Russia cutting off gaa supplies.. How worried should Europeans be?

[Ewetoo]

Russia switched off the gas to Germany on Wednesday, they said it was for maintenance & for 2 days only . Russia announced this morning due to more maintenance needed they won't be switching it on as planned & gave no date for it to be switched on... I find this very scary & the winter is already predicted to be bitterly cold (can't find link to weather prediction)

I often wondered that too. Ukraine is the 2nd largest European country, modern with a young educated population. Surely Kazakhstan or Moldova would be easier to start with?

Breadbasket of Europe? Wasn’t it Moldova had THE wedding in Dynasty? 🤔😉

As I said above, he didn't 'start' with the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He invaded Georgia, he invaded Crimea and the Donbas in Ukraine and evidently felt he could get away with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine based on lack of previous western intervention, western weaknesses, plus maybe going a bit crazy during worldwide lockdown. .. I'm in no way an expert on this and happy to be corrected by someone who is.

Ukraine is the 2nd largest European country, modern with a young educated population. Surely Kazakhstan or Moldova would be easier to start with?

Define 'easier'! Just some thoughts - I think Ukraine is appealing as a target because of their massive natural resources, loads of nuclear plants, access to the Black Sea (and thence the Med), and it provides a nice buffer between Europe and the rest of Russia. Kazakhstan is land-locked and also has a muslim majority - don't know if that could be a potential issue? More importantly is that it shares some of its border with China - might that be a bit too close to poking the dragon for Russia? There were hundreds of nuclear tests there, too, in the Soviet era, so I suspect radioactive contamination where those were carried out - larger than the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Also I don't think Putin was aiming for 'easy' - he's making a very clear statement and sending a message to the West - don't mess with him.

podcasts.apple.com/gh/podcast/its-not-about-ukraine-its-about-putin/id1042433083?i=1000550058225

I remember I found that this podcast gave a good background on the situation just before the invasion.

Moldova doesn't actually have a border with Russia.

All the "stans" have a high, potentially volatile Muslim majority. I doubt whether Putin wants to start another Afghanistan (remember the Soviets had a bash at that before the US)

The UK only gets about 5% of its gas from Russia. Maybe let’s not stir up hysteria just yet.

The UK only gets about 5% of its gas from Russia. Maybe let’s not stir up hysteria just yet.
The UK buys it's gas on the open market, like every other country. When there's a shortage the price goes up, regardless of the source.

@Brigante9 I do t think it’s stirring hysteria at all. The shortage of gas across Europe will see prices increase for everyone on the open market, how these increases translate for the end consumer is another story.

How we weather the coming storm matters, we shouldn’t be looking at the clouds and expecting this to blow over.

We are currently selling gas to other nations because we produce it and don't need nearly as much in summer. Come winter we will totally be playing the "but we already gave you gas" morality card.

Deliberate government policy of the past few decades with privatisation, meant that storage isn't prioritised over profits. The government didn't want to subsidise, so they were shut down. Private companies have charged what they want, which mea t a bunch of them went bist when it wasn't enough. They also don't fix the price from going too high. I wouldn't be at all surprised if some kind of fixed price with national subsidy comes in this winter, wiping away previous fixed deals. I don't think they see the benefits of long term storage yet though.

China and Russia have planned to destabilise the West for a long time

I don't necessarily disagree with this.

None of this is coincidence. Covid wasn’t accidental. It’s the rise of the East.

but this is a step too far & simply trying to frighten people, knock it off.

I’ve read this thread and terrified myself.

But don’t necessarily agree with the gloom. It’s shit, but the world will recover.

Im not sure why China would want to destabilise the west? Are we not a lucrative trading partner. Does China want a nuclear war?

l agree the Putin is insane. But it doesn’t mean the world is going to end and we’ll all die of cold and starvation.

There needs to be a resolution to the war at some point.

China definitely wants to destabilise the west. They have a plan to be the world's superpower by 2050 so anything that knocks the west down they will welcome. Once the West is weak enough, they will expand just like Russia is trying to do.

The COVID being planned thing is obvious nonsense though - just look at the pain China is putting itself through right now trying to control it.

Do you ever wonder what an alien visiting from outer space would make of Earth.

Assuming of course the alien doesn't come from a war torn planet.

It’s no wonder we only see UFO pictures and videos of them in the sky, they only have to take one look at our pitiful civilisation, realise we’re barely evolved and fly on to the next planet.

Their demographics would say otherwise to that plan.

50% no less. Which is competing with every other nation on the planet that needs piped or LNG tanker shipments.

This “but we only buy 5% from Russia!” meme needs to die. It betrays a total lack of understanding as to how the markets work.

France only has 16% of its energy mix as gas. Guess how high their energy prices are now.

If the uk had kept ownership of the oil and gas in the North Sea (rather than selling it off to private companies) then the government would be able to divert more gas to the UK and the extra could be sold and fund support for the population.

Instead, private companies are making extraordinary profits that are spread through various different companies in complicated structures going across various countries, so it's very hard for any government to tax those profits.

We need to work hard at energy security. More renewables, more storage solutions to make renewables more viable and more nuclear. Plus encouraging people to use electricity when production is high and limit it when it is not so that we have less need to use gas or coal power stations. Yes we might need to use the oven for dinner at peak times but we can delay using dishwashers, washing machines, charging cars etc.

About that…

They won’t have to worry about any resistance. Or anything worth pillaging, for that matter. We’re doing fine all by ourselves in exterminating our species and those around us.

And we’ve known this outcome since 1972.

What's your gym bill?

Russia can survive without the West, it has China, India, Africa, Middle East to trade with.

I pay £20 a month for a swim only membership.

Now Rishi Sunak saying he cannot rule out black outs. I really think its going to happen. When I said personal responsibility I should have said personal preparation.
Like now I'm buying in cheap batteries and tea lights.
Moaning won't help me, preparation will help a little.

We've bought a generator