Red Ice TV - September 29, 2022


Europe Have Been Prepped For A Dark Winter - How Bad Could It Get?


Episode Stats

Length

9 minutes

Words per Minute

174.06282

Word Count

1,718

Sentence Count

95

Hate Speech Sentences

2


Summary

In this episode of the podcast, I discuss the Russia's decision to cut off Europe's natural gas supply due to the Ukraine crisis, and how this is a test run for what will happen if the same thing happens in Europe in the future.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 From the EU establishment's point of view, this is, I think, not an accident. I think they're doing
00:00:04.780 this quite intentionally. They want to kind of cushion the blow a little bit for what ultimately
00:00:09.240 will happen when they begin with their idiotic climate lockdowns. And these energy lockdowns,
00:00:14.380 this crisis, this manufactured crisis, you could argue, is kind of like a test, really. It's just
00:00:19.500 to test, well, what are the reactions of the people going to be? What's going to happen if
00:00:23.080 we cut it off? In this case, though, they can perfectly use the Russia-Ukraine war as the
00:00:28.420 excused. And it is a real problem. I'm not saying that. But if they were more rational
00:00:32.960 and reasonable, they wouldn't drive a policy which caused Russia to cut off the gas entirely,
00:00:38.460 essentially, from Europe. But they would have been more willing to negotiate, to cooperate,
00:00:42.800 and these kinds of things. So we've kind of painted ourselves into a corner, but it's not
00:00:47.140 an accident. Which takes me to this next story. It was Fortune magazine talking about how you
00:00:52.540 really don't understand how bad it could get in Europe this year. Let me read a little bit
00:00:57.160 from this. This is from today here. As bad as it is now, they're talking about the high prices of
00:01:01.440 the electricity and just how many businesses are running on half steam, essentially. They have
00:01:07.860 to conserve energy and electricity because they can't afford running their, whether it's a coffee
00:01:13.440 shop or a cafe, or worse, manufacturing plants and things like this, too. But as bad as it is now,
00:01:20.460 these might still be the good days for Europe. With winter and higher gas demand on the way,
00:01:25.400 experts told Fortune that Europe's energy market has never been more vulnerable. Even the slightest
00:01:31.820 uptick in energy demand anywhere in the world could push entire sectors of Europe's manufacturing
00:01:37.640 industry to shut down entirely. Devastating European economies with a wave of unemployment,
00:01:45.520 high prices, and in all likelihood, public unrest and divisions between European nations.
00:01:51.240 Someone's like, is this a blessing in disguise? I don't want to say, of course, division between
00:01:56.980 European nations, but what I'm hearing is like, oh, liberal democracy doesn't work anymore. What
00:02:04.680 happened with globalism? Oh, what about the EU? Because, of course, the EU is very much largely
00:02:10.200 responsible for creating this situation. You can pin it on some nations as well, but the EU elite have
00:02:16.740 certainly, you know, created this situation for us. Prices are at a historic record levels. We have never ever seen
00:02:24.180 anything actually like this. As soon as the war began in Ukraine, European nations scrambled to secure their
00:02:30.980 energy systems against disruptions of natural gas supply from Russia. They had two options, increase supply of gas
00:02:37.640 coming into the continent, or reduce the demand. Continues here. For other experts that Fortune spoke
00:02:45.960 with, said that until summer of 2023, at least, suppliers are unlikely to be able to increase flows
00:02:52.200 to Europe by a high enough volume to replace Russian gas. The article talks about these, like we need new
00:02:57.720 ports in order to receive liquid natural gas, LNG, and that infrastructure is just simply not in place.
00:03:06.040 There are countries now that are like scrambling and trying to build out, you know, their like coal
00:03:10.840 power plants and things like that. And even in the meantime, disaster is happening when it comes to
00:03:17.240 the old growth forests in various European countries, specifically in Romania. There was a piece we talked
00:03:22.280 about the other day that wood pellets are now considered to be green fuel. So now they're actually cutting
00:03:27.400 down old growth forests, turning them into wood chips, and crushing them into pellets. And then now that's a
00:03:34.440 green option. Complete idiocy, right? With immediate supplies maxed out, Europe's energy system is
00:03:41.240 balanced on a ledge. That means that addressing demand is the only realistic measure left at Europe's
00:03:47.480 disposal. In other words, we're going to have to start rationing. And that could come through painful
00:03:52.920 means like mandated and widespread energy rationing. So this is the climate lockdowns. This is the nature of
00:04:00.600 it. Or at least the dry run test of it, I think partially intentionally created in order to see
00:04:07.160 what happens next kind of thing. I mean, if they had a whole green infrastructure in place, then you
00:04:13.640 would be like, well, what's the reason? If things work, right? I have to think about this and approach
00:04:19.560 to problems. If things work, there's no reason for you to want to change things. So now they create chaos
00:04:28.440 and they create the pain in order to get European countries to submit to the new green energy agenda,
00:04:35.080 essentially. And it's like, well, we have no option. That's what we have to do. And that's why I think
00:04:39.000 it's engineered and created. Continues here. European governments have already implemented some energy
00:04:45.240 conservation and rationing laws, such as turning off traffic lights at night and dimming lights on
00:04:51.640 historical buildings. Remember all the statues and stuff? They're like turning off the lights. We don't
00:04:55.720 even see our monument. It's so symbolic. I mean, you can't make it up. They have stopped short of
00:05:00.360 ordering consumers to lower their energy use, but with energy demand much higher during the winter,
00:05:06.280 they may be forced to make some difficult choices. Reducing gas demand in Europe, either through
00:05:12.040 rationing or higher prices, could have a prolonged and debilitating effect on Europe's society. And it's
00:05:17.880 already having destabilizing consequences for some industries and economies, completely according to
00:05:23.240 the line, absolute zero, agenda 2030, all that stuff. And then, of course, you have the other
00:05:28.040 issue with the higher prices as well, that they turn up and up and up and up and up the prices.
00:05:34.280 And it's like, as far as I know, there hasn't been any blackouts or rolling blackouts and stuff. And
00:05:38.520 look, I get it. It's like, well, if you raise the prices, they will start using less, right? But it
00:05:43.080 looks like the energy is actually there, but the prices is just going up. So the energy companies,
00:05:48.840 as a kind of a, in a way, kind of a bribe, I guess, of sort of going along with this is that they're
00:05:55.320 making record profits right now because prices are so high. Over 70% of your, here's the other
00:06:01.240 kicker here, right? Over 70% of European fertilizer producers, which rely on the ammonia extracted from
00:06:08.920 natural gas production, have already halted operations. So here we go. Yet another of the
00:06:14.600 the check marks accomplished here. Soaring energy costs are forcing those European factories
00:06:20.200 and manufacturers to slow down operations. But the worst case scenario would be a shutdown
00:06:25.960 of European manufacturing industries most reliant on natural gas, including glass makers and steel
00:06:32.600 companies. The crisis could not have come at a worse time for Europe as the continent's energy
00:06:38.120 system is still recovering from a summer of extreme weather and worker strikes slowing operations.
00:06:44.760 Combined with these challenges, this crunch could be one of the worst energy crises on the continent
00:06:50.120 since the 1970s. It already means high prices for average Europeans, companies cutting back on
00:06:56.120 production and a slowdown in the fertilizer industry, which of course is going to create a whole nother set
00:07:01.160 of problems. But if it forces all kinds of industries to shut down or relocate, experts say it could lead to a
00:07:09.080 much longer wave of unemployment and economic downturn on the continent.
00:07:15.480 Do you see anything else that could put in the darkness here that actually could be beneficial to us
00:07:20.440 Europeans? I can see a couple of things right here. That kind of outcome could persist long after winter is
00:07:26.360 over. Expert says cutting back on industrial capacity could lead to, quote, lower economic
00:07:31.400 activity, higher levels of unemployment and even greater potential for recession, unquote.
00:07:37.080 Europe is now in a very challenging situation. I would say it is probably worse than the 1970s,
00:07:42.760 where there was just an oil crisis. Now we're talking about a crisis with oil, nuclear,
00:07:47.720 hydropower and gas. And then they go on to explain that this is basically a wild west scenario.
00:07:53.080 Now, if the situation deteriorates, every European country is in for a wild west scenario.
00:07:59.400 If rising electrical bills combined with a wave of unemployment and economic downturn, the crisis could
00:08:04.760 spill out onto the streets. Last month, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned that higher energy
00:08:11.000 bills were a powder keg for society. Europe should anticipate movements similar to the yellow jackets
00:08:17.640 protests that happened in France back in 2018. And European politicians have to prepare for a very
00:08:23.640 difficult season. Very bad, right? This is very bad. Then at the same time, I feel this like, well,
00:08:29.800 how are people that are in our countries unnecessarily, who already might not have
00:08:35.560 jobs or stuff like that, how are they going to react to this? Is there any way that this could be
00:08:39.160 utilized for anti-liberal democracy people, anti-immigrant, you know, the open borders policy
00:08:46.840 and stuff like that? This could potentially be something which is a catalyst for a much bigger
00:08:53.320 movement that once and for all try to topple these forces that put us in this situation. You got to
00:08:58.120 remember too that Ursula von der Leyen, who is partially responsible for putting us in this
00:09:01.640 situation, passed the Green New Deal. They didn't call it that. The Green New Deal was the U.S. term,
00:09:08.040 right? But they introduced it first and Europe came and they didn't pass it, right? And then Europe
00:09:12.600 shows up and says, we're also going to have one. I think they just called it the Green Deal or
00:09:16.200 something like that, right? They use Green Deal as about more than saving the planet. It's about taking
00:09:22.040 a stab at all industries and creating a whole new fourth industrial revolution, blah, blah, blah.
00:09:26.120 Here's the Financial Times here, that this is a moment of truth for Europe's green ambition. And again,
00:09:31.320 so you cannot create a set of new industries or new solutions, essentially, if you do not have a
00:09:39.960 problem to focus on. And that's why this is perfect for them.