Optimistic takes say Germany would need until 2024 to be fully weaned off Russian gas. I think TV people and most people in general are underestimating Europe's reliance on these commodities. Social/political stability is pretty fragile if all of the sudden you have to ration when you heat your house or ration industrial production, leading to lower productivity and higher product prices. Look at the trucker protests in Spain for example. There is no scenario in which much of Europe doesn't suffer from the boomeranging effects of the sanctions. The thing with Russia, the way it's society is setup, the people don't have much of a choice. In Europe, it's much different, I think anger over quality of life could and probably spill onto the streets if energy stops flowing from Russia. Squeeze hard enough and you'll have the yellow vests protesting in the streets, with potential mass riots if the economics get really that bad.

The places that they think they can get this replacement production from are precarious tbh. Gulf Arab output can be disrupted at any moment if there's a flare up between the Arabs and the Persians, production out of North Africa imo is also kind of unreliable. For example, you have Morocco and Algeria in a tug-of-war currently over west Sahara. US LNG is a thing, but dawg, the cost to transport that to Europe is an eye sore. Not to mention the long distance transportation is exponentially more pollutive, so much for trying to be green. So you basically have Norway that's a reliable/affordable producer. Idk, shitty spot to be in.

This post was edited by ofthevoid on Mar 31 2022 07:03pm

Europe is maybe doing much more than simply buying natural gas right now: they are also trying to refill the storage.
It's pretty long to build nuclear plants but in waiting that, if the situation is really desesperate (aka putin not down) i think there's still the controversial fracking solution.

"Shale gas" production would not make Europe self-sufficient in natural gas. In the most optimistic scenario, imports can be reduced at a rate of about 60%



I don't think you really know what is going on with the yellow vest phenomena. Btw a part of these people is collecting drugs for Ukraine right now.
Others (prolly the right wing of it) are shutting their mouth.

This post was edited by Saucisson6000 on Mar 31 2022 06:54pm

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/sri-lanka-economic-crisis-news-latest-colombo-protest-curfew-gotabaya-rajapaksa-1932155-2022-04-01

Look at sri lanka right now
Much of the country is in blackout with no power, petrol or medicine
All they have left is bullets for the military

RIP Duffman

The Ukrainians did this more to send a message than simply destroy infrastructure: https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1509768294533935119

Looks like a lot of counterattacks on both sides of Kyiv and in Sumy have been successful, it will be interesting to see whether the Russian pullback from these areas is so much so that they have to do a full retreat

This post was edited by dro94 on Apr 1 2022 12:11am

Ukraine is used as a tool to expand militarily, to track down the opponents of 6uild 6ack 6etter and detain them for insurrection.
And the sheep with the hand in the air, Heil and amen, with the corona tea towel still in the throat.
Long live the digital Euro

Honestly, I'd be so fucking embarrassed if I was Russian. How do you let the enemy fly helicopters into YOUR territory when you're at WAR!?

America should just end Russia. They don't deserve to exist any longer. Let's just make a deal with China to divide up the country and enslave the Russian people. It's not like they'd know any better...

This post was edited by thundercock on Apr 1 2022 01:22am

There was a guy thinking exactly the same. We are a mohth away from the date he commited suicide.

This post was edited by Norlander on Apr 1 2022 03:02am

more news:

Ireland: Russia launches conscription drive amid Ukraine conflict
England: War in Ukraine: Russia accuses Ukraine of attacking oil depot
Foxnews: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during an overnight speech Friday that he has demoted two of his own generals, describing them as "traitors." The leadership shuffle in the upper echelon of Ukraine's government comes as its war with Russia stretches Friday into its 37th day.

This post was edited by ferdia on Apr 1 2022 07:31am

The tone Zelensky is striking is mildly alarming. It's never a good sign when a wartime leader starts calling everyone who disagrees with him or who (he thinks) failed him a "traitor". No biggie if this is a one-off, but I'll keep a close eye on it and look out for similar incidents.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Apr 1 2022 07:16am