Posts by slyfox43

nimbletiger7 said:Captured Russian soldiers are saying preparations for the invasion actually began in the summer of 2021. Back then, inflation was pretty low, so it was extremely difficult to predict how things would move. However, there is one thing the Russian planners might have seen coming.

I think a more important factor is gas and using gas as a weapon. 2021 saw an incredibly long winter, and European gas storage hit empty levels. This is likely the year when the gas shortage peaks. Every following year, the European Union will become less dependent on Russian gas, especially since two massive LNG export terminals in Canada and Qatar are set to start operating in 2024 and 2025.

It isn't so much that the "storage emptied itself"; rather, ExxonMobil was essentially targeting deliveries from those reserves to drain them intentionally. Storage facilities not under ExxonMobil's direct control didn't see nearly the same level of depletion.

It should be obvious by now that the energy crisis in Europe was manufactured to stir up public panic and sway opinion toward staying out of the upcoming invasion. We've been seeing hints of this narrative on the Russia thread for about six months already.

I hear there’s some stock sitting around in Syria that isn't seeing any action lately... 🕺

Do you honestly believe the Federal Reserve would commission a report designed to forecast anything approaching a catastrophe?

Daniel Barnes53 said:Even US state TV is Pleading with Biden to stop The War
https://www.thedailybeast.com/even-r...er&via=desktop

State-run TV is actually calling on Biden to end the war. I guess things are slowly starting to wake up over there; maybe they're beginning to realize this isn't going to end well.

That last paragraph pretty much sums everything up. 🤣

Chinese smartphone shipments to Russia have plummeted amid the collapse of the ruble.

View on twitter

A Chinese company isn't about to give away its inventory for nothing.

Nancy Lopez7 said:That’s basically just standard Russian vodka if I recall correctly—classic stuff!

Check this out:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vodkas

The Russian standard is distilled in England and Stolichnay is from Latvia, isn't it?

EDIT: My mistake, that first one is actually Russian.

neonpuma30 said:I've heard Taiwan basically has a monopoly on certain chip production. I'm guessing they're also slapping sanctions on Russia? That should definitely make an impact!☕

The real question is, how much do these sanctions actually work if they can just buy everything through third parties that didn't sign on—like China, India, or Mexico...

It's the same story with North Korea.

Trust me, they'll be watching those orders like hawks, hunting for any anomalies and making sure to crack down on anyone trying to pull a fast one.

Milov’s obsession with the MIL-ov. 😁

Sure, the European Union shot her in the foot, but let's be honest—her foot was planted firmly on Putin's face to begin with.

Morgan Stanley is forecasting a Russian credit default this fall, and Fitch is already warning that a "default is imminent."

Yeah, the behavior is certainly confusing. brightheron64 makes a fair point. (Let him have his little moment of solace right now.)

On the other hand... the Russian Central Bank has banned the sale of foreign currencies until September. The ruble just isn't a convertible currency anymore.

It’s rarely the shiny weaponry that wins the day; rather, it’s the weight of sanctions that truly tests a hero's mettle.

The USA has been purchasing LNG.

brightheron64 said:Look, I don't even fully trust my own MVP, let alone anything coming out of Poland... 😉

So, you don't buy what MVP Poland put out today, yet somehow you take everything JUCER says as gospel.

It’s pure wishful thinking, much like Anthony Hill5 suggested. A messy situation, to say the least.

brightheron64 said:Aha.

Maybe if you actually read the whole article...

"At the same time, Poland requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities.

The US doesn't actually have anything quite that specific on hand—they have much better options, certainly, but I doubt the Americans will find any reason to complain about an upgrade.

Jeremy Turner9 said:It wasn't merely about trading; he was also accumulating massive debt. Up until 2008, there was still some breathing room for NGOs and various freedoms, but everything shifted once Obama invited Ukraine toward NATO. Following the strike in Ukraine in 2014, the crackdown began. As far as I can tell, the reality is that Putin isn't following the American playbook for regime change seen in the 90s; a country like that just doesn't exist in that mold...

Boris Yeltsin was actually even more chaotic; he failed to pay out pensions, while oligarchs were busy funneling all the wealth to the West, not to mention the war in Chechnya. We can't possibly know when Russia will truly be ready for democracy, though it certainly seemed to be on that path once. To the Americanophile: unlike in the USA, there is no death penalty in Russia, and Putin isn't carrying out the kind of systemic racial violence we see in certain parts of America... Therefore, what we are seeing is a specific group deliberately discriminating against people economically, socially, and in every conceivable way, effectively sending them to the electric chair without any evidence...

I suggest we stay focused on the core issue. Some intellectuals are already calling for Russia to be expelled from the Council of Europe, which would imply that the Russian government could then unilaterally reinstate the death penalty...

Listen to this.

They goaded the West into attacking Ukraine, turning places like Kharkiv into this, and now they’ll pressure them into adopting the death penalty—something they haven't used except against a handful of journalists and political dissidents.

Things were relatively quiet until 2008, aside from that one speech by Putin in Munich and the conflicts in Chechnya, Abkhazia, and Transnistria...

Revisionism is really just the hallmark of a mind clouded by propaganda.

Russia has never renounced its aggressive imperialist policies. Never.

Carl Lee27 said:From what I can gather, it doesn't look like Russia is going to pull the plug on everything they export, but rather just a specific set of products. They haven't actually dropped the official list yet, though.
It would be pretty wild if they suddenly decided to cut off all oil and gas exports to Europe right when prices are absolutely skyrocketing, wouldn't it? But then again, maybe they’re feeling so much pressure to protect their reputation right now that they're willing to do just about anything to save face.

For months now—maybe even a year—they’ve been avoiding the spot market for gas, leaving those ExxonMobil storage facilities across Europe sitting empty. This energy blackmail has actually lasted much longer than the invasion itself, though it hasn't quite achieved the leverage they were aiming for.

William Anderson5 said:Is there actually anyone left in Russia who understands how economics works?

You might have better luck checking their prison camps; I’m sure you’ll find an expert there.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to play the role of Putin’s loyal little lapdog in a free society.

https://twitter.com/marcobreso/statu...01298762485761

Salvini actually showed up at the border between Ukraine and Poland just to be laughed at like a total clown.

The entire gutter-tier half of the world that the CIA gnome cultivated is starting to unravel. Svarozic arrives with the light, while the rabid dogs scramble for cover under rotting timber—exactly where they belong.

silverotter72 said:The Russian economy is being dismantled in real-time. At one point, it was sitting at 162:


I mean, there just aren't enough cassette bombs, hypersonic precision missiles, tanks, or an army capable of inflicting this much damage on a country that's physically that massive.

It’s really nothing more than a scratch.

Now Putin is going to bite their legs right off.

Forget about Mastercard and Maui; now Nike is out the door too. At this rate, he won't even have anything left to wear.

slycobra5 said:Will Americans end up missing Russia—and everything else that flows out of there—more than Russians will miss us and our products?

One thing is for certain: Russians are reclaiming their spot as the primary villains in Hollywood movies, mostly while pushing Arabs aside...

What Russian products, for heaven's sake? 🤣 In America? Caviar, perhaps...

You really read some wild stuff on this forum...