That is the lesson the Russians are learning. The BBC gives us (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyp41v1n1go) ‘Russian strikes kill 10 as Zelensky says Ukraine hits oil tankers and terminal’ where we see “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said three Russian oil tankers, a cruise-missile carrier warship and a patrol boat were struck in separate attacks on two Russian ports. There are no details on damage to the ships, but Zelensky said the tankers were part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” used to evade Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s full-scale invasion launched in 2022.” So whilst the Russians struck 10 people, 5 ‘commodity’ items were taken of the Russian board. Paraphrased that comes down to a taker for every 2 Ukrainian lives. I think it is not a proper way to say things, but in value it does ring true. And as Russia is losing more and more, the option to replenish through the selling of oil is also fading. Yes, I know it is not the most elegant way to state things, but it seems that the world needs a wake up call and as I foresee that soon this might be a solo fight between Russia and the United States, as the rest have isolated these two players. So the world sees two megalomaniacs praise and banter all over the field whilst they have to tough it out alone. It remains me of that old hit by Frankie Goes to Hollywood called Two Tribes (1984) and whilst some might remember that hit, some will see the light of the reality that it gives. And Russia? Their option is pretty simple and it was phrased by former Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin in one easy step and it was out there for over 3 years “In October 2022, she stated that the only way to end the conflict is for Russia to leave Ukraine. Her direct response, “The way out of the conflict is for Russia to leave Ukraine,”” seems simple, but the effect that the ego of megalomaniacs is that lead ing equals defeat, they cannot comprehend this concept. President Trump not in Iran and President Putin not in the Ukraine and as I see it, the rest of the world is ready to isolate both and they can banter to each other.
So whilst some will ‘comment’ that Russia only lost 2 tanks, the reality is that they already lost 11,908 tanks, they might not have that many more open to the western front. They apparently only have about 2,500 tanks left and for any ground offensive that is not that much and we have no idea how many of those are the T34 ‘juggernauts’ (from 1939) and when you consider that these encounters are now set to UAV’s and the Ukraine did away with 269,813 of them bad boys and 2,224 of them in the last week alone, Russia has a problem as their supplier (Iran) is dealing with its own losses all over the field, so Russia is almost forced to rely on 1,334,030 dead soldiers, with 1,080 removed from the roll call of life in the last week alone. I reckon that over 900,000 might still be alive if someone in the Kremlin would have taken the words of Sanna Marin in their heart. The likely disadvantage of listening to someone’s ego. So when Russia wants to sell its oil, it needs to remember that 93,556 automotive and fuel tanks can no longer deliver anything, that being said, three oil tankers, for some unexplainable reason, cannot bring oil deliveries either. As I see it, the Russian options are getting fewer and fewer and soon they can only knock on the doors of the United States and whilst the Republican Party is in power, they might not get turned away. So there is every chance that Russia’s state oil firm Transneft will not report income for some time to come. So whilst we hear that the Ukraine has delivered Russia an estimated $7 billion in losses, with March alone seeing over $2.3 billion in revenue losses. These attacks have reduced oil transshipments by 300,000–500,000 barrels per day (bpd), forcing production cuts, reducing exports to their lowest level since 2024, and leaving half of Russia’s oil companies unprofitable. (Source: Al Jazeera) So as most doesn’t have the ability to suffer losses to this degree (I can honestly state that my wallet was never in a position to carry that much revenue) and that is the hidden setting that a lot of the media is not clearly stating. How much losses can any place (like Russia) endure? The media seems to paint with the same brush all matters so that the clarity is not seen, but when you sit and think if it the picture doesn’t make sense. Russia as well as Houthi terrorists rely on Iranian UAV’s and their space parts, but that was scuttled by the United States (as far as we know). Oil is shown its combustable properties by the Ukrainian forces and there is no clear setting for Iran which is getting an explanation by the forces of the United States and Israel. The stage is that both Russia and Iran seems to ‘fare’ in normal ways, but that setting could never be in such a setting. The image is wrong and there is every indication that I am missing parts of the image or revenue streams, but the media has lost reliability and I lack that knowledge to fill in the blanks and no one seems to be answering these questions. So whilst we see oil burning, no one is wondering what replaces that.
So, have a great day and consider the issues I brought to the surface at this moment.
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 