Grab a chair, kick off your shoes, chill and chat.Since there seems to be little or no discussion on this topic I thought I would kick off with a link to the latest Trump rubbish.
In the mainstream news...........Trump says it is time for Ukraine to get a new president, and Trump has agreed a deal with his dear friend Putin to buy a huge amount of diesel from Russia. Anyone who has been following events on this topic will be aware that Russia is so short of diesel there are long queues at filling stations all over Russia because of the shortages there so it is highly unlikely Putin has any to spare. In fact, although he has plenty of unrefined oil, his refineries have been reduced by Ukraines long range drone attacks causing him to import diesel from outside Russia.
Full details https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-st ... -9.7377049
And in case you haven't heard about what Putin is doing to stolen Ukrainian children...........
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukrainian ... -9.7372530
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Hotrodder
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Last edited by Hotrodder on Sun Oct 11, 2026 7:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
On my headstone it will say: Please switch off mobile phones. I'm trying to get some sleep.
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hughnique
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You just cannot believe what you read or see these days, if there is a slight element of truth in Trumps rantings then how many times has he swapped his allegiance, possibly Zelensky is humoring trump for the aid he is receiving from him. You have to feel sorry for the Ukrainian nation, what with one nutter invading them and another who was supposedly aiding them, but is now asking for him to be replaced.
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exile
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The one bizarre thought that occurred to me: is Trump actually actually being very clever, for once?
If he does indeed take this volume of diesel from Russia, it reduces the fuel available for Putin's forces. Of course at the same time reducing (probably by very little) the price at the US pumps, but at least seen to be doing something in advance of the Midterms.
Nah! Far too clever for Trump on the first point.
If he does indeed take this volume of diesel from Russia, it reduces the fuel available for Putin's forces. Of course at the same time reducing (probably by very little) the price at the US pumps, but at least seen to be doing something in advance of the Midterms.
Nah! Far too clever for Trump on the first point.
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hughnique
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But the other day he was boasting that the US had plenty of fuel and that we should buy from him.
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Hotrodder
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There was a bod on the radio this morning, I didn't catch who he was but someone that regularly travels to Ukraine and has been very active in organising charitable donations to help the people there. He said Trump's announcement was ridiculous because to make up for the shortage of diesel in Russia, Putin is buying it in from Korea and Iran. So in essence the diesel Trump is talking about would be bought from a country he is at war with. ??????????
On my headstone it will say: Please switch off mobile phones. I'm trying to get some sleep.
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exile
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Buying from N Korea and Iran does not quite ring true.
N Korea has no appreciable oil. It imports from China and Russia. I suppose it could refine it and then re-export the diesel back to Russia but the refinery on the Russian border has been moribund since the end of the last century. The second refinery on the Chinese border is operational but suffers from high world oil prices. If it were producing diesel for Russia at the rate of half a million tons, that would be an awful lot of rail tankers - in the absence of a pipeline.
As for Iran, the same issue applies. How to get it from Iran to Russia? By sea with the Strait of Hormuz blockaded by the US?
Overland by rail, with a break of rail gauge at the border. Iran uses standard gauge railways. Its northern neighbours all use Russian broad gauge. Wagons could not simply run through from Iran to Russia; and that ignores that they would have to transit other countries to do so.
I once did a reverse project of getting product out of Kazakhstan. It was a logistical nightmare.
Options:
Iran - beak of gauge and isolation of Iran
China - break of gauge and a reported 9 month wait at the border
Russia - West - at the time at war with Georgia and issues with other states in the region.
Russia - North and west and then out through Latvia.
None were operationally worthwhile - but then we were not at war.
N Korea has no appreciable oil. It imports from China and Russia. I suppose it could refine it and then re-export the diesel back to Russia but the refinery on the Russian border has been moribund since the end of the last century. The second refinery on the Chinese border is operational but suffers from high world oil prices. If it were producing diesel for Russia at the rate of half a million tons, that would be an awful lot of rail tankers - in the absence of a pipeline.
As for Iran, the same issue applies. How to get it from Iran to Russia? By sea with the Strait of Hormuz blockaded by the US?
Overland by rail, with a break of rail gauge at the border. Iran uses standard gauge railways. Its northern neighbours all use Russian broad gauge. Wagons could not simply run through from Iran to Russia; and that ignores that they would have to transit other countries to do so.
I once did a reverse project of getting product out of Kazakhstan. It was a logistical nightmare.
Options:
Iran - beak of gauge and isolation of Iran
China - break of gauge and a reported 9 month wait at the border
Russia - West - at the time at war with Georgia and issues with other states in the region.
Russia - North and west and then out through Latvia.
None were operationally worthwhile - but then we were not at war.