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Russia has been biding their time, occasionally showing that they are willing to turn off the tap. They clearly want to save the weapon for winter though. When
by short_sells_poo 4y ago
Russia has been biding their time, occasionally showing that they are willing to turn off the tap.
They clearly want to save the weapon for winter though. When temperatures drop, Russia will sadly have the entirety of Europe by the balls. It is simply unthinkable that the population will be willing to stomach blackouts or not being able to heat their homes.
I don't see a way out but the unfortunate outcome that Ukraine will be sacrificed.
- generalizations 4y agoConsidering even people here on HN foresaw that exact outcome within days/weeks of the initial invasion, the current situation stinks of some extreme incompetence within NATO.
- short_sells_poo 4y agoI genuinely don't understand what was the plan. Maybe they were hoping that Putin will fall before then? That'd be very shortsighted and a fundamental misunderstanding of the regime.
- generalizations 4y agoI agree. Maybe they believed the reports that Putin was dying? Maybe they counted on guerrilla fighters forcing Putin to give up? Maybe they just knew that after building russia up as the "big bad" for the last long while (or maybe that was just the US), it would be political suicide for whichever politician first suggested capitulation. Probably still is political suicide. The prisoners dilemma at its finest.
- ZeroGravitas 4y agoSeize the windfall profits going to gas producers and give it to people to find non-gas ways to heat their homes.
- short_sells_poo 4y agoThe profit is going Russia who supplies the majority of Europe's gas. There's nothing to seize since they can turn off the tap and Europe will literally freeze. Basically, Europe is buying less than half the usual supply of gas at 6x the price right now :(
- ZeroGravitas 4y agoNorway made three times as much this year from gas sales. It's a market, and the thing that is causing the price spikes is Russia cutting off their supply. They'll still profit from the higher prices on the reduced supply, but so will everyone else who sells on the market at the market price. Basically war profiteering.
- mimikatz 4y agoEconomics is a science. If you try to push one way on the market price you will get problems on the other side, this is the same way you can't get past the laws of thermodynamics) . The cost of reducing people's profits (or cost is what we are talking about) will be shortages because people will still be willing to pay for more electricity at a higher price, they just won't be able to find it because it was sold at a lower price.
- ZeroGravitas 4y agoI explicitly dont want to reduce the price of gas. Because high prices make people use less and switch to alternatives, which is what is required when you are short on something. But siezing the windfall profits is also basic economics orthodoxy. https://theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/19/nobel-prize-winning-economist-joseph-stiglitz-calls-for-windfall-profits-tax-in-australia https://theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/19/nobel-pri... > The Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has called for a windfall profits tax, arguing the idea is a “no-brainer” that has been taken off the table due to the influence of big companies
- rasz 4y ago