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EU scoops up record amount of Russian LNG – Bloomberg

RT | January 7, 2025

The volume of liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipped by Russia to the European Union hit a record high in 2024, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing ship-tracking data for key EU buyers. The surge occurred before Kiev’s suspension of gas transit through Ukraine to the bloc.

Ukraine opted not to prolong a five-year transit contract with Russian energy giant Gazprom beyond the end of 2024, halting the flow of natural gas from Russia to Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Italy, and Moldova.

The data tracked by the news agency showed that last year, exports of Russian gas to the bloc totaled some 30 billion cubic meters of gas, with more than half of that volume going via the pipeline system running through Ukrainian territory.

At the same time, the amount of super-chilled LNG shipped from Russia to the region in 2024 soared to an all-time high of 15.5 million tons, the news outlet reported, noting a significant surge in shipments compared to 2020, when the EU imported some 10.5 million tons of the fuel.

“Europe will still need gas as all its efforts to wean itself from Russian gas have not been successful,” Tatiana Orlova, an economist at Oxford Economics, told the news agency. “It will probably end up buying more Russian LNG to make up for the drop in natural gas imports from Russia.”

Moscow also exports gas to Europe through the TurkStream pipeline, which runs from Russia to Türkiye via the Black Sea and then to the border with EU member Greece. Two lines of the route provide gas supplies for the Turkish domestic market and supply central European customers, including Hungary and Serbia.

Supplies via the Yamal-Europe pipeline were halted back in 2022, after Poland terminated its gas agreement with Russia and Moscow blacklisted EuRoPol GAZ, a joint venture between Gazprom and Polish gas company PGNiG (which operates the route), in response to Western sanctions.

Despite a significant reduction in pipeline gas imports from Russia due to the Ukrainian conflict and the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in September 2022, EU member states continued to purchase record amounts of the country’s LNG. The chilled fuel has only partially been targeted by the latest sanctions introduced by the bloc.

In June, Brussels banned ships from obtaining Russian LNG by engaging in re-loading operations, ship-to-ship transfers, or ship-to-shore transfers with the purpose of re-exporting it to third countries. The sanctions have a nine-month transition period.

The bloc has vocally committed itself to eliminating its reliance on Russian energy, but has continued to purchase LNG from Russia, which accounted for 15% of total imports of the fuel as of June, according to data tracked by commodities data provider Kpler.

Russia was ranked the second biggest supplier of LNG to the European continent after the US in the first half of 2024, according to data compiled by the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, which noted that the country’s share amounted to 21%.

In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow is planning to continue to increase the share of Russian LNG on world markets, highlighting that the fuel is one of the top-requested energy products globally.

January 7, 2025 Posted by | Economics | , , | Leave a comment

EU does not benefit from Ukraine shutting down gas transit from Russia, says energy expert

Remix News | January 7, 2025

While the countries supporting sanctions and the European Commission welcome the Jan. 1 termination of Ukrainian gas transit due to the reduction in Russian gas purchases, those representing a more moderate position warn of the economic and social consequences, says energy market expert Olivér Hortay, president of the Századvég Economic Processes Research Institute, in an interview with Magyar Nemzet.

“The former argue that the halt in transit is a positive development, because the EU will no longer buy Russian gas on this route, and they also repeatedly state that the EU is prepared for the cessation of transit. In contrast, representatives of the more moderate position emphasize that the halt in Ukrainian transit will have harmful consequences for the entire European community,” Olivér Hortay said.

“The former group typically approaches the issue from the quantity side, and in this sense they are right that in the short term, the transit stoppage will not cause an acute supply problem. After all, the reserves of all EU member states, together with alternative procurement routes, make it possible to replace the missing quantity during this year’s heating season. It is true that there are challenges in the case of Slovakia and Austria, but the situation can also be solved there with the help of the relatively large amount of stored energy sources and alternative procurement,“ explained the energy market expert.

However, this does not mean that the EU is actually benefiting from the closure of Ukrainian gas transit taps. “On the first trading day of this year, European gas exchanges opened above last year’s highest price, which immediately showed how harmful the supply shortage is,” Hortay pointed out.

Moreover, the gas markets of the member states are highly interconnected, meaning that the negative consequences affect all countries. The states most affected will have to face additional disadvantages.

“(Slovak PM) Robert Fico previously said that the new sources of supply are much more expensive for Slovakia, simply because it will have to buy natural gas via a longer route, through more countries, and therefore at higher transit costs. According to Fico, the Ukrainian president’s move will increase costs for the entire European Union, as a result of which EU member states may face a total of €60 billion to €70 billion in additional expenses due to higher gas and electricity prices,” said the expert.

This is also due to competitiveness.

“The fact that the transit shutdown will cause economic difficulties for the European community is important because the EU’s most serious competitiveness problem, as stated in the Draghi report, is the high price of energy carriers. Today, European companies pay four to five times as much for natural gas as Americans. This disadvantage could only be overcome if much more gas than currently arrives comes into the region, so that the expansion of supply would depress prices,” Hortay continued.

Speaking about the longer-term prospects regarding how the affected countries will make up for the lost volumes, Hortay said that Austria will probably increase its purchases from the West and may deplete its stored gas reserves at a faster rate, and Slovakia may also do this. From Hungary’s perspective, however, the unfavorable situation may present an opportunity in that the loss of Ukrainian transit may accelerate the trend that has been developing for several years whereby Hungary shifts to the role of a regional gas distributor.

In recent years, Hungary has shifted its Russian gas purchases from the Ukrainian direction to the south, built its trade relations with other eastern partners, and built and developed its cross-border capacities, thus becoming a gateway for gas coming from the East.

This is beneficial for Hungary for two reasons. On the one hand, due to transit revenues, Ukraine, for example, loses over $1 billion a year by closing its gas taps, and on the other hand, its geopolitical position is strengthened: the energy supply of neighboring countries will depend on energy shipments passing through Hungary.

This role previously belonged to Austria, but if the Ukrainian transit still does not start, Austria may lose this position permanently, according to the expert.

Olivér Hortay also recalled that Hungary sold a record amount of natural gas to Slovakia last year, and in contrast to the situation a few years ago, gas typically flowed eastward on the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. Capacities in the northern direction have been increased with various technical solutions in the recent period, and the really big question going forward will be whether the capacity of the TurkStream can be increased, and if so, when. All of the countries involved, including Hungary, have indicated on several occasions that they would support such an investment.

The European Commission has also contributed to the shrinking supply, making natural gas more expensive overall, says Hortay. Hungary, on the other hand, is in favor of so-called diversification, meaning that it believes that as many suppliers and as many routes as possible should be allowed to bring natural gas to the European market, allowing players to compete with each other, thus driving prices down.

In order for all of this to happen, capacity expansions are necessary, and in recent years there has been significant progress in this area, and the trend is likely to continue, concluded Olivér Hortay.

January 7, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Russophobia | , , | Leave a comment

Countdown to the European Collapse

By Lucas Leiroz | Strategic Culture Foundation | January 4, 2025

Finally, energy cooperation between Russia and Europe is (almost) completely over. After nearly three years of sanctions and sabotage, the bilateral Moscow-EU energy partnership suffered its greatest historical blow. Kiev fulfilled its promise not to extend its contract with Gazprom, which was allowing the arrival of Russian gas to Europe, then creating an extremely uncomfortable energy insecurity situation for its own “partners” in the European Union.

On the morning of the first day of 2025, the Russian Federation stopped supplying gas to European buyers via Ukraine. Even amidst the conflict, the Russian Gazprom and Ukrainian Naftogaz had kept in operation an energy transit agreement signed in 2020, which expired on the last day of 2024. Previously, Kiev had already announced it was unwilling to renew the contract with Gazprom, although some European countries repeatedly asked Ukraine to do so.

Despite the sanctions imposed on Russia since 2022, some European countries continued benefiting from the import of Russian gas, particularly Slovakia and Hungary – nations that refused to participate in the Western-sponsored anti-Russian boycott – as well as Austria, a country historically neutral in Europe’s geopolitical and military disputes. Other nations, even adhering to the sanctions, continued hypocritically receiving Russian gas, such as Italy, Poland, Romania, and Moldova. There were also cases of gas resale, with receiving nations re-exporting the commodity to countries seeking to bypass the sanctions.

With the end of the Ukrainian route, all these states lost any guarantee of a safe energy source – precisely during winter, the time of year when gas consumption in Europe is at its highest. Obviously, there are currently energy reserves that may be enough to cope with the challenges of the current season, but the situation will progressively become more critical over time. European nations will have to find new sources of gas or expand the use of the only two remaining routes for Russian gas (via Turkey and the Black Sea). Recent indicators show a substantial rise in gas prices among Asian exporters. Ankara is also expected to take the opportunity to gain more profits from its pipeline.

There is currently hope among Europeans for a cheap gas supply through the long-awaited Qatari-Turkish pipeline project via Syria. With the fall of Bashar al Assad’s legitimate government, energy giants from Turkey and the Gulf have revived the proposal, although they are waiting for domestic pacification in Syria by the Al-Qaeda junta to begin the construction. Some optimistic analysts in Europe believe this would be the antidote to Europe’s dependency on Russian gas – or Asian and American, as in the current circumstances.

The main problem with this hope is believing in the goodwill of the Western hawks to “pacify Syria.” Without Assad, Damascus became a “failed state,” with territory divided between different factions in constant hostilities. It is unlikely this will change – simply because, despite the tactical operators of the Syrian crisis (Turkey and Qatar) wanting pacification, the strategic mentors (Israel and the USA) are not interested. Tel Aviv prefers a polarized and war-torn Syria, unable to do anything to prevent territorial progress in the Golan and beyond. Washington, which is subservient to Israeli interests through the international Zionist lobby, is interested in the same – along with, of course, fostering Kurdish terrorists to worsen the internal Syrian situation even further.

In other words, Western analysts still do not understand that the decision-makers of the unipolar axis simply do not want to solve Europe’s problems. It is not in the US’ interest that its “partners” in Europe regain cheap energy and a strong industrial base. For Washington, the collapse of Europe is not a tragedy but a strategic goal, whose roots lie in the science of geopolitics itself. According to the fundamentals of Western geopolitics, Russian-European integration would be disastrous for the US-UK Atlantic axis. Therefore, in the face of Russia’s imminent military victory and Moscow’s rehabilitation as a Eurasian geopolitical power, the Americans and the British have adopted a “scorched earth” strategy in Europe.

Sanctions, the terrorist attack on Nord Stream, and the closure of the Ukrainian route to Europe are events that are part of the same strategic context: in all these cases, Anglo-American strategists want to provoke an energy collapse in Europe to enable deindustrialization and the subsequent economic and social crisis. The final goal is a ruined Europe, not only unwilling but also incapable of establishing any future strategic ties with Moscow.

With the fall of the Ukrainian gas route, it can be said that the US won an important battle in its economic war against Europe. The total collapse is merely a matter of time.

Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert.

January 5, 2025 Posted by | Economics | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Uncle Sam and Banderite bandits destroy Europe while Euro lackeys hail liberation

Strategic Culture Foundation | January 3, 2025

This new year began with a new era that presages Europe sliding irrevocably into economic darkness and abject suzerainty under U.S. dominance.

Uncle Sam has won a decades-long ambition to dominate Europe entirely, thanks to the help from a NeoNazi regime in Ukraine and the pathetic European politicians who hail the slavery of Europe as some liberation.

The people of Europe are facing a foreboding period of economic hardship. We can confidently say that because the most fundamental of economic inputs – fuel energy – is about to become more expensive and precariously supplied for the European Union.

Russia’s decades-long energy relations with Europe are now severed. It seems an astounding final act of reckless self-harm. The European Union’s economies have been floundering from an energy crisis caused by EU leaders willfully cutting off supplies of Russian gas. Now, with the last major transit route shut down, Europe is heading toward economic, social, and political self-destruction.

On Wednesday, New Year’s Day, the Ukrainian regime cut off the last supply route of Russian gas to the European Union. This regime, which glorifies Stepan Bandera and other Nazi-era fascists, is, in effect, holding the entire European Union hostage with its Russophobia and relentless corruption.

The arrogance and audacity are astonishing. The Ukrainian regime does not have an elected leader (Zelensky canceled elections last year), it is not a member of the EU, it has milked European taxpayers of hundreds of billions of Euros, and now has unilaterally shut down the last gas pipeline from Russia to the EU.

Ironically, the pipeline was called the Brotherhood Pipeline. It was conceived in the 1970s and began operating in the 1980s, carrying natural gas from Russia’s Western Siberia to the EU. Ukraine received generous transit fees for the overland route. The decades-long era of transcontinental cooperation was killed on December 31 by a Banderite regime that has the cheek to claim its actions are virtuous to “stop Russian blood money”.

Incredibly, too, various European leaders also hailed the Ukrainian action as a liberation from Russian energy dependence. Some Western media even tried to cast Moscow as the villain that instigated the cut-off. The New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, for example, inverted reality with the headline: “Russia ends exports of natural gas to Europe via Ukraine”.

To his credit, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico seems to be the only sane leader among the EU’s 27 member states. He condemned what he called Ukraine’s “sabotage” of Europe’s energy supply and its economies. Fico warned that the European Union is facing a full-blown economic disaster as a result.

The Ukraine transit route supplied Slovakia, Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic. Now, those countries will have to find alternative supplies from international markets. The Ukrainian route also supplied Moldova, which is facing an immediate energy crisis. Russia claims that the Moldavian government owes outstanding bills for past gas supply.

The Brotherhood Pipeline harks back to an era of friendship and cooperation even though it was conceived during the Cold War between the West and the Soviet Union. The 4,500-kilometer pipeline was partly financed by German capital.

Another ambitious Cold War-era supply route was the Yamal Pipeline, which ran over 4,100 km from Siberia to Poland and Germany. Its operation was halted in 2022 by Poland following the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine.

The more recently constructed Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines that ran 1,200 km under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany were blown up in 2022. That covert act of sabotage was no doubt carried out by the United States under the orders of President Joe Biden, according to the respected investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.

The upshot is that all major Russian natural gas supply lines to Europe have now been terminated. The only one remaining is Turk Stream which runs under the Black Sea to Turkey. But it mainly supplies Balkan countries that are not in the EU.

In the space of two years, Russia has gone from being the major supplier of EU gas imports (over 40 percent) to being a minor source. The big winner of the phenomenal market disruption is the United States, whose exports of liquefied natural gas to the EU have tripled. Another winner is Norway, which is not an EU member. Other sources of gas for Europe are Azerbaijan and Algeria.

However, the unprecedented extra costs to Europe for this enormous rearrangement in its energy trade are encumbering the EU economies, industries and households with crippling burdens. New pipelines have to be built, as well as new terminals to receive the shipped gas. U.S. exports cost 30 to 40 percent more than the Russian product.

The slump in the German economy from higher energy costs is directly caused by the cutting off of abundant and affordable Russian gas. And it is going to get even worse. The grim fate of Germany heralds the economic misery that the whole EU is sliding headlong into.

The history of Europe’s economic demise is as obvious as it is blatant.

Of course, it is all about the United States using and abusing its Western “allies” for its own interests. For Western imperialists, there is no such thing as allies, only interests. And the Americans are exacting that maxim to the hilt.

For decades, the U.S. has vehemently opposed the energy trade between the EU and Russia. Back in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan’s administration tried its best to block the development of the Brotherhood Pipeline with threats of economic sanctions. The Americans openly said they didn’t want to see Europe and the Soviet Union developing cooperative relations.

At least in earlier times, the European governments appeared to have more independence and backbone. Germany, France, Italy and others rebuffed Washington’s demands to shut down the gas projects.

The long-running strategic aim of the U.S. to displace Russia as an energy supplier to Europe has now been realized. It’s a sign of the desperate times and lawlessness that American military operatives attack European infrastructure.

The blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines and the proxy war in Ukraine have secured the strategic aim of the U.S. and its NATO proxy – keeping the Germans (Europeans) down, the Americans in, and the Russians out.

So much for the free-market capitalism and rules-based order that American and European elites preach. The practice is brute economic competition and dominance down the barrel of a gun. Millions of lives have been destroyed in this “great game” of American imperialist chicanery, and the proxy war in Ukraine is risking the escalation to a nuclear Third World War.

The Banderite regime – an echo of the Nazi past – has enabled the United States to enslave Europe to Washington’s imperialist desires.

Tragically, a coterie of elitist European political leaders are so obsessed with Russophobia and servility to their American overlord that they are crowing with delight at cutting off Russia.

Russia will not suffer. Its vast energy resources are finding alternative lucrative global markets. The victims are the European citizens who are being plunged into wretched economic hardship due to the machinations of American capital, its Banderite tools, and Euro fools.

January 4, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Russophobia | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Last ditch media sanctions from the West against Russia are like a sick child crying for help

By Martin Jay | Strategic Culture Foundation | January 3, 2025

Many analysts will be wondering what Trump will do about Russian sanctions when gets into the Oval office, although there is some optimism that he will try and reverse them. He is cautious not to get into a debate about this subject, which leads me to suspect that this will be one of the bombshells he will drop on the Biden administration which left him the small gift of signing off over a billion dollars of military aid to Ukraine. What almost no Americans understand though, which is largely the fault of mainstream media, is that these military spending sprees are really all about feeding a dual-purpose racket which really has nothing to do with the actual war in Ukraine, which everyone now admits Russia is winning. On one hand, it is of course pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the 5 main arms manufacturers in the U.S. in a move which could arguably be called illegal state aid; on the other hand the kit which is sent to Ukraine from the U.S. – and the UK – is mainly being sold on a number of black markets, with only about 30 percent or thereabouts actually reaching Ukrainian troops. My own investigation has proved that the Zelensky cabal are selling off the heavy equipment like armoured personal carriers (APCs) and lorry loads of American made assault rifles to dealers in the international arms bizarre of Libya – where Middle Eastern terrorists, or their affiliates in the Sahel buy it at bargain prices.

And Trump certainly understands the racket and will want to stop it. Dropping the mother of all bombshells on the Biden legacy by scrapping the sanctions and blocking any more aid would be an effective way to do that.

But it’s the sanctions on Russia media which he should also give priority to, given that, with the state of western media being such a shambles, we had to rely on RT for example, in the UK and U.S., to ask the difficult questions and hold our administrations to account.

The recent news at the end of December that the EU is cracking down even further on Russia media and individuals who are active within it – journalists and others – is another parting shot which smacks of desperation. The West is under no illusions privately that it is losing the war in Ukraine and is wondering how it can tell a fairy tale story to its own voters so as to deflect blame with the sole purpose of staying in power. This is really what media sanctions are all about. Shutting down any narrative that could possibly hold you to account and expose the tawdry reality of the mess the West has made in Ukraine based on the military industrial complex gaining too much power and eating up elites in its path. The Biden administration will be remembered for this. A new dawn in just how much power these arms manufacturers have and what lengths they can go to, to get the big contracts. This will all come out in the Trump administration with documentaries about Biden and his son’s laptop and how Ukraine was a holiday camp for them to go to with empty suitcases and return with a few million dollars. Like a cash machine which keeps churning out cash due to a computer glitch. The lure of Ukraine and corrupt western elites is nothing new. But during Trump’s first term citizens of the West are going to see the dark side to the events which led up to Russia’s invasion. And it stinks.

Part of that racket, going back even to 2013 or 2014 was to try and shut down Russian media. In reality, it was simply RT which elites noticed was gaining popularity in many European countries from people who had lost all faith in their own media which had fallen into the grubby hands of the powerful elites and their dirty games long ago. It used to be the case that in Brussels, the hold that the powerful institutions had on journalists was so strong in such an abusive relationship that what we saw each day on TV and in the newspapers was pure EU propaganda on a scale that even the Soviet Union could not muster. There used to be however the contrast between Brussels and member states where the media were more robust and anti-establishment. But no more. Now the political journalists along with the defence correspondent in the UK for example are practically government propaganda agents who probably think they were journalists once. Their work is to keep the lies about Ukraine, as one example, flowing so that the public are distracted and can’t focus on what is under their nose. Sometimes the plain truth is so close to the person looking for it, that it can’t be seen. Distance is required. When RT operated in the UK, there was this certain environment which questioned more and provided an alternative viewpoint which was needed in any functioning democracy. Trump’s priority should be to finish the sanctions and adopt a more grown-up approach to resolving Ukraine as the Russians want a longer-term solution rather than quick fix buggerydoo. Ending the sanctions on Russian media would be a good message to western elites that have fed from the trough for so long with the lies which have been created that their time is up. Trump’s back.

January 3, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Corruption, Full Spectrum Dominance, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | , , | Leave a comment

Salvini’s Lega slams ‘attack on democracy’ after Brussels permanently denies Hungary over €1 billion owed

By Thomas Brooke | Remix News | January 2, 2025

Italy’s co-governing Lega party has rallied behind Viktor Orbán’s administration in Budapest after the European Union announced it was denying over €1 billion in EU funds earmarked for Hungary due to what it described as “violations of the rule of law.”

The funds, originally allocated to support structurally weak regions, were withheld following the EU Commission’s conclusion that Hungary had failed to adhere to several EU standards and fundamental values.

Following infringement proceedings issued against Hungary back in 2022, a larger sum was initially frozen with Brussels demanding that Budapest undertake several reforms to appease the European Commission in order to unlock the funds.

However, the Commission said on Tuesday that the timeframe to provide satisfactory reforms expired at the end of 2024, and because the suspension had not been lifted, the funds are now lost.

“This loss is irrevocable, and Budapest has no right to appeal,” confirmed Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, a spokesperson for the European Commission.

Hungary’s Europe Minister János Bóka expressed outrage over the decision, asserting on Facebook that the Hungarian government had met all the necessary requirements.

“Brussels wants to withdraw the funds that Hungary and the Hungarian people are entitled to for political reasons,” he said.

Coming to the aid of Budapest, Italy’s right-wing Lega party, which rules in coalition with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) sharply criticized the action taken by Brussels.

“The cut in European funding for Hungary is a shameful attack on rights, freedom, solidarity, and democracy,” said Paolo Borchia, the Lega’s leader in the European Parliament.

Lega, led by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, called for protests through the “Patriots for Europe” group in the European Parliament of which both the Italian party and Hungary’s ruling Fidesz are members.

The party emphasized its solidarity with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and accused EU elites of targeting a democratically elected government that does not align with their political priorities.

The move represents the first time a member state has permanently lost funding owed to it by Brussels under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation; this was introduced at the start of the decade and effectively gives the European Commission the power to withhold monies owed to countries Brussels rules are not complying with EU values.

January 2, 2025 Posted by | Economics | , | Leave a comment

Asian LNG prices to rise because of Ukraine – Bloomberg

RT | January 2, 2025

The cessation of natural gas flows from Russia to European consumers following Kiev’s decision to stop transit via Ukrainian territory is expected to boost competition for alternatives between Europe and Asia, increasing prices for liquified natural gas (LNG), Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing an energy expert.

Russia officially suspended gas transit to the EU through Ukraine on January 1 after months of negotiations between Russian energy giant Gazprom and Ukrainian companies Naftogaz and the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine ended without an agreement to extend the contract.

“This is going to further tighten the LNG market,” Scott Darling, a managing director at Haitong International Securities, told Bloomberg. “Supply, particularly for LNG, is tight, and we see more upside risk to spot LNG prices this year and next.”

While the stoppage was expected after months of political wrangling, European consumers still have to replace around 5% of their gas and may rely more heavily on storage, the news outlet noted, adding that the gas repository had recently fallen below average levels for the current time of year.

In anticipation of the reduction of supply, prices for natural gas surged with Europe’s gas benchmark ending the year up more than 50%, Bloomberg reported, emphasizing that the growth hadn’t yet been reflected in the cost of the normally more-expensive LNG.

Ukraine’s transit network is connected to the pipeline systems of Moldova, Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia, and then extends to Austria and Italy.

Slovakia is seen as one of the countries hardest-hit by the latest halt, as the nation covers nearly 60% of its demand with Russian supplies running through Ukraine. Moldova could also be significantly impacted by the drastic move, as the former Soviet republic generates much of its electricity at a power station fueled by Russian gas.

Russia is still able to provide European consumers with gas supplies through the TurkStream pipeline, as well as to send shipments by the sea in the form of LNG.

TurkStream runs from Russia to Türkiye via the Black Sea, and then continues to the border with EU member state Greece. It has two lines, one for the Turkish domestic market and the other for central European customers including Hungary and Serbia.

January 2, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Russophobia | , , , , | Leave a comment

Polish FM slammed for celebrating gas cutoff

RT | January 1, 2025

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has celebrated Ukraine’s decision to halt the flow of Russian gas to the EU as a victory for the West, despite the cutoff leading to higher prices and shortages in some countries.

Russia stopped gas transit through Ukraine early on Wednesday morning, after Kiev refused to extend an agreement under which it collected transit fees to move the gas through its own pipeline network and into Moldova, Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia, and then on to Austria and Italy.

Sikorski took to X to celebrate. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin spent billions building Nordstream to circumvent Ukraine and blackmail Eastern Europe with the threat of cutting off gas supplies,” he wrote, referring to two pipelines that linked Russia with Germany until they were destroyed in an act of sabotage in 2022.

“Today Ukraine cut off his ability to export gas direct to the EU,” Sikorski continued, hailing the decision as “another victory after the enlargement of NATO by Finland and Sweden.”

Kiev’s decision caused EU gas prices to spike to €50 per megawatt hour, a figure unseen since October 2023. Slovakia, which relied heavily on Russian gas imports via Ukraine, will be severely affected, as will EU candidate state Moldova, which used Russian gas to generate much of its electricity.

Sikorski should be “locked up in a mental institution” for “celebrating cutting Europe off gas in the middle of winter,” wrote journalist Thomas Fazi responding to Sikorski’s post.

“Russia was clearly trying to blackmail Europe by supplying even more gas to them. Thankfully, Ukraine heroically ‘saved’ Europe by cutting off the gas,” another commenter wrote. “The absurdity of this logic is mind-blowing.”

“People like Sikorski who want to destroy European economies by cutting them off from global resources and markets should not be allowed to live in Europe,” another comment read. “Go to the USA where your loyalties lie.”

Sikorski was similarly ridiculed back in 2022, when he responded to the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines by posting – and then deleting – an image of the blast site along with the caption: “Thank you, USA.” While German investigators have reportedly settled on the theory that the pipelines were destroyed by Ukrainian saboteurs, American journalist Seymour Hersh maintains that they were blown up by the CIA and US Navy.

The head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, has blamed “professional saboteurs from the Anglo-American security services,” referring to the US and UK.

January 1, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Russophobia | , | Leave a comment

Why China is winning the chips race: materials, markets, money, and Moore’s Law

Inside China Business | December 31, 2024

Huawei and SMIC are quickly catching up to global rivals in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, which is surprising to many industry analysts. Chinese tech firms enjoy access to China’s enormous supply chain advantages, such as in refined silicon, and in wafer manufacturing. Chinese companies are also the biggest buyers of semiconductor chips. China is simply too big a market for Western companies to lose, and so they are strongly motivated to go around the export bans, or even set up manufacturing and distribution plants in-country and be outside of US and European oversight. The Chinese central government, a host of local governments, and Chinese companies themselves have invested far over $100 billion in their semiconductor industry in recent years, which is much more than investments made by other countries. But another feature of today’s chip industry is that Moore’s Law is reaching the limits of what semiconductor companies can do. Massive investments in capital and time are required to build the next generation of ever-smaller chips. So companies have turned to “chip packaging” to achieve high productivity gains, using existing chips. Chip Packaging is an area where Chinese companies are already strong, and allows them to employ economies of scale. This plays directly into their industrial strengths. The timing of the semiconductor chips war, therefore, has been beneficial to China. It has allowed Chinese firms to catch up, and fast.

Resources and links:

Substack, for video transcript and direct links https://kdwalmsley.substack.com/p/why…

Nikkei, The great nanometer chip race https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The…

Nikkei Exclusive: Inside Huawei’s mission to boost China’s tech prowess https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Tech…

Bloomberg, China Creates $47.5 Billion Chip Fund to Back Nation’s Firms https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl…

South China Morning Post, Tech war: Beijing sets up US$1.2 billion semiconductor fund as China splurges on chips https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/ar…

SCMP, Tech war: Shanghai injects US$1 billion into chip fund as China strives for self-reliance https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/ar…

The Diplomat, China’s Big Fund 3.0: Xi’s Boldest Gamble Yet for Chip Supremacy https://thediplomat.com/2024/06/china… Substack, The Semiconductor Trade War https://www.apricitas.io/p/the-semico…

China remains crucial for U.S. chipmakers amid rising tensions between the world’s top two economies https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/12/china…

Semiconductor supply chain: Political and physical challenges in 2024 and beyond https://www.spglobal.com/market-intel…

Bloomberg, US Asks South Korea to Toughen Export Curbs on China Chips https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl…

Wafer Pro, China’s Dominance in the Global Silicon Supply https://waferpro.com/chinas-dominance…

Inside China Business, Chinese companies are going around US semiconductor export bans. So are American companies.    • Chinese companies are going around US…  

December 31, 2024 Posted by | Economics, Video | , , | Leave a comment

Slovak PM slams ‘irrational’ EU

RT | December 30, 2024

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has sent an open letter to European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urging immediate action to address Ukraine’s imminent halt of natural gas transit through its territory to the EU.

A transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine is set to expire on December 31. Kiev has refused to extend it, citing the conflict with Moscow.

In a letter posted on Facebook on Sunday, Fico accused Kiev of failing to consider the potential impact its decision will have on the EU economy. Brussels’ acceptance of the situation is “absolutely irrational and wrong,” he stressed.

Gas transit through Ukraine accounts for only 3.5% of EU consumption, the letter states, citing an analysis carried out by Slovakia’s main gas supplier and trader, SPP. Despite the modest share, any halt would disrupt the market, raising gas prices by roughly 30%, the document claims. Such a price spike would translate to an additional annual cost of € 40-50 billion for European households and infrastructure, Fico argued.

“It is in the interest of all EU citizens that European efforts to support Ukraine should be carried out rationally, and not in the form of self-destructive and extremely damaging gestures,” the Slovak prime minister noted. Kiev’s decision will lead to “reciprocal measures,” he warned.

Fico also said Russia “will easily place such a small volume of gas in other markets,” thus mitigating its losses.

The situation requires urgent attention from EU institutions and member states to mitigate risks of supply shortages, he added.

Landlocked Slovakia’s position within Europe’s energy network makes it highly susceptible to disruptions in natural gas supply. The country is reliant on Russia for around 85% of its gas demand, primarily through pipelines transiting Ukraine.

Fico has repeatedly voiced concerns regarding EU energy policy. He has consistently advocated for pragmatic approaches to energy security, often clashing with Brussels on its approach to the Ukraine conflict, namely the issue of military support to Kiev and the issue of economic sanctions against Russia.

European Union leaders have repeatedly expressed confidence in the bloc’s ability to manage without Russian gas, accusing Moscow of using energy as a geopolitical weapon.

The European Commission and Council have yet to issue formal responses to the Slovak leader’s letter.

December 30, 2024 Posted by | Economics, Russophobia | , , | Leave a comment

Major Winners and Losers of Halting Russian Gas Transit Through Ukraine

By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 29.12.2024

As the Ukraine gas transit contract with Russia is set to end, Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK received its first delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US on December 27.

Winners

US LNG producers:

  • The halting of Russia’s gas deliveries through Ukraine will increase the US share and reduce competition in the EU market.
  • The latest US LNG delivery amounts to 100 million cubic meters of gas (1 TWh of energy, or 3,530,000 MMBtu), bought by D.Trading, DTEK’s pan-European trading subsidiary. The shipment arrived at Greek LNG terminals such as Revithoussa, where it will be “re-gasified” and distributed “through EU and Ukrainian gas networks,” according to DTEK. One network, the Vertical Corridor, will transmit US LNG deliveries between Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
  • LNG from the US for Europe is at least 30-40% more expensive than pipeline gas from Russia.
  • In December 2022, the US became the world’s leading exporter of LNG amid Europe’s energy crisis and the sabotage attack on Russia’s Nord Stream pipelines.

Losers

  • Ukraine: Ukraine will lose almost $1 billion annually from Russian gas transit fees. Additionally, Ukraine is likely to pay more for US LNG coming through the Revithoussa LNG terminal than for Russian pipeline gas, which used to come in the form of a “virtual reverse.”
  • Hungary, Austria, and Slovakia which have long relied on Russian gas transit through Ukraine, will face challenges. Being landlocked, access to LNG delivered to marine terminals is costly and difficult. Long-term contracts with Russia’s Gazprom allowed them to buy natural gas considerably cheaper than EU gas spot prices. For instance, Austria had been receiving Russian gas at a price almost three times cheaper than EU spot prices in 2022, according to Reuters.
  • European Union: After sliding to $11.79/MMBtu in October, European gas prices rose to almost $15/MMBtu on November 22. On December 27, benchmark futures rose further by 5% on the news of halted Russian gas transit through Ukraine. Stopping the supply of Russian gas through Ukraine will cost Europe around $125 billion in total losses in 2025-2026, according to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.

December 29, 2024 Posted by | Economics, Russophobia | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Telegram blocking Russian media in EU

RT | December 28, 2024

The Telegram channels of multiple major Russian news outlets were rendered inaccessible across the EU on Sunday. The affected channels now display a plaque stating that access to them has been restricted over alleged “violation of local laws,” with all the content unavailable.

According to media reports, the affected channels include such Russian majors as RIA Novosti, Izvestia, Rossiya 1, Channel One, NTV and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. While it was not immediately clear whether the bans are EU-wide, the restrictions have been reportedly rolled out in Poland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy and the Czech Republic.

The EU has taken multiple hostile steps against Russian media amid the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev – and even before it. Some of the media affected in the apparent Telegram ban, namely Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Izvestia and RIA Novosti, were slapped with a broadcasting ban in the bloc in May. At the time, the EU Council claimed the outlets were under the “permanent direct or indirect control” of the Russian leadership, and played an “essential and instrumental” role in the hostilities.

No official statements have so far been made on the matter, either by Telegram, the EU as a whole or by individual members of the bloc.

December 28, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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