https://www.youtube.com/embed/8aDyJa2JR9I
Solidarity with Ukraine. Hundreds of thousandshave been on the streets in Germany in the last few days. These are impressive paints. And yet the issues to arises, how much is this solidarityworth to us in the end? What priceare we willing to pay for it? Extremely when it comes to our nowrising energy costs. Of route, if sanctions areto smacked Putin really hard, then we have to do without gas and oilfrom Russia fully. But this is exactly wherethe sanctions do not apply. And that is exactly whatFederal Economics Minister Habeck supported again today. And with that we continue to finance Putin’swar in Ukraine. Day after era. Jan Schmitt, Veronique Gantenbergand Jakob Faust. Putin’s war of aggressionagainst Ukraine. A violation of international law, to whichthe EU greeted resolutely with drastic sanctionsagainst Russia. The Federal Foreign Minister made it clear: we are hitting the Putin systemwhere it needs to be stumbled. Not only economicallyand financially, but in his strength core. And that will ruin Russia. The core of Putin’s powerlies where the war is far away: the apparently perpetual gas fieldsin Siberia.Russia’s powerful state-owned companiessuch as Rosneft, GAZPROM and Transneft are moving billionsinto Putin’s war chest. How much dothe sanctions relating to them? It is clear thatsome of the sanctions are working, many Western firms arebreaking off trade with Russia, and the ruble is collapsing. At the center of the sanctions isthe Russian central bank, which can nolonger access its foreign exchange and is thereforeno longer able to support the ruble.But in the case of oil and gas, foreign exchange continues to flow into the country. No embargo now, no sanctions from the EU. As long as Russia can export oil and gas, it will runa transaction surplus. If youwant to exert maximum pressure now, these acquires must bestopped. Or at least the payments that are handled working the “SWIFT system”. Central for international transmits, but also for raw material transmissions. The 100% exclusion of all banksfrom SWIFT would mean that it would mostlikely no longer be possibleto pay for any gas imports.But especially Germanyonly wanted to block some of the banks at SWIFT. Exclusively these 7 Russian banks are on yesterday’s SWIFT sanctions list. The largest Russian bank, Sberbank, and Gazprombank, through which the billions in raw materialscan continue to flow to Russia, are expressly eliminated. In the interests of Germany, because 55% of German gascomes from Russia. And German fellowships also make a great deal from the raw materialdeliveries. First and foremost: Wintershall Deaand E.ON, both shareholders of theNord Stream 1 gas pipeline. But could weeven change Russian gas? Yes, says the Kiel Institutefor the World Economy. In the short term, however, this would be expensive and some measures would have to be taken immediately. Russian gas could be replaced by replacement deliveriesfrom other countries, more LNG liquid gas gives, savings, i.e.Lower power consumption, and conversions of power plants. That is the importantmessage that we have to reckon with at most short-term inconveniences. They can also be severe, but not in the medium and longterm. But the government does not want to dowithout Russian gas. Incomprehensible to the Ukrainian ambassadorgiven the repugnances of struggle. It can’t be the casethat even after these sanctions, after the package wasfinally decided, there are still so many opportunitiesfor Putin’s regime where it’s still making money. From Europe, especially from Germany, because Germany is still the main buyer of gas, lubricant, but also black coal. Numerous beings at the anti-war proofs also hope that Germanywill change its attitude. Yes, of course I understandthe concerns of Germans that theywant to worry about high gas costs. But if, as I said, if myfamily’s life is now in danger, and on the other hand we simply havehigher rates, higher expenses, then these risks, theseworries are simply not analogous. No sanctions on oil and gas. But what about the Russianfinancial elite, the oligarchs? Putin has collected a entire network of confidantsaround him, whom he has concluded richand who support him.The structure of oligarchsand billionaires encircling Putin is of fundamental importancefor asserting the best interests. They are his gateway into the internationalfinancial and economic system. Many of themwere able to stash hundreds of billions of dollarsin offshore chronicles under Putin’s attentions. This was shown bythe Panama Papers data divulge in 2014. The EU has now published this new list ofsanctions, including Russian super-rich whose resources and reports have beenfrozen. But many of the namesfrom the Panama divulges are not included here.So no sanctions apply to them. E.g. Putin’s confidanteand aluminum industrialist Oleg Deripaska, the sword entrepreneurAlexander Abramov or the power entrepreneurLeonid Michelson. The oligarchs who are not on thislist can, of course, be operating from thenetworks we have learned from the Panama Papers and other reveals. And that should still bea significant part. Hard sanctions? One thing is certain: as long as oil and gascontinue to flow to Germany, we will continue to finance Putin’swar machine with fresh money every day. Politically isolating Russia isalso what international politics is about. Yesterday at theUN General Assembly in New York, that seems to have workedquite well. 141 governments condemnedRussia’s violation of international law. In the end, 4 districts stood by Putin’s slope. Unsurprisingly, Belaruswith Putin’s closest vassal Alexander Lukashenko. Syria with its dictatorBashar al-Assad. North koreans and itssupreme chairman Kim Jong-un and Eritrea with itsautocrat Afweki. The country, by the way, that ranks lastfor freedom of the press. 5 of the world’s greatest foes ofdemocracy and freedom among themselves ..
