I really don’t understand the obsession with Merkel. Merkel is widely known for doing nothing with the exception of opening the borders for refugees in 2015. Her slogan for her last election was the lamest in the history of politics: Sie kennen mich (You know me). She stayed in power because she didn’t start anything that could blow back on her. The gas man was Schröder also known as Pipeline-Schröder. But his motivation was his bank account and not dependency or independency of the German energy supply from Russia or any other country.
Clipperstorch wrote:
I really don’t understand the obsession with Merkel. Merkel is widely known for doing nothing with the exception of opening the borders for refugees in 2015. Her slogan for her last election was the lamest in the history of politics: Sie kennen mich (You know me).
It’s called stability. It’s a good, but boring. If you think about it though, it’s this kind of politicians we would rather want, and it’s not without reason Merkel has stayed there for so long. If Putin had stayed relatively sane, it would be all good. As it is right now, Germany needs to change in several ways, and Merkel is not the right person. But I mean. Did anyone actually believe Putin would go berserk like this? Perhaps, but then a whole lot of people believe a whole lot of crazy things all the time. Some of that is bound to happen from time to time.
Did anyone actually believe Putin would go berserk like this?
He managed to grab Crimea without any fuss from W Europe. You’ve got to ask yourself how he pulled that off. It hardly made the news here.
Ukraine has turned out to go badly for Russia, but it’s because
Do you think the Russian army is looting only in our country? No, they steal from their own!
the next interceptions of SBU (https://t.me/SBUkr).
One of the Russian occupiers complains to his wife that all his belongings left in the camp in Belarus have been stolen. They even took away his military ID and passport.
I am convinced that this is the work of the “soldiers” of the first battalion or the rear. And openly calls them looters.
He emphasizes that they had a fighter who was left to guard things, but he “tried * somewhere in St. Petersburg.” That is, he escaped.
His wife promises to “throw” him money on the card to buy things.
But… also complains of theft…. However, they steal money from payment cards.
“They started shooting from my card on Rostelecom… then I went and took it all off myself. "
Outraged by this state of affairs, she adds: “It would be better, nah * y, to stand here.”
And indeed: it would be better for the occupiers to stay at home and protect their property from their own than to encroach on others.
Peter wrote:
He managed to grab Crimea without any fuss from W Europe. You’ve got to ask yourself how he pulled that off. It hardly made the news here.
I think because:
- the Crimean population is predominantly pro-Russian. There was no resistance, quite the opposite, keeping in mind all the hysteria at the time.
- The Ukranian authorities were mostly dealing with something else while this was happening.
I read that the UK is dependent on Russia for deisel, and will be for some time. Our PM has stated that after that we will stop importing from Russia. Why should Russia not ban deisel export to UK immediately, especially if payment is blocked?
The economic effect on the UK of seizing Russian owned assets is likely not calculated. The insurance cost of the effective destruction of Irish leased aircraft, from the US maintenance ban must be considerable.
Diesel will come out the same refineries that petrol and other products do. I don’t believe we take any refined product (or at least if we do, only trivial quantities) from Russia. The UK has a few major oil refineries. AFAIK, the UK is also the only place left where TEL (the lead in your avgas) is made, but I could be wrong.
One of the more hilarious things I’ve seen about Putin, in the Daily Torygraph of all places (a very serious broadsheet, not a tabloid) was that Putin bathes in the blood from severed antlers, which I find a bit far fetched. I think there’s all sorts of stories being propagated about Putin right now.
alioth wrote:
that Putin bathes in the blood from severed antlers
Nothing too far-fetched, it’s not a “blood of Christian babies” type of legend but rather a late-Soviet incarnation of traditional Chinese medicine, where young (not yet calcified) wapiti antlers are claimed to have rejuvenating and reinvigorating properties similar to ginseng. Antler tincture is readily available at Russian pharmacies.
alioth wrote:
AFAIK, the UK is also the only place left where TEL (the lead in your avgas) is made, but I could be wrong.
At least there is no place in the EU where TEL is made.
Various forms of that claim have been around for years, and then you speak to somebody who actually makes 100LL and they set you straight 
Anyway, it would be absolutely terrible if the EU had to buy some terribly toxic chemical from a former club member 
I read that the UK is dependent on Russia for deisel
It isn’t. Diesel and petrol, and other stuff, is made by distillation (etc) of crude oil. The UK has a negligible dependence on Russia now.
The economic effect on the UK of seizing Russian owned assets is likely not calculated
It is far, far, less important than what Russia is doing in Ukraine right now. I could send you a link to a telegram feed… the pics can’t really be posted here. And this is being done by the normal Russian mechanised army, just for enjoyment, not by some “special SS add-on”, perhaps the ex Chechnya “Kadyrov guards”.
