Thread: Sanctions on Russia: Facts and end-resultsd

Originally Posted by bytemare

Ukraine could have no gas as their main supply is about to be cut off. Gas is what most of the population uses for heating, cooking, and hot water.

The expression "Don't bite the hand that feeds you" comes to mind.

Take one guess why the the USA is so cosy with Saudi Arabia, a country that stands for everything the US normally can't tolerate; i.e. dictatorship, oppression of women, lack of "freedom", homophobia, non-Christian values --- just as a starting point. They need the oil imports, at prices they can afford. So in light of that they brush their normal reservations under the carpet. And Russia is considerably less unpleasant than Saudi from pretty much any objective Western observer's perspective. They even share common culture and language with Ukraine. It really should not be very hard for Ukraine to ensure that it doesn't majorly upset Russia. But instead, Ukraine's done just about everything it can, to annoy Russia, going completely against their own best interests. Who are they going to buy cheap gas from then. Brussels, lol?

For the exact same reason that the USA cozies up with Saudi, the Ukraine would be wise to make sure it has a working relationship with Ukraine. Through the foreign backed coup d'etat and subsequent events, they have jeopordized this, and now it looks like they'll be paying the price.

Plus - it's not like Russia is refusing to provide gas.
Unless I am mistaken, Russia asks nothing else than that Ukraine pays the same price for gas as the rest of the EU, and that (due to not having paid discounted fees on time) now pays for usage in advance. Completely acceptable practice within business. It's anyone's prerogative to decide who they want to give discounts to, or ask payment in advance from untrusted partners. Basically in this respect "they made their bed and now they have to lay in it" to use another common expression.

The US is seriously talking about building an underwater gas pipeline to Europe.

I personally wish the natural gas sources in Europe were a bit more evenly distributed, but at the end of the day, that's where it's at. Russia may have gas, but it has some other challenges and problems that the rest of Europe doesn't have.

By the way, does anyone know why gas is so expensive nowadays?
I don't know where my gas comes from, but I pay a small fortune for it. It's totally ridiculous. When I was at university the gas bill was nothing. It might as well have been free. Literally, a month's supply cost about the same as a dinner out. Why is it so expensive now? What's changed?

Originally Posted by UhOhXplode

Those sanctions are a brilliant move. With NASA falling apart, it will give Russia an impressive edge on the space industry.

In other news, is everyone aware that the US Vice President's son has been appointed to the board of directors of one of Ukraine's largest gas conglomerates, Burisma Holdings. While Ukrainians are dying, Hunter Biden has a huge smile on his face ($$$$$$$).
Hunter Biden, Joe's Son, Joins Ukraine Gas Company - Business Insider

What irony. And how ridiculous. What on earth qualifies some American punk who doesn't even speak the local language, be on the board of this company?

What's it going to take for Ukrainians to see that the US is no better than Russia, probably worse?

Originally Posted by Joe Biden

As a new member of the Board, I believe that my assistance in consulting the Company on matters of transparency, corporate governance and responsibility, international expansion and other priorities will contribute to the economy and benefit the people of Ukraine," Hunter Biden said in the statement.

Translation: I have no relevant skills whatsoever, but I am good at bullshïtting. You should be honoured to pay me 1mil USD per year for my services.

[QUOTE=Hanna;262503]. Why is it so expensive now?
[QUOTE]

it is pure greed and capitalist market factors. shell-bp-gazprom etc; all the same = they milk the paying customer as much as they can for as long as they can

[QUOTE=eisenherz;262506][QUOTE=Hanna;262503]. Why is it so expensive now?

it is pure greed and capitalist market factors. shell-bp-gazprom etc; all the same = they milk the paying customer as much as they can for as long as they can

Yeah I *may* actually have worked for two of these. I think you can guess which ones, in that case. Surprised, huh? Since they are so rich, they are not bad places to be as an employee. But it's borderline whether you can look yourself in the mirror in the morning.

Don't know exactly what Russia did to XX, but it was certainly *something* which management tried to brush over and whitepaint. Received lots of cryptical emails trying to pretend all was well. In reality I think Russia *took* some of the business and simply gave it go Rosneft, then kicked out all the executives or something like that. And they couldn't hit back or say anything for the risk of jeopardizing their remaining interests in Russia, or negatively affecting the stock price. LOL. Go Putin!
And today, Angola. I think you are in the vicinity, eisenherz, right? and have an idea what they are up to there, while the locals are killing each other. It just makes me want to cry.

Earlier at YYYYY, lots of cryptical emails from management about "everything we do in Nigeria is PERFECTLY above water, the locals love us, anything else is just lies". Whereupon I looked into it and was totally disgusted, changing jobs at the next opportunity.

It's creepy how such companies obsessively TALK about community values, ecology, ethics, anti-corruption and then go out and do the exact opposite.

Yeah you are probably right. In Scandinavia, at the time it was cheap, I got the gas from the local state owned company. So that would explain the cheapness. Nobody was trying to make a profit. I don't know where they got the gas from. Russia or somewhere else. I think you can actually make household gas from petrol as well, so that might have been what they did. There was something called "the gas factory".

In the UK, all the gas companies were privatised some years back, not sure when. It was supposed to bring increased efficiency and competition resulting in lower prices. The exact opposite happened, and the whole thing is much debated in media.
Low income families actually struggle to afford heating their own homes. I've seen stories in the news about single mothers dressing up their kids in coats indoors in the winter.

[QUOTE=Hanna;262509][QUOTE=eisenherz;262506]

Originally Posted by Hanna

.

And today, Angola. I think you are in the vicinity, eisenherz, right?.

it is our neighbour to the north - let me not comment on Angola for it is a different topic, save to say that i largely share you views regarding the oil companies (you see, we agree on something)

[QUOTE=eisenherz;262538][QUOTE=Hanna;262509]

Originally Posted by eisenherz

it is our neighbour to the north - let me not comment on Angola for it is a different topic, save to say that i largely share you views regarding the oil companies (you see, we agree on something)

I'd love to hear about Namibia in some other context. Good to know we are on the same page. If those are your horses, I am green of envy....

And please all, note how uHoHxplode is up to date on the space programmes. This kid is something out of the ordinary for sure. This is not information you just stumble across. Maybe easier today than when I was a teen, but still - I didn't know half of that.

I am hoping for a manned mission to Mars by 2030 though, and I think most of us would have thought it would have already happened by now
I bet the Soviets would have loved to conquer the "Red" planet, lol! To bad they never got around to it.

[QUOTE=Hanna;262544][QUOTE=eisenherz;262538]

Originally Posted by Hanna

I'd love to hear about Namibia in some other context. Good to know we are on the same page. If those are your horses, I am green of envy....

And please all, note how uHoHxplode is up to date on the space programmes. This kid is something out of the ordinary for sure. This is not information you just stumble across. Maybe easier today than when I was a teen, but still - I didn't know half of that.

I am hoping for a manned mission to Mars by 2030 though, and I think most of us would have thought it would have already happened by now
I bet the Soviets would have loved to conquer the "Red" planet, lol! To bad they never got around to it.

Maybe they did get around to trying to do it. We just wouldn't know because they would have only reported it after it were all done and successful, and we wouldn't hear about all of the failed attempts and people who died trying, if history were to repeat itself.