Britain suspends all arms exports to Russia

[flamer84]

Medium term, (think 5 years), Europe dependency towards Russian gas will be a thing of the past.
Besides Qatar, and the rumored Libya, plans for fast building liquefied gas terminals are made as we speak..USA/ME have all the gas we would ever need, problem is in getting it here, and that we were not ready in time...and this will change.

As for now, France will most likely cancel the Mistral deal, soon to be followed by more EU countries who export military tech in Russia

I think they will deliver them.Europe will apply only symbolic sanctions ,IMO.

@Gabriel92 some inside info ?

 

[janon]

...“I pay tribute to the extraordinary restraint shown by the Ukrainian government, it’s military forces and its people in the face of immense provocation. With part of their country invaded and tens of thousands of forces massed on their border by a neighbour that refuses to rule out further military intervention...''

I don't think ''restraint'' is the right word, to describe the military doing nothing when invaded and losing a big chunk of the country.

 

[Nadi]

And what makes you think Putin is empty handed?

China will treble its gas imports directly from Russia and looking at the current situation India will also look to import Russian gas. Both these countries are 40% of the world's population will jolly well make up for Europe. Not to mention southeast Asian countries which may also need all the oil and gas.

Comparing Russia to Iran in geopolitical context is immature and irrational.

The point is, there will always be buyers for oil and gas as long as it exists on earth.

Can Europe sustain its shaky road to recovery when Russia shuts off the pipes in retaliation to sanctions? No it won't.

In fact with the current situation, Germany, UK, Sweden, Poland and France are the only 5 survivors in the significant league. You can count Turkey out of the EU officially.

Qatar pipeline is not something which will materialize with a switch button. It will take time, money, effort and bandwidth. Till then they cannot impose sanctions.

Simple as that. It is waiting game on both the sides.

Sanctioning Russia would be the stupidest move NATO countries can do. They have much more to gain collaborating with Moscow than going against their interests.

You probably don't read the news I'm sure. China's factory output has dropped off, the price of iron ore has dropped on the international market because demand from China has weakened. All this means, lower growth which means, China won't be replacing Europe anytime soon for all that Russian gas consumption.

And new gas fields are being discovered in China and other countries all the time. Not to forget 'shale gas' which is the new technological break through in energy industry in decades. This is also why the United States relies less on Gulf oil today than it did a decade ago. Again, buyer has power, not the seller.

India faces similar situation. Its economic growth has declined considerably. Its current needs are being met. Any increases in gas consumption, will not translate in to some voracious appetite for Russian gas anytime soon.

Whether you count Turkey out or not, fact is UK, France and Germany remain the anchors of Europe and in pretty healthy shape. Calling them 'survivors' is quite the understatement.

Qatar doesn't have to lay down pipelines. Even if pipelines are to be laid down; in the meantime, liquified gas can be shipped to Europe, its NOT a problem at all.

Sanctioning Russia is the way forward, the only other option is military standoff. So yes, sanctions are the winner here since no one wants needless bloodshed. G8 has effectively been dissolved cuz Russia has been thrown out of major economic decision making of the world powers.

Russia stands to lose, not Europe. Your insistence on Russia holding the chips is failure to comprehend the basics of a market economy which is, the 'buyer' has the power, not the seller.

 

[Nadi]

I don't think ''restraint'' is the right word, to describe the military doing nothing when invaded and losing a big chunk of the country.

Do you have anything else to offer other than tongue-in-cheek one-liners? If you do some research, you will realize that Ukraine only has about 6,000 combat ready troops (& this doesn't tell us how good their equipment or training is). Ukraine never really made an effort of investing much in to its armed forces because it did not have a threat perception from Russia because 1) it was on friendly terms with the Russians always - no matter if the government in Kiev was leaning towards the West and 2) Russia signed agreement with United States and Britain in 1994 guaranteeing Ukrainian sovereignty and not to grab any part of its land.

Therefore, the invasion of Crimea took the government in Kiev by surprise. The new govt had bet on Russia entering some kind of dialogue to solve things, but Putin's ego wouldn't allow it & he wants to leave some kind of legacy for the Fatherland so he organized the farcical referendum in Crimea and annexed the region.

Ukraine's govt just completed its first donation campaign via text msgs for the armed forces and raised $1mil in 3 days from ordinary people and businesses. The funds will go in to getting fielding more soldiers to protect Ukrainian interests, particularly in the east. At the same time, the govt in Kiev is starting on a comprehensive plan to modernize the armed forces via training and equipment all of which will now come from the West - missed opportunity for Moscow.

 

[janon]

Do you have anything else to offer other than tongue-in-cheek one-liners?
...

That depends. You can go through my posting history if you want to know whether I have made only one liners. You will find that I usually make rather long posts, and one liners are a rarity for me. However, if what I want to say can be conveyed in a single sentence, then I use only a single sentence. Brevity is the soul of wit, you know.

Oh, and the statement was definitely not tongue-in-cheek. I said it in all seriousness, that "restraint" is not the right word. It may have seemed humorous, but that does not mean that it is untrue or that it was tongue-in-cheek. I think it was the redoubtable George Bernard Shaw who said that the truth is always the funniest joke in the world.

About the rest of your post: I am well aware of the circumstances, and the fact that the Ukranian soldiers stood no chance. However, it is still true that you can't call what they did as "restraint". I'm sure they pursued the best course of action possible - but it was not due to "restraint", it was pragmatism.

 

[Beidou2020]

Britain exporting weapons to Russia?

Keep dreaming...

Good news, welcome news. Europe and United States should cripple Russia with sanctions. Lets see how long Putin's ego lasts.

Says a guy from a country that get droned every few hours by the Yankees.

No wonder your country is treated like dirt by the west

Have some self respect dude. They kill your people but you still worship them

 

[UKBengali]

You probably don't read the news I'm sure. China's factory output has dropped off, the price of iron ore has dropped on the international market because demand from China has weakened. All this means, lower growth which means, China won't be replacing Europe anytime soon for all that Russian gas consumption.

And new gas fields are being discovered in China and other countries all the time. Not to forget 'shale gas' which is the new technological break through in energy industry in decades. This is also why the United States relies less on Gulf oil today than it did a decade ago. Again, buyer has power, not the seller.

India faces similar situation. Its economic growth has declined considerably. Its current needs are being met. Any increases in gas consumption, will not translate in to some voracious appetite for Russian gas anytime soon.

Whether you count Turkey out or not, fact is UK, France and Germany remain the anchors of Europe and in pretty healthy shape. Calling them 'survivors' is quite the understatement.

Qatar doesn't have to lay down pipelines. Even if pipelines are to be laid down; in the meantime, liquified gas can be shipped to Europe, its NOT a problem at all.

Sanctioning Russia is the way forward, the only other option is military standoff. So yes, sanctions are the winner here since no one wants needless bloodshed. G8 has effectively been dissolved cuz Russia has been thrown out of major economic decision making of the world powers.

Russia stands to lose, not Europe. Your insistence on Russia holding the chips is failure to comprehend the basics of a market economy which is, the 'buyer' has the power, not the seller.

Dude, Russia does not need to completely replace Europe, it just needs China and India to take a certain amount to keep itself going.

Due to logistics, let us say that it will take 5 years for Europe to end all dependence on Russia oil and gas.

China has firm plans to increase imports of Russian oil from current 300,000 barrels a day to 1 million in 5 years. It has plans to increase gas imports from Russia that would dwarf that from Germany in the same period

Now Russia would suffer somewhat but it's half a trillion dollar reserves and increased sales to China and India will allow it to stay afloat, and eventually it will no longer even feel the loss from supplying to Europe as the Asian economies start to dwarf the European ones in size.

 

[A.P. Richelieu]

And what makes you think Putin is empty handed?
...
Can Europe sustain its shaky road to recovery when Russia shuts off the pipes in retaliation to sanctions? No it won't.

In fact with the current situation, Germany, UK, Sweden, Poland and France are the only 5 survivors in the significant league. You can count Turkey out of the EU officially.
...

Sweden is not dependant on Russian gas. Energy is mostly hydroelectric and nuclear based.
As long as the rain period April-November continue there will be no problems. (It is snowing the rest of the time)
Not that we don't enjoy summer.
Most Swedes agree, it is certainly the best day of the Year ;-)

 

[Commander T]

Britain exporting Arms to Russia ? What ?

ya, Arms with hands nad fingers....i don't think they meant weapons..right?