So Russia gets money that would literally help them fuel the war and Ukraine gets moral support from EU? May be I am being naive with the politics involved here…
So Russia gets money that would literally help them fuel the war and Ukraine gets moral support from EU? May be I am being naive with the politics involved here… from ireland
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You’re naive indeed if this is all you’ve learned over the past weeks.
43 billion is a lot less than would have normally been imported. Not saying it’s good but these are the realities of a modern economy
Ok… you first. Turn off your hot water and heating.
Basically they have no choice. Germany deliberately followed a policy of no coal and no nuclear power. They don’t yet have enough via wind to compensate. That leaves only gas as viable alternative. There is nothing else that can produce power that they need. Merkel again is to blame for this.
Other countries like Austria or Slovakia don’t have ports so they cannot ship gas. Lithuania was able to pivot to shipped gas because they commissioned a ship that is literally called the [Independence](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FSRU_Independence)
Basically in the short term the Russians have EU by the balls. Many companies are accepting Russia demands to resolve the orders in roubles. The demand should decrease going into summer but this is the consequence of a decade of burying heads in the sand and refusing the recognize the geopolitical implications of tethering yourself to a certain resource. It’s a repeat of the oil crisis in the 1970s. There is a refusal to recognize the reality of the world.
Gas is one of the most crucial resources on earth for the next 20 years. Asia will be competing with Europe for orders. Those who control the gas fields will wield enormous leverage.
Europe has no excuse for this. Ten years ago we should have switched to renewables.
I think what’s even more amazing is Russia is also still paying Ukraine their transit fees too for the gas that goes through their territory into the EU. At least that’s what I have read online
We all kept buying american goods during their various invasions
I mean heavy weapons are more than ‘moral support’
An entire nation completely changing their energy supply chain isn’t quite as simple as you going to bonkers.ie and switching gas or electric companies, you know. It’s more akin to you, with your gas boiler and normal grid electricity, deciding you don’t want to use any gas from GNI or electricity from the ESB grid at all anymore. No matter how badly you want to stop using those services, you’re not going to be able to cut ties with them overnight, as you’ll need to change over your home’s entire infrastructure to use some alternative source. Now imagine that on the logistical scale of an entire nation. Most EU countries are doing what they reasonably can to wean themselves from Russian energy, but it’s not going to be a quick process for most no matter how motivated they are now.
Are you proposing that governments just tell their people “tough luck, no heating or electricity”.
Frankly, Europe should have reduced it’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels before this, but they didn’t. Changing that quickly is very difficult.
Snd EU countries are providing a lot more than “moral support”.
That’s what happens when a host of countries become dependent on a country like Russia for their energy needs. Not a smart move in hindsight.