Nordstream gas pipeline apparently sabotaged with “explosions” and three huge leaks

“It’s difficult to imagine it could be accidental”

The leaks are massive

Indeed “leak” does not seem like the right word.

@JavierBlas

The explosions are marked with stars.

The sites are 75 kilometers apart just outside official Danish territory.

Euronews –– Swedish national broadcaster SVT reported that national seismologists had registered “two clear explosions” around the area, first at 2:03 AM and then at 7:04 PM (CET) on Monday.

Hours after the explosions, coincidentally, Gazprom also warned that one of the two remaining major pipelines to Europe was at risk due to a legal dispute over fees. Gazprom was refusing to pay a transit fee that the Ukrainian energy firm said it was supposed to pay.

At this stage everyone is saying the leaks are sabotage, but no one is claiming to know anything for sure. The US government has said it is ‘ready to provide support’ to Europe.

So, below, this is quite an awkward flashback, to say the least. It’s from February when Joe Biden was trying to talk Russia out of invading Ukraine:

Biden: “If Russia invades…then there will be no longer a Nord Stream […]

September 28th, 2022 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Energy, Europe, Global Warming, Russia, USA | Print This Post Print This Post | |

Russia turns off the tap “indefinitely”

The Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline from Russia to a desperate Europe was supposed to re-open yesterday, instead, Russia announced that it will remain closed due to an oil leak, indefinitely. The announcement was made after markets closed. Germany has about 3 months of gas in storage.

Gas prices are expected to rise Monday.

Ukraine war: Russia to keep key gas pipeline to EU closed

By Robert Plummer & Oliver Slow BBC News

Faisal Islam, the BBC’s economics editor, described the indefinite closure of Nord Stream 1 as a very serious development, noting that Russia had kept supplies into Europe flowing even at the height of the Cold War.

The stand-off with Russia has forced countries to fill their own gas supplies, with Germany’s stores increasing from less than half in June to 84% full today.

Apparently this is the oil spill that shut down a billion dollar pipeline:

Just bad luck then?

Twitter commenters have some doubts:

@PolemicTMM –– Masterful trolling of the EU by Mr P.

@PrivatinvestN — Is this a Friday night joke or have they actually published this?

@JavierBlas — They did. […]

September 4th, 2022 | Tags: , , , | Category: Big-Government, Europe, Geostrategic, Global Warming, Russia | Print This Post Print This Post | |

A corrupt invasion ruined by Corruption

Character is destiny Daniel Hannan explains that Putin was undone by corruption

Bribery is no way to build an empire. Putin’s intelligence and military bureaucrats didn’t believe in the Russian Empire, and they kept the cash they were supposed to use for bribes in Ukraine. Then lied about the bribes and ultimately left Putin in a precarious position. But they too are vulnerable. Indeed Ukrainians are suffering. Russians are suffering. There are few winners and many losers.

Great civilizations are built on trust. Millions of people work most efficiently when they all know the rules, and everyone has a voice. We used to have that.

Comments here by David Evans on the article by Daniel Hannan

The details are only now emerging, and they help explain why Russia is losing in Ukraine and, indeed, why autocracies are often terrible at fighting wars.

By annexing Crimea and taking Donbass, in 2014 Putin tipped Ukraine into becoming majority western-oriented:

Until 2014, Ukraine was fairly evenly split between, to borrow 19th century Russian terminology, Westernizers and Slavophiles. Some Ukrainians wanted to join the institutions of the free world, including NATO. Others preferred, if not a merger with Russia, at least a special […]

April 15th, 2022 | Tags: | Category: Big-Government, Free markets, Russia | Print This Post Print This Post | |

Russian-linked groups donated to anti-frakking Green groups because they love the planet right?

Who were those Useful Idiots…

Strategically, Russia would be crazy if it weren’t funding Green Groups to scare the West out of using its own resources and hobbling its own energy grid.

Russia has the motive, the means and the opportunity. Ask not whether Putin was funding some Greens, but whether Putin would not be.

These dark money trails across international borders are almost impossible to pin down, but there are clues, leaks and links suggesting Russia was sending hundreds of millions of dollars to support anti-fossil-fuel Green environmentalists.

Yesterday Russian troops did a hostile takeover of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. So in that spirit it’s time to ask if Russia was funding Western Greens was it preparing for War or just worried about walruses?

Would Good Global Citizen Russia say No Thanks to a chance to gain dominant control of a key strategic market?

A lesson in energy masochism

The Wall Street Journal / The Australian

A mere 15 years ago, countries in the EU produced more gas than Russia exported. Yet European production has plunged by more than half during the past decade. Putin has happily filled the supply gap.

[…]

March 5th, 2022 | Tags: , , , | Category: Big-Government, Corruption, Global Warming, Russia, war | Print This Post Print This Post | |