The military stories are incredible. Then come the politics. Take the time, no, make the time, to listen. Language warning: it’s not for treatoddlers or woke snowflakes.
Together they have 54 years of Canadian military experience. They both served in Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry, combined they did tours in Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo & Afghanistan. This episode marks the first attempt at a military roundtable where we hear stories about the military and an outlook on the world today.
The Telegraph- Households burn cat litter to heat homes amid wood pellet shortage
Households are using cat litter to heat their homes, according to pet shop bosses, after the Ukraine war sparked a shortage of wood pellets. Jollyes, one of the UK’s largest pet food stores, said its cat litter suppliers were “working overtime to fulfill demand” for wood pellets, after a sharp jump in sales earlier this winter.
Putin on Thursday also said teaching children “that a boy can become a girl and vice versa” verges on being a “crime against humanity,” while suggesting that supporters of transgender rights were calling for the cessation of “basic things such as mother, father, family or gender differences.”
The Russian president, who vies to project a macho image and is widely viewed as an authoritarian, has been condemned by other world leaders and top human rights groups over his anti-LGBTQ policies and rhetoric.
The biggest refinery in Europe, Shell’s Pernis in the Netherlands, suffered a malfunction late on Wednesday, which could exacerbate an already worsening fuel supply situation in northwest Europe due to the strikes in France.
Shell Pernis said late on Wednesday that “Due to a malfunction on one of our installations, we are forced to flare.”
Shell is investigating the cause of the malfunction and is doing everything it can to solve the problem as soon as possible, and to limit the nuisance for the residents in the vicinity of the refinery near Rotterdam, the company said. […]
France’s fuel distribution continues to be disrupted by the ongoing strikes at refineries, with no end in sight to the industrial action that has left more than 60% of French refining capacity offline.
This is big. Story is still developing. And there’s a lot of speculation going round.
ZeroHedge- Damage To Nord Stream Pipelines “Unprecedented;” May Have Been ‘Sabotaged’
Jerusalem Post- Blasts occurred near Nord Stream gas leaks, seismologist tells SVT
Seismologists in Denmark and Sweden on Monday registered powerful blasts in the areas of the Nord Stream gas leaks, Sweden’s National Seismology Centre (SNSN) at the Uppsala University told public broadcaster SVT on Tuesday.
“There is no doubt that these were explosions,” SNSN seismologist Bjorn Lund told SVT.
The size of the Nord Stream pipeline gas leak is huge.
According to the Danish armed forces, it measures about 1 kilometer in diameter. The smaller circle in the center is approximately 200 meters wide https://t.co/7FJQNN5hNg
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) September 27, 2022
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1573512652722249735
“You can’t win against someone you can’t say ‘no’ to”.
Higher energy prices can lead to civil unrest — the avoidance of which is one reason why countries keep buying fossil fuels from Russia. As Puri intimated, when petrol stations run dry or if costs get too high, people will respond.
According to Verisk Maplecroft, a consultancy that tracks geopolitical risks, last quarter civil unrest increased in 101 of the 198 countries that it tracks around the world in part due to higher-priced energy. They foresee the recent unrest as just the beginning, “As the conditions for civil unrest build in a growing number of countries, the severity and frequency of protests and labour activism is set to accelerate further over the coming months.”
Roger Pielke Jr is a name many of you recognize. Consider subscribing to his Substack.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Boris Johnson vowed that Western sanctions would “hobble the Russian economy”.
In March, Liz Truss as Foreign Secretary announced 65 sanctions and fiercely declared: “Putin should be under no illusions. We are united with our allies and will keep tightening the screw on the Russian economy to help ensure he fails in Ukraine. There will be no let-up.”
But six months on, while we are paying the price for the invasion with a crippling cost-of-living crisis, locals in Moscow are upbeat.
Financial Times- Russia switches off Europe’s main gas pipeline until sanctions are lifted
Russia’s gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will not resume in full until the “collective west” lifts sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has said.
Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, blamed EU, UK and Canadian sanctions for Russia’s failure to deliver gas through the key pipeline, which delivers gas to Germany from St Petersburg via the Baltic sea.
Then there’s OPEC…
ZeroHedge- Oil Surges After OPEC+ Agrees On 100Kb/d Production Cut
Financial Times- How would a G7 price cap on Russian oil would work?
On Friday, finance ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US gave the go-ahead for such a scheme, declaring that it would “build on and amplify the reach of existing sanctions”.
The success of the proposals will hinge on the readiness of big importers of Russian oil, including India and China, to go along with the scheme. So far, neither country has indicated a willingness to participate. Russia has warned it would retaliate against any country that takes part by withholding shipments of oil.
Behave yourselves in the comment section I’ll be checking in now and then to make sure things don’t get out of hand. Vigorous debate is fine, but let’s keep the insults and dehumanizing stuff down to a dull roar.
Global- Russia’s Gazprom extends Nord Stream 1 shutdown, citing faulty turbine
It said the turbine could not operate safely until the leak was repaired, and gave no timeframe for the resumption of gas supplies via the pipeline, which had been due to return to operation early on Saturday after a three-day maintenance break.
Addendum, from Kate: Francisco has my full backing. I’ve considered closing comments here recently due to the repeated abuse of this platform by a handful of people who use it as their private pissing match game board. Remember that everyone who posts and curates this blog is a VOLUNTEER. We all have real lives and real livelihoods to pursue. Don’t be a net drag on this blog. If you haven’t anything relevant and on topic to add, then keep your fingers off the keyboard.
No idea if this is true or not but looks like its going to be the official story. As such there’s probably going to be some kind of response.
iEarlGrey- BREAKING – Darya Dugina Case SOLVED. FSB Claim Ukraine responsible
Lenta.ru- FSB announced the involvement of Ukrainian special services in the murder of Dugin’s daughter
You’ll need to use something like google translate to read the story at the last link.
Financial Times- A winter energy reckoning looms for the west
This coming winter will bring a reckoning. Western governments must either invite economic misery on a scale that would test the fabric of democratic politics in any country, or face the fact that energy supply constrains the means by which Ukraine can be defended.
Associated Press- Russia’s war at 6 months: A global economy in growing danger
The U.N. Development Program said rising food and energy prices threw 71 million people worldwide into poverty in the first three months of the war. Countries in the Balkans and sub-Saharan Africa were hit hardest. Up to 181 million people in 41 countries could suffer a hunger crisis this year, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has projected.
CNBC- Russia is China’s top oil supplier for a third month in July, customs data showed
Hard to find much U.S. media on how Nord Stream 2 was finished under weight of U.S. sanctions.
Gazprom donated (ahem) $200M (!) to help prop up a “Climate Foundation” created by the government of Mecklenburg-Vorpommerna *.
All the climate foundation documents have been lost.
A long but interesting read here. Grab a beverage. And try to stay on topic if you’re leaving a comment.
London Review of Books- Blast Effects, James Meek reports from Ukraine
Ukraine’s fate won’t be decided in Donbas, where the biggest part of Ukrainian and Russian forces are concentrated, but hundreds of miles away, on the more obscure battlefield of the south-west. The country’s future turns on Russia’s ability to hold on to a piece of land on the western side of the Dnieper, between two port cities: Russian-occupied Kherson, and Mykolaiv, less than forty miles north-west. If Ukraine manages to sweep the Russians from Kherson, the western half of the country will be protected by the great barrier of the Dnieper, Putin will suffer a politically damaging defeat and Kyiv will be closer to freeing its biggest ports from Russian blockade. European leaders sceptical of Ukraine’s ability to resist the invaders may think again. If, however, Russia clings on to its western bridgehead, it will retain the potential to swallow more of Ukraine, threatening Mykolaiv, Odesa and the rest of the Ukrainian Black Sea coast all the way to the Danube, and, eventually, the whole country.
We still want Russian oil.
Financial Times- West eases efforts to restrict Russian oil trading as inflation and energy risks mount
European governments have eased back on efforts to curb trade in Russian oil, delaying a plan to shut Moscow out of the vital Lloyd’s of London maritime insurance market and allowing some international shipments amid fears of rising crude prices and tighter global energy supplies.
The same seems to be true with gas, grain and fertilizer.
Europe’s descent into an economic contraction looks to have been confirmed with Russia squeezing natural gas supplies to the region and heavy industry facing tough rationing in the coming months.
Just days after Europeans breathed a sigh of relief as Russian gas giant Gazprom announced it would resume supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, it then announced Monday that flows would be reduced yet again.
The announcement, with Gazprom saying it would be for maintenance of a turbine along the pipeline, was greeted with incredulity and condemnation in Europe.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the move — which will see flows to Germany fall to 20% of its capacity from an already low level of 40% — was tantamount to a “gas war” with Europe. Germany’s economy minister, Robert Habeck, said the excuse that maintenance was the reason for the supply cut was a “farce.”
It puts Europe in a tricky situation as it contends with rampant inflation, the war in Ukraine and an already troubled supply chain following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Germany, the region’s largest economy and traditional growth driver, has a particular reason to worry. It’s largely reliant on Russian gas and is sliding toward a recession. The government is particularly concerned about how it will keep the lights on over the winter: Habeck said Monday evening that “we have a serious situation. It is time for everyone to understand that,” during an interview with broadcaster ARD.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.