Conrad Is, Perhaps, Skirting Definitions Here
How unusual! Well, not really unusual. In fact, how quite usual.
What crops am I bloviating about? O I thought you'd never ask! Art?
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| A field of ferny forest |
What you're looking at here is one of the prehistoric forests that, millions of years ago, died and were compressed beneath the earth. After baking and cooking for several million years, these forests were transformed into the fossil fuels that we know and love, apart from Greta Thunberg and just wait until she has to travel to work without a car*. Art!
Here's Charlie Chipmunk Cheeks, whom also loves loves loves all the fossil fuels, because his tsardom has lots and lots of them.
Well, I think it's time to abruptly switch tracks and instead direct our attention on Tennessee Ernie Ford, seminal radio announcer, television presenter and warbler of that classic "Sixteen Tons", which is about, surprise surprise - Art!
Coal mining. These grubby yet cheerful troglodytes are South Canadians, working in one of their Pennsylvanian coal mines, which might even be the Number Nine Mine, which is where the line
I loaded sixteen tons of number 9 coal
comes from.
So, you see how we still adhere to the concept of fossil fuels? I keep informing you, there's at least ten or twenty seconds of thought put into these blogs. Now, the telling part of this song's refrain is towards the end, when Tenny sings about how he, the narrator, is a no-nonsense burly fist-flinging typa guy.
That's the concept I want to get across in this Intro, that Fate, Destiny, Ukrainian drones and the Global West's sanctions are doing a double-whammy upon Modern-day Mordor's fossil fuel industry, primarily the oil and gas sectors thereof. In this Intro I would like to pay close and mocking attention to <sustained drum roll>
GAZPROM! Art?
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| Their St Petersburg HQ |
Gazza is the state agency dealing with gas - it's in the name - and used to be one of the biggest employers on the planet, number 12 globally with nearly 500,000 staff. This is due to an accident of geography, in that Ruffia sits on the largest gas reserves in the world, and to prove it - Art!
In the halcyon days before the Special Idiotic Operation, Gazze had established a huge gas pipeline network into Europe, at a fixed cost that had long been paid off, and which allowed the extremely rapid transit of cheap gas. So much of it that Gazzi's profits made up 5% of Ruffia's national GDP, which is to say an awful lot of money.
Since February 2022, though, Gazzo's exports to Europe have fallen off a cliff in terms of traffic, because the EU has defied Ruffian energy blackmail and made the transition to Liquid Natural Gas, which is 'bottled' gas that can be transported. Guess who didn't bother to invest in LNG technology?
In the good old days of cheap gas exports, pipeline supply brought in $290 million per diem, a pretty good chunk of change. Over time, mind, this amount dwindled somewhat. Which is to say, a lot. Art!
If you want hard factual data, Conrad just so happens to have a bit here. Pre-SIO, pipeline gas brought in $105 billion annually for Gazzu. By today, that has been reduced to $27 billion per annum or a drop of 75%. Once again, who was hit hardest by cuts in demand and supply of gas? Art!
This wasn't an especially slow process, since by Q3 and Q4 of 2022 - a table would express this more succinctly. Art!
This shows the frankly alarming trend for Gazza, going from a profit of ₽1.2 trillion rubles in 2022 to a loss of ₽629 billion in 2023, or if you prefer your figures in real notes not Monopoly scrip, from $13 billion profit to $7 billion loss, a swing of $20 billion rubles. This kind of abrupt and enormous change is scarcely believable and the execs at Gazze must still be rubbing their eyes in startled disbelief.
O and a shout-out goes to 'Joe Blogs' and the 'Daily Express' for providing these figures. The DE is for people whom the ''Daily Mail" is too smug, but they have really been covering the fall of the house of Ruffia in detail, props to their correspondents.
ANYWAY as Joe pointed out and his previous economic data on Modern-day Mordor have shown, the final figures for Q4 of 2024 aren't in yet, which is a major sticking point. Ruffian budgets, you see, from the lowliest corner shop to the national state one, all lump expenses in the final month of the final quarter, so that current total of $3.2 billion in losses is only going to get bigger. Art!
Well, would you believe it, we've only covered part of the steely left fist's impact upon the saggy solar plexus of the Ruffian economy. We will definitely come back to this! It's solid evidence that Charlie Chipmunk Cheeks is under severe economic pressure, no matter how hard and long he whistles to keep his spirits up. And who is going to go bankrupt sooner rather than later? Art!
Conrad Is Angry!
Yes, again, what, are you keeping count? I'll have you know that I need to keep my Frothing Nitric Ire in good working order and exercise it at least twice per week. Here we are with the fruits of umpteen Codewords, and I know you'll feel my pain. Because if you don't it's the uranium mines for you.
COZENAGE: Conrad is unfamiliar with this word and briefly considered that it might be to do with old age, along the lines of DOTAGE or similar. Sadly not. It refers to being tricked or deceived, which is pretty much BOOJUM!s stock in trade. Sorry not sorry and all that. Art!
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| Nice hat |
PIZZAZZ: Really? Really! This is a word, now? <mutters darkly> according to my Collins Concise it's: "An attractive combination of energy and style". O and it combines four of the least-used letters in the alphabet in doubles, just to make it an even more confusing Codeword when you definitely don't need to egg the clue pudding that much. Art!
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| Pizza zzz. Close enough |
ERSATZ: Another word ending in "Z"! This one is familiar to Conrad because of his acquaintance with all things Teuton, especially from the First and Second Unpleasantnesses. It means 'substitute' or 'artificial' and is derived from the Teuton ERSETZEN. How the average Codeworde solver is supposed to manage I don't know. Art!
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| Wait - "Waltz for a pig"? |
Conrad Is Going To Gloast A Tad Here
You know me, ever one to kick an unfriendly economy whilst it's down, so I couldn't resist posting this clip from the BBC News webpage, lifted and snipped from this morning. Art!
Gosh, as high as that? Note no cozenage here. Why, how must those living with rates 10x this be faring under their economic yoke? and whom could I possibly mean?
Talking Of Teutons -
Yes, we are back with the consistently complaining German corporal, and extracts from his journal for September 1944, where he is not enjoying himself. This is probably because his parent division, the 719th, had been performing cushy occupation duties in nice safe Holland, and now things were getting hot. Art!
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| One of the heaters |
6 September 1944: Strong enemy artillery fire in our sector. American or Britons only 300 yards from us. Assault guns of the SS are supposed to come to our assistance. Communication path is under fire. The company pets are no longer runners any more now. The General is with us.
Conrad's Commentary: Since the location of fighting was the Albert Canal, the Allied soldiers opposite Grumpy German Gefreiter are British, which also explains the strong artillery fire. That 'supposed' claim also adds in complexity and the possibility of not turning up, deliberately or accidentally. The 'Communication' path GGG mentions and then runners implies that they are sending people to and fro with messages instead of using radios, perhaps due to a fear of eavesdropping or jamming. And using the Dutch telephone network was hugely unwise as their Resistance would be eavesdropping. Art!
British bridge over the Albert Canal, several days after GGG had departed stage right.
Finally -
Rather over the Count at this point, so let's be succinct. Brevity is the sole of flip-flops, or similar shizzle. Art!
This is the thumbnail from 'Hazegrayart' on Youtube, which Conrad will definitely be coming back to. We feature Hazey's artwork every so often and you ought to pay them a visit, for it is truly worth it.
* Yes, she can bike it. In 30 mph winds at 2⁰ C with driving squalls of sleet, she's welcome.
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