Oil And Gas Again

The conflict in Ukraine is in several ways reminiscent of the first Gulf war. Reminiscent from the perspective that the actual background to what is happening is over oil and gas, the main difference being, that Western countries are not "directly" involved.

Back in 2012, a huge gas field was discovered in the Black Sea, Putin wanted to snuggle up with Ukraine and help extract said reserves, but Ukraine decided to team up with Shell. At nearly the same time another massive field was discovered in Eastern Ukraine, somewhere in the region of 3.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.

The threat to the Russian economy was huge, Putin could never allow Ukraine to supply not only their own country, but also Europe.

The bread basket and the lavish returns are going to swing away from Russia and land in the lap of their neighbour. Putin is a narcissist, and a blatantly obvious one at that. If he cannot have or control what he wants, then he will do what ever is required to ensure he keeps all his eggs in his nest.

Have you ever seen a female dog (a bitch) that thinks she is either pregnant or has puppies, she will defend her bed, her space and attack anyone or thing going near it.... That's pretty much Putin.

The risk of Russia losing control over the supply of mainly gas to Europe is huge, not only devastating to what has been for a long time a dying economy, but the fact is that China is like the grim reaper, sitting silently behind Russia and just waiting for the day the money into the country stops.

This is the concern from my perspective. Putin is cornered, he has the West to the right, and China to the left. He has to fight for survival, not just for himself, but for his country.

Now don't get me wrong, the West would NEVER let China take Russia, but, Russia is becoming more and more isolated.

At some point Putin will have no other option than to sell a slice of his soul to China.....

Does he want to do that? No, but desperation makes people do stupid things, and there is the concern. How desperate is Putin, what will he do next to protect his gas and oil revenues?

Simon Harris - Party Nominating Officer