Lucy Heartfilia posted:

I also think murder of innocents and beginning unjustified wars is hilarious.

archaeo posted:

No, but I am pretty convinced that you are one of the most hilarious posters in a hilarious thread!

Pimpmust posted:

How possible would it be for Ukraine to "tap" into the existing pipeline to Poland? I mean, what's stopping them? Can't remember if there's a seperate pipeline to Poland that avoids Ukraine entirely, but from the sound of some articles that doesn't seem to be the case, or...?

my dad posted:

Rinkles posted:

Look at the pipeline directly connecting Russia to Germany via the Baltic, bypassing a bunch of EU members in the process. Now that's camaraderie, Germany!

Rinkles posted:

The Polish minister of economy claims Gazprom has assured them that tomorrow the supply of gas will be flowing in the ordered amount.

Gazprom has admitted to the reduced flow (after being silent for the duration of cuts), but says this was only in relation to recent bigger orders (which Poland did make). And also denied this had any connection to Poland sharing gas with Ukraine.

http://www.polskieradio.pl/42/3167/Artykul/1229403,PGNiG-Rosja-zmniejszyla-dostawy-gazu-o-45-proc-


Look at the pipeline directly connecting Russia to Germany via the Baltic, bypassing a bunch of EU members in the process. Now that's camaraderie, Germany!

Hambilderberglar posted:

http://antikor.com.ua/articles/13410-igorj_girkin_strelkov_najden_mertvym_v_rossii
According to these guys Igor Strelkov has been found dead in Russia. I can't find anything anywhere else confirming this and I have no idea how reliable these guys are.
If it ends up being true I can't help but wonder if the Kremlin is now cleaning up the biggest loudmouths and anyone who might bring the fight home to Russia or be in a position to tell tales.

HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:

Remember how Ukrainians in August claimed he was critically wounded in a clash in Donetsk,and then the Russians denied saying he had been relieved and given a desk job in the DPR. You haven't heard a word about him since then, and I've wondered if he didn't die of his injuries and they're just now saying something.

Dolash posted:

Bit of a weird demotion for such a prominent figure.

If Russia shuts off the gas to Ukraine this winter, I have to wonder if they might not throttle the gas to the rest of Europe anyway and claim Ukraine's siphoning it even if they aren't. It seems like an easy way to get the rest of Europe mad at Ukraine and it's obviously pretty hard to verify - at this point gas seems to be all the EU cares about, moreso than hundreds of citizens getting shot out of the sky.

Honestly, with the dominant role gas has played in this crisis I think we all owe the United States an apology for claiming they're oil-hungry money-grubbing imperialists, as though that were somehow not the norm.

GhostofJohnMuir posted:

I was about to knee-jerk reaction and say that sounds too much like a bad super villain plot then actual foreign policy, but then I remembered everything that's happened in the last year, so who knows?

Dolash posted:

Bit of a weird demotion for such a prominent figure.

If Russia shuts off the gas to Ukraine this winter, I have to wonder if they might not throttle the gas to the rest of Europe anyway and claim Ukraine's siphoning it even if they aren't. It seems like an easy way to get the rest of Europe mad at Ukraine and it's obviously pretty hard to verify - at this point gas seems to be all the EU cares about, moreso than hundreds of citizens getting shot out of the sky.

Honestly, with the dominant role gas has played in this crisis I think we all owe the United States an apology for claiming they're oil-hungry money-grubbing imperialists, as though that were somehow not the norm.

My Imaginary GF posted:

He was given a desk job at the Official Embassy of DPR in Jewish Autonomous Oblast.

El Scotch posted:

Russian gas power sounds like a good reason to invest in domestic nuclear energy.

Wee Tinkle Wand posted:

Too bad Germany and others flipped out because of Fukishima and started scrapping all their nuclear energy plans.

Nintendo Kid posted:

Nah Germany had that whole idiot movement going on for a much longer time.

El Scotch posted:

Russian gas power sounds like a good reason to invest in domestic nuclear energy.

Lucy Heartfilia posted:

It went back and forth a bit, but Fukushima finally convinced Merkel to shut everything down after all.

Cuntpunch posted:

This'll bite them in the rear end in twenty years when they want to go back and realize it's not as easy as just refuelling the reactors.


Meanwhile I wonder what Russia's gameplan is for loving with European gas supplies this 'early' in the crisis. That's been their major leverage against Europe and if they start goofing around with it now, doesn't it just risk Europe reciprocating more severely, rather than backing down?


One thing I wonder: I know that the major credit companies(Visa, etc) have some presence in Russia - and that they've already been used to leverage some banks. How bad does it get for the average Russian if those american/international companies just shut down processing completely in Russia?

Lawman 0 posted:

Your preaching to the choir here friend.
If there is one thing D&D can mostly agree too its that nuclear power is pretty good if done well.

quote:

Moscow (AFP) - An Estonian policeman detained by Russian security services has been charged with espionage in a case that has sent tensions soaring between Moscow and its small NATO-member neighbour.

Tallinn has accused Moscow of abducting Eston Kohver at gunpoint from Estonian territory. He now faces up to two decades in jail.

The arrest of the Estonian national came just days after US President Barack Obama visited the former Soviet state last week to calm the nerves of Washington's Baltic allies over the Ukraine crisis.

"Eston Kohver was charged on September 8 with espionage," his lawyer Nikolai Polozov told AFP on Thursday. "He faces up to 20 years in prison."

The controversial detention has alarmed people in the tiny country of Estonia, which was occupied by the Soviet Union for half a century before it broke free from the crumbling USSR in 1991.

Along with fellow Baltic states the nation of 1.3 million joined the EU and NATO in 2004 as a bulwark against Russian influence.

The European Union on Thursday called for "an immediate release of Mr Kohver and his safe return to Estonia," a spokesperson for the bloc's diplomatic service said in a statement.

The statement added that the EU delegation in Moscow was in contact with the Russian authorities to seek a quick solution to the "abduction" of Kohver.

Lawyer Polozov said that he had not yet been able to visit Kohver, who is being held in Moscow's Lefortovo prison, used to jail those being investigated by the FSB security services.

"I can't yet give his version of events since my colleague and I only took on the case yesterday and so far have not managed to see our client," Polozov said."He is being held in Lefortovo pre-trial detention centre. That's the FSB jail. In order to get inside, you have to get a special permit."

The FSB, the successor agency to the Soviet-era KGB, declined immediate comment on Thursday.

In a rare public statement, the FSB announced last week it had detained Kohver as he attempted to carry out intelligence gathering in northwestern Russia close to the Estonian border.

Tallinn's President Toomas Hendrik Ilves gave a different account, accusing Moscow of kidnapping its national on Estonian soil as he was investigating cross-border crime.

Estonian prosecutors said Kohver was taken at gunpoint in action-film style, veiled by a smoke grenade after the Russians jammed his communications.

Polozov told AFP that the defence team would be arguing that the charges against Kohver were unlawful because he was abducted.

"The charges of espionage are groundless and illegal since if a person is abducted, everything that is done to him afterwards is illegal," the lawyer said.

He also wrote on Twitter that his team had filed a complaint over Kohver's detention.

"I saw Kohver's case. There's a heap of 'secret' classifications so I had to sign off on state secrets," he tweeted. "Don't even ask me to tell you."

Polozov is a high-profile rights lawyer who was part of the defence team for the Pussy Riot punk band members.

- 'Unprecedented in post-Cold War era' -

The FSB has claimed that Kohver works for Estonia's security police, which oversees internal security and intelligence gathering.

The agency also said he was carrying covert recording equipment, a pistol and what appeared to be assignments for an intelligence mission, as well as 5,000 euros ($6,500).

Russian television aired FSB footage of the evidence and showed a grim-faced Kohver being led into a Moscow court by security operatives wearing black masks.

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet has complained that Moscow has failed to update Estonian authorities on the incident and diplomats have been unable to see Kohver.

Eerik-Niiles Kross, a former Estonian intelligence chief and diplomat, told AFP Kohver's arrest was unprecedented "during the entire post-Cold War era".

"In my opinion, it is not only an extraordinary event in Estonia but also much wider in the relationship between Russia and NATO."

Cuntpunch posted:

This'll bite them in the rear end in twenty years when they want to go back and realize it's not as easy as just refuelling the reactors.

Dolash posted:

I wonder what the response would be if Estonia kidnapped a Russian border agent and claimed he was a spy too, then offered a prisoner exchange?

My Imaginary GF posted:

He was given a desk job at the Official Embassy of DPR in Jewish Autonomous Oblast.

Cat Mattress posted:

You know what, I'm ready to believe that Russian Fiscal Maths do really make it so that 13% is bigger than 15%.

Young Freud posted:

He's needed there in case they need an insurgency/counterinsurgency expert to handle Siberian separatists.

TeodorMorozov posted:

You can lol if you want but 13% taxes in rubles is really more expensive than 15% in hrivna. And this only one factor that makes Makarevich rear end burning like a blast furnace. The second factor is... who do you think gave Makarevich all his business and all real estates in Crimea? $)

TeodorMorozov posted:

You can lol if you want but 13% taxes in rubles is really more expensive than 15% in hrivna.

HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:

This needs to be brought up, because essentially this Estonian police officer is going to prison for a long time.

Cat Mattress posted:

How does that work? Are they using two different exchange rates between rubles and hryvnia?

Kopijeger posted:

Either the tax value of the property has been suddenly inflated or there is some kind of highly skewed official conversion rate that overvalues the ruble relative to the hryvnia.

Canadian Surf Club posted:

seems someone caught a lucky break



via https://twitter.com/ISNJH/status/510228320227975168