Nice move, Obama/Hillary!
Posted on 03/20/2014 7:18:07 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared the G8 to be dead, thanks to Russia’s take over of the Crimea:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared the Group of Eight leading nations defunct given the current crisis in Ukraine, in a clear message to Russia that the world’s seven other major industrialized countries consider its actions in Ukraine unacceptable. “As long as there is no political environment for such an important political format as the G-8, the G-8 doesn’t exist anymore, not the summit nor the format,” said Ms. Merkel, in Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag. “Russia is widely isolated in all international organizations,” the chancellor said.
Ah, yes, the old “isolated in all international organizations” gambit. And what have all the “international organizations” done in reaction to Russia’s Crimean takeover? About what they did when Russia pushed into Georgia. A whole lot of nothing. It is one thing to have international organizations that have teeth and are willing to do something in reaction to such a blatant act. But when they mostly issue statements condeming the action and void the Netflix accounts of certain Russian officals, being isolated from those organizations isn’t such a big deal. All it does is make further diplomatic efforts more difficult, not that it is clear that Russia is open to diplomatic overtures.
Another thing that is happening is Europe is discovering it has managed to put itself in an energy situation that isn’t at all to its advantage. 30% of Europe’s natural gas flows through Russian pipelines (Germany gets 40% of its natural gas supplies from Russia).
So the scramble is purportedly on to change that situation.
European leaders will seek ways to cut their multi-billion-dollar dependence on Russian gas at talks in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, while stopping short of severing energy ties with Moscow for now. EU officials said the current Ukraine crisis had convinced many in Europe that Russia was no longer reliable and the political will to end its supply dominance had never been greater. “Everyone recognises a major change of pace is needed on the part of the European Union,” one EU official said on condition of anonymity. As alternatives to imported gas, the Brussels talks will debate the European Union’s “indigenous supplies”, which include renewable energy and shale gas.
Now, one would think that such a situation would call for drastic and speedy action. Anyone want to bet how long they dither and, should they decide to exploit their “indigenous supplies”, how onerous the rules and regulations will be?
When leaders of the European Union’s member states meet today and tomorrow (20-21 March) in Brussels, they hope to reach consensus on the EU’s long-term climate goals. But agreement appears unlikely because of deep divisions between east and west. Ahead of the summit, ministers from 13 member states signed a declaration supporting a European Commission proposal for an EU commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40% from 1990 levels by 2030 – up from a 20% target set for 2020. This ‘green growth group’ includes France, Germany, Italy and the UK. But Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia are wary of the target and the timeline, and are resisting any such commitment.
The latter group will most likely be all for moving ahead as speedily as possible to exploit “indigenous supplies”. They’ll meet some pretty stiff headwinds, apparently, from the Western EU nations. You can almost see this train wreck coming.
Meanwhile in the pursuit of “green energy”, Europe is apparently ready to toss in the towel:
Governments across Europe, regretting the over-generous deals doled out to the renewable energy sector, have begun reneging on them. To slow ruinous power bills hikes, governments are unilaterally rewriting contracts and clawing back unseemly profits.
You have to laugh. ”Unseemly profits”? They’re subsidies, sir. Not profit.
It’ll be interesting to see if the EU has the will to sort this all out in the next couple of days. If one is a betting person, you’d have to guess that the odds for success are long, given the EU’s recent history.
Wow. Just imagine if we had some natural gas to spare. [sigh]
Nice move, Obama/Hillary!
We should drill Alaska.
Putin must be laughing at the stupidity of the West. He’s saying “it can’t be THIS easy.”
You know, in 1914 the world was remarkably global, in both economic and political affairs. Communication too. It was an amazing time. Then WWI came along and swept away the monarchies, killed millions of people, unleashed Bolshevism and disrupted world trade.
2014? Here we go!
Yup I think it could go hot real fast
Let them freeze to death on their green power.
Depending on whether you’re drilling, fracking, building a new power station, building a new pipeline, it generally takes about 5 or 10 years to develop new energy sources.
In the meantime, they are dependent on Russia.
And France, which eagerly joined Obama in murdering Kaddafi and aiding the Muslim rebels in North Africa, now has far less energy coming from there than they did before the “Arab Spring.”
A possible slogan for Hillary! 2016
FOREWARD, HO!
RE: FOREWARD, HO!
I’d like to see her use that slogan in a neighborhood that speaks ebonics.
How about this — Hillary, HO !!!
LOL!
Always willing to further the advance of Communism, Benghazi Coward Obama and Gunboat Coward Kerry have teamed up to assure The Russian Bear that there will be no workplace violence when the Russians finally take over control of Ukraine, a former important Buffer Country within the former USSR.
As Commander in Chief of the mightiest military at present, Obama has cleverly determined that decreeing the use of the sacred ‘Edict of Democrat Gun Control’ will be a positive smokescreen step toward the eventual disarming of the US Army.
It is also a definite plus for Obama and Kerry to use at the negotiating table with Putin.
It really was no diplomatic contest with Nobel Peace Prize winning, Multi-Millionaire Obama negotiating against Putin, whose Country is so poor that it can’t even afford a shirt for Putin to wear while riding a horse, Cossack style.
By virtue of ‘The Power of Pen and Phone,’ Shrewd Foreign Policy Negotiator Obama issued the, (soon to be infamous), ‘Executive Order of Gun Control in the Ukraine.’
This was brilliant!
Any attempt by Russia FROM NOW ON to use their guns will instantly prove to the editors of the New York Times, and other, award-winning, powerful, Top Military Think Tanks, that Russia did not REALLY intend to reduce Gun Violence.
Thus, Russia should not, (at least for the moment), join the rest of the Liberal Intelligentsia Elite, commonly known as LIE.
FORWARD !
Can’t the EU just stop using Hydrocarbons in order to save the Planet?
I guess that the powers that be, wish to celebrate the centennial in style!
</sarc & sad irony>.
Just erect more wind turbines and cover the continent with solar panels.
The Russians must have wondered what in the world this American idiot was trying to illustrate with an E-Stop button.
Then later the potato gift from Kerry.
What complete fools we have running our so-called foreign policy.
E-Stop buttons are used on all kinde of machining equipment, other industrial and agricultural machines, military equipment, etc.
Most politicians are completely ignorant of such things, they know so little, they don't know what they don't know.
You can bet they’re getting ready to “overcharge” us...
No problem - Obama is shipping 4 million Unicorns to them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.