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Russia to stop gas supplies to Europe (1/4/22)

'Russian state-backed energy firm Gazprom is poised to hand a bumper £8.6bn payout to the Kremlin after notching up record profits.

The company reported a net profit of 2.5tn roubles (£35.8bn) for the first six months of this year. Oil and gas prices soared during that period, pushed higher by concerns over supplies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


The Kremlin owns 49.3% of Gazprom and will share in a 1.21tn rouble payout, after its board proposed a 51.03 rouble per ordinary share payout to investors. The decision will be put to shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting on 30 September.

The dividend represents a setback in the west’s efforts to choke off the Russian economy through sanctions. The UK and Europe have also moved to phase out Russian oil and gas imports to prevent the west funding Vladimir Putin’s regime. However, Russia has instead ramped up oil exports to Asia and gas prices have soared in response to Gazprom cutting supplies into Europe.'



 
'Russian state-backed energy firm Gazprom is poised to hand a bumper £8.6bn payout to the Kremlin after notching up record profits.

The company reported a net profit of 2.5tn roubles (£35.8bn) for the first six months of this year. Oil and gas prices soared during that period, pushed higher by concerns over supplies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


The Kremlin owns 49.3% of Gazprom and will share in a 1.21tn rouble payout, after its board proposed a 51.03 rouble per ordinary share payout to investors. The decision will be put to shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting on 30 September.

The dividend represents a setback in the west’s efforts to choke off the Russian economy through sanctions. The UK and Europe have also moved to phase out Russian oil and gas imports to prevent the west funding Vladimir Putin’s regime. However, Russia has instead ramped up oil exports to Asia and gas prices have soared in response to Gazprom cutting supplies into Europe.'



What do you think?
 
And that is for you the significance of the report. You're proof the clash were wrong, rd can fail
It's just for information. Plenty of threads contain links without comment. Anybody is free to comment if they wish to.

So 'Sing Michael, sing...'
 
It's just for information. Plenty of threads contain links without comment. Anybody is free to comment if they wish to.

So 'Sing Michael, sing...'
Except when asked you post some asinine wank I think it may be right but others may differ. Incisive comment there. You should stick to posting up other people's words and not bother with your own in future
 
Except when asked you post some asinine wank I think it may be right but others may differ. Incisive comment there. You should stick to posting up other people's words and not bother with your own in future
What do you want me to do? Pretend to be a gas industry or sanctions expert?

I could understand you stalking the boards looking for an argument late at night if your team had lost, but they won, didn't they? Top of the league for the time being. Arteta definitely learned a thing or two from Pep.
 
What do you want me to do? Pretend to be a gas industry or sanctions expert?

I could understand you stalking the boards looking for an argument late at night if your team had lost, but they won, didn't they? Top of the league for the time being. Arteta definitely learned a thing or two from Pep.
You could pretend to be someone with an opinion
 
The Czech Republic is facing an autumn of discontent after an estimated 70,000 demonstrators gathered in Prague to protest at soaring energy bills and demand an end to sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Far-right and extreme-left elements coalesced at a “Czech Republic First” rally to call for a new agreement with Moscow over gas supplies and a halt to the sending of arms to Ukraine, while urging the centre-right government of the prime minister, Petr Fiala, to resign.


 
The Czech Republic is facing an autumn of discontent after an estimated 70,000 demonstrators gathered in Prague to protest at soaring energy bills and demand an end to sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Far-right and extreme-left elements coalesced at a “Czech Republic First” rally to call for a new agreement with Moscow over gas supplies and a halt to the sending of arms to Ukraine, while urging the centre-right government of the prime minister, Petr Fiala, to resign.


A coalition of tankies and nazis. Seems to be a theme at the moment
 
Although this is concerningly simple-minded from 'a former politics professor.'


'Fiala, the leader of the Civic Democratic party (ODS) and a former politics professor, dismissed the demonstration as extremist and fuelled by Russian propaganda.

He said: “The protest on Wenceslas Square was called by forces that are pro-Russian, are close to extreme positions and are against the interests of the Czech Republic. It is clear that Russian propaganda and disinformation campaigns are present on our territory and some people simply listen to them.” '

... 'Boris Cvek, a Czech commentator writing on the Britské Listy website, pointed to the number of people present. “When I read in the morning that there were 5,000 there, I waved my hand, thinking that there would be no more. By the afternoon, it was 70,000. That blew my mind,” he said.'
 
Nikkormat posted about it earlier here. Sounds grim and very concerning.
I doubt if anything lasting will come of it, but the development is, in its latest incarnation, appearing here and there beyond the internet, is due to a failure of independent working class politics. Cheering on our own ruling class when it comes to this war is simply disastrous for anybody but our own ruling class.
 
Hopefully, Flavour might have a handle on this but I read that Salvini in Italy has said that ""those who have been sanctioned are winners and those who put the sanctions in place are on their knees." and "We need a European shield to protect business and families, as during the Covid pandemic," he also says "If we want to go ahead with the sanctions, let's do it, we want to protect Ukraine – but I would not want that to mean that instead of harming the sanctioned, we harm ourselves".

I know that the other far right group Brothers of Italy that he hopes to go into coalition with after the elections are in favour of sanctions so not sure how ominous this really is.
 
It's no accident that a so-called Red-Brown movement spreads beyond the boundaries of the ex-USSR in a Europe* where the old class solidarities have been eroded by decades of neo-liberal capitalism. The rise of the internet as a means of communication between atomised individuals also aids it immensely. This suits our rulers fine-as long as they can keep it under contol.

Although I suspect that my own experience is the same as most people's in that if you tried to talk to most people you regularly meet about a Red-Brown alliance (or most other things we discuss on here), they wouldn't have the faintest idea what you're on about or much care-which may be a terrible thing or an indication of political opportunity. If the latter, I suspect it is lost in advance given past performance.


*Not sure how much 'Red-Brownism' is a anything to consider outside Europe.
 
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I feel this photo tells you all you need to know about Salvini's position regarding Russia.

There has been a long-running scandal regarding mysterious Russian payments made to his political party, Lega, to the tune of €49 million.

But here's the thing:

Salvini isn't going to be the next leader of Italy. Giorgia Meloni is. Both parties are far-right, nationalist, xenophobic, socially and economically conservative (and financially regressive = see the love for the Flat Tax) and so on... but there's a massive stumbling block for Salvini's Lega, which was rebranded from its old name "Lega Nord" to simply "Lega" in 2018 , namely... Southern voters won't be voting for him in massive numbers cos he spent the first 20 years of his career antagonizing them.

Fratelli (Brothers of Italy) meanwhile, Meloni's party, will sweep up all the votes of people who want to vote for the right in the South of the country, and be the leading party in parliament and government.

Meloni is not in the Kremlin's pocket like Salvini is, but she's going to be antagonistic with the EU, so that fits into Russia's game plan anyway, but she'll want to show that she is no stooge also to differentiate and ingratiate herself with that (significant) portion of the Italian public who are both right-wing and anti-Putin -- people generally blame Putin for the rise in gas prices, though there are of course various tankies and weirdos who blame NATO but overall I don't think it's a mainstream opinion, even among the political right.

TL;DR: I wouldn't worry too much about what Salvini says at this point as he won't be calling the shots at the end of the month, though he probs will get a high-ranking Ministerial position
 
Surging gas prices have hammered investor confidence across the eurozone, as recession risks rise.

The closely followed Eurozone Sentix investor confidence index plunged further into negative territory, at -31.8 for September from -25.2 in August.

This was the lowest reading since May 2020, at the height of the pandemic.

Economic expectations tumbled too, to the worst since December 2008 (when the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggered the financial crisis).

summing up the dire picture, Sentix Managing Director Manfred Huebner says:

Never before in more than 20 years of history, with the exception of the financial crisis in 2008, have investors’ assessments of the euro zone economy been so weak - and at the same time expectations have been so low,”

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German gas importer Uniper isn’t ruling out the possibility of gas rationing in Europe’s largest economy, following the closure of Nord Stream 1.

“We cannot rule out that Germany might look at rationing gas as something that might have to be considered,” CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an international gas conference in Milan.

He added:

“We know that the government wants to avoid this as much as possible because that would be a disaster for so many reasons.”
 

Putin threatens to ‘freeze’ west by cutting gas and oil supplies if price caps imposed​

Speaking at an economic forum in Vladivostok, Vladimir Putin threatened to cut off energy supplies if price caps are imposed on Russia’s oil and gas exports.
The Russian leader described European calls for a price cap on Russian gas as “stupid” and said they would lead to higher global prices and economic problems in Europe.
Last week, G7 countries agreed on a plan to put a ceiling on Russian oil prices in an attempt to stem the flow of funds into the Kremlin’s war coffers.
Russia would walk away from its supply contracts if the west went ahead with its plans, Putin said.
The Russian president said:
Will there be any political decisions that contradict the contracts? Yes, we won’t fulfill them. We will not supply anything at all if it contradicts our interests.
He added:
We will not supply gas, oil, coal, heating oil - we will not supply anything.
Russia “would only have one thing left to do”, Putin said.
As in the famous Russian fairy tale, we would sentence the wolf’s tail to be frozen.
He said Germany and western countries themselves were to blame for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline not being operational and that Ukraine and Poland decided on their own to switch off other gas routes into Europe.
He added:
Nord Steam 1 is practically closed now.
 
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