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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Yep, he cares a lot more about looking  powerful than about anybody dying or any nation’s borders.  I’m kind of surprised that Putin didn’t toss him a bone.  

Trump's ego and "Legacy" (in quotations as this legacy is whatever Trump believes/thinks it will be) are always the first factors in determining any statements or actions he will make. I really don't think the people of Ukraine or Russia for that matter factor into the equation other than how he perceives it will alter his ego or "legacy". 

In case anyone is curious, power and money followed after a massive gap then women (because a bad ass needs arm candy) is the rest of Trump's "moral compass". He follows the Scarface book of "How to win friends and influence people". 

Edited by BurntEyes
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Posted
13 hours ago, Orange&White said:

Two explosions at the exact same time in two different countries in facilities that both process Russian oil?? Who could it have been? I guess the mystery will never be solved??

I thought the KGB was supposed to be good?

That's some "Hogan's Heroes" shit.  Except Hogan would have made time to have a nice dinner and nail a Fraulein. 

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Posted
52 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:


The Ryazan one is burning pretty nicely.

Also, "Ukraine put together a kinetic sanctions package"

Spit Take Lol GIF by Justin

 

The Ryazan Oil Refinery (RNPK, part of Rosneft) was attacked last night. This is was the #3/4 largest refinery in Russia, with a stated capacity of ~340,000 BPD, and had been operating at ~250,000 the past year.

The fire broke out near the catalytic cracking or hydrotreating unit...

Actual processing in recent years has been around 12-13 million tons per year. In August, following drone strikes, the plant temporarily reduced production capacity (temporarily operating with one large unit—approximately half its capacity). Today, it may have been finished off!

This marks at least the third Ukrainian strike on the Ryazan refinery since August. On Aug. 2, the plant reportedly shut down two of its three primary refining units after an attack, and on Sept. 5, one more unit was taken offline, according to Reuters sources.

 

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Posted
1 hour ago, PTINS said:

The Ryazan Oil Refinery (RNPK, part of Rosneft) was attacked last night. This is was the #3/4 largest refinery in Russia, with a stated capacity of ~340,000 BPD, and had been operating at ~250,000 the past year.

The fire broke out near the catalytic cracking or hydrotreating unit...

Actual processing in recent years has been around 12-13 million tons per year. In August, following drone strikes, the plant temporarily reduced production capacity (temporarily operating with one large unit—approximately half its capacity). Today, it may have been finished off!

This marks at least the third Ukrainian strike on the Ryazan refinery since August. On Aug. 2, the plant reportedly shut down two of its three primary refining units after an attack, and on Sept. 5, one more unit was taken offline, according to Reuters sources.

 


And Putin is having a tantrum about the new sanctions, through Medvedev stating that it is an act of war against Russia

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Posted
17 minutes ago, Bevo said:


And Putin is having a tantrum about the new sanctions, through Medvedev stating that it is an act of war against Russia

The next Julia Davis drop on Russian Media Monitor is gonna be lit.   We should all agree to take a shot of vodka every time a nuclear attack on the west is threatened

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Posted
49 minutes ago, Bevo said:

And Putin is having a tantrum about the new sanctions, through Medvedev stating that it is an act of war against Russia

Aimed slowly at making Trump squirm, because the reality is that Moscow is fast approaching a point where they can't export anything oil & gas related, maybe not even crude oil to be refined and re-imported. 

Hell, that refinery they hit last night, if it's completely down, means Rosneft won't even be selling much fuel internally.

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Posted
1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

Aimed slowly at making Trump squirm, because the reality is that Moscow is fast approaching a point where they can't export anything oil & gas related, maybe not even crude oil to be refined and re-imported. 

I'm having a hard time buying the below mattering - there are a myriad of ways they can get that cheap oil, and Beijing isn't going to give it up - Iran could serve as a proxy. Also, this says "seaborne" and nothing about pipelines, of which I'd guess China has a lot of.

If China reduces purchases in a huge way (not just "seaborne" but pipelines), then I'd feel like it means they know shit is going down and either they want to contribute to the post-Putin chaos, or they feel like they can wait and get a better deal when the dust dies down.

 

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Posted
39 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

I'm having a hard time buying the below mattering - there are a myriad of ways they can get that cheap oil, and Beijing isn't going to give it up - Iran could serve as a proxy. Also, this says "seaborne" and nothing about pipelines, of which I'd guess China has a lot of.

If China reduces purchases in a huge way (not just "seaborne" but pipelines), then I'd feel like it means they know shit is going down and either they want to contribute to the post-Putin chaos, or they feel like they can wait and get a better deal when the dust dies down.

 

If Ukraine could only hit those pipelines. 

Posted
2 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

If Ukraine could only hit those pipelines. 

 

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

Ukraine might not want to fuck with pipelines feeding China.  Let China figure out on their own what to do.

 

1 hour ago, InkaUtexas said:

Nah, blow that fucker up. End it. So they only have seaborne. 

I'll risk it.  Burn, Motherfucker, burn.

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Posted
1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

G38in4lWsAAlUES?format=jpg&name=large

Would like to see Ukraine cut off more bulges and get their lines straighter, reducing the amount of territory they are having to cover.  Won't matter as much if the Russians start running low on fuel.

Meanwhile

 

Frontline report: Russia's military cracks - Shootings, shortages, and World War Two ammunition - Euromaidan Press

 

If the wealthy in Moscow start hording fuel and long term consumables, it's going to filter down panic buying in the "middle class". 

That's when you will know any real plan to overthrow or execute Putin is coming down the pipe within months if not weeks. 

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Posted
7 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

The next Julia Davis drop on Russian Media Monitor is gonna be lit.   We should all agree to take a shot of vodka every time a nuclear attack on the west is threatened

IMG_5381.thumb.jpeg.d9395a632c54fcc10b0d9ef4af554cdc.jpegIMG_5382.thumb.jpeg.fb9e9de4be5f8d12fa2ad7a23b3bb4b5.jpegIMG_5383.thumb.jpeg.0020c5ad59bef9c70ce290aa5b5997a5.jpegIMG_5384.thumb.jpeg.f9d31f88aef69584d30a5d2e0d740017.jpegIMG_5385.thumb.jpeg.cbdfca362975acdf833e2019b961490a.jpegIMG_5386.thumb.jpeg.8ae353b51ec03b56e5c5ebd0d7d82b77.jpegIMG_5387.thumb.jpeg.4c06999e7ea169e842c2289898d4a387.jpegIMG_5388.thumb.jpeg.aae8f0042ebbf35f8c0706a820126668.jpeg

 

IMG_1315.gif.eee35604b1938e4cf50566a43c14a8d8.gif

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Posted
2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

I'm having a hard time buying the below mattering - there are a myriad of ways they can get that cheap oil, and Beijing isn't going to give it up - Iran could serve as a proxy. Also, this says "seaborne" and nothing about pipelines, of which I'd guess China has a lot of.

If China reduces purchases in a huge way (not just "seaborne" but pipelines), then I'd feel like it means they know shit is going down and either they want to contribute to the post-Putin chaos, or they feel like they can wait and get a better deal when the dust dies down.

 

2 hours ago, InkaUtexas said:

If Ukraine could only hit those pipelines. 

58 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Ukraine might not want to fuck with pipelines feeding China.  Let China figure out on their own what to do.

57 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

Nah, blow that fucker up. End it. So they only have seaborne. 

Relax, guys, I already took care of it for you.

image.png.65ad117bba042dc4b789b89cb79fd6af.png

The reality is, how many significant oil pipelines exist between Russia and China? 

"Doughnut, babe. Nothing. Zip. Zilch." - Hunt Stevenson (Michael Keaton) in Gung Ho

The waterborne crude oil exports from Russia to China is all there is.

TLDR

However, there is one major gas pipeline between the Bear and the Dragon, the Power of Siberia 1 Pipeline. This $55 Billion project, commissioned in 2021, included the 56" diameter, 1,860 mile pipeline from Kovykta Gas field in the Irkutsk Oblast (aren't you glad you played Risk?) to the China Border. I did check; there is a 9,500 ft mountain range they went around.

The Kovykta Gas Field is over 1,200 miles southeast of the Urengoy Gas Field in Siberia that supplies used to supply Eastern Europe, via a 2,800 mile pipeline. 

image.thumb.png.219d2a34936f196c2c095216ef587f02.png

The good news is the natural gas produced here is the really good stuff, that contains helium and is rich in Natural Gas Liquids.

A Gas Processing Plant requires a cryogenic plant operating at ~ -170 °F to separate the NGLs.. 

Helium processing is way out of my comfort zone...

"Helium extraction plant uses cryogenic distillation to reach temperatures as low as -269°C (-452°F), just a few degrees above absolute zero. These extreme temperatures are necessary to separate helium from the other gases found in natural gas because helium has the lowest boiling point of any element. "

The really bad news is the economies of scale you need to monetize the resource is mind boggling, and it is conveniently located literally in the middle of fucking nowhere, in an area with design conditions of -60 ℉, and a freeze depth of 13 ft. 

The Total "Power of Siberia Costs" included:

Gas Production Facilities        $  6.16    Billion
Gas Pipeline                             $15.07     Billion
Power Plant (160 MW)            $ 8.47?   Billion
Gas Plant                                  $13.70    Billion
Chemical Plant                         $11.60    Billion
                                                  $55.00    Billion

The overall projecticludes the entire vertical integration of natural gas processing; Natural gas Production to Pipelineto Gas Processing Plant to NGL fractionation Plant to Ethylene Plant (cracking ethane to make ethylene and cracking propane to make propylene) to Polyethylene/polyPropylene Plant (plastic pellets). Everything you need to get from raw natural gas to plastic pellets that become everything plastic that is "Made in China." 

For a processing guy, it doesn't get any better than this.  It is truly amazing that Russian can build something like this, yet they  invade Ukraine so they can take the toilets.

Some Russian Gas Processing Porn;

The first column of NGL/NRU unit Natural Gas Liquid/Nitrogen Rejection Unit) in the P1 section of Amur Gas Processing Plant was officially put into operation on May 1st, 2021.

image.thumb.png.e3ca2fb3e688e7f9c77cf11590ba4c9c.png

By far, the largest process vessel I have ever seen.

image.png.9f2b6ade314073764ac1f66ec5739183.png 

image.thumb.png.536c893ada212a8d8f01276986c838d1.png

 

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Posted

IMG_5393.thumb.jpeg.e7349287db4513bdc21e28e33bcd795c.jpegIMG_5394.thumb.jpeg.a30ada14fac3c41bba3cb14e58cc9514.jpegIMG_5395.thumb.jpeg.231a2ab822d02b151dbc5f07f4cce2d0.jpeg

Trump is no longer Putin‘s “elephant”, and is now seen as a “pindo” - the Russian derogatory term for Americans.  Elephant roughly translates as “our guy”, meaning he is a good dude and share similar positive characteristics as the Russian see themselves. I think. 

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Posted
11 hours ago, PTINS said:

For a processing guy, it doesn't get any better than this.  It is truly amazing that Russian can build something like this, yet they  invade Ukraine so they can take the toilets.

But do they really? I thought Russia paid big money to bring in western experts/companies to build their refineries..

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Posted

Interesting dive into the economics on the Western side of the war and the EU's use of Russian assets as collateral for loans to Ukraine. 

Spoiler

 

Forcing Function

The global implications of Ukraine’s dire fiscal situation.

“Yesterday is a cancelled check. Today is cash on the line. Tomorrow is a promissory note.” – Hank Stram

After nearly four years of nonstop war, it is not surprising that Ukraine’s domestic economy is highly distressed. Its energy infrastructure, railways, and heavy industry have suffered serious damage from a relentless barrage of Russian drone and missile attacks. Inflation is running at approximately 12% per year, and millions of its citizens have fled the country.

Although exact figures are difficult to ascertain, the October 2025 update by the Kiel Institute’s Ukraine Support Tracker pegs total Western funding for Ukraine at roughly €400 billion. Absent this support since the war began, the Ukrainian economy would have collapsed long ago. If funds were to dry up now, so too would the country’s ability to continue the fight. Going forward, the needs are substantial:

The pressure on Ukraine’s public finances remains acute, with around $60 billion in external financing needs for 2026-2027 yet to be covered, Ukrainian media quoted Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko as saying during the eighth meeting of the Ministerial Roundtable on Support for Ukraine in Washington on October 15.

‘To ensure the sustainability of public finances in 2026-2027, it is necessary to mobilize additional resources,’ the media quoted him as saying in a Finance Ministry press release…

Marchenko previously estimated the Ukrainian budget’s external financing needs in 2026 at $45.5 billion, and total external financing for the duration of the new four-year program with the IMF at $150-$170 billion.

US President Donald Trump’s approach to ending the war has certainly been erratic, but he has been steadfastly consistent in one regard: US taxpayers are done footing the bill. The last major appropriations bill to clear Congress, which allocated a total of $61 billion in support, was in April of 2024, and prospects for another effort on that scale are fleeting at best.

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The taps are closed | Getty

For all their public pronouncements of encouragement for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the war effort, the important member states of the European Union (EU) are hardly in a position to fill the financial void. Neither is Britain, which is itself teetering on the edge of a fiscal crisis. By process of elimination, only one realistic avenue remains to keep the Ukrainian economy afloat a bit longer:

EU leaders are set to instruct the European Commission to design a legal proposal to use billions of euros in Russian frozen state assets to fund a massive loan to Ukraine, after Belgium signaled it would not stand in the way.

The controversial proposal, if adopted, could release up to €140 billion to fund Ukraine’s war effort for another two to three years, using Russian state assets that were immobilized after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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In case of emergency, break glass | Getty

The proponents of the loan plan claim the moral and legal high ground, but proceeding down this path is not without serious risks. That EU leaders are even contemplating the gambit is a testament to how urgent the situation has become for Ukraine and how few options remain. There is a legitimate chance the plan will backfire, altering global trade across dimensions that are hardly beneficial to the Western allies.

Given the heavy stakes involved, it is perhaps unsurprising that EU leaders delayed making the fateful decision for a few more months:

The European Union put off until December a decision on whether to tap frozen Russian central bank assets to aid Ukraine, threatening an effort to get Ukraine fresh funding by early 2026.

Talks stalled after Belgium demanded greater assurances it wouldn’t be held liable for risks linked to the proposed €140 billion ($163 billion) in loans, given the money is mostly held in Belgium.

The way this situation plays out could dramatically impact how the war ends, how countries trade with each other in the future, and what happens to the price of gold. Let’s head to Brussels and take a deeper look.

  https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.ama  

To understand what is at risk, one must first become familiar with Euroclear, where the Russian assets at issue are currently being held. Euroclear is a Belgium-based financial market infrastructure firm responsible for settling, clearing, and safekeeping securities transactions in European and international markets. The company plays a critical role in the back-office execution of countless financial transactions and serves as custodian for a wide range of institutional and sovereign clients, with over €38 trillion in assets under custody. In other words, it acts as a trusted intermediary between financial institutions—one that was never meant for the spotlight. A recent analysis by Fitch fills in more details:

Euroclear has a systemic role in the global post-trade services industry. It settles about 60% of the Eurobond market and services securities from over 40 countries, including bonds, equities, investment funds and derivatives. Euroclear’s balance sheet totalled EUR229 billion at end-1H25, of which EUR194 billion related to sanctioned Russian assets, mostly for the [Central Bank of Russia] CBR. As custodian, Euroclear has a duty of restitution if sanctions on Russia are lifted, potentially making the assets a liability, payable at sight. The immobilised assets have inflated Euroclear’s liabilities and its corresponding cash balances, currently invested in short-term, highly rated instruments.

A sudden collapse in trust in Euroclear’s perceived impartiality could prompt its clients to reallocate custody of their securities elsewhere. A coordinated withdrawal would impair Euroclear’s liquidity profile and cause severe consequences for Europe’s financial system, with spillover into EU sovereign debt markets just one of many potential negative consequences. The European Central Bank might be forced to intervene in the event of such a shock to Europe’s financial plumbing.

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Bad PR | Getty

While freezing the Russian assets was controversial enough, Western legal experts have advised that since the action was temporary and reversible, it did not constitute an outright seizure. The Russians vehemently disagree, of course, but it is widely acknowledged that the new EU loan scheme sure looks, walks, and quacks like confiscation. If you used the title to your neighbor’s home as collateral for a loan without their blessing, you would be rightly accused of fraud.

The lawyers hired by the EU to rubber-stamp the legality of the latest exercise are no doubt advising that the case for proceeding is strong, but in our experience, such advice shifts from “strong case” to “solid argument” just before trial begins, and “reasonable basis for appeal” thereafter. Lawyers are in the litigation business, after all, something the executives at Euroclear undoubtedly understand all too well.

Beyond the international reaction, there is also the question of what Russia would do in response. Hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of Western assets remain stranded in the country, and Russian President Vladimir Putin recently signed an order that allows for their nationalization and swift sale in the event the EU moves forward with its plan. The country is also signaling that it will seek to bring criminal charges—including against executives of Euroclear—should the EU cross the Rubicon:

The Kremlin warned on Wednesday that it would seek the prosecution of individuals and countries engaged in the ‘theft’ of frozen Russian sovereign assets in Europe, as European leaders convened to discuss a proposal to lend $165 billion to Ukraine based on the frozen funds.

The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, made no distinction between stealing the frozen Russian assets and using them to extend a loan to Ukraine without seizing them, as top European leaders have proposed. ‘We are talking about theft,’ Mr. Peskov said in a call with reporters.

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Don’t do it | Getty

If Western debt is no longer widely considered neutral but instead is subject to the political whims of Washington and Brussels, it can no longer effectively serve as a reserve asset for much of the global community. There is, however, one asset that has minimal confiscation risk—assuming you are in physical possession of it—and has thousands of years of history serving just such a role: gold.

We note with interest that the Central Bank of Russia held 73.7 million ounces of gold at the end of 2021, and continues to hold slightly more than that today. Using the closing spot price that year of approximately $1,820 per ounce, those holdings were valued at $134 billion. After the selloff of the past week, spot gold is trading hands at the time of this writing for $4,100. Therefore, the increase in the value of Russia’s gold holdings since just before the war broke out amounts to $168 billion. Using a USD/Euro ratio of 1.16 converts this number to €145 billion, or essentially the total value of the frozen Russian assets that the EU is proposing to use for the loan.

There are no coincidences.

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What happens to gold if the Ukraine loans go through? Suffice it to say, the currently expected consolidation will be short-lived.

With the summit meeting between Trump and Putin in Hungary all but canceled, fresh waves of British-made long-range missiles fired deep into pre-2014 Russia, and Trump issuing new sanctions against Russian energy giants Rosneft and Lukoil, the momentum behind seizing Russia’s assets in December looks unstoppable. So too does the likely end of this war: a full military defeat of one side.

The global order that will arise from such an outcome remains to be seen, but the old one looks to have now fully run its course.

 

 

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Posted
2 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

But do they really? I thought Russia paid big money to bring in western experts/companies to build their refineries..


probably true. I do know someone who went there many years ago to introduce horizontal drilling

Posted

New reporting on Rubio's role in the recent shift on Russia and what's been happening behind the scenes of these talks and meetings.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-24/rubio-s-sizing-up-of-russian-spin-spurred-us-shift-on-putin?embedded-checkout=true

Spoiler

For months, President Donald Trump resisted calls to slap new sanctions on Russia, believing he could end the war in a deal with Vladimir Putin — including with a quick peace summit in the coming weeks in Budapest.

In a dramatic reversal this week, Trump canceled those plans and then went a step further, imposing the first direct sanctions on Moscow of his second term. “It was time,” Trump said.

But the sudden shift also grew from an assessment by Secretary of State Marco Rubio — a long-time Russia hawk who once called Putin a “gangster” — that Moscow had not made any substantive changes to its position, according to US and European officials familiar with the matter.


The people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal deliberations, said Rubio called off a planned in-person meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after the two men spoke by phone and it became apparent the Kremlin was trying, once again, to slow-walk ceasefire discussions and drag out the war.

Rubio’s influence in the administration’s change of heart signals an even more expansive role for the top US diplomat, who has also advocated for a more aggressive approach to Venezuela as Trump’s interim national security adviser. His stance contrasted with the more accommodating strategy toward Russia advocated by Trump’s long-time friend and special envoy Steve Witkoff.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly pushed back on the characterization of Rubio’s role.

“President Trump always leads on foreign policy, and his agenda is executed by national security officials like Secretary Rubio and Special Envoy Witkoff, who are one, unified team behind the President’s America First vision,” she said.

There’s no indication that Witkoff, one of Trump’s most trusted confidantes, has lost his standing on the Russia file with the president, or his influence more broadly. He was shuttling around the Middle East this week overseeing a fragile ceasefire in Gaza that he helped Trump negotiate.

But some of the people said Witkoff’s discussions with Putin and other top officials in the run-up to an earlier summit, in Alaska, led to confusion and the perception that Moscow was prepared to make concessions it had no intention of carrying out.


Kelly, the White House spokeswoman, denied that was the case. She said Witkoff is “clear with everyone” and he and Trump are working toward peace with “a complete and accurate understanding of all the factors at play.”

That August summit was tense as Putin insisted on negotiating about Ukrainian territory, frustrating Trump and leading him to nearly walk out of the room, the people said. This time, Rubio led the preparatory groundwork.

Vice President Vance Visits Israel To Maintain Ceasefire With Hamas
US Vice President JD Vance, left, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner during a press conference on Oct. 21, 2025 in Kiryat Gat, Israel.Photographer: Nathan Howard/Getty Images
The State Department earlier characterized Rubio’s call with Lavrov as productive. Asked about Rubio’s role this time around, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the “entire team is fully unified around President Trump’s leadership.”

People suggesting otherwise are wrong, he said. “Harmful actors are pushing selfish agendas through baseless lies,” he said. “President Trump and his team have already accomplished more in the pursuit of peace than anyone thought possible, and as the President said, that is in large part because of the unprecedented success of Special Envoy Witkoff.”

Despite the difficult first summit, Trump last week agreed to meet with Putin again after a lengthy phone call. US officials had hoped to capitalize on diplomatic momentum in the wake of Trump winning praise for helping secure a long-sought truce that ended two years of hostilities between Israel and Hamas.


Read More: US Sanctions Rosneft and Lukoil in Push For Ukraine Talks

But in recent days, Russia sent the US a plan outlining its terms for peace with Ukraine that rehashed all of its well-known positions, including demands Ukraine give up more territory, some of the people said.

“Last time, it took the meeting in Alaska for the US to realize that there’s no flexibility on the Russian side,” said Liana Fix, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “This time, this realization took place before the meeting, which is a good step.”

On the Russian side, there was also confusion.

Russian officials left the Putin-Trump call last week believing the US president had agreed to Russia’s demand that Kyiv give up the remainder of the strategic Donbas region in return for only modest territorial concessions by Moscow, according to a person familiar with the Kremlin’s thinking.

But a day later, after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Trump reiterated that he wanted a ceasefire along the current battle lines, an idea that Moscow had rejected ahead of the Alaska summit, this person said. Lavrov highlighted this disagreement in his call with Rubio on Monday, the person said.

By that point, the summit preparations were falling apart.

While Rubio sat down alongside Witkoff in Saudi Arabia when the administration first pursued direct talks with Russia back in February, his more direct involvement this time around has been a relief for many European officials who said they were worried that the US — under Witkoff’s guidance — could shift too far toward Russia’s position, piling pressure on Ukraine to accept Moscow’s demands.


During Trump’s meeting with Zelenskiy last week, for instance, Witkoff had again pressed the wartime leader to agree to Putin’s demands to cede the Donbas to Russia, the people familiar said.

On Wednesday, Trump’s administration slapped sanctions on Russia’s biggest oil producers, blacklisting state-run oil giant Rosneft PJSC and Lukoil PJSC.

“Every time I speak with Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they just don’t go anywhere,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday after the sanctions announcement, adding the White House may arrange a future meeting.

Rubio nevertheless left open the possibility of further engagement with Moscow, including future meetings.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday night at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington before a trip to Israel and Asia, Rubio said “we’re always going to be interested in engaging if there’s an opportunity to achieve peace.”

“I think the President has said repeatedly, for a number of months now, that at some point he will have to do something if we don’t make progress on the peace deal,” Rubio said. “Today was the day he decided to do something.”

 

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Posted

More on that large refinery @PTINS they have got to be running out of replacement hardware at some point.

Quote

The industry sources in Russia told Reuters the CDU-4 processing unit, was urgently halted on Thursday after it caught fire following a drone attack.

The unit's capacity stands at 4 million metric tons a year, or 80,000 barrels per day, accounting for around a quarter of plant's total capacity.

Oil company Rosneft (ROSN.MM), which owns the refinery, did not respond to a request for comment. The sources said the plant is still processing oil, but at a reduced volume.

One of the sources said some adjacent units were also halted, including a reformer, vacuum gasoil hydrotreater and catalytic cracker.

 

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The Russian skier bursts into tears after being barred from the Olympics “No Olympics in 2026, folks,” said Dariya Nepryaeva, who visited occupied Crimea in 2022. On October 21, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be allowed to compete in the Olympic season. Russian athletes have been suspended from FIS-sanctioned competitions since March 2022 — and despite their attempts to return, nothing’s working out

 

 

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Posted
3 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Supposedly massive drone attack on Russia tonight.   Flights being diverted from Moscow.   Nothing definitive yet.

G4DeQ6RWIAAGpst?format=jpg&name=large

fuck yeah.  Burn the whole motherfucker to the ground

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Posted
Relax, guys, I already took care of it for you.
image.png.65ad117bba042dc4b789b89cb79fd6af.png
The reality is, how many significant oil pipelines exist between Russia and China? 

"Doughnut, babe. Nothing. Zip. Zilch." - Hunt Stevenson (Michael Keaton) in Gung Ho

The waterborne crude oil exports from Russia to China is all there is.
TLDR
However, there is one major gas pipeline between the Bear and the Dragon, the Power of Siberia 1 Pipeline. This $55 Billion project, commissioned in 2021, included the 56" diameter, 1,860 mile pipeline from Kovykta Gas field in the Irkutsk Oblast (aren't you glad you played Risk?) to the China Border. I did check; there is a 9,500 ft mountain range they went around.
The Kovykta Gas Field is over 1,200 miles southeast of the Urengoy Gas Field in Siberia that supplies used to supply Eastern Europe, via a 2,800 mile pipeline. 
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The good news is the natural gas produced here is the really good stuff, that contains helium and is rich in Natural Gas Liquids.

A Gas Processing Plant requires a cryogenic plant operating at ~ -170 °F to separate the NGLs.. 

Helium processing is way out of my comfort zone...

"Helium extraction plant uses cryogenic distillation to reach temperatures as low as -269°C (-452°F), just a few degrees above absolute zero. These extreme temperatures are necessary to separate helium from the other gases found in natural gas because helium has the lowest boiling point of any element. "

The really bad news is the economies of scale you need to monetize the resource is mind boggling, and it is conveniently located literally in the middle of fucking nowhere, in an area with design conditions of -60 ℉, and a freeze depth of 13 ft. 
The Total "Power of Siberia Costs" included:
Gas Production Facilities        $  6.16    Billion
Gas Pipeline                             $15.07     Billion
Power Plant (160 MW)            $ 8.47?   Billion
Gas Plant                                  $13.70    Billion
Chemical Plant                         $11.60    Billion
                                                  $55.00    Billion
The overall projecticludes the entire vertical integration of natural gas processing; Natural gas Production to Pipelineto Gas Processing Plant to NGL fractionation Plant to Ethylene Plant (cracking ethane to make ethylene and cracking propane to make propylene) to Polyethylene/polyPropylene Plant (plastic pellets). Everything you need to get from raw natural gas to plastic pellets that become everything plastic that is "Made in China." 
For a processing guy, it doesn't get any better than this.  It is truly amazing that Russian can build something like this, yet they  invade Ukraine so they can take the toilets.
Some Russian Gas Processing Porn;
The first column of NGL/NRU unit Natural Gas Liquid/Nitrogen Rejection Unit) in the P1 section of Amur Gas Processing Plant was officially put into operation on May 1st, 2021.
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By far, the largest process vessel I have ever seen.
image.png.9f2b6ade314073764ac1f66ec5739183.png 
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Posted
On 10/23/2025 at 7:23 PM, InkaUtexas said:

Nah, blow that fucker up. End it. So they only have seaborne. 

If I am a Ukrainian I wouldn't give half a rat shit. 

Say any one of us is being threatened with genocide right in front of our fucking faces.

Bomb the shit out of every fucking thing all the time every day.

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Posted

Ukraine’s ‘Coalition of the Willing’ Has the Wind at Its Back
Britain hosted a meeting of European leaders to discuss bolstering support for Kyiv as winter approaches.
By Mark Landler
Reporting from London
Oct. 24, 2025Updated 3:37 p.m. ET
Europe mustered a spirited show of support for Ukraine on Friday, as Britain assembled the “coalition of the willing” to promote a boycott of Russian oil and gas, a possible loan to Ukraine using Russian sovereign assets and accelerated arms shipments.
Seeking to capitalize on yet another shift in President Trump’s view of the war, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine joined Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain and leaders from Denmark, the Netherlands and NATO in London. Twenty other leaders joined by videoconference, including Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi — the first time a Japanese leader has taken part in these sessions.
For the moment, Europe has the wind at its back. Mr. Trump’s decision to impose sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, was a striking shift in his position after a contentious meeting with Mr. Zelensky a week ago.
The European Union followed with its own latest round of sanctions, while also pledging to continue funding Ukraine’s financial and military needs. Britain, one of Ukraine’s most enthusiastic backers, announced that it would speed the delivery of an extra 140 air-defense missiles after production had ramped up faster than expected.


Mr. Starmer praised Mr. Trump for the sanctions, saying it was an important step in the campaign to pressure Russia. “We must now maintain this pressure,” he said at a news conference after the meeting.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia “continues to stall and play for time,” Mr. Starmer added. “We are determined to act now, to dial up the pressure on Putin, and finally bring him to the negotiating table in good faith.”
Mr. Zelensky said Russia was carrying out a “campaign of terror against our energy system,” tormenting the Ukrainian people as winter approaches. “Russia’s goal hasn’t changed: They want to break us,” he said, standing alongside Mr. Starmer and the other leaders.
Britain framed this meeting as an effort to fortify Ukraine for the winter fighting months. It and France jointly lead the so-called coalition of the willing, which Mr. Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron started in March. Its prospects have waxed and waned, in part because of Mr. Trump’s erratic views — he pivots between pressuring Mr. Zelensky and criticizing Mr. Putin — and in part because of Europe’s own fitful struggle for unity.

While the European Union followed the Trump administration in imposing energy sanctions on Russia, European leaders were unable to agree this week on a plan to use frozen Russian assets to finance a huge loan to Ukraine. Belgium, which holds the bulk of the assets, voiced concerns about legal liability.


Mr. Starmer pressed his fellow leaders to move ahead with the loan plan, though Britain, having left the European Union in 2020, no longer exerts much influence on negotiations in Brussels. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark said the countries still had to resolve technical questions about the assets, but she hoped there would be a decision on the matter by Christmas Eve.
Reflecting Europe’s sometimes ambivalent attitude toward Russia, Ms. Frederiksen acknowledged that Europe’s decision to boycott Russian oil companies might have come too late. But she said, “It doesn’t mean we haven’t done anything during this war when it comes to Russian oil.”
Before joining Mr. Starmer for a one-on-one meeting in Downing Street, Mr. Zelensky met with King Charles III at Windsor Castle, west of London. The king has met the president three times this year in what is viewed as a symbolic show of British solidarity.
Britain has frequently played the role of soothing ally as Mr. Zelensky navigates the crosscurrents of Mr. Trump. In February, after an explosive meeting with the American president in the Oval Office, Mr. Zelensky’s first stop was London, where he and Mr. Starmer began devising a plan to repair the breach with the White House.


Once again, Britain was a quick destination for Mr. Zelensky after his tense meeting with the president in Washington a week ago. Mr. Trump, fresh off what he described as a positive phone conversation with Mr. Putin, piled new pressure on Mr. Zelensky to hand over territory to Russia to end the hostilities.
The difference this time was that Mr. Trump quickly reversed himself, scrapping plans to meet Mr. Putin in person, though he did accede to the Russian leader’s request to not send Tomahawk long-range missiles to Ukraine. Then, on Wednesday, Mr. Trump announced the sanctions on the Rosneft and Lukoil.
Mr. Putin on Thursday called the move “an unfriendly act,” and said that while the sanctions would hurt Russia’s economy, Moscow would never make any concessions under pressure.
The other leaders attending Friday’s meeting joined Mr. Starmer in heaping praise on Mr. Trump for that decision. NATO’s secretary-general, Mark Rutte, who also met with the president recently in Washington, said, “It’s up to each ally to decide which weapons they want to deliver to Ukraine.” He noted that although Mr. Trump had ruled out Tomahawk missiles, the United States was still supplying a “wide range of weapons.”
While European leaders try to keep up the economic and diplomatic pressure on Russia, their military commanders are continuing to put together plans to secure Ukraine in the event that Russia agrees to a cease-fire and peace negotiation.


“We, as the military, have to plan and think about and develop something which can then be used in a reasonable manner by the political masters,” Lt. Gen. Alexander Sollfrank, the commander of the German army’s joint force command, said in an interview earlier this month.
A creative, well-designed military plan, General Sollfrank said, could function as a “kind of leverage” for diplomatic efforts to end the war.
Steven Erlanger contributed reporting from Berlin.

Mark Landler is the London bureau chief of The Times, covering the United Kingdom, as well as American foreign policy in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has been a journalist for more than three decades.

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Posted

Putin envoy Dmitriev says US, Ukraine and Russia close to 'diplomatic solution' on war
By Gleb Bryanski and Jasper Ward
October 24, 20254:37 PM MDTUpdated 9 hours ago
The head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund Kirill Dmitriev speaks after the U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh
The head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund Kirill Dmitriev speaks to members of the delegation and journalists after the U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov Purchase Licensing Rights

MOSCOW/WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, said on Friday he believes his country, the United States and Ukraine are close to a diplomatic solution to end Russia's war in Ukraine.
Speaking to CNN after arriving in Washington for talks with U.S. officials, Dmitriev said that a meeting between Donald Trump and Putin had not been cancelled, as the U.S. president described it, and that the two leaders will likely meet at a later date.
The planned summit was put on hold on Tuesday, as Russia's rejection of an immediate ceasefire cast a cloud over attempts at negotiations. Trump said he cancelled the planned meeting with Putin in Budapest because of a lack of progress in diplomatic efforts toward ending the war and a sense that the timing was off.
However, Dmitriev on Friday said, "I believe Russia and the U.S. and Ukraine are actually quite close to a diplomatic solution."
Dmitriev in his comments did not offer details of what this would entail.
European nations are working with Ukraine on a new proposal for a ceasefire in the war along current battle lines, European diplomats told Reuters this week, mainly incorporating ideas already under discussion while pressing to keep the United States in a central role.
"It's a big move by President Zelenskiy to already acknowledge that it's about battle lines," Dmitriev said. "You know, his previous position was that Russia should leave completely - so actually, I think we are reasonably close to a diplomatic solution that can be worked out."
Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Trump had announced last week that he and Putin would meet soon in Hungary to try to bring an end to the war. But Putin has been unwilling to consider concessions. Russia has long demanded that Ukraine agree to cede more territory before any ceasefire.
Dmitriev's visit to the United States for a long-planned meeting takes place against the backdrop of newly announced U.S. sanctions on two of Russia's biggest oil companies - a move aimed at pressing Putin to end the war.
Despite the move, Dmitriev said dialogue between Russia and the United States will continue.
"It is certainly only possible if Russia's interests are taken into account and treated with respect," Dmitriev earlier told Reuters.
Dmitriev declined to say who he was meeting and predicted that the U.S. oil sanctions would backfire.
"They will only lead to gasoline costing more at American gas stations," Dmitriev said.
The U.S. news outlet Axios reported that Dmitriev would meet Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff in Miami on Saturday. The Russian state TASS news agency quoted Dmitriev as saying he would also meet other people who he did not name.

Reporting by Gleb Bryanski and Jasper Ward; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Will Dunham

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Posted

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine overnight into Saturday killed at least three people and wounded 17 others, local officials said.

In the capital, Kyiv, one person was killed and ten wounded in a ballistic missile attack in the early hours of Saturday, Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said. Three of the wounded were hospitalized, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.

A fire broke out in a non-residential building in one location, while debris from intercepted missiles fell in an open area at another site, damaging windows in nearby buildings, the emergency service wrote on Telegram.

“Explosions in the capital. The city is under ballistic attack,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram during the onslaught.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, two people were killed and seven wounded, acting regional Gov. Vladyslav Haivanenko said, adding that apartment buildings, private homes, an outbuilding, a shop and at least one vehicle were damaged in the strikes.

Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched nine missiles and 62 drones, of which air defenses intercepted four missiles and 50 drones.

In Russia, the country’s defense ministry said its air defenses shot down 121 Ukrainian drones over Russia overnight.

The attacks came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the United States on Friday to expand sanctions on Russian oil from two companies to the whole sector, and appealed for long-range missiles to hit back at Russia.

Zelenskyy was in London for talks with two dozen European leaders who have pledged military help to shield his country from future Russian aggression if a ceasefire stops the more than three-year war.

The meeting hosted by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer aimed to step up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding momentum to recent measures that have included a new round of sanctions from the United States and European countries on Russia’s vital oil and gas export earnings.

The talks also addressed ways of helping protect Ukraine’s power grid from Russia’s almost daily drone and missile attacks as winter approaches, enhancing Ukrainian air defenses, and supplying Kyiv with longer-range missiles that can strike deep inside Russia. Zelenskyy has urged the U.S. to send Tomahawk missiles, an idea U.S. President Donald Trump has flirted with.

Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, Bevo said:

Putin envoy Dmitriev says US, Ukraine and Russia close to 'diplomatic solution' on war
By Gleb Bryanski and Jasper Ward
October 24, 20254:37 PM MDTUpdated 9 hours ago
The head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund Kirill Dmitriev speaks after the U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh
The head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund Kirill Dmitriev speaks to members of the delegation and journalists after the U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, February 18, 2025. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov Purchase Licensing Rights

MOSCOW/WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, said on Friday he believes his country, the United States and Ukraine are close to a diplomatic solution to end Russia's war in Ukraine.
Speaking to CNN after arriving in Washington for talks with U.S. officials, Dmitriev said that a meeting between Donald Trump and Putin had not been cancelled, as the U.S. president described it, and that the two leaders will likely meet at a later date.
The planned summit was put on hold on Tuesday, as Russia's rejection of an immediate ceasefire cast a cloud over attempts at negotiations. Trump said he cancelled the planned meeting with Putin in Budapest because of a lack of progress in diplomatic efforts toward ending the war and a sense that the timing was off.
However, Dmitriev on Friday said, "I believe Russia and the U.S. and Ukraine are actually quite close to a diplomatic solution."
Dmitriev in his comments did not offer details of what this would entail.
European nations are working with Ukraine on a new proposal for a ceasefire in the war along current battle lines, European diplomats told Reuters this week, mainly incorporating ideas already under discussion while pressing to keep the United States in a central role.
"It's a big move by President Zelenskiy to already acknowledge that it's about battle lines," Dmitriev said. "You know, his previous position was that Russia should leave completely - so actually, I think we are reasonably close to a diplomatic solution that can be worked out."
Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Trump had announced last week that he and Putin would meet soon in Hungary to try to bring an end to the war. But Putin has been unwilling to consider concessions. Russia has long demanded that Ukraine agree to cede more territory before any ceasefire.
Dmitriev's visit to the United States for a long-planned meeting takes place against the backdrop of newly announced U.S. sanctions on two of Russia's biggest oil companies - a move aimed at pressing Putin to end the war.
Despite the move, Dmitriev said dialogue between Russia and the United States will continue.
"It is certainly only possible if Russia's interests are taken into account and treated with respect," Dmitriev earlier told Reuters.
Dmitriev declined to say who he was meeting and predicted that the U.S. oil sanctions would backfire.
"They will only lead to gasoline costing more at American gas stations," Dmitriev said.
The U.S. news outlet Axios reported that Dmitriev would meet Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff in Miami on Saturday. The Russian state TASS news agency quoted Dmitriev as saying he would also meet other people who he did not name.

Reporting by Gleb Bryanski and Jasper Ward; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Will Dunham

So Russia proposes a "solution" that Ukraine would never accept and things continue on? Also, Witkoff has proven time and time again that he is completely inept as a diplomat. 

Edited by Schulz2.0
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Posted
So Russia proposes a "solution" that Ukraine would never accept and things continue on? Also, Witkoff has proven time and time again that he is completely inept as a diplomat. 

All of this, true.
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Posted
12 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

The Russian skier bursts into tears after being barred from the Olympics “No Olympics in 2026, folks,” said Dariya Nepryaeva, who visited occupied Crimea in 2022. On October 21, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be allowed to compete in the Olympic season. Russian athletes have been suspended from FIS-sanctioned competitions since March 2022 — and despite their attempts to return, nothing’s working out

Give her a Nagant, 2 clips and send her to the front line.  FA,FO

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Posted
7 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Give her a Nagant, 2 clips and send her to the front line.  FA,FO

She looks like she could use some comforting. Need more pics, link to Only Fans page, to confirm.

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