August 30, 2022

"Russia pumps almost as much oil into the global market as it did before its invasion of Ukraine. With oil prices up..."

"... Moscow is also making more money. Demand from some of the world’s largest economies has given Russian President Vladimir Putin the upper hand in the energy battle that shadows the war in Ukraine, and has confounded the West’s bid to cripple Russia’s economy with sanctions.... And new trade arrangements have given Mr. Putin cover to use natural-gas exports as an economic weapon against Ukraine’s European allies. Before the war, Russia supplied Europe with 40% of its gas. It has since throttled flows through the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany and other conduits, driving prices higher and putting pressure on European households and businesses.... Russia’s oil-market resilience has drawn a mixed reaction in Washington, which is juggling two conflicting goals: Tamping down inflation with increased global oil supplies, and keeping economic pressure on Mr. Putin."

What a failure!

80 comments:

Christopher B said...

Tamping down inflation with increased global oil supplies, and keeping economic pressure on Mr. Putin.

Gee if only there was some way to bring more oil production online and bring down the price...

exhelodrvr1 said...

Democrats are stupid. And this issue started with the first Obama administration.

Mike said...

Never underestimate Joe's ability to F#$k things up. Maybe the only true thing Obama ever said.

Russia is making more money from its oil now than before the Biden sanctions. It's got a healthy new customer in India. India is feeling its oats--says it may not choose to pay for oil in dollars anymore.

And now Putin is a position to make those European sumbucks freeze in the dark this winter. Yep Joe--great job there. Great job!

Michael K said...

Biden and his handlers led us into this and I wonder why ? Stupidity might be the answer but maybe it has something to do with the record of Biden corruption. In any case this will be interesting as it devastates the "Green New Deal." People won't starve without doing something about it. The politicians assume they are safe. So did Ceaușescu.

Fred Drinkwater said...

All of which was foreseen by any half-wit many years ago. They pay good salaries to write the obvious?

traditionalguy said...

Intentional deadly failure # 50. Biden should do better flipping a coin . But we all know Biden makes no decisions. Those belong to Obama and Soros who arranged the new way votes were counted in the season of the Wuhan Flu bio weapon.

JaimeRoberto said...

Gosh, who could have seen that coming?

Wa St Blogger said...

I have a stone that will kill 2 birds.

Open the floodgates of American oil production.

Sebastian said...

"juggling two conflicting goals: Tamping down inflation with increased global oil supplies, and keeping economic pressure on Mr. Putin."

Note the missing goal: peace in Ukraine. In fact, the unstated goal is to use Ukraine to weaken Russia and if possible get rid of Vlad.

mccullough said...

The sanctions won’t work unless the U.S. produces more oil & gas.

Ideologues make things worse.

tommyesq said...

So does that mean Biden was wrong/lying when he blamed rising oil prices on the invasion? When he referred to the "Putin Price Hike?"

Maynard said...

Explain to me why Joe Biden is not Vlad Putin's bitch.

For the dumb lefties out there, check out the price of gas under Trump (who you guys wanted to believe was a Putin ally) and now the price under Slow Joe.

Kate said...

Worse, it was predictable and predicted. Not just by economic experts, but by me! (And you all, I'm sure.)

Kevin said...

Russia’s oil-market resilience has drawn a mixed reaction in Washington, which is juggling two conflicting goals: Tamping down inflation with increased global oil supplies, and keeping economic pressure on Mr. Putin.

Why don't they ramp up domestic supply to tame inflation and lower the price for Putin's oil?

It's because they have a third goal: to stop the production of domestic gas and oil.

And that goal is more important to them than any of the others.

Howard said...

If we only drilled up the Arctic wilderness like Trump wanted, this war would never happen. Instead, we have heroic Putin rolling through Ukraine exterminating Nazis and liberating children from their containers.

mezzrow said...

This didn't work out the way the folks in charge of our policy told us it would.

Imagine that.

rcocean said...

"And new trade arrangements have given Mr. Putin cover to use natural-gas exports as an economic weapon against Ukraine’s European allies."

Hello? Its Europe that has decided to NOT buy Russian NG, AND to seize Russian assets AND sanction Russia. Its NATO and the Eu that are waging economic warfare.

This is a dispute between Russia and Ukraine, and NATO/USA used it as an excuse to wage economic war on Russia, and use the Ukrainians as proxies to weaken Russia. That's what DOD secretary has stated, we are giving aid to Ukraine, and demanding they fight on, to weaken Russia. BTW, we are paying for Ukrainian Government pensions and salaries.

This is just another globalist war, getting innocents killed, while the usual suspects stomp up and down shouting "Its just like Munich and Hilter!" for 1,000th time. THe UK/USA love war, and always get excitied when they send cluster bombs and Lethal aid to keep a war going.

Dave Begley said...

Failure is Joe Biden's middle name. Or maybe it is Stupidity.

"Tamping down inflation with increased global oil supplies." We've got more oil in the US than any single country. But instead of creating incentives for more drilling in the US, the Biden Administration has done everything it can to reduce drilling.

Instead of wasting $300 billion plus on incentives and credits for solar and wind, the Biden Administration should have given that money to oil and gas producers. Or, better yet, don't spend the money in the first place.

Last night I appeared before the county planning commission of a county south of Omaha. One of the commissioners is a Mr. Althouse. NextEra Energy of FL wants to build on 3,200 acres of Nebraska farm ground a 300 MW solar development. It will sell the electricity to OPPD.

I told the commissioners, inter alia, that this solar thing isn't about saving the planet but it is about making money. The woman in charge of NEE's renewables division saw her comp increase from $4m to $11m in one year. That's what the Inflation Reduction Act was all about; getting money to Green special interests and other rent seekers.

I also told the commissioners that solar in NE will only produce power 20% of the time and that's extremely wasteful. We need power 24/7/365.

CAGW is the biggest scam in the history of the world. It is a Reverse Robinhood scheme. All sorts of people in Europe are going into energy poverty this year. Thanks, Greens!

Buckwheathikes said...

"What a failure!

Depends who's side you're really on. Isn't Bernie Sanders a Socialist? Didn't Hillary Clinton get rich selling the Russians our uranium for their nuclear weapons?

If Russia can't afford a war, then there isn't a war. If there isn't a war, then the US can't sell weapons to Ukraine. So, there has to be a war. Therefore, there has to be money. Russia needs to have money. How do you get Russia money?

Have you gassed up your truck lately?

Is this game theory outside your area of expertise?

n.n said...

The Baidan/Maidan/Slavic Spring with "benefits" and collateral damage.

n.n said...

The Biden/Maidan/Slavic Spring with "benefits" and collateral damage.

Alexisa said...

Sidebar: you should see all the new Ukrainia Trolls over at Instapundit. They'll personalize and attack you simply for expressing skepticism at the latest propaganda favoring Ukraine.

It weird. I've been counter-trolling for 20 years and have never seen anything like this. It feels like I'm dealing with Day Traders, as if some investment firm is running a Troll Farm to salt public opinion. I've never come across arrogant ignorance of this magnitude.

Gospace said...

Gee, if only there was a way the USA could encourage more oil drilling and supply...

Alexisa said...

"Democrats are stupid. And this issue started with the first Obama administration."

Whenever my enemy is doing something I don't understand, it usually means *I* am the one being stupid, so I look closer.

The Democrats are many things, but they aren't stupid. This is deliberate. They are resetting to a New Normal.

n.n said...

Ukrainians gets Kiev on the Dnieper, and we get a green deal from the District of Corruption, equitable and inclusive, with minority "benefits".

Hari said...

It's even worse. Europe is buying Russian gas via China:https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/china-aggressively-reselling-russian-gas-europe

n.n said...

The sanctions didn't work because China, India, and others didn't take a knee to the political consensus, and neither did half of the population of Ukraine. Still, eight years in Spring with summer, then fall, on the horizon.

Howard said...

One of the Great externalized benefits of decarbonization is the elimination of the overly lucrative Oil Business dominated by tyrannical mad Men and terror sponsoring royal families.

Of course you people are against that as well.

Mike Sylwester said...

Russia is annexing the Donbas and the coastal region between there and Crimea.

In other words, Russia is annexing the southeast part of Ukraine. I think that most of population of that annexed area is mostly Russian, rather than Ukrainian. Without that Russian population, the remaining population will be more Ukrainian.

Ukraine still will be enormous. Before the annexation, Ukraine was larger than France. After the annexation, Ukraine will be smaller than France, but will be much larger than any other European country.

======

The reasoning of Putin and his supporters is that the annexed area should not have been part of Ukraine. When the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was created to replace the Russian Empire, that area should have been included in the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. In other the border between those two Soviet republics should have been drawn differently.

Then, when the Soviet Union fell apart, that wrong border remained simply because of inertia. In the best of all possible worlds, that border should have been re-drawn when all the Soviet republics became independent.

Therefore, Putin is correcting a historic mistake.

I condemn that Russian annexation, because it might have been accomplished more patiently and peacefully. Referendums could have been conducted, and super-majority (3/4 or 2/3) votes could have earned international approval to re-draw the borders.

One reason why this patient, peaceful resolution did not happen was that Ukrainian zealots in Kyiv expelled Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych from his elected position in 2014. That expulsion gave the Russians inside and outside of Ukraine a justification to re-draw the borders urgently.

=======

Borders are re-drawn sometimes, and it looks like the Russia-Ukraine border is being redrawn now.

As the years pass, the change gradually will be accepted.

Perhaps one good result for Ukraine might be that it eventually will join the European Union and NATO. Maybe Russia will not be able to prevent that from happening.

========

Some people argue that the annexation would not have happened if Trump still were present.

The idea here is that Putin feared President Trump more than President Biden.

I think, though, that Putin perhaps perceived that Trump intended to weaken US involvement in NATO and ultimately to remove the USA from NATO. If so, then perhaps Putin might have been more patient -- less fearful that NATO would incorporate Ukraine.

Or, perhaps Putin would have invaded Ukraine anyway, no matter whether Trump were re-elected. If so, then Trump would have done about the same that Biden has done. Trump would have tried to impose international sanctions on Russia -- and Trump's sanctions would have failed just as badly as Biden's sanctions.

Joe Smith said...

I hope all of Europe and the UK are burning furniture to stay warm this winter.

Trump warned them and they laughed in his face.

We're next if we keep up the green energy bullshit.

If you're a global warming doomsayer and you don't believe in nuclear power then you're a brain-dead moron...

n.n said...

"Green New Deal."

Uncooked, and served raw, hurts the people... persons... children... daughters closest to you, and the rest of America, too. These are desperate times that call for nationwide insurrections, occupation, invasion, allegations of diversity, progressive conditions through projection, and impeachment 3.1. Let us bray.

Static Ping said...

Trump warned Europe to not be dependent on Russian energy. They literally laughed at him. Now they are wondering how many are going to freeze to death during the winter. But Trump's the reckless, dumb one. /sarc

This is standard Biden diplomacy. Biden, at the height of his powers, was perhaps the dumbest person in Washington when it came to foreign affairs, and I include homeless people in that equation. Recently, he has been desperately trying to get Iran into a nuke deal, which essentially gives Iran everything they want, including the bomb, in exchange for nothing, despite having all the leverage. He thinks this is a good deal, or at least Ron Klain does. His Afghanistan withdraw was one of the most misguided acts of the past hundred years and arguably made the Ukraine war possible through his weakness and stupidity. I am not sure why anyone would think he would handle the Ukraine crisis any better. I am not sure why anyone would think he can handle any crisis successfully, given he is senile and dumb.

Our only hope is that there are no more challenges for him to fail. Sadly, weakness breeds crises.

Tim said...

Ukriane is one of, if not the most, corrupt govenerment in the European theater. Most of Wahington gets paid/graft from there. No wonder the deep state went after Trump. The ONE guy in D.C. that couldn't be bought.

Original Mike said...

"What a failure!"

I have a friend who says he voted for Biden because of "competence".

I hope Europe likes freezing in the dark this winter.

Drago said...

The New Soviet Democraticals know it will be difficult for the populace to revolt against leftist/nevertrump (but I repeat myself) policies if they are shivering in the cold and living off grasshoppers...which is exactly what democratical policies have/are/will deliver.

By the way dems, how's that baby formula shortage "fix" coming along?

Spoiler: the dems haven't done a thing.

Mike Sylwester said...

That Ukrainian area that Russia is annexing is a "steppe", which we in America call a "prairie". Precipitation is erratic, making crop agriculture unreliable. What grows naturally and well there is grass, and so the native human population is nomadic -- hunting and herding large animals. (Think of Kansas before the White Men settled there.)

When the Russian Empire fell apart, that area was sparsely populated, mostly by nomads. At that time, drawing the border between Ukraine and Russia in that area was rather arbitrary (like drawing the border between Kansas and Nebraska).

After the border was drawn, during the Soviet years, a lot of Russian migrated into that area. Irrigation made crop agriculture more reliable. Mining, manufacturing and transportation developed. So the population of some areas became more and more Russian, even though the Soviet borders had been drawn so that those areas were in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Those Soviet Russians who lived in those areas did not care much that they lived on the Ukrainian side of the border, because Russians -- and their language and culture -- dominated the entire Soviet Union.

Only after Ukraine became independent did those Russians inside Ukraine feel themselves to be disadvantaged. Now they had to learn and use the Ukrainian language, and they felt disadvantaged in becoming educated, employed and politically effective.

Leland said...

Much of this is hubris of the EU and like-minded western leaders that think Russians and other countries will "do the right thing", which really means support EU group think. It is a shame those same leaders won't figure out what this means about their ESG agenda and net zero ambitions.

tim maguire said...

Mike said...Never underestimate Joe's ability to F#$k things up. Maybe the only true thing Obama ever said.

No, he also said “I am a blank slate on which people write their own views.”

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Trump would have handled it before it got hot.

EdwdLny said...

Leave it to the left, they could fuck up a wet dream given half a chance. Look at how successful they've been here so far. They won't like the consequences of their actions , or the mess it'll make. But, they know best, just ask them. Walking talking douche bags.

Rollo said...

Gorby just died. I guess all this would have been good news for him.

stunned said...

Ha ha!

P. S. https://www.reuters.com/world/mikhail-gorbachev-who-ended-cold-war-dies-aged-92-agencies-2022-08-30/

Lyle said...

Bring back Trump!

Yancey Ward said...

Biden is definitely Putin's cockholster.

Yancey Ward said...

This part:

"It (Russia) has since throttled flows through the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany and other conduits"

Well, the Europeans wanted the gas but didn't want to pay for it as part of the sanctions against Russia. China is now liquifying the gas for the Russians and reselling to the Europeans at 10X the original contract price. Say what you want about the West, but we got the best clown governments in history.

Josephbleau said...

And the E U is very pleased that Trump is not President, for emotional reasons.

All experts say that burning fossil fuels cause global warming (but only if the fuels are produced in the US.) We live in clown world now.

But it is great that Beiden is running a real world experiment to quantify how much humanity will suffer when fuel is artificially curtailed.

Michael McNeil said...

Meanwhile, how's the war going? Swimmingly, as they say.

ISW (the Institute for the Study of War in D.C.) pointed out only a few days agothat over the last six weeks — since Russia announced a week-long “pause” in campaigning (due to utter exhaustion) following their overrunning of the city of Lysychansk, thereafter resuming their offensive — since then, at great cost in lives on both sides, the modern Russian successors to the Red Army have managed to conquer an additional area of Ukraine about the size of Andorra (i.e., a couple of hundred square miles).

While ISW is hardly neutral in this regard, it requires confirmation from both Russian and Ukrainian sources before adjusting the front-lines on their battle-map, while following those daily changes, it's clear that the Russians have advanced microscopically over the last 1-1/2 months.

Victory is clearly imminent! Not.

At that rate, actually, conquering the rest of Ukraine will take about a century. Generations of Ukrainians could grow up and then die naturally before they're in much danger — except in the vicinity of the front-line.

c365 said...

It's amazing we're just noticing this stuff like it's not old news. Iraq invaded Kuwait, oil prices go up and the "cost" of the invasion was more money in Saddam's coffers, plus a free nation to boot.

Bush Sr. of course understood this and said, there's no free lunch, you're going to pay far more than you thought you'd make out of all of this.

Iran has been playing this game for a long time. Terrorist attack here, ship attack here, missile launch here, all are usually timed around a low oil price. Day later, "tensions in the middle east sends oil futures rising." Their actions literally pay for itself in the futures markets.

Russia is well aware of this and has played this game as well. Because we have been unwilling to stand up to actually defend Ukraine, my assumption is we want the higher oil prices. Not as a nation, but the people in charge do.

If we were concerned (like Bush Sr) we'd announce Russia needs to withdrawal or we will invade Belarus and into Ukraine and cut off Russia. Nuclear saber rattling is a bluff. Russia will not go nuclear unless we invade Russia proper and drive their forces back to where they feel existentially threatened.

They aren't going nuclear now that they have lost 10s of thousands to Ukraine in Ukraine with US supplied weapons. They would not go nuclear if the only difference was it was happening 2x as fast with Americans behind the trigger.

If you think they would.... ask yourself why a solution to getting beat in a conventional war on foreign soil is the complete and utter destruction of your nation and the world. It's not. We didn't go nuclear and left Afghanistan. We didn't go nuclear and left Iraq. We didn't go nuclear and left Vietnam. We didn't go nuclear and left North Korea in place. Russia has faced the same setbacks in Afghanistan and now Ukraine, also in Chechnya. Their entire empire crumbled 3 decades ago and they didn't go nuclear.

It's not happening unless there is an existential threat. Withdrawing your forces from a convention conflict in a foreign land is not existential.

tim in vermont said...

There was a deal to stop the war in April and the US quashed it.

https://mobile.twitter.com/I_Katchanovski/status/1564666561335525377

tim in vermont said...

Kevin is right. Isn’t there a “things unsaid” tag

JaimeRoberto said...

Numerous people have said that if Trump had really wanted to help Putin, he would have done things to drive up the price of oil. It seems pretty obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of how things work. Yet the people who claim to want to hurt Putin, the "experts", the "adults in the room", are doing just that. They drive up the price of oil with their stupid policies. Are they really that stupid, that blind, that ideological? It makes no sense.

R C Belaire said...

If one can believe the concerns voiced in the UK papers, a lot of Britons are going to be a bit cold this winter. Too bad they pissed all over fracking when they had the chance to improve their energy situation.

James K said...

“Russia’s oil-market resilience has drawn a mixed reaction in Washington, which is juggling two conflicting goals: Tamping down inflation with increased global oil supplies, and keeping economic pressure on Mr. Putin."

So where is the conflict? Only in the fevered minds of journalists and Democrats. Over here in reality, increasing oil production is win-win.

cubanbob said...

The Saudi's are very clever. It's a brilliant move by them. Give them that. On the other hand natural gas isn't that fungible. The Russians can't store it and can't ship it in appreciable quantities to India and China but the Europeans can and are increasing their liquified natural gas purchases from other suppliers to offset Russian pipe line natural gas. Of course Biden has to make things worse by restricting US gas and oil production. All of that said, Moscow's problem still has not changed. All of the countries not participating in the sanctions are incapable of providing the Russians of goods and services they need and can't be sourced from countries not participating in sanctioning Russia and those countries are themselves subject to secondary sanctions. The sanctions will badly hurt Russia in the near future. Russia may run a surplus from oil sales but they are going to be hard pressed to import sanctioned goods and services.

In the meantime they are not winning the war they started. They are six months in into what was supposed to be a one or two affair where they would be treated as liberators. A large portion of the Russian Army is trapped in a pocket and are unable to be properly resupplied. That is not winning.

wildswan said...

In New England they only have 50% of the fuel oil stored which they usually have by this time. Like Wisconsin, New England gets really, really cold and furnaces must work but in New England furnaces use oil rather than electricity as in Wisconsin so it's there that the rubber meets the road. And yet, still, New England governors are not asking Biden to drill more in the USA. They HAVE met to decide how to ration. And yet, still, New Englanders are going to give their votes to the Dems. So far anyhow. I think they think the Dems have a plan for it all devised by "experts", that there's another "Fauci" in our future. "US ENERGY HINTS: 'Is ice freezing on your face? Repurpose those cloth masks you've been saving.'

0_0 said...

How is Russia doing better when they are supposedly burning off $30M/day because they can't get it to Europe?

Drago said...

c365: "They aren't going nuclear now that they have lost 10s of thousands to Ukraine in Ukraine with US supplied weapons."

Russia is winning the war.

And the US made weapons, at ;east the ones that have actually been shipped and just promised down the road, and at least the ones that are not siphoned off in theater by the legions of corrupt officials in Ukraine for sale on the black market, and at least the ones that make it to the front without being interdicted long before that, and at least the ones that the untrained soldiers of Ukraine know how to operate and maintain (a very small %), and at least the ones that are not immediately destroyed by massive russian advantages in conventional artillery, are not performing as well as advertised by US arms manufacturers.

Gee, who could have guessed the same cabal that is attempting to recreate sending just 3 dudes to the moon with leftover Apollo rockets for massive increases in costs would have been providing equipment to troops that doesn't quite meet the standards written about in their glossy handouts and flyers?

I am so very, very shocked.

Good news though!!

With all the money we've sent to the Ukraine, the politicians there have voted themselves several very healthy pay raises!! With our money....at least the money that wasn't siphoned off by the billions into private bank accounts or re-funneled back to insider DC types.

See where this is going?

Drago said...

Howard: "One of the Great externalized benefits of decarbonization is the elimination of the overly lucrative Oil Business dominated by tyrannical mad Men and terror sponsoring royal families."

All of Europe will be experiencing Howard's preferred decarbonization this winter. As they freeze.

Not the elites of course. Howard is perfectly okay with his much, much much "betters" having all they need for their private jets, fancy dinners at Davos and far flung vacations and fully heated villas.

Howard knows not to rock the boat of his lord and masters.

The German govt is warning its people to prepare for extended periods of power blackouts. Energy prices in Germany are now 1000% higher than a year ago. The Germans have already exhausted the supply of cordwood for heating purposes for this winter.

Yes Howard. The Germans have scooped up all the available wood for burning to try and keep themselves alive this winter. Which is strange, you would think Howard's scintillating commentary could keep all of Europe heated along with pixie dust and fairy tale windmills. You know, the typical lefty prescription for powering a society.

Alas however, it is not to be.

The United Kingdom just announced yesterday they expect up to 24% of Brits to go through the entire winter without turning their heat on....because it wouldn't be there anyway.

Macron just gave about his 5th statement on this and told the Frogs to buckle down and get ready for even more bitter austerity and bleak freezing temperatures. Macron, naturally, will spend a great deal of time vacationing elsewhere during this period.

Hungary sees what is going on with the army of Howard-like idiots and has put in an order for a couple of nuclear reactors. Iran is building more nukes. Japan is putting its nukes back on line because after the zero, but only zero, deaths from the Fukushima disaster, it just makes sense.

Howard will not like those moves at all, as those types of moves would take money out of Putin's and the ChiCom's hands and Putin and the ChiCom's need that cash to keep Hunter floating in crack/coke/meth and underage trafficked prostitutes along with keeping the Biden family/DC insiders fully "purchased".

Drago said...

Rollo: "Gorby just died."

Indeed. The lefties/dems/NeverTrumpers (but I repeat myself) just lost their bravest of brave peace-loving Soviet heroes who stood fast against the "evil" "stupid" "nazi" "warmongering" Reagan.

Narr said...

The ethnic mixing and mis-match that led to the present unpleasantness are not--as some otherwise well-informed people seem to think--accidents or bugs. The Soviets deliberately plotted their internal political boundaries as possible ethnic fulcrums--they knew as well as anyone how susceptible outsiders were to long-suffering minority tales, and could posture as humanitarians also. Leave aside the whole "non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries" thing . . . And yes, that clearly means non-interference even when the other country is asshoe to those inside.

Even if the Ukes have been the black hats since they became independent, Putin has lost his chance for a convincing win and I suspect a settlement could emerge in which that whole swath of eastern Ukraine remains a site of low-level conflict and atrocity.

It's impossible for me to predict which side cracks first, or how, but one will, and perhaps soon--weeks even.

Josephbleau said...

"How is Russia doing better when they are supposedly burning off $30M/day because they can't get it to Europe?"

Because your list of inputs to the equation is incomplete.

Josephbleau said...

"It's impossible for me to predict which side cracks first, or how, but one will, and perhaps soon--weeks even."

The US midterm elections will be predictive. Democrats are invested in Ukraine because "CALL ME LIEUTENANT COLONEL" vindeman provided the novel claim that US Army field grade officers are the supreme authority regarding foreign relations instead of elected presidents.

I suspect that after the midterm elections, Ukraine will be dropped like a rock.?

cubanbob said...

Drago you have evidence that Ukrainians are selling the arms we sending in part on the black market? As for the Ukrainian's borders, the Russian accepted the borders in 1991. Using the logic of various commenters here, the Russians should leave Königsberg. The Russians in the Crimea are displacement for the Crimean Tartars kicked out of the Crimea by both by the Tzars and the Communists.
Say what you will, it is no contest that Zelensky is by democratic standards a more legitimate president than Biden. We spend almost eight hundred billion dollars a year on defense and whom are we defending against? Russia, China/North Korea, Iran and Islamic terrorists. Knocking down the Russians a peg by arming the Ukrainians against Russian invaders is a worthwhile invest. We are not forcing the Ukrainians to fight, they are fighting to expel the invaders. The Chinese and Indians are going to exploit the Russians but they are now realizing the Russian equipment is very good, very good at countering Russian kit but not so good at countering NATO kit. As for the Europeans, let them freeze this winter and that will teach them a lesson in reality.

Yancey Ward said...

The most striking thing for me about this war is the almost total absence of live action footage available anywhere. In this age of the smart phone, I had expected that hours of footage would be available every single day. All you can ever really find on Youtube are round-tables of people discussing stuff, the factual basis of which one can't even assess.

Is there a news blackout on live coverage, or is broadcasting massive incoming artillery barages just not conducive to the setting of certain narratives?

Paul said...

When Biden strangled the oil industry in the USA... logic would tell you OTHER suppliers around the world would make $$$ selling theirs.

Are we shocked? No?

Russia found other countries that hate the USA and used them to funnel it. Duh.

And so we got the gas prices we have now.

Mid-terms cannot come to soon!

Dave Begley said...

Stock tip: VET. Undervalued oil and natgas producer with properties in Europe. My fav.

Achilles said...

Howard said...

One of the Great externalized benefits of decarbonization is the elimination of the overly lucrative Oil Business dominated by tyrannical mad Men and terror sponsoring royal families.

Of course you people are against that as well.


Is it fun looking like a total idiot Howard?

Trump figured out how to keep the Russians from attacking their neighbors. Trump's supporters understood how he did it.

But you can't figure it out. Somehow your policies made the Russians rich enough to go to war and your stupid leaders made them feel like they would win.

We understand how this happened. But you are an idiot so it is mystifying to you it seems.

The only people more stupid than the Biden administration toadies are the dumb pieces of shit like Howard that don't understand how the world actually works and still support Biden's obvious failures.

You are just a fucking idiot Howard. A complete tool.

iowan2 said...

The energy disaster is something Trump had a great handle on. Why, he asked, would you hitch your energy needs to a communist regime????
He predicted the supply chain problems with china. Worried about the US steel dependence.
Brokered trade deals between the Jews and Arabs, to promote peace in the region.
Sealed up our southern border
Achieved energy independence.

Biden gives rich people $trillion with out going to congress, just to ease their pain.

I miss mean tweets...a lot.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Biden and his cronies and crooks are doing all they can to destroy our energy supply and give their precious Chinese communists the upper hand.

Michael K said...

Blogger Howard said...

One of the Great externalized benefits of decarbonization is the elimination of the overly lucrative Oil Business dominated by tyrannical mad Men and terror sponsoring royal families.

Of course you people are against that as well.


Howard, your economic ignorance is on display. Is that what you wanted ? The oil and gas business is what keeps civilization going. No energy, no civilization. Europe is about to learn this. You are in New England from what you say. I spent a year in New Hampshire and it was minus 27 on Thanksgiving morning. Have a nice winter.

Drago said...

"How is Russia doing better when they are supposedly burning off $30M/day because they can't get it to Europe?"

Josephbleau: "Because your list of inputs to the equation is incomplete."

Perfect response.

walter said...

Take that Pooty Poot!

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Let’s go Brandon!

effinayright said...

Michael McNeil said...

"At that rate, actually, conquering the rest of Ukraine will take about a century. Generations of Ukrainians could grow up and then die naturally before they're in much danger — except in the vicinity of the front-line."

******

Yeah, history is replete with examples of warring nations carrying on conflicts with high-explosive weapons capable of reaching deep into the other's territory at will, but limiting their assaults to a "front line", over many years.

But when "front lines" are static, and the combatants decide to project their power throughout their enemy's territory, the inhabitants surviving the resulting tremendous carnage simply gather up the entrails and body parts of their unlucky family members and neighbors, shrug, and move on.

Yeah, it's happened many times in history.

SNORT

Narayanan said...

With oil prices up..."
"... Moscow is also making more money
===========
every oil producer is making more money.

hail FJB [10% Big Guy]

Narayanan said...

Biden is definitely Putin's cockholster.
==========
but what about Putin's balls? who is tea-bagging?

Sean said...

Everybody sing it with me!

Inflation is a monetary phenomenon.
Price increases due to geopolitical developments are not inflation.

Rusty said...

Howard. You voted for this. You owe us all a tank of gas.
And if you need more proof that our Howard was/is a lifelong public sector employee just read his word salad above. The boy is walkin' around clueless!

hstad said...

So after only 6 months of the War pundits call the sanctions a failure. These pundits are idiots! Let's see how this so-called news article ages when the price of oil and gas begins to drop rapidly because demand will drop as the World recedes into a recession. Actually, the article did say that oil production was down by a lot but the high price of oil $100 made up the difference. When oil hits below $80 per barrel it will be interesting to see Russia's revenues. Yet, nothing was said about the overall condition of the Russian economy. Yale University School of Management published, in early August, an extensive study of the Russian economy and the sanctions impact. Headline - "Business Retreats and Sanctions Are
Crippling the Russian Economy" and backed up by reems of data. Google this report it's well worth the read. It gets you past the industrial grade distortions pushed by the MSM.

hstad said...


Blogger Mike Sylwester said...
"...That Ukrainian area that Russia is annexing is a "steppe".."

Sorry Mike, your ignorance is amazing. Luhansk/Donetsk is mountainous.

But, you did omit the fact that Putin wanted to capture all of Ukraine - didn't you.

Such absorption of propoganda from Putin by you is your issue not our issue.