this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
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[–] [email protected] 83 points 1 week ago

About fucking time

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I wish lemmy was less like reddit, and that commenters actually skimmed the articles or knew anything about the situation beyond the headlines.

But hell, here goes, I'll try to use small words and explain things for you guys:

  • If they instantly turned it off without a replacement, a lot of people would have died. And even if a country government tried, their own citizens would riot over the idea that old people would die.

  • Coal is already banned.

  • Oil imports have dropped from 27% to 3%

  • In 2021 the gas accounted for 45% of imports in the EU, now it's 19% and the plan is to have it at zero by 2027.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

A lot of people did die, they were just Ukrainian instead of western European

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

Ukrainian do not vote for European governments though

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

So it's been 3 years and their plan is another 2.75 years away.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago (2 children)

There’s been a big influx of users from Reddit and with it came the low effort one liner zingers and people allergic to reading the linked articles.

I do really like how a lot of people here post articles give a summary below their link. While it’s definitely not required, it is super helpful and makes it harder for people to just form opinions and start blabbing in the comments based on a headline.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

I'm definitely guilty of not opening the article pretty often, and I really love when posters put a summary/highlights/entire article when it's small in the body of the post. I actually do read/skim these pretty consistently vs opening and reading every single article in the feed.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Things get a little shittier for awhile every time there's a mass migration, but it seems like most communities do a decent job holding newbies to a higher standard than reddit (read: any standard). Eventually Lemmy gets better again.

[–] NostraDavid 2 points 6 days ago

This only works if the influx of new users stay relatively low. See the Digg Exodus of how reddit got fucked up because Digg expelled their users too fast.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I suspect it may inevitably end up like Reddit. The problem IMO is comment visibility. Even if you're not trying to farm karma, people like their comments to be visible. Everyone wants to have their voice heard. And it seems that short "zinger" comments and jokes are the most effective way to make that happen. The current community does support high effort quality comments well, but I think as we get diluted with more users it's a slippery slide. I hope I'm wrong.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

I think the rest of us need to apply pressure against that trend. I try to call out assholes in a civil fashion, at least so it makes it harder to be one, and I don't upvote comments that don't add to the conversation. I can't downvote them since I'm on blahaj, so downvote them extra hard for me!

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 week ago

This better stay in place once the war is over, no matter how it ends

[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Canada here: you can have ours!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's a nice idea but the difficulty is in getting it there.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Natural gas blimps! It's already lighter than air after all...
Sometimes, my genius is almost terrifying

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Yes, and it can still be vetoed by our union friends from Slovakia or Hungary. Hell, even my own government in the Netherlands may try to sabotage this, since we've got the most worthless bunch of idiots ever in charge.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

USA here. I'll trade you any time you want.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I'm sure you will, and I wish you all the best. At least our bunch is more of "talk much do little" variety. It helps that it's a four party coalition, who can't even agree on the day of the week.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Hey, if it helps seal a trade, my guy is the same color of your national team jerseys.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

"New EU legislative proposals need approval from the European Parliament and a reinforced majority of EU countries."
That is different than sanctions which need to be unanimous (bit of an odd discrepancy)

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The import of coal from Russia has already stopped, they are in the process of ending oil imports, but the situation is different when it comes to gas.

Although the share of Russian gas in the EU dropped from 45 percent in 2021 to 13 percent now, Russia still earns 23 billion euros per year from it. Despite the restrictions, Russian energy exports remain an important source of income for the Kremlin.

The EU member states and the European Parliament still need to approve the plans. The expectation is that the plan will lead to fierce debate, especially from Hungary and Slovakia. These countries are the most pro-Russian and still rely heavily on Russian energy.

But Commission President Von der Leyen says that the energy coming to Europe must not contribute to the war against Ukraine. "We owe that to our citizens, our businesses, and our brave Ukrainian friends." 👏🏽💪🇪🇺🇺🇦

source

Von der Leyen’s Plan to End Russian Gas Imports by 2027 (REPowerEU) (Sources: Reuters, AP News, Financial Times, Euronews, Kyiv Independent) Key Measures:

  • Ban on new gas contracts after 2025
  • End existing contracts by 2027
  • Mandatory transparency for gas deals
  • Switch to LNG from other suppliers & renewables
  • Help for Hungary & Slovakia to transition

To overcome opposition from Hungary and Slovakia, the EU will use qualified majority voting, so no single country can veto the plan. Each country must submit its own phase-out plan, tailored to its situation. The EU is offering financial tools under the REPowerEU plan to help countries support their companies exiting Russian deals and phase out Russian energy. These include grants and loans from the recovery fund, support from the European Investment Bank, and targeted funds for energy infrastructure and renewables, like Hungary receiving €700 million in grants and applying for €3.9 billion in loans to upgrade its energy system.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago

About damn time.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This is so funny cuz it actually has the potential to bankrupt Russia, all because they chose to invade a nation that represents at best marginal economic power.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Russia chose to invade a nation that had recently discovered large reserves of natural gas - more than enough to supply Europe's needs while they transitioned to alternatives - and that sat astride the pipeline that Russia uses to provide their gas to Europe. Even though Russia has not proved capable of conquering all of Ukraine, their occupation of the Donbas region has prevented Ukraine from becoming a viable natural gas competitor in the European market and kept their primary source of revenue alive, at least in the short term.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

If we actually manage to pull it off it's a pretty decent disincentive. Invade neighbor for resources? No one will buy those resources from you.

Obviously not sufficient on its own, but seems like a good place to start.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Lukoil is still thriving in the USA. About .10 - .15 cheaper. Always a line.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Lukoil in the USA is American owned (as a franchise) and operated and does not use Russian oil. We don't import any Russian oil to the US. Some money does go overseas but Lukoil is (nominally) a private company so seems to have avoided sanctions. Overall I'd say there are bigger fish to fry.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It is part of a strategy to unload their dollar holdings. Basically buy natural gas from the US.

The value of a dollar is about to be beaten into the ground

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

It is part of a strategy to unload their dollar holdings.

Ya gotta have the currency in order to spend it. If a Nation runs out of USD while they still need NG (or anything else traded in USD) then they're going to have a bad time.

The value of a dollar is about to be beaten into the ground.

Possibly but the U.S. Federal Reserve has the ability to blackhole a LOT of dollars and if the inflows exceed their ability then the price of NG will climb until it balances.

If you doubt me then line up this chart of US NG Exports with this chart of USD DXY. The effect predicted by the strategy isn't visible.

Frankly I'm not sure there's enough NG demand in the world to tank the USD via purchases.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

After 3 full years... only now doing it...

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Nonono, they plan to do it. Might take anorher 3 years for execution.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Good for the EU. People often need a common threat to come together

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

now its multiple threats , russia and the USA.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

I'm sorry for what my country is doing...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

At the moment, that is only one threat.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

In another couple of years. If Hungary and Slovakia are willing to play along (they aren't).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Wow a plan!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Prepare for the plan!

Yes, ma'am, preparing for the plan!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

About damned time. They need to do that here (Japan) as well.

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