Posts by Grace Bennett6

These are nothing more than "sanctions" 🤣🤣

analogbear5 said:Russia is actually making bank off high oil prices—plus they're raking it in on grain by hiking prices to fill the gap left by the Ukrainian exports they've blocked.

It just ups the risk of famine, especially for the struggling folks in countries that relied on wheat from Ukraine. It’s perfect leverage for blackmail.

This is going to trigger the next massive wave of refugees heading into Europe—something the Russians always seem to enjoy. So, technically, they're winning this fight against the West.

Sure, but look at the importers from Africa—those are the ones actually needing that wheat. You can find the data on production, exports, and imports easily enough. We poured so much money into Ukraine to help them win that we'll likely see more wheat than we know what to do with. If anyone is truly in a bind over this specific supply issue, it might just be Turkey.

The Ruble should basically collapse under its own weight; production is already tanking:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/putin...040000848.html

velvetlynx4 said:I haven't really been following this war lately; honestly, I lost interest somewhere around the two-month mark.
Have those sanctions actually managed to shake Russia, or is it all just empty noise?

They have. It's hard for anyone here to truly grasp the impact unless they're seeing the economic reality firsthand—like having direct contacts on the ground. Sometimes economic analysis uses "terms" that mask what's actually happening, or you have to dig through different sources to crunch your own stats.

The same goes for me; scrolling through Russian news is useless right now. I don't care how much food is on their shelves. I know wages are being slashed, and all those "protesters" are probably out there sewing uniforms for free or doing odd jobs just to scrape by. The math is simple: they’re sprinting toward hyperinflation.🤣

Right now, Russia looks like one of the few places actually fighting off inflation. Honestly, once they were kicked out of Swift, the very value of their currency is going to shift into something else entirely.

We're talking about the Ruble moving from $0.008. There's no way people are getting rich here; if anything, they might just maintain a decent standard of living. Sanctions are essentially the foundation of "modern civilization"—this is what happens when weapons fall into the wrong hands. It's a massive choice: we either use our endless arsenal to blow up the world, or we use it to reset civilization.

War doesn't build prosperity..

I say we ban all Russians from living outside of Russia, outlaw the letter Z entirely, and scrap the Cyrillic alphabet too—it’s nothing more than some satanic script used by barbarian tribes to communicate.

Sam Alvarez4 said:And we’re moving!
Tomorrow morning, the European Union Parliament will vote on an embargo against imports from Russia—specifically targeting oil, coal, and nuclear fuels.

After some intense negotiations among all 27 member states, everyone expects the embargo to pass with a majority. If it does, it goes into effect immediately...

Ultimately, Parliament is expected to call for "a complete and immediate embargo on imports of Russian oil, coal, and nuclear fuels", while regarding gas, they say the ban should happen "as soon as possible."

The gas import embargo should also be coming fast!

Here's the interesting part: View on twitter
He woke up with yet another round of sanctions ready to go...

analogbear5 said:The bottom line of the article? Given how things look right now—with a peace treaty still feeling light years away—gold prices probably won't tank. Expect it to just bounce around somewhere between $1,900 and $2,000 an ounce.

Thanks. Haven't opened it yet, but did it drop way more than you guessed? 😛 It actually plummeted over 6% last night following that first default announcement. To save us from a math lesson on my logic, I was bracing for a 25% hit since that’s how much the ruble crashed after the sanctions. Maybe 25% is an exaggeration because gold isn't the only player in the game and anything can happen...

Here’s the new playbook: gold drops, the ruble drops, a new default hits, interest rates spike, the ruble recovers, everything gets reset—but gold holds its ground and climbs with inflation because we aren't on a gold standard anymore.

Nancy Gomez26 said:There is zero incentive for them to settle debts under these circumstances. They are already under sanctions, frozen out, and kicked off Swift. Repaying loans is likely the least of their concerns right now; frankly, the burden lies with the creditors, not the debtors. This situation merely adds pressure to the financial institutions that extended them credit—those banks are left wondering how to write off these losses. The only leverage one might have against the debtors is when they eventually require fresh financing, and that moment will inevitably arrive. Even if these old debts were somehow cleared, they would still face a higher risk profile, which translates to much steeper interest rates down the road.

You need an agreement to keep the borrowing going, and we aren't talking about small interest rates here. That could lead to both sides just writing off the interest; it's really not that complicated...

Too bad I can't open the article, but looking at the headline, gold is headed south, south... or maybe...
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/go...?siteid=yhoof2

Peter Sanders4 said:Where exactly does the money the EU pays Russia for gas end up, and can it be redirected elsewhere?

If Russia isn't actually receiving those funds, then the EU is essentially in breach of contract—they aren't paying for the resources they're consuming.

I suspect these sanctions will only serve to accelerate dedollarization, which I view as a highly positive development.

It lands right in an ExxonMobil account owned by the Nord Stream stakeholders—which, let's be real, means Russia owns it. Since 2014, it’s been simple: you pay the price, you get the gas. If they want to know where the money went, they should ask Russia.

They ought to ask if they're ready to pay back the EU and the USA the billions owed from April 4, 2022, or if they're just going to hide behind a default. 😉

Russia is essentially in "default" because they either lack the ability to pay back their debts or simply refuse to do it.

The next payment deadline hits on April 4th. If they don't service that debt, gold is going to be in serious trouble—we're looking at a sudden collapse in value even in the middle of an inflationary period. It would also blow the current stock market circulation out of the water compared to just two months ago. The whole logic falls apart, much like if the European Union suddenly started paying for gas in rubles or some other random currency.

The expansion of the gold market is being set up to handle more supply and facilitate trading its value. But here’s the thing: if Russia pivots toward aggressive, rapid mining and turns to the black market, they might clear their debts on time. However, that doesn't guarantee an economic recovery. They'll still be staring down a massive hole where 50% of their revenue from the European Union used to be. In that scenario, gold loses at least 25% of its value.

This image shows exactly how much Russian gas can be replaced by other sources: https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Wj...efdba80d4c729d

So, it’s doable. What they’re dealing with right now is just reduced capacity. They could pull 80% from alternative sources if they wanted to. They're doing this on purpose—it's only the start of the year.

The wheat everyone keeps obsessing over? It’s basically just being imported by Turkey—maybe a tiny bit from Luxembourg—since they were the ones who refused to pull the trigger on sanctions. 🙄

placidnomad87 said:The French were utterly defeated back in 1940. It honestly feels like their voice doesn't carry any weight anymore, unless they're deferring to the leadership of America or perhaps the UK.

The circumstances aren't the same. Even back then, people were saying similar things about France right before they collapsed. Military indoctrination and education are everything. Post-WW2 tactics? It’s like the West just adopted Nazi doctrines and kept them—why? Look at how Russia failed to set up logistics. All those months of training for the American People's Army, the Foreign Legion, cavalry, sword fighting—it was all for nothing.

When you strap on 75 pounds of armor, throw a 20-pound NLAW on your back, and carry a rifle worth two grand, you expect it to just work magically. Like you're some kind of Iron Man, and like you have an extra three thousand bucks falling out of your pocket every single month...

The Dollar won't survive a default 🍿

Gerald Chavez7 said:Beyond just raw materials, Russia is a major arms exporter—but that revenue stream is basically dead in the water.

1) The Russian military has taken—and will continue to take—massive losses; any scrap of production they manage to scrape together is going to be diverted straight to their own front lines.

2) Almost nobody on the global stage is looking to buy Russian weapons anymore (I’m talking about new contracts, not old backlogs)—their reputation has tanked. Even if you chalk some of it up to poor tactical execution, they honestly don't have anything left to "show off" in the international market.

3) Western sanctions are going to hit their technical manufacturing capabilities hard.

4) A lot of those "neutral" countries are going to be very careful not to piss off the West by picking up Russian hardware.

Effective result? We're looking at a return to 90s-style desperation—selling to whoever has spare cash, mostly rogue regimes with no other options, or maybe to China at bottom-dollar prices.

Besides China, they're also churning out and peddling their own weaponry...
Here's what they're focused on: https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...y-rome-meeting

My gut feeling? The West is going to pivot toward African nations. It's a grim outlook.

boldotter2 said:Nah. First, those frozen and seized assets will probably be used to cover the damage done to civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

The IMF basically said they’ll throw billions at just about anything. This isn't a situation Russia is ever getting out of, if they get out at all. It all hinges on China—if they don't keep buying stuff like Russian gas, the Russian economy loses its entire purpose. Then you're left wondering if Vladimir will decide to invade China just because they won't play ball.🙄

Theory and practice both point to this: 1. Any economic powerhouse eventually sees its inflation stabilize,
2. Even if China teamed up with Russia, they’d still be trailing by at least 10%. It makes sense for China to help, but they aren't going to fully swallow Russia whole. Chinese culture is built on rejecting those kinds of deals, though nobody wants to make enemies.

George Robinson43 said:Nono, before they can even sit at the negotiating table, they need to master basic sanitation in India. Only then can they truly engage in a conversation with their peers.

Be glad our population growth is slow (compared to the massive numbers coming out of India and China)... I mean, what am I supposed to do? Build a trillion-dollar sewage system for a billion and a half people every single day?

And for heaven's sake, don't shake hands in India...

Nihi said:The Georgian Civil War 1991-1993
War in Abkhazia 1991-1993
War in Transnistria 1992
South Ossetia conflict 1992
First Chechen War 1994-1995
Second Chechen War 1999-2009
Russo-Georgian War 2008
Russian-Ukrainian conflict 2014-
Syrian War 2015-
Central African Republic 2018-

Thank God Russia isn't at war...

And all that went down without any sanctions, except when they started crossing borders and stealing territory from Ukraine.

Keep trolling.

Where have you been...🤦 You forgot the big ones people love to use as "arguments":

Soviet-Afghan War 1979-1989 Ten years, lost to the Taliban. Then the Americans tried for 20 years, didn't work either...

Right after that:

Vietnam War

Gary Patel said:If the war wraps up anytime soon, how long do you guys think the sanctions will actually stick? Do you think they’ll vanish the second the invasion ends—or will they linger around for a while, longer or shorter?

Sanctions are staying put. There are a few ways this plays out: there’s no way they lift them unless Russia reaches some kind of diplomatic deal with Ukraine to peel certain restrictions away from others. The whole point was to trigger hyperinflation. At the end of the day, Russia might be forced to lean on China, which is a massive shift. These sanctions leave scars—it wouldn't be smart to just wipe the slate clean immediately.

Russia is huge, sure, but economically? They weren't even in the top 10 back in 2021 or 2020. Even when they were up there, it was mostly just gas, timber, Turkish wheat, stuff like that...

urbanotter said:I don't have much time, but

I am simply defending the right of Russia to defend itself against those who are grabbing it by the throat and trying to choke it—something the Americans and NATO have been doing since the collapse of the USSR.
As for wheat and our supposed "self-sufficiency," that won't change the fact that we might have enough, but certainly not at prices people can actually afford.
The entire Western system is built on profiteering; whoever pays the most gets what they need.
Do you honestly believe these prices are the result of a shortage or scarcity, or are they the result of market manipulation used to dictate "commodity prices"?
Just like they are doing with energy right now, that is exactly how they will handle food.
I don't have much more to argue; just walk down to a gas station or a grocery store and you'll see this profiteering system in action.

Ukraine is just a pawn that will end up paying the highest price in this game of the West encircling itself with the NATO alliance—an alliance that claims to be defensive but isn't afraid to strike if necessary.

The Americans defend their interests thousands of miles away from their own borders rather than at home, where their borders have long been secured and surrounded by their own satellites.

Have you ever actually read American history and seen the way they have expanded their influence globally? From the war with Spain over Cuba and Puerto Rico all the way to Afghanistan.
It’s funny how they never seem to use those empty platitudes about sovereignty or a nation's right to self-determination in those cases.

I don't know about him, but I do. Let's be real: times have changed. War isn't the goal anymore—especially not fighting through Europe or against Muslims in Europe just to grab some patch of dirt. It’s always been about moving borders a few yards here and there, leaving nothing but scars for future generations. As the population grows, we become more aware, even if everyone is just parroting the same talking points. Anyone who has actually studied Biden and Putin knew this was coming. No compromise has been found in six months. One side says one thing, the other says something else. Diplomacy between these ideologies is zero; historically, it's always been a win for either Russia or the USA. Before Russia won, they went through hell in WW2. Most of the weaponry Russia has was built for defense because someone else was pumping arms into them during the Cold War.

Russia is worried. They have territory, sure, but we have at least three or four times as much as they do. But go ahead, keep panicking. NATO doesn't guarantee Russia a single thing. In fact, NATO's new objective seems to be toppling dictatorships worldwide, which just leads straight to war. You can't claim all US actions in the Middle East are wrong; if living under a dictatorship or a feudal system was actually great, people wouldn't have been fleeing Afghanistan.

William Chase79 said:Powerball just dropped those sanctions and joined the rest of the betting sites—so no more Russian or Belarusian matches now
PSK, DraftKings, and Germania are clearly asleep at the wheel...

At least they didn't get hit by doping scandals this year 🤣, though knowing who owns them, they'll probably just shut it down to cover it up.