Sanctions on Russia

mellowsurfer14 said:You have to be truly slow not to see this...

Gas prices are skyrocketing, for crying out loud. Russian production in dozens of sectors has plummeted anywhere from 50 to 95 percent.

Besides, you really need to pull yourself together and get a grip.

boldbison40 said:In what specific sense? 😬

Dark clouds are gathering over Europe.

Carl Lee27 said:Between Russian stubbornness and that typical Swabian arrogance, they’re more than capable of causing real damage—and honestly, that seems to be exactly what they’re aiming for: Nord Stream 1 is down to just 20% as of Wednesday.
https://twitter.com/JavierBlas/statu...JyV9qySEA&s=19

And why wouldn't they? The Germans act shocked when the Russians hit back just as hard, while the Russians act surprised that Ukrainians think it's a bright idea to bomb Russian border towns while half of Ukraine is being leveled. 🤦 The world is being run by idiots. Ruin is inevitable.

placidnomad87 said:Are these sanctions actually hitting us harder than they are hitting Russia? It feels like everything has skyrocketed in price lately, and now we’re being told to pinch pennies on gas, cut back on electricity, and drive our cars less often. It honestly feels like these sanctions are being turned against us here in the US, aimed directly at our own people rather than the intended target.

Look, there isn't really any other way. Natural gas is expensive, sure, but have you considered what true freedom actually costs?🤔
Just imagine if we had taken the other path back in the day; we wouldn't be part of the Western alliance today, but instead stuck in some regional sphere of influence neighboring Europe.
Everything comes with a price tag.
Best,

Bryan Booth82 said:Look, there isn't really any other way. Natural gas is expensive, sure, but have you considered what true freedom actually costs?🤔
Just imagine if we had taken the other path back in the day; we wouldn't be part of the Western alliance today, but instead stuck in some regional sphere of influence neighboring Europe.
Everything comes with a price tag.
Best,

But then again, what kind of actual sanctions are we even talking about when it comes to Russia? It feels like the European Union is mostly just shooting itself in the foot here.

Is this what happens when a forum turns into a breeding ground for conspiracy theories?

It seems like these sanctions are actually hitting us harder than they ever could touch the Russians.

boldbison40 said:Gas prices are skyrocketing, for crying out loud. Russian production in dozens of sectors has plummeted anywhere from 50 to 95 percent.

Besides, you really need to pull yourself together and get a grip.

Come on, stick to football if you're going to be this dense.

Can't you see that everything, including fuel, just went straight up in smoke?
Wages haven't moved, and for heaven's sake, pensions haven't budged either; they're exactly where they used to be.
People living on minimum wage or tiny pensions already had to be magicians just to make ends meet back in the day; ask them how much harder it's become now.

To hell with these sanctions. 🤮

Bryan Booth82 said:Concessions? What kind of concessions?
They can certainly try to demand something, but let's be realistic: Germany isn't going to give up anything that actually matters, nor do they even have the capacity to do so.
At this point, all that's left for them to do is confirm what everyone in Germany already knows deep down: that these people have been unreliable partners in every sense of the word for ages.
The sooner the Germans accept that reality, the faster they'll navigate through this crisis.
Best regards,

- They're watering down the sanctions entirely.
- They're stalling on getting weapons over to the Ukrainians.
- Or they just stop the aid altogether—like how Germany is currently blocking that $9 billion tranche of European Union aid, supposedly because they don't want it to be tied to shared debt.

The $9 billion The EU Has agreed in aid to Ukraine is being Held up by Berlin, ostensibly because it doesn’t like the manner in which the money has been raised (from EU-wide borrowing), more credibly because it doesn’t want further to annoy the Kremlin.

- Or maybe it's just straight-up breaking the rules. You have to look at how the entire Russian industrial sector depends on machinery from Germany, especially when you get into the defense side of things. It makes you wonder what kind of backroom deals are happening to keep those old machines running, or how they're funneling new ones through Kazakhstan... I mean, companies like Siemens have been caught breaking sanctions before, specifically when dealing with Russia.

mellowsurfer14 said:Come on, stick to football if you're going to be this dense.

Can't you see that everything, including fuel, just went straight up in smoke?
Wages haven't moved, and for heaven's sake, pensions haven't budged either; they're exactly where they used to be.
People living on minimum wage or tiny pensions already had to be magicians just to make ends meet back in the day; ask them how much harder it's become now.

To hell with these sanctions. 🤮

Sloboda is priceless! We'll sacrifice our seniors for freedom—not even ours, but Ukraine's.🙂

boldbison40 said:If they decide to go all in on this particular card, the EU would just slap some sanctions on gas and call it a day.

The whole endgame here is to manufacture instability within the EU or, better yet, spark an internal shouting match over who exactly is violating the sanctions; it's a calculated attempt to paint the EU as a weakling that begs from a powerful Russia while simultaneously continuing to buy their gas because, let's be honest, the Russians are desperate for the cash.

I remember telling my buddy about how nobody was willing to budge after that second turbine broke down right after they "fixed" the first one.

Russia is playing this dirty, crooked game. It’s the same old trickery we saw when they suddenly "discovered" sulfates in Georgian wines just to squeeze Georgia, or when they started flagging pesticides in tomatoes from Azerbaijan or sour mandarins from our neck of the woods. They're nothing but street-level scammers and fraudsters—total hustlers acting like low-life thugs you'd run into in a shady part of Brooklyn.

Is this what’s happening with that famous turbine everyone in Europe is relying on? Gazprom: ‘Oh, another one broke! Better cut the supply even more!’

placidnomad87 said:But then again, what kind of actual sanctions are we even talking about when it comes to Russia? It feels like the European Union is mostly just shooting itself in the foot here.

Is this what happens when a forum turns into a breeding ground for conspiracy theories?

It seems like these sanctions are actually hitting us harder than they ever could touch the Russians.

What on earth do you mean, sanctions directed at us?🤔

Which specific sanctions are hurting us more than they are hurting Russia? 🤔
Best regards,

Bryan Booth82 said:What on earth do you mean, sanctions directed at us?🤔

Which specific sanctions are hurting us more than they are hurting Russia? 🤔
Best regards,

I’ve always maintained that sometimes the smartest move you can make is playing dumb. ☕

Joshua Myers432 said:Sloboda is priceless! We'll sacrifice our seniors for freedom—not even ours, but Ukraine's.🙂

Pure sarcasm 👍 unlike those people here who actually believe this nonsense is reality. 🤮

mellowsurfer14 said:Pure sarcasm 👍 unlike those people here who actually believe this nonsense is reality. 🤮

Oh, take it easy now. I wouldn't want you humanists and freedom-lovers to miss out on your annual ski trip; that would be a massive sacrifice. 😁

Realistically, intelligent people weigh the consequences before making a move. But since common sense hasn't resided in Europe for quite some time, this whole mess is just the inevitable result.

mellowsurfer14 said:Come on, stick to football if you're going to be this dense.

Can't you see that everything, including fuel, just went straight up in smoke?
Wages haven't moved, and for heaven's sake, pensions haven't budged either; they're exactly where they used to be.
People living on minimum wage or tiny pensions already had to be magicians just to make ends meet back in the day; ask them how much harder it's become now.

To hell with these sanctions. 🤮

It is a well-documented fact that an 8% inflation rate can cripple entire nations; what we are seeing is unprecedented. Furthermore, this surge actually started well before the conflict began, stemming more from the fallout of COVID-19 and those massive lockdowns in China than from any sanctions on Russian gas or oil, which haven't even been fully implemented yet. 😬

Joshua Myers432 said:Oh, take it easy now. I wouldn't want you humanists and freedom-lovers to miss out on your annual ski trip; that would be a massive sacrifice. 😁

Realistically, intelligent people weigh the consequences before making a move. But since common sense hasn't resided in Europe for quite some time, this whole mess is just the inevitable result.

And what consequences? Even without this Russian atrocity, you little bourgeois types would be seeing your cost of living skyrocket anyway.

Joshua Myers432 said:Oh, take it easy now. I wouldn't want you humanists and freedom-lovers to miss out on your annual ski trip; that would be a massive sacrifice. 😁

Realistically, intelligent people weigh the consequences before making a move. But since common sense hasn't resided in Europe for quite some time, this whole mess is just the inevitable result.

You basically just summarized everything in three lines.

Joshua Myers432 said:I’ve always maintained that sometimes the smartest move you can make is playing dumb. ☕

Honestly, I’m exhausted from hearing this same pathetic, repetitive sob story. It’s always the same cycle: first they’re "our people" in need of protection, then they’re innocent children, and now suddenly they're just a bunch of elderly folks supposedly starving and freezing to death in the streets. Isn't it always the same old script?🤦
Best regards,

placidnomad87 said:But then again, what kind of actual sanctions are we even talking about when it comes to Russia? It feels like the European Union is mostly just shooting itself in the foot here.

Is this what happens when a forum turns into a breeding ground for conspiracy theories?

It seems like these sanctions are actually hitting us harder than they ever could touch the Russians.

Look, the Russians don't have cars, trucks, planes, microchips, semiconductors, Western machinery, Western IT services, or even McDonald's anymore.
Long-term, they're screwed—but in the short term, Europe is just going to be paying through the nose for gas.

Nathan Thomas12 said:Look, the Russians don't have cars, trucks, planes, microchips, semiconductors, Western machinery, Western IT services, or even McDonald's anymore.
Long-term, they're screwed—but in the short term, Europe is just going to be paying through the nose for gas.

The European Union is screwed either way, just like always.
Europe is feeling it a bit less, though they’re still providing plenty of support to Ukraine. 😉
Best,

Sanctions hit us too—there’s no debating that. My late father used to joke with his buddies, who weren't exactly intellectuals, about how people act when they're desperate—basically, how you make do with whatever is at hand. Reading through these sanction updates feels a bit like trying to decipher a technical manual in a language I don't speak.
So... things are going to get messy, especially for those who think they're "untouchable."