Because they are so strong and independent would rather funnel money into their own pockets than follow regulation to make sure people don't freeze to death in winter.
Because we didn't want to follow federal regulations due to cost. Some of said regulations included winterizing measures. It was peak "leopards ate my face" material.
I don't brag about it. I fear each winter that it will happen again. Or that we will be woefully under prepared for natural disasters when they do strike.
There is no safe season in Texas. It gets tornadoes in Spring and hurricanes in Fall. And because every year is getting hotter and hotter, Summer in Texas is probably also gonna get pretty rough soon. And every time ERCOT struggles, the price of energy soars because of their bullshit predatory small print. I truly don't understand why anybody would choose to move to Texas these days.
Hilariously, Texas is all about giving people the freedom to freeze to death with their substandard electrical service in the name of "freedom from government oppression", but they can't just let trans people decide to transition because it could be a mistake and they might regret it? All while supporting child labor where kids could get crushed or heinously injured in massive industrial equipments? Amazing.
Russia has not met any definition since the Soviet Union evolved. China is more debatable. It's not a military superpower--it can't project much power outside of its own region--but you can argue for economic superpower.
It is an actual Russian "divide and conquer" troll. A "warm water port" is exactly how you string that sentence together in Russian. A Texan would first of all call it a harbor (port is the word for it in Russian, so likely a direct translation), secondly wouldn't mention that at all, since an "ice port" isn't even a thing anywhere in the US, except for Alaska, and having an ice free one is nothing to brag about. In Russia it is a big deal and is a matter of national pride, hence the Crimea takeover. It's more than just land to them.
Also, a Texan with a bit of knowledge would absolutely call it a port, especially if they're talking about the Port of Houston, for example: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Houston
I don't know where this guy is from, but maybe you should be slightly more cautious with your linguistic judgements.
It's real, unfortunately it's working as well as there is a massive portion of west that bites into this shit. I mean look at Orban or any alt right Republicans in states.
The interesting thing is that Russia already has two ice free ports on the Western side of the country: Kaliningrad in the Baltics and Novorossisk in the Black Sea, just East of the Crimean peninsula. There's no real need for another port in Sevastopol. And on the Pacific they've got Vladivostok and much of the Kamchatka peninsula.
Sevastopol helps them keep firm presence on the Black Sea and from that the Mediterranean so long as Turkey allows them through the Bosporus and Dardanelles to the Aegean. They don’t want their presence being dependent on Crimea’s holding
Too bad they messed that up by invading Ukraine. Russia had a lease on Sevastopol up through 2042, now they'll be lucky to keep it for the next 5 years.
Regardless, Baltic Sea access isn't super great when you're entirely choked out by Denmark for access to the Atlantic. Same goes for Black Sea and access to the open seas - Turkey and arguably also Spain/UK block several times on the way.
The Pacific ones freeze over and are kind of blocked by Japan, essentially.
It's going to be interesting to see how much Russia's geopolitical position improves from rising global temperatures - if their pacific ports become ice-free, then that changes the game quite a bit.
Kaliningrad is an exclave and not connected to the rest of Russia. Good relations with Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus is the only thing thay allows goods to pass through Kaliningrad. Sevastopol is a superior port to Novorossisk for many reasons, but the biggest one is the crntral location in the Black Sea. The Black Sea Fleet can quickly deploy anywhere in the Black Sea from Sevastopol.
Vladivostok and the Kamchatka usually get iced in during the winter as arctic sea ice moves way down to the Japanese islands. Obviously that is becoming less and less of an issue, but that's why Russia claims the Kuril islands.
There is a vast untapped natural gas field southwest of sevastopol. On top of giving Russia another warm water port, it also gives them rights over the slarwa of the black sea where the gas field is. the argument has been made that this was the reasoning behind the Crimean annexation in 2014.
Having nearly died experiencing that power grid first hand, and their only two state exports of Bucees and Whataburger being picked up in other states, it's not looking good
I'm aware of that, believe it or not. Purely a joke on my end. I legit love canada.
In my limited experience, 1/10 Canadians I've encountered were assholes. That's 9/10 for my fellow Americans. Best ally any country could have, too. Canada is fucking awesome. If I had to move away from home to another country, it would be my pick
Which is kinda silly to say, I guess. But it's true.