3 ms·

What is it used for? Explosives?

loceng 5y ago
I'm wondering the same - or perhaps biological weapons? It's obviously a cover story, their farmland and farmer needs didn't just all of a sudden lead to requiring the amount it exports.
- semioticthrowa 5y ago
  It's a common explosive. It's not a biological weapon - Wikipedia states that it has a similar median lethal dose to table salt[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate#Health_hazards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate#Health_hazard...
- kristijankej 5y ago
  The price of living in eastern europe is rising. Natural gas prices have rissen quite a bit where I live and it's disrupting the economy, prices of everything will rise in the upcoming months. I believe this is economical warfare.
  - mythrwy 5y ago
    Yep, it's not explosives. Much better explosives can be made by nation states. But nothing like having food prices go through the roof to destabilize society.
  - loceng 5y ago
    Good point - or it's a double-whammy economic warfare + reserves for weapons manufacturing; ideally it's also them shooting themselves in the foot and some ally country is seeing the business opportunity, and security threat, and will ramp up production. In smart, organized nations, they'll hopefully realize this and simply go into debt - ideally at the same rate as other allies who ideally share the burden, so no one is "getting behind" more than the other ally.
  - slowhand09 5y ago
    On a possibly related note, Ukraine is one of the largest wheat exporters in the world. A disruption in their planting and growing season could greatly impact food prices, expecially in the Middle East and Europe.
  - sedan_baklazhan 5y ago
    You can't call a situation when a country is keeping important fertilizers to itself an "economical warfare". There is no obligation at all for Russia to sell the maximum possible amount of fetilizers to Europe. It is even not in Russia's interests at all. Do you know of any such obligations?
- agency 5y ago
  Right and there are no other exogenous factors that could impact Russia's desire to export fertilizer, like an ongoing global pandemic wreaking havoc on supply chains. It must be biological weapons.
pajko 5y ago
It's what exploded in Beirut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEpFyE_ED7M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEpFyE_ED7M
- abletonlive 5y ago
  It's what's on fire now in North Carolina: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/winston-salem-fertilizer-plant-fire-ammonium-nitrate-explosion-potential/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/winston-salem-fertilizer-plant-...
dehrmann 5y ago
Mostly fertilizer.
jml7c5 5y ago
Fertilizing crops. Prices for fertilizer have spiked due to insufficient supply, though I'm not familiar with the cause of the shortfall. There are a number of inputs to fertilizer production, and issues anywhere in the chain can create problems. China is also limiting exports. It's going to be rough for developing countries: https://www.wsj.com/articles/farms-are-failing-as-fertilizer-prices-drive-up-cost-of-food-11642770182 https://www.wsj.com/articles/farms-are-failing-as-fertilizer... Fun fact: the Haber-Bosch process is responsible for something on the order of 30%-50% of the nitrogen in your body. At some point in the recent past, they were pulled from the air and used to create ammonia at an ammonia production plant.

I'm wondering the same - or perhaps biological weapons? It's obviously a cover story, their farmland and farmer needs didn't just all of a sudden lead to requiring the amount it exports.

semioticthrowa 5y ago
It's a common explosive. It's not a biological weapon - Wikipedia states that it has a similar median lethal dose to table salt[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate#Health_hazards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate#Health_hazard...
kristijankej 5y ago
The price of living in eastern europe is rising. Natural gas prices have rissen quite a bit where I live and it's disrupting the economy, prices of everything will rise in the upcoming months. I believe this is economical warfare.
- mythrwy 5y ago
  Yep, it's not explosives. Much better explosives can be made by nation states. But nothing like having food prices go through the roof to destabilize society.
- loceng 5y ago
  Good point - or it's a double-whammy economic warfare + reserves for weapons manufacturing; ideally it's also them shooting themselves in the foot and some ally country is seeing the business opportunity, and security threat, and will ramp up production. In smart, organized nations, they'll hopefully realize this and simply go into debt - ideally at the same rate as other allies who ideally share the burden, so no one is "getting behind" more than the other ally.
- slowhand09 5y ago
  On a possibly related note, Ukraine is one of the largest wheat exporters in the world. A disruption in their planting and growing season could greatly impact food prices, expecially in the Middle East and Europe.
- sedan_baklazhan 5y ago
  You can't call a situation when a country is keeping important fertilizers to itself an "economical warfare". There is no obligation at all for Russia to sell the maximum possible amount of fetilizers to Europe. It is even not in Russia's interests at all. Do you know of any such obligations?
agency 5y ago
Right and there are no other exogenous factors that could impact Russia's desire to export fertilizer, like an ongoing global pandemic wreaking havoc on supply chains. It must be biological weapons.

pajko 5y ago

It's what exploded in Beirut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEpFyE_ED7M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEpFyE_ED7M

abletonlive 5y ago
It's what's on fire now in North Carolina: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/winston-salem-fertilizer-plant-fire-ammonium-nitrate-explosion-potential/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/winston-salem-fertilizer-plant-...

dehrmann 5y ago

Mostly fertilizer.

jml7c5 5y ago

Fertilizing crops. Prices for fertilizer have spiked due to insufficient supply, though I'm not familiar with the cause of the shortfall. There are a number of inputs to fertilizer production, and issues anywhere in the chain can create problems. China is also limiting exports. It's going to be rough for developing countries: https://www.wsj.com/articles/farms-are-failing-as-fertilizer-prices-drive-up-cost-of-food-11642770182 https://www.wsj.com/articles/farms-are-failing-as-fertilizer... Fun fact: the Haber-Bosch process is responsible for something on the order of 30%-50% of the nitrogen in your body. At some point in the recent past, they were pulled from the air and used to create ammonia at an ammonia production plant.