Russia Cuts Off Ukraine Gas Supply To 6 European Countries

originally posted by: funkadeliaaaa
Op is an @sshole
2nd

Ukraine confirmed that Russia had cut off supply; and six countries reported a complete shut-off of Russian gas. The EU raged that the sudden cut-off to some of its member countries was "completely unacceptable," but Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller later added that Russia plans to shift all its natural gas flows crossing Ukraine to a route via Turkey; and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak stated unequivocally, "the decision has been made."

This made me think the russians has just cut it off in the past few hours. Thankfully that didnt and the op is a complete douchebag for making us beleive it had.

He has done this for other articles as well.. When he gets called out for lying / misleading he comes up with some lame excuse as to why he did it.

If Putin wants to sign Russia's death warrant more power to him.

Like I said...

Russia Is Losing Control Over The European Gas Market

REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino UPDATE 1/15 7:30 EST: Russia has reportedly struck a deal with Turkey for a new pipleine in a move to regain leverage on Europe.

Oil isn't Russia's only problem.

The energy exporter is losing its dominance over the European gas market.

Two factors used to keep Russia as the major gas powerhouse: European policies and cold winters.

But both of those things have changed — and Russia is starting to explore non-Western countries.
Europe Is Making Bold Moves
Back in 2009 the European Union passed the Third Energy Package, which said Russia could not both own and control pipelines on the EU territory. (Russia filed a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization against the EU over this in April, after the first rounds of Western sanctions.)

Additionally, the EU has been putting taxpayers' money into new inter-connectors, so if Russia decides to cut off supplies, the affected countries can still get gas from somewhere else, according to The Economist.

This is a major move because in the past Russia punished countries by cutting off gas.

Ukraine's gas was shut off for six months in 2014, as well as at times in 2006 and in 2009, and Latvia and Lithuania were punished by Moscow " for their alleged mistreatment of Russian minorities or for awarding refinery or construction contracts to European rather than Russian companies."

T he Economist also cites the following changes in Europe :
•Lithuania started importing liquefied natural gas from Norway.
•Ukraine is importing more gas from the West.
•The EU has brokered a deal on debts and prices between Ukraine and Russia, which will keep gas going to Ukraine at least for the first quarter of 2015.

To cap things off, in December lack of funds forced Russia to cancel the South Stream pipeline to supply gas to Europe without crossing Ukraine.

click link for remainder.

Reference the bolded part by me -Jeepers I cant for the life of me understand why countries want nothing to do with Russia/Putin, especially former SSR's.

a reply to: BornAgainAlien
Europe has and still is looking at alternate sources so the reliance on Russian gas is decreasing. We currently have rock bottom oil prices (and related gas) and thus a glut in the market. Europe's winter is wet and mild.

Russia is shooting itself in the foot. The outcome will be that Europe will no longer be reliant on Russian gas and the russians will have to find someone else to sell it to. Russia's economy is massively dependant on energy prices it is their number one export by a country mile.

The outcome will be :
* No world war, so the doom porn folks can put their tissues away.
* Europe no longer dependant on Russian oil and gas.
* Russian economy collapsing even further.
* Putin under massive domestic pressure.

Only a moron p...ses off it's customers when the price of it's goods has fallen !!!!!!!!!

What you are seeing is in fact a hail mary play by Russia.

Its not going to work.

Russia Picks New Monetary Policy Chief as Currency Plummets

Lack of aid deepens suffering in conflict-hit east Ukraine

Russian ruble falls further as oil price tumbles

US, EU promise more aid for Ukraine if reforms continue



With Edrogen under investigation and talking about invading Israel I don't see Turkey being in this mess all that long. I think Erodgen will be removed by the military at some point and new elections held (even though he changed the law on coups).

This is Putin panicking and trying to use oil as a last ditch effort. The loss to Europe would most likely push prices back up, benefitting Russia.... for a day or so before the ruble continues its crash and Europe ends reliance on Russian energy. The Baltic nations already did this with their LNG terminal ship/port.

Putin is now ignoring his advisors... and lashing out.

a reply to: Xcathdra
If he is in fact ignoring his advisors and lashing out, that is the worst kind of person you want to muck around with. A desperate man with an army at his control. Bush Jr was the last man to act accordingly and it didn't go well for his enemies or his country.

a reply to: superman2012

So you what? Give into to their demands in hopes e doesn't do something stupid?

Like invade a country like Ukraine?
Illegally annex Crimea?
Threaten Europe with energy wars?

What probably has happened is the following...

ZH is a blog, so I don`t think they have an editor which has checked it out. Under de name of TD different writers are writing and it seems one of them has read the Bloomberg article, started looking around for other stuff about it and came across the DailyMail article and didn`t realised it was from `07.

And about the move of the Russians...

Russia is in the process of building several pipelines in Asia and once they are in place in a couple of years, Russia doesn`t mind cutting the gas to Europe.

So it now forces EU/US to act, either by taking action directly in removing Assad soon so there can be a gas pipeline through Syria from Qatar and/or from Azerbaijan to Europe, or by start building the infrastructure in Southern Europe to take gas from Turkey.

It simply tries to sideline the US controlling the gas flow in bypassing the Ukraine.

a reply to: BornAgainAlien

With the Russian economy in free fall how does this help Putin right now? The Ruble has all but collapsed and they must not have much in the way of hard currency reserves as they have ordered there major corporations to convert foreign currency holdings to the Ruble. How are the Asian pipelines to be financed? Through the massive currency swap and energy deals with China. I understand that long term Russia may be able to completely exit the EU energy market and thus the petrodollar but given current economic realities how does effectively cutting off a major revenue source help them. Wouldn't they be better off to keep earning current EU energy revenues to avoid further economic instability and domestic pressure on the Putin government? I'll ask again what is the end game? Putin is not stupid. He is very calculated and I doubt this him lashing out in desperation. There has to be some wort of play taking place but it isnt entirely clear what that play may be...

originally posted by: elementalgrove
Man oh man things are picking up quickly in 2015!

It was clear that Russia was going to do this, to be honest I am surprised that it has taken this long.

I wonder what the next chess piece to be moved shall be!

And to think they just had old Soros over for a visit in the Ukraine!

Source

That's Soros' M.O.--disrupt the economy of a country, cause conflict, and reap the rewards and this is not at all surprising since Obama is his hired lackey.

a reply to: s3cz0ne

Since when has Putin made a decision based on logic? Putin's actions are based on personal interest by Putin. This is Putin trying to stick it to Europe in winter.

a reply to: s3cz0ne

Don`t forget China will help them out financially and is already doing. Russia can simply sell future gas/oil to countries for money. China doesn`t want Russia to implode because it knows that`s the plan needed to isolate China later on.

For the US/EU to stay World hegemonic the following must happen...

- Hezbollah/Syria/Iran needs to be broken up

- Iran/Russia/China needs to be broken up

- US/EU needs to control the centre of the landmass between Asia and Europe, Eurasia

- China needs to be surrounded/isolated

So it`s not in the interest of China to let Russia implode and they will help them out every way they can...they know what`s at stake.

Russia and China know there`s an economic attack on the BRICS going on right now, and they also know together they are strong and need each other.

What The West is doing right now reeks also as big desperation, needing to crash the World economy with a lot of unknown factors is not something to be taken lightly.

The question only will be, who will win this World chess game.

a reply to: BornAgainAlien

Where do you get your fairy tales from?

originally posted by: Xcathdra
a reply to: BornAgainAlien

Where do you get your fairy tales from?

Worth a read.

East Asian foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration

The American military and diplomatic 'pivot,' or 'rebalance' toward Asia became a popular buzzword after Hillary Clinton authored America's Pacific Century, in Foreign Policy. Clinton's article emphasizes the importance of the Asia-Pacific, noting that nearly half of the world's population resides there, making its development vital to American economic and strategic interests

China containment policy

The 2006 U.S. National Security Strategy states that China has 'the greatest potential of any nation to militarily compete with the US and field disruptive military technologies that over time offset traditional US advantages

originally posted by: s3cz0ne
a reply to: BornAgainAlien

With the Russian economy in free fall how does this help Putin right now? The Ruble has all but collapsed and they must not have much in the way of hard currency reserves as they have ordered there major corporations to convert foreign currency holdings to the Ruble. How are the Asian pipelines to be financed? Through the massive currency swap and energy deals with China. I understand that long term Russia may be able to completely exit the EU energy market and thus the petrodollar but given current economic realities how does effectively cutting off a major revenue source help them. Wouldn't they be better off to keep earning current EU energy revenues to avoid further economic instability and domestic pressure on the Putin government? I'll ask again what is the end game? Putin is not stupid. He is very calculated and I doubt this him lashing out in desperation. There has to be some wort of play taking place but it isnt entirely clear what that play may be...

We have to consider that Russia and Asian countries can simply deal with this economical collapse by creating an "alternative economy" where western products are just for the highest classes. This however may hurt western companies more than anything else because to make profit in those area they will have to relocate the production/manufacturing assets in those countries and use their currency. It's already happening with car manufacturers and I'm pretty sure the don't want to entirely lose russian market nor in a near future China and other asian countries.

The problems are bigger with loans in foreign currencies which have some kind of astronomical inflation, and honestly I don't think it's a random event, it's the hidden part of the "sanctions".
However Russia and China are going in the direction of a gold-backed currency and they are the leading countries of BRICS. Singling out those countries with an economic war like today, may just play in their favour in therms of solidifying an indipendent structure. Very low ruble change means also that western countries would benefit alot in investing there (if there wasn't a tension).

I think the end game for Putin is having an alternative financial pole, with another currency backed by something and catering to asian, african and south american countries in more or less the same way the europeans/americans do. They are already building the infrastructures and energy is the "real deal" of modern economy so one day they'll present to those countries THEIR currency and will gain control through a debt system.

What I am asking myself continuously is why is the west pushing on Russia? I mean, there was no real need if they could control Russia so it probably does mean they can't.

originally posted by: BornAgainAlien
Russia Cuts Off Ukraine Gas Supply To 6 European Countries

Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian state energy giant Gazprom to cut supplies to and through Ukraine amid accusations, according to The Daily Mail, that its neighbor has been siphoning off and stealing Russian gas. Due to these "transit risks for European consumers in the territory of Ukraine," Gazprom cut gas exports to Europe by 60%, plunging the continent into an energy crisis "within hours." Perhaps explaining the explosion higher in NatGas prices (and oil) today, gas companies in Ukraine confirmed that Russia had cut off supply; and six countries reported a complete shut-off of Russian gas. The EU raged that the sudden cut-off to some of its member countries was "completely unacceptable," but Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller later added that Russia plans to shift all its natural gas flows crossing Ukraine to a route via Turkey; and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak stated unequivocally, "the decision has been made."

Source

Remember what is in the American war resolutions from December ?

Russia is forbidden to disrupt energy supplies or it could face consequences.

And Russia “withholds significant natural gas supplies from countries such as Ukraine, Georgia, or Moldova” and NATO members.

Source

Time to make some popcorn and see who will be more pissed, the elite or the civilians.

OHHH, that is big. Energy supplies ain't no joke. People have started wars over less.

originally posted by: romilo
I thinks EU should drop the sanctions and start working with Russia and distance them selfs from US, at least outside the whips reach. That way war would be pushed further away, perhaps it would give enough time to balance things worldwide so war would become less popular option. We already have enough resources to go for every nations needs if we just learn to share it and build each other up instead trying to stick with the old corrupted systems that only "work" with extreme greediness. Maybe that would give US citizens time to make some needed changes in their leaders, politics etc too.

It's not that easy. The EU is part of NATO and a rather big part. They have an obligation to Ukraine here and relations with Russia are always tenuous at best however Europe is largely held hostage to their need for fuel. Securing another source of fuel, whether or not they plan to use it gives them a lot of bargaining power with Russia. By siding with the sanctions and getting fuel from other sources (even if this takes some time to happen), the EU can say to Russia that they aren't dependent on Russia which allows them to negotiate more favorable deals.

While this is happening Russia is trying to cut gas supplies before another supplier is lined up so that they can leverage their power before it's gone. The US plays very little role here other than it being a likely future supplier.

originally posted by: maddy21
Thing is, you can't replace the supplier overnight , it takes a couple of months to build the infrastructure necessary to import gas supplies from U.S or any other energy supplying nation.

All the better since it seems Russia didn't cut supplies.

a reply to: BornAgainAlien
"Remember what is in the American war resolutions from December ?
Russia is forbidden to disrupt energy supplies or it could face consequences."



Wouldn't this probably be consequences for Europe and U.S. sanctions,
as well as intentionally monkeying around with the economy to lower
oil prices, which have hit them pretty hard?

What do we expect them to do, nothing?

Rebel 5

a reply to: ecossiepossie

long long time ago I've said East is playing chess, West is playing poker and those 2 games are not compatible. That is the main reason for wars in the last couple of hundreds of years.

a reply to: Xcathdra

It's the lesson of life. If you get your goods from an unreliable source, or a source prone to blackmail and bullying, you go elsewhere.

Russia is a master of their own fate. Russian gas supplies are only a problem because Russia has made it a problem.

It must be terribly frustrating for the Russian people to have a leadership that is playing fast and loose with there future prosperity, but then with a controlled press they are in the dark. What does the Russian leadership care, they are all billionaires, so it's all a game to them!

Oh, and for those who want war, it won't happen.

Regards