I’ve said this a million times: Putin has the ultimate weapon in his grasp and he will use it. Putin owns Europe because the continent relies on Russia for its oil and gas. Germany gets 75% of its natural gas from Russia.
Now Putin is threatening to use the weapon.
Live streams:
But they’ll talk to Putin:
The leaders of both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates declined overtures from the White House to set up a call with President Biden, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal.Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the U.A.E.’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan have declined to speak with Biden in recent weeks, a U.S. official told WSJ, but both leaders did field calls from Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.“There was some expectation of a phone call, but it didn’t happen,“ said a U.S. official of the planned discussion between the Saudi Prince Mohammed and Mr. Biden. ”It was part of turning on the spigot [of Saudi oil].”
Go ahead and keep harming the Russian people. None of this harms Putin and his cronies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy needs to understand that a no-fly zone is an awful idea. It’s so awful that Democrats and Republicans agree it shouldn’t happen:
Russia, in the last 30 years, has not lost as much of military air equipment as it has lost in these 13 days in Ukraine. But they still have enough equipment for killing, enough rockets for terror, still enough 500 kg bombs in order to throw them down on us, regular people, on Chernihiv, Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkiv, Poltava, Zhytomyr, on many, many dozens of Ukrainian cities, on millions of peaceful Ukrainian people,” Zelenskyy said.”Thirteen days, during which we`ve been just hearing promises, when they tell us that yes, very very soon you`ll get help in the sky, there`ll be planes given to us,” he continued.”The fault lies with the invaders,” Zelenskyy added. “But the responsibility for this lies also with those who have not been able to make an obviously necessary decision somewhere in the West, somewhere in the offices for 13 days. Those who have not yet secured the Ukrainian sky from Russian murderers. Those who did not save our cities from airstrikes, from these bombs, missiles, although they can.”
Sanctions and boycotts? Doesn’t matter because China will buy from Russia:
China is considering buying or increasing stakes in Russian energy and commodities companies, such as gas giant Gazprom PJSC and aluminum producer United Co. Rusal International PJSC, according to people familiar with the matter.Beijing is in talks with its state-owned firms, including China National Petroleum Corp., China Petrochemical Corp., Aluminum Corp. of China and China Minmetals Corp., on any opportunities for potential investments in Russian companies or assets, the people said. Any deal would be to bolster China’s imports as it intensifies its focus on energy and food security — not as a show of support for Russia’s invasion in Ukraine — the people said.The discussions are at an early stage and won’t necessarily lead to a deal, the people said, requesting anonymity as the discussions aren’t public. Some talks between Chinese and Russian energy companies have started to take place, according to separate sources.
This will only hurt us even more:
President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia’s economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, according to a person familiar with the matter.The move follows pleas by Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy to U.S. and Western officials to cut off the imports, which had been a glaring omission the massive sanctions put in place on Russia over the invasion. Energy exports have kept a steady influx of cash flowing to Russia despite otherwise severe restrictions on its financial sector.Biden was set to announce the move as soon as Tuesday, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter before an announcement. The White House said Biden would speak Tuesday morning to announce “actions to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine.”The U.S. will be acting alone, but in close consultation with European allies, who are more dependent on Russian energy supplies. Natural gas from Russia accounts for one-third of Europe’s consumption of the fossil fuel. The U.S. does not import Russian natural gas.
Biden’s administration is open to banning Russian oil imports. It sounded like Europe would do something similar while sanctioning the energy sector in Russia. Well, it included loopholes.
Europe admitted it cannot live without Russian gas and oil. Putin will tighten his grip around them:
Russia has threatened to halt gas supplies to the West through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.For the first time since the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow on Monday suggested it had the “full right” to stop supplies and warned that oil prices could surge to $300 a barrel.Alexander Novak, Russia’s deputy prime minister, said his government had the “full right” to “impose an embargo” on gas supplies. He said the decision to shut off Nord Stream 1 has not yet been taken, and the pipeline is currently operating “at full capacity”.”In connection with unfounded accusations against Russia regarding the energy crisis in Europe and the imposition of a ban on Nord Stream 2, we have every right to take a matching decision and impose an embargo on gas pumping through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline,” Mr Novak said in a statement broadcast on state television.It came after the US sought to ratchet up pressure on Vladimir Putin by saying the West was considering banning Russian oil imports. Oil prices spiked to their highest levels since 2008.”A rejection of Russian oil would lead to catastrophic consequences for the global market,” Mr Novak said.
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