re: While Putin doubles down in Ukraine, his gas gambit is failing

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War is the failure of diplomacy.

Only if you have reasonable actors at the table.

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Failure regardless of "reasonable actors" is failure. In diplomacy, failure leads to war. As I've said, there was shite for diplomacy in the instance of NATO, or Ukraine, or Russia. No one was a reasonable actor here. Not even close.

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the real international organization Russia fears.

And the land Russia wanted.

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Wow ...

So once again, your position is that Ukraine would never integrate with Europe whatsoever, because Russia said so? And doing so at all, or even talking about it, is a blunder that would cause war?

Let’s set NATO aside for a moment. You think Russia’s position on the EU would be any different?

What CAN Ukraine do?

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“But Russia has muh China, India, North Korea and Iran who will bail them out and stick it to the West!” -the poliboard

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"But Putin really cares about the Russian economy and his citizens"

-Retarded American OTers

The West is sticking it to themselves amazing you can't see that

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It really is perplexing how triggered people are about anything that could be bad news for Russia

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In this instance it has more to do with energy realism as opposed to EuroZone fantasy.

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The West is sticking it to themselves amazing you can't see that

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Every country in the world is sticking it to themselves one way or another right now. No one as bad as Russia is currently though.

Jesus Christ man, this thread is smothered in failure

1. you linked a subscription article

2. The Russians dont really give a shite about the gas, they care about oil. they put the pipelines in when the Euros built their natural gas fired power plants and shuttered their coal fired plants for "green energy." This is what trump warned the Germans about at the UN

3. the russians have been flaring a crap ton of gas since the war started, even with high prices.

4. no western MSM outlet is going to publish any sort of "russian is winning" article

5. the article premise is the Euros have balanced their LNG buying and their gas consumption without the Russian supplies - in the summertime, with coal plants running wide open and articles about germans cutting down trees for firewood due to high gas/energy costs

6. what will happen this winter is the same thing that has been happening - LNG not already on contract will get snapped up at premiums by Asian consumers and Europe will get fricked. A cold winter in Europe will be really really bad for them.

7. why would the Russians destroy their own asset and eliminate it from the leverage column? All they had to do was close the valve and wait for europe to freeze. Blowing it up takes a gas pipeline deal off the table and eliminates a major tool for the russians to use negotiations. why would the russians do this to themselves?

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As recently as three weeks ago, Putin expressed willingness to supply more gas if the EU would lift the sanctions against the newer pipeline. He said: “If things are so bad, just go ahead and lift sanctions against Nord Stream 2, with its 55 billion cubic meters per year — all they have to do is press the button and they will get going.”

Diplomatic sources told the Cradle (9/29/22) that Russia and Germany were in talks about both NS1 and NS2 on the day of the explosion.

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A 2019 Pentagon-funded study from the RAND Corporation on how best to exploit “Russia’s economic, political and military vulnerabilities and anxieties” included a recommendation to “Reduce [Russian] Natural Gas Exports and Hinder Pipeline Expansions.” The study noted that a “first step would involve stopping Nord Stream 2,” and that natural gas “from the United States and Australia could provide a substitute.”

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the New York Times (9/28/22) wrote:

It is unclear why Moscow would seek to damage installations that cost Gazprom billions of dollars to build and maintain. The leaks are expected to delay any possibility of receiving revenue from fuel going through the pipes.

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In February, Joe Biden himself told reporters, “If Russia invades…then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.” After a reporter asked how the US planned to end a project that was under German control, Biden responded, “I promise you, we will be able to do that.”

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But the Russians did it

You missed the part that Putin DGAF about "Russia"

Well he doesn’t care about Russia. Putin only cares about his place in history.

Which is why using economics as a benchmark for success against Putin's conquests is pretty dumb. Same with a body count.