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“Rejection of Russian energy resources means that Europe will become the region with the highest energy costs in the world. This will seriously undermine the competitiveness of European industry which is already losing the competition to companies in other parts of the world…. Our Western colleagues seem to have forgotten the elementary laws of economics, or simply prefer to ignore them.” Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation

On Tuesday, Russia announced a 40% reduction in the flow of natural gas to Germany through the Nord Stream pipeline. The announcement, that was made by Gazprom officials, sent tremors through the European gas market where prices quickly soared to new highs. In Germany—where prices have tripled in the last three months—the news was met with gasps of horror. With inflation already running at a 40-year high, this latest reduction in supply is certain to tip the German economy into recession or worse. All of Europe is now feeling the impact of Washington’s misguided sanctions on Russia. Here’s more from Oil Price website:

“Russia’s Gazprom said on Tuesday that it would limit natural gas supply via the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany by 40 percent compared to planned flows because of a delay in equipment repairs… The lower supply of gas via Nord Stream to the biggest European economy, Germany, sent Europe’s gas prices surging by double digits...

Russian gas deliveries to Europe… have already been down after Ukraine stopped last month flows from Russia to Europe at … one of the two transit points… thus supply was cut off for a third of the gas transiting Ukraine onto Europe.” (“Europe’s Gas Prices Surge 13% As Russia Reduces Nord Stream Flow“, Oil Price)

The United States and its European allies have imposed more sanctions on Russia than any country in history. But Tuesday’s announcement helps to illustrate who is actually suffering from the sanctions and who is not. Russia is not suffering, in fact, Russia does not seem particularly perturbed at all. It has calmly brushed aside Washington’s attacks as one would whisk-away a fly at a family picnic. Even more surprising is the fact that the sanctions have strengthened the ruble, increased revenues from raw materials, sent Russia’s trade surplus into record territory, and pushed gas and oil profits into the stratosphere. By every objective standard, the sanctions appear to be benefiting Russia which, of course, is the opposite outcome that was expected.

Washington’s Economic Sanctions on Russia: Success or Failure?

  1. The Russian currency (the Ruble) has rallied to a five-year high.
  2. Russia’s commodities are raking in windfall profits
  3. Russia’s trade surplus is projected to hit a record high this year
  4. Russia’s oil and gas sales have risen sharply

There’s no evidence that Washington’s sanctions have achieved the objective of “weakening” Russia or damaging its economy. There is, however, considerable proof that the sanctions have backfired and inflicted a heavy toll on their supporters and their people. And while it’s hard to quantify how much damage has actually been done, we’ve tried to identify specific categories where the impact has been most dramatic. The sanctions have:

  1. Triggered a sharp rise in food and energy prices. (soaring inflation)
  2. Caused major disruptions in global supply-lines (Deglobalization)
  3. Greatly increased food shortages and the likelihood of famine
  4. Precipitated a severe slowdown in the global economy

So far, Russia has withstood these attacks patiently and without any retaliatory response. But we must assume that the sudden 40% reduction in gas flows to energy-dependent Germany is intended to send a message. Keep in mind, Nord Stream 2 was a massive multi-year, $10 billion project to which Russia was fully committed until Germany ‘pulled the rug out from under Putin’ at the eleventh hour. Germany proved that—when push comes to shove—Berlin will always march in lockstep with Washington rather than fulfill its business agreements or act in the interests of its own people. What Germany is discovering now, however, is that acting as Washington’s poodle comes at a very high price indeed. Here’s more from Reuters:

“Gazprom said on Tuesday it has curbed supplies via the Nord Stream 1 undersea pipeline to Germany to up to 100 million cubic metres (mcm) per day, down from 167 mcm, citing the delayed return of equipment that had been sent for repair….

Gazprom no longer exports gas westwards through Poland via the Yamal-Europe pipeline following Russian sanctions against EuRoPol Gaz, which owns the Polish section. Flows via Yamal-Europe continue eastwards from Germany to Poland.

“Due to the delayed return of gas compressor units from repair by Siemens … and technical engines’ malfunctions, only three gas compressor units can currently be used at the Portovaya compression station,” Gazprom said..

“Due to the sanctions imposed by Canada, it is currently impossible for Siemens Energy to deliver overhauled gas turbines to the customer. Against this background we have informed the Canadian and German governments and are working on a viable solution,” the company said.” (“Nord Stream gas capacity constrained as sanctions delay equipment“, Reuters)

Naturally, the media is going to point to a maintenance snafu as an excuse, but how credible is that? How often is supply of a vital resource cut by nearly half due to a compressor malfunction?

Not often. Russia is sending a simple but poignant message to Germany: “You made your bed, now sleep in it.” Russia’s reaction is perfectly normal after having been “stabbed you in the back.”

And, Germany’s travails are just beginning because it has no way to make up for the energy shortfall it will face in the near future; a shortfall that will precipitate rolling blackouts, freezing homes, and a relentless strangulation of its domestic industry. As the German government is discovering, there is no viable substitute for Russian hydrocarbons which is neither readily available nor does the quality fit Germany’s particular requirements. In other words, the US has led Germany down the primrose path believing that they could simply switch to other energy suppliers and everything would be just dandy. That is certainly not the case. As it happens, Germany and all of Europe are going to pay more for their energy than any region in the world which will severely undermine the EU’s competitiveness. This, in turn, will lead to a sharp decline in living standards as well as growing social unrest. Here’s more from the Wall Street Journal:

“For decades, European industry relied on Russia to supply low-cost oil and natural gas that kept the continent’s factories humming.

Now Europe’s industrial energy costs are soaring in the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine, hobbling manufacturers’ ability to compete in the global marketplace. Factories are scrambling to find alternatives to Russian energy under threat that Moscow could abruptly turn off the gas spigot, bringing production to a halt.

Europe’s producers of chemicals, fertilizer, steel and other energy-intensive goods have come under pressure over the last eight months as tensions with Russia climbed ahead of the February invasion. Some producers are shutting down in the face of competition from factories in the U.S., the Middle East and other regions where energy costs are much lower than in Europe. Natural-gas prices are now nearly three times higher in Europe than in the U.S.” (“Some European Factories, Long Dependent on Cheap Russian Energy, Are Shutting Down; Industrial energy costs are soaring in the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine, hobbling European manufacturers’ ability to compete globally”, Wall Street Journal)

The Wall Street Journal would like you to believe that Russia is responsible for Europe’s poor choices, but, it’s not true. Putin didn’t raise prices. Prices rose in response to the EU’s increased demand due to shortages brought on by the sanctions. How is that Putin’s fault?

It’s not. And the same goes for the EU officials who accused Putin of “blackmail”, a claim for which there was no basis whatsoever. When that accusation was made, the price of gas in the EU was one-third of its price today. Is that how blackmail works, by charging less than the market price?

Of course, not. It’s ridiculous. Europe was getting a great price on a scarce resource until they decided to take Uncle Sam’s bad advice and ruin it for themselves. Now they’re paying through the nose, and they can only blame themselves.

Did you know that EU leaders are already making plans to ration energy this winter?

It’s true. Europe has agreed to become another basket-case US lapdog in order to faithfully execute Washington’s ambitious global strategy. Here’s the story:

“Europe could be forced to start rationing energy this winter, starting with industrial uses of natural gas, especially if the winter is cold and China’s economy rebounds, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, told the Financial Times in an interview.

“If we have a harsh winter and a long winter  . . . I wouldn’t exclude the rationing of natural gas in Europe, starting from the large industry facilities,” Birol told FT.

The world faces a “much bigger” energy crisis than the one of the 1970s, Birol told German daily Der Spiegel last month.

“Back then it was just about oil,” Birol told the news outlet. “Now we have an oil crisis, a gas crisis and an electricity crisis simultaneously,” said the head of the international agency created after the 1970s shock of the Arab oil embargo.” (“IEA: Europe Could See Energy Rationing This Winter“, Oil Price)

She’s wrong, isn’t she? We don’t have “an oil, gas and electricity crisis”. What we have is a political crisis. All of these shortages can be easily traced back to the foolish choices that were made by incompetent politicians doing the bidding of neocon fantasists who think they can turn the clock back to the heyday of American global primacy. But those days are over, and everyone seems to know they’re over except the insulated group of self-deluded fanatics at the Washington think tanks and their political spawn at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Bottom line: We all would have been much better off listening to Kissinger who advised his pals at the World Economic Forum (WEF) to wrap up the Ukrainian war pronto before Russia made changes that could not be reversed. Unfortunately, Kissinger’s appeal fell on deaf ears and Putin has already started redirecting his energy flows eastward. Check out this eyepopping excerpt from an article at oilprice.com:

“The biggest reshuffle of oil trade flows since the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s is underway—and things may never return to normal. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions on Russian oil exports are changing global oil trade routes. Over the past nearly five decades, oil flowed more or less freely from any supplier to any customer in the world…

This free energy trade is now over, after …. the Western sanctions that followed, plus Europe’s irreversible decision to cut off its dependence on Russian energy at any cost…

By the end of this year, Europe expects to have effectively banned 90% of all its imports of Russian oil before the war… For oil going to Europe, crude from the Middle East will now travel longer distances to European ports compared to the shorter routes to India and China…

For Europe, the choice of oil supply is now political, and it will be willing to pay a premium to procure non-Russian oil. This will tighten supply options and continue to support elevated oil prices for months to come.

Commenting on the EU’s embargo on Russian seaborne oil imports, Fitch Ratings said last week:

“This ban will have a significant impact on global oil trade flows, with about 30% of EU’s imports needing replacement from other regions, including the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and the UAE have sustained production spare capacity of about 2MMbpd and 1MMbpd, respectively), Africa and the US.” (“The Biggest Reshuffle Of Oil Flows Since The 1970s”, Oil Price)

What does it mean?

It means that inflation will continue to rise as Russia’s prodigious crude supplies are redirected eastward. It means that Washington has abandoned its 30 year-long ‘pet project’, Globalization, and splintered the world into rival blocs. It means that the dollar, the bond market, the western financial system and the so-called “rules-based order”—all of which are inseparably linked to economic growth that depends almost-entirely on the availability of cheap energy—will begin to creak-and-groan beneath the weight of feather-headed policy decisions that have brought certain ruin to the nations of the west and their people.

We’re going to pay a heavy price for Washington suicidal power-grab.

 

 

READ MORE:

https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/meet-the-new-boss-putin-reroutes-critical-hydrocarbons-eastward-leaving-europe-high-and-dry/

 

 

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germany looses its moral compass…...

 

by Karl-Jürgen Müller

 

Driven by other NATO states and the private and public media in Germany, most of the country’s politicians and officials have been outdoing each other since 24 February 2022 with anti-Russian rhetoric and pledges of allegiance to the transatlantic alliance that were unheard of even in the first Cold War. And so far, there are no signs of improvement. The most recent examples were the government statement of the German Chancellor and the subsequent speeches in the German Bundestag on 19 May, but also the speech by the President of the German Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz [Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution] on the same day.
  Why is a speech by Thomas Haldenwang worth mentioning at all? The fact that heads of public authorities and representatives of public authorities in Germany are now talking along the lines of politics is not what Germans had hoped for from their civil servants after 1945: independent-minded personalities, inspired by the common good, committed to the constitution of the country as well as to law and order, but not to the media and politicians who are currently setting the tone.
  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov tried to characterise the current state of our countries in a speech on 14 May 2022, saying not only that the West had “declared an all-out hybrid war on Russia”. But also: “The amazing thing is that in almost all ‘civilised’ countries a raging Russophobia is rampant. They have thrown their political correctness, decency, rules and legal standards overboard.”
  One should not dismiss these words as Russian propaganda.

 

What has become unbearable

What our media, our politicians, our representatives of the authorities are currently stating, on a daily basis, has become unbearable. If you don’t want to take part in it, don’t want to submit to it or don’t want to numb your own thinking and feeling, you can only endure analysing the events and the behaviour of those “responsible” with an alert mind and a healthy distance. Don’t get too emotionally involved ... and don’t forget the question of what would be “normal”, reasonable and emotionally appropriate in view of the tragedy that didn’t just begin on 24 February 2022, which also doesn’t just concern Ukraine, but the overall state of our world today.
  I imagine, for example, what the government statement of a German chancellor on 19 May 2022 might have been that took seriously what the Russian foreign minister had said five days earlier and extended a hand towards peace.

 

Core ideas of a of an imagined Chancellor’s speech

Of course, this is not meant to be a complete speech, but a few key ideas of such an imagined speech. The German Chancellor could have started his speech with the Charter of the United Nations of June 1945; with the attempt of many serious politicians from all over the world who had been shaken up by death and destruction to create a basis for peaceful and equal coexistence of sovereign nations and self-determined peoples after the end of the European war. And how difficult it was even then to follow words with deeds. For only a few weeks after the adoption of the Charter and the hope for a better world, bomber pilots of a founding member of the UN dropped the first two atomic bombs on Japan, killing tens of thousands of innocent people.
  The German chancellor could have pointed to the more than 10 million other victims of wars between 1945 and 1990, to the failure of the world community and especially of the great powers to put their power and money interests behind a global bonum commune.
  To the hopes of people all over the world that in 1990, after the end of a Cold War with many hot wars, they would be able to build a more peaceful and just world. 

 

Bitter disappointment in many parts of the world

And to the bitter disappointment in many places of the world, when one country of the world and its influential forces was reaching for the only world power and in doing so once again overran many states and peoples with wars and other plagues. Not at all being prepared to allow any kind of equality among the peoples and states of the world. On the contrary, other peoples and states were considered vassals or colonies of a modern kind! The Chancellor could have spoken of Africa, Asia, and Latin America ... but also of Europe and its intended function as a “bridgehead” on the Eurasian continent before the “black hole” – that’s how some in the West spoke of Russia in the 1990s. Of the Anglo-Saxon belief in its own special position in the world. Of the “Five Eyes” and their claim to be able to put the whole world under surveillance.

 

Germany – still not sovereign, but no longer “Never again war”

The German chancellor could also have talked about how his own country, Germany, failed in its attempt to become a truly sovereign country with a self-determined people – even though this was officially proclaimed in 1990. That after 1990 unfortunately the reunited Germany did not much contribute to peace in the world, as its government and parliament had contractually promised. Instead, it pursued power and interest politics in the Balkans – and not only there – and was jointly responsible for the wars there in the 1990s. Yes, that his country, Germany, was complicit in a war of aggression that violated international law against another European country in 1999 – and was jointly responsible for the death and destruction there. And that after 1990, his country’s politicians wanted this “never again war” to be forgotten and instead wanted to “normalise” German participation in wars step by step with “salami tactics”.
  The German chancellor could have said that he deeply regrets all this, that he is ashamed of this policy of injustice and violence, that he is filled with deep compassion for the victims of this policy. 

 

Taking Russia seriously

And that Germany’s dealings with Russia after 1990 also were neither fair nor open, that Germany did not answer honestly Russia’s many offers of cooperation and that Germany, with many wrong steps, is partly responsible for the tragedy that has been unfolding in Ukraine for many years. But that he now finally wanted to take seriously what a Russian President has said again and again for two decades and once again on 9 May 2022: “The United States began claiming their exceptionalism, particularly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, thus denigrating not just the entire world but also their satellites, who have to pretend not to see anything, and to obediently put up with it.
  But we are a different country. Russia has a different character. We will never give up our love for our Motherland, our faith and traditional values, our ancestors’ customs and respect for all peoples and cultures.”
  Yes, the German chancellor could also have said that Russia should not be made the scapegoat for the economic turmoil in Germany and many other countries in the world, especially those that are already poor. That there were once again profiteers of war at the expense of the general public and that it would be very worthwhile to look more closely at the economic and financial policy mistakes of the past decades, at the devastating consequences of our own sanctions policy, at our stock exchanges and the large fortunes in our countries.
  Finally, he said that he could no longer stand the disrespect with which politicians and other “elites” in his country looked down on other countries and governments, and how they set themselves up as judges of good and evil, when Germany had every reason to be self-critical and now finally had to tackle its own serious, home-made political, economic, and social problems.

 

A real “turn of the times”

Therefore, the German chancellor could have said that it is now high time to take a different, completely different path, a real “turn of the times”, which recognises that a world full of enemy images, a Europe against Russia cannot be an outlook, but only self-destructive for all of Europe …And that he therefore wants to change the course of German politics, fundamentally. And that he also wants to campaign for this in the EU, in all of Europe and with his allies in the USA. That he now wants to fully comply with his oath of office to “devote his strength to the welfare of the German people, to increase its benefit and to prevent it from harm”. Above all, however, the commandment of the German basic law to “serve the peace of the world”.
  From the depths of his conviction and with all his strength. Because the current path is a dead end: for politics, for the economy, for culture ... for the vast majority of people. And that otherwise it may very well be that humanity will not be “lucky” again ...
  The German chancellor could have said all this and much more on 19 May. We must live with the fact that he did not ... it would have been quite unlikely and very likely will be anytime soon. However – this also strengthens the thinking and the feeling: to imagine alternatives to what is wrong.  •

 

READ MORE:

https://www.zeit-fragen.ch/en/archives/2022/nr-12-31-mai-2022/was-waere-wenn

 

 

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the end of unipolarity......

The Russian president is delivering his speech at the annual SPIEF business forum in St. Petersburg. His address is dedicated to the future of Russia and the rest of the world in the wake of renewed pressure from western sanctions against Moscow.

Addressing the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the unipolar world has come to an end despite all of its beneficiaries' attempts to preserve it at any cost. The president added that following the end of the Cold War, the US declared its national interests to be "sacred" and not to be undermined.

He went on to stress that the so-called "golden billion" countries still believe that they are superior and consider the rest of the world to be their colonies. He added that the West's ruling elites live in a dream world and refuse to see global changes taking place.

 

"Over the past decades, new powerful centres have been formed on the planet […] each of them develops their own political system and public institutions, implements their own models of economic growth, and, of course, has the right to protect themselves, to ensure national sovereignty. We are talking about real processes, about truly revolutionary, tectonic changes in geopolitics, global economy, the technological sphere, in the entire system of international relations".

 

Putin accused western countries of deliberately undermining the foundations of international order to satisfy their geopolitical illusions. He noted that business reputations and trust in currencies were undermined by their actions. The president also pointed out that the US can steal any person, group or state's money simply over something Washington did not approve of.

EU Has Lost Sovereignty, Harms Own Citizens With Anti-Russia Sanctions

The Russian president criticised the European Union over the decision to impose anti-Russia sanctions, calling it "crazy" and "not well thought out". Putin said that their goal was to crush the Russian economy in one go, but that they have failed to achieve this.

Instead, EU politicians delivered a serious blow to their own economies, prompting high inflation, the president stressed. He estimated the costs of the "sanctions fever" to be around $400 billion this year alone and noted that the measures will become a burden on regular people's shoulders.

The Russian president stated that the EU has lost its political sovereignty as its elites are dancing to another country's tune, even if it damages their own European populations and business interests. Putin predicted that this will result in deepening financial inequalities and social divisions in European societies. It is possible that it will eventually lead to a surge of radicalism and a change of elites in the bloc.

Putin added that global price increases and problems in the energy sphere are the direct results of faulty policies by the US and the EU. The president dismissed the terms "Putin's tax" and "Putin's inflation" used by western politicians, specifically US President Joe Biden, to explain soaring fuel and consumer prices. The Russian president alleged that only uneducated people would believe the tales that Russia's actions in Donbass caused prices to grow.

At the same time, Putin stressed that western countries' forecasts about the grim prospects of the Russian economy failed to materialise.

 

"It is clear why they waged this propaganda campaign, what all these spells about 200-to-1 ruble-dollar exchange rates and claims that our economy would collapse were all about. All this was - and remains - a tool in the information warfare, an attempt to put psychological pressure on Russian society".

 

He underscored that despite sanctions, foreign pressure and Russia's strategy to replace foreign imports with domestic manufacturing, the Russian economy will never become an autarky - an isolated economy with no or limited foreign economic ties.

 

 

READ MORE:

https://sputniknews.com/20220617/putin-era-of-unipolar-world-has-ended-despite-attempts-to-preserve-it-at-any-cost-1096410547.html

 

 

 

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france does not need roosky gas to keep warm…..

"This heat is a nightmare": story of a scorching day in the south and west of France


By Anne-Fleur Bost (Périgueux, correspondent), Agathe Beaudouin (Nîmes, correspondent), Philippe Gagnebet (Toulouse, correspondent), Yan Gauchard (Nantes, correspondent) and Claire Mayer (Bordeaux, correspondent)
Posted 17th June 2022 at 5:39 a.m., updated at 2:46 p.m.


Reserved for our subscribers

 

With thirty-seven departments in red or orange vigilance, nearly 18 million people are affected by an unprecedented heat wave. If the 40°C mark has not been crossed on Thursday, the heat has already been overwhelming.

France is hot. Very hot. Unusually hot for a month of June. Twelve departments in the South-West and on the Atlantic coast were placed – from Friday June 17 – on red alert, the highest level of the national heat wave plan.

 

In these regions, schoolchildren and college students will be allowed to stay at home on Friday. Twenty-five other departments are placed on orange alert, i.e. a total of 18 million people affected by this unprecedented heat wave. If the 40°C mark was not crossed on Thursday, the heat was already overwhelming.

 

READ MORE:

https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2022/06/17/c-est-un-cauchemar-cette-chaleur-un-jeudi-caniculaire-dans-le-sud-et-l-ouest-de-la-france_6130707_3244.html

 

Translation by Jules Letambour

 

 

MEANWHILE:

 

Gas flow from Germany to France has been halted, French gas transmission system operator GRTgaz reported on Friday, adding that the nation hadn’t received any natural gas from Russia via the pipeline since June 15.

The operator also said that French gas storage facilities were filled to 56% of capacity, up from 19% in mid-March, stressing that France wouldn’t face any difficulties in meeting summer demand for the energy source.

Earlier this week, Russian energy giant Gazprom warned that it would sharply cut its gas deliveries to Europe over technical issues arising from Western sanctions. The company said that German energy equipment operator Siemens Energy failed to return repaired gas pumping units for the North Stream pipeline from a maintenance facility in Canada due to the country’s embargo on Russia.

 

READ MORE:

https://www.rt.com/business/557312-france-russian-gas-supplies-halt/

 

 

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green gone to coal…..

Germany turns to coal as Russia cuts gas supplies

 

Economy minister says Germany will limit the use of natural gas for electricity production and instead burn more coal.

Germany’s economy minister says the country will limit the use of natural gas for electricity production amid concerns about possible shortages caused by a cut in supplies from Russia.

The move comes after Russia sharply reduced flows of natural gas in its pipelines to western Europe, driving up energy prices.

“To reduce gas consumption, less gas must be used to generate electricity. Coal-fired power plants will have to be used more instead,” Robert Habeck said in a statement on Sunday.

Russian state gas giant Gazprom said the supply reductions via the Nord Stream pipeline are the result of repair work, but European Union officials believe Moscow is punishing allies of Ukraine, where Russian forces launched an invasion in February.

 

READ MORE:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/19/germany-to-limit-use-of-gas-for-electricity-production

 

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