Jussi Halla-aho @Halla_aho@respublicae.eu
Unofficial automated mirror. No copyright asserted. ∎ Kansanedustaja / Member of Parliament
We/us/our
Joined Apr 2022
10/13 The long-term future without Russian energy will be different from today, but it will be better. An economic model based on dependence on cheap Russian gas and oil is dangerous and must go.
9/13 The next winter may be difficult, but it will be nothing compared to the hardships endured by earlier generations. With our technology and stable societal structures we are also in a much better position to deal with the difficulties.
8/13 Five years later Germany was in that situation. It not only survived, some decades later it was again the leading economic and industrial power in Europe.
Against that background, the current catastrophism and fear-mongering is a bit comical.
7/13 If someone in 1940 had asked whether Germany as a nation and a civilization could survive without factories, roads, bridges, railways, telephone lines, heating and electricity, the answer would probably have been "no".
6/13 People do not just sit down and freeze. This is not how people behave. When circumstances change, people adapt to them.
I am not an engineer and I do not know exactly how we will replace Russian energy, but I am very sure answers will be found when they need to be found.
5/13 Many in Europe fear that we will freeze and die without Russian gas. This fear has given Mr Putin a lot of power over us and our ability to impose effective sanctions on him.
We should ponder on the freeze-and-starve scenarios for a minute.
4/13 Before the war, most of us believed Russia was the second most powerful conventional military power in the world. This belief gave Russia a lot of diplomatic leverage. It was stupid for the Russians to start the war and expose themselves. We know now better and fear less.
3/13 Being feared gives you power. You should at all costs avoid fulfilling your threats or painting yourself in the corner by drawing red lines - unless you are absolutely sure others will not cross them.
2/13 Mr Putin is essentially a Nazgul. His most potent weapon is fear. Not nuclear weapons, not gas, but fear.
We have been restrained by our FEAR of Mr Putin using nukes or freezing and starving us by stopping gas and oil supplies.
1/13 I am surprised Mr Putin has closed Nord Stream 1 and is threatening to stop exports to all countries that introduce a price cap on Russian gas.
Surprised because this is against Russia's own interests, and I have a tendency to believe they understand their own interests.
18/18 The question then is: Can we afford to lose to Russia? If not, then we should do EVERYTHING we can.
More military aid to Ukraine. More sanctions on Russia.
17/18 If Ukraine loses, we lose. This would work wonders for the attractiveness of democracy and "western values" in the Third World which more than anything appreciates strength.
16/18 If Russia wins the war, this means that Russia - which in terms of population and economy is a "Northern Nigeria" - is alone stronger than the democratic world combined. This is how a Russian victory would be interpreted in that part of the world that is watching.
15/18 Most of the mankind live in countries that either sympathize Russia or remain neutral. They are watching closely who emerges as the winner from this - as they see it - war between world-views and societal models.
14/18 But it IS our war. We have said so. We have taken sides. We are giving Ukraine political, diplomatic, economic and military aid and waging an economic war against Russia. The Russians, quite correctly, see this as a conflict between Russia and the democratic world.
13/18 It would be unfair to say the West has done nothing. It has done very much. The question, however, is whether it has done EVERYTHING it could.
"Why should we do more? It is not, after all, our war", some say.
12/18 They have been at war for 8 years. They have seen the Russkiy mir, "Pax Russica", in Donetsk, Luhansk, Mariupol and Bucha. They know what is in store for them and their loved ones if they do not win this war.
11/18 It became very clear that the Ukrainians, from the highest top down to the families living in Polish-donated containers in a destroyed village, have no plans to surrender or make concessions. It is also easy to understand why.
10/18 Some of us in the West keep calling for negotiations and compromises, which in truth is a euphemistic way of asking the Ukrainians to surrender. So that we in the West did not have to feel so uncomfortable.
9/18 "No matter how much you bomb, loot, rape and kill, life will return. Your shadow will pass. Green grass will grow over your evil deeds. The wave of time will wash away the Russian filth."
Unofficial automated mirror. No copyright asserted. ∎ Kansanedustaja / Member of Parliament
We/us/our
Joined Apr 2022
