Reclaim Finance zufolge ist 2022/23 die Finanzierung von 437 Öl- und Gasprojekte genehmigt worden. Beteiligt sind 200 Unternehmen in 58 Ländern. Die Projekte widersprechen der Roadmap der IEA zur Klimaneutralität von 2021, in der keine neuen fossilen Projekte vorgesehen sind. Eine Schlüsselrolle haben staatliche Firmen in Öl und Gas produzierenden Staaten. Bei der Zahl der Projekte liegen Russland und Norwegen vorne. Europäische Ölgesellschaften haben eine Reduzierung ihrer (unzureichenden) Dekarbonisierungsziele angekündigt. https://www.liberation.fr/environnement/437-nouveaux-projets-petroliers-et-gaziers-quels-sont-les-pays-moteurs-des-energies-fossiles-en-2023-20231130_QRXDTQKM7NBIZGXWUNFQ7QRSWM/

Dichter und sehr gut dokumentierter Überblicksratikel über die Expansionspläne der Öl- und Gasindustrie. Aus unerschlossenen Feldern sollen 230 Milliarden Barrel Öläquivalent gefördert werden - im klaren Widerspruch zum Pariser Abkommen. Durch Ausbeutung neuer Lager werden bis 2025 voraussichtlich 70 Gt CO₂ und damit 17% des Budgets für das 1,5° Ziel ausgestoßen. Eingegangen wird auch auf den Ausstiegsplan des Tyndall Centre. https://taz.de/Run-auf-fossile-Brennstoffe/!5973686/

20 reiche Länder planen bis 2050 neue Öl- und Gas-Projekte, die zusammen weitere 173 Gigatonnen CO₂-Emissionen verursachen werden, wenn es nicht gelingt sie zu stoppen. Oil Change International hat einen Bericht über den Anteil der verschiedenen Staaten an den Expansionsplänen veröffentlicht. Mit einem Drittel entfällt der Hauptanteil auf die USA.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/12/us-behind-more-than-a-third-of-global-oil-and-gas-expansion-plans-report-finds

Mehr zur fossilen Expansion: https://hypothes.is/search?q=tag%3A%22process%3A%20fossil%20development%22

2023 Production Gap Report: Die USA, Russland und Saudi-Arabien planen wie die Mehrheit der 20 am meisten fossile Brennstoffe produzierenden Staaten, 2030 mehr Öl zu fördern als je zuvor. Indien will die Kohleproduktion bis 2030 verdoppeln, Kanada die Öl- und Gasförderung in 25 Jahren um 25% steigern. Brasilien will in 10 Jahren die Ölproduktion um 2/3, die Gasproduktion um 100% steigern. China, Deutschland, Großbritannien und Norwegen wollen die Produktion reduzieren. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/09/climate/coming-soon-more-oil-gas-and-coal.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20231126095958/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/11/russian-journalists-ukraine-war-wagner-group/676064/

Journalist Anna Nemtsova on Russian public society decline and losing hope after the post-Soviet period optimism wrt change. Places the turning point in 2011/2012. I worked in Moldova briefly then, and they were aiming to divert their exports to anyplace else than Russia. Kyrgyzstan had just had a revolution in spring 2010 (both towards democracy and Russian influenced). 2014 I wasn't allowed to travel from Kyrgyzstan through Moscow as P had not been seen in public for a week or two, while the Donbas conflict took place (MH17 was shot down a few months earlier). Late 2012 Russia signed onto OGP to withdraw ealry 2013 https://www.opengovpartnership.org/stories/russia-withdraws-from-open-government-partnership-too-much-transparency/ faving a controlled openness (through registered entities) above individual rights. Russia's foreign agents law is also from 2012. So seems to chime with my own experiences.

• for: definition - permanent security, examples - permanent security

• definition: permanent security

  • Extreme responses by states to security threats, enacted in the name of present and future self defence.
  • Permanent security actions target entire civilian populations under the logic of ensuring that terrorists and insurgents can never again represent a threat. It is a project, in other words, that seeks to avert future threats by anticipating them today.

• example: permanent security

  • Russian-Ukraine war
    • Vladimir Putin reasons that Ukraine must be forcibly returned to Russia so that it cannot serve as a launching site for NATO missiles into Russia decades from now.
  • Myanmar-Rohingya conflict
    • The Myanmarese military sought to squash separatism by expelling and killing the Rohingya minority in 2017
  • China-Uyghur conflict
    • China sought to pacify and reeducate Muslim Uyghurs by mass incarceration to forestall their striving for independence forever
  • Israel-Palestine conflict
    • Israel seeks to eliminate Hamas as a security threat once and for all after the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel
  • US-Iraq-Afghanistan
    • The US sought to eliminate Saddam Hussein's nuclear capabilities and to eliminate Osama Bin Laden for his bombing of the World Trade center.

Bei der diesjährigen Konferenz der Kommission zur Erhaltung der lebenden marinen Resourcen der Antarktis verhinderte vor allem die russische Delegation, dass große Gebiete unter Schutz gestellt wurden. Der Guardian berichtet über den Verlauf der Konferenz.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/29/russian-delegation-stymies-creation-of-antarctic-conservation-area

Die beiden Pipelines Nord Stream 1 und 2 sollten pro Jahr 110 Milliarden Kubikmeter Erdgas aus Russland nach Europa transportieren Für ihr neues Buch hat Marion van Renterghem rekonstruiert, wie die russische Führung unter Putin die Abhängigkeit Europas und vor allem Deutschlands von russischen Gas systematisch ausgebaut und ausgenutzt hat, bis mit der Fertigstellung der Pipelines durch die Ostsee die Invasion der Ukraine für Russland zu einem kalkulierbaren Risiko wurde. https://www.liberation.fr/idees-et-debats/marion-van-renterghem-poutine-a-tisse-un-reseau-de-gazoducs-sur-tout-le-continent-europeen-pour-le-pieger-20231026_NRMNZHWJ45ASPM7FNJN3GAF2FU/?redirected=1

Die Ukraine wird ab Anfang 2025 kein russisches Erdgas mehr in europäische Länder weiterleiten und sich auch selbst vom.russischen Pipeline-Netz abkoppeln. Sie wird ihre Versorgung aus der eigenen Gasförderung decken. https://taz.de/Transitstopp-fuer-Gas/!5967136/

Die Pläne der Kohle-, Öl- und gasproduzierenden Staaten zur Ausweitung der Förderung würden 2030 zu 460% mehr Kohle, 83% mehr Gas und 29% mehr Ölproduktion führen, als mit dem Pariser Abkommen vereinbar ist. Der aktuelle Production Gap Report der Vereinten Nationen konzentriert sich auf die 20 stärksten Verschmutzer-Staaten, deren Pläne fast durchgängig in radikalem Widerspruch zum Pariser Abkommen stehen. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/08/insanity-petrostates-planning-huge-expansion-of-fossil-fuels-says-un-report

Report: https://productiongap.org/

In Deutschland wurden 40 Urantransporte aus Russland in die Brennelemente-Fabrik Lingen genehmigt, wie Atomkraft-Gegener mitteilten. Seit dem Februar 2022 wurden bisher achtmal russische Brennelemente nach Lingen geliefert; Die Kooperation mit Rosatom soll ausgeweitet werden. Die Fabrik in Lingen ist vom deutschen Atomausstieg ausgenommen. https://taz.de/Studie-zur-Belastung-des-Planeten/!5960174/

ce disinformation campaigns around vaccines?

In an article published on March 7, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) accused the Russian intelligence services of trying to undermine faith in the efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech and other Western vaccines with false information, such as that the US government had pressured the licenser authority - do you know the accusation? – that vaccines are not sufficiently effective and have too many side effects. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the accusations:

If we were to attribute all criticism of the Sputnik V vaccine to the American secret services, we would be crazy, since such criticisms appear in all Anglo-Saxon media at all hours of the day.

According to a US State Department official, articles disguised as science target countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and the publications are under the influence of the SSR, Russia's foreign intelligence service. The publication New Eastern Outlook has been accused of calling the mRNA editing used by Pfizer a "radical experimental technique" that is not precise enough and claiming that the regulatory approval process was controlled by Bill Gates and the president's chief adviser , Anthony Fauci urged and pushed through. According to them, only hymns should be sung about the mRNA technology, which has never been used for vaccine production before, otherwise one will become a Russian agent. While Trump was president, the American papers were full of him being politicallicensing authorities are under pressure . Under Biden, this should no longer be raised.

According to the WSJ, one of the publications, News Front, is the tool of the FSZB, the successor of the KGB. In January, for example, an article was published stating that people vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine can develop Bell's paresis - facial nerve paralysis - and in February they wrote about a Californian man who became infected with the coronavirus after being vaccinated with Pfizer. I did a bit of research: a combined search for Bell's palsy and Moderna gives two hundred and fifty-five thousand results on the Internet, including the prestigious medical journal The Lancet or the announcements of the American epidemiological authority. It occurs very rarely, seven times out of forty thousand vaccinated, which is exactly seven times that of the control group. The case in California also happened .In these examples, coverage was simply classified as intelligence disinformation.

On March 12, however, the Russians came forward with the claim that the Americans were organizing a disinformation campaign against Sputnik V. Perhaps this is related to the fact that Free Europe, which operates with American money, already called the Russian vaccine controversial on March 11 .

Many are concerned that the Russian development program was not transparent enough. Additional concerns are that the European Medicines Agency has not yet approved the vaccine, possible production disruptions, and the fact that the Russians themselves are quite distrustful of Sputnik V.

Die Ölpreise steigern deutlich an, vor allem aufgrund von steigender Nachfrage in China (dem größten Öl-Importeur) und Drosselung der Produktion in Saudi-Arabien und Russland. Hintergrund dieser Verknappung ist auch die Prognose der IEA, die Nachfrage nach Öl werde vor 2030 erstmals sinken. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/17/global-inflation-fears-as-oil-price-rises-towards-100-a-barrel

Die Sanktionen gegen Ölexporte aus dem Iran, Russland und Venezuela werden mithilfe einer Flotte von über 600 "Schatten-Schiffen" umgangen. Sie machen etwa ein Fünftel der globalen Tanker-Flotte aus, fahren unter wechselnden Flaggen und übergeben das Öl oft auf See an reguläre Tanker. Reportage im Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/18/how-a-burnt-out-abandoned-ship-reveals-the-secrets-of-a-shadow-tanker-network

It was not just one journalist that made this claim, nor was a claim of Russian Pravda - it has been noted by many journalist around the world that the, undisputed so far (Sep 2023), claim that it was Boris Johnson who broke the peace negotiations was made by the Ukranian Pravda.

Der Import von LNG aus der aus Russland n die EU ist seit der Invasion der ganzen Ukraine 2022 um 40% gestiegen, wie eine Untersuchung von Global Witness ergibt. Das Gas wird vor allem über Häfen in Belgien und Spanien geliefert. Die EU hat sich über gemeinsame Schritte gegen russisches LNG nicht verständigt.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/aug/30/eu-imports-of-russian-liquified-gas-leap-by-40-since-ukraine-invasion

Der ungarische Präsident Orbán und der serbische Präsident Vučić arbeiten gemeinsam mit dem bosnischen Serbenführer Dodić aktiv daran, die Abhängigkeit ihrer Gebiete und weiterer Teile Südosteuropas von russischen Gaslieferungen zu vergrößern. Mit dieser aktiven Anti-EU-Politik festigen sie ihre autoritären Regime. Analyse von Adelheid Wölffl im Standard.

https://www.derstandard.de/story/3000000184546/geld-gas-und-orden-ungarn-vereint-die-kreml-freunde-in-suedosteuropa

Fabio Mini, L'Europa in guerra

What Reuters and other mainstream media systematically neglect tot write is that what predated the annexation of Crimea was a 2014 a violent US-backed coup d'etat replaced the russia-friendly elected government with a Western-affiliated one that banned russian language (30%-50% of population) and said political parties, arresting their leaders.

Die EU-Staaten erhalten weiterhin verflüssigtes Erdgas aus Russland und finanzieren damit den Krieg gegen die Ukrains. 16% des im ersten Quartal 2023 importierten LNG und 7% des insgesamt importierten Erdgas stammen aus Russland. Eine Bruegel-Analyse ergibt, dass ein Verzicht auf die russischen Lieferungen möglich wäre, wobei dann aber – wenn der Erdgasverbrauch gleich bleibt – LNG aus anderen Quellen gekauft werden müsste. https://www.repubblica.it/economia/2023/06/28/news/gas_liquefatto_russo_europa-405944960/?ref=RHVS-BG-I330891680-P3-S8-T1

Bruegel-Analyse: https://www.bruegel.org/policy-brief/eu-can-manage-without-russian-liquified-natural-gas

Pakistan hat zum ersten Mal mit chinesischen Yuan für russisches Erdöl bezahlt, das aufgrund der westlichen Sanktionen gegen Russland zu einem verbilligten Preis an die verbliebenen Abnehmerländer geliefert wird. Die Zahlung stellt das bisherige globale System der Bezahlung von Öl infrage, bei der immer der amerikanische Dollar als Währung verwendet wird. Standard-Artikel mit vielen Informationen zu den geo- und finanzpolitischen Hintergründen https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000174993/alternative-zum-dollar-pakistan-zahlt-erstmals-oel-in-yuan

Das Verschwinden des arktischen meereises hat – in Verbindung mit den Spannungen in anderen Regionen – gravierende geopolitische Konsequenzen. Russland ist dabei, die Arktis massiv zu militarisieren. Dabei kooperiert ist mit China. Es will andererseits von den Schiffsrouten durch das eisfreie Nordpolarmeer profitieren. Wissenschaftliche Kooperation in der Arktis findet seit der Invasion der ganzen Ukraine im Februar 2022 nicht mehr statt. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/13/arctic-russia-nato-putin-climate

Der russische Energiekonzern Gazprom hat eigene Söldnereinheiten aufgestellt, die die Ukraine angreifen.

https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/lentreprise-russe-gazprom-envoie-ses-propres-mercenaires-combattre-en-ukraine-20230605_IURV4ZI6EZFP7GSUXZP43PCZSE/

Entgegen eigenen Ankündigungen hat Russland seine Ölförderung kaum verringert. Russland finanziert den Krieg gegen die Ukraine zum Teil durch Öllieferungen mit Tankern nach China, Indien und in die Türkei. https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/konjunktur/russland-oel-foerderung-100.html

New to me form of censorship evasion: easter egg room in a mainstream online game that itself is not censored. Finnish news paper Helsingin Sanomat has been putting their reporting on the Russian war on Ukraine inside a level of online FPS game Counter Strike, translated into Russian. This as a way to circumvent Russian censorship that blocks Finnish media. It saw 2k downloads from unknown geographic origins, so the effect might be very limited.

Die russischen Exporte von Rohöl und Gas haben neue Rekordhöhen erreicht. Die Einnahmen liegen allerdings gut 40% unter den des Vorjahres. Das ist eine Folge der europäischen Sanktionen. Russland versucht sie auf unterschiedliche Weise, z.b durch Tanker unter falscher Flagge, zu umgehen. https://www.repubblica.it/economia/2023/04/17/news/russia_vendite_petrolio_aumento_gnl-396457430/?ref=RHVS-BG-I330891680-P3-S7-T1

T he REVELATIONS about the possible complicity of the Bulgarian secret police in the shooting of the Pope have produced a grudging admission, even in previously skeptical quarters, that the Soviet Union may be involved in international terrorism. Some patterns have emerged in the past few years that tell us some- thing about the extent to which the Kremlin may use terrorism as an instrument of policy. A great deal of information has lately come to light, some of it accurate, some of it not. One of the most interesting developments appears to be the emergence of a close working relation- ship between organized crime (especially drug smug- glers and dealers) and some of the principal groups in the terrorist network.

Notice that Twitter’s account purge significantly impacted misinformation spread worldwide: the proportion of low-credible domains in URLs retweeted from U.S. dropped from 14% to 7%. Finally, despite not having a list of low-credible domains in Russian, Russia is central in exporting potential misinformation in the vax rollout period, especially to Latin American countries. In these countries, the proportion of low-credible URLs coming from Russia increased from 1% in vax development to 18% in vax rollout periods (see Figure 8 (b), Appendix).

In broad terms, when I read this highly abbreviated account of a very complex matter, I cannot help buy see a reflection of what's going on in the US - where Lenin is in the role of Trump.

Most significantly, it seems that in both cases, a madman got the poor and uneducated to throw out one form of power structure for another, in both cases of which the poor and uneducated gained nothing.

Συμφωνα με τον Johnny Miller, η ίδια η έγγκυος στη συνέντευξη κατηγορούσε τους Ουκρανούς, αλλα το οι NYT & BBC έκοψαν αυτό το κομμάτι από τη συνένμευξή της.

Alternate thesis for why countries and cities vie to host money-losing events like the World Cup and the Olympics: grift.

With the necessary need for building infrastructure, there's easy and ample opportunity for cooking the books and pushing cash flow into the pockets of contractors and political figures as well as into the pockets of the governing bodies and their officials.

Cross reference FIFA bribery

Some of the money may go into the local economy and workers which is good, but who's really benefitting here? Where is the money going? Who is footing the loss? It can't all be written off to goodwill.

Tags

TAGS

Tags

• Why is Russia state a "regime"? More than eg Egypt's or Israel's contra its arab-speakng citizens?
• Why is Putin responsible more than eg Medvedev or Zuganov of Lacrov or other officials and strongmen of the russia government? Why is it necessary to name the PM of Russia?

After the Maidan revolution the US started to integrate Ukraine into NATO through unofficial means.

By June 2020 they were recognised as an Enhanced Opportunities Partner (https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_176327.htm)

A year later in 2021 the US and Ukraine signed a "Charter on Strategic Partnership" which declared that the US supports Ukrain's aspirations to join NATO (https://www.state.gov/u-s-ukraine-charter-on-strategic-partnership/).

Schafer, B. (2021, October 5). RT Deutsch Finds a Home with Anti-Vaccination Skeptics in Germany. Alliance For Securing Democracy. https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/rt-deutsch-youtube-antivaccination-germany/

Warner, E. L., Barbati, J. L., Duncan, K. L., Yan, K., & Rains, S. A. (2022). Vaccine misinformation types and properties in Russian troll tweets. Vaccine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.12.040

Ambrose, T., Campbell, L., Belam, M., & Lock, S. (2021, November 11). Covid live: Brazil reports 12,273 new cases with daily deaths down to 240; Russia’s death toll passes 250,000. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/nov/10/coronavirus-news-live-france-orders-those-aged-over-65-to-show-proof-of-covid-booster-shot-china-reports-drop-in-cases

Cubbon, S. (2021, March 17). Fringe communities feed on RT coverage to undermine Covid-19 vaccinations. First Draft. https://firstdraftnews.org:443/articles/rt-fringe-undermine-covid-vaccinations/

Umfang des Ölmärkte: 100 Mill. Barrel am Tag.

Russischer Anteil: 10%

Verbrauch der USA: Ca ein Drittel

Diese Abhängigkeit der deutschen Wirtschaft ist ein entscheidender Punkt, siehe auch den Bericht in Libération über die befürchtete Krise in Deutschland. @bourdoiseauPourAllemagneDopee2022

Monitor-Bericht zur Kooperation von Wintershall Dea (BASF) mit Gazprom

Konsequenzen der Wirtschaftssanktionen für Russland. Sehr erhellender Artikel, sich zu den verfügbaren Daten.

Because that is the problem, this attack is what puts doubts about the credibility

Russia’s Sputnik V Covid vaccine gaining acceptance in Europe. (2021, March 10). The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/10/russias-sputnik-v-covid-vaccine-gaining-acceptance-in-europe

The referenda of Donestk and Lugansk were not about independence but about self-determination.

Ben Collins. (2022, February 28). Quick thread: I want you all to meet Vladimir Bondarenko. He’s a blogger from Kiev who really hates the Ukrainian government. He also doesn’t exist, according to Facebook. He’s an invention of a Russian troll farm targeting Ukraine. His face was made by AI. https://t.co/uWslj1Xnx3 [Tweet]. @oneunderscore__. https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1498349668522201099

Much down to earth report from a Donetsk fighter about Mariupol progress of Russian invasion, seems to be older than March 30.

I tohught the West would demand that Turkey stop cooperating with Russia to acquire nuclear capabilities...not even that!

Mhtsotaki's unconditional pro-West stance has given Turkey all kinds of leverage and benefits, including economical ones.

Humanity for all human As seen on: Free Ads Groups sidebar

‘Freedom convoy’ forums find new focus: Disinformation about Russia-Ukraine war - National | Globalnews.ca. (n.d.). Global News. Retrieved 21 March 2022, from https://globalnews.ca/news/8659667/ukraine-russia-convoy-misinformation-conspiracy/

What if sanctions catastrophically succeed?

Barnes, J. E. (2021, August 5). Russian Disinformation Targets Vaccines and the Biden Administration. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/05/us/politics/covid-vaccines-russian-disinformation.html

So invasion of Russia's in Ukraine had been explicitly provoked by CIA!

Η μεταφραση ειναι χαλια, εδώ το αγγλικό κειμενο.

This could be a blessing and a boon to climate change transition to a fossil fuel free world.

Schreiber, M. (2022, March 4). ‘Bot holiday’: Covid disinformation down as social media pivot to Ukraine. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/mar/04/bot-holiday-covid-misinformation-ukraine-social-media

Not "one Russia", but many unique cultures loosely associated with it.

• Russia and Ukraine DO have a shared culture and origin, but all people have that actually. Both cultures (plus Belarus) shaped each other, it's incorrect to say that any one was once part of the other (the "ancient Rus" were not today's Russians).
• Putin fits his ideas of a strong Russia into the historical context with disregard for actual facts.
• In that he leaves the Ukrainians no choice of their own culture or power to shape it, which short-circuits (invalidates) the entire discussion.

Why doesn't it make sense according to his reasoning? This would simply be a territorial dispute if you incorrectly believe that cultures are static (that Ukrainians are carbon copies of Russians). In that case the Soviet Union would have carved Ukraine out of Russia's territory, and after the fall of the Union Ukraine continued as a separate nation without reason.

That's of course ignoring the historical fact that Ukraine was not actually Russian territory (as described above).

Integrating Ukraine into Russia is not a new idea. How many other people inside Russia believe this (disregarding effects of propaganda)? Putin can't be the one who invented it?

Ukrainians, Russians, and Belarusians DO have a shared culture -- but that simply means they are similar to each other. No two people are exactly the same.

Interesting, at least some of the companies pausing business in Russia are forced to do so through the sanctions by the US government.

• "Restoring the Russian empire" requires an easy victory over Ukraine, as it's meant as a "liberation" from the western "empire of lies".
• The fierce resistance by the Ukrainian people invalidates this premise. Their national identity is strengthened through the resistance in this conflict.
• This means Putin pushed Ukraine further away from Russia, rather than integrate them.
• If he extracts political concessions from Ukraine (e.g. that they won't join NATO), the only way to enforce them is through intimidation. The effectiveness of economic sanctions may prevent this from working longer term

Does Putin even see the population of Russia as real people? Particularly the activists. Maybe he thinks that most people need to be told what to do ("freed from the empire of lies").

Any good article on this, and on Russia's propaganda machine in general?

Are they trying to emulate China, or did they arrive on this on their own?

Putin wanted this violence. He planned it for years but as they say "careful what you wish for, it just may come true". Putin will win the battle but will lose the war.

Does Putin know this? Do his advisors know this? If so, is the current targeting of civilians all to save face? What a price to pay!

The interesting modern historical question is why does a small gang of authoritarian leaders seem to rise up to the top and take over Russia? Is there some fundamental lesson that the people of Russia have not yet learned that creates this atmosphere of enabling authoritarianism? Yeltsin tried but it failed and this vacuum created the space for the opportunity Putin to step in. The danger of failed democracy is authoritarianism waiting in the wings.

Was Belarus allying itself to Russia really that unexpected?

Putin's stated goal isn't even about Ukraine directly, just about preventing its shift to the west politically. https://youtu.be/1qS6J-WbTD8?t=1364

Will any of these companies or countries divest?

Will BP divest in these as well?

They are loaded onto railway flatcars. The platform is the area in the photo marked by white lines - where passengers board trains.

Journalists know very little about the world around them yet present themselves as authoritative.

Eckel, M. (14:25:51Z). RT America Received More Than $100 Million In Russian Government Funding Since 2017, Filings Show. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-rt-america-funding/31427870.html

Ariel Karlinsky. (2022, January 2). Russia at 1.04 MILLION excess deaths since March 2020, which is about 240% higher than their reported COVID-19 deaths. This is 1st place worldwide (for countries with data) in absolute excess mortality, 2nd place on per capita terms and 9th on p-score. #poptwitter #epitwitter https://t.co/aLBRRht3z2 [Tweet]. @ArielKarlinsky. https://twitter.com/ArielKarlinsky/status/1477531141510946818

Lindiwe Mazibuko. (2021, November 27). When literally every country “banning” you has a higher infection rate 🙄 https://t.co/NZMuf9Pfx5 [Tweet]. @LindiMazibuko. https://twitter.com/LindiMazibuko/status/1464539078611939333

Maxmen, Amy. ‘The Fight to Manufacture COVID Vaccines in Lower-Income Countries’. Nature 597, no. 7877 (15 September 2021): 455–57. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02383-z.

Coronavirus Pandemic Data Explorer. (n.d.). Our World in Data. Retrieved March 3, 2021, from https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data-explorer