The World Blog by humble servant.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated that the alliance will not send troops to Ukraine and nor impose a no-fly zone over the country, citing the risk of a “full-fledged war between NATO and Russia” as a reason for refusing Kiev’s multiple requests. Speaking to the press before the beginning of the NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday, Stoltenberg brought up the “many different types of support” Ukraine has received, including military support, training, combat equipment, and fuel. “And the combination of training and support from NATO Allied countries with the bravery and the courage of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is enabling the Ukrainians to really resist and actually fight back the invading Russian Army,” Stoltenberg said. However, he noted that NATO made it very clear from the beginning of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine that it would not send “NATO troops on the ground, or NATO planes in the air.” “We do that because we have a responsibility to ensure that this conf...

Fahrettin Altun, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman, has shot down the idea that Ankara should transfer its Russian-made S-400 air defense missile systems to Ukraine in exchange for Turkey receiving F-35 warplanes and Patriot missile batteries from the US. Kiev has been pleading for foreign aid to help it fight off the Russian military offensive. “It is the responsibility of the West and especially the US to normalize relations with Turkey,” Altun wrote in a letter to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Wednesday. He added that “what the West must do is deliver the F-35 fighter jets and Patriot batteries to Turkey without preconditions.” The spokesman wrote that Washington’s removal of Turkey from the F-35 program in 2019 was “unlawful.” The US refused to deliver the promised planes after Ankara rejected its demand to scrap the purchase of S-400s. Altun was responding to a Wall Street Journal op-ed from last week, which asked Ankara to give its S-400s to Kiev so they ca...

The exchange price for gas in Europe at the level of $4,000 per 1,000 cubic meters is not the limit, as the volume at storage facilities is significantly lower than last year, the Russian deputy prime minister and former energy minister, Alexander Novak, said on Wednesday. According to him, the ban on Russian oil and gas imports could result in a crash of Europe’s energy market. “It is absolutely obvious that without Russian hydrocarbons, if sanctions are imposed, the gas and oil markets will collapse. The rise in prices for energy resources can be unpredictable,” Novak said. He pointed out that Washington’s ban on Russian oil and petroleum products has already led to an increase in fuel prices in the US by 19%. At the same time, the share of domestic energy resources in the United States is only 3% of Russian exports. Empty shelves, price hikes, car shortages: Sanctioning Russia proves costly for the West Read more Empty shelves, price hikes, car shortages: Sanctioning Russia pro...

The absolute stupidity of those in the Biden Administration will go down in history as probably the dumbest ever in the history of the world, not just the United States. Besides disrupting energy supplies, and subjecting the world to a shortage of wheat when Russia and Ukraine represent 30% of the world exports, Biden’s sheer stupidity in just reading what his staff of climate zealots tell him is beyond belief. There is a crisis unfolding even in base metals like nickel.Removing Russian banks from SWIFT but leaving the energy intact so Europe has power, was so brilliant they obviously never played chess. Putin just put Biden’s king in check by ordering Europe to pay for gas now in Rubles. That will provide support for the Ruble, and undermine Europe and its Euro as well as the dollar in the long run.First of all, when Biden freezes all of Russia’s reserves, why would you continue to get paid in dollars that Biden could freeze? That makes no sense. This is why I warned that using SWIFT ...

Russia addressed the concerns of European countries on Thursday about the plan to switch settlements for gas delivery from euros to rubles. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that Moscow’s decision would create many problems. He explained that Bulgaria, the country through which gas supplies to Serbia and Hungary is delivered, has declared its unwillingness to switch to rubles in gas payments. In response, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that the issue is closed, and Bulgaria will have to pay in rubles “whether they like it or not.” However, he addressed Serbia’s concerns, noting that the country has abstained from any hostile acts or comments against Russia in connection with Ukraine. Russia’s ruble payment plan leaves European gas buyers confusedREAD MORE: Russia’s ruble payment plan leaves European gas buyers confused “This does not apply to Serbia. The problem remains to be solved and, naturally, Serbia’s concerns will be our top priority,” Peskov said....

Russia and Iran have been cooperating to connect their interbank messaging systems in order to bypass the SWIFT financial transactions network, Kazem Jalali, ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Russia, said on Thursday. Both countries are facing severe Western sanctions, making settlements in trade through SWIFT difficult or impossible. “We are making efforts in this direction…” Jalali told reporters, as quoted by RIA Novosti news agency. Last month, seven Russian banks were severed from SWIFT, effectively denying them access to international markets. The ban was part of the latest Western sanctions targeting Russia over its military operation in Ukraine. READ MORE: Ukraine wants SWIFT to cut off Russia’s central bank Russia has its own payment mechanism called the Financial Message Transfer System (SPFS) that has similar functionality and allows the transmission of messages in the SWIFT format. It was created as an analogue to SWIFT that has been developed by the Bank o...