Copenhagen has rejected all contact regarding the investigation, the Russian ambassador has warned | Denmark is setting a dangerous precedent by refusing to cooperate with Russia on an investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, Moscow’s ambassador to Copenhagen, Vladimir Barbin, warned on Monday. ● “There is still no substantive information about investigative activities and any preliminary results,” Barbin told the Izvestia newspaper. The envoy added that Copenhagen has “rejected any contact with Russia regarding this criminal case, and doesn’t show any interest in organizing an independent international investigation.” ● The pipelines built to deliver gas from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea were attacked in September 2022. Although the damage was discovered in international waters, the area is within the economic zones of Denmark and Sweden. Denmark, Sweden, and Germany have launched separate probes into the sabotage, but no concrete findings have been revealed so far.

Prices for a barrel of oil jumped 7 to 8% last night in pre-market trading, after OPEC+ announced a reduction in oil production of about 1.1 Million barrels per day. | As this story is written, 10:04 AM EDT on April 3, 2023, The West Texas Intermediate contract jumped 5.74% to $80.01 a barrel, while Brent jumped 5.67% to $84.42. This will translate into higher prices at the gasoline pump for cars and the diesel pump for trucks, which then causes a rise in consumer prices for everything that has to move by truck. This type of demand inflation cannot be halted by central banks raising interest rates. NEW PRICING MECHANISM More shockingly, the top oil producers in Russia and in India agreed to change the market pricing mechanism they use to price oil transactions. The largest oil producer in Russia and India's top refiner have agreed to adopt the Asia-focused Dubai oil price benchmark. They have abandoned the Europe-dominated Brent benchmark. The signals are changing. This will make it much easier for countries to buy oil WITHOUT USING THE U.S. DOLLAR! That's huge. They just told the US / Eurotrash to FOAD. (F*ck-Off and Die) Basically, they're sizzling the West' bacon and there's nothing [the U.S.] can do about it short of war.

The Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) was formed in 2019 following widespread demonstrations | A new political party, the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), is set to dominate the Netherlands’ upper house of parliament after it secured 15 senate seats in provincial elections, stunning the political establishment. ● BBB was established in 2019 as a riposte to Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservative VVD party, which sought to fall in line with European Union regulations on nitrogen emissions by significantly decreasing livestock numbers and buying out thousands of farms. 💬 “Nobody can ignore us any longer,” party leader Caroline van der Plas told Dutch broadcaster Radio 1 as the results of the election became clear. “Voters have spoken out very clearly against this government’s policies.” ● The BBB platform was primarily based on influencing the nitrogen issue, after environmental groups saw success in court cases petitioning the government to limit emissions to preserve nature before building permits can be granted. This, in turn, heavily impacted the construction sector.

The French police have detained over 200 people at protests against the controversial pension reform in central Paris, French media reported on Thursday, citing a police source. | Earlier in the day, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said that the government had adopted the law on raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 years by invoking Article 49.3 of the constitution, which allowed the government to pass the bill without parliamentary approval. ● The latest figures released by reports suggest some 217 people have been arrested, although the tally is expected to increase as protests continue. Police units are chasing several hundred protesters who scattered through the streets in central Paris after police dispersed the protest on the Place de la Concorde, reports have detailed. Protesters have overturned trash bins, which have piled up in large numbers on the streets as a result of the garbage collectors' strike. In the meantime, protests continue across France, local media report.

■ Elisabeth Borne déclenche l'article 49.3 pour faire adopter la réforme des retraites (France Soir)(Vidéo)

Maria Zakharova (Russian MFA) | What a strange position this is | Serbian Economy Minister Rade Basta: 💬 "Our country is already paying a high price for not imposing sanctions against Russia, and this is becoming unbearable. As Economy Minister, I cannot accept the pressure exerted on Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and we remain silent. For this reason, I [advocate] the imposition of sanctions against Russia, I support President Vucic in protecting state and national interests and I fully trust him. In this regard, I ask the Serbian Government and all ministers to speak on this issue." ■ What a strange position this is: America is putting pressure on Serbia, and the Serbian minister is calling for action against Russia. Maybe it would be better for the Serbian minister to speak out decisively against pressure on his country? Russia, unlike the United States, has always respected Serbia and its people. And it's not just the historical truth, but the obvious fact: with the introduction of sanctions against Russia, the pressure of the United States on Serbia will not end, but will only increase. ((T)

■ Serbian party demands dismissal of minister who called for sanctions against Russia (TASS)

The likelihood that the United States and China will engage in a direct confrontation is quite high, political scientist Vladimir Kireyev told Izvestia. 💬 "Now, the probability that the US and China will come to a direct conflict is quite high. It is the US that is provoking the situation as the window of opportunities to cause serious damage to China is closing. China is trying to postpone the conflict as much as possible and even avoid it altogether. The reason is that taking into consideration economic development, in 10 to 15 years, China will be much stronger than the US and the Chinese won’t need to engage in a conflict to protect their interests," the expert concluded. [link]

"To be transparent we will publish this whole correspondence quite soon and distribute it among the members of the Security Council," Dmitry Polyansky added | Russia will distribute the correspondence with Germany, Denmark and Sweden on the investigation of Nord Stream accidents among the members of the UN Security Council soon, First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said in an interview with The Dive YouTube channel on Thursday. 💬 "They are denying any access to information, they are denying any participation regardless of the fact that we are an affected party, so we should be part of this investigation, but they are just writing to us some letters saying that we’re doing what we’re doing and mind your own business. To be transparent we will publish this whole correspondence quite soon and distribute it among the members of the Security Council," Polyansky [said]. The recent information in Western media on Nord Stream accidents is an attempt to divert attention away from what really happened, the diplomat noted.

■ Moscow to expose Nord Stream stonewalling (RT.com) The diplomat claimed that, in a nutshell, the message from the three nations was: “We are doing what we are doing, mind your own business.” The Russian mission will distribute the exchanges among members of the UN Security Council in an effort to initiate an “independent, unbiased international investigation with all parties concerned,” Polyansky added. Moscow wants the UNSC to authorize Secretary General Antonio Guterres to launch a probe into the attack on the undersea energy links, which were built to pump Russian natural gas directly to Germany. Three of the four pipes were ruptured by explosions in September last year in the territorial waters of Denmark and Sweden. According to Polyansky, Russia intends to put its proposal to a vote by the end of March, although Western powers will inevitably object.

Shelves in a provincial Russian city are groaning under piles of fresh food | As British supermarkets ration eggs and an array of fruit and vegetables amid shortages provoked in large part by the Ukraine war, no such hardships afflict Vladimir Putin's citizens. The pictures were taken at a food hall, two superstores and a corner shop in Perm, a city with a population the size of Birmingham in the Ural mountains, a 24-hour drive from Moscow. The images suggest the West's much-vaunted sanctions on Russia, imposed to punish President Putin for his invasion, are not having a deep bite.

The exorbitant windfall revenues amid a surge in demand and sky-high energy prices have earned Norway bitter accusations of profiteering from its numerous customers, including Germany, Poland and the EU at large. | The Norwegian state coffers earned record oil and gas revenues last year after the hostilities in Ukraine and ensuing sanctions sent energy prices soaring, Statistics Norway (SSB) reported. ● Altogether, Norway earned NOK 1.5 trillion ($140 billion) in revenues from oil and gas, by far the highest ever recorded, according to statistics, and nearly three times the NOK 498 billion ($48 billion) earned in 2021, the number-cruncher said. ● Norway, one of the world's leaders in the export of energy resources, assumed the role of the EU's top supplier following the bloc's massive sanctions campaign against Russia over its special op in Ukraine. In 2022, Brussels decided to stop imports from Russia and the Nordic country ramped up own production. ● Oslo's additional income was boosted by a record surge in European gas prices over the summer, which have since subsided.

Editor's Comment: We've never heard them complain about oil producers like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates. Germany, Poland and the EU at large probably would not have given in to envy and anger if Norway had been a much bigger country, or more important on the world scene, if you like. What they really are complaining about, is that these windfall revenues seem inappropriate for tiny Norway, out of place kind of...In the time-honoured order of things, big countries may be rich (or not so rich) in terms of revenues, medium-sized nations a bit less so, and small countries are supposed to...well, to know their place. Plus, and this is extremely important, oil is supposed to be in the Middle East, and not up in the godforsaken North somewhere (Where is that damn country anyways?) See? Too rich for its own good - gotta send some troops up there. In fact, the U.S. already has done so, and as things now stand, they already have four bases in tiny Norway. Norway's done for. Sure thing! Germany and Poland, are you happier now?

Corriere della Sera | The activist was taken away by police after several days of occupation of the Norwegian Ministry of Energy Policy | Greta Thunberg was arrested yesterday (Tuesday 28 February) in Norway because, together with Sami (people of Lapland) activists, she had been occupying the Ministry of Energy Policy in Oslo since Thursday. The activist was protesting together with indigenous people against the construction of the Fosen wind farm. ● Thunberg, together with the other activists, had blocked the entrance to the Norwegian Ministry of Energy to demand compliance with the 2021 final ruling for the dismantling of the wind turbines, which gives the Sami people a right. 'There is no ecological transition without human rights'. The turbines, however, are still there, and according to the environmentalist and Lapp activists, the wind farm would damage the reindeer herds, the primary source of livelihood for the indigenous people in the north-west of Norway. ● The police operation was triggered in the night, at around 2.30 a.m., when the police removed a dozen protesters by weight. Thunberg, along with the others, was taken to the barracks for a few hours before being released. (Translation with: DeepL.com)

■ This is how Fosen could happen (02/28/23)

Campaigners from Nature and Youth and Norwegian Samirs Riksforbund Nuorat
have been protesting against the Ministry of Oil and Energy in Oslo since Feb. 23,
2023. The reason for the action is that the wind turbines at Fosen, which the
Supreme Court has said are illegal, have not been demolished. The picture shows
Sami artist Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen being removed by Norwegian police the night
before Monday Feb. 27. Photo: Rasmus Madsen Berg, Natur og ungdom

In October 2021, Norway’s Supreme Court ruled that two wind plants at Fosen are violating Sami rights. However, the wind farm is still operating. | On 11 October 2021, Norway’s Supreme Court unanimously found this to be in violation of Article 27 of the Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and considered the wind power plants to «deny the right to cultural exercise». The permit for the wind power plant was thus declared invalid by the court. The Supreme Court did not determine what should be done with the invalid power plant. The government says it is working to make the invalid permit compliant with SP Art 27, which is why it has not yet been dismantled or moved. The continuous violation of human rights has now lasted for 500 days with no sign of resolution. ● The business model of the wind power industry has taken a shortcut through laws and regulations to obtain permits to build and produce wind power plants. The number and size of offenses this entails varies from area to area. The Sami community should have been contacted by the developer in advance to obtain their consent, but the process was ignored, along with the information of the neighbors and other people with rights in the planning area. The municipalities should have checked in advance which laws and regulations could come into conflict with permission in this planning area, but this was not properly done due to an unclear division of com-petence. ● Norwegian energy authorities should have made sure that all rights, laws and regulations were properly managed either by themselves or by the municipality. Instead, neither the municipality nor the energy authorities have carried out the coordination obligation of the legislation, and several breaches of the law have occurred. ● As a result, the wind power plants at Fosen were built illegally, they are too big with too much noise and with too much negative impact on the grazing areas, on the reindeer and the opportunity to run reindeer herding. Reindeer herding and wind power plants are incompatible, and cannot exist together.

■ Aktivistene møtte Aasland: – Tåler ikke at du sitter og prater den samme tompraten (NRK) (DeepL.com)

■ 500 days of human rights violations are enough! | NSR Nuorat, the youth organisation of the Norwegian Sami National Association (NSR), and Nature and Youth are now marking 500 days of human rights violations. In protest against the Norwegian authorities' delay of the Fosen verdict, they have been staying in the premises of the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy since 23 February. Eleven Supreme Court judges support the unanimous Fosen ruling that Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was violated when Fosen Vind destroyed the last winter grazing areas of the Sør-Fosen Sijte and Nord-Fosen Siida.

Having launched the world’s first floating nuclear power plant, the Sturgis, in the 1960s, the US currently has no active floating NPPs, only projects to bring them to the market. As of now, Russia is in the lead in the practical development of floating NPPs, having launched one in 2019, which has since served in the Chukchi Sea. | A group of Norwegian businesses are in dialogue with US companies that lease out floating nuclear power plants, managing director of the Federation of Norwegian Industries Stein Lier-Hansen said during a power conference in the city of Stavanger. ● The back-ground to these plans is a possibly strained power situation in several places across the Nordic country, which, according to Lier-Hansen, must be remedied by "exploring all possibilities." ● Across the entire country, companies are queuing to connect to the power grid in a recent push for sustainability. Businesses ranging from fish farms and seafood production to electric car chargers, slaughterhouses, hydrogen production, charging facilities and data centers need huge amounts of electricity. Many of them are located in northern Norway. In this region alone, an additional 1,400 megawatts of power is needed.

■ Opnar for å bruke amerikanske atomskip som kraftverk langs norskekysten (NRK) (yandex.ru & DeepL.com)

Politjoystic (Политджойстик) | Unexploded bombs have been left near the pipes of the Nord Streams. If you lift them up, you can establish the type, the devices used and who made them. | Unexploded bombs, could tear apart the US, German and Norwegian governments. Collective Biden understands this and the next fork is: either try to overshadow this dangerous plot with something more glaring, like a military attack by Poland on Belarus and sneak out the remaining evidence, or keep quiet and wait it out, trusting in luck. (Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)

The United Kingdom is planning to confiscate frozen Russian assets and is preparing relevant legislation, Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin told Sputnik. | Earlier this month, EU leaders agreed to speed up legal work on seizing Russia-owned assets held in foreign banks to support Ukraine's reconstruction. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has described EU attempts to seize Russian money, including that of the Russian Central Bank, as theft. ● "It is well known that there is a recognition in almost all Western countries, including London, that such actions are absolutely illegal, and that there are no relevant laws. But the perverted logic is that such laws must be invented, and, as far as I understand, this is what the European Union and Washington are engaged in," Kelin said. He added that he could not provide details on any specific cases, but said that "preparation of some kind of legislation that would move in this direction is indeed underway."

Seymour Hersh | The New York Times called it a “mystery,” but the United States executed a covert sea operation that was kept secret—until now | Last June, the Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that, three months later, destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, according to a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning. ● Two of the pipelines, which were known collectively as Nord Stream 1, had been providing Germany and much of Western Europe with cheap Russian natural gas for more than a decade. A second pair of pipelines, called Nord Stream 2, had been built but were not yet operational. Now, with Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border and the bloodiest war in Europe since 1945 looming, President Joseph Biden saw the pipelines as a vehicle for Vladimir Putin to weaponize natural gas for his political and territorial ambitions. ● Biden’s decision to sabotage the pipelines came after more than nine months of highly secret back and forth debate inside Washington’s national security community about how to best achieve that goal. For much of that time, the issue was not whether to do the mission, but how to get it done with no overt clue as to who was responsible. THE OPERATION: Norway was the perfect place to base the mission. In the past few years of East-West crisis, the U.S. military has vastly expanded its presence inside Norway, whose western border runs 1,400 miles along the north Atlantic Ocean and merges above the Arctic Circle with Russia. The Pentagon has created high paying jobs and contracts, amid some local controversy, by investing hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade and expand American Navy and Air Force facilities in Norway. The new works included, most importantly, an advanced synthetic aperture radar far up north that was capable of penetrating deep into Russia and came online just as the American intelligence community lost access to a series of long-range listening sites inside China. ● [In] Washington, planners knew they had to go to Norway. “They hated the Russians, and the Norwegian navy was full of superb sailors and divers who had generations of experience in highly profitable deep-sea oil and gas exploration,” the source said. They also could be trusted to keep the mission secret.

■ 2 Minutes of U.S. Official Incitement Against Nord Stream Pipeline (C-Span2/You Tube)
■ The West attempts to silently curtail Nord Stream terrorist acts’ investigation — Kremlin (TASS)
■ Snowden comments on Nord Stream revelations (RT.com)
■ Some Small Corrections To Seymour Hersh's New Nord Stream Revelations (MoA)
■ Seymour Hersh on the American "covert sea operation" to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines (eugyppius)
■ "Северные потоки" взорвала страна-террорист (RIA Novosti)[DeepL.com]
■ Россия пригрозила США последствиями за атаки на «Северные потоки» (lenta.ru)[DeepL.com]

■ The United States, Norway and NATO have Committed an Act of War Against Russia (Hal Turner) | Very long story short: The President of the United States ordered his staff to come up with a way to "deal with" the Nord Stream Pipeline. They did. It got blown up. This was a crime. It is also, an Act of War against Russia.

Simon Tilford | Things weren’t nearly this bad in the 1970s—but the country’s leaders haven't grasped that yet. | By any criteria, the United Kingdom faces a serious economic and social crisis, one that will deepen without big shifts in policy. Yet there is little sense of this crisis among the country’s elite, not least its politicians. ● The power of narratives helps explain this disconnect. The gap between the U.K.’s reality as portrayed by the dominant narrative of its economy’s performance and real life as experienced by its average citizen has widened to the breaking point. The resulting political distortions are now making the underlying problems even worse. ● Narratives and the emotional impulses that drive them play an underappreciated role in our understanding of the way economies work and whether they are perceived to be performing well or not. Sometimes, there is real grounding to those narratives; other times, they are largely fictional constructs. This does not necessarily mean that those who believe them and propagate them are dishonest, only that their personal experience may not be representative of the economy as a whole.

US sanctions against Russia are illegal and are unilateral moves unauthorized by the United Nations. Now the US is even transferring the personal assets of Russian individuals to others, which highlights the plundering nature of the US as a robber. | According to US media reports, US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Friday the first transfer of forfeited assets from sanctions against a Russian oligarch during an appearance with Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin at the US Justice Department. The assets, confiscated from Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev after his indictment on sanctions evasions in April, will go toward aiding Ukraine. ● The transfer of assets is a high-profile political stunt, which the US government is pretty good at. The $5.4 million assets can be just pocket money for the US - it offers to Ukraine as aid, while Ukraine would use it to buy weapons from the US to feed the US military-industrial complex. This reminds people of how the US dealt with the $7 billion in frozen funds from Afghanistan's central bank. In February 2022, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order allowing approximately half of the $7 billion to be reserved for victims of 9/11 attacks, which means the US keeps the money for its own. This is the very US - robbing money while at the same time appearing to be compassionate for others.

Sweden and Turkey announced large discoveries of rare earth minerals this month. Sweden’s discovery in particular could be a major step toward breaking Chinese dominance in the rare earth industry. | Rare earth minerals are used in numerous high-tech products, notably including “green energy” systems and electric vehicles (EV). Efforts by Western governments to forcibly transition their economies to wind turbines, solar power, and electric cars have dramatically increased the demand for these minerals and China is the dominant supplier. ● Communist China has a history of using economic leverage to achieve its authoritarian political goals and it does not particularly care what environmental or human rights activists think about the ecological impact or labor policies of its mining operations.

■ Norway Discovers Abundance of Costly Rare Earths on Its Seabed (01/31/23)

While rare earths are in high demand due to the role they play in the transition to a greener economy, none are mined in Europe as of now, leaving the continent dependent on imports in a market dominated by China. | A study by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has identified a "substantial" amount of seabed minerals and metals, ranging from copper to precious rare earths. ● ranging from copper to precious rare earths. 💬 "Of the metals found on the seabed in the study area, magnesium, niobium, cobalt and rare earth minerals are found on the European Commission’s list of critical minerals. Costly, rare minerals such as neodymium and dysprosium are extremely important for magnets in wind turbines and the engines in electric vehicles." the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said in a statement. ● These resources are in high demand due to the role they play in the aspired transition to a greener economy. ● The resources estimate of remote areas in the Norwegian Sea and Greenland Sea specified some 38 million tons of copper (nearly twice the volume mined worldwide each year), and 45 million tons of zinc accumulated in polymetallic compounds. Furthermore, it also featured about 24 million tons of magnesium, 3.1 million tons of cobalt and 1.7 million tons of cerium, a rare earth element used in alloys. The findings also feature other rare earths, such as neodymium, yttrium and dysprosium, yet in smaller quantities. ● The Nordic country, a major oil and gas exporter, is now pondering whether to open its offshore areas to deep-sea mining. Environmental groups have urged the authorities to postpone its seabed exploits until more studies detail the impact of mining on the fragile ecosystems. Among others, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research emphasized a "great lack of knowledge" of deep oceans, citing the potential of finding new and undiscovered species.

Manfred Weber, leader of the European People's Party, the largest in the European Parliament, on Thursday said that the European Union needs to switch to war economy against the backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis. | European countries are currently unable to quickly provide the necessary weapons "neither for their own defense, nor for Ukraine." In this regard the EU countries should increase their capacities for the production of weapons and ammunition, he said. Weber added that he was disappointed by the recent German-French talks, which resulted in "nothing concrete." In his opinion, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron have not yet been able to respond to "historical challenges."

■ Now Send Fighter Jets: Ukraine Wants Air Superiority After Securing Battle Tanks (TPV)

The leader of the Brexit movement, Nigel Farage, has said that the globalist green ideology surrounding the commitment to ‘net zero’ has replaced Christianity as the driving force within the governing Conservative Party. | Following the publication of the Independent Review of Net Zero by Conservative MP Chris Skidmore last week, which called for the government to double down on wind and solar power, as well as banning new gas boilers within a decade, Nigel Farage surmised that — in light of the economic crisis befalling the nation — the green agenda stands as the issue in which the Tories are most “out of touch with their voters”. 💬 “So unwavering is the belief among most politicians these days that Britain can have a direct influence on future global temperatures, it is as though climate change has replaced Christianity in the Palace of Westminster,” Mr Farage wrote in London’s Daily Telegraph. The Brexit champion said that there is an urgent need for honest debate to be had around the green agenda so that the “Westminster class [and their] media friends” can actually hear “some common sense”.

The world’s third-biggest crude importer purchased an average of 1.2 million barrels a day from Russia in December, according to data from Vortexa. That’s 29 per cent more than in November. | India bought a record amount of Russian oil last month, with the country importing a whopping 33 times more than a year earlier. The world’s third-biggest crude importer purchased an average of 1.2 million barrels a day from Russia in December, according to data from Vortexa. That’s 29 per cent more than in November. The country is now easily India’s biggest source of oil after overtaking Iraq and Saudi Arabia several months ago. Indian refiners have been lapping up cheap Russian crude since the invasion of Ukraine caused many buyers to shun the shipments. ● The sharp increase in December is possibly the result of deepening discounts due to additional sanctions from the G-7 and European Union including a $60-a-barrel price cap. 💬“Russia has likely offered its crude at an attractive discount to Indian refiners, which have surpassed China as the largest importer of Russian crude,” said Serena Huang, lead Asia analyst at Vortexa. Besides Urals, India has stepped up imports of other Russian grades like Arco, Sakhalin and Varandey in recent months, she said. ● India meets more than 85 per cent of its oil demand via imports, which makes it highly vulnerable to price volatility. The state-owned refiners, who have been prevented by the government from raising pump prices of diesel and gasoline since May, have increasingly favored cheaper Russian imports. ● Imports from India’s two other main suppliers also increased last month. Purchases from Iraq climbed 7 per cent to around 886,000 barrels a day, while those from Saudi Arabia increased 12 per cent to about 748,000 barrels a day, according to Vortexa.

Fixing the sabotaged pipelines and resuming imports from Russia would be cheaper than buying LNG, Saxony’s governor has said | The governor of the German state of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, has called for the repair of the sabotaged Nord Stream pipelines, arguing that operators are running out of time before the vital gas link becomes unusable. In an interview with Germany’s Funke Media Group on Saturday, Kretschmer said that while 💬 “the issue of Russian gas is not on the table” as long as the conflict in Ukraine is ongoing, Germany must preserve the option to “buy something other than expensive liquefied natural gas after the war.” Therefore the Russian-German consortium responsible for Nord Stream “must ensure that the pipeline can be repaired.” “We’re running out of time. If the damage is not repaired, Nord Stream will become unusable for a long time.” ● Germany began importing Russian gas via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in 2011, until deliveries were halted by Russia’s Gazprom in September after it said EU sanctions were impeding vital maintenance. Its sister pipeline, Nord Stream 2, was due to come online this year, but certification was indefinitely suspended by Berlin in February, days before Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine.

The growing role of digital currencies draws the attention of the world's governments seeking to find a way to stabilize their countries' financial systems by introducing new technologies. | The Bank of Tanzania is considering the introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the institution stated, saying that it "has adopted a phased, cautious and risk based approach" to the issue. ● The central bank is taking into account the experience of other states, noting that six countries have canceled the adoption of CBDC due to challenges in the implementation phase. ● In October 2021, Nigeria became the first African country to introduce the use of a central bank digital currency, eNaira. According to the country's government, the currency "serves as both a medium of exchange and a store of value, offering better payment prospects in retail transactions when compared to cash payments." South Africa and Ghana have been reported to participate in pilot CBDC projects, with several other African countries being in the research stage.

An EC spokesman has also called for criminalizing circumventing the bloc’s sanctions against Moscow | So stealing Russian assets is OK, but a disagreement about their economic war against Russia is "criminal"? | The EU supports Estonia’s push to create a legal mechanism for confiscating Russian assets which were frozen as part of Ukraine-related sanctions, European Commission spokesman Christian Wigand said on Thursday as cited by RIA Novosti. Wigand has also called for criminalizing violations of the sanctions imposed on Moscow, adding that this would speed up the process of "seizing" frozen Russian assets. The EC outlined a proposal to harmonize criminal offenses and penalties for the violation of the bloc’s restrictive measures in December. The draft is expected to be discussed by the European Parliament and the Council soon.

Elena Panina (Елена Панина) | The harsh reaction of the collective West, which has taken the maximum possible sanctions against Russia, continues to have a negative impact on the economies of the EU countries above all. At the same time, the leverage of the West is weakening considerably in a confrontation that the parties involved perceive not as just another regional conflict, but as an existential confrontation in fact. | Europe, which has entered the sanctions arena as a fearless gladiator with NATO as its shield, is gradually having to admit that, despite all its desire to punish Moscow for its political independence, the West is running out of trump cards. The backlash against the EU economy cannot be concealed, nor can Russia be stopped. "Nine sanctions packages and less than zero impact!" - lamented MEP Guy Verhofstadt, for example. ● 2022 was a year of lost illusions - both in the West and in Russia. But while Moscow seems to have said goodbye to the possibility of equal political and economic cooperation with the West, European politicians are not yet ready to admit that the period of development of EU countries was largely due to cheap Russian resources and not to the brilliance of Brussels bureaucrats. (Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator) (free version)

Norway, one of the world's top exporters of energy, rose to the role of the EU's leading supplier following the bloc's massive sanctions campaign against Russia over the special op in Ukraine. However, the windfall profits fueled accusations of mercantilism from embattled European nations amid an energy crisis. | Norway has awarded dozens of new offshore oil and gas exploration permits to 25 companies in the latest licensing round. Of the 47 drilling permits, 29 involve the North Sea, 16 the Norwegian Sea and two the Barents Sea in the Arctic. ● Norwegian state-controlled energy giant Equinor (formerly known as Statoil) was the single biggest recipient with stakes in 26 of the licenses, while Norwegian independent oil company Aker BP won stakes in 17 licenses. ● The licensing came amid expectations of record oil output voiced by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate earlier this week. Norway's oil production is expected to rise by 6.9 percent in 2023, while gas volumes are forecast to remain unchanged near record highs. ● Investment by oil and gas producers, including in exploration, is expected to rise to NOK 189 billion ($19.1 billion) this year and peak at NOK 202 billion ($20.2 billion) in 2025.

■ West-bound Russian oil diverted to Asia (RT.com)

The situation is most dire in Greece, where more than half of respondents are struggling to pay heating bills, a think tank has found | According to the survey, dubbed Europe Project, 26% of EU residents, or roughly 100 million people, are unable to properly heat their homes. Greeks appeared to be the worst affected, with 56% of the population facing difficulties with heating. In Portugal and France, 34% of residents described the same problems. Finland, Hungary, Austria and Denmark were the least affected, with less than 15% of residents admitting to difficulties. ● Every fourth respondent in the survey said they were unable to pay their heating bill at least once during the past year. That figure was also the highest in Greece, with 51% of the population affected, followed by Cyprus with 37%, Ireland and Bulgaria, with 35% each. ● The respondents blamed inflation for their problems, as rising prices on everything from energy to food impact their ability to pay bills.

Yet There is Almost No Opposition or Outcry—Even When Sanctions are Increasingly Having a Boomerang Effect | The U.S. may try piously to defend sanctions as a ‘response to foreign tyranny,’ but they are really a pretext to steal foreign bank accounts and cripple commercial rivals of U.S. corporations. ● n November 14, the Biden administration announced yet another round of sanctions on Russia, targeting this time Russia’s military supply chains by imposing sanctions on 14 individuals and 28 entities that it said were part of a transnational network that procured technology to support Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine. ● One of the companies blacklisted was Milandr, a Russian microelectronics company that Washington says is part of Moscow’s military research and development structure. The sanctions additionally targeted several aviation-related companies and two individuals—Abbas Djuma and Tigran Khristoforovich Srabionov—who facilitated the Russian mercenary Wagner Group’s acquisition of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from Iran, which have been used in the Ukraine War.

Berlin would reportedly support the "confiscation" if its allies follow suit | Germany is open to using the assets of the Russian central bank, frozen since last year as a result of sanctions, to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. The German government is reportedly in favor of using the funds in Ukraine, however no official position on the matter has yet been taken, as members of cabinet are divided on the issue, Bloomberg noted, citing people familiar with the discussions. ● The EU and G7 froze some €300 billion ($311 billion) in reserves belonging to the Russian central bank, along with billions in assets owned by sanctioned Russian businessmen. ● German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock insists that at least some of the frozen assets must be seized, while Finance Minister Christian Lindner is concerned that the move could create a dangerous precedent and lead European nations and their allies into a legal quagmire, sources told Bloomberg.

Elena Panina (Елена Панина) | Scholz ready to confiscate Russian assets - but only in the gang with allies | "Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government supports Ukraine's demand for war reparations, but has not yet taken an official position on seizing assets from the Russian state," Bloomberg writes. ● There is no unified position on this issue in the German government, the agency noted. For example, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock is for the seizure of at least part of the frozen Russian assets. Christian Lindner, the German finance minister, is worried that "confiscating the CBR's assets could set a dangerous precedent and lead European countries and their allies into a legal quagmire". All in all, the Scholz government is willing to go ahead and confiscate our assets, but only in conjunction with our allies - so as not to take full responsibility. ● In total, Bloomberg estimates that the EU and G7 countries have frozen about €300bn ($311bn) of the Central Bank's reserves. The EU has also blocked €19bn worth of assets of sanctioned Russian businessmen. Bloomberg does not rule out that an "Afghan scheme" will be applied to Russian gold reserves. The US has placed the $3.5bn Afghanistan Central Bank in the Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland, overseen by a four-member international supervisory board, which ensures that the current Afghan authorities will not gain access to the money. But whatever legal procedures the "Western partners" may come up with, Russia considers this an international act of theft. Obviously, the only way to get these funds back is by force. ● At the same time, we believe there is a more elegant and technical way out of the situation. The CBR's frozen reserves are the funds that our country really earned from selling energy resources. Therefore, nothing prevents the CBR from issuing Russian rubles at the market rate for this amount. And then transfer those rubles to the Russian government, which uses them to develop our economy and for military and social needs. (Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator)