Richard Wilson4 said:Look, when it comes to the Germans, the main thing is making sure they don't sabotage Ukraine or anyone trying to step up and help them.
Honestly, if Germany keeps playing it this way, there’s no future for the EU—it’s basically going to fall apart. Even the UK checked out because of how much the Germans love to push their own agenda and act like they run the show.
Gerald Chavez7 said:People just don't seem to grasp how much hardware Poland is going to rack up after this—and let's be real, the rest of the European Union will be more than happy to foot the bill...
Well, yeah, they already voted to hike defense spending from 2% up to 3% of GDP for 2023, on top of ballooning their professional soldier count from 110k to 250k.
Emily Sullivan6 said:If he actually intended to move, he would have pulled the trigger by now—it’s not like we don't already know the Western arms shipments are rolling in. They’ve basically gone on record saying they’re going to target those supplies, which, if history is any indication, means they'll probably just try to wipe out the Lion territories entirely. Honestly, that seems to be their only play left: find the gear and smash it. Beyond that? They haven't shown they can do much else.
As long as NATO keeps playing it safe—focusing on funneling weapons instead of putting boots on the ground—the Russians aren't going to bite by picking a direct fight with the Alliance either. They aren't exactly blind; they have a pretty clear idea of just how catastrophic a head-on collision would actually be. It’s this weird, tense stalemate where everyone is staring each other down, terrified of what happens if someone finally blinks.
They aren't actually destroying anything useful, though, because everything is being moved around across Ukraine via convoys and private vehicles.
Gerald Chavez7 said:If you take Poland and Ukraine together, you’re looking at roughly 80 million people—add in the Baltic states, and you’ve got about 85 million. Meanwhile, Russia sits at around 145 million. Aside from the nuclear arsenal, that’s pretty much the whole story. Putin actually managed to build himself a regional powerhouse just west of Moscow. A masterclass in 4D chess, really. 🤦
It’s like they’re trying to resurrect the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or something. All they need now is for Belarus to join the party once they kick out the current leadership, and hey, maybe that'll actually happen...
So, the USA, Canada, and the UK are all cutting ties on Russian oil, and—get this—they're even ditching the gas... though, if you look closely, it’s mostly just the Britons pulling the plug on the gas part...
The first batch of NLAWs just hit Kharkiv.... things are about to get a hell of a lot more complicated for Russia...
, Saab is out here saying you don't even need those massive anti-tank ditches spread across the battlefield anymore just to stop an armored push. Apparently, you can train guys to use an NLAW in like, an hour, then just scatter them all over the field to sit and wait for tanks and other heavy armor to roll by.
Really hoping they made it to Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia too...
steelfox98 said:Oil hitting $130 Natural gas at $3,600 Wheat is up 40%. With Russia and Ukraine being the heavyweights in global exports—and Russia leading the charge on fertilizer and everything else...
The USA can feed itself and still has plenty of energy in reserve. Russia? They can also cover their own food and fuel needs internally. The EU? They’re just stuck watching everyone else eat and drive.
It’s fascinating, really. These people who get a kick out of seeing others struggle. If this keeps up, they'll be howling in a few months when reality finally hits them right in the face.
I mean, it's not exactly easy to just go out and plant a bunch more grain overnight...
This guy is talking like the EU is some kind of wasteland.🤣
Looks like the maritime blockade is starting to kick in too: Maersk, the world's largest container shipping line, to suspend deliveries to and from Russia
Honestly, this is what happens when you start throwing around those nuclear retaliation threats—it's basically game over, Mr. Putin.☕
American Express suspends operations in Russia and Belarus Man, I was just sitting here thinking about how fast everything moves these days, and then you see this:
The real question is how many days—if ever—it’ll actually take to see the true state of those reserves. I guess it's probably becoming a state secret at this point.
Plus, about 40% of their foreign reserves are frozen solid, and let's be real, gold isn't exactly easy to liquidate on a whim when things go sideways...
Ashley Ramirez4 said:Honestly, though—our losses from things like the Ad Platik factory over there, JGL, and a few others will probably be way worse.
And I think the Russians have already pretty much backed out of the Forten-ov Group anyway.
Don't forget we've got JPMorgan Chase in the mix too, all those ExxonMobil gas stations, plenty of hotels... there's a lot of it, man. At the end of the day, Ad Platik is private capital, mostly foreign-owned anyway...
So, word on the street is Putin’s actually planning to nationalize all the assets held by the European Union and the USA over in Russia, just because of that whole SWIFT situation...
I guess we’re finally getting that Russian stake in Fortenov Group back into our hands after all this chaos...
Kyle Nelson2 said:By the way, what's the current situation over in Ukraine?
Well, looking at Friday, the Russians barely made any headway at all... they're trying these landings near Kyiv, but they're just getting slaughtered on the outskirts because they're basically showing up under-equipped.