vvs

great that you bring up germany. germany has always lead the pact when it comes to the EU, if you look at any historic decisions they always rely on germany to back them. at the moment germany is significant because they have the largest trade balance with russia both importing and exporting. russia and germany (putin started his kgb career in east germany) have pretty close relations and i feel like the only way to cut russia out of europe would be to turn germany against them but that wont be possible because too much money is at stake, germany would struggle too much economically to sanction russia. putin is too connected to the right people and continues to reward them. example; former chancellor shroder was the one who pushed for nord stream pipeline, mattias warnig a former stasi agent, 2 of many who have been rewarded for their loyalty to putin by being put on boards of large russian companies, etc. its not just russians who approve of him, its people who do business with him who support him as mentioned above, putin only needs to know the right people and the majority dont matter, as long as he gets his point across to those who make decisions what the rest think is irrelevant. if putin puts pressure on his german allies to stop fraking, guess what? germany will put pressue on their neighbor countries to cut it out and it will, if fraking is so amazing as you say, im pretty sure its not the greenies that are stopping it, its the muscle that matters. for this reason im pretty sure nothing will happen, i give it 3 months before iran starts threatning israel with its new nuclear weapons and things really hit the fan in the middle east, or china starts to invade taiwan, at that point russia will once again be a distant memory. as long as russia is good for business it will stay where it is and russia knows this. i would disagree with you on one thing. while russia isnt perfect its a better trade partner for europe than america is, actually america has nothing to offer europe

like i mentioned, fraking is very debateable and there are positives and negatives associated with it which is an entire new discussion all on its own. theres also the question of cost associated with fracking, im sure after running the numbers and the positives and negatives europe decided its cheaper and more efficient to buy the gas from russia. if it was all as easy as you say, trust me this would have been done years ago as fracking isnt necessarily a new technology but unfortunately it presents its own challenges. what exactly does this mean? upper hand in what? negotiations? strongarming a country into submission? i mentioned this earlier, thats the bully mentality of the united states. actually i would argue that in terms of business, russia is very dependable and i cannot find a single case that shows otherwise, how are they proving themselves to be unrealiable (politics aside)? sure russia is a twisted country, its president is an asshole but theres a reason why europe does business with russia (both import and export) and thats because its a good deal for them, its mainly the united states that doesnt like this arrangement and is pushing for a sanction. russia isnt doing anything that the united states hasnt done, shooting down planes and invading other countries? yeah united states has done it but no one is getting bent out of shape over that. like i mentioned i dont agree with russia, i think putin is an asshole but push comes to shove i have a feeling that deep down inside europe rather do business with russia than the united states. the US operates with too much ulterior motive

but thats the problem in itself...this conflict is short term. so while its possible to find a replacement long term that means that europe will have to start looking now and continue working in that direction even when the issue with russia calms down and everything goes back to normal. russia has a competative advantage supplying its gas to europe because it has built the infrastructure for direct supply by pipeline. lets say europe will look to the middle east for LNG, because that LNG would have to be transported by ship that will add costs and then youd have to store it and refine it, passing on the increased prices to consumers will hurt leaders in elections. europes only choice would be fracking (i doubt it) or to take a country like uzbekistan and invest in a pipeline but europe will have to foot the bill for construction (why do this when russia has a pipeline built and ready to go?) and this will definitely increase tension in the eurasian region although china cannot buy up all of russias gas, russia expanding east definitely creates bigger oppertunities. asia currently has a big need for gas which leads them to pay large premiums on it, especially japan (who is the largest LNG importer in the world) which has already had talks for $6 billion gas pipeline project with russia

your notion that if europe starts fracking (which is a very debateable subject on its own) and refuses to purchase russian gas, that this will in turn hurt russia is untrue. russia is already two steps ahead,they signed a $400 billion, 30 year deal with china to supply them with gas. oil and gas are very fungible and worst comes to worst russia can undercut the market if it NEEDED to move its resources. Unfortunately as much as i hate seeing the position that russia has put europe in, theres really no alternative for them in the short term

yobani v rot haha

dont forget that the united states was actively supplying weapons to mujahideen during the soviet war in afghanistan. reagan must have also had something to hover over the heads of saudi arabia as after he made them an intermediary for delivering weapons and supplies to mujahideen. while that wasnt enough he continued to use the influence of the united states to force saudi arabia to flood the market with cheap oil undercutting the soviet union which essentially lead to bankrupting it.

its pointless to tell someone that they smell like shit when they are so used to the smell because theyll tell you that youre crazy and to prove it

its obvious that we unfortunately live in two different worlds if youre asking me for examples of the united states bullying other countries but at the same time justifying it as necessary its pointless. an example; sanctions are a form of bullying, justifying them is stupid and with russia theyre impossible to impose, theyve also failed with iran but we wont talk about that. I dont agree with arming rebels but i find it laughable that when another country engages in the same behavior its appalling and should be stop immediatly or else..., not only is the united states a bully its also a hypocrite. i dont agree with americas foreign policy, its not only counter producitive at this point its also getting silly as the united states is looking weaker and weaker in the eyes of the entire world. like a true bully when someone fights back everyone sees that the bully isnt as strong as everyone thought.

if the united states isnt a bully then what do you call it when a country uses its strength and influence to intimate other countries in order to get what they want? being a hall monitor? this whole 'merica fcuk yeah attitiude the the united states can do no wrong and every action is justified is getting old.

Im an american living in america and i along with many other people believe that the united states is a bully. that may not be very patriotic of me but i dont care. when you have a country who time and time again keeps throwing its influence around in order to get its way, other countries begin to take note. i believe that countries need to learn how to manage themselves, its the only viable option. to this date NO american intervention in any country it has invaded has been successful, look at libya as an example. the united states armed and supported rebels to overthrow gaddafi and for what? what exactly has been gained in all of this? absolutely nothing, libya is in the worst chaos that the country has ever expierenced, but at this point the united states has just washed its hands clean of the situation and is now letting the country handel its own issues? how convient. same with iraq, take out saddam and now that the country is in complete dissary with militias fighting over control ofcourse iraq is looking for help, the united states started something that it cant finish. every single country has seen this and taken note, and now with the crisis in ukraine when russia is completely wrong for invading ukraine, its difficult for other countries to go against russia and side with the united states because of americas track record isnt exactly successful.

yes after re-reading Fortis' post i realized that i misinterpreted it. you do bring up a good point though about china. china has been invading taiwan by economic means. im sure china is watching how this crisis in ukraine unfolds because it can literally create precedence for china to invade taiwan. if the united states has come out and said it is not prepared to go to war against russia and russia only faces sanctions which are not economically viable then whats the worst that can happen to china? but you cannot say the united states doesnt have a history of bullying countries, unfortunately the united states has finally met its match with russia and it cannot bully russia with sanctions as it did with other countries.

I wouldnt necessarily call putin a pussy, hes just extremely good at playing politics and he knows exactly how to get what he wants, this is basically the same guy who advised bashar on dealing with syria and look at the reality; hes just been sworn in for a third term. also it will be extremely difficult to deal with russia as any sanctions against russia will inevitably hurt europe and will trickle down and hurt the united states, its basically cutting off the nose to spite the face and putin knows this. look at how intertwined russia is into western europes economy with its natural resources. also dont forget that russia has a very close relationship with china and if push comes to shove i believe china will back russia because if the united states thinks it can bully russia then what makes china believe the united states wont do the same to them?

dont have any recommendations on hotels in samo but im sure theres a few nice ones in the area... but if youll be there check out 3rd street promenade which also has a mall, maybe rent 2 beach cruisers and ride the path which runs along the ocean you can go from santa monica to venice and back. theres a hotel called shutters on the beach and on the first floor theres a resturant called coast which is pretty good. you mention bringing your bike - cycling along PCH is nice, you can get on PCH from santa monica and cycle to malibu then when you turn around youll be riding south which is ideal since the ocean would be to your right. theres actually a hole in the wall resturant on PCH called malibu seafood which may be worthwhile to check out