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Something else to add to the collection -

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4050613/posts?page=106#106

“There IS, for SURE, extensive coal in the Donbas, but that will never play with a green administration in Washington, found to be saying that the US is demanding coal to be available to Ukraine for burning and selling.”

Russia wants to encourage a green administration in Washington. One of the benefits Russia was hoping for in invading Ukraine was to create division among NATO members, especially between the US and Europe (particularly Germany); and a good way to do that is via energy production and sales. Russia wants to be the dominant energy producer, not only in the East, but globally. It sees its biggest rivals in that regard as the US and the Gulf sheikdoms; that is why it has cozied up to Iran, because Russia sees the best way to affect the sheikdoms’ oil influence is to align itself — for now — with their main energy rival in the region: Iran. Russia already has close ties to Syria, which is also antagonistic towards the Gulf sheikdoms. Russia also seeks to be the main non-Gulf player in Iraq, a country with whom it has had close relations for decades.

Just days before Russia launched invaded Ukraine, Putin signed a wide-ranging agreement with Azerbaijan, deepening the diplomatic and military cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is home to the Baku oil fields. Coincidence?

Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008? Caucasus oil.

Russia is also claiming the entirety of the Arctic for its resources.

Energy is Russia’s focus, and it seeks to be the dominant energy player in the world. And it sure as hell will not suffer any competitor next door (i.e., Ukraine), no matter how small.

106 posted on 3/29/2022, 3:17:04 PM by ought-six

I am not quite clear on why Russia would want to encourage green energy in Europe. Wouldn’t this cut into their oil sales? In fact, I imagine Europe will push much faster into developing their non oil energy resources with this Russian “encouragement.” Biden is promising liquid natural gas (LGN) from the US. A good friend had bought a lot of gas shares and then the bottom fell out of the market. He recently reported the shares he still has have doubled. This conflict will also encourage green energy in the US. Fortunately, I can afford slightly higher gas prices, and I realize how important it is to conserve our oil resources for their future industrial uses. There are so many essential goods made from petroleum, and we need to think about our grandchildren and their grandchildren. I recently did an information dive into solar cells. I did not know we were mining high grade quartz in NC, shipping it to Chine for manufacture into cheap solar panels, and then shipping them back to the US. US solar is produced in Ohio using local cadmium telluride. Nice to know panels will be produced here by our workers and not in China possiblly by slave labor.

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2020/05/14/a-new-player-appears-in-american-thin-film-cadmium-telluride-solar-module-manufacturing/#comment-174377 [Trump’s “bring jobs home” bearing fruit.]

The conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia will certainly continue because of vast religious differences. The fight between Shia and Sunni Islam are about as great as the fight between Catholicism and Protestantism that Europe suffered centuries ago in various areas. Their relations were certainely not improved by the terrible disaster a few years ago in SA during the annual haj celebrated in Mecca. Over 400 Iranian clerics were crushed in a stampede caused by SA’s poor management of their universal cultural event. It certianly is in Russia’s interest to cultivate Iran, after all, they are another country with warm water ports.

It is nice to see anti totalitarian Putitn FReepers congregating for intelligent examination of this serious international crisis. There are so many different aspects to this crisis, many of which are known to very few, and certainly not examined in depth by the MSM, or twitter and facebook.