So, what’s going to happen. Is Russia going to turn off the gas tap tomorrow?
Th…That’s not blackmailing? Russia demanding to be paid for their fossil fuels in their currency isn’t blackmail. Europe’s really grasping for a reason to fight against this.
Totally. A desperate attempt to market the incoming economic collapse to their citizens. The real reason they don’t wanna do it is because it would undermine their own sanctions…you know, the actual attempt to blackmail Russia into compliance.
It’s also rich coming from the country that killed Nordstream 2 and is at the forefront of the allout economic war against Russia.
In other news, stores are already rationing basic items such as oil, flour, etc and they’re waging a propaganda campaign online to get people to ration gas as well.
“Blackmail is when a country uses their own currency.” -France & Germany
The terrifying truth is Europe would rather freeze their people rather than accept any Global South currency as an official payment option.
I’m sure the European bourgeoisie are quite comfortable making such decisions knowing full well that they will never feel the cold themselves.
There was a quote stating that when landlords demand a rent increase the tenants must make a sacrifice to make ends meet, when companies declare bankruptcy the employees are laid off, when politicians start a frivolous war the soldiers must pay with their lives; then again, the common people are being used by the parasite class.
Oh they’ll feel cold once those decisions have been made. As cold as most of Azov will and some of Azov already are.
Only if Germany becomes based again 🤞
When they sanctioned russia and froze their assets, they were not complaining about breach of contracts. Besides, those requirements for payment in rubles are specific for the countries that sanctioned them, as russia has reasons not to trust them.
I never knew that Putin can be so tolerant and merciful as if Populists in different country do have some difference.
He is trying to be the most sane guy here, he is unlucky because the west is just very insane at this point. Populists may be a lot of things, but they generally arent dumb, my country haved an populist dictator once more from 1930 to 1945, and he was objectivly the smartest politician our country ever haved, he was not an good person, but he was smart.
Said the imperialist governments who blackmail all citizens of China, Russia, and Iraq to overthrow their respective democratic accountable government with sanctions…
Muh contracts are not violated by sanctions apparently
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Bruh Europe knows that if they keep doing this shit Russia will close the gas pipes and they will be freezing on this winter right?
No, because they’ve made a clever scheme. You see, they’ve banned the letter ‘Z’ and so they’ll be freeing instead of freezing this winter.
Can’t believe they’re really gonna let their people freeze just because they followed the US like dogs
I mean, what do they (governments) stand to lose? Any hardships can be easily and safely blamed on Putin and Russia in general. And their houses are unlikely to go cold.
The communist rallying cry will soon become “heat, bread, and land”
That might actually resonate with people
Personally? Nothing. Politically? Germanys largest far-right party (AfD) has been consistenly Pro-Russian for the past decades and is currently one of the only parties in the country calling for deescalation. Its base has born the brunt of the economic fallout of Covid, is extremely distrusting of the government and rabidly hostile towards the Greens. They’ve also been on the streets to some extent for the past decade almost and have been raging about high gas/fuel prices for a year now. These people do not give a fuck about rhetoric games like this. The moment they feel the repercussions of these sanctions even slightly, they will take to the streets.
So unless they consider post-2015 like conditions and social upheaval - but worse - a W, the government stands to lose quite a bit I’d say.
Well a far right government is less threatening to the financial interests of the capital class than other options, yes? I do concede that current batch of functioneers might lose careers. But then - they’re not going to go broke on the street, panhandling just to survive, now would they? Not like the people they’re screwing over.
Nah, they won’t go live on the streets obviously. But politics is still their life. You don’t get to govern a country without caring about your position in some way. They definitely do believe they’re doing good in some way. But as for the consequences -
That’s at a rally of Scholz today and we’ve barely felt any repercussions yet.
How does it feel to be a capitalist’s running dogs? Feels cold, apparently.
they’ll not be getting gas i guess?
germany/france have no leverage and this’ll only hurt them and their people
This is posturing for the sake of negotiation. In reality it appears the Germans and French have no real leverage in this situation so they’ll now jostle for a deal whereby the gas keeps flowing while allowing them to save face. It’ll take only a month of no heat before people are in the streets in Paris and Berlin.
This is posturing for the sake of
negotiationpleasing the US.Not really. The US doesn’t control Europe. Both the US and Western Europe maintain the capitalist order and are acting in that interest. Western Europe is not a victim in this.
The US 100% controls Europe, at least at the EU level and its most powerful individual members. Not to say that western Europe isn’t a victim here, they’re not, but they also aren’t nearly as independent as one would initially think.
A sycophant is not a victim. EU politicians are acting like toadies to the US, loyal to a fault.
It’s sickening.
They’re somewhat lucky with the timing right now. Hamburg, Berlin and Dresden have had quite a bit of snow this week. The payments have to be made in ruble from today, but that only applies for deliveries starting in ~2 weeks from what I’ve gathered, so the pressure isn’t as high as it could be. Still, doesn’t matter the weather, if the gas stops flowing in 2 weeks Europes economy is toast and the Anti-Lockdown/Covid protests we’ve seen over the past couple months will increase 10-fold. Despite all their posing currently, the population and businesses can’t and won’t take this.
The west of Germany is also covered with snow as of today.
Almost the entire country, no? Which is wild just from a climate POV. For some people I know this is the first proper snow they’ve had all winter…in April.
Correct. First snow this “winter” here. The climate is trolling us at the moment.
