Ukraine

I think you will find he was in his bunker. The Russians took out their TV and radio early in the war.

 

Why don't they move to places that are not being shelled.
It would make more sense to me.

 

To take out Russian military supply lines - anything that is fuelling the war - that's still defensive/preventative.

Tony B was saying that once the US hand over the kit - it belongs to the Ukrainians and they do with it as they see fit - clever wording to distance NATO from the war.

It's all mind games - so that Putin doesn't have an excuse to go further. Putin is clearly a liar and a bully - the only thing that he respects is brute force.

 

How far do you go into Russia to take out supply lines.
That would also open the door, in Putin's eyes, to attack Ukraine's supply lines in Poland.

 

They have already been attacking targets inside Russia with helicopters. They blew up a huge fuel depot.
Either that or the Russians blew it up and blamed Ukraine.

 

I have to applaud the EU again. I'm not at all concerned about oil prices - the war in Ukraine trumps cheap petrol.

75% of Russian oil imports to the EU would be immediately banned, rising to 90% by the end of the year.

I see that Putin is increasing the minimum wage and pensions by 10% - to somehow head off inflation. A temporary sticking plaster at best.

 

You really do have to think about sanctions and who they really hurt the most, as with all these things they look good at the time but after a while you have to wonder if they will have the desired effect.
Unless you bring them in quickly and hard there seems to be a limited effect.
Warning Russia that we or Europe will discontinue buying there oil and gas some time in the future seems a bit pointless as in the mean time they will sort out other buyers.

This could run and run and who is going to pay.
The bloke in the street, he is always the loser, everyone else just puts up their prices.

 

I was actually thinking the same thing, looking at it from the Russian side, how can they really hurt Europe in response to sanctions.
Cut the gas off tomorrow?

 

I've been thinking about the sanctions on Russian oil and the impact that this will have on prices.

Bear with me now.

- if the EU stop buying Russian oil - then Russia will bring down their prices - to encourage 'neutral' countries to purchase Russian oil rather than say Saudi oil - China has already purchased a shed load of Russian oil to fill their reserves.

- Saudi will not be selling as much oil to these 'neutral' countries - so they will lower their prices - to encourage other countries to take up the oil that the 'neutral' countries are no longer buying.

- there is the same quantity of oil flowing around - there are the same number of buyers - it's just that the sellers and buyers change.

- result - no massive explosion in oil prices and cheaper imports from 'neutral' countries as they are now running on cheap Russian oil.

- less money for Putin's war machine.

I'm taking off my rose tinted glasses now. I can't help but look for the positives in everything.