Latest developments and discussion of recent events in the Ukraine War

[Mavideol]

A new slap in the face for Putin

 

A new slap in the face for Putin

[Mavideol]

nobody has the right to help Ukraine... anybody is welcomed to help Russia that's his modo 555

Putin breaks nuclear taboo

 

Putin breaks nuclear taboo

[Mavideol]

after North Koreans now he wants Yemenis.... sheer desperation

Putin's new mercenaries

 

Putin's new mercenaries

[Mavideol]

France will not bow to Putin

France will not bow to Putin

 

[Mavideol]

Ukrainian forces destroyed a rare Russian electronic warfare system

 

Ukrainian forces destroyed a rare Russian electronic warfare system

[Mavideol]

Putin starts recruiting Yemen mercenaries to fight in Ukraine

 

Putin starts recruiting Yemen mercenaries to fight in Ukraine

[Mavideol]

UK sanctions 30 ships in Russia's 'shadow fleet'

 

UK sanctions 30 ships in Russia's 'shadow fleet'

[Denim]

Russia's ruble drops to more than a 2-year low against the dollar on fresh sanctions and surging tensions

 

Russia's ruble continued to weaken against the dollar on Monday, trading at 104 against the greenback. The currency is now at its weakest level versus the dollar since March 2022, when Russia first began its invasion of Ukraine.

Investors were spooked after the US imposed fresh restrictions on Russia's Gazprombank on Thursday, which, up until last week, had been the last major Russian bank that hadn't yet been blacklisted by the US.

The new restrictions limit Gazprombank's ability to participate in global financial trade and also prevent the bank from handling transactions related to energy trade, meaning European customers are unable to pay for Russian gas.

The latest restrictions are adding to concern over Moscow's weakening economy, which has been battered by Western sanctions since the start of the Ukraine war. Russia's energy revenue fell by nearly a quarter last year, thanks partly to Western trade restrictions including a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil.

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russias-ruble-drops-more-2-000303626.html

 

Trending now on Russian social networks.  Festive cabbage soup recipes for Christmas dinner.

[rabas]

Wow. Ruble continues to drop  throughout the day, This was an hour ago. The rate of fall is unprecedented for a currency.

[rabas]

All factors in the Russian economy are worsening at an accelerating rate. Below is a summary. Remember, the head of the Russian state bank has repeatedly said in public that the broad economy cannot take the strain past 2024. 

 

Putin (and a few folks here) talk about Russia's GDP. That's meaningless because it comes from making bombs and weapons that blow up in Ukraine contributing zero (zip) to the economy. IOW, Putin is bragging about throwing money down the drain, as propagandist depots do. 

 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by rabas

[rabas]

Biden and the EU greatly upped the ante by allowing long range strikes into Russia. Now, word from the new administration: 

 

BREAKING: Counterterrorism Adviser nominee Sebastian Gorka, says that Trump plans to end the Ukraine war by threatening to flood Ukraine with military aid, making current U.S. support look like “peanuts”   This is called peace through strength. 

 

https://x.com/EYakoby/status/1861239932670312859

 

I will make a prediction: By or before Valentines day, the end of Putin's Russia and maybe Putin himself will be in sight. 

 

3, 2, 1, ...  "Do you want nuclear war?  WW3?  MAD?!" 

 

[Jingthing]

If Trump can manage to help end this to the satisfaction of Ukraine where they retain their full sovereignty on future EU NATO decisions and real security guarantees as opposed to just a temporary frozen conflict I would be happy to see Trump.win the Nobel peace prize. 

Edited 11 hours ago by Jingthing

[zmisha]

9 hours ago, rabas said:

3, 2, 1, ...  "Do you want nuclear war?  WW3?  MAD?!" 

 

Those who grumble about WW3 simply do not understand that the beauty of this war is that it is a proxy war. Therefore, the exchange of nuclear strikes is completely harmless. Just not for those countries that will be proxy countries.

Edited 2 hours ago by zmisha

[Lacessit]

On 5/19/2024 at 11:12 PM, beautifulthailand99 said:

 

This is what people don't get.....money is ultimately "made up".Physical resources are not. Russia has every resource it would ever need. While other countries still lack food and energy independence.

The only thing Russia wants from China is money and some sanctioned tech that the west helped China build at their expense .....on the other hand China needs energy/food/resources.

There is nothing Russia needs from the world, its the other way around the world needs Russia's resources and the more you push Russia into China's vassallage the more powerful their alliance becomes. Democratic,liberal values aren't a given of successfull empires, indeed at their zenith they may even be an agent their downfall.

 

Russia is being forced to cannibalize domestic aircraft to keep services going. It's not getting any parts or software upgrades from Boeing or Airbus. It has no capacity to build its own passenger aircraft, in an economy on a wartime footing.

 

Russia has ceased exporting refined oil products. It needs every drop for Ukraine and the domestic market.

 

The Russian education system collapsed in the mid-eighties. The scientists and engineers from that era are on the cusp of retirement. There has also been a brain drain of younger people escaping the draft.

 

Oil wells in the permafrost are freezing, the Western technicians and advanced equipment needed to keep them operational are gone.

 

In addition, the Russian demographic is declining at one of the fastest rates in the world.

 

You are dead wrong when you say there is nothing Russia needs from the world. It needs human capital, and technology. It currently buys washing machines and refrigerators from the West, for the computer chips to go into its military vehicles. It has zero capacity for making high-end chips of its own.

 

I am reminded of the early Cold War. Russia was buying about 30 optical emission spectrometers from Bausch and Lomb in America. It turned out the spectrometers were then cannibalized for the diffraction gratings, which went into missile guidance systems. History repeats itself.

 

I doubt the ordinary Russians watching their food costs inflating by 10%, or the purchasing power of 100 rubles decline to less than a single dollar, would agree money is "made up". The Chinese don't believe so, they will only pay Russia in yuan.