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EU warns US it may respond swiftly to counter new sanctions on Russia

Gen 4 Fast Breeding reactors will be able to drastically increase the useful yield of fuel (and therefore amount of reserves) while also cutting down on waste drastically. We should these commercially available within 10-15 years and are one of the best solutions to provide 24/7 base load that is not CO2 based.

So...Russian uranium sanctions in 10-15 years plus the 10 years it will take to build a new reactor?
 

Xando

Member
Come on dude, the EU's opposition, or Germany's more precisely, has nothing to do with oil.

These sanctions have a negligible impact on the overall oil price because shale, Iran coming on line and a structural shift away to EV for the majority of new parc is keeping the price of oil depressed. Have a look at the forward curve on the WTI contract.

30% of EU oil imports come from russia.
https://www.transportenvironment.or..._increasingly_dependent_risky_oil_FINAL_0.pdf

If you're cutting off this market it will certainly harm EU economies.
 
Gen 4 Fast Breeding reactors will be able to drastically increase the useful yield of fuel (and therefore amount of reserves) while also cutting down on waste drastically. We should these commercially available within 10-15 years and are one of the best solutions to provide 24/7 base load that is not CO2 based.

Yeah, if the nuclear industry was able to do in the past decades then to make all the promises about cheap and clean nuclear energy happen!
 
There's not "all of the EU's issues". There's largely one: energy security.

It's a pretty big one. The bear in the room if you like.

The bear in the room for the US isn't "Leeeroy Jenkins", which was the point. Limiting the power of the Russian stooge we call POTUS is a huge factor.
 

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
So they're mad because this might force them to not build a pipeline that many people don't think should be built, and whose primary purpose appears to be to undermine the Ukrainian economy?

The argument against this is weak as hell. And anyone who thinks Trump is the mastermind of these sanctions hasn't been paying attention. He's not playing 4D chess here, because he's incapable of it, and is also against the sanctions bill.
It's like the EU wants to hold that debate in democratic fashion instead of having America force themselves into the Union's energy policy.

Man, I wonder why they are so mad.

The bear in the room for the US isn't "Leeeroy Jenkins", which was the point. Limiting the power of the Russian stooge we call POTUS is a huge factor.
Not sure how these sanctions accomplish that. I'm also not sure why Europe should agree to endanger itself for that.
 
EU: Hey, this stuff is complicated. We already sacrificed a sizeable amount of our exports and we are dependant on Russian energy. We need to devise a careful plan for the next round of sanctions if we want to hurt Putin without accidentally damaging ourselves. We really shouldn't rush things. Let's coordinate.

America: LEEEEEROY JENKINS!!!

EU: fuck

Random American Gaffer: Man, those europeans are such a bunch of pussies.

Funky Papa: Stuff in Europe is complicated. Stuff in the US is super simple and can be summed up in a meme exclamation!

Random Euro Gaffer: You tell 'em, Funky Papa!
 

digdug2k

Member
The current opinion in European circles is that this is not about punishing Putin. Instead, this is being framed as "stop buying gas from Russia and buy it from us or else".
Are European countries still actually fighting to keep buying their gas from Russia? Wasn't it their dependence on Russian gas that basically fucked over everyone when the Ukraine thing happened? Like, no one could do anything because "Oh shit, we need gas!"? I assumed that was a wake up call to them to find some other sources and start building pipelines.
 

Neo C.

Member
Also fuck the German car industry. We could be much in a much better position now if they didn't insist on ICE cars so vehemently.
 

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Funky Papa: Stuff in Europe is complicated. Stuff in the US is super simple and can be summed up in a meme exclamation!

Random Euro Gaffer: You tell 'em, Funky Papa!

Here to please.

At the end of the day, this is about one side being extremely vulnerable and asking for coordination and the other side responding with the delicacy of a sledge hammer.

You can frame it as you like, but there's no way in hell that America using the EU as a tool to hurt Russia while propping its gas exports is going to sit well.

Are European countries still actually fighting to keep buying their gas from Russia? Wasn't it their dependence on Russian gas that basically fucked over everyone when the Ukraine thing happened? Like, no one could do anything because "Oh shit, we need gas!"? I assumed that was a wake up call to them to find some other sources and start building pipelines.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=244566441&postcount=178
 
Here to please.

At the end of the day, this is about one side being extremely vulnerable and asking for coordination and the other side bringing the delicacy of a sledge hammer.

You can frame it as you like, but there's no way in hell that America using the EU as a tool to hurt Russia while propping its gas exports is going to sit well.

I know. I'm mad as hell about our fuckhead diplomacy since Trump's election, and it sucks that this is happening.
That said I hope the EU really focuses on extricating itself from Russia sooner rather than later.
 

Woorloog

Banned
Europe needs to go nuclear and renewables in a big way to get away from Russia.

Unfortunately, nuclear is going to be problematic. Next gen of power plants should be under construction already. As it is, former ones are aging (do we want aging nuclear power plants in use?), and even if work on new ones would be started now, it would take years.

There has been bad decisions my previous leaders, no anticipation of future...

Finding a good solution won't be easy. We probably need to just choose the one from bad options :/
 

TyrantII

Member
Good thing we have Strong American Leadership that can dance around this minefield and get the results needed while calming our allies down.

Bawahhhahaha. Putin wins, and the world heads towards destabilization not seen since the second world war.

Only this time everyone has nukes.
 

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Also fuck the German car industry. We could be much in a much better position now if they didn't insist on ICE cars so vehemently.

Verily.

But there were rumours about the former manager of Opel wanting to turn it into a 100% electric brand and PSA's CEO telling him to fuck off, resulting in his outing. Imagine that.

The entire European car industry needs a kick in the balls.
 

KingV

Member
It's like the EU wants to hold that debate in democratic fashion instead of having America force themselves into the Union's energy policy.

Man, I wonder why they are so mad.

Of course, the EU should have the freedom to debate whether they want to screw over the Ukraine and appease Putin by building Nord Stream 2.

The US just called it for what is, another Russian power grab. Honestly, I think that Congress did this 100% accidentally, but I don't think anything of value was lost by screwing up this pipeline.
 

oti

Banned
But she's willing to do business with him? So maybe her hate for him stops at her wallet?

The US probably IS incapable of doing grown up politics right now unfortunately. Putin is part of the reason for that. Best case is these sanctions get passed and get fixed by WTO actions, if necessary. I'm sure Red Don won't defend them in a WTO suit.

Perhaps because I'm living through Trump, I believe Putin is the #1 threat to western democracy. Personally, I favor sanctioning Russia until they are waiting in lines for toilet paper again and Putin either loses support and Russia get some decent leaders or Putin turns completely inward and stops trying to spread influence from his 2nd world backwater nation outward and becomes content with screwing over his own country.

I'm a bit surprised the EU is willing to do business with Russian companies after Brexit and France. You can't really separate Gazprom and Putin. Russia is a country built on graft and corruption. Doing business with any country is basically doing business with Putin.

It's called Realpolitik.

That's... come on. The world isn't as simple as you want want it to be. What you're describing could have desastrous ramifications.

Again, Realpolitik. Isolating Russia won't do anything. One can argue the sanctions in place don't really do anything either, since Putin doesn't stop. Some in Germany already aregue for lifting sanctions. For all they do is limiting German companies while Russia is not even considering giving up Crimea.
 
Come on, you can't be dissing the crown jewel of the European nuclear project, Olkiluoto 3!

Biggest reason for that disaster is that it's so hard to get permits for new nuclear reactors in Finland so when they got a chance they went with biggest possible reactor and with untested tech. Had they build two smaller reactors with known tech they would be already up and running and we would be less depended on Russian energy.
 
No it's about oil and gas.

No one is complaining about oil, it's about gas.

Because it guarantees cheaper gas since it doesn't go through poland?
You know what americans could do to convince europeans? Offer gas in a similiar price section as russia but of course that would go against the interest of american lobbies (which is the main reason for these new sanctions).

That's an argument against every conceivable sanction, not just gas. No one said sanctions improve an economy, the point is to punish countries that act out of line.

There's virulent internal oposition towards Nord Stream 2. The EU is not a monolithic entity.

Italy’s Renzi joins opposition to Nord Stream 2 pipeline deal
Estonia confirms opposition to Nord Stream 2 pipeline
Germany seeks to overcome opposition to Nord Stream 2

Nord Stream 2 is an extremely hot topic in European politics and it's foolish to believe that the EU as a whole wants to keep the current situation as it is. This is Germany wanting something and a whole lot of European countries, eastern to western, saying "fuck no".

Okay, *Germany then. The problem is still the same. Germany is building more pipelines and buying even more Russian gas, and it was saying all along that it can't put up many sanctions exactly because it buys too much Russian gas. So why buy even more and make yourself even more dependent on it? This doesn't make any sense.
 

avaya

Member
30% of EU oil imports come from russia.
https://www.transportenvironment.or..._increasingly_dependent_risky_oil_FINAL_0.pdf

If you're cutting off this market it will certainly harm EU economies.

There are many sources of oil. This is really really reaching dude. This is just about Germany's addiction to Russian natural gas exacerbated by Merkel's short sightedness in trying to nullify the Green vote.

Yeah, if the nuclear industry was able to do in the past decades then to make all the promises about cheap and clean nuclear energy happen!

The current Nuclear industry is beholden to the re-processing model and doesn't really want the new designs that would destroy their maintenance contract based economics. They are precisely the people you should ignore. The people you should be listening to are the scientists and academics on the subject.

The basic PWR design that is the basis of so many plants wasn't even its inventor's (Alvin Winberg, Manhattan Project) favoured option for power production. The US government chose it because what it was efficient at producing weapons grade material, which was needed in a cold war. Then industrial inertia and lobbying took over and we end up here in this fucking stupid situation.
 

Clefargle

Member
It's like the EU wants to hold that debate in democratic fashion instead of having America force themselves into the Union's energy policy.

Man, I wonder why they are so mad.


Not sure how these sanctions accomplish that. I'm also not sure why Europe should agree to endanger itself for that.

This bill would not only impose sanctions, but also require trump to go to congress for authorization of any future changes to the proposed sanctions.
 

Kthulhu

Member
Can someone explain to me what the EU's alternative is if this pipeline hadn't been built and these sanctions hadn't been passed?

Good thing we have Strong American Leadership that can dance around this minefield and get the results needed while calming our allies down.

Bawahhhahaha. Putin wins, and the world heads towards destabilization not seen since the second world war.

Only this time everyone has nukes.

Putin just wants Russia to be more influential, not a world war.
 

KingV

Member
No one is complaining about oil, it's about gas.



That's an argument against every conceivable sanction, not just gas. No one said sanctions improve an economy, the point is to punish countries that act out of line.



Okay, *Germany then. The problem is still the same. Germany is building more pipelines and buying even more Russian gas, and it was saying all along that it can't put up many sanctions exactly because it buys too much Russian gas. So why buy even more and make yourself even more dependent on it? This doesn't make any sense.

There is a sort of poetic quality to Germany pushing to appease a hostile dictator.
 
Biggest reason for that disaster is that it's so hard to get permits for new nuclear reactors in Finland so when they got a chance they went with biggest possible reactor and with untested tech. Had they build two smaller reactors with known tech they would be already up and running and we would be less depended on Russian energy.

If we could go back in time we could prevent the rise of Putin and encourage true democracy in Russia.
 
Europe have to find another source of natural gas then. I am not sure how they expect to stop Russian meddling in Europe and the US while still relaying on them for vital resources.
 

Liha

Banned
If we could go back in time we could prevent the rise of Putin and encourage true democracy in Russia.

LMAO how much do you know about Russian politics? It's delusional to think Russia would be a liberal democracy like Germany or any other western country. You just have to look at Hungary, a Illiberal democracy inside the EU.
 
LMAO how much do you know about Russian politics? It's delusional to think Russia would be a liberal democracy like Germany or any other western country. You just have to look at Hungary, a Illiberal democracy inside the EU.

Was time travel the plausible part to you?
 

KingV

Member
It's called Realpolitik.

That's... come on. The world isn't as simple as you want want it to be. What you're describing could have desastrous ramifications.

Again, Realpolitik. Isolating Russia won't do anything. One can argue the sanctions in place don't really do anything either, since Putin doesn't stop. Some in Germany already aregue for lifting sanctions. For all they do is limiting German companies while Russia is not even considering giving up Crimea.

Russia is not a normal country. It is effectively a criminally run state under the informal rule of a criminal cartel run by Putin, held together by the fact that he can deliver a lot of graft to the criminals that run large Russian business enterprises.

The sanctions are effectively meant to punish him personally and the people that support him by making it hard for them to run their criminal empires. In some sense they have worked, and you can see how much he hates the Magnitsky Act because it froze a lot of laundered assets.

IMO, the only way to erode Putins power is to make it so his cartel effectively falls apart by making it too burdensome for them to conduct business.
 

zer0das

Banned
Thing that I don't understand- oil supply is already high even with all the cuts. If Europe is ever going to turn away from Russian oil, now would be the time. It should be the easiest to do now. But they don't even want to now? Okay...
 

Boney

Banned
I mean duh

Imposing sanctions without any evidence is moronic. People were quick to jump to Russia when the Macron emails leaked but ANSSI came out and confirmedb that there was no Russian involvement despite the US suggesting it was. Of course that got barely any coverage because it's not a hot take.
 
Skimmed over the thread, so i might've missed it, buuuut... have the previous sanctions, yknow, the ones put in place back during the crimea crisis, achieved what they were supposed to? Or were they, like most sanctions, ineffective?


So... why exactly would you try to do the exact same goddamn thing again? Cuz im pretty sure that Putin's position within Russia is as strong as it ever was nowadays.

Russia is not a normal country. It is effectively a criminally run state under the informal rule of a criminal cartel run by Putin, held together by the fact that he can deliver a lot of graft to the criminals that run large Russian business enterprises.
"a criminally run state under the informal rule of a criminal cartel run by X, held together by the fact that X can deliver a lot of graft to the criminals that run large Y business enterprises" legit describes most third world nations in the globe, fwiw. If anything, that is normal. Not having criminals in charge is the exception, which is part of why there are so few first world nations
 
Thing that I don't understand- oil supply is already high even with all the cuts. If Europe is ever going to turn away from Russian oil, now would be the time. It should be the easiest to do now. But they don't even want to now? Okay...

Its not really about oil, its about natural gas and as Eu not being dictated to strangle our economy because the US wants to sell liquid natural gas overproduction.
 
I mean duh

Imposing sanctions without any evidence is moronic. People were quick to jump to Russia when the Macron emails leaked but ANSSI came out and confirmedb that there was no Russian involvement despite the US suggesting it was. Of course that got barely any coverage because it's not a hot take.
No evidence? Do you mean ever or just in that one example?
 

Piggus

Member
Can someone explain to me why the US Congress is now the boss of the EU and why the EU must auto agree to new sanctions?

The EU doesn't have to agree, but licking Russia's oily balls after moving away from Nuclear energy is not a good look. You can guarantee that Russia will continue to try to undermine NATO and elections in Europe and around the world as long as countries refuse to take a tougher stance on them.
 

Boney

Banned
Lmao at the Putin won nonsense going on here. He's being hit with sanctions and the US is becoming very confrontational millitary speaking. What a win.

The CIA thinks that things like DAPL activists are ISIS Russian puppets. They're beyond insane, have committed perjury and have a history of unethical operations. But somehow their credibility is spotless.

I bet I'm going to get called a Russian puppet

No evidence? Do you mean ever or just in that one example?
No evidence in the American case but they're still going after the carnival circus. France came out and denied the US accusations since they don't get any political points for going with this charade.
 

Liha

Banned
I mean duh

Imposing sanctions without any evidence is moronic. People were quick to jump to Russia when the Macron emails leaked but ANSSI came out and confirmedb that there was no Russian involvement despite the US suggesting it was. Of course that got barely any coverage because it's not a hot take.

They are just so obsessed with Russia and Putin, just like Trump is obsessed with Mexico. It's a fantastic idea to build a wall and stop all trade with a large neighbor country, in the case of the EU with its largest. They are like Trump just too ignorant to realize that trade between countries is the best way to prevent any large conflict or war.
 

frontovik

Banned
Sounds fair to me. Europe is on the same continent as Russia, and both have to cooperate for the prosperity and safety of their people.

America's business and private interests in Europe can go shove off. Europe should not be dragged along by America's every whims.

At the end of the day, ordinary people are suffering because of the actions of corrupt policy makers, the US is one of the most hypocritical and worst in this regard.
 

Tacitus_

Member
The EU doesn't have to agree, but licking Russia's oily balls after moving away from Nuclear energy is not a good look. You can guarantee that Russia will continue to try to undermine NATO and elections in Europe and around the world as long as countries refuse to take a tougher stance on them.

Only Germany moved away from nuclear. Finland is building a plant and France has a lot of nuclear plants.
 

avaya

Member
Sounds fair to me. Europe is on the same continent as Russia, and both have to cooperate for the prosperity and safety of their people.

America's business and private interests in Europe can go shove off. Europe should not be dragged along by America's every whims.

At the end of the day, ordinary people are suffering because of the actions of corrupt policy makers, the US is one of the most hypocritical and worst in this regard.

There is only one side that looks bad in this situation and it sure as fuck isn't the US government.
 

Condom

Member
US can fuck right off. Every time there are sanctions it's exactly when it benefits the US and to benefit the US.

US sanctions exploit the US's economic and military position to force other countries to not have sovereign trade relations. Literally (economic) imperialism. Most of the time against countries that violate less laws than the US itself.

There is no other round around it and you have to deal with it for now but we (rest of the world) don't have to like it.

EU needs to move towards energy independence but that is something you should strife for independent of current events.
 

Doikor

Member
Summer is ending and winter is coming. A huge part of central Europe is hugely dependant on Russian gas/oil for heating during the winter months. There is no way EU would slap more sanctions against Russia. And if US does then EU would work to get around those.
 

KingV

Member
I mean duh

Imposing sanctions without any evidence is moronic. People were quick to jump to Russia when the Macron emails leaked but ANSSI came out and confirmedb that there was no Russian involvement despite the US suggesting it was. Of course that got barely any coverage because it's not a hot take.

I would tend to believe the NSA over ANSSI. Admiral Rogers confirmed they have evidence that the Macron Leaks were done by Russian hackers in a Senate hearing under oath:

"We had become aware of Russian activity," he told the senate committee. "We had talked to our French counterparts and gave them a heads-up – 'Look, we're watching the Russians. We're seeing them penetrate some of your infrastructure. Here's what we've seen. What can we do to try to assist?'"

Also, you are misrepresenting what ANSSI said. If I had to guess, your source is Russia Today, which sort of interpreted their comments that way. What ANSSI actually said was that the hack was very simple, and many people could have perpetrated including an individual or a government. And they said they couldn't find any evidence On the systems of who the group or person was.

Not being able to confirm that it was Russia is not the same thing as saying it was definitely not Russia.

That said there is kind of an MO for stealing emails, mixing in fake emails, and tweeting them out on bot nets.
 
I bet I'm going to get called a Russian puppet


No evidence in the American case but they're still going after the carnival circus. France came out and denied the US accusations since they don't get any political points for going with this charade.
Listen hear you Russian stooge
lol

I disagree that the evidence doesn't point to Russia in the American election tampering. I also don't know if I trust a French agency with 500 employees and a budget of 80 million when it's disagreeing with the entire American intelligence agencies. I can see how if you didn't think the evidence added up to anything how this might seem stupid though. Anyways send Putin my regards
>:]
 
There is only one side that looks bad in this situation and it sure as fuck isn't the US government.

Going ahead with sanctions that hurt your allies in order to hurt a common enemy without even trying to coordinate sanctions together and coincidentally force your allies to buy from US clients doesn't look bad for the US?

If you're willfully ignorant, maybe.
 

KingV

Member
Skimmed over the thread, so i might've missed it, buuuut... have the previous sanctions, yknow, the ones put in place back during the crimea crisis, achieved what they were supposed to? Or were they, like most sanctions, ineffective?


So... why exactly would you try to do the exact same goddamn thing again? Cuz im pretty sure that Putin's position within Russia is as strong as it ever was nowadays.


"a criminally run state under the informal rule of a criminal cartel run by X, held together by the fact that X can deliver a lot of graft to the criminals that run large Y business enterprises" legit describes most third world nations in the globe, fwiw. If anything, that is normal. Not having criminals in charge is the exception, which is part of why there are so few first world nations

What's your point? That there should never be sanctions?

They seemed to work pretty well with Irans nuclear program...
 

Piggus

Member
Sounds fair to me. Europe is on the same continent as Russia, and both have to cooperate for the prosperity and safety of their people.

America's business and private interests in Europe can go shove off. Europe should not be dragged along by America's every whims.

Telling an ally with extremely important economic and defense ties to shove off in favor of Russia does not contribute to the safety and prosperity of Europeans.

Yes, let's favor the country that literally invades and annexes neighboring countries, supports dictators that use chemical weapons on civilians, runs hacking operations and fake news propaganda programs to influence elections in the US and Europe, uses state-run media to control its own citizens, secretly murders diplomats and people seen as "opponents" to the kremlin, and is populated by a very large majority of people who think being gay is a crime.

Great fucking idea.
 

avaya

Member
Going ahead with sanctions that hurt your allies in order to hurt a common enemy without even trying to coordinate sanctions together and coincidentally force your allies to buy from US clients doesn't look bad for the US?

I'm sorry but this argument is incredible. Sanctions cause economic pain, that isn't even a question. So Germany will suffer economic pain for this. It is not the US's fault that it is addicted to Russian gas. They were told.

What the Russian's did was nothing short of war. The US Presidential election of 2016 is entirely illegitimate.

Your argument is basic appeasement of Russia.
 

KingV

Member
I bet I'm going to get called a Russian puppet


No evidence in the American case but they're still going after the carnival circus. France came out and denied the US accusations since they don't get any political points for going with this charade.

Now that's a spicy fucking take!

"No evidence" of American electoral interference
 
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