- Joined
- Jun 22, 2022
- Messages
- 1,002
Very true.Well, it's europe that threw the first energy punch, not russia.... but they one-upped europe every time though. I guess it's like poker, bluff your way out if your hand is likely too weak.
A few items - Russia is sanctioned out of SWIFT and cannot receive payments in dollars. Or Euro. So they have offered an alternative method to get paid. Some countries have agreed, some haven't. The Europeans initially suggested that they would open a bank account for Russia in Europe and deposit the monies there but prohibited Russia from accessing that account because of the sanctions. Given that almost one trillion dollars worth of Russian state assets have been seized by Europe and the US, the Russians were suspicious of this arrangement.
There is a slight complication - Poland a few years back renegotiated their contract from fixed price to market price. Now that the market price is outrageous, they are trying to buy it cheaper from Germany who has a fixed price. But Germany canceled the NordStream 2 pipeline even though it's been completed. NordStream 1 is under maintenance and two turbines that are being refurbished by Siemens were in Canada. Because of the sanctions, Canada cannot give them back to Russia. Germany now has them and wants the Russians to take the turbines (under the table type of a deal) but without warranty, invoice or any other paperwork because of the sanctions. The Russians want a warranty and will not take possession without the proper paperwork. So it's a mess and the Germans don't have enough to give natural gas to Poland.
I suspect the Green Party in Germany are putting their country through this painful experience to then say "see, if we had green energy we wouldn't have been in this situation".