Putin to weaponize winter

{OK, where are all those ships that transport LNG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquefied_natural_gas
and other fuels?

I’ve got a feeling they’ll be able to get top dollar for their products if Putin puts his plan into motion.}

Putin’s strategy to weaponize winter

Impatient to reverse course on the battlefield, the Russian president is signaling that Moscow fully intends to weaponize Europe’s winter energy needs — for not just Ukraine but the entire European Union.

Under the current circumstances, though, Russian ground forces may not make it to winter. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky possesses the Valyrian Steel sword; he just requires the Biden administration’s full confidence and support to wield it decisively and bury Putin’s “special military operation” in the fields of Ukraine.

… Putin is gambling on a brutally cold and snowy winter like that of 1941, which helped derail the German army’s attack on Moscow during Operation Barbarossa.

Theoretically, the Kremlin’s strategic aim is to produce an energy crisis in the dead of a European winter to break the will of NATO from continuing to militarily and economically support Kyiv.

The underlying assumption is that Europeans would choose warmth and comfort over Ukraine’s independence.

The lynchpin to Putin’s “winterization” strategy, though, is energy — natural gas, and nuclear-powered electricity — and he needs a cold winter to play it.

On Sept. 3, Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom announced it was shutting down the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which distributes natural gas to Europe through Germany, and that “the pipeline will not resume in full until the collective West lifts sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.”

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3635075-putins…

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IIRC, Russia has used winter to its advantage before.

DB2

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Russia has used winter to its advantage before.

This time, Russians are the invaders.

Might not go as well this time.

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Theoretically, the Kremlin’s strategic aim is to produce an energy crisis in the dead of a European winter to break the will of NATO from continuing to militarily and economically support Kyiv.

The underlying assumption is that Europeans would choose warmth and comfort over Ukraine’s independence.

The lynchpin to Putin’s “winterization” strategy, though, is energy — natural gas, and nuclear-powered electricity — and he needs a cold winter to play it.

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September is not the dead of a European winter. Russians have already cutoff natural gas in the Nord Stream 1 to Germany and to a dozens of other EU countries.

Nuclear powered electricity has nothing to do with “winterization strategy”. Russia does not export nuclear powered electricity to the EU/NATO countries.

Jaak

IIRC, Russia has used winter to its advantage before.

For defense! Napoleon, Hitler…

The Captain

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That might have been more effective if Russia had not already telegraphed this plan. Europe has already made moves to reduce their dependency on Russian LNG from about 40% down to 10%.

Lesson learned for all countries (ours included) - don’t be so dependent on a corrupt government/country to deliver your energy/food/necessities. A significant part of national defense should be the ability to supply necessities CONUS (plus Alaska) or from more dependable partners.

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Lesson learned for all countries (ours included) - don’t be so dependent on a corrupt government/country to deliver your energy/food/necessities. A significant part of national defense should be the ability to supply necessities CONUS (plus Alaska) or from more dependable partners.

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We need to rethink our dependence on China to manufacture so much of our necessities!

Jaak

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We need to rethink our dependence on China to manufacture so much of our necessities!

That rethink is already underway.

Whether it is too little, too late has yet to be determined.

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Putin or his soon to be replacement will sue for terms of peace sooner rather than later.

Meaning if Putin expects to stay alive he needs money for NG. Even if he is pushed aside as opposed to slaughtered outright.

If the Russian public goes through a very hard impoverished winter Putin’s death is going to be in the cards.