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Russian Retaliation: Putin Orders Ban On All Food Imports From Sanctioning Countries For A Year
Last week we noted Russia was considering banning fruit from Europe (as well as various other sanctions retaliations) but this morning Vladimir Putin has come out swinging by signing 'a decree on countermeasures to Western sanctions':
- *PUTIN BANS FOOD IMPORTS FROM COUNTRIES SANCTIONING RUSSIA: IFX
- *PUTIN ORDERS GOVT TO PREVENT ACCELERATED GROWTH OF FOOD PRICES
So trade wars escalate externally and price controls internally. It appears the US (and Europe) will indeed feel "tangible losses" despite Jack Lew's promises.
Putin adds:
- *PUTIN BANS, LIMITS FOOD IMPORTS FOR YR: IFX
- *PUTIN CALLS FOR INCREASE IN DOMESTIC FOOD SUPPLIES
- *PUTIN ORDERS GOVT TO MAKE LIST OF RESTRICTED AGR. PRODUCTS
- *RUSSIAN GOVT WORKING ON LIST OF FOODS, PRODUCTS TO RESTRICT
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a decree on countermeasures to Western sanctions.
The document entitled “On the Application of Certain Special Economic Measures to Ensure the Security of the Russian Federation” prohibits or restricts, for one year, the import of certain kinds of agricultural products, raw materials and food originating in a country that has imposed economic sanctions against Russian companies and (or) individuals or has joined such sanctions.
In addition, local analysts consider all the possibilities:
“Russia’s response to Western sanctions may vary from country to country. In relations with the United States Russia may raise the question of banning US fast food outlets, which treat their customers to products harmful to health. The same applies to the marketing of PepsiCo products and genetically modified goods from the US,” the expert said.
“Some claim that tens of thousands of Russians may lose jobs in US fast food chains, while others argue that Russian businessmen are quite capable of opening a chain of domestic fast food joints selling natural fried potatoes, and not of Brazilian flour,” Delyagin said.
“In relations with the United States the most sensitive measures may be taken in the banking sphere. Also, there is a possibility of replacing Microsoft software being used at Russia’s government structures with alternative substitutes,” the analyst said.
“Also, Russia may stop letting NASA use its rockets as a means of delivering cargoes to the International Space Station, a service the United States is so much interested in. Or, if asked to go ahead with space cooperation, Moscow may address Washington with its own conditions,” Delyagin said.
“As far as Germany as Russia’s main economic partner in the European Union is concerned, the two countries have strong bonds in power engineering and the automobile industry. But Russia may as well import high precision machine tools from advanced countries in the Asia-Pacific Region, which will surely result in direct losses for German manufacturers,” the analyst said.
* * *
US officials are not happy...
“Assuming that they take this action, it would be blatant protectionism,” Clayton Yeutter, a U.S. Trade Representative under President Ronald Reagan, said in a phone interview.
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Talk about cutting off the nose to spite the face? Hmmm...
Food Fight. Putin will win. EU farm subsidies drain more govt accounts.
Look at the new graphic: dick/sword fight.
No more American Flavor Cheese Food Product for you!
Vlad knows that locally grown food is better
for us.
Shipping food over long distances is just stupid.
Disintermediation is the way of the future.
Steak, tomatoes, salsa and cold raw milk all came from our small property.
Red's got to be a vegan.
""Assuming that they take this action, it would be blatant protectionism,” Clayton Yeutter, a U.S. Trade Representative under President Ronald Reagan, said in a phone interview."
LULZ... this guy is surely trolling.
Like pissing on someone at a party, then claiming they're ruining the fun by leaving.
There will be no Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Federation already has the most land and does not need anymore. Crimea was an exception because of the warm-water port. Right now, Russia is trying to build a pipe-line completely around Ukraine. I think they have no interest being entangled with Ukraine at all.
See below from the Enemy of the State himself:
“When the Bolsheviks took power in Russia in 1917, they had given
little thought to a future Soviet foreign policy, for they were convinced
that Communist revolution would soon follow in the advanced industrial
countries of Western Europe. When such hopes were dashed after the end
of World War I, Lenin and his fellow Bolsheviks adopted the theory of
“peaceful coexistence” as the basic foreign policy for a Communist State.
The idea was this: as the first successful Communist movement, Soviet
Russia would serve as a beacon for and supporter of other Communist
parties throughout the world. But the Soviet State qua State would devote
itself to peaceful relations with all other countries, and would not attempt
to export communism through inter-State warfare. The idea here was not
just to follow Marxist-Leninist theory, but was the highly practical course
of holding the survival of the existing Communist State as the foremost
goal of foreign policy: that is, never to endanger the Soviet State by
courting inter-State warfare. Other countries would be expected to become
Communist by their own internal processes.”
Murray Rothbard, For A New Liberty, p. 290
O'BOLA, Valerie, Victoria, Holster and their cohorts, and their foreign resource takeover policies, should ALL BE QUARANTINED. Guantanamo might be a good location.
Please don't touch my Russia Woudka
No more GMO Freedom Fries for Russia, LOL.
Good post Bear! This is true in every sense. The average western CNN watcher has no clue about facts and interests like you have posted. Ignorance passes for smarts inside the USA at this time in it's history.
Protectionism is just the same as saying "I am looking out for our country". Wish the USA would follow course.
Anthing that can be produced internally should be produced internally. Anything else is a direct hit in the face of the citizens. Free trade as we have it now is not far removed from treason.
Yeah, but "they don't make anything..."...........
Gosh.
NO SOUP FROM YOU!
FOR YEAR!
Now that's really sockin' them in the ol Chef Boyardee!
I was going to say something about that, but you beat me to the punch. In short, Yeutter, go fuck yourself.
Funny how Nationalism is now labeled as protectionism. Maybe Globalism should be relabeled Suicidal-ism.
Too accurate.
Wow. That looks good.
Up north at the mine, northern Ontario we have black and white patridge , deer (small), moose (big) ,pickerel (muskie), lake trout, pike: a neighbour grazes a herd of Angus-does fatten it up at the end with grain but no drugs-we have our own garden for the boys-it keeps the cost downs and the attendent tansportation, you bet.
Growing mountains of lettuce in California that harvest 60 calories a pound and it then send it east to NY takes 1,200 calories for fuel: makes absolutely no sense,especially in peak oil times.
In fact, Russia now has an advantage over the US in food distribution. The USSR was so 'officially' centralized in Communist times that in fact in agriculture distribution it was the opposite. The different regions were so fucked up and disorganized the system broke down. However, counter intuitively each local region organised for themsleves so grew ONLY for their needs and grew what they needed .
Very efficient, prudent agricultural system, Old Cato would have approved.
Michael Pollan has an excellent resource in his books of food, as I am but parroting his ideas.
I don't envy many people HH, but I'll be damned if that doesn't warm my heart!
from a french, take it as an advice, it looks like a puke on the shit plate.
you need to learn cooking, from scratch.
Yeah, maybe so, but it sure tasted great, and I know where it came from.
Enjoy your Royal with Cheese.
I'll work on my presentation.
+1 for the perfectly placed Pulp Fiction reference.
I just cannot understand where that stereotype comes from about the french.
pods
I actually have pondered this question.
When the French people really got pissed off they started removing heads.
The Anglo-American Establishment would probably prefer we not remember this.
I got it!
Next time, I will put the salsa verde on the plate first, maybe make some fancy design, then put the steak and tomatoes on top of it.
That would look much better.
However, I just can't bring myself to go full French and stick a little white flag on a toothpick into the steak.
Merci beaucoup!
Looks tasty to me, especially knowing it's not test tube meat. However - even though I live in a land 'o beef' - even raised some - the best steak I've ever had was in a small restaurant in Florence (Italy - not Alabama). Growing my own veggies now and muscadine vines. Starting fruit trees and other fruit next year.
I was in this place called Fixin (i think ) about 30 years ago in France and they did this simple beef broth with a egg poached in it to this day i still remember how goo it was.
And maybe some kind of red wine "jus", and a tiny fucking portion. And some more pretention.
That ought to French it right up....
Presentation maybe not gourmet,but it looked good.french food is complicated,overly fussy ,and not that great.they make good cakes though,but man cannot live on cake alone.
Just put something colorful in the salsa, tomatillos for green, carrots for orange, or red peppers (for red, duh!) Even some grated cheddar would have added some color. Nothing wrong with the color of the steak or tomatoes. Black olives are always a nice addition to sauces, also.
15 April 2014:
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev recently announced that Russia will no longer import GMO products, stating that the nation has enough space, and enough resources to produce organic food.
"If the Americans like to eat GMO products, let them eat it then. We don’t need to do that; we have enough space and opportunities to produce organic food.”
The Finnish are running helter skelter, the ban was barely done hours ago. The PM of Finland spoke while still on his last day of vacation and has warned the EU for compensation for lost business and an impending decline in GDP.
Now you have been warned...Finnish people! The winter will be really cold and slow up there. Thanks for being part of EU, where your vote is not really heard by the powers that be.
Finland warns Russia sanctions could spell ‘economic crisis’Russia is Finland's third largest export market, accounting for about 10% of total Finnish sales abroad. Russian tourists also spend roughly €2 billion annually in Finland, a neutral country which shares a long border with Russia.
"This has the potential - and I stress potential - to become economic crisis 2.0," Prime Minister Alexander Stubb told reporters, adding that the indirect impact of the sanctions could be significant for Finland.
The Dutch should be the next to speak up.
RUSSIA SANCTIONS WILL HIT ROTTERDAM PORTDubaibanker, That was an excellent post and very informative. I have not had time yet, but I want to research the impact of this EU and Russia crisis, and sanctions on Finland's economy. The two have an uneasy history and relationship, but also a very common sense relationship in trade and foreign policy. The real goal is to prevent anymore conflict between the two and to use trade for mutal interests of Finland and Russia. This often times makes the USA very angry, as they want an aggressive anti Russian Finland.
The Dutch farmers are already in panic mode: demanding emergency measures from Europe.
"Steak, tomatoes, salsa and cold raw milk all came from our small property"
Errrr... looks like someone crapped in your plate, no?
And the ratio veggies/red meat is bad (=this piece of meat is huge). And tomatoes are extremely acidic ;-)
Yeah, well, we have more grass-fed beef and fresh vegetables than we know what to do with.
It is supposed to be an Argentinian dish. If I put the salsa on the plate in a swirl, cut the steak up into small pieces, stick Mrs Horseman's sword through it, light it on fire, and have her parade around the dinner table waiving the food over her head, topless, then would it be a better presentation?
Please Youtube this!
Style points.
Red meat, provided it's organic and grassfed, is some of the healthiest and most nutrient dense food known to man. Don't listen to him, Hedgeless. There is nothing wrong with eating that steak.
Soon having a garden will be illegal.
Soon being able to garden will make one a potential "terrorist."
"Soon" = as of two years ago, if you indicate concern about GMOs as a reason for growing your own food.
DOJ-FUNDED TRAINING MANUAL LISTS BUMPER STICKERS AS TERRORISM
20 September 2012
A leaked training manual used in the State and Local Anti-Terrorism Training (SLATT) program for law enforcement and funded by the Department of Justice lists political bumper stickers expressing opposition to the United Nations and support for the bill of rights as indications of terrorist activity…
Another slide lists people who are “antigenetic engineering” as terrorists. Presumably, that includes people who are concerned about a new study which found that rats fed with genetically-engineered Monsanto corn suffered premature deaths.
Apparently, the Department of Justice considers Americans who have a good grasp of the bill of rights, are concerned about the food they eat, those who politically oppose the United Nations, and even those who hold “fairly popular” opinions, to be likely terrorists. Perhaps the DOJ is drawing inspiration from the Department of Defense, who in 2009 characterized the First Amendment right to protest as “low level terrorism”...
If you've read my posts concerning law enforcement, you know how I feel about cops. I hate them. But, APDs (Albuquerque) mounted patrol keeps its horses near me, and I have to interact with them sometimes. I've also watched them work, and you wouldn't recognize their tactics as APD. They've been known to treat people like human beings on occasion. They're isolated from APD for the most part though. Or at least they used to be. One of the commanders said that SWAT needs to be put on a leash because they only want to go in and smash shit. Regardless of whether they are good or bad, they are in a sense, my neighbors, and I have to deal with that.
Next time there is a lunch, BBQ, etc... that they are going to be at, I'm going to bring some of the stuff that I've grown. We'll see if they think I'm a terrorist when their taste buds are exposed to a culinary delight of mine.
Any gun and badge thug that does not resign and leave is a criminal just like the rest of them.
No quarter for any gun and badge thug when the time comes.
you gotta work on presentation, man...
LOL, I had the same thought but, hey, give him a break. He raised the stuff.
Horseman, lately I've become hooked on raw goat's milk. So damned good. Good job on your part but dude you need some more fiber in there :-)
Sorry Hedgeless, I just cannot do fresh tomatoes like that. For me, more fresh and ripe is worse. Cooked and whatnot, I can do, but not fresh and raw. I love tomato sauces, but they're not raw. Fresh raw tomatoes make my physically ill, and whatever it is that makes me ill goes away when they are cooked. Take the nastiest slimiest brownest rottenest lettuce you can imagine, multiply that by 10, and that's what fresh tomatoes smell like to me. I don't even like stewed tomatoes because they look too close to what's on your plate, though I know that's 100% psychological.
Get me to take a bite out of a fresh tomato, and I'll ruin everybody's dinner. For somebody who likes the sauces made from them, it sucks. I have to put up with the smell if I am going to make a sauce.
That steak looks good though.
That's kind a funny cuz I'm the exact opposite. If it's a sppagetti or pizza sauce (I usually make my own), or chili,(no chunks) I'm fine, but any kind of stew or braised based tomato sauce, no way. And if it has chunks double no way. But give me a large fresh tomato from the garden, slice it up with a little salt, YUM!
Didn't know you had geese on your property.
just as well,.. their probably sick and tired of SPAM anyway...
So the US is now part owner of a Space Station which it can no longer get to?
<chuckle>
pods
Obama: "Russia doesn't make anything."
Putin: "Fuck you, we can make our own food."
this is less about retaliation of sanctions and more about a way to wean mother russia off of the west in anticipation of war that will be coming next year...........
WTF!? Who is going to buy USA hormone saturated, anitiotic stuffed, GMO modified, pesticide coated, fructose corn syrup fed foods [besides South Korea]?
90% of all Russians need to go on a diet anyway
90% of all Western people need to go on a diet, too.
Not the 90% of Russian women I've met. ;)
You have 'met' 90% of all the Russian women?!?!
Wow.
The US military can get there. You really think the X-37B is the only space plane the US govt has? NASA and ISS are a ruse. Charming little PR stunts and smoke screens to dupe the dumbed down masses into thinking we've barely progressed in space technology since the 70-80s.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/charting-60-years-defense-spending-and-why-mean-reversion-will-cost-millions-jobs
What do you think untold trillions and possibly quadrillions of fiat currency allocated to the black budget was used for? Really think the US DoD, Navy, Airforce, etc.. just lost interest in dominating space after the moon landing?
So, aliens are real.
It's a mathematical certainty. Hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy. Billions of galaxies in the known Universe. And we're the only planet that can sustain life? Right.
My comment had nothing to do with aliens. It has to do with the US govt's classified military space program that includes USSPACECOM, NRO, the Navy and the Airforce. Just look it up.
From the NRO wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Reconnaissance_Office
NRO's technology is likely more advanced than its civilian equivalents. In the 1980s the NRO had satellites and software that were capable of determining the exact dimensions of a tank gun.[19] In 2011 the agency donated two space telescopes to NASA. Despite being stored unused, the instruments are superior to the Hubble Space Telescope. One journalist observed, "If telescopes of this caliber are languishing on shelves, imagine what they're actually using."
If you think it's all spy satellites and unmanned space planes you under-estimate the Deep State.
.
Actually, it did. The terrorestrial boogeyman schtick is getting thin.
Actually it didn't. It had to do with Black Projects. You know the kinds that only get declassified after they've been replaced or in the case of the F-117 shot down.
Actually, yes it did. It's called needing an enemy.
NRO like DIA do manage to keep themselves out of the spotlight.
CIA seems to be essentially a transnational criminal network, and NSA the Israeli-compromised eavesdropping/blackmail tool of the neocon Deep State...
I for one would be happy to har more about NRO. And even ET life. You're right, it's certain, and you're right, your OP had nothing to do with them...
If you read that wiki page on the NRO it says that they have the largest budget by far of the intelligence community big boys. You add that with their very boring name 'National Reconnaisance Office' and the fact that the average citizen has absolutely no idea the agency exists.. Very suspect.
While I am sure that the US has the capability to blow the ISS to bits...........the ability to transport live humans to the ISS safely, and back, is another question altogether.
.....the moon landing, really?
Ahhh, the grand conspiracy. Quadrillions eh? Should we drop them off on our way back from Mars?
Lemme guess, the JSF is another ruse? Bombing weddings? ACA? GoM oil spill? Katrina? Benghazi? VA?
We are a dying, bloated empire living off the reserve currency.
Let's face it, the US is a fat assed former prom queen who longs for the days when her legs didn't rub each other when she walked.
pods
Agreed. But it hasn't always been that way. The DoD was founded yesterday.
It has to be close to a quadrillion in defense spending since the 50's. And that's what we're told is spent.
Are you familiar with Ben Rich.. Director of Skunkworks.. Helped develop the F-117 and the SR-71?
Ben Rich former Director of Lockheed Martin Skunkworks, stated during a 1993, Alumni Speech at UCLA,
The F-22 and the F-35 are screaming examples of what we can produce today. Both are abject albatrosses. We used to have engineers heading up companies and now we have MBAs who can't find their ass if they used both hands running things.
I appreciate your enthusiasm for our technology but I wouldn't be surprised if it's overstated. And I say that as someone who has worked in that environment in the past. I could give you examples, but all those NDAs I've signed would come back to haunt me...
Don't you find it a bit odd at just how 'screaming' of an example the F-35 boondoggle is? Why was it's development so public? There is very little that isn't known about its entire development.. just take a glance the wikipedia page on the F-35. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II
I should have differentiated between pure black projects( like the X37-B, B-2, F-117, SR-71) and extremely public boondoggles like the F-35. You can't trust this government at all, let alone as far as you may like to throw it.
If the MIC(which has a storied history of keeping black projects secret for decades) is being unusually public about their 'Advanced Next Generation Multi-Role Fighter' I'm inclinded to asked 'Why?'
Because the product development has reached the bounds of the laws of physics and thresholds that man cannot endure.
Back in the 50's we were babies when it came to technology. We grew up and now the technology has reached adulthood.
Now it is not about performance, but electronics and design to evade radar, because it is simply easier to develop a missile system to hit one of those planes as opposed to developing a plane that can outrun one.
So it is about avionics.
We have, at the theoretical phase, many technologies that are advanced. But they also are NOT reliable enough to act as a taxi to the ISS. For that you need a reliable rocket, and the US simply does not have one. Now Russia's isn't exactly bulletproof, but the US public cannot accept a 30% (whatever the rate is) failure rate when transporting people to the ISS. ICMBs, sure, just launch another one.
pods
Now Russia's isn't exactly bulletproof, but the US public cannot accept a 30% (whatever the rate is) failure rate when transporting people to the ISS.
I think you missed my point about the ISS. Of course 'publicly' the US does not have a reliable rocket and we require Russian Suyuz to get astronauts to the ISS. My point is that the black budget programs that do test flights in Nevada, at Edwards and Vandenberg AFBs and elsewhere are not public. These aircraft are almost never seen. Their capability is never seen. Who knows what technology they have produced. We(the peasant tax payers) never find out about these black budget aircraft until they've come to the end of their operational lifespan and subsequently replaced. Did it ever occur to you that rockets may no longer be required for an aircraft to leave the atmosphere? Just because some compartmentalized academic with little to no experimental funding says harnessing zero-point energy isn't possible doesn't mean Lockheed and Boeing haven't figured it out with billions of dollars in funding. The elites have been supressing technology for decades. This is no different.
As I've said before I don't believe anything the government says. Denial, obfuscation and disinformation is government and more specifically MIC policy. Whatever they've got that no one knows about, I'm sure it's mind blowing.
Well I think I would be surprised in what the government has, but in the opposite way that you think.
The MIC has been about sucking off the teet of the government, not about accomplishing anything other than bigger budgets.
Sure the skunkworks did some excellent stuff, but I just cannot extrapolate that to modern day where the bureaucracy is thick. Let's face it, the days of best and brightest working for any large company are over. The red tape is smothering. So we have career manager types voting on what is the best way forward, and it is showing.
Could they make it there? Yes. But can they TRY with the possible downsides of making more human fireworks?
Nope.
pods
bad visual just before lunch.
You don't think they actually paid $10,000 for a hammer and $30,000 for a toilet seat do you?
+100 for quoting the best character bar non from Independence Day
what about van allen sunshine
what about his belts
what about the tinfoil on those landers?
to land or not to land
some Ruskis knew
dark side of. deception
?
F**k MIC. They do nothing for the citizens and defending The Constitution. Go back in crawl into your Mormon hole.
http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/e40_portrait.jpg
Three russians - two americans - one german. Tables are open in Vegas already. Russians have at least one tough dude on there. Maybe we can swap Pelosi and Reid for our two boys?
.
The Polaks showed weakness on the food front last week, when they were begging Warsaw for financial reinforcement to sustain them until the brigands of Brussels could shake the magic money tree of the serfs for the planned handouts.
This was to be expected.
Fatal double tap to the keyboard.
Barry will put Putin on double secret probation.
Putin ain't stupid. Kiev embraces GMO crops.
http://www.agrimoney.com/news/ukraine-farmers-flout-curbs-on-gm-crops--6...
I am a bit baffled by all the Putin supporters on zerohedge. You realise that Russia is roughly a 2 trillion dollar economy with currently zero growth, and very dependendent on energy exports to Europe, yes ?
Having said that, I hope EU and Russia can cooperate fruitfully in the future. US stands to gain most by a East-"West" divide and can be counted on to stir the pot.
Allow me to unbaffle you:
Most of Europe has no alternative to Russian natural gas, currently.
Freezing to death during the winter is not an option.
Has Europe survived for millenia before the advent of Russian gas ? Freezing to death ? Maybe some old people, sadly yes. Most people however can simply put on a few extra layers of wool like they did in the past, no big deal. I find the 'Winter is coming' comments a bit moronic frankly. Who will suffer more when a really hard winter hits Europe ? The Russians, no ? Ever wondered why the country is relatively underdeveloped ? Climate could have something to do with it, no ? Logic dictates economic activity gets slowed down almost everywhere in Russia in winter. Winter is coming, lol. Then again, I wish to see the Russians and EU cooperate better and learn to trust each other.
Before progressivism took over the west, coal, wood and other fuels could be used for residential heating, and industry did not use near as much natural gas as it currently uses.
The EU as a whole gets 30% of its natural gas from Russia, while Germany gets 40% from Russia. The figures for Russian oil imports are 35 and 39%, respectively.
Avg low winter temps in northern parts of western and central europe are in the 20•F range, with nightly lows far below that average temp.
The cost of Russian natural gas to most EU countries is approximately half of any current or near future (3-5 yr) alternative.
http://www.dw.de/germanys-russian-energy-dilemma/a-17529685
With these facts in mind, you should now be unconfused.
thanks for the link.
I am not saying Europe does not need Russian energy. The question is who needs whom more, and who would have the upper hand in a trade war ( to be avoided anyway ). The answer is clear to me. Maybe that was the mistake the US made when they decided to integrate Russia in the world economy after the fall of the USSR. We Europeans who alwayws were supposed to be very scared of the Russians can now clearly see and measure how small mighty Russia is economically. Russia's GDP 2 Trillion USD, EU's GDP 17 Trillion USD.
You mention the temperature in "parts" of Europe. If I were Russian I would not be rooting for a hard winter to hit Europe, for obvious reasons. But yes of course Northern Europe would suffer too, maybe more.
Keep in mind that Germany has a lot of coal. And there is a spectacular renewable energy revolution underway in Europe ( I have the impression not many ZHers are aware of this ), so much so that I wonder whether that is one of the key factors driving Russia's aggression and posturing because it's future as an energy supplier to Europe is a bit uncertain and their economy is not diversified.
Russia we can help each other ! Let' s form a mighty Eurasian bloc !
( To quote Henry Kissinger : "Geopolitically, The US is an island off the Eurasian land mass" )
Don't buy the misinformation, I make a good part of my living in the energy industry in the US and renewables aren't the answer unless you want to see your electric bills skyrocket, and/or, due to subsidies in that sector, your taxes.
Coal on the other hand is a realistic alternative, but as I understand it, just like in the US, political motivations have hamstrung that for the foreseeable future.
"renewables aren't the answer unless you want to see your electric bills skyrocket , and/or, due to subsidies in that sector, your taxes."
Recently I read in a Het Financiële Dagblad ( more or less the Dutch version of the Financial Times, so hardly misinformation ) that many gas powered electricity plants are expected to have difficulties to remain competitive in the future, due to the glut of renewable energy coming from Germany at certain days (probably windy or sunny days). How much of this is subsidized by the German taxpayer I do not know.
Besides, you think we only look at energy options by comparing prices of the energy itself ? Alternative energy can buy Europe a degree of geopolitical independence. I hope our leaders take that into account as well. You understand that both Russia ( direct supplier ) and US ( petrodollar ) are probably more than a bit nervous about that.
Oil and Natural gas are used for more than just heating, LOL Try at least 50 different applications, including medicine, food production and plastics.
http://tour.energytomorrow.org/technology/chapter-2-the-value-of-energy/...
There nothing more frightening than seeing ignorance in action. Fortunately idiots like yourself don't make important decisions.
Good point. Maybe I was a bit distracted by his freezing to death comment I had to reply to. And can you give me a breakdown of how much of the Russian imported gas and oil to Europe is not used as an energy source but rather to make plastics or other products ? Liberate me from my ignorance !
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you need to unlpug from the Matrix.
Not sure why you say that. Given the amount of down arrows I think you can see I am not that prone to "group think" ( that does not in itself validate my ideas of course )
Go love Obama - Democrat. Or you are in the US military and love Obama.
I am a Euro-peon
I have a feeling the instructions for IKEA furniture would tend to baffle you...
Putin likes IKEA furniture ?
Russians are used to not being allowed to eat by their dictators.
They'll be fine!
putin won't win.
Russia needs food. So rather than import directly from say Poland, it will import fron Sweden. Where will Sweden get the increas in foddstuffs? well, Poland, of course. they have extra now that they are not exporting to Russia.
So Polish farmers still sell the food, sweden gets a nice cut of the carry trade and russia pays more for food.
No surprise that the community agitator started a new Cold War.
Yes. Gutless community agitator from the Projects trying to show the world he has a pair of testicles vs iron-balled KGB agent from E Germany.
Let's see...
Fixed --> Gutless community agitator who preys on the Projects.
Obama is not from the projects. He has had everything handed to him. Probably why 95% of a certain group voted for him.
Testicles firmly planted in Reggie's ass
Reggie has already seen Barry's testicles.
It ain't no thang.
What happened with Reggie? I never see posts from him anymore? And I always see comments to the effect that he is an Obama sack chaser, did he step in it?
Nah dawg, more food for the FSA. ;-)
yes and arnt we having a food shortage so we will keep our food thanks Putan
fucking idiot
in 2011, dacha gardens produced over 80% of the countries fruit and berries, over 66% of the vegetables, almost 80% of the potatoes and nearly 50% of the nations milk, much of it consumed raw.
Putin needs to eliminate - the meat / vegitables and fruits - produce imports from Poland currently at $1 billion per year to ZERO
The Poles will scream bloody murder - they have very little in other exports except for military in east ukraine
Better yet, cut off natural gas in the winter, and let the Poles freeze to death in the dark.
You are talking about the Obummer administration, right?
American govt. can dish but they can't take it, whatsoever.
Schoolyard bullies raely notice the other kids getting bigger as they age.
Putin was interviewed about a year ago. He joked that the Americans thought Russia had rusty old USSR era weapons. He was laughing because their ICBMs, anti-ship, anti-tank, anti-aircraft and anti-missile technology and jets are state of the art.
The USA keeps picthing that piece of shit F-35.
Blantant protectionism? Imagine someone looking out for their own interests! Oh the humanity!
blatant protectionism is exactly what the usa needs but the maggots will have none of it
"Blatant protectionism" used to be called political economy, which used to be considered basic common sense. The myth of globalism produced a temporary transvaluation of all values, an unreal reality imposed by consensus which now has to unwind.
"Blatant protectionism" is also the wave of the future. In a deflationary world with a shrinking overall economic pie, only those countries will do (relatively) well who can nurture their own industires, protect their own citizens, and optimize their use of their own resources. Nations will need to define themselves rigorously, to know who they are in the world, to map out a simple and workable plan and stick to it with tenacity. This will become a new "ethic" for public life, which also means that politics - i.e. sharp decision making with enforceable results and a clear distinction between leaders and led - will enter into its own again. Putin understands this quite well, but it is a fact of life which Americans have been oblivious to for generations.
Russia, with its social and political structure still intact and its vast resource base, seems ideally positioned to succeed in the emerging world of beggar-thy-neighbor power politics.
"The myth of globalism produced a temporary transvaluation of all values"
This is the heart of it. Is "one world" possible under today's resource, societal, and cultural constraints? The US oligarchs want to be leaders of THE global empire. No exceptions. We'll see if the oligarchs in Russia think there's enough in it for them to go along or if they would prefer to disconnect again from this grand project. Still hard to tell.
so that must be why china russia india brazil and south africa are forming their own financing bank for the brics, because they have all realized that american style globalization is not the way of the future and that protectionism is.
no my friend, you are a simpleton. protectionism in its own right has no absolute economic claim to superiority over 'free trade'
let me explain.
the elite rule a nation. protectionism is the bastion of a country run by elite with little influence outside it's borders. they clamor to protect their territory , which extends only to the boundaries of their own nation. they invented the word protectionism as propoganda to cover up what used to be called mercantilism.
when the elite gain influence in the foreign affairs of another nation , through many possible methods, it is then to their advantage to trade with that nation.
there is no such thing as 'fair trade' or 'free trade'. these are both ruses invented by globalists. trade accumulates in favor of the party who dictates the terms of the trade. no relationship between two parties is ever perfectly equal. the stronger party gets to dictate the terms of the trade, and if the weaker party complies, voluntarily or involuntarily----then the trade results in a net gain to the stronger party, and potentially a net gain to the weaker party.
some time trade is so unfair it is a form of looting. that is why the brics formed their own bank to finance one another instead of allowing the imf to run amok. they were being looted. imperialism is defined by highly unfair trade. usually the imperliast also dictates what form of currency is to be used for quoting prices and settling payment for traded goods.
the conflict in trading agreements frequently comes when a formerly dominant trading partner becomes less and less powerful while the former weaker partner gains power.
in that situation, the formerly powerful partner's claim to entitlement collides into the realities of the changed relationship.
this is what we are now seeing on the world stage. hopefully the end result will avoid world war 3 and possibly result in a slow and cautious agreement being made to create a special drawing right ON FAIR TERMS to the russians and chinese. the reason the scc and brics are now looking to finance their own banks is because-----they don't perceive the imf as offering them a fair deal on their participation in the special drawing rights.
and they are probably correct in their assesment. if you cannot settle these things through mutual agreement, then WAR IS ON>
you have been schooled, now shut your ass.
Don't tell me to "shut my ass" over an anonymous internet forum, you coward. If you have a disagreement, that's fine. You can state your case without being needlessly provocative.
And just for your informtion, what you call protectionism does have an intrinsic superiority to free trade because it is prior to it. In order to have free trade you have to have something to trade first, which means you have to have an economy which produces something, and that can only be brought into existence by protection, care, and the continuous reinvestment of resources. Free trade is a luxury that can only exist in a general condition of peace and prosperity. The conditions that bring about peace and prosperity, however, are nationalism and protectionism. The former is a result of the latter, and their basic tendencies are antagonistic.
This is really just a restatement of Say's Law, which states that we must pay for supply with supply. Even your own confused attempt at "schooling" me seems to imply as much when you talk about imperialism, so I'm really not sure what your problem is.
“... it would be blatant protectionism,”
...from the shit that Americans pass off as food.
Russia has enough mechanisms to protect the market and citizens from genetically modified food, without violating its obligations to the WTO, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_03_27/Russia-to-protect-citizens-from-GMO-food-without-violating-its-WTO-obligations-Putin-4390/
Hunger Strike?
"assuming they take this action it would be blatant protectionism"
What an ass. Maybe you war mongering fucks shouldn't be pushing Putin's buttons by destabilizing his country's neighbors.
Makes you really wonder what might happen should things in central and south america really start to "destabilize"... ...further.
Exactly Dr. E.
Who the hell didn't see this coming like a mile away? Action -> Reaction.
Let the games continue! Damn sure more entertaining than the Olympics!
"
“Assuming that they take this action, it would be blatant protectionism,” Clayton Yeutter, a U.S. Trade Representative under President Ronald Reagan, said in a phone interview."
Lol, yeah, cause that's a big deal for them at this point.
They get to save their people from the West's poison GMO and processed crap too with this blatant protectionsism.
Putin should have banned that shit years ago.
they, together with other countries, have been working on it:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/geopolitics-of-organic-food-russia-china-an...
they know that the american food supply is being intentionally poisoned, they just won't come out and say it...
The West hits Putin with a rolled up newspaper.
Putin hits back with a sledgehammer.
Touche.
*PUTIN ORDERS GOVT TO PREVENT ACCELERATED GROWTH OF FOOD PRICES
Because that always works out so well.
yeah, he's fucked if he thinks that's gonna happen
This is just as retarded as the West's sanctions. Why is everyone applauding Putin for this. He's going to make his own people suffer on this one.
of course he will. that's what sanctions do. the maggots at the top never suffer.
Who are these people applauding Putin that you speak of?
Pretty much the majority of the posters on ZH who admire this prick as some sort of hero against the West. Be careful who you root for people, this guy is a bigger douche than any Western pol.
Putin wants war more than anyone. Oil is not even close to where he needs it just to break even with IMF accounts.
Russia has NO debts!
I promise you that we people in Russia will not suffer in the least bit. In fact we people in Russia will celebrate the fact that we are getting back on our feet and telling the west to stuf-fu it...
I am an American living in Russia for almost 8 years now and have watched Russia develop their own agriculture and they can support the populace now...
I applaud Putin for what he is doing and we need an US president that has even half the balls Putin does...
Obama should be rallying the American people to stomp the NWO in the ground and get us back on our feet and do our own thing, but instead we help Russia (by sanctions) do exactly what we should be doing (self-sufficiency) and they (Russians) are serious about it...
We people living in Russia are trying to live in peace and this American is trying to live in peace also...
Everyone suffers, eventually, in a war-financial or otherwise.
Putin isn't Jesus, he's not offering the other cheek , and I don't blame him.
Perhaps he has a behind the scenes deal in the works with other nations that are rapidly tiring of the West's financial blackmail. Some Asian and South American countries are significant exporters of food staples. If they redirect their exports it could be a game changer. Putin seems smart enough to not cut off his nose to spite his face, but who knows really.
Yes, food is like oil, doesn't matter where it comes from (well, as long as you just measure calories and not quality). The Chinese are now food exporters; and there's plenty of countries that will be happy to sell Russia food. It's mostly noise.