Posts by Amy Diaz222

Looking at these sanctions against Russia—which honestly seem pretty "hardcore" right now / and before anyone starts digging through the internet—this might just be the toughest set we've seen yet... 🤔

It’s high time we actually "take a beat" and look at the big picture here....

The biggest joke so far—and this is just my personal take—is how the US and the West are currently scurrying around with their tails between their legs to buy oil from Venezuela from some "self-proclaimed President Maduro"—

—even though, for the US and the West, the "real" President of Venezuela is Guaido... 😵

Or consider how the US and the West bow down to the Ayatollahs in Tehran and practically beg for forgiveness... 😵

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It seems like the EU has "learned" its lesson from back in 2014, when Biden publicly humiliated them by essentially saying the US "ordered and crushed" the EU into implementing sanctions against Russia...

Beyond just oil and gas, it looks like those unfortunate manufacturers might also run into trouble with palladium, which is apparently vital for the auto industry...

https://europe.autonews.com/automake...ukraine-crisis

'German automakers warn of more production losses from Ukraine crisis/

/ German auto industry warns of production losses due to the Ukraine crisis...

As it stands, Russia appears to be the largest producer of palladium in the world... 🤔

hollowdriver13 said:You're really out here calling someone else out for spinning things? 🤣🤣

It's gotta sting seeing how yesterday's big allies tossed Russia aside like a used napkin just so they could chase a quick profit.

**bold: well, damn...**

Just another ridiculous take... 😵

Carl Lee27 said:The Iranians are sitting right on top of one of the largest—and probably most valuable—resource reserves we've ever seen, and let's be real, these resources are slowly starting to run dry. They wasted forty whole years while the Arab nations were swimming in dollars, pounds, and Euros, and quite frankly, they don't have another forty years to waste.

So, what you're saying is the US and its allies are showing up with their tails between their legs, bowing and scraping before the Ayatollahs in Tehran—

—because even the "elites" need a little help sometimes... 😁

It is honestly staggering how short the memory is with American propagandists... 🤔

hollowdriver13 said:https://twitter.com/EmmettLesterSan/...Cj4ZbHt9EpAAAA

Just for our friend here, the Iranians were actually hanging Ukrainian flags during prayer services. It feels like the real motivation for wrapping up those nuclear negotiations and lifting sanctions might just be the sweet, sweet cash from selling oil to the "bad guys" in the West—honestly, that smells even more tempting than anything Putin is doing right now. Even Nicolás Maduro seems pretty open to selling his oil to this "rogue empire."
I mean, let's be real: Dollars and Euros are definitely a lot sweeter than Rubles, aren't they?

The bolding here is truly laughable—a transparent attempt at manipulation... 😵

Specifically, this part: '....Maduro is somewhat open to selling oil to this wicked empire...' is both a lie and a blatant attempt at spin.... 👎

In reality, Maduro has always been '...open...' to selling oil to the US—

—but the US/the West simply convinced themselves that the Venezuelan president was some sort of minor player, or rather, they acted like the person they claim is the "president of Venezuela" is actually the one in charge... 🤣

So, now the US/the West is coming with its "tail between its legs" to both President Maduro and the Persian Ayatollahs—

—begging for help.... 🙂

Here is a breakdown of the goods being "sanctioned"—or perhaps already under sanction—which will likely trigger some market volatility or outright chaos...

https://intellinews.com/index.php/ir...ptions-237457/

It looks like Russia has already decided to "strike back" with their own set of counter-sanctions...

'...As reported by IntelliNews, only hours after the USA announced a ban on oil imports from Russia, President of Russia Vladimir Putin struck back with counter-sanctions that will ban the export of Russian commodities until the end of 2022. The list of commodities and export destinations will be determined by the government by March 11....' /

Based on how this site is reading things—just a few hours after the USA banned Russian oil, Putin is "hitting back" with counter-sanctions and an export ban on various goods through the end of 2022... the final list should be ready in a couple of days...

The stakes are definitely rising... 🤔

At least now the USA or the West can just pick up oil from Venezuela—

—even if the guy running things there isn't exactly the president we'd choose... 👍

More on the sanctions and the trade standoff with Russia—specifically regarding those massive Western corporations...

It says here that the giant at Boeing is officially cutting ties with Russian titanium, while Airbus is still digging in their heels and sticking with the Russian supply...

https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/3...es-from-russia

Boeing stops purchase of titanium from Russia, Airbus continues to buy

I wonder how much longer it takes before an "enraged" America finally puts the squeeze on Airbus and orders them to stop buying titanium from Russia entirely... 😁

boldbison40 said:One thing is certain: doing business with Russia has become incredibly difficult due to the SWIFT restrictions and the boycott by shipping companies. On top of that, Russia isn't even paying in dollars or euros anymore, even if SWIFT were still fully operational. Furthermore, Western public opinion is absolutely livid toward Russia, and anyone staying put faces potential boycotts and a PR nightmare in the States. All things considered, the Russian market just isn't worth that much of a headache.

It’s easy enough to agree with the reasons provided (in the quoted post) for why companies—even massive ones dealing in everything from fashion and cosmetics to hamburgers—are ditching Russia

—and even those who have been manufacturing cars there for years... 🤔

But still...

The exit of giant oil corporations from Russia right at the moment when we're seeing what looks like a potential collapse—

—the motivations can't simply be "bad PR" or some "boycott"...

These companies are far too massive and powerful to give a damn about media cycles or bad press...

https://sozluklerim.com/most-oil-and...inst%20Ukraine.

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Maybe—or more likely—the Chinese will step in now to fill the vacuum left by these Western companies that walked away from Russia... 🙂

Especially in the fashion sector... 🤣

Here’s yet another Western media outlet obsessing over the energy crisis and the fallout from the sanctions against Russia...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/b...l-economy.html

Loss of Russian Oil Leaves a Void not Easily Filled, Straining market /

A "strained" market, a "void" that won't be easy to fill, and so on and so forth...

Actually, this looks like great news for Venezuela and Iran...

Now the US—or rather, the West, where those certain "Democrat" pundits still insist someone else is the "President of Venezuela"—

—will have to bow down and apologize to the actual President of Venezuela, Maduro, who at least hasn't been playing the "non-democratic" card quite as blatantly as they claim... 🤣

It seems similar bows, apologies, and pleas for forgiveness will soon be coming from the US and the rest of the West toward the Persian Ayatollahs.... 😁

If anyone had actually scripted this scenario, you'd think—

—give me a break, don't exaggerate... 😵

Michael Ortiz68 said:It’s highly probable they simply realized that in an increasingly impoverished Russia, they won't be hitting their revenue targets anyway. By exiting now, they get to preserve their "righteous" image while pivoting their business elsewhere.

bold: maybe this "...likely they've realized that in an imminenty impoverished Russia, they won't be seeing those sweet revenues anyway..." is some kind of 'justification' for why they might ditch things like burgers, coffee, cosmetics, or fashion ( 😁 ) -

- but when you see (and it seems the news is actually confirmed) that energy giants are walking away from multi-billion dollar investments in oil and gas, certain questions definitely start to surface... 😵

There were reports that one major Western oil company basically 'walked away' from—or abandoned—some $20 to $25 billion in investments and left Russia entirely....

(My apologies if this isn't perfectly precise; the exact details of how that $20+ billion is being 'abandoned' or whether they can ever return to Russia later are still unclear...)

Here it is: https://mmnews.tv/bp-quits-russia-in...aine-invasion/

BP quits Russia in $25 billion hit after Ukraine invasion/

/ Some massive energy conglomerate is 'leaving'/'quitting' / $25 billion....

Certainly / if Russia 'collapses' / if Russian energy becomes fair game for the taking -

- then these guys are already 'leaving'.... 🤔

Look, if you can force energy giants of this scale to abandon Russia, it surely isn't going to be a problem to tell tailors, makeup artists, or chefs to get lost... 🤣

Regarding these sanctions .... 🤔

It is truly fascinating to observe how—perhaps almost every single corporation from the "West"—

—is "withdrawing," "fleeing," "abandoning," ceasing operations, or relocating away from Russia.... 🤔

A massive amount of questions are being forced upon us here ....

For instance: are these corporations—many of them absolute giants—really "suffering" because of those Maidan-style "revolutionaries" in Ukraine, causing them to "capriciously" exit Russia and walk away from their business—

—or is this actually being ordered? 😁

If this is (as is likely) an order, then we have to ask who, how, why, where, and how much, among other things.... 🤔

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Up until now, "business" hasn't exactly been known for being "sentimental" or "sensitive" enough to "capriciously" abandon massive investments and established markets... 😁

Honestly, some of the forecasts being thrown around in this discussion thread--

- remind me far too much of those various "expert" predictions regarding the "imminent collapse" of Russia that we’ve seen right here on this forum before... 😁

And since those "expert" calls failed to materialize—

- one could reasonably assume that many of today's "expert" predictions about Russia's "impending downfall" might also fail to come true... 🤔

I recall some self-proclaimed "expert" user back when everyone was claiming Russia was going to "implode" in 2014--

- and it would certainly be interesting to hear his take now on exactly how many days, weeks, or months are left until total bankruptcy... 😁

In any case, it feels like the stakes have significantly increased this time around...

,,, for instance, the current "initiative" from the USA—or rather, the West—is perhaps understandable if you consider that their "prestige" (if there's anything left of it) has truly been tarnished following the failures in Syria, the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, domestic instability, and so on... 🤔

A perfect symbol of these "internal" American issues is seeing US police officers having to physically restrain certain "activists"—among whom there seem to be quite a few actual criminals.... 😵



The unfortunate European Union, acting essentially as a colony of the USA, is forced to follow its master in Washington, D.C.--

- and end up footing the bill for its benefactor.... 🙂

...the only hope for the hapless EU is that Russia collapses as quickly as possible, which might leave them with a few crumbs to pick up...

But it looks like that Russian collapse remains highly uncertain.... 🤔

And it seems (almost certain, actually) that the EU will once again be the one getting screwed over....

,,, because, it appears, EU politicians are already "preparing" their own little paradise within Europe for a period of "hardship," higher prices, and "solidarity" with the Ukrainian-Maidan-Nazi-"battalions" .... 😁

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"Catch the thief!" is usually shouted loudest by the thieves themselves.... 👍

Looking at these sanctions against Russia imposed by Washington—

—it’s a bit surreal, honestly. South Koreans are essentially proving just how much of a puppet state they really are... 🤦

The South Koreans are practically "flying to D.C." just to beg for some kind of "exception" regarding goods they export to Russia... 😵

https://pulsenews.co.kr/view.php?year=2022&no=195173

So, here is the situation: they helped implement the sanctions, but now that they realize it might actually hurt their own bottom line, they're crawling to the US to ask for "permission" to bypass them... 😵

casualtiger2 said:Right, I forgot you don't speak German (and even if you did, would you actually get the point?), so here’s the translation:
"The reason is the Crash on the Russian stock market (MOEX index -33 percent) along with the collapse of the Russian State currency Ruble (-25 percent against the USD). Consequently, the billionaires lost more money in a single day than they had gained throughout the entire year so far."

Grund dafür ist der Crash am russischen Aktienmarkt (MOEX Index -33 Prozent) sowie der Absturz der russischen Staatswährung Rubel (-25 Prozent gegenüber USD). Die Milliardäre haben somit an nur einem Tag mehr Geld verloren, als sie bis dato im bisherigen Jahresverlauf hinzugewinnen konnten.

Alright, now it's your turn—tell me about our "Western oligarchs" and the decaying West...

**bold and enlarged:** there is absolutely no way they would "reconcile" because—

—unlucky French pundits are just blathering away—pundits who now have to shell out $100 billion to the US Army for weaponry, plus many, many more billions for "refined gas"... 😁

Regarding this supposed "crash" on the Russian exchange (calling it the "Russian exchange" sounds ridiculous—stock markets don't have a "nationality"😵)—

—perhaps we should dial back the hysteria a bit.... 🤔

I mean, it is well known how back in 2014, following the sanctions, all those "experts" were predicting exactly how many days or weeks it would take for Russia to go bankrupt.... 😵

And yet, quite the opposite happened after 2014.... 🤔

So, one really ought to wait a little longer—

—instead of quoting the predictions of miserable French commentators, whom Washington toys with even more than they toy with those clueless Ukrainians.... 👍

casualtiger2 said:300 Billionaires: The price tag of the invasion for the Russian super-rich
According to Forbes, Russian oligarchs have watched $126 billion vanish since February 16, 2022.
Maybe they should run the numbers themselves—might find a cheaper alternative to this mess.

bold: 👍

So, this specific "...$126 billion..." figure—not $125 or $130, but precisely $126.0342681 billion snatched from the oligarchic filth in Russia—🙂 /

—is being used as a metric for what... 😵

Basically, if these crooked—yet somehow "Western"—oligarchs managed to swipe a few billion from the thieving Russian oligarchs

—then I guess that counts as "satisfaction." 😵 🤣

Gerald Chavez7 said:This coffee is excellent... though calling $500 billion "not much" is a stretch, especially since you're counting investments that have already been recouped.

Take BP, for example—they just ate a $25 billion loss from their exit in Russia.

Their stock price tumbled down to... checks notes... levels we haven't seen since early January 2022.

And meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase went belly up.

Bold claims: 👍 similar to 'Avatar' / I was watching that great film 'The Big Lebowski' where 'The Dude' just doesn't give a damn about any of it—it’s all just slacking off and drugs... 🙂

Moving on—is '$500 billion' perhaps a fair price tag for Ukraine?.... 🤔

Basically—the US / the West 'seizes' Russian funds held in Western banks—

—and Russia 'gets' Ukraine.... 😵

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(Personal impression, obviously) my gut feeling is that this works out well for the US / the West—

—and poorly for Russia (in the short term 🤔) because they'll be forced to dump massive amounts of cash into Ukraine.... 🤔

George Robinson43 said:So, does this mean no internet access for Russian or Belarusian domains?

👍 🤣

Maybe they'll pull the plug on the old 'Soviet Union' domain—the .su extension—too. I think I read somewhere that the .su top-level domain is actually still technically "active"....

Given all this talk about sanctions—or rather, the constant whining about potential sanctions versus actual, tangible ones...

--- if someone could be so kind as to provide a more "expert" explanation here... 👍

Basically, this Russian site claims that Volvo is pulling out of Russia—leaving production behind there... https://www.rt.com/business/550862-v...uction-russia/

The statements are incredibly ambiguous, for instance: "...Spokesman Klaas Eliasson told Swedish state broadcaster SVT that The company does not “ have conditions for work in Russia, taking into account the imposed sanctions.” He noted that “there is no boycott of Russia as a nation.”..." /

/ This guy named Spokesman Klaas seems to be playing games—claiming they "don't have the conditions to work in Russia due to sanctions," yet simultaneously insisting they aren't actually boycotting the country... 🙂

There were also news reports about major global energy giants "exiting" Russia, but it’s never clear what those exits actually look like—are they just sitting tight until things blow over, or are they truly leaving? Are they expecting some sort of massive payout or compensation for walking away? It's all very vague... 🤔

It looks like oil has hit $100 again today, and I assume natural gas has spiked by about 30% as well, and so on.

( According to a "well-known" Western outlet—Reuters ) this news isn't nearly as much of a joke as that ridiculous proposal from some French minister suggesting we should "ban Putin from shopping" in Paris.... 😵

I mean, the report claiming that some French James Bond was "evacuated" (with help from "special agents" 👍 ) from Ukraine and made it safely to Poland .... 🤣

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...ne-2022-02-25/

Despite all these massive sanctions being thrown at Russia, there is actually one—

- bit of positive news.... 👍

I was reading online that Russia has been 'sanctioned' over their 'Eurovision song'... 👍 🤣

Christian Myers said:The Canadians have—not sure about the rest.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...ry-2022-02-22/

The Canadian military is already at the border...

It honestly looks like Viktor Orbán is operating on a completely different level than the rest of those "ministers" and "political leaders" in the EU... 👍

Orbán has managed to secure cheap gas from Russia for his country for the next 14 years—

—and he’s also cut a deal (maybe he even played them 😁) to have Rosatom build him a nuclear plant using Russian money. 👍