Good God, They Are That Stupid.

I am on record, worse than US journos are the British ones. All of them, without exception, are qualified only for discussing Meghan Markle's lingerie. Now, here is the example of a deliberate BS, which is funny especially coming from British tabloid. 

Russia has permanently lost the Arctic to NATO. 

A-ha-ha, LOL))) The argumentation in this piece is hilarious. 

Then Putin invaded Ukraine (again) and suddenly all eyes were back on the world’s strongest military alliance. It wasn’t long before the Arctic nations Sweden and Finland were asking to join. Once they join, every Arctic country except Russia will be a member of NATO. That matters for the same two reasons every maritime trade area in the world matters – routes and resources.

So, the guy thinks that economically insignificant Sweden and Finland joining NATO, with their brown water navies, will make any difference is delirious. With Finland's eight conventional powered ice-breaker fleet designed primarily for Baltic Sea, I am sure this will ensure Russia "losing" the Arctic. But most hilarious in this stream of consciousness is this, LOL)) 

What can the UK do in this environment?

I have news for this dude--NOTHING! UK has no resources nor experiences, with the exception of Arctic convoys in WW II and sending some of Royal Navy's SSNs, to do anything in the Arctic. Zilch, nada.  Remarkably, he admits:

In other words, the UK’s role in facing down Russia in the High North is much the same as it is everywhere; strong on soft power, diplomacy, science and technical expertise but with the bare minimum of military hardware to credibly back it up.

The UK's "soft power" is obviously a joke and it is about time London resigned itself to the fact of it being nothing more than the capital of a second tier (at best) power, in Arctic it is altogether is nothing and is absolutely powerless, even in the wet dreams.  It is especially preposterous to read this drivel from the former RN officer. But even larger issue here is WHY this drivel was written when the whole combined West's Arctic capabilities are still dwarfed by that of Russia's. 

Meanwhile, here is some serious news:

Indian refiners have started using Chinese yuan instead of US dollars to pay for some oil imports from Russia, Reuters reported on Monday, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter. According to the sources, India’s biggest buyer of Russian crude, Indian Oil Corp, became the first state refiner to pay for some Russian purchases in yuan last month. At least two of India’s three private refiners are also paying for some Russian imports in yuan, two other sources claimed. “Some refiners are paying in other currencies like yuan if banks are not willing to settle trade in dollars,” an unnamed Indian government source was quoted as saying. The sources noted it could not immediately be determined how much Russian oil Indian refiners have bought with yuan, adding that Indian Oil has paid in renminbi for multiple cargoes.

Make your own conclusions.