jas007

This isn't 1949, in case you missed that little detail. Moreover, neither the USA nor the entirety of NATO has the military capacity to fight a prolonged ground war against Russia. The war would escalate, as wars always do, and Western Europe's capital cities would be obliterated.. Paris, London, Berlin, Warsaw, and various military targets. They would all be gone in less than 30 minutes. What you don't seem to understand that it's not a question of right or wrong. You can be right and still end up dead. Russia perceives an existential threat and it will respond accordingly. Ukraine NATO membership and the Russia-speaking areas of Ukraine are not worth sacrificing the lives of hundreds of millions of people. Billions, perhaps, if things get out of hand.

Tops at Central Festival has free range c chicken eggs from Hill Tribes. Something like that. Actually, they have all sorts of different kinds. I never paid too much attention.

I won't be so quick to believe any of the Western propaganda.

For what it's worth, I'm an American and II've received nothing from Bank. It's a very old account, through. It has been open for around 15 years.

I'm wondering how long it takes Jaguar to wake up and realize that the kind of people who buy Jaguars probably won't appreciate the nutty brand makeover, and it's certainly not going to sell any cars. Who owns the company these days?

Some of you guys seen to think it's all about Trump and some sort of cult like group of followers. That's hardly the case. A lot of people voted for Trump. not because they're part of some cult, but because they couldn't stand the alternative and they weren't so stupid as to believe all the mainstream propaganda. They didn't want four more years or war. They didn't want four more years of inflation and a bad economy. They didn't want to be talked down to, and they were sick of all the "woke" nonsense. And so, they voted for Trump. Don't forget, Harris didn't come across as any kind of leader. She wouldn't even do an honest news interview. And she wanted to be President of the USA?

Russian rhetoric? If you ask me, it's the only sensible explanation for the stupidly of trying to start WW III, which is exactly what the current administration seems to be trying to do People think that such a thing can't happen, but it absolutely can. Hopefully, the world will make it through the next two months and Trump will tell Zelensky to make a deal or lose all funding. What's left of Ukraine can.still be saved. perhaps.

I think the point of "Mutually Assured Destruction" is that, in theory, rational actors would have no reason to use nukes. as their use would be not in their best interest. But it all falls apart when it becomes obvious that one side is not acting in a rational manner. It's a game that can't be won. That's the danger the world is facing now. The US is acting in a way that is not rational if one assumes that, at some point, Russia will no longer be "bluffing." They make that assumption, but is it correct, necessarily? I think not. To think otherwise is either remarkably evil or remarkably stupid. Billions of lives are being risked.

There's always something, right? And there's no shortage of advice floating around about what's a buy and what isn't. What's your time horizon? Personally, I've had better luck with trades that play out over a year or two. Trying to time the market over the short term usually doesn't work out too well, for me. Or rather, my greed always seems to screw me up.

Eastern Europe has been disputed territory for centuries. This dispute is just the most recent iteration. Look up the history of Russia. Look up the so-called "Heartland Theory." A theory put forth by a British geopolitical analyst named Mackinder in the early 1900s suggesting that control of Eastern Europe was the key to controlling the "Heartland" which, in turn, was the the key to controlling the world island, the central landmass containing over half of the world's resources. Whoever controlled that landmass and its natural resources could control the wold. Whether they admit it or not, that's pretty much what's going on today. Western hegemony is at stake and the West doesn't want to see Russia with all those assets. Wasn't it US Senator Lindsey Graham that was mouthing off about just that? The trillions of dollars of assets at stake? Look at Blackrock and their greed. They already have contracts to "rebuild" Ukraine. In return, they'll pretty much own Ukraine, but I digress. Once you understand the geopolitical implications, superimpose on that mess a bunch of crazy Neocons trying to turn back the clock of history and preserve so-called "American exceptionalism." At least that's the theory, but even those guys have been co-opted by the greedy warmongers whose only god is money. On top of all that, throw in Game Theory and global thermonuclear war. Then set aside or imagine a disruption of the MAD principle. Mutually Assured Destruction. A disruption of the MAD principle because people, by way of the crazy NEOCONs or because of pure greed, no longer act as a rational actor might act. It all becomes a crapshoot. Then try to guess what will happen next. The Globalists are playing dice with the lives of billions of people and perhaps humanity itself.

Eastern Europe has been disputed territory for centuries. This dispute is just the most recent iteration. Look up the history of Russia. Look up the so-called "Heartland Theory." A theory put forth by a British geopolitical analyst named Mackinder in the early 1900s suggesting that control of Eastern Europe was the key to controlling the "Heartland" which, in turn, was the the key to controlling the world island, the central landmass containing over half of the world's resources. Whoever controlled that landmass and its natural resources could control the wold. Whether they admit it or not, that's pretty much what's going on today. Western hegemony is at stake and the West doesn't want to see Russia with all those assets. Wasn't it US Senator Lindsey Graham that was mouthing off about just that? The trillions of dollars of assets at stake? Look at Blackrock and their greed. They already have contracts to "rebuild" Ukraine. In return, they'll pretty much own Ukraine, but I digress. Once you understand the geopolitical implications, superimpose on that mess a bunch of crazy Neocons trying to turn back the clock of history and preserve so-called "American exceptionalism." At least that's the theory, but even those guys have been co-opted by the greedy warmongers whose only god is money. On top of all that, throw in Game Theory and global thermonuclear war. Then set aside or imagine a disruption of the MAD principle. Mutually Assured Destruction. A disruption of the MAD principle because people, by way of the crazy NEOCONs or because of pure greed, no longer act as a rational actor might act. It all becomes a crapshoot. Then try to guess what will happen next. The Globalists are playing dice with the lives of billions of people and perhaps humanity itself.

Most of the times I worked for the government, work from home wasn't a thing. They didn't even have an Internet until the 1990s. Anyway, when I was able to work from home, it wasn't for me. Too many distractions and I really did have to do some work. I finally just decided to go to work every day. I could drive to my office in 10 minutes and once I was there I could do whatever I wanted.

I could sit here all day and tel you stories about what goes on, but I'm not sure what the point would be. I would be called a conspiracy theorist be some, and the rest of the people wouldn't believe me.

Have you ever worked in a government office? Some agencies are better than others, but it really is true. You can probably walk into about any big government agency and fire half the people. The public would never notice the difference. Currently, they can't really do that so easily, so they'll have to figure out creative ways to do it. Eliminating entire agencies. Moving the agency headquarters to Guam. Ending work from home.

At this point, it certainly doesn't appear as though there will be any movement towards standing down on the missile launches, especially by France and the UK. The US is definitely involved as well, but their involvement may well have a political component - sabotaging Trump. So that's some hope. If Putin continues his patience, and if Trump makes it into office, then I can see a deal happening that would end the hostilities. I'm not sure the US wants to annihilate humanity just because of an Eastern European squabble over Russia's border and NATO membership for Ukraine. As for all the "pro-war fanboys"? The rank and file of that group have been well and truly brainwashed by years of Western propaganda. And they don't comprehend the results of a nuclear war. They think Russia and Putin are evil. And they're being told that Putin is "bluffing." Or, what's worse, the entire situation is not even part of what's reported as news.

So far, Putin seems to be showing a lot of restraint. Giving Ukraine and their Western masters every opportunity to come to their senses.

Top political appointments, maybe. The rest? It's a crap shoot. For sure, the deck has recently been stacked against white males and in favor of the DEI hires. I worked for the government on four or five occasions stretching back to 1979 or so. And fortunately for me, the people hiring me always figured out a way to skip all the nonsense and hire who they thought was the best qualified. Twice, I was sitting at home minding my own business and they called me up and asked me if I wanted a job, All I had to do was submit an application and the Human Resources people did the rest. I've seen them play games from the inside as well. A certain person wants a job? No problem. They post the job, knowing full well well who they are going to hire. A few weeks later, the person they want shows up, installed in her new office. And the hundreds of other epode who applied never had a chance. Maybe that's just business as usual. It pays to network.

My guess is that the decline has been influenced by a number of factors. Wars, the financial crisis, sanctions. So yes, the Ruble has declined vs. other currencies. As for the US dollar? The Fed playing games, along with other central banks. They bailed out Wall Street and the banks in 2008, and they've run up trillions of dollars of debt between then and now. And so far, the dollar has done OK on the global scale because of its reserve currency status. But that scam is almost over. The BRICS world wants to start using real money, and they have all the real wealth. Oil, gas, minerals, etc. Sooner or later, something will break in the Western world. As an American with US dollars, I hope it won't happen quite yet. Trillions of dollars change hands around the world on a continual basis. Any system challenging the US dollar will have to have the liquidity it provides. So maybe the party can continue for a while.

OK, over that period, the Ruble has decreased. Not as much as if you go back all the way to 2008, so, over time, things have deteriorated for the Ruble. In 2008, Russia had a war with Georgia and continues to occupy some of that territory, Then the world had a financial crisis that was papered over. Lots of factors came into play to weaken the Ruble. How has this decline affected the people inside Russia? Russia has oil and natural gas. Russia has minerals. Russia has food. It seems almost like a closed system.

They're currently doing a pretty good job of screwing up everything they can, right? Everything from the financial markets to the current geopolitical mess. Coupled with the spending cuts they seem intent on accomplishing, and the system very well could collapse. Some people seem to think the bond market simply won't allow for that, though. They will have no other option but to print money, so to speak. They won't be able to reduce the debt. It's going parabolic, regardless.

For years and years, Putin has been warning the world that Russia will not accept NATO missiles on Russia's border. And yet the US CIA has stirred up trouble in Ukraine almost from the beginning of Putin's first term in office, but for a brief period when there seemed to be the possibility of some friendship with the USA, The NEOCONs prevailed, and the rest is history. And look where we are. NATO missiles being fired into Russia. Play the blame game if you want, but that's a recipe for more trouble. The world does not exist inside the minds of delusional NEOCONs at the US State Department. In the real world, Russia's existential threat is, to them, very real and does matter.

You're using a rather short term spike in the dollar vs. Ruble in 2022 to suggest that the war has all but destroyed the Ruble. And yet if you look at a long term chart, you'll see the big picture isn't nearly so dramatic.

Somewhere on earth, there will probably be some survivors. And I agree, it really is insanity. Years and years of programming via the usual propaganda channels and many people fell for it. They really do believe their own nonsense. Or most of them probably do. At least one member of Congress currently has impeachment papers in the works, pending further inquiry into what, exactly. Biden authorized, We don't even know who is really running the US government right now, and yet the world is walking straight into WW III.

Of course the Western banking system could collapse. Hopefully, we're not there yet, but if things don't change radically, it's only a matter of time And yes, China isn't immune, which is a good thing, in terms of the Ukraine war. They're a member of BRICS and they're ostensibly aligned with Russia and North Korea, but they aren't stupid. Their core interest is to maintain the status quo. Continue to sell stuff to America and the rest of the world. Their manufacturing capacity is huge. They can supply the whole word with whatever. I just typed this on a keyboard made in China connected to a computer made in China. My stereo speakers are made in China. Etc. As far as who the Western nations are "broke" to? Theoretically, they can continue to pile on debt forever. "Modern Monetary Theory." Code words for money printing. It works well until it doesn't. FAFO, as they say.

He's not talking about Canada. He's talking about a territorial nation state on the US Border and assuming that state would act as Russia acted towards Ukraine. Absent the big picture.