U.K. tabloids have begun cranking out propaganda about Russia’s ruble “being crushed” this week by the stock markets. The “news” prompted this analyst to dig deeper into where the Russian people stand in 2023 economically. With a significant conflict blazing on their border in war-torn Ukraine, the Russian people are enjoying an economy even better than in 2013, before the Euromaidan and tons of sanctions began being used to hurt the Putin administration and the people…

It is ironic that the Druzhba pipeline, whose name means “friendship” in Russian, is so full of contention—not just crude oil.  Was this an organized leak or not, and what would happen, if it stopped flowing entirely, including the direct and indirect consequences? Regardless, that is a moot point.  It is not as if Germany already has enough problems resulting from closing ranks with the US over Ukraine. It has been willing to put its own energy security and economy on the front line…

The US aims to ship oil to the EU by massive tankers as a result of Washington’s sanctions campaign against Russia and the requirement it placed upon Europe to purchase a sizeable amount of American oil as a result. Specifically, these tankers include the 320,000-ton Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) and the 200,000-ton Suezmax vessel…

Given the high dependence of today’s energy-intensive economy on gas supplies, it can be argued that any proposals to optimize the transit and sale of the blue fuel are of high interest in world markets. Before the aggravation of Russian-Ukrainian relations, the European Union was the main buyer of Russian gas, with export volumes reaching as high as 174.3 billion cubic meters…