Urals Crude Price Slump - A Disaster for Putin's War Machine and Regime
2025-11-22 | Silicon Wafers DAILY UPDATE 064 | Putin’s ship has been taking on water for some time but has now hit an iceberg – it’s called thirty-six dollars a barrel of Urals crude oil. Russia’s flagship Urals crude has collapsed to its lowest price since early 2023 – just as U.S. sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, the two giants of Putin’s oil empire, are about to fully bite. India and China are backing away. Tankers full of Russian crude are circling with nowhere to go. And suddenly, “sanctions don’t work” sounds a lot less clever on social media than it did six months ago. (United24 Media)Let’s unpack how we got to $36 Urals, what it means for Russia’s war machine, and why this looks less like a market blip and more like the first real oil-squeeze not only of the war, but of Putin’s time in power. ----------SOURCES: United24 Media – “Russia’s Urals Oil Crashes to 2.5-Year Low as Global Buyers Pull Back Ahead of US Sanctions” (Nov. 17, 2025)Kyiv Independent – “Russia's flagship oil price drops as buyers retreat ahead of US sanctions” (Nov. 17, 2025)The Moscow Times – “Russian Oil Revenues Slide to 2.5-Year Low as Sanctions Drive Asian Buyers Away” (Nov. 19, 2025)The Moscow Times – “What New U.S. Sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil Mean for Russia’s Oil Trade” (Oct. 28, 2025)U.S. Department of the Treasury – “Treasury Sanctions Major Russian Oil Companies, Calls on Moscow to Immediately Agree to Ceasefire” (Press release, Oct. 22, 2025)Reuters – coverage on Chinese and Indian banks/refiners moving to comply with sanctions and on widening Urals discounts and stranded cargoes (Nov. 2025)AP / Associated Press – reports on U.S. sanctions on Russian oil and Lukoil’s decision to sell international assets (Oct.–Nov. 2025)Economic Times / Business Standard – “US sanctions on Russian oil set to kick in with 48 million barrels of crude at sea” (Nov. 21, 2025)IntelliNews – “How oil price discounts became a barometer of the sanctions’ effectiveness” (Nov. 2025)Chatham House – “Tightening the oil-price cap to increase the pressure on Russia” (Sept. 4, 2025)CEPA – “Europe Moves Toward Shadow Fleet Seizures” (Sept. 26, 2025)EU Commission – Press materials on the 18th and 19th sanctions packages targeting Russia’s shadow fleet and LNG (July & Oct. 2025)----------SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISERA project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's front-line towns.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur events of the first half of the year in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. Any support you can provide for the fundraising campaign would be gratefully appreciated. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------
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884. Darkest Hour and Stark Choices - Is it Time to Break Up with Trump?!
Cormac Smith has worked in Public Relations and Corporate Communications for over three decades. In 2016 he traveled to Ukraine to take up a special appointment as the ‘Strategic Communication Advisor’ to Pavlo Klimkin, then the Foreign Minister of Ukraine. He was attached to the British Embassy in Kyiv but was embedded in Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the first foreigner to hold such a position. While in Kyiv, he also advised and provided training for five other government ministries and worked directly with three other cabinet ministers: Health, Education and the Deputy Prime Minister. ----------LINKS:https://defencebrink.uk/https://x.com/CormacS63https://x.com/philipingmbe----------CHAPTERS:----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyślhttps://kharpp.com/NOR DOG Animal Rescuehttps://www.nor-dog.org/home/----------
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882. Threat of Coercive Peace Down the Barrel of a Gun
Livestream with Jonathan MS Pearce. ----------SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISERA project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's front-line towns.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------https://car4ukraine.com/campaigns/autumn-harvest-silicon-curtainDonate and Receive - Collectable PatchAUTUMN HARVEST TRUCKS 2025. Part of our 2025 patch collection. Everyone who contributes €100 (~$115) or more will be able to receive it.For our Autumn patch, we present the Galician Lion. The rampant lion represents power and intelligence. It has represented Western Ukrainian people since the 1100s. The Ruthenian lion, also known as the Ukrainian lion or Galician lion, was featured on the historic coat of arms of: The Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia (Ruthenia)1199-1349, The battle flag of the Lviv land in the Battle of Tannenberg, 1410 The Ruthenian Voivodeship (Administration) 1434-1772 and The Western Ukrainian People's Republic 1918-1919. The Ukrainian national liberation movement, 1948----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur events of the first half of the year in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. Any support you can provide for the fundraising campaign would be gratefully appreciated. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasWe need to scale up our support for Ukraine, and these events are designed to have a major impact. Your support in making it happen is greatly appreciated. All events will be recorded professionally and published for free on the Silicon Curtain channel. Where possible, we will also live-stream events.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyslhttps://kharpp.com/NOR DOG Animal Rescuehttps://www.nor-dog.org/home/-----------
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883. What are the Dangers of AI Everyone is Missing? Ceding Our Agency to Algorithms
See the full interview here: https://youtu.be/OUdsZYYd3bo~~~~~~~~~Conversation about the advances in AI and their political and social consequences. Jacob Ward is an American journalist and author who has spent over 20 years covering science, technology, and their social consequences. He’s been technology or science correspondent for Al Jazeera, NBC News, PBS, CNN and others, and former editor-in-chief of Popular Science magazine. Jacob Ward was a Berggruen Fellow at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) in 2018–19, where he began writing The Loop: How AI Is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back (Hachette, 2022). He also lectures at the Stanford school. He’s now reporter-in-residence at the Omidyar Network, running long-form investigations into “unforeseen effects of breakthrough innovations” and writing about a “philosophy of restraint.” He also hosts the newsletter and podcast The Rip Current, on technology, politics, and “big hidden forces” such as Big Tech and venture capital. Ward co-wrote and hosted PBS’s four-hour series “Hacking Your Mind” on decision science, bias, and political manipulation, and has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Wired, etc.~~~~~~~~~Links:https://substack.com/@byjacobwardhttps://theripcurrent.substack.com/https://www.jacobward.com/abouthttps://x.com/byjacobwardhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Loop-Technology-Creating-Without-Choices/dp/0316487201~~~~~~~~~The Impact and Risks of AI: A Conversation with Jacob WardIn this engaging conversation, American journalist and author Jacob Ward discusses the profound effects of artificial intelligence on society, the risks of AI-driven decision making, and the dangers of losing human agency. As a science and technology correspondent with 20 years of experience and former editor-in-chief of Popular Science Magazine, Ward brings deep insights into how AI has the potential to both benefit and harm society. The discussion explores the philosophical and practical implications of AI, its role in digital propaganda, and the ethical responsibilities of AI developers.~~~~~~~~~Welcome to Future Perfect, a new Podcast that spans topics as diverse as history, architecture, archaeology, and culture, arts and sciences, technology, and futurology – and seeks to find connections between the past and present as well as all the potential futures. Please like, subscribe, and share links to the channel, and ‘Buy me a Coffee’, if you like these videos and want to see more. ~~~~~~~~~
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Putin Says No to Trump's 28 Points - Demands "More" in Delusional Rant
2025-11-21 | Silicon Wafers 063 | Tonight, Vladimir Putin has *apparently* welcomed Donald Trump’s 28-point “peace plan” for Ukraine, though in guarded terms… if it had stopped there, it would have been worrying for Ukraine and its partners. But Putin then behaved exactly as I’ve been suggesting he would. Whenever he senses weakness, even if it is illusory and based on false information, he doubles down on violence, and demands more, more, more. True to form, the address to the nation quickly descended into him ranting and running through familiar grievances, while also threatening more conquest and doubling down on total victory.On paper, he says the plan can be “the basis” for peace. In practice, he’s talking about Kupiansk as if it’s fallen, warning that what he claims happened there will “inevitably be repeated” across the front if Ukraine doesn’t submit. (Reuters) The only problem, is that he mentioned this a month ago, claiming Kupiansk was encircled and about to fall – and the reality is that it still has not been taken. Not even close. So, is he lying, deceived or deluded?----------SOURCES: Reutershttps://www.reuters.com/world/putin-says-us-peace-plan-can-be-basis-peace-ukraine-2025-11-21/AP Newshttps://apnews.com/article/0f90db569cf222e80cfb2c1eb5ea07e1Reutershttps://www.reuters.com/world/europe/europeans-push-back-us-plan-that-would-force-concessions-ukraine-2025-11-20/Reutershttps://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-met-with-russian-top-military-brass-kremlin-says-2025-11-20/Axioshttps://www.axios.com/2025/11/21/ukraine-security-guarantee-nato-article-5-trump----------SILICON CURTAIN FILM FUNDRAISERA project to make a documentary film in Ukraine, to raise awareness of Ukraine's struggle and in supporting a team running aid convoys to Ukraine's front-line towns.https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SILICON CURTAIN LIVE EVENTS - FUNDRAISER CAMPAIGN Events in 2025 - Advocacy for a Ukrainian victory with Silicon Curtainhttps://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extrasOur events of the first half of the year in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were a huge success. Now we need to maintain this momentum, and change the tide towards a Ukrainian victory. The Silicon Curtain Roadshow is an ambitious campaign to run a minimum of 12 events in 2025, and potentially many more. Any support you can provide for the fundraising campaign would be gratefully appreciated. https://buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain/extras----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------
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