word of a nuclear explosion in Ukraine would definitely get back to the streets of Moscow and other Russian cities and then many Russian citizens would consider that the consequences of letting Putin stay in the Kremlin would be far worse than being imprisoned for criticising the military.
In an episode of the ITV News podcast 'What You Need to Know' late last week, Robert Moore disagreed with Hill because Putin is many things but he's not stupid.
Ukrainian politicians were saying yesterday that Putin is a pathological liar and the idea of signing up to some sort of agreement that supposedly 'settles' the Donbass issue is far fetched. What would be to stop him reinvading Ukraine in a year's time? He has clearly gone rogue and cannot be trusted. It would be like trying to do a deal with Hitler in the middle of WW2 and shaking hands on it, as if his word meant something.
i went into Circle-K in Dublin today and asked the foreign lady at the counter where they source their petrol from, she wouldnt tell me so I refused to fill up, pass it on
If Putin's gone rogue, then an essential component to be added to the deal should be Putin immediately steps down as Russian president and never holds any kind of public office again. Hey, I'm sure that Putin would be willing to make that sacrifice for mother Russia...
...wouldn't he?
The other guy needs to believe you will use them in retaliation so he doesn't use them first. If we haven't the will to use them in retaliation then we might as well not have them and just let Vlad take nuclear pot shots at us.
This is a very relevant point. If Russia detonated a nuke do we really think NATO, the US, the UK or others would immediately respond in kind? I guarantee if there was even a moments hesitation they would talk themselves out of any nuclear response within a few hours. Nobody is going to go MAD
Ukrainians don't have great options here. It's obvious they will lose some territory, but that territory will be areas they have already lost 8 years ago. This will just make it 'official'. Can't predict the future, so I think they need to go for it as the alternative is to try to hang on and hope Putin decides to unilaterally retreat because of poor war performance?. Risky move.
I can't see Ukraine signing up to anything that cedes anything to Russia or acknowledging any new independent states. All the false pretenses are gone now, its an out and out war against Russia and Ukraine. By allowing Russia to walk away with anything, they will be inviting a repeat.
Russia doesn't need to take over Ukraine, they only need to keep taking bites out of it to keep them under the thumb. If Ukraine lets them keep anything, they are basically asking for a repeat invasion.
The only agreement I can see Ukraine signing up to is one that allows them full return of all occupied lands and full rights to join any organization they want to join.
Norway and the UK, with some North and Central African sources apparently. We don't get any Russian oil or gas directly.
She wouldn't tell you because she doesn't have a clue. I worked in a topaz for 18 months and nobody in the entire shop could have told you where the petrol came from beyond "the delivery truck."
I would disagree. Putin doesn't seem to have the upper hand or be in a position where he can dictate "winners" terms to the Ukrainians i.e. where they have to agree to cede regions of Ukraine to him in order for him to stop fighting. If anything, the war seems to be going badly for him.
Maybe Ukraine could offer an internationally-observed referendum in the Crimea, after Russia pulls its forces from that region, but I don't see any reason for Ukraine to offer concessions on Donbas. That's a situation that the Russians have been artificially inflating for the last 8 years.
If Russia sends a nuke to New York, there's no way on earth that the US won't retaliate, even with Biden at the wheel.
As a wise man once put it, its like playing chess, apparently the best chess players have 8 moves ahead considered. Guess who's good at chess. Russians
Ukraine aren't in that powerful a position and if rejected, Putin might go all in. Remember that the Russians will eventually overcome their operational mistakes and learn to fight the Ukrainians more effectively than they are now. Lose a part of your country that's ethnically Russian anyway, or potentially lose it all
I swear it looks like something was shot from the car first.
You wouldn't know it from their latest move.
Did anyone else see the Former Putin advisor, Sergei Markov, on Sky News?
He was on a short while ago (im time shifted)
Literally foaming at the mouth about, Non Existent coup's, NATO backing the NAZIs, and False 'ethnic cleansing' in the Donbass - ABSOLUTELY appalling
They can't make a credible deal with Putin as he can't be trusted. Someone else maybe.
And if you want an idea of what interstellar travel and aliens would be like, watch Star Wars.
If that's the case Putin is one sh!t chess player.
Things will change. The Russians will learn from supply issues and other problems they've been having.
But what's the quid pro quo? Ukraine surely aren't going to give all that up purely in return for Russia withdrawing troops? There would have to be some assurance of their future security that goes beyond
And I don't know what that could be short of Ukraine joining NATO or some equivalent 'defensive alliance' that it's very hard to see Russia agreeing to unless they're facing total defeat on the battlefield.
Shes on €10 an hour and you go in asking stupid questions she doesn't know or care about. Bigger fool you
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