Posted on 09/28/2022 1:29:11 PM PDT by NoLibZone
The Russian leader has a record of weaponising fuel supplies and believes his people can endure economic pain longer than western Europe
The suspected sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines could be a page ripped straight from Vladimir Putin’s playbook of panic, escalation and misdirection.
The former KGB agent’s illegal war on Ukraine resulted in unprecedented Western sanctions against Moscow.
But the Russian president is confident that his people can endure economic pain longer and better than Europeans.
His calculation is that soaring gas prices and the cost of living crisis in a continent hopelessly addicted to Russian energy will turn the situation to his advantage.
European gas prices have been dropping for the last four days. On Tuesday, after news of the suspected attack, they rose by 20 per cent. The British price was up 33 per cent.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
We agree that both parties are corrupt. I’ve never said all
Republicans are Conservative. A small part of them are, and
it’s through a very driven effort during primary time, when
we can and sometimes do win over the GOPe / RNC bosses.
I think we did pretty good this year. Hopefully we’ll do
it again in 2024 and beyond.
And hopefully, those we lofted will win their elections.
Starting a new party is very difficult. When Buchanan tried
in 2000, it was a major headache.
We were fortunate to get Trump in 2016.
I agree.
IOW, you have no response, or aren’t quick witted enough to fabricate one on time.
Yes, I agree that’s a good cartoon.
Now, what practical alternative is there?
Even when we get a guy in there that does care about America,
the Republicans refuse to work with him.
I think DeSantis would wind up with the same problem that
Trump had, getting the party bosses to work with him during
his term in office.
They do their best to frame Constitutionalists as
terrorists.
Pesky, aren’t you? Easily ignored nuisance.
The days of the donor class buying elections and politicians are likely coming to an end. And is already happening in many cases. In that world anything is possible.
Just like an outsider blowing 18 career professional politicians off the stage in a historic sweep.
All the experts said it would never happen, didn't they?
Never write off a 3rd party in this environment and going forward. S**t happens.
There may be some serious internal “discussion” in Russia about where to go from here. Russia literally has no way to ship more than half its gas production of last year. The infrastructure to “fix” this is 8+ years out. That’s ok for them while prices are high, but, eventually other supplies will increase (largely driven by those high prices!) and prices will settle down. Putin’s opponents may be thinking that if they knock off Putin (and enough of his pals) they can offer gas deliveries as a negotiating lever, and forestall loss of so much market share. Popping the gas lines to Europe undercuts such a plan.
In addition, it is likely that Russia simply intends to sow dissension and finger pointing between NATO and EU allies. This is, after all, their MO.
The two goals are not exclusionary.
I'd say the author hasn't been listening to soon to be PM Meloni.
The evidence points to us.
We have Biden saying he’d do it.
We have Europe not wanting to freeze to death over the winter.
If part of Europe buys Russian gas, the EU is done. Nato is done.
So who did it? We did it.
We did it to keep Europe on the reservation, and to keep the filthy lucre flowing out of Ukraine to our politicians who launder taxpayer money for their own benefit.
I wouldn’t write it off, but I don’t see it happening.
We’re going to have a full field again in 2024, and I think
it’s borderline comical.
I really like Larry Elder, but it saddens me to see him
think he’s going to prevail over Trump.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Liz Cheney in there
squealing. She’d go third party in a heartbeat if she
could get backing.
Europe was NEVER going to completely cut off Russian Nat Gas supply, their people would FREEZE TO DEATH IN THE COLD AN DARK OF WINTER!
I'm sorry, that is just ignorant nonsense and hyperbole. The Euroweenies ARE making up supply elsewhere, filling reserves, etc. Most of the population is supportive of those efforts (tho' not happy about prices.)
That said, the Euroweenies will fall short, but not fatally so. The best I can figure from perusing various energy industry websites is that they may face a running average shortage of ~10% in the coldest couple months. Peak (hourly) shortages might go a bit higher, but conservation, grid management, and rolling blackouts CAN manage this. Cutting power or pressure for an hour even 4 times a day should not kill anyone. Well, maybe a very few who improperly fire up ill ventilated kerosene heaters or generators or something will off themselves.
We in the mid-South USA faced FAR worse in the 2009 ice storm. (I was right in the bullseye, too.) Many people had NO power in brutal cold for days, some for 3 full weeks. Nor was there any travel for 2-3 days in rural areas (longer in remote areas). In 10 states affected, 65 people died from the storm - most from CO poisoning as mentioned above. And, IMO, this was one case where warnings were insufficient, and in any event came with only a couple days at most to make any extra preparations.
I’ll tell you what is comical (and sad at the same time) are some of these hyperbolic posters. (Not you, obviously!)
Thanks Paul. It bothers me too.
Well said my friend ........ polidiots and presstitutes are ignorant . Truth evades them for their agendas only. Liars all ........
Stay Safe !
Nord Stream 2 requires military protection
[ARTICLE FROM APRIL 2021]
The West continues to put pressure on Russia to stop the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline - and the most important event in this chain was the Polish military provocations. Can opponents of the gas pipeline resort to real military operations against Nord Stream 2 - and if so, what should Russia counter this with?
Recall that in early April 2021, the situation around the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline seriously escalated. A significant number of civilian ships and warships (mostly Polish), as well as submarines, made dangerous maneuvers around the pipeline construction vessel Fortuna. Polish military aircraft flew around and over the construction site.
Real provocations and future sabotage
In parallel with the provocative actions, a number of Western officials made statements according to which Russia allegedly intends to use the pipeline to seize the Baltic, place its warships along it, and reconnaissance equipment on it. An example is an article by Polish official Stanislaw Zaryn, representative of the Polish Minister Coordinating Special Services, in the US online publication Defense News, in which he “warns” the US and the West that Russia may place “intelligence systems” on the pipeline. Similar insinuations have been heard in the West before, including from higher-ranking officials and politicians.
These statements, it can be assumed, are made in order to politically exclude in advance the possibility of Russia installing security systems near the pipeline and guarding it by our ships. To make it so that with any attempt by Russia to guarantee the safe operation of Nord Stream 2 by special means, a scandal could be raised on the topic of “Russian aggression”. We are talking, in particular, about systems that would not allow sabotage to be carried out on it (the Poles are trying to present this equipment in advance as “reconnaissance systems”).
In other words, opponents of the strategic Russian gas pipeline want Nord Stream 2 to be technically defenseless against possible military operations. So, if necessary, it could be disabled with the help of sabotage means. Moreover, the “respected partners” have all the means for this. It sounds like some kind of cheap conspiracy theory, but, alas, there are no other rational explanations for these actions and statements.
Enough has already been said about the political and economic meaning of the attacks on Nord Stream 2 and Ukraine, the United States, and a number of other countries. It has been repeatedly stated that the construction of the gas pipeline is categorically unacceptable for both Kyiv and Washington. The commissioning of Nord Stream 2 will cause significant damage both to Ukraine and to the political course of the West to isolate our country. Numerous sanctions have already been adopted against the gas pipeline and new ones have been announced. And if all this does not help, it is quite possible to assume that military methods will be adopted. Of course, secret, because open military aggression against the gas pipeline is politically impossible.
Forces and means of the enemy
What military means can be used by a party wishing to harm the pipeline? There is an answer to this question.
The pipeline mainly runs at depths of about 100-150 meters, often closer to a hundred. The use of combat swimmers for sabotage at such a depth is excluded - the need to undergo decompression requires the presence of a vessel with a pressure chamber somewhere nearby, which in itself is a strong unmasking factor. In addition, such an operation takes time. The use of depth charges will unequivocally indicate that the military of some country was working. In addition, the stealth factor again arises - a ship with this weapon will not have time to leave after its use. The attack must be completely invisible.
Under such conditions, the most likely means to attack the pipeline is the so-called mine destroyer - a disposable uninhabited underwater vehicle (UUV), controlled from a surface ship via a fiber-optic cable, having its own television camera and a simple sonar. Such devices are in service with foreign fleets in huge quantities. The device carries an explosive charge on board, the remote detonation of which destroys the mine.
The main feature in the case of Nord Stream is that the device can be secretly launched from a ship located quite far (several kilometers) from the pipeline, and connected to the pipeline remotely. The explosion of the apparatus will be carried out when the ship is not next to it. It will be enough for the crew of the ship to simply throw the control equipment overboard in order to calmly leave the place of sabotage.
Poland has the ability to use such devices. The US, of course, too. In addition, the mercenary industry developed in the United States makes it possible to work not with the hands of their own military personnel or the military personnel of the Polish Armed Forces, but to use mercenaries to train some kind of “cannon fodder” for such an operation. For example, even from Ukraine, whose citizens are well aware of how the launch of Nord Stream 2 will turn out for their country.
The risk of launching such a UUV from a submarine is low. No one in the Baltic has powerful enough NLAs that could be launched through a 53 cm torpedo tube (standard for NATO), intelligence can uncover their development, and such a loss of surprise is unacceptable. The modernization of the submarine to carry the NPA from the outside, perhaps, will also be opened - and is also unacceptable. And this means that the main threat will be the threat from surface carriers.
There is a solution
Thus, our opponents have already clearly demonstrated their willingness to harm the project, and the security of Nord Stream (both) cannot be left to chance. The risk of sabotage against Nord Stream 2 using uninhabited underwater vehicles at least does not look zero. What should Russia do in such a situation?
It would be worth creating a pipeline defense system. And not only the second line of the Nord Stream, but also the first - the interruption of any of them is fraught with the same problems for Russia.
The basis for such a system should be hydroacoustic equipment that allows detecting the use of UUVs. This equipment could be placed on surface ships, which could patrol the waters, at the bottom of which the pipeline lies. As a means of rapid response, one can consider a helicopter with a special unit on board, capable of quickly advancing to the area of the proposed operation of the NPA and detecting a vessel or carrier ship from the air.
It is hardly possible in this case to create a system that can prevent an attack in all cases. But it is quite possible to create a system for guaranteed interception of UUV carriers. This will create a reality for our adversaries in which they may be able to damage the pipeline, but absolutely cannot escape. And the operation against the Russian gas pipeline will definitely not be a secret. And this will make the operation technically possible, but politically impossible.
[more at link]
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