Russia invades Ukraine Feb 2022

[Average Score]

Not as harsh as the unprovoked backlash against ordinary Ukrainians.

[Main Street]

Unfortunately for Ukraine right now, it is much more desirable that Putin is replaced by disgruntled Russians rather than being forced out of office, an after effect from a dirty war v NATO. The economic sanctions are the best method where the freezing of Russian state assets and other sanctions enacted by US and EU, a widespread populist boycott of Russia (economic, cultural and sporting), supported by multinational companies refusing to do business.
All these sanctions and boycotts add to the urgency for the Russian people to act and replace the current government with one that is more conducive to status quo world relations.
I think the USA had done their intelligence homework and were well ahead of the EU in recognizing the inevitability of war. All Biden had to do was listen to the intelligence and act according to that advice, everything has been handed to him on a plate. I doubt Trump would have listened and acted in accordance with the intelligence agencies.
With Trump sidelined, Democrats and Republicans can find enough common ground for agreed action.

[J70]

Putin feared Trump, seriously what u smoking. Putin had Trump by the balls and I think when Trump gone, it come out in the long run. Man done more ass kissing to Purin than anybody. Very unamerican of him. Mccarthy would loved him bck in the 50's.

Trump and some of his more craven worshippers in Congress and the American right wing media, including Fox News, are what the Soviets coined the term "useful idiots" for.

Thankfully, on this issue at least, most of the more serious GOP congress people seem to have broken with Trump and are taking a hard line against Putin.

If only they'd toss him aside once and for all, for everyone's sake.

Neither side of the house is taking a strong enough stance on Putin.
Biden only needs to re-open the US oil fields to avoid a fuel crisis in Europe and to boot the Russians where it hurts

What does this mean?

Which oil fields has Biden shut down?

Are US oil companies struggling for supply?

US oil production has been increasing overall in the past decade with the exception of a slight dip in 2016 and again, with Covid, in 2020.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPUS2&f=M

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/dec/8/biden-cancels-oil-while-americans-suffer-and-the-w/?utm_source=GOOGLE&utm_medium=cpc&utm_id=chacka&utm_campaign=TWT+-+DSA&gclid=CjwKCAiAg6yRBhBNEiwAeVyL0BbUx2r3ntaLuUhfTY22k2r1H738zAMPHl0igKCcV0pE6j1y7tN6QBoCXxwQAvD_BwE

Rowan Scarborough. Never heard of him before, but a quick look at his bio shows he had to issue an apology for alleging that facial recognition tech had "identified" Antifa agitators among the Jan 6 mob. And he also wrote this: "Rumsfeld's War: The Untold Story of America's Anti-Terrorist Commander". Published by Regeneron of course.

Anyway... to the point...

1.   ANWR has been a political lightning rod for nearly 50 years. The GOP have been trying to open it all through all that time. I can remember it being a Fox News nightly staple 15-20 years ago as they showed ludicrous photos of a couple of caribou walking around under a pipeline to show that oil field development would have "zero" impact on an internationally important ecological preserve.
Do you know when Trump sold those leases you? Jan 6 2021 (I shit you not ). There wasn't even the beginning of planning for production at that point.
Do you know how many of the 22 leases were sold? 11. Do you know how many were bought by oil companies? ZERO. And those leases are now, correctly, suspended while the environmental impact review and legal process the Trump admin "undertook" is investigated.

2.   Keystone XL – another political lightning rod and another one that hasn't seen a drop of actual existing production shut down. One 1200 mile pipeline that has been in the news for the last decade as a red line for both sides (there are 3 millions miles of oil and gas pipelines in the US). And it was proposed and partially constructed to transport extremely dirty Alberta (i.e. Canadian) tar sand crude, which the oil companies were already moving away from despite provincial funding there because it is so expensive to move and refine.

3.   On the suspension of new leasing on US public lands: what percentage of existing leases are currently under production? How much US public land is currently available for exploitation? Is lack of supply a problem? Biden put 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico up for lease sales last year. Only 1.7 million were bought.  His administration issue 3500 oil and gas permits in 2021, 900 more than Trump did in 2017.

So is the Biden administration actually hampering US oil and gas production, or are conservatives just crying because he put the kibosh on two politically-explosive projects and ceased issuing new leases on public lands?

[imtommygunn]

It is just a way to try and get Putin out from within (or bumped off or whatever - I imagine that would also be a successful outcome for them).

It's a funny one because a concern I would have had would have been it would push Russians who were not interested in conflict etc into being interested (a form of radicalisation I guess) but then this is being completely offset by how Russians are being treated within their own country during this war so in light of that I do think a lot blame Putin. There's buck all they can do about it mind you but the hope would be they eventually will or someone within eventually will.

[J70]

Does anyone else think the backlash against ordinary Russians is way over the top lots of examples  kicking ballet dancers out of shows , classical musicians getting removed , Russian restaurants getting vandalized, Russian students getting removed in certain countries .
Bitching about a bully but acting like them on a smaller scale at the same time .

The Russian government chose this. Other than going to actual war with them, what alternative is there?

I'm sure if there were some way of getting Putin and his minions to stop, withdraw and pay Ukraine for the murder and destruction WITHOUT hurting the Russian people themselves, then the rest of the world would go down that path.

They should just thank their lucky stars they're not being murdered or driven out of their homes and country like the Ukrainians are, or like many other civilian populatiosn whose governments have been engaged in war have been in the past.

That said, if you have ideas about how this SHOULD be conducted...

However, it IS an interesting question.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

Putin feared Trump, seriously what u smoking. Putin had Trump by the balls and I think when Trump gone, it come out in the long run. Man done more ass kissing to Purin than anybody. Very unamerican of him. Mccarthy would loved him bck in the 50's.

Trump and some of his more craven worshippers in Congress and the American right wing media, including Fox News, are what the Soviets coined the term "useful idiots" for.

Thankfully, on this issue at least, most of the more serious GOP congress people seem to have broken with Trump and are taking a hard line against Putin.

If only they'd toss him aside once and for all, for everyone's sake.

Neither side of the house is taking a strong enough stance on Putin.
Biden only needs to re-open the US oil fields to avoid a fuel crisis in Europe and to boot the Russians where it hurts

What does this mean?

Which oil fields has Biden shut down?

Are US oil companies struggling for supply?

US oil production has been increasing overall in the past decade with the exception of a slight dip in 2016 and again, with Covid, in 2020.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPUS2&f=M

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/dec/8/biden-cancels-oil-while-americans-suffer-and-the-w/?utm_source=GOOGLE&utm_medium=cpc&utm_id=chacka&utm_campaign=TWT+-+DSA&gclid=CjwKCAiAg6yRBhBNEiwAeVyL0BbUx2r3ntaLuUhfTY22k2r1H738zAMPHl0igKCcV0pE6j1y7tN6QBoCXxwQAvD_BwE

Rowan Scarborough. Never heard of him before, but a quick look at his bio shows he had to issue an apology for alleging that facial recognition tech had "identified" Antifa agitators among the Jan 6 mob. And he also wrote this: "Rumsfeld's War: The Untold Story of America's Anti-Terrorist Commander". Published by Regeneron of course.

Anyway... to the point...

1.   ANWR has been a political lightning rod for nearly 50 years. The GOP have been trying to open it all through all that time. I can remember it being a Fox News nightly staple 15-20 years ago as they showed ludicrous photos of a couple of caribou walking around under a pipeline to show that oil field development would have "zero" impact on an internationally important ecological preserve.
Do you know when Trump sold those leases you? Jan 6 2021 (I shit you not ). There wasn't even the beginning of planning for production at that point.
Do you know how many of the 22 leases were sold? 11. Do you know how many were bought by oil companies? ZERO. And those leases are now, correctly, suspended while the environmental impact review and legal process the Trump admin "undertook" is investigated.

2.   Keystone XL – another political lightning rod and another one that hasn't seen a drop of actual existing production shut down. One 1200 mile pipeline that has been in the news for the last decade as a red line for both sides (there are 3 millions miles of oil and gas pipelines in the US). And it was proposed and partially constructed to transport extremely dirty Alberta (i.e. Canadian) tar sand crude, which the oil companies were already moving away from despite provincial funding there because it is so expensive to move and refine.

3.   On the suspension of new leasing on US public lands: what percentage of existing leases are currently under production? How much US public land is currently available for exploitation? Is lack of supply a problem? Biden put 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico up for lease sales last year. Only 1.7 million were bought.  His administration issue 3500 oil and gas permits in 2021, 900 more than Trump did in 2017.

So is the Biden administration actually hampering US oil and gas production, or are conservatives just crying because he put the kibosh on two politically-explosive projects and ceased issuing new leases on public lands?

Can the biden administration get us out the supply diffs? Quick answer , btw I don't know , genuine question

[J70]

No clue.

Off the top of my head (and I could be talking utter shite!) I would assume that oil companies are looking at ramping up production as we speak. But, I doubt if its as easy as turning on a tap. I'm sure there'll be a tonne of people to be hired and equipment purchased or put back into service at all points in the process from bedrock to delivery to the petrol station. Who knows what effects these chronic supply chain issues will have, especially with Russia off the table now.

I've seen headlines about them playing footsie with Maduro. How much there is to that and whether that's a plan to bring Venezuela back in, I've no idea. I would have thought the "turning on the tap" question would be even MORE applicable to them, but again, just talking shite here.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

No clue.

Off the top of my head (and I could be talking utter shite!) I would assume that oil companies are looking at ramping up production as we speak. But, I doubt if its as easy as turning on a tap. I'm sure there'll be a tonne of people to be hired and equipment purchased or put back into service at all points in the process from bedrock to delivery to the petrol station. Who knows what effects these chronic supply chain issues will have, especially with Russia off the table now.

I've seen headlines about them playing footsie with Maduro. How much there is to that and whether that's a plan to bring Venezuela back in, I've no idea. I would have thought the "turning on the tap" question would be even MORE applicable to them, but again, just talking shite here.

You talk good level shite to be fair. Well read. Thanks for response

[Gmac]

Lots of Politicians in the USA have recently invested in oil company stocks which are heading for record highs , some will bs about pumping more oil some will say that we can handle the pain at the pump all are hoping it keeps getting higher before they offload them , the most corrupt carry on you could ever witness, but all legal of course and All with prior knowledge of what would happen in Ukraine.

[Wildweasel74]

One thing which had come our of this, Russia is not geared up for a full confrontation with Europe, Their airforce would take a hammering in the air, the threat of nuclear weapons is all Putin has, for years the west was worried about the tank capacity of the Ussr, thing advances in technology have made tanks in general a busted flush. The era of artillery barrage has unfortunately not gone away.

[HiMucker]

Out of interest would the Israeli Iron dome system be any sort of defence against the sort of shelling we are seeing in Ukraine?

[Eire90]

The tories will spin this on how tough they are on immigration and will win next election

[Tony Baloney]

Out of interest would the Israeli Iron dome system be any sort of defence against the sort of shelling we are seeing in Ukraine?

The Israelis apparently blocked sale of Iron Dome to Ukraine last year.

[seafoid]

Out of interest would the Israeli Iron dome system be any sort of defence against the sort of shelling we are seeing in Ukraine?

The Israelis apparently blocked sale of Iron Dome to Ukraine last year.

Because Russia runs Syria . Russia is right next door.

[seafoid]

https://www.ft.com/content/5a365f22-e751-4db6-b111-5c858c8236c7

City officials in Mariupol this week said they had confirmed the deaths of 1,300 people. "These are the ones they could count," Romanenko said. "A lot of people are buried under destroyed buildings, and they can't count them. There are still bodies lying around everywhere." Gurin, the MP, told the FT that Russia had decided to resort to "mass murder" because it had thus far been unable to win the war