Eastern Europe: Olivier's sphere of influence

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Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Best Friends posted:

that would actually be worth it because when Russia was riding high they started getting very aggressive to their neighbors and invaded one.

Two.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2016 10:25

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 19:53

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

The tzar is good, it's the boyars that are bad and steal

# ¿ Mar 7, 2016 09:50

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

blowfish posted:

please ignore the implication that the tsar must be incompetent, stupid or complicit to keep hiring bad thieving boyars

He puts trust in their good patriotic intentions but they turn out to be traitorous agents of the US StateDept

# ¿ Mar 7, 2016 13:37

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/751800/resurgent-russia-poses-threat-to-nato-new-commander-says

This is some strong language coming out of NATO recently and not the Baltic countries for a change. I wonder how much of the concern is based on military intelligence on Russian plans and how much is wardrum beating. I doubt Obama would have come all the way to Narva to give that speech about protecting the Baltics unless there was good evidence that he needs to send a crystal clear message.

# ¿ May 5, 2016 10:09

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Why the gently caress does the Kremlin spokeperson comment on something like that? Seems bizarre if they micromanage things related to commercial popculture like Eurovision

# ¿ May 14, 2016 21:19

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

In an official statement Kremlin spokesperson Peskov denies the rumours circulating on the internet that Putin is "a big gay homo" and suspects agents of "unfriendly countries" to be stoking the russophobic sentiment.

# ¿ May 14, 2016 21:32

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Grouchio posted:

I wonder how much longer Putin will stay in power these days. What would it take for him to actually get axed?

A whole lot because the whole oligarchy is built around him, Russian political institutions are completely unfunctional. He's the man of the security apparatus and the military which is the most powerful political wing in Russia. There is little free press (just a few days ago the big fairly-independent run by an oligarch news source RBK had their whole team axed for investigations into corruption) and the propaganda is effectively playing on the Russian siege mentality and blaming economic issues on external enemies. Most importantly there doesn't seem to be a mass of pissed off young people that see through the BS and have nothing to lose.

As a Baltic native Russian speaker I just want to see Russia keep getting defanged economically, so that they don't get the great idea to attack us, and see where the numerous socio-demographic problems lead them (ISIS in Central Asia, neoliberal destruction of welfare and education, the Great Internet Firewall 2, etc)

# ¿ May 15, 2016 10:45

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Not just brawl, a gang-war shootout between caucasians and central asians for the control of territory

# ¿ May 15, 2016 13:11

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

So who is going to do the poo poo jobs at british factories/warehouses/farms if they send us back our lumpenproles

# ¿ Jun 24, 2016 13:07

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

El Scotch posted:

Is Russia still battling one of the highest AIDs rates outside Africa?

Replace "battling" with "suffering from", because the government's strategy is to ignore it. There's government approved HIV denialism slowly spreading around, methadone has been rejected as western folly and sex education is non-existent lol

# ¿ Jun 28, 2016 23:17

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Lichtenstein posted:

The pipes go all the way to France, but not everyone is equally reliant on the Russian supplies. Like, for France a shut-off of 15% of their gas supplies would be a mild inconvenience of having to form some new trade deal while the stored gas reserves slowly peter out, while the Baltic States are 100% reliant on Russia, except for the new LNG terminal in Klaipeda, which is more of a negotiation tool anyway (They semi-recently renegotiated the volume of deliveries from Statoil down, due to terrible economics given prolonged slump in gas prices and the only actual gas storage infrastructure in the region - located in Latvia - is co-owned by Gazprom itself, with legally enforced monopoly until 2017).

AMA European Energy, Oil & Gas

The LNG terminal in Klaipeda is pretty big, is there a chance it could supply the Baltic countries and part of Poland as an alternative to Russian pipeline gas?

# ¿ Jul 4, 2016 11:50

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Dragas posted:

Meanwhile, in Lithuania:

A couple of weeks ago the head of the State Veterinary and Food Service Jonas Milius had come under investigation for possible corruption. Not only did he not resign as was demanded by the conservatives and the president, he decided to go ignore all that "being under the spotlight" business and went on a dinner plus hunting trip with, among other people, the Lithuanian and Latvian ministers of agriculture. The Lithuanian minister, who was already under fire for not taking any action whatsoever w/r/t Milius, is now also facing calls to resign and possible interpellation.

In the middle of all this, it has come to attention that the military has procured kitchenware at many times the market cost (for example, 234 euros for a knife worth 23) from a provider that has won 30 out of the 50 or so public contracts offered by the armed services since 1990. The military chef "is considering resignation" in the case of mass anger, while the minister of defense is now joining the agriculture minister in facing an interpellation.

The elections are barely a month away. Good times all around.

With the liberal party caught deep in corruption this is a great election.

Makes me remember cool stories about the anti-corruption efforts in Romania where most of the elite was charged, what happened to that

# ¿ Aug 31, 2016 22:17

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Two mentions of this in the last 5 pages?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/11/serbia-deports-russians-suspected-of-plotting-montenegro-coup

quote:

Serbia deports Russians suspected of plotting Montenegro coup
Plotters were allegedly going to storm Podgorica parliament, shoot Milo �jukanović and install a pro-Moscow party

Serbia has deported a group of Russians suspected of involvement in a coup plot in neighbouring Montenegro, the Guardian has learned, in the latest twist in a murky sequence of events that apparently threatened the lives of two European prime ministers.

The plotters were allegedly going to dress in police uniforms to storm the Montenegrin parliament in Podgorica, shoot the prime minister, Milo �jukanović, and install a pro-Moscow party.

The Russian fingerprints on the October plot have heightened intrigue about Moscow�s ambitions in a part of Europe hitherto thought to be gravitating towards the EU�s orbit.

A group of 20 Serbians and Montenegrins, some of whom had fought with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, were arrested in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital. In Serbia, meanwhile, several Russian nationals suspected of coordinating the plot were caught with �120,000 and special forces uniforms.

According to the Belgrade daily, Danas, the Russians also had encryption equipment and were able to keep track of Đjukanović�s whereabouts.

Diplomatic sources told the Guardian the Belgrade government quietly deported the Russians after the intervention of the head of the Russian security council, Nikolai Patrushev, who flew to Belgrade on 26 October in an apparent effort to contain the scandal. The country�s interior minister, Neboj�a Stefanović denied the government carried out any deportations connected to the plot.

A source close to the Belgrade government said Patrushev, a former FSB (federal security service) chief, apologised for what he characterised as a rogue operation that did not have the Kremlin�s sanction. In Moscow, a Security Council official told Tass that Patrushev �didn�t apologise to anyone, because there is nothing to apologise for�.

The Serbian government was further rattled three days after Patrushev�s visit when a cache of arms was found near the home of the prime minister, Aleksandar Vučić. The weapons were discovered at a junction where Vučić�s car would normally slow down on his way to the house.

Stefanović said there were �strong suspicions� that an organised crime gang had been hired to kill Vučić for �10m, but he would not specify who was behind the alleged plot, saying further investigation would show whether people �outside the region� were involved.

�You know the people who don�t like a strong Vučić or a strong government of Serbia and who could contribute some money, �10m or so, to see this kind of thing done,� Stefanović told the Guardian.

�We know that the people who were potentially hired to do this kind of thing were from the region, but not from Serbia, and that there were crime groups that are operating in the region that were involved. But these were just the trigger persons,� the minister added.

�We believe that criminal gangs are just being used to do the job, but the motives are not linked to the gangs. The assassination of the prime minister is not something that even they would do lightly, we believe they are being used.�

Since the discovery of the weapons, Vučić has announced plans to shake up the intelligence service, saying the security situation was �even more serious than we expected�.

�There will be changes in the secret service,� he told the public broadcaster, RTS. �I believed in the skills of people who didn�t show that they have these capacities, but I�ll take responsibility for this.�

It is unclear whether there is a connection between the alleged assassination plots against Vučić and Đjukanović. But the intrigue of the past month comes against a backdrop of fierce east-west competition.

Đjukanović has been instrumental in pulling his country to the verge of Nato membership � an accession protocol was signed in May � which has dashed Russian hopes of securing a naval foothold on the Adriatic. According to the Montenegrin press, Moscow lobbied hard in recent years for transit and maintenance facilities at the ports of Bar and Kotor.

The importance of such facilities was demonstrated late last month when the Russian carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov and its battle group was denied refuelling in European ports along their way to support the Russian military effort in Syria.

In Serbia, Vučić has been seeking a delicate balance between Nato and Russia, and the country�s armed forces have conducted military exercises with both, although far more frequently in recent years with Nato. Vučić has also refused to grant diplomatic status to Russian officials staffing a Serbian-Russian humanitarian centre established in the city of Ni� in 2012, infuriating Moscow.

Montenegrin prosecutor says Russian nationalists behind alleged coup plot
Read more
Western officials suspect the centre of being a Trojan horse, which could expanded as a hub for intelligence and paramilitary operations in the region. Diplomatic status, they point out, would have allowed equipment to be brought in without oversight by Serbian customs.

Some analysts have suggested the operation could have been mounted as a �semi-freelance� one, giving enough distance from Moscow to be plausibly deniable if was uncovered.

�Both sides have an interest in playing this as a freelance, vigilante-type thing, it allows them both to save face. Whether that�s actually true is unclear. There�s simply not enough evidence either to support or disprove it,� said Vladimir Frolov, a Moscow-based analyst.

�Judging from the amount of logistical and financial support they got, it looks likely they acted with at least a tacit understanding that this was sanctioned.�

A few days after the would-be coup, a former intelligence officer, Leonid Reshetnikov, who ran a hawkish research institute in Moscow, was relieved of his duties by Putin. The Russian Institute for Strategic Studies has a branch office in Belgrade, and Reshetnikov had given strong backing to the anti-Nato opposition party in Montenegro.

A security analyst from the region, who did not want to be named, said his understanding from intelligence sources was that the incidents in the Balkans were probably linked to Russian attempts to gain influence and leverage in the Balkans in the run-up to an anticipated Hillary Clinton US presidency, which was expected to take a harder line on Russian activity in the region.

In Moscow, the Russian foreign ministry took a dim view of this Guardian report on the Balkan events.

Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry wrote on Facebook: �The publication in the Guardian with a link to �sources� saying that Patrushev apologised for �Russian nationalists� who had planned to kill the prime minister of Montenegro is a classic provocation aimed at spreading knowingly false information.�

�I declare you �liars of the day�. You can sew your own hat.�

"poo poo guys", said the head of the Russian Security Council, "our bad."

"Maybe NATO should stop expanding on our doorstep on the Adriatic", he continued, "and constantly saying that Russia is a security threat?"

# ¿ Nov 13, 2016 12:14

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Swan Oat posted:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37983744

economics minister ulyukayev, placed under house arrest for corruption. wonder who he pissed off.

That's an easy one. he was a vocal opponent of a state owned company Bashneft being "privatized" by another state company Rosneft.

quote:

It was then privatized during 2002-3 by Murtaza Rakhimov, the boss of Bashkortostan, a crony of Yeltsin's, with a controlling interest in Bashkir Capital, a holding company controlled by Rakhimov's son, Ural Rakhimov. In 2009 a controlling interest in Bashneft was acquired for $2 billion by Vladimir P. Yevtushenkov and placed in his holding company, Sistema, but in July 2014 he was jailed and 72% of Sistema's interest in Bashnoft seized by the Russian government.[1][2] Following seizure of the company in December 2014 Yevtushenkov was released from jail, "charges not proven," but Ural Rakhimov was reported to have fled the country.[3] It is one of the larger producers of oil products in the country.[4]

Rosneft is headed by Putin's old time buddy and a part of the state strongmen faction.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2016 14:23

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

No influential Russian politician is "proper hosed", this guy is one of the heads of the liberal wing of the oligarchy. The worst that could happen is he gets disgracefully removed from post and gets to enjoy leisure time as a mega-rich Russian. Siberia and prison is for peasants, def not the neo-aristocracy.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2016 15:15

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

cinci zoo sniper posted:

I don't feel these two are different things in high profile corruption cases in Russia.

He didn't challenge Putin though, he challenged the military-security block. This is a fight between the different towers of the Kremlin for the remaining sources of money, not because of a challenge to the rotten system itself.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2016 18:49

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Navalny is alright but Putin's regime is doing everything it can to slowly wear him and the public out with show-trials. They are very careful not to make him a martyr, they put his brother in jail and not him, they are playing coy with "convicts can't run for president!". I think they are hoping that people get sick of hearing of him and he can be quietly put in jail, or people keep hearing that he's a criminal on state television and he is allowed to run late in the game, doesn't have time to organize a campaign and the ballots get stuffed, so the government can say that "see? only 8 percent support him". The Russian government is like a crazy abusive gaslighting husband.

So the candidates that will get 90% of the vote will be Putin, Zyuganov and Zhirik. The same guys that were there at the top in the 1996 election. Russia is a country frozen in time, ruled by people for whom time stopped in 1983.

# ¿ Feb 27, 2017 21:19

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

It's made of grapes so i can have it for breakfast.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2017 19:52

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

They can dress as a woman to fool good red-blooded Chechnyans to have sex with them and also turn gay.

It's that level of reasoning in extremely traditional, patriarchal societies

# ¿ Apr 2, 2017 07:58

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

The three main Lithuanian political parties - Conservatives, Peasant union and Social Democrats are virtually identical. They all consist of socially conservative incredibly corrupt "old guard" and trendy socially liberal young people. Their economic policies are differ in rhetoric but in reality are "we get to control the money flows and fail to reform anything we promise to". I think it's the result of an enormous amount of working age people emigrating/ignoring politics and leaving the country dominated by pensioneers. Nothing as bad as Poland thankfully, our conservatives are the German christian democrat type and not too Jesusy. Lots of them (notably former PM Kubilius) are openly pro-abortion.

Speaking of Russia, I can not get over how some tankies became genuine fans of Russia, the country that thinks that unrestrained capitalism is too modern and is trying to get back to feudalism. I saw one guy saying in the Trump thread that Russia has universal healthcare that Americans would love to have. For the record, this is how hospitals in Russia outside of Moscow/St Pete look like (pics taken in 2014-2016 and it is getting worse):
http://uglich-jj.livejournal.com/102608.html

# ¿ Jul 16, 2017 10:38

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

cinci zoo sniper posted:

Your argument is really hamfisted by virtue of implication that unrestrained capitalism is good. Russian rural hospital problem has nothing to do with capitalism or socialism.

No I was implying that both unrestrained capitalism and feudalism are bad

# ¿ Jul 16, 2017 11:22

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Cat Mattress posted:

A return to feudalism is the outcome of unrestrained capitalism. Having a hereditary caste of people who own everything, and therefore get to control the people living on their property, is the end goal of capitalism.

Right, which is why it is alarming when any person who associates with the left buddies up with Russia or repeats their narrative (Jill Stein or Corbyn being two examples that come to mind)

# ¿ Jul 16, 2017 13:35

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

What is happening in Poland?

# ¿ Jul 18, 2017 22:57

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

No slapfight like slavfight

# ¿ Sep 16, 2017 16:31

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

He's definitely staying for another term. "Elections" are next year and grandpa is still young

# ¿ Sep 17, 2017 23:16

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

ACTUALLY Russia is just protecting itself as the devil NATO is enroaching on her borders, meddling in Russia's rightful sphere of influence, cursed yankee spitting on the sacred slavic clay

# ¿ Jul 19, 2018 23:03

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Yep, and since the POTUS is also noted to be parroting the useful idiot narrative of "people speak Russian in Crimea so it should belong to Russia, besides it's already done and Russia is not giving it back", stuff like this is important to see:

https://twitter.com/soskoter/status/1020539655022768128

This is a video that Crimeans recorded for Putin to tell him about the bad boyars, their economic situation being worse than in 2014, small and middle business being strangled and so on. Not to say that if there was a legit referendum the local pensioneer army wouldn't vote to join Russia, but the sanctions are making life hard for both the locals and Moscow and it is absolutely possible to make it not worth keeping it for Putin or eventually the establishment that will take control after him. Hopefully that happens before the far-right wave in the EU

# ¿ Jul 22, 2018 07:55

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Cat Mattress posted:

Nobody natively speaks French anymore in the USA, except for some recent African immigrants.

There's one weird trick for that: you put the people that live on a land, say, a peninsula of some sort, into trains and send them to a far away desert and then settle the newly empty land with the people that speak a language you need

# ¿ Jul 22, 2018 14:42

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

I like this take

https://mobile.twitter.com/Mortis_Banned/status/1024511674529865729
https://mobile.twitter.com/Mortis_Banned/status/1024516729051983872

There was also an article on a CAR local news site yesterday that the russian mercs killed a local and there were riots by the locals to get the mercs to leave, but it was deleted
https://web.archive.org/web/2018073...-aurait-ete-tue

Basically good luck finding out the truth.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2018 21:53

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Additional detail from the Argentinian embassy coke case: they had what looks like the star of the armed forces printed on them

source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-argentina-cocaine-smuggling-operation-plane-air-drugs-embassy-a8231406.html

(Source: https://www.gazeta.ru/politics/2014/06/19_a_6078177.shtml)

# ¿ Aug 26, 2018 21:02

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Rinkles posted:

why the hell would you do that?

The Russian mafia state and Putin's inner circle have been involved in trafficking SOuth American cocaine through St Petersburg since the 1990s. It's one of the revelations that Litvinenko got poisoned for (https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/alexander-litvinenko-inquiry-ex-kgb-spy-killed-after-exposing-putin-allys-crime-links-1489177)
These are just their little signs of appreciation and inner jokes they have developed among themselves in their long and productive relationship, there's probably a lot of birthday card/call exchanges going on too. They were using diplomatic immunity for decades for this poo poo to run under the radar

Somaen fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Aug 26, 2018

# ¿ Aug 26, 2018 21:44

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

the heat goes wrong posted:

In other Eastern European New, Rudolph Giulani is protesting that Romania isn't corrupt enough and demands amnesty for people convicted of corruption.

I was thinking about this today, I remember in this thread a few years ago we were excited about Romanian anti-corruption arresting a bunch of politicians and being cool as hell. Now what I hear is that the social-democrats got the head of the anti-corruption department to resign? And there are huge protests? What's going on?

# ¿ Aug 30, 2018 21:37

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Paladinus posted:

Some experts predict de-escalation, actually. They say Russia is fed up with DNR and LNR, and pouring resources into them, and wants those territories back into Ukraine (with more local autonomy, of course) to have a chance at a Ukrainian president who's at least not hostile to Russia. But some people back in 2016 also said Russia would return Crimea by 2018, because of lack of resources to maintain it and failing infrastructure projects like the Kerch bridge, so who knows.

Ukraine doesn't want those territories either as they would take billions to rebuild, money Ukraine doesn't have even if they wanted to. That includes Crimea, which was and is a subsidized region. For Ukraine right now, forcing Russia to pour money into those black holes is a good thing and keeps half the sanctions on them (i don't remember which ones are formally for Crimea and which for Lugandon). Both countries are in a state of trying to wait until the other one gives up or collapses

# ¿ Sep 1, 2018 07:25

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

The Skripal case is embarrassing for Russian authorities as they have been touting their own special services as invincible badasses, now they are going on national TV to pretend to be a gay couple to cover their asses. Not as important as the pensions but not a good look for the macho image

There has a been an explosion in a Kerch (Crimea) college with at least 10 reported killed. Already called a terror attack.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2018 12:24

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-fails-bid-schedule-un-vote-nuclear-treaty-inf-spurned-by-trump/29566690.html

quote:

Belousov claimed that at a recent meeting, U.S. officials declared that Russia was preparing for war.

"Yes, Russia is preparing for a war. I confirm it," the Russian envoy said. "Yes, we are preparing to defend our homeland, our territorial integrity, our principles, our people."

"The Russian Federation is preparing for war, and the United States of America is preparing for a war... That is the fact," Belousov said.

I wish this thread had more discussion going on - Romanians discussing the anti-corruption agency and social-democratic party stand-off, Poles talking about the local elections and people from the baltics sharing the best designs for make-shift boats in case of emergency

# ¿ Oct 27, 2018 12:25

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

https://twitter.com/marklowen/status/1061199406979076096

# ¿ Nov 11, 2018 10:04

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

One possible reason for an invasion would be to create a land corridor to Crimea, because while the bridge is good PR, the water situation on the peninsula is critical and AFAIK there is no solution for now. For example, in September there was this ecological disaster:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45433463

quote:

Armyansk, home to about 22,000 people, lies near the de facto Ukrainian border. Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March 2014.

The Russian-installed Crimean leader, Sergei Aksyonov, says the plant that produces titanium dioxide - widely used in industry - is now suspending output.

Acid from a reservoir has been blamed.

Experts believe the problem is that the summer heat evaporated a huge quantity of sulphuric acid dumped in the reservoir and noxious sulphur dioxide gas has been blowing from it across Armyansk.

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/12/dam-leaves-crimea-population-chronic-water-shortage-161229092648659.html

quote:

In 2013, the North Crimean Canal drew 1.5 million cubic meters of water. It amounted to about 85 percent of Crimea's drinking and irrigation water. But shortly after the annexation, Ukrainian authorities shut the canal with a hastily-built dam.

The decision gained little attention amid the diplomatic cannonade that brought Moscow's ties with the West to Cold-War lows, and the ensuing separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Yet, the water blockade will wrack Crimea's agriculture, economy and population of 2.3 million for years to come, according to environmentalists, irrigation experts and officials.

Chronic water shortages in Crimea seem inevitable - and may prompt resettlement of its residents to Russia, they warn.

"Hundreds of thousands will have to be relocated," Vladimir Garnachuk, political activist and head of Clean Coast Crimea, a non-profit monitor, told Al Jazeera . "Soon, we will see dust storms with salt that will move to the centre of Crimea."

Mikhail Romashchenko, a top Ukrainian water expert said that Crimea's own water sources would suffice for less than a half of its population.

"We're talking about one million people," Romashchenko, who is the director of Ukraine's Institute of Water and Melioration Issues, said in televised remarks in early November. "We consider Crimea a region with a catastrophically low water supply."

READ MORE: Life in the shadows of the Crimea blockade
'Humanitarian catastrophe'
From the very start of the water blockade, Ukraine knew it would bring about a humanitarian "catastrophe". Those were the words of Vasily Stashuk, Ukraine's top irrigation official at the time, who resisted the blocking of the canal.

The blockade has nearly eliminated agriculture in Crimea.

The amount of irrigated land fell almost 30-fold from almost 400,000 (10,000 acres) hectares, Crimea's pro-Russian agriculture minister, Andrey Ryumshin, was quoted by Radio Svoboda as saying in late November. Crimean pro-Russia authorities banned water-thirsty crops such as rice and soy, trying to introduce winter wheat, expand vineyards and orchids - or replace agriculture with sheep breeding, officials say.

"Agriculture has been cancelled," Valery Lyashevsky of Crimea's State Committee on Water told Al Jazeera.

Water accumulated in Crimea's reservoirs and once destined for irrigation is now being redirected to urban areas in the south and east, and most of the reservoirs have shrunk dramatically.

This is very bad PR for Russia that can in theory be solved with desalination plants, however if the oil prices stay low I am afraid Putin will need another "quick successful war".

# ¿ Dec 24, 2018 10:11

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

jonnypeh posted:

The last ones are greens. They oppose Rail Baltica

By what reasoning? It's expected to be 85% funded by the EU and it's trains.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2019 14:11

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

Lithuanian greens (not the ruling "green peasant party" which is rural oligarchs running on populism) is a tiny party that makes goofy videos about pollution and is full of hip young people. THey are sponsored by the oligarchs running the biofuel burning electricity generating stations. I can't really wrap my head around anyone opposing Rail Baltica short of literally being paid by the Kremlin or something. I was on a Helsinki-Berlin bus that goes through the Baltics and there is a surprising amount of people taking that instead of flying

# ¿ Feb 23, 2019 18:26

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 19:53

Somaen: Nov 19, 2007; by vyelkin

HUGE PUBES A PLUS posted:

I know the Lithuanians have been complaining about this loudly for years. What is the possibility it won't be finished or ever go into operation?

https://twitter.com/LithuaniaMFA/status/1100769542123520000

Zero, but Lithuania is keen not to buy any electricity produced on that nuclear plant and is planning to cut the lines that connect Belarus to the EU. This leaves the option of transferring the electricity through Russia into Latvia though. In any case batka instructed belarussians to start building electromobiles so you can be sure they knew what they were going to do with the excess power besides selling it to Europe

# ¿ Mar 5, 2019 22:50

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