Finally
A little background to the proposed Visa bans:
Of course this does nothing to reform English law which is why the English courts are so popular with the corrupt and illiberal.
Oooohhhh! France tried that, Minitel.
The UK had a version called Prestel as well although it never really took off to the same extent. Itâs interesting to think back to how information was exchanged electronically pre-Internet. Ceefax and Teletext were the big ones in the UK. They were independent media but imagine if everything you read had been through the Ministry of Propaganda first?
From BBC live feed
The European Commission says itâs âdefinitely workingâ on possible further sanctions against Russia âin the field of oil".
But Chief Spokesman Eric Mamer says he canât give further details for the moment.
The EU has so far approved five sanctions packages but itâs unclear if and when a sixth could be passed.
Earlier, French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, reportedly said: âI hope that in the weeks to come we will convince our European partners to stop importing Russian oil.â
Speaking on French radio Europe 1 he said, âWhat has been the primary source of currency for [Russian President] Vladimir Putin for several years? It is not gas. It is oilâ.
Le Maire made a similar call earlier this month.
The EU pays twice as much for gas as it does for oil from Russia, or do oil payments go more directly and completely to the Kremlin?
I should have known.
France doesnât rely as heavily on Russian oil as it does on Russian gas. No wonder theyâre trying to make it more about oil.
Everyone just in it for themselves.
Possibly based on this?
The top exports of Russia are
Crude Petroleum ($74.4B),
Refined Petroleum ($48B),
Petroleum Gas ($19.7B)
Gold ($18.7B)
Coal Briquettes ($14.5B)
exporting mostly to China ($49.3B),
United Kingdom ($25.3B),
Netherlands ($22.5B)
Belarus ($15.8B)
Germany ($14.2B)
Iâm curious as to why the UK is so high. The Netherlands is likely to be crude refining in Rotterdam but does the UK process this as well?
Actually I just dug down further. UK imports from Russia are mainly rare metals: primarily gold and platinum.
Thatâs total exports to the UK only a very small part of that is energy.
UK gets less than 8% of its energy from Russia compared to around 40% that the EU gets.
But why? We got plenty down here. They can cut that off and not even feel the pinch with regards to supply.
We get them from you guys too! I imagine thatâs why the Netherlands is so high as well regarding the amount of Russian imports.
Most of that was actually gold as well so itâs not as if it is massively used as a raw material.
We have some of the largest gold reserves around and weâre the largest platinum producer. Import of these metals can be made up. Baffles me why theyâre still being imported from Russia then just on the face of it.
Those figures were from 2020. The figures from 2021 would appear to be lower according to the ONS:
The ONS specifically warn against figures on Gold exports as they can fluctuate.
The vast majority of Russian gas exports go to the EU. As a percentage of total Russian exports, oil is much more important than gas, but exports to the EU, gas is more important.