michael russo twitter

Putin Tried to Blackmail Europe... it failed

this video was brought to you by our,brand new channel tldr business,subscribe by clicking the link in the,description,from the very outset of the war there,were legitimate concerns that Putin,would use several levers at his disposal,to either test Europe's patience or,ratchet up the pain when it comes to,supporting Ukraine one of the biggest,being Russian oil and gas prices Before,the War Began Russia supplied anywhere,between 40 to 50 percent of the eu's,natural gas Imports and so as one of,Europe's main core energy producers,Russia was seemingly in a good position,to use that lever and effectively hold,Europe to Ransom But ultimately the,question is whether Putin has failed to,do just that,foreign,as we see it there are broadly three,factors at play as to why Putin's plan,has failed so far the weather foresight,and political will first and foremost,the weather for the most part here,Europe has been incredibly lucky,experiencing unseasonably warm some,would even go as far as saying hot,weather eight European countries have,already seen National temperature,records for January broken in fact,Bilbao in Spain recorded a temperature,of 25.1 degrees Celsius on New Year's,Day equivalent to the average in July,and more than 10 degrees above the,average for December even before the new,year the UK Ireland France and Spain all,declared 2022 their hottest year on,record this unseasonably warm weather,has ultimately meant that demands for,energy is much lower than previous years,in certain parts of Europe when it comes,to the second Factor foresight what we,mentioned at the top of the video isn't,and wasn't anything new,from the very outset of the ward,to either test Europe's patience or,ratchet up the pain when it comes to,supporting Ukraine in other words we,kind of knew that Putin was either going,to or could use natural gas supplies as,a proxy war between the west and Russia,and so very quickly steps were taken to,mitigate and reduce dependency on Russia,that is to say as the scale of the war,became Ever Clear Europe began bracing,for the worst nordstream 2 a major,natural gas pipeline connecting Russia,and Germany via the Baltic Sea had its,certificate suspended in February last,year more importantly in substantive,terms European nations rushed to fill up,gas storage facilities buying boatloads,of liquefied natural gas or LNG from the,likes of the US Qatar and elsewhere,these gas storage facilities were filled,to near capacity in the Autumn and are,still averaging 84 percent full compared,to 52 percent with the same time last,year in fact at the time of writing most,trees in Europe were actually adding to,their gas storage more than they were,drawing down the fact stores are so high,is given many breathing room all of,which brings us on to the third Factor,political will both when it comes to,supporting their citizens and standing,shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine many,European leaders have gone far beyond,what was otherwise expected of them from,Germany's major investment in the new,era of its military through to the,doggedly neutral nations of Sweden and,Finland applying to join the NATO,military Alliance things that were,otherwise unimaginable to happen during,peacetime did happen added to that,countries throughout Europe have spent,truly enormous amounts of money both,directly supporting Ukraine and,supporting their citizens amid Rising,Energy prices and the cost of living,crisis in the UK the original energy,build support scheme was widely touted,as perhaps the single most expensive tax,or spend policy in British peacetime,history before being slightly scaled,back Germany announced a huge 200,billion Euro energy subsidy program,Italy has a marked some 21 billion euros,to help families and firms many,countries have also urged their citizens,to cut down on energy usage as much as,they can with the countries themselves,leading the way local authorities in,Denmark cut down on Christmas lighting,over the festive season France reduced,the temperatures of public swimming,pools and limited Heating in homes and,offices to a maximum of 19 degrees,whilst in Germany lighting up public,buildings was heavily restricted,plunging the likes of the Brandenburg,gate Into Darkness all three factors,together have allowed for natural gas,prices to come tumbling down from their,lofty highs to close to 350 Euros per,megawatt hour to pre-invasion levels of,about 76 Euro a mega hour none of this,is to say that Putin's gas War hasn't,tested and ultimately hurt European,nations and citizens while Putin may,have failed to effectively,European economies and cut off nations,from supporting Ukraine The increased,cost of living is deeply affecting a lot,of people with many unable to afford to,heat their homes and many more forced to,cut back in some cases this has led to,increased deaths given the annual flu,season coupled with the remnants of,covid circulation in fact The Economist,built a statistical model to predict,excess mortality ar

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