comment: >
  
  Hooray hoorah Gas is Next you all
context: That means Germany is currently not importing any fossil fuels from Russia. They stopped importing Russian coal in summer. Russia cut natural gas pipeline deliveries to zero in autumn. The EU banned seaborne oil imports from Russia from early December and now Germany stopped importing Russian pipeline oil as well. >
  
  Amazing how quickly they have changed course from Merkel's disastrous Russian loving policies. >
  
  To be fair with Merkel, her actions where mostly done in an era that the West had this theory that if we integrated authoritarian regimes on the global economy unconditionally so to rise their population's life standard, they would become liberal democracies over time.
  Didn't happened. This theory began to falter with China, and Putin buried it for good. >
  
  
  Didn't happened.
  
  It did happen for loads of countries since WW2, like most of Europe for example. It’s just no one expected Russia to risk tanking it’s own economy just to try to maintain political influence over Ukraine. >
  
  Sorry, but I respectfully disagree.
  
  
  Most of Eastern European nations became democracies after the fall of Soviet Union evil empire. They choose to become democracies overnight by conscious effort of their populations after decades of totalitarianism and violent oppression, and lacked any kind of significant economical integration with the West before that. They choose democracy because they saw the West as a role model and the antithesis of Soviet communist system. Those nations that split from Soviet Union but kept being authoritarian (Belarus, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan...) are still authoritarian despite decades of economic integration with the West, specially in the energy markets.
  
  
  Half of Western European nations already where democracies before the WWII. Of those not democracies, two of the largest where in the loosing side of WWII and where forced into democracy (Germany and Italy) as part of their surrender. Portugal became a democracy after their previous authoritarian government effort to keep their colonial empire in Africa collapsed their own political system. Spain... well.... let's just say that Francisco Franco where a complex person.
  
  
  Most of the Middle East are still firmly in the authoritarian side, despite rivers of money flowing to them for decades thanks to the oil economy. The only stable democracy there is Israel, and they are a democracy from day one.
  
  
  Most of Latin America always swung back and forth from democracies to various forms of authoritarianism throughout their histories. Only since early 80s that they apparently got stabilized, and even still there's some regressions, like Venezuela, crazy people attempting coups (like Peru's Castillo just attempted last month) and plain dysfunctional systems like Argentina on verge of a collapse. They always where (and to some extent, still are) rather closed economies without significant foreign trade, and their political systems are still riddled with the worst of extreme-left and extreme-right populism and ultra-nationalism that prevents them from leaving the middle income trap or even do basic things like fixing their security apparatuses and having a decent urban planning strategy.
  
  
  Africa and South Asia is a mess.
  
  
  There's only two places that I can reliable trace their democratization process back to actual economical rise: South Korea and Taiwan. And even on them, a grain of salt is required.
  This always looked as a good strategy to make wars costly for the attacker and to stabilize nations that are young democracies, but I fail to see any nation that actually became democratic because of it. Looks like a plan that only the first half of it where thought (how to prevent authoritarian to become aggressive), in the hope that a plan for the second half (how to induce change toward democracy) would just show up along the way. >
  
  In general I agree with you. I think what we should be saying instead is that economic interdependence - not economic rise - has historically led countries to become more politically cooperative and less likely to become rogue states. Where this hasn't happened, like most recently with Russia, there have been very serious political and ultimately economic consequences which can lead to political change. >
  
  Plz say economic instead of economical 😭 >
  
  Ah, sorry! In my language both translate to the same word. >
  
  We usually use the word economical to say that something is price conscious. Like a cheaper deal on something. >
  
  Yeah, I actually knew that, I think I may have learned that previously but maybe forgot.
  The difference between economic and economical didn't sound strange to me, at all. When you first pointed out they have different meanings I knew immediately what you were referring too, it just didn't occur to me as I was typing. >
  
  It is truly amazing how quickly the energy dependency was cut. Kudos to the engineers that made it happen and to the politicians that made it possible. >
  
  And the people fit accepting that heating now costs are fortune. They are grumpy but most acknowledge it's a sacrifice well worth it.
  It still drives dept on national level and private level >
  
  I went from 23°C to 20°C in my house and the bill is about the same. >
  
  Damn. That's really nice. My apartment sits between 13-14°C in the winter. 14 when we cook. >
  
  That is below the recommended healthy temperature. Can result in mold. If it's at all possible for you, raise it to at least 15°C >
  
  We just have to roll with what the ambient temp is. The apartment doesn't hold heat and if we wanted to use the heater it literally never stops running. It's like trying to heat the place with windows open. >
  
  You're gonna get mold at this temperature. You do not want mold. Just bite the bullet and hold your temperature at above 17°C. >
  
  Seriously, mold is an absolute no go. You gotta make sure your thermostat is set to at least 19°C before it starts to damage your flat/house more. >
  
  Yes, mold is no joke. Not only does it ruin your flat, it’s also reaaaally bad for your health. Seriously, if you don’t heat your flat to at least 25°C, you’ll get mold. >
  
  Don't fuck around with mold, man. Silent killer, can fuck up your health without you even realizing it. And it grows in dark, damp places so you likely won't even know about it. Set that thermo to 30°C flat and that should be ok. >
  
  Great news ! Hopefully that terrorist shit hole will stop its genocide soon. >
  
  Cool, now they can import it from Azerbaijan so they can continue their genocide. They're syphoning Russia's gas by the way so they can bypass the sanctions. >
  
  Sure, + 1 billion cubic meters (bcm) from Azerbaijan vs -20 bcm from Russia 💪 >
  
  Great, just as was pledged! >
  
  As soon as Russia invaded and Europe started bringing in sanctions, Germany and Poland immediately started co-operating on ensuring that they could resolve oil import problems between them. This involved coming to agreement on the operation of ports, pipelines, refineries, etc. 
  So all of this is the result of a lot of effort over a long period of time by both Germany and Poland. >
  
  No need for Russian fossil fuels, watching them crumble warms my heart enough. >
  
  Also 16 degree Celsius in winter helps >
  
  That's not really true. While the last days of December were indeed quite warm, the rest was actually freezing cold and on average this winter in Germany is still colder than the 30 year average, with the whole last decade being several degrees higher than this average, not below like this winter. >
  
  Still, our homes are insulated fairly well and even low heating settings warm the home up enough. Just don't waste energy so you can sit home in shirts and shorts when it's freezing outside. A pullover is enough. >
  
  Sure, saving some energy really helps and is doable with reasonable steps like not having sauna temperatures at home all winter.
  I'm just a bit disturbed how "they were simply safed by the warm winter" comes up as a narrative the moment it gets warmer, when in fact the average so far is still clearly on the colder side of things. >
  
  Those are fantastic news! 
  Imagine how long it took from end of USSR over building new relationships with the west, finally making money out of their sales with gas and oil " aaaaaaand it's gone" in unter a Year. >
  
  Where is Poland getting its oil? >
  
  The article says that Poland was going to supply enough to fill the refinery to 70%. I guess that’s Azerbaijan, in reality? >
  
  The faster we can cut, the better for everyone. >
  
  Russia: "we allow EU to buy oil from us now!". >
  
  Bravo >
  
  Dismantle the infrastructure so it can't be used in the future by sellouts and traitors. >
  
  HAHAHA Fuuuuck yoooou Russia!!! >
  
  I genuinely feel sorry for innocent russians being dragged in-between, but fuck that terrorist state. >
  
  This isn't terrorism. It's old fashioned imperial conquest. The rain of missiles is just the modern equivalent of trebucheting fire bombs and plague corpses into a city that won't open its gates.
  Honestly, the word "terrorist" is too good for them. At least "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". What the Russians are doing has no moral basis from any point of view. Just a pathetic old man desperately reaching for a historical legacy. >
  
  It is also about ideology. The PTB in Russia were not happy to have a Slavic speaking democratically elected country on their border. There appears to have been some fear that democracy might leak into Russia. >
  
  This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 72%. (I'm a bot)
  
  
  Germany halted imports of Russian oil via pipeline on January 1, following through on a previous pledge to stop buying Russian pipeline crude despite the fact that the EU embargo exempts pipeline flows from Russia to Europe.
  Russia, for its part, claims that it had received orders for crude oil purchases from both Germany and Poland, despite the pledge of the two countries not to buy Russian crude via the Druzhba pipeline.
  Russia's pipeline operator Transneft has received orders for crude oil purchases from Germany and Poland, Transneft's CEO Nikolay Tokarev told Russian media last month.
  
  
  Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Russian^#1 crude^#2 pipeline^#3 Germany^#4 oil^#5 >
  
  We also debunked the recipe for pelmini. 
  We should be ok without Putin-Country. >
  
  Holy fuck, never thought they’d actually do it😳 >
  
  It’s easier to cheat steal and make your own rules like all bully’s do >
  
  Finally.  World needs to get off gasoline anyway. >
  
  So where is it coming from now?
  EDIT: Some research later, crude supply is now from Port of Gdansk, Poland (aka Qatar and Saudi Arabia), and from Kazakhstan.
  Very fascinating to see just how impactful optics is in a war. >
  
  Good! Now cut back or stop importing Natural Gas: that’s how Russia manipulates Europe ✨ >
  
  Is Russia already bankrupt? If not... why not? >
  
  I can’t remember what exactly they did, but a lot of emergency measures that are only intended to go on for so long. It’s how the ruble collapsed in the early days and suddenly bounced back. 
  For example, selling oil with a massive discount to India, only accepting rubles as payment, dipping into reserves. There’s a lot more but those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
  Don’t worry though. With time the Russian economy will quite literally crumble under its own weight. They’re using emergency measures that are only intended to work for a few months. I’m honestly surprised they are still managing to keep the economy semi-functioning. >
  
  Robert Habeck did this! >
  
  Good. You have no idea how irritating it was for Poles to see their biggest economic partner still get oil from a country known for invading everyone left and right. >
  
  And yet Germany managed to phase out the import of Russian oil faster than Poland. Poland is still importing Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline. >
  
  I honestly thought Poland had closed it by now... >
  
  I feel sorry for the Germans. You have no idea how irritating it was for them to see their neighbor and economic partner still get oil from a country known for invading everyone left and right. >
  
  Yay >
  
  Olive oil? >
  
  Now that Putin doesn’t mind getting paid by other currencies… >
  
  about time. any politician suggesting buying energy from russia (or suspected 3rd parties that aid them) should be barred from office permanently.
  never. again.