My internet supplier and telephone is Shell Energy. Is this the same as the company buying oil from Russia, because if it is I shall move to someone else.
Personally I would rather not have the discount, paying a bit more is nothing compared to what the Ukranian people are suffering, and I believe putting up with a bit of hardship to help them is our duty.
It seems to me that the only thing that Putin takes notice of is military might. Who knows whether he will stop at Ukraine? Perhaps now is the time for the world to pile in and chuck him out of Ukraine using overwhelming force. I reckon his next target will be Finland.
Are you prepared to push "the button"? Because I wouldn't put it passed him to do just that. Ukraine is not a NATO country, and he knows that, Finland is not a NATO country, and apparently up until very recently less than 30% of Finns wanted to join NATO, but I hear its over 50% now. I understand it, but I'm not sure I agree with it. Most NATO countries dont even contribute the amount they are supposed to regarding defense, and haven't done for years, I think the UK only puts in the bare minimum. Lets face it, if the US was to suddenly say we are not going to prop up NATO anymore, Putin would be knocking on our door tomorrow.
Umm, we're actually second biggest contributor to NATO by GDP. I think trump was going to pull out of NATO because most countries weren't pulling their weight but thankfully they now have a real solid guy at the tiller Russia has a lot of new kit but clearly not the ability to deploy effectively. Unfortunately they have masses and masses of bodies to throw at a conflict and an iron grasp of their citizens
Info:- Germany have finally agreed to contribute the agreed sum of 2% of GNP to NATO defence budget (heard it on the news) which they have been avoiding since 2006 (I think). We were one of the only countries to contribute the 2%, or close to it, until Covid. I don't know about the other countries.
The UK is ranked 4th, while Germany lagged down in 19th going by the link below. NATO: Which countries pay their share on defence? (forces.net)
If Trump had got a second term he'd have ditched Nato, and Putin would have been able to push into as many other regions as he chose. He still might, but he's making a right mess of his own economy and it won't do a lot for ours either. I don't believe Trump would've cared a dime for Europe's plight.
Those figures are from 2015 with estimates for 2021. NATO Spending by Country 2022 Not that it makes any practical difference now that I think about it!
On the news this morning they were interviewing a representative of one of Europe's largest fertiliser manufacturers, Yara. The cost of fertiliser is sky rocketing, that will push many more people into food poverty, he was concerned about the long term out look as they are not likely to come down anytime soon. Some of the fertilisers we get have jumped in cost, we use Yara fertilisers in our growing media so there will be a knock on. Domestic fertilisers have also jumped in cost, some by as much as 50% which will need to be passed on, we can't absorb these kind of increases.