Welcome to the new “democratic norms” in the industrialized west as Germany seizes the private assets of Russian owned energy company Rosneft; because oil refining is critical to fuel prices and German has just realized their vulnerability.

Within this new Build Back Better system, driven by the policies of western nations, it appears things are changing quickly.  Democracy or capitalism in Germany is now quickly dispatched, as socialism -state control- becomes the priority.

Heck, I’m old enough to remember when everyone decried China’s authoritarian economic model for doing the exact same thing as Germany (a few months ago).  But, well, we must pretend not to notice these things comrades….

(Reuters) – BERLIN, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Germany took control of a major Russian-owned oil refinery on Friday, risking retaliation from Moscow as Berlin strives to shore up energy supplies and meet its European Union commitment to eliminate Russian oil imports by the end of the year.

The economy ministry said it was putting a unit of Russian oil firm Rosneft (ROSN.MM) under the trusteeship of the industry regulator and taking over the business’ Schwedt refinery, which supplies 90% of Berlin’s fuel.

“This is a far-reaching energy policy decision to protect our country,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz told a news conference to present the government’s plans to put the Schwedt refinery under the control of the Federal Network Agency regulator. (read more)

Who knew economic security was national security?

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War is an outcome of ideology and economics, and the latter is perhaps the most powerful weapon.  As the harsh reality of Europe’s insufferable decades-long efforts to embrace the virtues of climate change begin to settle in, the reasonable adults in the conversation are able to see how their weakness is being exploited by their adversary.

On Sept 7, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen held a press conference in Brussels, announcing five initiatives to contain the expensive EU energy crisis: “The goal is clear. We must cut the revenues of Russia that Putin uses to finance this atrocious war against Ukraine.” {Go Deep}

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin made it very clear that any further efforts to weaken his economy, via western sanctions and interventionist efforts against his economy, would be met with retaliation in the form of cutting off all oil and gas supplies to Europe.  It appears the Europeans now understand the nature of their vulnerability.

(Via Reuters) – The EU has dropped plans to cap the price it pays for Russian gas.

Energy ministers from the bloc met Friday (September 9) in Brussels. They scrapped plans for the cap after the idea failed to win broad support.

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What is predicted to happen in Europe is just stunning, literally stunning.

♦Context – According to official data from the World Bank, the combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the European Union was just over $17 trillion US dollars in 2021. That is the last calculated measure.  The combined GDP value of European Union represents roughly 12.78 percent of the world economy.

According to analysts for Goldman Sachs, the current energy crisis in Europe has increased electricity prices at a rate that is increasing almost daily.  Within the data it is now estimated that households within the EU will pay an additional $2 trillion for electricity in the next year.

Put that $2 trillion into context with their GDP, and that scale of energy cost would be wiping out 12% of the purchasing strength within the total EU economy.  Forget about buying anything else, if this analysis is correct Europeans will be buying food and energy, nothing else.

If you consider what that means, it is bordering on full economic collapse of western Europe.

What is being described above is what we posited when we outlined the impact of the “Energy Economy” {Go Deep}.  When you suck 12% of the purchasing power out of an economic engine simply to maintain the status of current energy use, everything else starts to collapse.

Also keep in mind we are only talking about the direct impact of $2 trillion in electricity cost.  The downstream consequence is far greater because everything created, produced, or manufactured, including food, is dependent on electricity – which will drive the final cost to produce of all those products even higher.

The damage is almost unimaginable in scale.

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Well, it looks like it’s official now. After several days of sporadic reporting on Russia’s decision to shut down the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline into western Europe, it looks like the valves have been shut down until EU sanctions against Russia are removed.

Strategically the Nord Stream 1 pipeline is the major gas supply route into Germany, Europe’s largest economy. As noted by Reuters, “European gas prices, as measured by the benchmark Dutch TTF October gas contract, rose by as much as 30% on Sept. 5, amid growing fears of a total shutdown of Russian pipeline imports ahead of the European winter.”

Europe was already going into a deep economic recession due to inflation created by pre-existing green energy policy.  The Nord Stream shutdown will make things exponentially worse as energy prices skyrocket.  The Russian owned energy company Gasprom sent out a video that can be best described as psychological warfare.  WATCH:

https://youtu.be/n2b_0gfV_4E

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Mikhael Gorbachev was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until its collapse in December 1991. As general secretary and president of the USSR/Russia, he helped forge historic weapons reduction deals with former U.S. Presidents Reagan and Bush and eventually removed the “Iron Curtain.”

According to Russian media, he died earlier today at the age of 91.

As the global cleaving begins taking shape based on the new western energy system, the Build Back Better agenda, Russian energy exports are worth a lot more money.  As a result, the Russian economy has gained more wealth than before the western sanctions regime was triggered.  As noted by the Wall Street Journal:

(Via WSJ) – […] Demand from some of the world’s largest economies has given Russian President Vladimir Putin the upper hand in the energy battle that shadows the war in Ukraine, and has confounded the West’s bid to cripple Russia’s economy with sanctions.

Sales are booming in Russia’s export market, the world’s largest in crude and refined fuels. And new trade arrangements have given Mr. Putin cover to use natural gas exports as an economic weapon against Ukraine’s European allies. Before the war, Russia supplied Europe with 40% of its gas. It has since throttled flows through the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany and other conduits, driving prices higher and putting pressure on European households and businesses.

Oil revenue more than makes up the difference. “Russia is swimming in cash,” said Elina Ribakova, deputy chief economist at the Institute of International Finance. Moscow earned $97 billion from oil and gas sales through July this year, about $74 billion of that from oil, she said.

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An additional perspective on the current status of the Ukraine-Russia conflict from Retired Lt. Col. Daniel Davis.  WATCH:

A strong point made from the mailroom, adds perspective toward why the British are disproportionately taking on the responsibility for the European war machine inside Ukraine.   It has been noted the U.K. government is doing much of the training, arming and support for Ukraine from within the EU.  The question becomes, why was Boris Johnson and the British government so ‘all-in’ with their full-throated military support?

Perhaps the answer is as simple as the London financial markets. “The UK has nothing left but those sketchy money markets and exchanges. The Russians, joking at the sanctions, pricing resources in rubles, working with BRICS, are an existentialist threat to the UK. It shows that the financial exchanges and trading houses based in the UK are paper tigers because they can be easily bypassed. Russia is indeed an existentialist threat to the UK.”

It’s a good point.

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Retired Admiral James Stavridis was the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander who conducted Secretary Hillary Clinton’s war in Libya without congressional authorization.  Stavridis represents the military side of the State Dept war machine, while Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, represents the diplomatic side.

Hopefully, more Americans are awake now to the nature of U.S. foreign policy as it relates to who controls the use of our military.  Most modern interventions are conducted from within the U.S. State Dept using joint elements of the CIA that operate within it.  The State Dept and CIA now control all pentagon operations and direct U.S. missions.

Once we accept how this modern process of global influence works, then we understand how and why Mike Pompeo moved from CIA to State during the Trump administration.  Pompeo was the ‘mitigator,’ the person installed to block President Trump from interfering in this construct.  What Bill Barr was to the DOJ, Pompeo was for the State Dept.  It’s always uncomfortable to look at the Deep State with clear eyes.

As you review the propaganda; and there is no doubt this is pure propaganda as pushed by NBC today on Meet the Press; keep in mind that U.S. operators are deeply embedded inside Ukraine to facilitate goals of the State Dept proxy war against Russia.  New York Times – … [E]ven as the Biden administration has declared it will not deploy American troops to Ukraine, some C.I.A. personnel have continued to operate in the country secretly, mostly in the capital, Kyiv, directing much of the vast amounts of intelligence the United States is sharing with Ukrainian forces, according to current and former officials.

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As noted in the interview, albeit with parseltonge to obscure the reality of the situation and keep the American public thinking sending more money and weapons into Ukraine will change the outcome – it won’t, Russia has dug in throughout Donbas and now controls eastern Ukraine.  Donbas was always the goal of Vladimir Putin as a buffer against Western use of Ukraine.

Ukraine is to the United States what North Korea is to China; both are fully controlled proxy states.  Western media keep pretending that Ukraine is not the playground for the U.S. government.  However, the larger reality is clear and accepting that reality explains why the U.S. government is funding the Ukraine government.  Meanwhile Vladimir Putin is clear-eyed and has no problem watching the U.S. go bankrupt trying to keep Ukraine afloat.

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U.S. taxpayers are now responsible for financially supporting the lifestyle of Ukrainian citizens directly.  Earlier today the Biden administration sent $4.5 billion to the Ukraine government to pay for their “salaries, pensions, welfare and healthcare costs“; with an additional $1 billion in weapons.  Total package $5.5 billion for Ukraine.  Meanwhile, congressional members are doubling the size of the IRS enforcement to keep Americans paying for these expenditures.

Europe is not paying to support the lifestyle of their neighbors, we are.  Somehow, I doubt that Germany would be willing to pay the expenses of the Mexican government – yet it is perfectly justified (in their mind) for the U.S. to carry the financial burden of Ukraine.  The more you think about it, the more infuriating it becomes.

(Reuters) -The United States will send an additional $5.5 billion in aid to Ukraine, made up of $4.5 billion in budgetary support and $1 billion in military assistance, to help it come to grips with the turmoil of this year’s Russian invasion.

The $4.5 billion budgetary grant will fund urgent government needs including payments for pensions, social welfare and healthcare costs, bringing total U.S. fiscal aid for Ukraine to $8.5 billion since Russia’s February invasion, the U.S. Agency for International Development said.

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WNBA player Brittney Griner was arrested in Russia in February for bringing cannabis oil into the country while traveling for a basketball game.  Griner brought vape cartridges with her containing cannabis oil, a prohibited substance in Russia.  Today the 31-year-old was sentenced to nine years in Russian prison, after she was found guilty of possession and smuggling of illegal drugs.

The Biden administration is attempting to work out a prisoner exchange where Griner and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine detained in 2018 in Russia of espionage charges, would be released in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The White House released the following statement:

“Today, American citizen Brittney Griner received a prison sentence that is one more reminder of what the world already knew: Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney. It’s unacceptable, and I call on Russia to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates.  My administration will continue to work tirelessly and pursue every possible avenue to bring Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as possible.”

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