A thought about sanctions on Russia...

[Corno Dolce]

As a Yankee living in Moscow I am ashamed by the actions of the current US administration. You see, Russia lived through an epoch of militant agnosticism and atheism - The common Russians overthrew the evil Bolshevik empire in the early '90's when the Bolshevik successors were firing shells from tanks at the Moscow White House. That broke the camel's back for the commoner in Russia. The overwhelming majority of Russians are sick and tired of revolution - They want evolution with stability! Thats why Putin enjoys over 80% approval ratings in Russia.

Now, imagine if Russia started with ceasing delivery of nuclear fuel to the U.S. which is between 33% and 66% of U.S. needs. Then, for more effect, the cessation of delivery of aircraft grade quality Titanium, of which Russia is practically the sole supplier. That means no more airframe critical metal to Boeing, Lockheed, and other U.S. aerospace industries for military and civilian uses. And then the shuttering of the Exxon/Mobil drilling platforms in the Russian North. And then Russia coordinating with China to call in the 1.5 trillion dollars of U.S. Treasury bonds that China has. Check-Mate, buddy USA...

 

[JHC]

Regarding the nuclear fuel I presume you mean Uranium which is past its used by date all the development now is with Thorium, China and the USA are leading the charge it is safer and much more efficient, in other areas of the worlds present problems I admire Mr Putin for being so calm against enormous pressures, unfortunately sanctions are very effective given enough time, I think the Ukraine should sort out its own mess Russia and the rest of the world "but out" what concerns me is Israel and Hamas I just think the issue is or is due to become very dangerous a lot of the Palestinian reactions that we see on TV are stage managed remember they (Hamas) have threatened to obliterate Israel and continue to hide behind children and women.

 

[Corno Dolce]

A few decades of work is needed by the US before Thorium can fully replace the current nuclear programme. A new Sodium cooled breeder reactor recently went on-line in Russia with several more on the way. Ukraine and Russia do not need the propaganda from EU or US that fans the blood-hatred war that we see now. Btw, is EU opening its borders to the influx of Ukrainians? No way! Only Russia has opened its borders. The full agreements that Poroshenko signed with EU are useless to the common Ukrainian.

All the talk about Russia annecting Crimea is pure nonsense. It is Russian territory since 1734! Russia and Ukraine have over 1000 years of shared History - Which means that the US shall keep its mouth shut, especially considering the way the US has treated the indigenous American Indian tribes.

In re to Israel and Hamas, the US and EU have labeled Hamas a terrorist organisation which therefore severely limits any negotiations. Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah therefore have a grave problem with Hamas - The arab bedouins aka (palestinians), (palestinians is a false flag term imo), who live in Gaza and the West Bank are hostage to the militants of Hamas. King Hussein of Jordan threw out the bedouins who occupy the West Bank and Gaza.

 

[teddy]

The EU should never have stuck its nose it. Like the old USSR it wants to control everything. The one good thing to come out of this mess is that we are now more likely to allow fracking as we desperately need fuel independence and current could be held hostage by Russia.

teddy

 

[Dorsetmike]

I don't see fracking as being a good thing. I still think we need to speed up research and building of tidal power installations, we're surrounded by tidal water so why not make use of it, wind farms in UK are nonsense, only useable part of the time, rest of the time either little or no wind, or too much wind; only good for making the developers rich on the subsidies.

Geothermal is another comparatively untapped source, it's been working since the 1980s in Southampton.

The initial outlay for tidal power is high but the energy source (tides) is inexhaustable it depends on the gravitational effect of the moon; so once built there is only maintenance costs.

http://www.southampton.gov.uk/s-environment/energy/Geothermal/

 

[teddy]

Even with small domestic units it is possible to generate for times as much power as you use in the generation by using heat pumps, either air or ground. Unlike the stupid windmills.

teddy

 

[JHC]

Teddy when you say (ground) do you mean real heat pumps that take the heat from low down in the ground (earth) if so these would be very expensive would they not?

 

[Dorsetmike]

Colin, I would think drilling deep holes in the ground is now an established practice given the number of oil wells drilled, the ones in the Southampton set up go down a bit less than 1800M. nowhere near as far as they drill on the Wytch farm oil site, where they drilled at an angle from on land to about 5 miles out to sea.

The Southampton scheme is mainly aimed at providing heating and hot water for housing, commercial and industrial premises, the hot brine pumped up goes through a heat exchanger where water is heated and distributed to buildings.

 

[JHC]

We have geothermal in certain regions "Rotorua small individual use" "Taupo on industrial scale" but our heat pumps are just refrigeration in reverse that is compress for heat, whereas genuine heat pumps take the heat directly from the earth and pump into house we do not have these as they need to go very deep to where the heat is. night night.

 

[teddy]

You are right Colin, reverse refrigeration. And you only need to go down a few feet, maybe six, at least in this country, to get results.

teddy

 

[JHC]

It is an interesting subject teddy e.g For vertical transfer you must go much deeper but the heat is greater but you only need one hole/shaft, I still maintain that it is the abundant power from our Sun that will be the power source of the future just a matter of time. it can provide all our daily needs in a few seconds I must do a bit of research, btw this is the first time I have been able to log on all day.

 

[wljmrbill]

yes I had problems logging on yesterday evening here. The only problem with sanctions.. is punishes the wrong people..poor and middle class for basic necessities of life. The leaders and politians etc etc etc.. have money and access to anything they want.... SO hopefully God will see fit to punish those that deserve it. Been praying for that lately. With all the conflicts in the world. I have always found he does a much better job of giving out punishments then we do/can.

 

[Krummhorn]

. . . btw this is the first time I have been able to log on all day.

yes I had problems logging on yesterday evening here.

Yup ... both of our sites were down for about 10 hours. Points to a server error or the hosting service was doing routine maintenance.

. . . I still maintain that it is the abundant power from our Sun that will be the power source of the future . . .

We have that here in Arizona ... with so much stupid sunshine and the relentless heat, the ground heats up to about 85° 3-5 feet below grade surface. That's where our water lines are going to our houses. We don't need the water heater much at all during the hot months - in fact, for me, the shower doesn't get cold enough to suit my personal tastes.

In other times of the year it gets cold for about two months. We have a long joke about our weather seasons ... we have two seasons: Hot Summer and Really Hot Summer.

 

[wljmrbill]

all my outside accent lights and spotlights are solar..even 2 artificial cherry trees that have 130 blossoms on each of them and they are each little solar lights- looks great at night.( ready for Christmas all year ..LOL ) ( also keep a deep cycle marine battery charged up with a 30 watt solar panel and have a 400 watt inveerter to use with it... always handy when power goes out too. I now for the 9 years I lived on a 39' houseboat in Sarasota bay (Fl) I used a 70 watt panel and 2 batteries for electric. Certainly a better deal once you spend the money to buy what is needed to set-up solar units ( expensive). and now days they have a solar power generator system - even better deal. $$$$$$$$..