"A Very Predictable Global Energy Crisis" by Irina Slav --- MUST READ

[Tom Nolan + 2,441]

EXCERPT:  It is, in fact, entirely accurate and fair to explain the high energy prices as a result of clean energy transition policies. It was these policies that discouraged investment in new oil, gas, and coal production. It was also these policies that led to the shutdowns of coal and nuclear plants that reduced generating capacity that simply cannot be replaced by wind or solar on a MW for MW basis because wind and solar do not generate power continuously. And it is these policies, in Europe, China, North America, and elsewhere that, unless revised to reflect reality a bit better, will condemn billions of people to blackouts, energy shortages, and higher electricity bills.

A Very Predictable Global Energy Crisis

By Irina Slav - Oct 06, 2021, 7:00 PM CDT

• When gas prices in Europe started rising faster and faster last month as the continent prepared for winter and found out it was not the only one, gas suddenly became important
• Italian Energy Exec: "It could get very ugly unless we act quickly to try to fill every inch of storage,"
• It is, in fact, entirely accurate and fair to explain the high energy prices as a result of clean energy transition policies

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/A-Very-Predictable-Global-Energy-Crisis.html

Gas prices in Europe are breaking record after record. The UK is facing supply shortages reminiscent of the late 1970s winter of discontent. Chinese factories are shutting down because of power shortages, and the outlook is grim. In fact, it may be the first crisis of many.

When gas prices in Europe started rising faster and faster last month as the continent prepared for winter and found out it was not the only one, gas suddenly became important. That's after being excluded from the list of low-carbon energy sources and after the EU's green transition chief Frans Timmermans said gas had no place in the transition. It now appears Timmermans and his fellow Brussels bureaucrats could not have been more wrong.

For years Europe has been retiring coal plants and building solar and wind farms as it strived to become the greenest continent on earth and lead the energy transition on the premise that emissions of carbon dioxide are the planet's single biggest problem because they lead to unfavorable climate changes. This has been coupled with investment declines in oil and gas production, as this only made sense. Now, the EU has got the first bill for its low-carbon feast.

"It could get very ugly unless we act quickly to try to fill every inch of storage," Marco Alvera, chief executive of Italian energy infrastructure company Snam, told Bloomberg last month. "You can survive a week without electricity, but you can't survive without gas."

This last sentence is important. The green transition plans of the EU—and all other countries with a green agenda, really—tend to assume that the only way to a cleaner energy future is through total electrification. And they are saying it will be cheap and easy, or, in the now immortalized words of UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson quoting the opposite of Kermit the Frog, "It is easy to be green." Johnson also said it was possible for the UK to go 100-percent green (plus nuclear) by 2035.

China's ruling elite must have also thought that going green would be easy as they imposed stricter emission rules on industrial producers and utilities. And then had to issue a "Whatever it takes" order to make sure utilities would have enough fossil fuel supplies for the winter to avoid outages. The order, it appears, was too late, and factories are already shutting down as coal supply remains tight and will remain tight for the observable future.

Years of underinvestment as coal turned into humankind's greatest mistake are now bearing fruit, and this fruit is a polluting one. But it was bound to happen. Once you demonize a commodity that has played an essential role in the progress of civilization for more than a century and start pouring billions into ensuring this demonization leads to the demise of that commodity, success is only a matter of time. But in the meantime, it might be a good idea to ensure you have an alternative—and this is the really important part—that can perform on par with the demonized commodity.

The energy crunch has shown in what some would say is an unequivocal way that wind and solar power do not perform on par with coal, oil, or gas. They can't. They depend on the weather. But wind and solar were what the EU, China, and the United States rushed into to replace fossil fuels, and now we are all paying the first installment on that rushed renewables purchase.

"It is a cautionary message about how complex the energy transition is going to be," Daniel Yergin told Bloomberg this week, referring to the energy crunch. Bloomberg, by the way, has been at the forefront of the energy transition coverage, producing a lot of praise for increasingly cheap wind and solar. Apparently, however, they are still not cheap enough or rather, not reliable enough to become cheap enough. But nobody is talking about this.

"It is inaccurate and unfair to explain these high energy prices as a result of clean energy transition policies. This is wrong," said the International Energy Agency's Fatih Birol, echoing a sentiment shared by all green governments. The reason for the sentiment has never been explained, but it might come down to the fact that so much money has been spent on the energy transition already and so much more is slated to be spent, that it would be embarrassing to admit the approach to the transition was sub-optimal.

It is, in fact, entirely accurate and fair to explain the high energy prices as a result of clean energy transition policies. It was these policies that discouraged investment in new oil, gas, and coal production. It was also these policies that led to the shutdowns of coal and nuclear plants that reduced generating capacity that simply cannot be replaced by wind or solar on a MW for MW basis because wind and solar do not generate power continuously. And it is these policies, in Europe, China, North America, and elsewhere that, unless revised to reflect reality a bit better, will condemn billions of people to blackouts, energy shortages, and higher electricity bills.

By Irina Slav For Oilprice.com

 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Tom Nolan

[markslawson + 1,042]

5 hours ago, Tom Nolan said:

It is, in fact, entirely accurate and fair to explain the high energy prices as a result of clean energy transition policies

I would also agree that it is fair. Instead of allowing the market to develop normally with perhaps minor emissions reduction goals, politicians world wide have gone loopy over renewables which have repeatedly been shown to disabilise power grids and distort investment. Even that wouldn't be so bad if they had accepted the harsh reality (harsh for activists, that is) that renewables have to be backed-up with conventional power, end of story. Batteries can be used to buffer output, give the conventional plants time to come on line and so on, but the conventional plants are still needed big time. 

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

Putin's official conference of the subject of the gas crunch. "Meeting on development of the energy industry"

http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66866

Got some interesting numbers. Big point you are missing is the European Commissions insistence on sport market pricing for gas instead of long term contracts.

[Eyes Wide Open + 3,537]

57 minutes ago, markslawson said:

I would also agree that it is fair. Instead of allowing the market to develop normally with perhaps minor emissions reduction goals, politicians world wide have gone loopy over renewables which have repeatedly been shown to disabilise power grids and distort investment. Even that wouldn't be so bad if they had accepted the harsh reality (harsh for activists, that is) that renewables have to be backed-up with conventional power, end of story. Batteries can be used to buffer output, give the conventional plants time to come on line and so on, but the conventional plants are still needed big time. 

That train of thought will spill over into the German auto industry, while EV's are taking the EU by storm there is very little thought given as to how VW will have to retool/retrain their production lines. In the end the labor force will get hurt and Germany will experience its own Make Germany Great Again..To this day the phrase a "Seamless Transition" triggers me.

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

18 minutes ago, Eyes Wide Open said:

That train of thought will spill over into the German auto industry, while EV's are taking the EU by storm there is very little thought given as to how VW will have to retool/retrain their production lines. In the end the labor force will get hurt and Germany will experience its own Make Germany Great Again..To this day the phrase a "Seamless Transition" triggers me.

No problem. Every major new VW model already comes with an entirely new plant, which they can replicate. The residual "labor force" is just for show anyway, the plants allow for near 100% automation.

[Eyes Wide Open + 3,537]

42 minutes ago, Andrei Moutchkine said:

No problem. Every major new VW model already comes with an entirely new plant, which they can replicate. The residual "labor force" is just for show anyway, the plants allow for near 100% automation.

Morgan Stanley estimates that the global auto supply chain employs "in the range of 11 million people." Jonas pointed to recent statements by VW Group CEO Herbert Diess, who said it takes 30 percent less labor to produce an electric vehicle than a similarly priced car that has the traditional internal combustion engine. This would result in a headcount cut of more than 3 million workers from the global auto industry.

But that number could increase, Jonas said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/15/morgan-stanley-electric-vehicles-will-cost-millions-of-auto-jobs.html

 

The run up to Germany’s federal election this coming Sunday has been characterised by an unprecedented wave of strikes, protests and demonstrations.

The SGP’s election appeal states: “No social problem can be resolved without expropriating the banks and major corporations and placing them under the democratic control of the working class. Their profits and wealth must be confiscated and the trillions given to them over the past year must be returned. The world economy must be restructured on the basis of a scientific and rational plan.”

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/24/germ-s24.html

 

 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Eyes Wide Open

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

24 minutes ago, Eyes Wide Open said:

Morgan Stanley estimates that the global auto supply chain employs "in the range of 11 million people." Jonas pointed to recent statements by VW Group CEO Herbert Diess, who said it takes 30 percent less labor to produce an electric vehicle than a similarly priced car that has the traditional internal combustion engine. This would result in a headcount cut of more than 3 million workers from the global auto industry.

But that number could increase, Jonas said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/15/morgan-stanley-electric-vehicles-will-cost-millions-of-auto-jobs.html

 

The run up to Germany’s federal election this coming Sunday has been characterised by an unprecedented wave of strikes, protests and demonstrations.

The SGP’s election appeal states: “No social problem can be resolved without expropriating the banks and major corporations and placing them under the democratic control of the working class. Their profits and wealth must be confiscated and the trillions given to them over the past year must be returned. The world economy must be restructured on the basis of a scientific and rational plan.”

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/24/germ-s24.html

 

 

Yes, the electrical cars are significantly easier to build. Silicon Valley would be able to built conventional cars, only laptops on wheels

SGP is about as likely to go full on socialist and expropriate anyone as Democratic Party in US.

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

29 minutes ago, Eyes Wide Open said:

Morgan Stanley estimates that the global auto supply chain employs "in the range of 11 million people." Jonas pointed to recent statements by VW Group CEO Herbert Diess, who said it takes 30 percent less labor to produce an electric vehicle than a similarly priced car that has the traditional internal combustion engine. This would result in a headcount cut of more than 3 million workers from the global auto industry.

But that number could increase, Jonas said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/15/morgan-stanley-electric-vehicles-will-cost-millions-of-auto-jobs.html

 

The run up to Germany’s federal election this coming Sunday has been characterised by an unprecedented wave of strikes, protests and demonstrations.

The SGP’s election appeal states: “No social problem can be resolved without expropriating the banks and major corporations and placing them under the democratic control of the working class. Their profits and wealth must be confiscated and the trillions given to them over the past year must be returned. The world economy must be restructured on the basis of a scientific and rational plan.”

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/24/germ-s24.html

 

 

Oops, confusion with SDP SGP is a party with roundoff-level support

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Equality_Party_(Germany)

Even

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Left_(Germany)

The officially designed ex-GDR Commies, barely made it this time.

 

[ronwagn + 6,290]

On 10/10/2021 at 8:14 PM, Eyes Wide Open said:

Morgan Stanley estimates that the global auto supply chain employs "in the range of 11 million people." Jonas pointed to recent statements by VW Group CEO Herbert Diess, who said it takes 30 percent less labor to produce an electric vehicle than a similarly priced car that has the traditional internal combustion engine. This would result in a headcount cut of more than 3 million workers from the global auto industry.

But that number could increase, Jonas said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/15/morgan-stanley-electric-vehicles-will-cost-millions-of-auto-jobs.html

 

The run up to Germany’s federal election this coming Sunday has been characterised by an unprecedented wave of strikes, protests and demonstrations.

The SGP’s election appeal states: “No social problem can be resolved without expropriating the banks and major corporations and placing them under the democratic control of the working class. Their profits and wealth must be confiscated and the trillions given to them over the past year must be returned. The world economy must be restructured on the basis of a scientific and rational plan.”

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/24/germ-s24.html

 

 

Abraham Lincoln said " Sometimes you have to laugh so you don't cry".

[ronwagn + 6,290]

On 10/10/2021 at 8:41 PM, Andrei Moutchkine said:

Yes, the electrical cars are significantly easier to build. Silicon Valley would be able to built conventional cars, only laptops on wheels

SGP is about as likely to go full on socialist and expropriate anyone as Democratic Party in US.

The Democratic's aim is to go full socialist. There are 80 members of the progressive caucus led by the quad most notably Ocasio Cortez. That is twice as many as the forty Republicans in the Conservative Caucus! That means that the rest of the Republicans do not commit to conservatism! 

[ronwagn + 6,290]

On 10/10/2021 at 8:41 PM, Andrei Moutchkine said:

Yes, the electrical cars are significantly easier to build. Silicon Valley would be able to built conventional cars, only laptops on wheels

SGP is about as likely to go full on socialist and expropriate anyone as Democratic Party in US.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expropriate

Definition of expropriate

As when taxes expropriate money from someone to the government. Quantitative easing expropriates the value of those who hold money. Spending more than the government taxes is also expropriation. ronwagn

transitive verb

1: to deprive of possession or proprietary rights

2: to transfer (the property of another) to one's own possession

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

10 hours ago, ronwagn said:

The Democratic's aim is to go full socialist. There are 80 members of the progressive caucus led by the quad most notably Ocasio Cortez. That is twice as many as the forty Republicans in the Conservative Caucus! That means that the rest of the Republicans do not commit to conservatism! 

Ocasio Cortez works for Carlos Slim, working towards the "Greater Lebanon" thing. As far as the US domestic policy goes, she is just a yes woman. Will support whatever makes her more popular, but remain sitting on however many chairs possible at once.

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

On 10/15/2021 at 7:21 AM, ronwagn said:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expropriate

Definition of expropriate

As when taxes expropriate money from someone to the government. Quantitative easing expropriates the value of those who hold money. Spending more than the government taxes is also expropriation. ronwagn

transitive verb

1: to deprive of possession or proprietary rights

2: to transfer (the property of another) to one's own possession

Somewhere in Hungary, did a gas trader go missing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_trader_fraud

Only not missing, but rerouted. And it is not illegal if there is no detectable circle. Good thing Hungary got the largest VAT EU-wide, 27%, thinks the trader filing for VAT reimbursement to Brussels. There is no loop because you cannot really reverse the segment between Hungary and Ukraine. Ukraine will be kept warm by the virtual gas from Hungary (quit methane, oil and coal, go vacuum, the most environmental fuel in the Universe)

All that Russia needs to save the day now is to start a buyback program for its own gas, the more expensive, the better. To be cleared by imaginary EU and USD obtained in exchange for imaginary RUB. To the negative infinity and beyond! Towards the monetary policy of the projective Riemann plane! Expropriate the expropriators!

The discovery of imaginary money that they gave IG Nobel for to Enron Corp now needs to get a proper Nobel in econ. Nothing mathematically wrong with complex numbers. In fact, does the electrical meter charge you plentifully along the real currency axis for imaginary valued volt-amperes (reactance)  Why shouldn't there be imaginary gas Russia ships among imaginary North Stream to imaginary Danzig entry port? Somebody in Russia stopped playing chess so much and opened a math textbook? It is about time. Somebody in UK, can of of SPAM goes pop on the empty supermarket shelf. What do you know, it wasn't really made out of commodity pork belly traded on CBOT? Absolutely nobody in the City of London is at fault. They are properly hedged every each possible way against exposure to volatility in pork belly futures. Finally, they have achieved the panultimate goal of risk management profession. The pork belly is finally dead! Not volatile at all! Yet, it is alive? Lets see if Schroedinger cat will eat it? It can have it any way it wants it, except kosher, halal and medium rare.

Edited October 22, 2021 by Andrei Moutchkine

[ronwagn + 6,290]

4 hours ago, Andrei Moutchkine said:

Ocasio Cortez works for Carlos Slim, working towards the "Greater Lebanon" thing. As far as the US domestic policy goes, she is just a yes woman. Will support whatever makes her more popular, but remain sitting on however many chairs possible at once.

Is Carlos Slim a leftist? I believe he is supporting the New York Times. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Slim#Reactions

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

On 10/15/2021 at 10:29 PM, ronwagn said:

Is Carlos Slim a leftist? I believe he is supporting the New York Times. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Slim#Reactions

Why not? There is a considerable difference in what constitutes the radical left between Mexico and the US. AOC is one funny Latina revolutionary, who's got no particular position on Cuba for example.

The main point here is that these people are really Lebanese Sephardic Jews, with primary political interests in the Middle East.

 

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

On 10/15/2021 at 10:29 PM, ronwagn said:

Is Carlos Slim a leftist? I believe he is supporting the New York Times. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Slim#Reactions

Read up on the guy. Officially, a Lebanese Christian, not Jew. Either way, no friend of Israel. Interestingly, started out teaching linear programming. The workhorse of Soviet planned economy. Which does work, given sufficient computational support. The Chinese sure use it a lot, because the essential "cardboard trust" is just like cutting up PCBs for electronics widgets.

[ronwagn + 6,290]

8 minutes ago, Andrei Moutchkine said:

Why not? There is a considerable difference in what constitutes the radical left between Mexico and the US. AOC is one funny Latina revolutionary, who's got no particular position on Cuba for example.

The main point here is that these people are really Lebanese Sephardic Jews, with primary political interests in the Middle East.

 

https://hollowverse.com/carlos-slim/ He is a Maronite Catholic, supporter of Obama and sold Obamaphones. A true crony capitalist. His parents are from Lebanon.

After the death of Ocasio-Cortez's father in 2008, her mother and grandmother moved to Florida due to financial hardship.^[11][30] She still has family in Puerto Rico, where her grandfather was living in a nursing home^[256] before he died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.^[300] Ocasio-Cortez said that "to be Puerto Rican is to be the descendant of ... African Moors [and] slaves, Taino Indians, Spanish colonizers, Jewish refugees, and likely others. We are all of these things and something else all at once—we are Boricua."^[13]

Ocasio-Cortez is a Roman Catholic. She discussed her Catholic faith and its impact on her life and her campaign for criminal justice reform in an article she wrote for America, the magazine of the Jesuit order in the United States.^[301] At a December 2018 Hanukkah celebration in New York, she said she has some Sephardic Jewish ancestry.^[302]

^{She is a member of the Democratic Socialist Party.} 

 

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

6 minutes ago, ronwagn said:

https://hollowverse.com/carlos-slim/ He is a Maronite Catholic, supporter of Obama and sold Obamaphones. A true crony capitalist. His parents are from Lebanon.

After the death of Ocasio-Cortez's father in 2008, her mother and grandmother moved to Florida due to financial hardship.^[11][30] She still has family in Puerto Rico, where her grandfather was living in a nursing home^[256] before he died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.^[300] Ocasio-Cortez said that "to be Puerto Rican is to be the descendant of ... African Moors [and] slaves, Taino Indians, Spanish colonizers, Jewish refugees, and likely others. We are all of these things and something else all at once—we are Boricua."^[13]

Ocasio-Cortez is a Roman Catholic. She discussed her Catholic faith and its impact on her life and her campaign for criminal justice reform in an article she wrote for America, the magazine of the Jesuit order in the United States.^[301] At a December 2018 Hanukkah celebration in New York, she said she has some Sephardic Jewish ancestry.^[302]

^{She is a member of the Democratic Socialist Party.} 

 

Hostility to Israel is an odd trait for a Democratic Socialist, no? Obama's administration was the least Israel-friendly in my memory, at least.

The "Greater Lebanon" works something like this. Hesbollah and Haganah (the Jewish terrorist militia which eventually whacked all the more radical ones and became the IDF) are both present in the Parliament. But it matters not, because all of them come to Carlos to fund their new missiles.

[ronwagn + 6,290]

11 minutes ago, Andrei Moutchkine said:

Read up on the guy. Officially, a Lebanese Christian, not Jew. Either way, no friend of Israel. Interestingly, started out teaching linear programming. The workhorse of Soviet planned economy. Which does work, given sufficient computational support. The Chinese sure use it a lot, because the essential "cardboard trust" is just like cutting up PCBs for electronics widgets.

The Soviet planned economy is a disaster worse than that of Europe. It is the end result of socialism, communism, fascism, or crony capitalism. They are all similar or they do not really work. Examples are Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Cambodia, Vietnam, Venezuela, and Cuba. None of them provide personal liberties and good results for the masses. Simply compare them directly to other countries and how they live. 

Yuri Besmenov provides a great testimony to the evils of socialism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yErKTVdETpw

[ronwagn + 6,290]

28 minutes ago, Andrei Moutchkine said:

Hostility to Israel is an odd trait for a Democratic Socialist, no? Obama's administration was the least Israel-friendly in my memory, at least.

The "Greater Lebanon" works something like this. Hesbollah and Haganah (the Jewish terrorist militia which eventually whacked all the more radical ones and became the IDF) are both present in the Parliament. But it matters not, because all of them come to Carlos to fund their new missiles.

Lebanon was formerly called the Switzerland of the Middle East because it was beautiful and peaceful. Peace flourished with a shared government of Muslims and Christians. Extremist Muslims decided to take over Lebanon and form a Caliphate throughout the Middle East, that is why we are now where we are. 

Israel defended itself against all of the Middle East during the Six Day War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War . Again during the Yom Kippur War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War Since then many nations have plotted to destroy it and threatened it. Israel did intervene to limit aggression in Lebanon also. They took the Golan Heights in self defense.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycotts_of_Israel

Jerusalem is sacred to Jews, Muslims, and Christians. One has to read Revelation to see what is predicted for the future. 

Edited October 22, 2021 by ronwagn
reference

[ronwagn + 6,290]

44 minutes ago, Andrei Moutchkine said:

Read up on the guy. Officially, a Lebanese Christian, not Jew. Either way, no friend of Israel. Interestingly, started out teaching linear programming. The workhorse of Soviet planned economy. Which does work, given sufficient computational support. The Chinese sure use it a lot, because the essential "cardboard trust" is just like cutting up PCBs for electronics widgets.

I don't understand your analogy about cardboard trust and PCBs for widgets. Please explain for me Andrei. 

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

28 minutes ago, ronwagn said:

I don't understand your analogy about cardboard trust and PCBs for widgets. Please explain for me Andrei. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_programming

Understand anything? Me neither. This was the subject of 1975 Nobel Prize in econ. As soon as Americans discover some interesting Soviet science, they suck all life out of it, so it looks appropriately serious.

The original problem Kantorovich posited was that of "All-Union cardboard trust", organization entrusted with optimal arrangement for cut outs for all the cardboard packaging the Soviet Union made. Minimizing the left-overs, that is? It is very funny. I've actually personally met several people working the Chinese PCB trade working on this very problem who claimed to have almost solved it

So, the problem turned out to be solvable, but rather difficult. One thing that precludes a good solution is so called "integer constraint" That is, it does not work for dollars made specifically out of 100 cents, but does for Yuan of Renmibi which remains subdivisible into ever smaller infinidismal fractions.

Don't worry about. Here is another example

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shchelkin_spiral

A device that holds a key to hypersonic rocketry. The Yankees keep classifying it, unclassified it again and making progressively ever more complicated CFD models for it. It is otherwise a free energy device, gradually accelerating burning (deflagnating) fuel to detonation speed (thermal detonation) This seems to violate the laws of conservation, because there is about an order of magnitude more energy in detonation. I looked into the original MePHI papers. You know what this device is, among other things? Part of moonshine apparatus to smuggle onto the Mir space station. Any Russian can bent it on his knee in a pinch.

It gets worse. Some of the Russian doomsday apparatuses are not known, because the serious Western sciences won't believe such BS could conceivably exist

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

1 hour ago, ronwagn said:

Lebanon was formerly called the Switzerland of the Middle East because it was beautiful and peaceful. Peace flourished with a shared government of Muslims and Christians. Extremist Muslims decided to take over Lebanon and form a Caliphate throughout the Middle East, that is why we are now where we are. 

Israel defended itself against all of the Middle East during the Six Day War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War . Again during the Yom Kippur War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War Since then many nations have plotted to destroy it and threatened it. Israel did intervene to limit aggression in Lebanon also. They took the Golan Heights in self defense.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycotts_of_Israel

Jerusalem is sacred to Jews, Muslims, and Christians. One has to read Revelation to see what is predicted for the future. 

The "self-defense" logic hardly applies to Golans. Anyhow, Israel was actually losing all those wars it supposedly won. What really happened is due to micromanagement by Mr. Kissinger and Soviet Politburo. Summarized, something like this

Kissinger said, "What do you guys fear most?"

"One side winning for good", said the Politbiro

"Me too", said Kissinger

There is plenty of their direct communications dumped on National Security Archives.

Edited October 22, 2021 by Andrei Moutchkine

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

23 minutes ago, Andrei Moutchkine said:

The "self-defense" logic hardly applies to Golans. Anyhow, Israel was actually losing all those wars it supposedly won. What happened is due to micromanagement by Mr. Kissinger and Soviet Politburo.

Kissinger said, "What do you guys fear most?"

"One side winning for good", said the Politbiro

"Me too", said Kissinger

There is plenty of their direct communications dumped on National Security Archives.

Oh, and in 2006, Hezbolla kicked Israeli ass on its own, without Kissinger and Soviet Politbiro holding everybody's hands anymore.

Edited October 22, 2021 by Andrei Moutchkine

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

1 hour ago, ronwagn said:

The Soviet planned economy is a disaster worse than that of Europe. It is the end result of socialism, communism, fascism, or crony capitalism. They are all similar or they do not really work. Examples are Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Cambodia, Vietnam, Venezuela, and Cuba. None of them provide personal liberties and good results for the masses. Simply compare them directly to other countries and how they live. 

Yuri Besmenov provides a great testimony to the evils of socialism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yErKTVdETpw

Planned economy and Communism are coincidental bedfellows. Works just as well with state capitalism. All the successful Far Eastern economies like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan implement significant parts of Soviet system, including Gosplan and Five Year Plan. Needless to say, China too. What is wrong with them? Seem to be developing just fine. You now also have an element of planned economy. It's called Amazon. One company replacing the bulk of entire Western retail? So, you could argue that fully planned economy was way ahead of its time, before the computers were ready for it.

USSR under Stalin was the fastest growing economy ever. Nobody is sure how fast that was, but it was sure in the triple digits! From complete devastation of the war to beating USA to space in under 20 years? The only attempt to actually copy US system verbatim produced Liberia, quite likely the most terrifying shithole of all Africa.

I am sure as heck not interested in opinion of any traitors to our people. Who would say whatever. I lived under Soviet socialism and find it was quite all right. You only have as many personal liberties as you know how to exercise. You have pretty much none, because everything that you know comes from mainstream media which is very tightly controlled. The Soviet people knew better than to trust the government media, thus were more free than you are now, IMHO.

Edited October 22, 2021 by Andrei Moutchkine