Stories like this and this should be prefaced with a warning that reads: “This is Pure Fiction and Provided Solely for Entertainment Purposes”. Michael Graham elaborates more here, beginning at 2:30.
The notion that the EU is going to enact any meaningful sanctions against Russia is much like a homeowner stating that they’re going to impose sanctions against their local electricity company. Are they going to cast insults against the meter reader?!?
Russia supplies 30% of the natural gas supply of Europe. Whatever the EU decides to do, It’d be swell of them to wrap this up before november.
http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=15411
“Europe, including all EU members plus Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, and the non-EU Balkan states, consumed 18.7 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas in 2013. Russia supplied 30% (5.7 Tcf) of this volume, with a significant amount flowing through Ukraine. EIA estimates that 16% (3.0 Tcf) of the total natural gas consumed in Europe passed through Ukraine’s pipeline network, based on data reported by Gazprom and Eastern Bloc Energy.”
When it is all said and done, much will be said, and nothing will be done.
A meaningful sanction would be for Britain, France, and the U.S. to reduce their nuclear arsenals by donating several apiece to Ukraine to make up for promising to back Ukraine up if Russia were to violate her sovereign territory.
Russia should have no complaints, given that they signed a treaty with Ukraine promising that they would respect Ukraine’s territory if Ukraine gave up her nuclear weapons.
Russia could no more cut off Europe’s gas supply than Europe could swear off of it themselves. Russia is as addicted to Europe’s hard currency as Europe is to Russia’s gas.
Notice that what never surfaces in the conversation between the two talking heads is the atrocity of murdering 298 people in mid-air and the repugnance of doing business with those who condone such actions. By reducing this to dollars and economic costs, the EU have guaranteed they will lie down and do nothing of substance.
Insurgents and rebels assisted by the USofA have committed similar atrocities, and nobody has suggested boycotting them. Yes, this is nothing but posing.
While Canada is not mentioned in this story, Canada is already threatened by Russia in our Canadian NORTH!
Sadly Canada should be in the forefront of the European struggle with the Russian bully, Vladimir Putin.
Worst of all the Europeans
are essentially leaderless as a whole power entity, no Margaret Thatcher or Ronald Reagan to lead the gutless lot, only shit heels OBAMA and he has conceded to PUTIN long ago!
Russia holds Europeans by the short curly’s on the “natural gas” supply as well as Europe’s best customer for hardware…… BUT …. Russia also needs foreign money to thrive as a major player!
My hope is that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will look the Russian Bully Putin in the eye, take him to the proverbial WOODSHED of political life putting an end to the Russian bullying and expansion plans.
Are you listening to me Mr. Harper?
CUT OF PUTIN’S WORLD VISA card!
I AM Joseph Molnar in Woodstock Ontario, Canada, and I AM with you HARPER, always!
Meanwhile the Euros have said NO to FRACKING…..what maroons…..
… boycott shouldn’t worry you anyway, AFAIK the fleshlight isn’t made in Russia.
Joe;
Yes, the Russians and the Americans want big junks of the Canadian Artic. Do you think the Euros will come over and defend our Canadian claims like they expected and received in WW I, WW II and the Cold War? Sorry I forgot Bosnia, Libya and Afganistan. I suggest the Euros are fair weather allies, no men and no money is their commitment.
When a US warship shot down a civilian plane crossing the Persian Gulf, nobody called for a boycott of the US and the story was dead four days into the incident.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655
Russia and Europe are involved in building the Southern Route pipeline to deliver natural gas to Europe.
Should Russia let Europe freeze in the dark because parts of the Ukraine are anti-Kiev?
Should Europe allow themselves to freeze in the dark because the US would like to rekindle the Cold War?
Does Europe support the US’s foreign policy of supporting Islamic extremists?
At least Saddam held those jackasses in check. Saddam would often visit Christian convents and monestaries. Now, the 1.5 million Christians who were there at the start of the Iraq war are down to 300,000.
Thanks, US foreign policy.
The EU will not impose sanctions because they don’t want to. The posturing is merely to appease the US. Germany has huge trade with both China and Russia and over time will likely move away from the spying devious untrustworthy US and UK. The rest of Europe will likely follow. This is not about a downed airliner. It is about the new BRICS bank and the threat that is to the US dollar. That is why the US is lashing out with their propaganda machine and pushing for yet another unjustified war.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/07/paul-craig-roberts/guilt-by-insinuation/
Where are the US satellite photos or any real proof at all?
I have mixed feelings between Russia and Europe. On the one hand, the E.U. promotes the global warming / climate change scam, and the U.K. energy policies have resulted in an extra 5,000 deaths in winter than would usually take place because of CO2 alarmism. I’m tending to take Russia’s side.
When a US warship shot down a civilian plane crossing the Persian Gulf, nobody called for a boycott of the US and the story was dead four days into the incident.
The US owned up to what they did and made reparations. When did Russia do anything other than lie about shooting down passenger planes?
They are proven liars and there is no reason to believe them this time.
They are proven liars and there is no reason to believe them this time.
I agree, the US and especially the current administration are proven liars and there is no reason to believe them, ever.
What set you free logged at 5:51 PM is essentially correct.
Anyone who wants to rekindle the Cold War should get on a plane, and go lay their life on the line with whatever group they support. Otherwise it’s just posturing from behind the safety of a keyboard.
The notion that the EU is going to enact any meaningful sanctions against Russia is much like a homeowner stating that they’re going to impose sanctions against their local electricity company. Are they going to cast insults against the meter reader?!?
Heh, global trade and the one world order isn’t working out so well…good to see.
I believe the thing to say here is “KMA ya Russkie toolbox(es)!”.
… and oh darn:
And it would be nice if the Dutch would stop apologizing for getting in the way of that stray missile.
Canada is shipping tar to Europe?
So we sell them fracked LNG from N.America, nothing wrong with that even if it does exploit their ignorance.
Canada does not ship “tar” anywhere. All oilsands is processed for shipping by pipeline or rail. Shipping raw oilsand by any means wouldn’t be profitable.
nuclear energy is the clear path out of this ridiculous frothing over coal, oil, and natural gas. the resources are not going anywhere and we will always be able to use them when needed.
salt bed or thorium pebble bed – i don’t care. enough of this scrapping over the environment and international chicanery. i think it’s good policy to be in a position to suggest that maybe the middle east, venezuelans, russians, chinese, and greens take a flying leap at a rolling donut.
cut the russians off at the knees, let them sell their excess natural gas to the highest bidder.
btw – the chinese are currently constructing 10 nuclear facilities – you think their cost of energy will provide a competitive edge?
The USofA has been arming rebels and insurgents all over the world with ever more sophisticated military toys since WW2. It’s a big source of revenue [and taxes] for American companies.
How is America’s promoting socialist democracy significantly different from Russia’s promoting free market communism?
That’s right, both Russia and America have changed radically since the Cold War.
Make sure your propaganda induced prejudice and bigotry keeps up with the times.
Maybe Russia is not ‘admitting’ it because Russia did not do it.
All Russia is being accused of is providing a weapon which allegedly shot down the plane to anti-Kiev rebels.
Understand, my friend, that a rebellion has to be against somebody, not for somebody else they’re fighting against, and that’s why I reject the contrived term pro-Russian rebels used by the lockstep western media.
nuclear energy is the clear path out of this ridiculous frothing over coal, oil, and natural gas.
That is Correct.
Nuclear power development is happening in China and not here because “democratic Western leaders” are selected by a media driven popularity contest, and can only think in four year bites. A stable energy future requires the perspective to plan for decades into the future, not just winning the next popularity contest.
Let’s assume for a moment the Putin-backed Russian rebels (yes, Putin-backed Russian-speakers who have seized sovereign Ukrainian territory) did mistake the aircraft for a Ukrainian one and then shot it down. Two hundred and ninety-eight people were still murdered. To rub salt into the wounds, the unsecured site was subject to interference and the most vile and idiotic theories regarding this outrage.
And what will the Europeans do? What they always do- be lazy and cowardly. They are not going to rattle their sabres. They are not going to seek alternative forms of energy. They are going to posture and hope that some leader in North American airspace will do something about this that allows them to save face and still stuff their fat little faces with cake.
Screw you, Europe. You have once again let Russia get away with murder.
US officials:
No direct link to Russian government in downing of Malaysia plane in Ukraine
By Ken Dilanian, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press
Senior U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday that Russia was responsible for “creating the conditions” that led to the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, but they offered no evidence of direct Russian government involvement.
The intelligence officials were cautious in their assessment, noting that while the Russians have been arming separatists in eastern Ukraine, the U.S. had no direct evidence that the missile used to shoot down the passenger jet came from Russia.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/white-house-says-us-present-intelligence-data-tuesday-163540011.html
Too late.
Osumashi is already on the plane, carefully avoiding the war zone over the Ukraine, where he’ll personally give the EU leaders a piece of his mind.
There quivering in their boots as we sit comfortably behind our keyboards.
Maybe Russia is not ‘admitting’ it because Russia did not do it.
They certainly shot down aircraft in the past and lied about it. KAL 007 wasn’t the first.
Can’t believe known liars about anything.
Except for this little smoking gun here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/07/18/smoking-guns-russian-separatists-shot-down-malaysian-plane/
I’m sure the Russian rebels’ interference was entirely unintentional.
If you want anything done, you don’t ask Obama or the Europeans to do it.
My comments still stand.
I know Russia wants war because look how close they put their country to the NATO bases.
Turkey, Khazakstan, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and soon to be Ukraine.
NATO was set up to fend off the threat of the Soviet Union and according to its constitution, has been irrelevant since the USSR breakup in 1991.
Putin is not trying to recreate the Soviet Union, or Czarist Russia. He’s beckoning his inner Viking (look up the Rurik Dynasty). At least that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
Tell me again which entity is today’s expansionist power.
I’m sure this post is a sarcastic one because no one can really believe Putin is a great moral leader with zero designs on natural gas and oil or crony capitalism nor has he dared Ukrainian troops to fire on their own people or supported secessionist movements that either empower or embolden Russia or…
Oh wait….
If Russia is concerned about NATO bases perhaps they aren’t so different from the USSR after all…
So, you acknowledge that the perpetuation of the illegal entity of NATO is today’s expansionist power?
Putin can no more be blamed for the fact Russia has natural resources that Ralph Klein can be blamed for the fact Alberta has natural resources. I would suggest you get used to that fact.
Crimea was always part of Russia and has a vast majority of Russian-speaking people. I was an administrative action by a drunken Khruschev that make Crimea part of the Ukrainian Republic, which in turn was created by a previous leader of the Soviet Union.
Ukraine has always had its successionist movement from Moscow’s influence and recently celebrated in Lvov (you can look it up) the anniversary of the creation of the Waffen SS, whose leaders believed Nazi Germany would grant Ukraine independence if only they killed enough Jews.
Any of my facts incorrect?
Can you give me your address so I can set up a base in your back 40?
Hey Monster Mash and Fiddler.
Perhaps you hadn’t noticed that the US intelligence service backed down when Putin called their bluff yesterday.
There it is at 11:40. North of 60 tried to educate you, he really did. Apparently, your minds are made up and you don’t want to be confused with the facts.
Just to refresh your willful ignorance of the facts, all the US intelligence would say is that Russia created the conditions that led to the tragedy. Uh-huh. Just like the US created the conditions in Iraq that’s led to the persecution of Christians.
Read carefully. Russia did not have any direct responsibility for this horrific act, so take it easy on the KAL 007 BS.
Crimea was always part of Russia and has a vast majority of Russian-speaking people. I was an administrative action by a drunken Khruschev that make Crimea part of the Ukrainian Republic, which in turn was created by a previous leader of the Soviet Union.
Russia is good at blaming others for their own actions. Typical socialists.
Good at selling their heritage for a bit of pottage, always crying because they’ve been hard used.
Heh, what goes around comes around…
Russia did not have any direct responsibility for this horrific act, so take it easy on the KAL 007 BS.
The Russians are known liars. Fact.
“the EU have guaranteed they will lie down and do nothing of substance”
Oh butt they will.
“Crimea was always part of Russia and has a vast majority of Russian-speaking people.”
Crimea has only been a part of Russia since Tsarina Catherine II’s General Potemkin conquered it from the Khanate in the 1760s. The Russian speakers there have only increased in considerable percentage since after the Russian Civil War, with a majority of them having been located there during the WWII years and after after the Tatars were exiled to Siberia in 1941 and 1945.
Putin is not a soviet, he is close with the Russian Orthodox Church and his objective is trying to recreate the Imperial Empire. He is more Tsar than First Secretary.
Putin needs trade with Europe, but he has them by the short and curls on energy.
“In eastern Ukraine, Vladimir V. Putin has been playing with fire. He has mobilized the worst elements to be found in the region. He has taken thugs, thieves, rapists, ex-cons and vandals and turned them into a paramilitary force. ” redirects to… Op Ed at New York Times…
http://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/op-ed/bernard-henri-levy-putins-crime-europes-cowardice-357450.html
“Russia did not have any direct responsibility for this horrific act”
There’s responsibility and then there’s culpability. Russia is generally not a responsible nation.
Creating the insurgency and supplying the BUK launcher with SA-11 missiles makes Russia directly culpable. I would be surprised if it wasn’t one of the Russian Spetsnaz soldiers we’re now seeing pictures of guarding the crash site who pushed the launch button.
For sure it wouldn’t have happened if Russia hadn’t invaded Ukraine in February.
That’s culpability right there.
Just to clear up a few things about energy, Johnny is entirely right. But he understates the scale of what China is doing. Ten sites, yes, but with a total of 29 nuclear reactors at them. That’s 30 per cent of the entire current US fleet and about five per cent of the entire world fleet of about 440 reactors. By 2050, China intends to have an additional 160 reactors in service according to the figures at the WNA. By that same time period, India intends to have more than 60 reactors in operation. And it’s no accident that India has labelled Greenpeace an illegal foreign lobby organization interfering in India’s economy.
SYF, there’s no “tar” in the oilsands.
N60 is right about Western fecklessness re. nuclear power. With Germany shutting down all its plants leading the charge. If Germany had instead followed France in getting more than 80 per cent of its electricity from nuclear, how much weaker would Uncle Vlad’s negotiating position be today? Lots weaker, obviously.
Oz noted the difference between culpability and responsibility. But that’s only part of the picture. Clausewitz pointed out correctly over a century ago that aggression is only possible when one side also shows weakness in the face of a possible enemy. Our energy policies over the past 20 years have demonstrated that weakness, increasing the dependency on fossil fuels (and this is for the slow learners in the back) OUR ENEMIES’ control.
There’s a few around SDA who spout ritual antinuclearism from time to time. Understand clearly that the only thing that they are achieving is weakening us in the face of the enemy.
Well said, particularly, “Our energy policies over the past 20 years have demonstrated that weakness, increasing the dependency on fossil fuels (and this is for the slow learners in the back) OUR ENEMIES’ control.”
We have been too busy inculcating social Marxism on our society. Russia, China, and India are working in the real world.
Clausewitz was and still is right.
–
Whenever a bad person or muslims, acts out there is a collective response from the some in the great WEST collective and it goes something like this …. (while shaking a loosely clenched fist)
“Why you …. I outta!”
–
Huh? My punch line didn’t show up … Here it is …
“Why, you … I outta!”
You are correct about Crimea’s historic background.
“Putin is not a soviet …”
Putin like Andropov and Beria was KGB. Can a tiger change its spots?
A picture is worth a thousand words. Here’s a photo of the Kamov KA-52 Alligator attack helicopter. For some strange reason it has the Communist Red Star on its tail.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F6FCvlES29k/Uh6vf_kJs8I/AAAAAAAAdI0/buJFj7vfKjA/s1600/Russian+Ka-52+Alligator+Attack+Helicopter+Hokum+Kamov++The+navalised+derivative+of+the+Ka-52+Alligator%E2%80%93+Ka-52K,+has+been+selected+as+the+new+ship-borne+attack+type+for+the+Russian+Naval+Aviation+(RNA)+(3).jpg
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
“Maybe Russia is not ‘admitting’ it because Russia did not do it.”
That’s what they said about the Katyn Forest massacre.
Yes, it does indeed seem at times that marxism has migrated from those three countries to here. Why on earth would we ever believe that marxism having already failed so massively in Russia and China? Do we know something the Chinese Mandarins don’t, or is the western left simply endlessly stupid?
Sanctions????? Bwhahahahahaahaha.Name me ONE time a “sanction” has ever done anything.The only thing the EU can do is find their wine glass and “scr3w” for the night.We should have said fight your own damn war way back in 1939.
July 23, 2014: John Schindler:The New July Crisis
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Thanks Mark for introducing Shindler’s writing here.
“Putin views the West with almost undisguised contempt, as ineffectual and weak decadents set on self-imposed decline”
Same view as Hitler and Stalin had back in 1939.
A Russian acquaintance, Marina, visits ‘the Motherland’ to see her family a couple of times a year and still takes them suitcases full of Canadian goods that they can’t get in Russia, just like in Soviet days.