@jim in a bath.
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apparently thereâs a shit load of gas still in the pipe
So definitely Jim then?
If it were just a crack, or a failed seal (yes, yes, I know, ha ha) then you could imagine the Russians keeping a positive pressure in it to try to limit the flow of seawater in. Of course if theyâve blown a large hole in it then that wonât work.
Iâve never quite understood this approach, it just makes it look obviously false. If theyâd try to claim it was 60:40 for example, it would be harder to argue itâs ludicrous.
I would suggest the Ministryâs Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research (10th Department) might just know what happened. Be a shame to have the capability and not use itđ
Itâs the Russian submarine equivalent of the Scunk Works complete with its own operational command.
Sneaky bastards.
Iâm more-than-usually hard-of-thinking today: why would RU do this? I mean, they own the pipeline and the gas in it, and they control it. No need to puncture it.
Equally, why would anyone else damage it? Lots of pollution, and itâs not in active use in any case.
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To put more pressure on the EU and to claim it was the Ukraine. Russia can still make money by selling it to India.
the pipeline goes to germany not india and hasnât been used since august.
My moneys now on a British Submarine captain crashing into it whilst sneaking about.
In three places?
My point is Russia doesnât need to worry about not selling gas to the EU as it has India happy to buy it.
To date Putin had been able to blame poor maintenance or poor construction, these excuses runs thin after a while.
A big fuck off hole in the pipe under the Baltic will take an age to repair. In the meantime he will either,;blame someone else or blame someone else while making it perfectly clear it was him. It wonât be long before he blames Ukraine.
It may have been unused to date, but it is certainly needed for the future.
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Were you out joyriding again? Go-on, fess-up 
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So I guess that means no negotiation (open or secret) with the EU for quite a while ? It either forces Germany to source its energy elsewhere or, perhaps, the aim is to pressure them to open the valves on Nord Stream 2 - which would be a very public win on Putinâs part ?
Nord2 was also âself-corodedâ
Russian âstrategyâ (I use the word for the want of anything else) was for skyrocketing gas prices over winter, sowing dissent in EU states and to ensure that attention turned away from Ukraine and forced them to the negotiating table. Put simply that hasnât happened. For sure, gas prices are painful and the effect on industry in particular will be hard buuut crucially, gas futures have been dropping sharply over the last three weeks. For all its cuntryness, the market basically priced in no more Russian gas for the forseeable. Demand readjusted and the price is resettling (it means that price massaging in the EU and UK wonât be as expensive as feared).
This is a pretty desperate attempt to spike the market with a âno more gas eVarâ threat. Russia canât rebuild these without help. To break them is terminal unless Europe comes around. Itâs early days but- HERE is the three month map of gas prices, including the results of today (they look a bit more spectacular on the 24 hour chart).
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Nice one Ed, makes sense 
I mean⊠it would help if the UK wasnât repeatedly smashing itself in the nads 
but the rest of the EU should weather this.
Is
âEngaged withâ
A polite way of saying
âLaughing at.â
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Engaged as in âtoilet lock statusâ.