Footage of the GRU agents individuals carrying out attack in Transnistria
I'd probably have more respect for Dr. Evil at this point. The culture shock after being thawed out must have been hell...
Looking more and more like a laughable Dr. Evil of Austin Powers fame, by the day. Russian dose.
Russia pays Ukraine $100 million a month to transport its gas to the west. Bizarrely these payments continue despite the war. Some Russians now are saying that the payments are funding the killing of their own soldiers.
Leaving the EU is not something any country would do lightly though. In the case of members of the Eurozone, it would probably crash their economy overnight, as they would have no domestic currency to fall back on.
I would say that veto power should exist on the most important things, like treaties changing the scope and powers of the EU over constituent countries. If you don't have a veto here, you could easily have a situation where countries are thinking that this isn't what they originally signed up for and could leave the bloc altogether. Keeping a load of European countries on the same page is an ambitious project and maintaining political harmony is certainly not to be taken for granted. A few countries leave the bloc altogether and you're suddenly looking at a potentially divided Europe again and all which that has entailed in the history of the continent.
I would be absolutely delighted if the Russians turn off the gas to the West, it's cutting off their nose to spite their face and will finally see the end of the war and our Western Leaders and specifically Germany might actually do something about their dependency on Russian gas
Is it something like other countries buying roubles bumps up the value of the currency for him, which he can then use internally to pay for stuff.
But if he gets a bunch of Euros and Dollars he can't use those internally, and nobody will trade him for roubles because of sanctions so the money ends up likely being frozen in some other accounts because the Russian banks cannot trade?
That they cut off Poland who said they didn't need Russian gas already means that was just to try and scare other countries into doing what he says. Poland don't care and won't cost Putin anything in income from stopping their supply either.
Ya, flat with ridges. He'll look like a Hunky Dory.
By the way for those who were questioning whether Ukraine had TB2s left there have been at least two confirmed shot down inside Russian territory over the past few days:
Unfortunate to see them shot down but it probably explains at least a few of the mysterious fires and explosions inside Russia recently; Ukraine might even happily trade a $2 million drone to blow up some key Russian logistics targets.
I still don't get the fuss about paying Vlad in Roubles. He needs $ and €, and whether he get them directly from Western importers or indirectly via intermediate banks (who exchange $ and € into Roubles with which to pay Vlad) makes little difference. Vlad might look on it as a sign of strength if he appears to be paid in Roubles, but if so, then his financial incompetence matches his military incompetence.
So pay him his useless Roubles and move on, unless you want to stop importing Russian gas entirely.
An Oiligarch?
Speaking of oil I wonder who supplied our friends in Orwell Road I heard them say they got their delivery .
The Swiss have a weird kinda cuckoo like moral concept on conflict zones.
Supplying arms into conflict zones is bad and not allowed.
Taking loot i.e. stolen gold and money from conflict zones is ok and damn well encouraged.
Both enable a conflict and help continue the carnage.
Yes there are already in place various qualified as they call it voting majorities needed for various policy areas. As you say there though some of those majorities are very high thresholds and that is almost the equivalent of a veto. Plus there are some major areas such as taxation policy that are subject fully to an individual countries veto power. Look at how Luxembourg has blocked so far an EU financial transaction tax there as an example. Other areas where a veto is still in effect are the EU budget and look here how Hungary and Poland's governments have used the threat of a veto there to stop for a long time the EU trying to reign in the democratic backsliding of the 2 countries governments. Also there is social security/protection, Common foreign and defense policy and this is an area in light of Russian's invasion of Ukraine which is very much to the fore right now, as well as the accession of new members and police co-operation.
No question one of the key positives of the EU is that as you say its a partnership of equals which prevents bigger countries like say Germany and France just running roughshod over everyone and in particular protects the smaller countries including Ireland in that regard and that is important and should stay. But IMHO there should be no areas of veto power. There can be areas where the threshold is very high say 80-90%. For me the current areas of remaining veto power as above should be moved to qualified voting in the 80-90% range so that it still protects smaller states but conversely it stops just one state stopping something on purely selfish grounds that everyone else supports.
Assuming Germany isn't one of the countries mentioned by Bloomberg I suppose.
I reckon we can assume. You hit the nail on the head there
Just found this. Looks like Germany and Russia have found a convenient workaround which means neither Scholz nor Putin have to lose face
Germany has confirmed it will continue to pay for Russian gas in euros or dollars, following a call between Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin last night...
In a phone call between the leaders, Putin reportedly said payments could be made in euros and transferred to Gazprom bank, which would convert the money into roubles.
More about it here
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said he expects his country will continue to be able to pay for Russian gas in euros from Friday, after Vladimir Putin signed a decree threatening to enforce rouble payments from “unfriendly countries” and raising fears Moscow could be about to throttle gas supplies.
Energy contracts between Germany and Russia stipulated payments in euros, sometimes in dollars, Scholz said at a press conference in Berlin on Thursday, shortly after the Kremlin announced Putin had signed the decree. “In a conversation with the Russian president I have stated clearly that this will stay that way.”
The German gas payments in euros would be converted into roubles by Russia’s Gazprombank, German media reported on Thursday, based on the government’s understanding of the process. The Kremlin’s decree is formulated in such a way as to allow authorised banks to convert foreign currency in the payment process, as long as customers sign up to new conditions that include the opening of a rouble account.
The German gas payments in euros would be converted into roubles by Russia’s Gazprombank,
Would make you wonder which side Scholz would come with if the **** really hit the fan.
Russia's use of oil & gas supply restrictions to exert leverage was entirely predictable. And legitimate given that the EU and other states have put a variety of sanctions on Russia that restrict their economy.
Question is what price is the EU is prepared to pay to face down Putin's regime. There are arguments for playing it bit by bit, balancing needs as against just pulling out all together, taking a huge hit and really facing down Russia. Probably will do neither one thing or the other and just have the worst of both outcomes.
My understanding is that certain EU countries are paying into special bank accounts; and these bank accounts facilitate the conversion of dollars or euros or whatever to rubles.
Supposedly the EU has stated these accounts violate sanctions but according to Bloomberg some EU countries/companies are using them:
Ten European companies have already opened the accounts at Gazprombank needed to meet Russia’s payment demands, the person said.
Supplies to Poland and Bulgaria were cut off after they refused Gazprom’s proposed mechanism for ruble payments, which the gas giant says does not violate European Union sanctions, according to the person.
As for why Germany's supply is guaranteed I presume it's because Russia isn't willing to sacrifice its largest customers yet. Assuming Germany isn't one of the countries mentioned by Bloomberg I suppose.
Simple question to poster did they have additional information from German authorities or other sources as I haven't been able to find anything definitive despite a search. Nothing to do with Putins brain or lack thereof 😄
Only thing I definitely know is that the German government have been deliberately dragging its heals over the Russian oil and gas issue.
Seems American and Russia has had a prisoner exchange today a US marine held in Moscow is been returned to the US while a Russian pilot held in the states(Drugs) is Been sent back to Russia
Do you have any thoughts (assuming you are not expecting the poster to have a direct line to the Kremlin or Putin's brain etc!?).
As for your link, referring to Germans saying supply is "guaranteed" right now, probably that will hold for some period of time even if Russia cuts them off completely tomorrow. They are also "monitoring the situation closely"...!
Would say (myself) that Russia are working mischief here, trying to make splits in the EU by selecting particular countries to cut off while still keeping most of the foreign currency earnings. Germany and Italy are 2 very large gas consumers I read this morning on BBC update page about this news. So they would leave them till the end.
They know the EU will not be buying their energy at some point in the near future (how near is the question) + is working away to speed this process up so maybe it will make sense for them to forgo some earnings and use the considerable leverage they have now to maximise dissention in the EU or economic disruption, rather than waiting for countries to wean themselves off their gas/oil supplies.
edit: typos and added a point.
He is going to be in very shape after that
They haven't been given any long-range missiles or artillery as such.
Depending on which particular version of artillery they've received, and what types of charges; there's potential to reach 50-60km with the most expensive rounds. They're not likely to have many of those artillery pieces or shells (if they even have any at all).
In any case they already have some artillery pieces which can fire up to 50km so in terms of range; so none of the new stuff would be giving them much extra reach.
As for unblocking Mariupol that would need a ground assault which just isn't feasible. Or the kind of aerial bombardments even Russia isn't really capable of delivering.
I'm sure every Ukrainian Stugna-P unit approves heartily of your hi-viz jacket idea
Never dawned on me that not standing clear of a tank while holding a tree log at the height of the tank would be dangerous. Imagine that.
It appears from my not so keen eye that they were trying to push the front vehicle out of a rut. It was probably stopping everything behind it from advancing. So they put a tree in the back door to act as as a blocker between the rear tank and the vehicle in front so they didn't destroy the back door of the front vehicle with the force of the tank behind
Unfortunately for him the tank has a tappered edge and pushed the log upwards and out . And the driver doesn't know when to get off the gas
Any idea why only Poland and Bulgaria have had supplies cut for failure to pay in rubbles whilst Germanys energy watchdog says gas supply there is guaranteed? https://finance.yahoo.com/news/germanys-energy-watchdog-says-gas-110257689.html
What were they even trying to do?! And shur, not a high viz jacket betwixt them. Still, probably not going to feature on Harry Hill.
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