A couple of weeks old but still relevant.
The ship he mentions that was supposed to go to Lebanon had its load of wheat rejected. It had to be re-routed to Syria.
Make Borscht Not War
Down The Primrose Path
1.95 billion and all we got was a lousy Vogue cover: Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday signed off on Canada’s latest loan to Ukraine, a total $450 million to buy heating oil. Canadian loans total $1.95 billion to date…”
Rest assured that none of it will find its way back to Liberal bagmen.
Down The Primrose Path
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.
It’s Probably Nothing
Chinese troops will travel to Russia to take part in a joint exercise with Russia and other countries including India, Belarus and Tajikistan, the Chinese defence ministry said on Wednesday.
China’s participation in the joint exercises is “unrelated to the current international and regional situation,” the ministry said in a statement.
A Twenty Year Plan
To fix a problem that’s really going to get ugly in a couple of months.
National Post- Green Canadian hydrogen a far-off fix for Germany’s energy worries
Make Borscht not War
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.
Schadenfrozen
It’s probably nothing.
Schadenfrozen
And another day, another electricity record high:
🇫🇷🔌France 1-year forward power €576 per MWh
🇩🇪🔌German 1-year forward power €430 per MWh(For context, the 2010-2020 average is ~€45 per MWh) #EnergyCrisis #EnergyTwitter
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) August 10, 2022
Things You Won’t See on CBC
Sky News- Zelensky ‘not all he’s portrayed as’ by Western media: Bernardi (Video)
With Friends Like These
National Post- The incredibly incompetent Mélanie Joly
According to Globe and Mail sources, Ottawa clearly instructed Canadian diplomats to not tell Ukrainian staff about the impending invasion or the target on their backs. They had to learn about both through the grapevine via U.S. embassy employees, who were warned of the danger.
This decision to desert roughly 50 loyal employees, to leave them for death, detention or worse given Russian troops’ well-documented predilection for rape and torture, reportedly came from the top.
Make Borscht not War
The Western Producer- Ukrainian farmers struggle as war continues
Down The Primrose Path
From a kooky little site called Amnesty International.
Ukrainian forces have put civilians in harm’s way by establishing bases and operating weapons systems in populated residential areas, including in schools and hospitals, as they repelled the Russian invasion that began in February, Amnesty International said today.
Such tactics violate international humanitarian law and endanger civilians, as they turn civilian objects into military targets. The ensuing Russian strikes in populated areas have killed civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure.
“We have documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk and violating the laws of war when they operate in populated areas,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“Being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian military from respecting international humanitarian law.”
Addendum. 93 comments — seems like this hit a nerve?
Turning Up The Heat
Euronews- Europe’s energy crisis: Controversy as Spain bans air conditioning from dropping below 27°C
The decree, published on Tuesday morning, will also stop heating from being raised above 19°C during the winter. The rules will be mandatory in all public and commercial buildings, including bars, cinemas, theatres, airports and train stations.
It is extended as a recommendation to Spanish households.
Just Kidding
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.
War is Hell
It’s almost impossible to get the lighting right.
https://twitter.com/spriteer_774400/status/1552033002053681154
Down The Primrose Path
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.
Down The Primrose Path
Internal polls are ringing alarm bells for Democrats and the memos have gone out.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dismissal of senior officials is casting an inconvenient light on an issue that the Biden administration has largely ignored since the outbreak of war with Russia: Ukraine’s history of rampant corruption and shaky governance.
As it presses ahead with providing tens of billions of dollars in military, economic and direct financial support aid to Ukraine and encourages its allies to do the same, the Biden administration is now once again grappling with longstanding worries about Ukraine’s suitability as a recipient of massive infusions of American aid.
Wait for it…
Those issues, which date back decades and were not an insignificant part of former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment…
Enthusiasm for Ukraine among Democrats and their allied media had little to do with democracy and freedom for Ukraine. In the background, the political calculus was always about Trump.
They’d put years of hard work into creating a political narrative tying Trump to Russia, and they weren’t going to let that crisis go to waste. They saw Ukraine as a conveniently distant battlefield upon which to seal the political fate of the evil dictator, Donald J. Putin.
What they didn’t predict was that the conflict would drag on beyond the patience of the American mid-term voter already angry at skyrocketing inflation and a looming recession. Now they need an exit ramp and their friends in media are setting it up.
From the comments – I remember South Vietnam. The Democrats reversed course after LBJ dragged us into that war. Suddenly when Nixon actually negotiated a peace treaty and US Withdrawal, all the stories from 1972 on were how Sough Vietnam was a corrupt sh**hole and we should stop all military aid and abandon them. We did, and South Vietnam fell in 1975.
Down The Primrose Path
The EU is preparing to carve out exceptions in its tough sanctions against Moscow that would unblock assets at Russian banks linked to trade in food and fertiliser, a document showed on Tuesday.