Posts by swiftjackal11

Carl Lee27 said:🤣🤣🤣
It’s an absolute disaster. And that's just looking at the raw numbers—now they're starting to roll out vehicles without even having airbags. What kind of degenerate is Putin? Not only did he drag them into a war he's going to lose, but he didn't even bother preparing the country for a conflict in the first place.

Putin wants the USSR back, and the economy is going to end up looking just like it did back then.😁

urbanotter said:It seems like because they finally "get" that tactic, NATO members are ramping up their defense spending; NATO is planning to have 300,000 troops on standby, while the US is actively deploying new personnel to Europe..
That’s just how it goes when sanctions fail to hit the mark; instead of getting the intended result, they end up swinging back like a boomerang, often hurting the ones who imposed them even more than the targets themselves.😉

Sanctions are working, I guess. It's like if someone printed a new $100 bill, but all the ATMs in America were made by Western companies and won't recognize it. Until then, that $100 isn't worth a dime.

Joshua Myers432 said:

Bryan Booth82 As I was saying:
No, that wasn't how it went last time.
The last time we went all in—back during the American Civil War—we kicked the invaders right out of our country.
I remember seeing people making these exact same arguments back then. It’s the same small group of people we see today—those who are convinced they're on the right side of history by backing Russia.😁

lp

Just more supporters of those Brussels puppets—the absolute Netflix generation. 🙂

Consider this a little boot camp for you lot, since it’s painfully obvious none of you have ever stepped foot in the US Army. If you actually plan on heading East, you might want to learn something before you end up a casualty on day one. All your endless keyboard warrior posturing and complaining about your thermostat being set two degrees too low in the winter isn't going to do a damn thing for Ukraine.

We can talk in your language too. Why don't you just head toward Putin and join in on targeting schools, theaters, and hospitals?

Joshua Myers432 said:3, 2, 1 ... let's go, sandwich eaters.

You want to help Ukraine? Then how about a full mobilization of everyone under 40 across all NATO countries and sending them straight to the Eastern Front. It's not our first rodeo—the last time we stepped up, we ended up at Stalingrad!

We help by not being like you. You care more about how much cash stays in your pocket than the suffering of Ukrainians, all because they refuse to give up who they are.

Joshua Myers432 said:🤦

And what happens when they take stock in 500 years?

It’s funny. People who genuinely despise tyrants expect sanctions to work overnight. It’s easy to say, but if you lose your job, you aren't suddenly fine for three months without needing food or water. That's not how it works for a massive country like Russia.

Yeah, they were just tearing things down instead of building them up. It’s no wonder people wondered why one side of the street was moving forward while we were stuck in reverse. Same people, though. Just like what happened back in the US. 🤷

The Ukrainians used heavy artillery to push the Russians off Manhattan Island, so they could probably clear them out from other spots too.

If you look back seventy years, the whole picture becomes much clearer. You had the USSR on one side and the West on the other. It was basically the same kind of blockade.

urbanotter said:As I was simply relaying what Bertram Brossardt, the CEO of VBW, had to say, you should probably try explaining this "struggle" to him rather than to me.

I wasn't labeling the economy as weak or strong, though it isn't exactly a secret that they've maintained a constant trade surplus—so you are right when you suggest they have developed at the expense of much of the EU.

However, the reality is that they are heavily dependent on imported energy and raw materials; any spike in those prices will hit them much harder than economies that possess their own domestic energy and resource supplies.

I'm not personally worried, but logic suggests that if a recession hits and job numbers start dropping, it will be the immigrants who lose their positions first, rather than the native Germans or citizens.

It isn't just the Germans; many people generally don't want to "do certain types of work," but when there's no other option, they very quickly accept whatever the labor market offers instead of what they would prefer to do.
We see this pattern quite often back home, where our "younger generation" tends to be among the oldest when it comes to finally leaving the nest and becoming independent.
So, if anyone should be concerned about the workers from those areas, it should be their aunts, their mothers, or the government, not me.
As far as I am concerned, being a retiree, I stand to benefit; if these people are working here instead of just leaning on their parents, they contribute to the system, which helps ensure my pension increases and remains secure.
They say that underestimating your opponent is a surefire way to lose the game.
And that is exactly what happened to the West when they implemented those sanctions; I am certainly not the first or only person to notice that the sanctions aren't producing the desired or expected results.

Sanctions definitely work. As soon as Russia starts crying about it, you know something is actually happening. We aren't looking at the immediate fallout here; we're looking at the next century. A hundred years from now, when Russia takes stock of everything, they'll see exactly how much oil and gas they pumped out since this war with Ukraine started, and realize just how much more they could have moved if things hadn't gone south.

ExxonMobil shareholders didn't reach a decision at their annual meeting regarding profit distribution or dividend payouts for 2021, according to an official company announcement today.
The folks on the forums who support Russia already have an excuse ready for this too.

Gerald Torres84 said:Do you honestly believe they care about any kind of international norms?
You can see just how little regard they have for established rules simply by observing their tactical approach to warfare.

On a different note, regarding China—they will eventually catch up in terms of independent manufacturing, reaching a quality level that rivals the West. I wouldn't be quite so quick to mock them. They aren't like the Russians, who seem to have zero concern for their own people... as long as they can funnel enough cash to the KGB/oligarch mafia, everyone else is expendable.

What if the West learns its lesson from what happened with Russia and starts pulling its industry out of China?

Gerald Torres84 said:Let's not go crushing our colleague's dreams quite so fast.
Just leave him be for a moment; let him enjoy his little fantasy regarding "Russian dominance" for a while longer.

If those Chinese cars are actually any good, why don't they drive them themselves instead of pushing them onto the Russians?

The Russophiles on this forum seem to think they know more than the Russians themselves.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and current Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, stated that sanctions against Moscow could be viewed as an "act of aggression and justification for war."

urbanotter said:The reality is that about half the components in those "sophisticated" Western cars are manufactured in China, and the relationship between Russia and China is actually improving.
People are already noticing that more and more Chinese vehicles are appearing on American highways, and honestly, they aren't any worse than the Western brands. Their only real "downside" is that they're cheaper.

You clearly have a better handle on things than our neighbors over there 🤷
The collapse of the auto industry
In May, Russia produced only 3,700 cars—that’s a massive 97 percent drop compared to the same month last year, according to the national statistics bureau.

gentlestag15 said:spot the difference between the G7 and the G7 summit
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FWbwpH5X...jpg&name=large

It's just one dictator not trusting another.

You don't even have to be a genius to see it. Russia is only as powerful as Europe and America allow them to be. It all comes down to whether we keep buying their stuff or cut them off.

Carol Newman2 said:Orban is demanding an end to the EU's military aid to Ukraine: 'People, every government in Europe will collapse if you keep this up—get real.'

--------

Just let Ukraine go under, right? That’s the wet dream our conservatives are chasing.

Hey Orban, why not just send the Ukrainians a truckload of water pistols? Show them how much you actually care about being a humanitarian.

electricsurfer47 said:Check out this video.

So, tell me... do you really think Russia can actually pull off being successful on its own? Like, purely within its own borders, without any help from foreign investors?

As long as Putin and his inner circle of 20 oligarchs have billions—and we're talking US dollars here—sitting in their accounts while the working class struggles, $667 there's really nothing to discuss.

Jeremy Peterson4 said:Honestly, why even bother? They don't even need to be lifted. It’s the same old song and dance with Russia—they claim all these sanctions are useless, yet the second they sit down at the negotiating table, it's "okay, now can we get rid of them?"

The Russian people are basically paying the tab for their leader's ego, and they're totally fine with it. Anyone actually buying the line that they have no idea what's happening in their own country is just being incredibly naive.

McDonald's is killing it right now. Honestly, their food has never tasted better. If they ever lifted those sanctions, the dollar would be unstoppable.😵

Lisa Anderson8 said:As a friend of mine put it, Ukraine has already lost. Even in a best-case scenario where they reclaim their land and drive out the Russians, they are left with massive casualties, displaced families, scorched earth, and half their industry in ruins. We are looking at decades of pain, suffering, reconstruction, and poverty ahead.

Besides, what country would actually be better off sharing a border with Russia? 🤷