For the Record: Pipeline Talk

 

Getting Russian natural gas to Europe, via Radio Free Europe. It'l be a lot less complicated once Europe stops using natural gas—may it be soon!—but in the meantime, the Ukraine (the purple line) is not getting replaced...

And now for something completely different:

I have two things I say about this issue: (1) Trump administration had four years to impose sanctions on Russia over the pipeline, and frequently said they were going to do it https://t.co/YqXnHrV9df but never did for some reason...

— Against Yastronomical Odds (@Yastreblyansky) January 12, 2022

There's an environmental objection to the project which we'd probably or less agree with if we learned enough about it, which I'm probably not going to do, and German Greens don't like it very much. That's not what Perry and Cruz care about at all, as you can imagine.

— Against Yastronomical Odds (@Yastreblyansky) January 12, 2022

Nobody's ever going to uncover a fraction of the corruption that went into Trump administration's Ukraine dealings, unfortunately. I haven't changed my mind about Russian invasion or backing President Zelenskyy, but this is an area where Russian interests could be listened to.

— Against Yastronomical Odds (@Yastreblyansky) January 12, 2022

But it's an issue for negotiation, in which the US has a huge amount of leverage over Russia--we're going to be the world's largest exporter of liquified natural gas this year https://t.co/ugZ4iPWZYa, capable of messing with the price and also of supplying Ukraine directly.

— Against Yastronomical Odds (@Yastreblyansky) January 12, 2022

And that's a much better toolbox than sanctions. There's just no reason for Congress to horn in except as a way of making Biden's life difficult.

OK I guess that turned out to be more than two things.

/fin

— Against Yastronomical Odds (@Yastreblyansky) January 12, 2022

And as long as I'm up, the troll who decided to prolong the recent thread on Republican vote suppression:

You're not even aware that different states have different laws on that? You need to get out more.

It's easier to vote than ever in New York, but not as easy as Washington or Utah. It's much harder to vote in Texas than it was five or ten years ago.

— Against Yastronomical Odds (@Yastreblyansky) January 9, 2022

Also, Georgia is a state that has early voting and mail in voting. No excuse to complain about a chance to vote or long lines.

— BTEric (@BTEric) January 10, 2022

No but if you do not want to wait you can check beforehand or come back one of the other days in the 3 weeks of early voting. It is called planning.

— BTEric (@BTEric) January 10, 2022

Georgia polling places are determined by the counties. Many of these counties that seem to have long voting times are run by Democrats. Maybe you need to get that straightened out.

— BTEric (@BTEric) January 10, 2022

I say "were" because that's all changing since passage of SB 202 turned power over to Republican-dominated county commissions, which have been purging Black Democrats off the boards all year https://t.co/CwAfhZq6gk

— Against Yastronomical Odds (@Yastreblyansky) January 10, 2022

Still had 3 weeks to vote early and could have requested a mail in ballot. If we are to believe what we were told Republicans should be screaming because they vote the day of election in person. That must have been horrible.

— BTEric (@BTEric) January 10, 2022

what the fuck are u talking about now

— Against Yastronomical Odds (@Yastreblyansky) January 10, 2022

Well, Eric didn't get back to me, what can I say.