real map

In the real map above, Crimea has been added to the Russian Federation as it should, but the West is still narky about the Crimean return to Russia... Idiots...

 

Meanwhile:

 

Has Russia been meeting its commitments?

Gazprom, Russia's majority state-owned energy company, supplies gas to Europe under two different arrangements:

• Long-term contracts often lasting from 10 to 25 years
• "Spot" deals or one-off purchases for a fixed amount of gas

Gazprom itself describes long-term contracts as "fundamental to stable and sustainable gas supplies". 

 

And it is understood that it has met its obligations to European buyers this year under these contracts.

However, the International Energy Agency's executive director, Fatih Birol, recently said it estimated Russia could supply 15% more gas if it wanted to.

• IEA: Green energy needed to avoid turbulent prices

Some analysts have suggested Russia could be holding back supplies to speed up approval of the newly-built Nord Stream 2 pipeline running directly from Russia to Germany.

This bypasses Ukraine, and has been met with objections on geo-political as well as environmental grounds, although Russia is keen for it to come on stream.

"A significant section of the mainstream European media has attributed this to Gazprom intentionally withholding supplies in order to force the German regulator and European Commission to approve Nord Stream 2," says Jack Sharples, of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. 

But he adds that this analysis "is questionable".

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she was not aware of any instances where Russia had not met its contractual obligations.

"Russia can only deliver gas on the basis of contractual obligations and not just like that," she was quoted as saying.

But it is worth noting that "spot" sales do not appear to be happening in any significant quantity, going by data from Gazprom's own electronic sales platform.

Dr Sharples says: "This leads to the conclusion that Gazprom is supplying the volumes... under its long-term contracts - but it is not providing additional volumes beyond those contracts."

That view was also expressed by the EU's Energy Commissioner, Kadri Simson.

"Our initial assessment suggests that Russia is fulfilling its long-term contracts while not providing any additional supply." she told MEPs on 6 October.

Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergey Ryabkov, told the BBC: "Gazprom has in fact started pumping out from its reserves into pipelines to stabilise the market." 

And he added: "We have never been in a position to exert pressure through our energy supplies."

  Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/58888451 

 

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NATO’s new masterplan to deter Moscow, including with nuclear weapons, looks like an attempt to stay relevant amid the military advancements of Russia and China, former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl told RT.

NATO defense ministers met in Brussels on Thursday, and the bloc revealed its new grand strategy to counter Russia in case of a conflict. The yet-to-be-approved plan envisages NATO troops fighting Russian forces in the Baltic region and across the Black Sea, while also placing emphasis on non-conventional warfare, including nuclear weapons, cyber-attacks, and space military technology.

“NATO is here in a delicate position,” Kneissl said, explaining the harsh statements coming from the meeting.

“With the rise of China; with the last military exercises and missile production by Russia there is some arms race already there – a quite successful arms race when we look at it from the Russian and from the Chinese perspective.”

 

Russia has introduced a range of state-of-the-art weapons in recent years, including several types of hypersonic missiles. NATO, which is currently unable to respond with similar hardware, “has to come up with something. If it’s a new paper; if it’s some strong statement – maybe that’s it,” Kneissl said.

The new threats are part of the regular NATO rhetoric towards Russia, as well as the comments that the bloc is ready to negotiate with Moscow, the former foreign minister believes. “But genuine dialogue hasn’t been there for years,” with NATO being “much more about reading out lessons” to Russia instead of attempting to find common ground, according to Kneissl.     

Another concern that Kneissl points out is NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reviving the idea of Russia’s neighbors, Ukraine and Georgia becoming members of the US-led bloc. “We had this story in 2008 and we know what it triggered,” she said, referring to the brief military conflict in August of that year, in which Russia intervened to halt Georgia’s aggression against the breakaway republic of South Ossetia.

I would be much more prudent if I were a NATO official… in making these sorts of statements because we are definitely in a situation where certain things only need a little step to walk in the wrong direction.

Kneissl says she misses “genuine diplomacy” on the part of NATO, noting that the two sides were able to communicate better in “much worse times,” in the 1970s and 80s, which allowed tensions between the USSR and the West to be reduced.

Russia slammed NATO’s new strategy, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying it only shows that the Russian government’s recent decision to cut diplomatic ties with the bloc was the right one. Moscow announced the closure of its mission in Brussels in response to the expulsion of eight Russian diplomats by NATO over alleged undisclosed espionage activities.

 

 

Read more: https://www.rt.com/news/538264-nato-russia-strategy-kneissl/

 

See also: in full... and part 2 — in full...

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW. See: FREE JULIAN ASSANGE PLEASE...

 

  

Gas suppliers will be compensated for the price freeze announced by the government.

 

The House voted on Friday evening in favour of a compensation scheme after Castex announced on October 21 that the price of gas for consumers would be frozen "throughout 2022”.

 

The National Assembly adopted at the very end of the evening, Friday, November 5, a device to compensate gas suppliers after the introduction of the "tariff shield" aimed at limiting the surge in energy prices for households.

 

The government amendment provides for a catch-up mechanism, from July 2022, to compensate for the losses that suppliers are about to incur as a result of the price freeze. With the possibility of compensation from the state budget if necessary. Small suppliers "with less than 300,000 subscribers" will also be able to benefit from a subsidy, before February 28, 2022.

 

 

Threats of "litigation"

 

Prime Minister Jean Castex announced the blocking of gas prices for around five million subscribers (including the three million at fixed tariff) on September 30 — in the face of the constant increase in recent months. 

 

On October 21, he added that the price of gas would be frozen "throughout 2022", and not just until April as initially mentioned.

The government has promised "support" to concerned suppliers, as some threaten to initiate "litigation" against the state.

 

Gas, electricity… What consumers can do in the face of soaring prices

 

Read more: https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2021/11/06/les-fournisseurs-de-gaz-seront-dedommages-du-gel-des-prix-annonce-par-le-gouvernement_6101157_3234.html

 

 

Translation by Jules Letambour...

 

 

Read from top. Don't blame the Ruskies... Blame the Americans for having delayed the Nord Stream one and two, under false pretences — so they could sell fracked US gas at three or four times the price...

 

 

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Belarus's leader has threatened to cut off gas supplies to Europe if sanctions are imposed over an escalating migrant crisis at the country's border.

Thousands of people are at the border with Poland, enduring freezing conditions in the hope of crossing into the European Union.

EU officials have accused Belarus of provoking the crisis to undermine its security, an allegation it denies.

In retaliation, the EU is reportedly planning a fresh package of sanctions.

But on Thursday the country's long-time authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko warned: "If they impose additional sanctions on us... we must respond."

"We are heating Europe, and they are threatening us," he said, referring to a Russian gas pipeline that runs through Belarus and into the EU.

 

"And what if we halt natural gas supplies? Therefore, I would recommend the leadership of Poland, Lithuanians and other empty-headed people to think before speaking," he added.

  Read more:https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59246899  Read from top.  FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW Ω≈Ç≈Ω≈Ç≈Ω≈ÇÇ≈ΩΩ√√√√√@!!

Germany's network regulator suspended its ongoing process to certify the Nord Stream 2 pipeline after ruling that its operator within Germany does not comply with conditions set by German law.

The decision could amount to another setback for the controversial pipeline that has been waiting to become operational for almost a year.

Germany's Federal Network Agency said the operating company did not meet conditions to be an "independent transmissions operator," and it could be certified only "if that operator was organized in a legal form under German law."

Operational readiness stalled

The suspension comes as the Switzerland-based company Nord Stream 2 AG plans to establish a subsidiary under German law, but only for the German section of the pipeline. This decision was taken instead of "transforming its existing legal form," the regulator said.

The certification would stay suspended "until the main assets and human resources have been transferred to the subsidiary," the German officials added.

 

Read more: https://www.dw.com/en/german-agency-suspends-certification-for-nord-stream-2-pipeline/a-59833502

 

 

This is Germanic bullshit lawyering. The pipeline is own by several entities, including giant european gas and oil companies. That the gas comes from Russia is part of the deal and irrelevant. The "legal form" is yet another step I guess instigated by the German authorities to please their masters, the USA (which to say the least stole a multi-billion gas contract from Australia to China, because the present Australian government is too dumb to realise that the US got the Aussies to take the "moral high ground" for peanuts).

 

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US and European officials and media have blamed Moscow for the gas shortages currently facing much of Europe. Russia has dismissed the claims, stressing that it is prepared to sign new long-term contracts with its partners, and ready to start deliveries via the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline as soon as Berlin and Brussels certify the project.

The construction of a major new Russian gas pipeline to China poses a threat to Europe and is a sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “outsmarted” the EU on energy policy, UK and US media fear.

Last month, Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, held a video call to discuss a range of bilateral and global issues, including the Power of Siberia 2 – a major new energy infrastructure project promising to increase Russia’s gas export capability to China by up to 50 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Putin told reporters last month that the pipeline’s proposed route (which includes a stretch through Mongolia), its length and other features have already been agreed upon, and that a study on feasibility will be completed soon. Putin also met with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh in Moscow on 16 December to discuss the project.

 

Energy industry observers told Nikkei Asia that the pipeline, which looks to be nearing approval, would be a win-win for both Russia and China. Beijing would receive access to much-needed gas supplies amid a global gas crunch and its shift away from coal power, while Moscow would reduce its dependence on the fickle European Union, which has complained about shortages and spiking spot prices while simultaneously dragging out the certification of Nord Stream 2 – the new gas pipeline was completed last fall with the capacity to provide up to 55 billion cubic meters in additional gas to the region.

 

Read more:

 

https://sputniknews.com/20220104/you-snooze-you-lose-uk-us-media-fear-russia-may-outsmart-eu-with-new-gas-mega-pipeline-to-china-1092014841.html

 

 

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US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he considered the Russian recognition of two breakaway republics in the Donets River basin and dispatching of peacekeepers there to be the beginning of a "Russian invasion of Ukraine" and issued a series of sanctions targeting Russian financial institutions.

Berlin announced on Tuesday it would halt the Nord Stream 2 liquified natural gas pipeline, which would have brought gas from Russia to Western Europe via Germany, in response to Moscow's recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics in the Donbass region the day prior.

 

"Today, I have directed my administration to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG and its corporate officers," Biden said in a Wednesday news release. "These steps are another piece of our initial tranche of sanctions in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine. As I have made clear, we will not hesitate to take further steps if Russia continues to escalate."

 

POTUS confirms: "Today, I have directed my administration to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG and its corporate officers. These steps are another piece of our initial tranche of sanctions in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine." pic.twitter.com/wDGKUA2VmK

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) February 23, 2022

The release did not state what the nature of those sanctions would be.

 

Other parts of this "first tranche" of sanctions included a ban on trading Russia's sovereign debt and sanctions against two Russian state development banks.

 

"This has been diplomatic kabuki theater by the Russians," US State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters about the crisis in Ukraine. He said the US remains open to diplomacy and negotiations, but that the Russians needed to demonstrate they are serious. So far, the US has ignored Russian articulations of their security concerns in Eastern Europe, including the eastward expansion of NATO and stationing of dangerous weapons in the region.

 

The decision to sanction Nord Stream 2 is a reversal of the waiver Biden issued last year, which blocked impending sanctions and infuriated US Republicans opposed to the pipeline.

US Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has blocked progress on the approval of Biden's diplomatic nominees in protest of the president's waiver, hailed his reversal.

 

“President Biden made the right decision today. Allowing Putin’s Nord Stream 2 to come online would have created multiple, cascading, and acute security crises for the United States and our European allies for generations to come,” Cruz said in a Wednesday news release. “Today’s announcement is critical to preventing such scenarios.”

 

The $11 billion pipeline would have doubled the delivery of Russian gas to Germany.

 

 

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/20220223/biden-order-sanctions-against-nord-stream-2-ag-corporate-officers-1093311307.html

 

BIDEN IS AN IDIOT.

 

 

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