Oorlog in Oekraïne #929 onzeker richting de lente.

quote:

Op woensdag 14 februari 2024 08:43 schreef Frutsel het volgende:
[ twitter ]

quote:

Austria announces intentions to terminate gas supplies contract with Russia
Austria is considering the option of terminating the multi-year contract between the energy company OMV and Russia's Gazprom for gas supplies to the country
The Austrian Minister for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Leonore Gewessler, revealed the information.

"Our dependence on Russian natural gas threatens the prosperity, security and future of our country. Our goal is to get rid of Russian natural gas. As a sovereign country, we cannot simply accept the fact that the share of Russian gas is increasing, not decreasing," the minister said.

The statement notes that over the past decades, Austria has become "highly dependent on Russian gas supplies." The last significant step towards this dependence was the extension of long-term contracts for the supply of natural gas from Russia in 2018.

"These wrong decisions led to the fact that at the beginning of the Russian aggression, Austria was already receiving 80% of its gas from Russia," the ministry said.

Despite the federal government's measures to reduce this dependence, the share of Russian natural gas in Austria is still "too high," and in recent months it has been growing. According to the Ministry of Energy, one of the reasons for this is that the natural gas supply contracts concluded by Austrian OMV with Gazprom provide for a fixed obligation to purchase gas (take-or-pay). In view of this, these contracts have been called "bonded."

"This means that payment must be made in any case, even if Russian gas is not purchased. As a result of these bonded contracts, against the backdrop of falling overall gas consumption and unchanged imports, the share of Russian natural gas is growing. After all, gas consumption in Austria decreased by a quarter from 100.3 terawatt-hours in 2021 to 75.6 terawatt-hours in 2023," the ministry said.

According to Gewessler, there is a clear market failure, as "there is enough non-Russian natural gas, but energy companies are not buying it."

"If the market is not working, the state must intervene. I am convinced of this: It is time for a legislative commitment to diversification. And I also appeal to all those responsible in the parliament - let's take the next step now," she said.

The Ministry of Energy has put forth several measures that require legislative endorsement by a constitutional majority. Specifically, these proposals revolve around the mandate for energy companies supplying gas to Austrian consumers to possess the capability "to replace the failure of the largest single source of supply with other sources of supply."

In addition, gas suppliers "must provide evidence of a gradual increase in the share of non-Russian natural gas". Another measure mentioned was "preparations for withdrawal from Russian contracts.”

"Another reason for the high level of dependence is the bondage agreement between OMV and Gazprom, which provides for fixed obligations to purchase Russian gas. In order to refuse to supply Russian gas, as is envisaged in Austria and at the EU level, it is necessary to study and implement all options for terminating the contract," the Energy Ministry said.

Gazprom has already unilaterally reduced gas supplies in 2022, and "with the expiration of the transit contract through Ukraine, there is again a risk that Russia will use gas supplies as a weapon and will not supply as much as planned."

"For this reason, the Ministry of Climate Protection supports any possibility of withdrawing from the gas supply contract due to Gazprom's unilateral failure to fulfill its obligations," the statement said.

• Earlier, the Austrian manufacturer of heating boilers Windhager filed for bankruptcy amid rising energy prices due to Russia's war against Ukraine.

quote:

Op woensdag 14 februari 2024 08:48 schreef xpompompomx het volgende:

[..]
Oeh! Toch nog goed nieuws vanmorgen.

quote:

Op dinsdag 13 februari 2024 17:46 schreef LXIV het volgende:

[..]
Dat klopt. En daarmee verwoord je dan ook de essentie om rationeel oorlog te (blijven) voeren: het verbeteren van je onderhandelingspositie. Er zijn echter 2 kanttekeningen: je positie kan ook verslechteren, dat is een risico. En het kost natuurlijk veel mensenlevens en geld, dat is de prijs.
Mogelijk offer je nog 250.000 mensenlevens op en is je onderhandelingspositie verslechterd.
[..]
Is dat zo? Wat wordt dat gesteld dan?

quote:

Speaker Mike Johnson wants Biden meeting before any action on Ukraine and Israel aid package
The House speaker, who has previously met with Biden, is seeking a one-on-one meeting ahead of any movement on legislation that would provide aid for the U.S. allies.

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson wants an in-person, one-on-one meeting with President Joe Biden before proceeding with a supplemental aid package with funding for Ukraine and Israel, a source close to Johnson said.

Johnson, R-La., and his staff have requested the meetings with Biden through senior White House officials several times over the past two months after Johnson's trip last month to the U.S. border in Eagle Pass, Texas, the source said.

The most recent request for a meeting came just over a week ago, several days before the Senate passed a bipartisan $95 billion national security package and before House Republicans impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Johnson's requests for a meeting were not necessarily about the Senate’s version of the supplemental aid but rather about a general path forward on a legislative package.

The Senate bill, which includes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, passed with support from 70 senators.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Tuesday that Biden "refuses" to meet with Johnson.

“Ultimately, the two of them could come to an agreement that can become law,” Scalise said. “And yet the president refuses to even meet. So the president can’t say he’s serious about Ukraine or the border when he refuses to meet with the speaker so they can come to an agreement on this issue.”

A White House official pointed to what the administration characterized as Johnson’s inconsistencies on the border, saying he needed to wrap the negotiations he has having with himself and stop delaying national security needs in the name of politics.

“That body language says: ‘I know I’m in a tough spot. Please bail me out,’” said a Democratic source involved with the supplemental aid package.

Biden met with Johnson alongside other congressional leaders less than a month ago to discuss a bipartisan immigration deal that would have unlocked aid to Ukraine. Johnson at the time called it a “productive” meeting.

Biden also spoke with Johnson last month about border security.

Johnson has said any aid package must be paired with changes to U.S. border policy. However, Senate Republicans this month spiked the bipartisan border security bill negotiated between the parties, which Johnson has roundly criticized.

In a statement Monday, Johnson said the Senate “should have gone back to the drawing board to amend the current bill to include real border security provisions that would actually help end the ongoing catastrophe. Instead, the Senate’s foreign aid bill is silent on the most pressing issue facing our country.”

Now that the Senate has passed an aid package for Ukraine and Israel that doesn't include broad border policy changes, one of Johnson's options includes putting the bill to a vote on the House floor, though the scenario appears to be increasingly unlikely as Republicans voice more skepticism on aid to Ukraine.

Earlier Tuesday, White House spokesman Andrew Bates released a memo calling on the House to pass the Senate bill.

“Will House Republicans side with President Biden and Senators on both sides of the aisle in supporting American national security? Or will House Republicans, in the name of politics, side with Vladimir Putin and the regime in Tehran?” Bates wrote. “The House GOP cannot lose sight of this binary choice. It would be devastating to undercut American national security by voting against our interests and values.”

Johnson this month backed a stand-alone bill that would provide aid to Israel, but the measure fell short of the two-thirds needed for passage under an expedited House rule. Many Democrats had argued that the legislation was politicized because Senate negotiators at the time had agreed to a separate package that addressed aid to Israel, among other measures.

quote:

Op woensdag 14 februari 2024 09:18 schreef Frutsel het volgende:
[ twitter ]

quote:

Op woensdag 14 februari 2024 09:21 schreef xpompompomx het volgende:

[..]
Stad in Frankrijk.

quote:

Op woensdag 14 februari 2024 09:31 schreef Frutsel het volgende:

[..]
Lyon!

quote:

— BREAKING: Huge explosion of a gas pipeline between the cities of Shahrekord and Borujen in Iran
The explosion and its aftermath are so large that they could be seen from a distance as far away as 60km.

— The section of pipeline that exploded is the main artery carrying natural gas from the Persian Gulf refineries towards the major cities including Tehran, Esfahan and Qom

quote:

Houthis strike Iran-bound grain ship in first Red Sea attack in six days
Militants fired missiles at Greek-owned ship, says US military, in strike that raises questions over who Houthis are trying to target

quote:

Op woensdag 14 februari 2024 09:31 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]
[ afbeelding ]
Dat zijn weer mooie cijfers van de laatste twee dagen. Nog 2 meer dagen en we zitten op 400.000 geëlimineerde militairen.

quote:

Op woensdag 14 februari 2024 10:18 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
[ twitter ]
[ twitter ]

Elon Musk: ‘No Way in Hell’ Putin Is Losing War in Ukraine | WSJ News

Elon musk in een debat met meerdere republikeinse politici over het hulppakket aan Oekraïne. En dan wordt er gezegd dat hij geen invloed heeft in de politiek.

quote:

Ukraine invasion sets back Musk's dream for cheaper EVs (2022)
https://www.reuters.com/t(...)-evs-now-2022-03-07/

The conflict in Ukraine has only raised the stakes, pushing nickel and aluminium prices to record highs on Monday on growing fears exports from leading producer Russia could be disrupted. Lithium prices also have increased, more than doubling since year end, as supply fell short of rising demand.

Russia’s largest miner Nornickel produces around 20% of the world’s supplies of high purity class 1 nickel, which is used in EV batteries, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Russia is also a large provider of aluminum, used in batteries.