It’s April Fool’s Day but I don’t think anyone is in the mood for jokes. After all, we’ve been set up for fools by this government and the MSM for a long time, regardless of the date. The front page of the print edition of the Daily Mirror this morning says it all – it’s right at the top in the BBC’s compilation (link). Other ‘news’ regarding this war make me ashamed of our government. More on that below.
Let’s firstly look at the ‘roubles for gas’ situation. This came into effect today although Putin has permitted a frist of ten days for EU countries to sort themselves out. The reasoning is quite simple: given the sanctions and the freezing of Russian money in their banks operating in the EU, USA and UK, payments in € and $ for Russian gas would go into those frozen accounts. In other words, Russia would deliver gas and oil ‘for free’. Now the payments must be made in roubles. Reuters explains how this will work (link). If you want to read the Russian side, here‘s the RT report.
EU countries apparently believe they have sufficient gas reserves to sit this out. However, I seem to recall reports last autumn that ‘strategic’ gas reserves here in the UK but also in Germany were down to 30%. Remember that gas is not just needed for people to cook with or heat their homes with. It’s needed for industrial production. If there’s not enough to go around, shortages and rationing can be expected.
I wonder if in that case only the readers of the Daily Mirror will be outraged. At the moment they call on Sunak to ‘do something’. Will people be happy to keep supporting Mr Z of the Ukraine against big bad Putin when it means even higher inflation and a reduction in our living standards?
Have a heart though for the Frogs and Jerries! Their leaders said yesterday that they wouldn’t pay in roubles, that Putin was blackmailing their countries and that contracts must be fulfilled (link). Germany, said the green Vice Chancellor Habeck, is ‘prepared’ to go without any Russian gas. Well, the German Green party’s policies are all about returning Germany to a pre-industrial state. Thus it doesn’t matter if all Germans would become poorer (link).
Mr Putin made clear however that non-payment would be a breach of contract (link), so while Green Mr Habeck stamps his green feet, imposing poverty on ordinary Germans, there are the first warnings that gas shortages would severely affect German industries, leading to closures of production sites and job losses, as Reuters reported on Wednesday (link).
I wonder if Sunak and Johnson are aware that the same would happen here because a gas shortage on the world market would affect our industries just as much. Meanwhile, there was a USA-EU meeting in Washington where they talked about ‘moar sanctions’:
“WASHINGTON, March 31. /TASS/. The first meeting of the US-EU High-Level Dialogue on Russia was held in Washington on Wednesday to consider further steps to “isolate Russia further from the U.S. and EU economies and the international financial system,” according to a joint statement of the US Department of State and the European External Action Service. The US side was represented by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland […] (link)
Delicious, isn’t it: in 2014 Madame N became famous for her ‘F*ck the EU’ outburst when she was organising the coup in the Ukraine. And here she is again, collaborating with the EU. I wonder if she dropped a “f*ck China” remark, given that the two parties agreed to put pressure on China not to circumvent those sanctions.
And lo and behold we also learn that some animals are indeed more equal when it comes to sanctions. The USA, the main driver of imposing sanctions, is ‘easing sanctions’ on agricultural products because food prices soar in the USA:
“The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury recently published a new general license dated March 24, which effectively removed restrictions on the import of Russian fertilizers. The document authorized transactions relating to the exportation and re-exportation of agricultural commodities, banned last month by Washington’s ‘Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations’. The list of agro-related products now exempt from sanctions includes food for humans, live animals, vitamins and minerals, food additives and supplements, seeds for food crops, fertilizers, and reproductive materials.” (link)
Sanctions can be eased when they hurt the sanction-makers? Who knew! I wonder what’ll happen if Russia demands payment in roubles for all those products . A Russian MP has already called for that. There’s another dilemma for the keen sanctioneers:
“MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/. The United States and Europe are afraid that sanctions against Russia’s Kaspersky Lab software company will add to the risks of cyberattacks against Western countries, which is why there is no accord in the US administration concerning restrictions against that company, The Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday, citing its sources. According to the sources, the White House’s National Security Council has postponed discussions of possible sanctions against Kaspersky Lab in the US Department of the Treasury.” (link)
Oh dear. How … awkward. Apparently none of the bright sparks in Washington who demanded that the ties between Russia and the West must be cut as much as possible have realised that this would have an effect on their own industries. At least Washington fears the ire of Americans when food prices soar. There are the mid-term elections in November, a prospect which wonderfully concentrates political minds. We’ll see how our government’s ‘decisions’ will affect the local elections next month.
Will people still remember the utterly shameful, disgusting, war-mongering attitudes and remarks displayed by this government? There’s not just Miz Truss who has made no secret of her ‘undying support’ for the Ukraine, there’s not just Mr Wallace who, according to the BBC, said that “President Putin is not the force he used to be, […] He is now a man in a cage he built himself” (link) because that’s what GCHQ and MI6 told him and us. There’s also the No 10 inmate egging on Mr Z to keep fighting, and there are The Times’ fabulous ‘sources’:
“Some of our allies may be too eager for him [Zelensky] to settle,” a government source said, singling out France, Germany and the US. “We think Ukraine needs to be in the strongest possible position militarily before those talks can take place.” The source said that this could lead to significant concessions on territory, sanctions and the pursuit of Putin as a potential war criminal.” (link, paywalled)
Our government is cheering on the Ukraine from the sidelines with no thought given to the humanitarian cost nor a whisper about war crimes committed by Ukrainian soldiers. It is utterly sickening. It’s as if Johnson’s government has no idea about the actual situation ‘on the ground’.
For example, one of Mr Z’s ministers said that the Ukrainian defence industry had been destroyed (link). Does Johnson really think that ‘military help’ from us will arrive ‘in time’? How, when Russia has shown that they can destroy such convoys and such depots?
I leave you with news from one of the ‘chihuahua states’, Latvia, where displaying the letters ‘Z’ and ‘V’ is now banned (link). That’ll impress Putin no end! This is how to signal one’s virtue without any costs involved – except to make oneself look ridiculous. No, this is not an April Fool’s Day joke.
I better remove Latvia from my holiday ‘bucket list’ lest they refuse me entry because of that suspicious letter ‘V’ in my Christian name …
Colin Hussey. You asked on Thursday what I meant by Telegraph’s Chopper. If you search – daily telegraph chopper you will find out.
I find that he doesn’t always exactly follow the Telegraph’s ‘approved’ opinions/propaganda and sometimes says something interesting.
I get an email in my in-box.
Just as no-one mentioned ‘a deal’ until after the wonderful referendum, I hadn’t seen anything about ten days grace period after the Russian 1 April ultimatum, to ‘sort yourselves out’.
I was surprised at ten days, as Rouble payment has been telegraphed for a long while now. And I was at the Supermarket yesterday buying popcorn and sherberts. Disappointed, but they’ll keep for a while!
Maybe Pres Putin will give the slackers say, five days to show willing?
So for each country who has not approached Poccia with some sort of ‘deal’ – e.g. we are sorting out the national bank to do such and such, but we need a couple more days. Here is what we have done, and this is what is happening to . . .
So five days and cut production by fifty pct for each country usage if they show intransigence.
One bunch of countries freezes (steals) Russian money in its foreign banks, so Russia freezes them out / requires Roubles. And your problem is . . .?
Five days at fifty pct oil and gas delivery may encourage the slackers and twenty five pct supply after say eight days to hurry them along with a taster of the future.
Next up, Roubles for food and fertiliser. Are you feeling lucky punk(s)? Are you?
Great stuff, now where’s that wooden spoon and saucepan?
This is a situation I predicted long since.
https://independencedaily.co.uk/crunch-time-has-arrived-possibly/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=INDEPENDENCE+Daily+Newsletter1
American/Middle East gas will be landed at Milford haven a sent in reverse the normal direction to Europe. They will have all Summer to top up their reserves. (The Europeans have few gas landing ports to get deliveries by sea..)
Putin has cocked up.
He should have done this in November last year to be effective, ie before Winter, not after.
Harry (Strikes) Again.
Not all gases are created equal. The american offering apart from collection and expense of green transport from America, (I for one would not want to sail on a floating bomb) and then cost of conversion to a usable state. It is not methane, but the higher hydrocarbons. That’s why it is easier to compress energy-wise and to transport. You must have come across the different gases – hydrogen, methane, propane and so on. Try compressing hydrogen or better still acetylene (read up to avoid blowing yourself up!). Good luck with that, I dont want to be within a mile of you when you try.
And before you start wining about an oil tanker bomb these often need heating in transit, unless you want to literally dig them out on reaching destination. Digging out not an option if you tie up to a spar cos the tanker draught is too great to get into port.
Similarly, not all oils are created equal. N Sea oil has a low sulphur content. Yes many N Sea oils can be put in your car and driven with little damage *but the crude is too valuable to use it that way. Middle Eastern type? Go down to Lacq to see the sulphur piles – pretty, but pretty corrosive. Middle East oil and W Texas Crude are priced lower than N Sea crude due to the removal of nasties.
Have you ever seen wax pumped? It comes ashore daily from the N Sea – explain that! Yes I know the answer and by now so do you. Not all waxes are created equal – think Trex cooking lard and a candle. Both are waxes.
HA- all the above is without reference to books or internet.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and if you only look at wikipedia you will only ever have a little knowledge.
Likewise politicians.
You say ”He should have done this in November last year to be effective, ie before Winter, not after”.
I don’t remember Russian money in foreign banks being stolen in November. Could be wrong.
Find yourself a good reference library and use it. If you have trouble reading, search out someone who knows.
Biscotte. How long would it take to start getting GAS suitable for our heating and industry from our fracking sites?
Can we get same GAS from our North sea oil rigs? Isn’t that the same ‘natural gas’ that we’re using now?
Please give me some good news.
PB- started a reply. About half way through a potted history but without research I’m up to 700 wodrs. A chat with Great & Mighty Warrior Viv is needed to see what to do.
A ‘proper job’ will need a lot more than my usual ‘unique style of writign’. Viv you have my number if you want to short circuit long emails and direct traffic.
Will people still remember the utterly shameful, disgusting, war-mongering attitudes and remarks displayed by this government?
Sadly I think not. Shamefully the sheeple, now well-drilled into obedience and Pavlovian reactions to government stimuli, are unable to see it for what it is, and are probably amplifying it and cheering it on. I am just waiting for them to roll out Clap for Ukraine, and no entry to supermarkets unless you are sporting a blue and yellow lapel flash.
Quite so P.O’S. I find that most people havent got a clue about the way things really are. They are so brainwashed and ignorant that they accept unquestioningly the ‘take’ on the situation that is packaged and tied up with ribbons and bows by the MSM on behalf of the politicians!!!! I doubt whether 1 in 10 has any idea at all about the historical facts of the Russia/Ukraine situation.
Please don’t give the supermarkets any encouragement. I was recently the victim of an attempted ‘mugging’ at my local Morrisons who were accosting each and every customer at the till encouraging them to add a £1 (or more) to their bill to ‘aid’ poor old Ukraine against the aggression of ‘nasty Russia”! I refused point blank! I have already seen a preponderance of blue and yellow flags draped around local landmarks where I live! Utter madness! All the while our ‘weak and unprincipled’ PM continues to prance about pretending he is some kind of super statesman doing his war dance and trying to look like a leader. He hopes of course to draw attention away from his many and considerable shortcomings elsewhere!!!!
Actually I do not care about Ukraine, over the years nobody in Europe gave a toss about us. In fact the French who our dozy PM calls our friends, supplied arms and ammunition to the IRA via the republic of Ireland.
A while ago when Southern England was flooded no one offered relief. AND finally Ukraine were happy to develop death virus for young Biden to sell.
No! I have a long memory and bear grudges
MD- Little black kids were paraded every Christmas looking for hand outs. Now it is all year round.
At lunchtime, I took a look at the meeja.
It seems to have drifted sort of, the same way in that all sorts of things ‘matter’, so send us a fiver a month. All year around.
Contribute to the new ‘kiddies wing’ at the hospital? Hasn’t the gvmt put its hand into my pocket without asking to fund this already? Already given – buzz off. Collectors with tins don’t bother us any more (except the November poppies).
[An aside, Catholic spousal unit feels the sort of the same when Gehoover;s Witnesses used to come around].
So totally agree MD. I grew up understanding what tit for tat meant, and family first cos no other so..so..soul will help you out.
Here’s a tanner – that’s a quid after tax.
Maybe with bartering taking off later this year, the do-gooders may take a tumble (for the greater good!).
Me too Mike!
Me too Mike Durrans.
“It’s as if Johnson’s government has no idea about the actual situation ‘on the ground’. ”
Do they have any idea about anything, except lining their own pockets? I doubt it.
But that’s what governments are for.
Jack………you’re right there insofar as lining their pockets. The MP’s have been awarded a £2,300 pay increase recently, so will not be affected by what is to come. Yes, I know they will say it is not themselves who have raised their salaries but their pay review body, but how many MP’s I wonder have turned down this pay rise, and more importantly how many Conservative MP’s have turned down this pay rise and indeed how many members of the present cabinet have turned it down and, indeed if the prime minister has done so as well. Is it a case of them wanting to share the burden of financial pain the rest of us are facing, that I somehow doubt. And how many other pay review bodies have recommended the sort of pay rises that the MP’s pay review body has been achieving in recent years, and been successful in getting them implemented especially those who are employees of the state. I would say probably a big round zero. So it begs the question as to how it is that the MP’s are somehow exempt from the financial black hole that exists in the country’s finances, as after all they are paid from the same pool. They should be told that in an ideal world the recommended rise is probably deserved, but the country at the moment cannot afford it. Its a case of how its always been ‘don’t do as I do, but do as I say’. I think the present financial situation will be the downfall of this ruddy useless prime minister that we have in power at the moment who heads up an equally ruddy useless government, and that downfall will start this May in the local elections. Johnson and his government promised us so much in December 2019, but has delivered so little, and even the Brexit we voted for in 2016 has been a half baked deal. My crystal ball tells me that the Conservatives will be out of power after 2024 the general election, but the Labour Party will not be the main beneficiary out of a Conservative fall from grace because they are not trusted enough. I feel that the Liberal Democrats will be the biggest party after the next general election and will form the government. I hope to goodness by then that clueless Johnson has gone some way to rectifying the Northern Ireland protocol and got a better deal for British fishermen, but I wouldn’t bank on it. His main strategy seems to be kicking the can further down the road, apart from that is sending arms and money to Ukraine in ever increasing amounts, and offering everyone a home in this country with free pocket money, free mobile phones, a free tablet etc etc etc. A Conservative he most definitely not, and when are the majority going to start waking up to this fact?
Colin R T Hussey. It is almost as if you WANT the LibDems in power !?
Pauline……..No, I don’t want the Liberal Democrats in power, that is why I said at the bottom of my posting that I hoped dopey Boris sorted out the NI Protocol and and the Territorial Waters issue out in advance of the 2024 general election. So, no I don’t want the Liberal Democrats in, nor do I want Labour in power and don’t want the Conservatives in power either. The latter have cocked things up in a major way, and until they see sense and kick this man (Johnson) out and replace him with a true Conservative who is a 100% supporter of Brexit, I wont ever trust them again. Ideally I would want a right of centre party to take power, but have resigned myself to the fact that this will never happen now. Nigel Farage has been hinting at a return to frontline politics for some time now with perhaps a new party etc etc, but has jumped back into bed (metaphorically speaking) with Richard Tice who I do not rate at all and will not deliver a party which we could all get behind. UKIP have been described to me as a ‘sunken ship wreck’ during the past week and so I had hoped that they may be able to rekindle their fortunes which doesn’t seem likely either. That leaves only one option as far as I can see, and that is the Heritage Party led by David Kurten which I had played a part in setting up in its earlier days. However I left that party but in the past week or so I have mightily impressed with what Kurten has said on Michelle Dewberry’s on the GB News channel on the two occasions he has appeared. He ran rings around the other members of the panel and has obviously grown into the role as a party leader, so I may in fact re-engage with the Heritage Party, and be done with it. However getting back to my original point, I do think that the Liberal Democrats will in fact be the main benefactor of the impending demise of the Conservative Party, and a demise it will certainly be…….
Colin Hussey. I agree.
And incidentally have you noticed, there is no way to reply to what Tice’s Reform Uk Party says in it’s emails.
Hello Jack Thomas. You’ve been quiet for a while. Welcome back.
Seem to remember you favoured an armed putsch when a government acted against the interests of the country that put it into power/paid for it.
Any news of one being planned?
Pauline…..I think Jack thought you were organising the armed putsch from your armchair in Sheffield, in between looking at the Wednesday…
Goodness me Colin. Don’t you know not all S– postcodes are equal?
Sheffield is in South Yorkshire. Not proper Yorkshire I grant you. Sort of pseudo. Blunkett and all that.
I escaped my mother in Surrey and the civil service in London by going to Sheffield university because from there I could walk into Derbyshire!
Like it or not, during our Civil War, Derbyshire was a Royalist ‘island’, surrounded by Cromwell’s Republicans!
‘King and Country’? Never mind the ‘King’ bit. It is my Country I care about!
Pauline………..I have given up supporting Reform UK. It has totally lost its way, has no discernible policies, and the party does not answer emails, the telephone or anything else. When Tice stood as a candidate in the Bexleyheath by election last year, we left several telephone messages but nobody returned our calls. All of us were at one time seasoned UKIP activists who had stood as candidates and run elections and branches of our own. We took the view they were not interested and were/are not serious, and have now moved on. Their loss and another party’s gain.
Superb roundup Viv. Thank you.
Thank you, Jake!
Things are so crazy at the moment that you wouldn’t know spoofs from reality.
True dat! And especially beware of any videos posted on the antisocial media. Nowadays, how can we know if they’ve not been doctored when Mr Z himself is not in Kiev but who-knows-where-else and sends his videos with carefully manufactures backgrounds – all Hollywood style.
Who indeed? At the last world paradigm shift, every one of the limited films of the images of planes striking the twin towers came from either media, or ‘independent’ filmmakers or special effects studios. And they all happened to be filming almost the same shot at the same time on the same day, and two of them remarkably were able to capture the same voiceover of a woman screaming “Oh my GARRD.” And btw, Kolomoiski, owner of Burisma (Hunter’s patron), owns the film company that made Mr Z’s TV series.