by Johannes Eber – The Pixel Economist Here is the Top-10 list of countries with the largest natural gas reserves: 1. Russia2. Iran3. Qatar4. United States5. Saudi Arabia6. Turkmenistan7. United Arab Emirates8. Venezuela9. Nigeria10. China And here is the list
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Why it is not that surprising that Russia has become a dictatorship
Why the strong ruble serves Putin, not Russia
by Johannes Eber – The Pixel economist At the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Russian currency ruble lost almost half its value compared to the US-Dollar. In the meantime, the ruble has almost completely made up for the
Read moreCan Europe survive without Russian gas and oil?
The numbers Oil and petroleum products 34.5% Natural gas 23.7% Renewables 17.4% Nuclear 12.7% Solid fossil fuels (mostly coal) 10.5% Other 1.2% EU Energy Mix (Source: Eurostat, beginning 2020) What’s striking is the strong presence of fossil fuels in the
Read moreFive possible scenarios for the outcome of the Ukraine war
Despite global criticism and tough sanctions, Moscow continues its attack on Ukraine. From the perspective of Western governments and experts, five possible scenarios emerge for the coming weeks and months, as summed up by Adam Plowright and Didier Lauras for AFP.
Read moreGermany’s dangerous dependence on energy imports
In Germany, the discussion has focused very much on what Germany no longer wants, namely electricity from nuclear power and electricity from coal-fired power. However, if Germany does not succeed in transforming their energy system in such a way that they can replace these power generation capacities with renewable energies, then this will lead to Germany importing precisely this electricity, i.e. nuclear power from their western neighbors and coal-fired power from their eastern neighbors.
The war in Ukraine highlights Germany’s dangerous dependence: Not only natural gas is imported from the east, but also oil and coal. Power plants, factories and domestic heating systems are threatened with standstill if supplies are cut off.
Read moreStatement of the ELfR Bureau on the war against Ukraine
Russia invaded the territory of a sovereign nation on 24 February 2022, causing massive casualties among the civilian population and huge damage to cities and the country’s infrastructure. As the Russian troops advance into Ukrainian territory, ELfR states that it
Read morePutin is playing a dangerous game with Europe
The city of Brest becomes protagonist again, 30 years later. We are not talking about the Breton port town but about a Belarusian city near the Polish border. It is no coincidence that it was chosen as the location of
Read moreDonetsk and Luhansk – the regions at stake in the Ukraine conflict
dpa (German press agency) – translated by Theresa Zettl Russia responded to the overthrow of an elected pro-Russian government in Kiev in 2014 by annexing the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. It also supports pro-Russian separatists in the east of the
Read moreThe Russia-Europe Conflict
about one country in the very east of Europe, it is about all of Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin has no problem with Ukraine, but with Europe and the pro-European attitude of the majority of people living in Ukraine.
Read more in this article by our guest writer Kati Schneeberger and feel invited to attend our free Webinar: “Putin’s dangerous chess game: Ukraine, Europe and the West under attack” with Kati Schneeberger on 25.02.2022 at 20:30 CET
Read moreThe logic of sanctions – or: Why gas pipelines won’t decide the Ukraine conflict
Much of the world wants to prevent Putin’s Russia from invading Ukraine. The means of prevention: setting the price, Putin would have to pay, as high as possible. The west has ruled out military means to inflate the price. For a good reason. The costs of a military conflict between Russia on the one hand and Europa and the USA on the other would be immense, not just for Putin.
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