Posts by electricsurfer47

Anthony Hill5 said:Is this not the ultimate proof that sanctions only serve to strengthen Russia?

Look, I don't want to be the guy who kills your hope about Russia collapsing or whatever. But honestly? Ford has always struggled with reliability issues—take this, for example, back about nine years ago when they were trying to push certain models too.

John Ramos45 said:From every conceivable angle, it seems Russia is just steadily sliding further into decline with each passing day.

And yet, here we are again, seeing Russia holding its own during this phase where the West has been trying to help them out.
It’s basically just because nobody wants to put in the actual effort required to get rid of that narcissistic jerk in the White House.

https://www.trtrussian.com/mnenie/ka...oLl0Qj7ZiclJ74

Nicole James said:My take? I think they’ll probably lean toward "voluntary" contributions through war bonds instead.

Yeah, that's pretty likely. But when they say "voluntary" in Russia, it basically means if you don't chip in, you'll be first in line for the front lines.

John Ramos45 said:The Ruble is performing quite impressively right now.

https://i.ibb.co/SBkb9Sy/rubel.jpg

I don't know... I feel like the ruble is basically dead as a currency at this point. But honestly, maybe the Russians can just trade using something else that won't tank on them—like gold? I think they're still accepting that kind of stuff from other countries.

Russian economist Vladimir Milov says: "Putin's imperialism and geopolitical adventurism is going to cost us dearly"

https://www.nytimes.com/world/vladimir-milov...

If NATO wasn't around, we'd probably see way more wars breaking out across Europe. And honestly? Without America, Europe wouldn't stand much of a chance at defending itself since they've pretty much let their military capabilities slide. If it weren't for the US, I doubt they'd even be hitting that 2% GDP spending target.

Anyway, if you're wondering what NATO actually is, check out this interesting video

analogbear5 said:Gold wouldn't replace the ruble—paper would. We'd just end up with notes saying "promising gold payouts."

The people who already hold the gold would basically become a new upper class, just printing more paper that says "promising gold payouts plus interest" and making the little guy sign for it.

And obviously, the amount of gold promised on all those papers would be way higher than the actual physical gold sitting in the vaults.

Some people were saying gold would be stored as little gold leaves inside plastic sleeves. I mean, that stuff exists, but it doesn't work as a currency.

Bryan Booth82 said:Now you start to see the sheer brilliance of Western sanctions; they’ve effectively backed Russia into a corner where they are forced to slash the prices of the very resources they rely on to survive.

Because their top-tier customers in the West have drastically cut back on purchases, Russia is being forced to dump its resources at rock-bottom prices. This creates a massive hole in their budget, which causes them to sink even deeper, forcing them to liquidate whatever precious reserves they have left just to stay afloat.

If you ask me, we are going to be witnesses to a total systemic collapse over the next few months—both economically and militarily.
Best regards,

What do you guys think would happen if Russia ditched the ruble entirely and started using gold as their main currency? Just thinking hypothetically here... would gold end up being more stable than the ruble? Probably, right?

People have been talking about gold becoming the go-to currency for ages, which is probably why so many countries are hoarding it in their reserves.

Carl Lee27 said:Word on the street is that Russian banks are looking into alternatives for Apple Pay and Google Pay, and get this—they’re talking about little chips you can just stick right onto your phone.
https://meduza-io.translate.goog/new...en&_x_tr_hl=hr

I really hope that adhesive holds up better than my last DIY project, though honestly, I might just grab some duct tape and give it a shot myself, just to be safe.

It’s basically just contactless payment like you get with a card, except you take the chip out and put it inside a sticker.

I wanted to kick off a different kind of conversation here. It’s not really about the sanctions, but more about the war itself.

I was digging through some data and found these population numbers from 2021.
In Russia, there are about 146.9 million people. Out of that, you've got 68.1 million men (about 46%) and 78.8 million women (54%).

I also read somewhere else that before the mobilization even started, roughly 6 million people had already fled the country—and most of them were men.

The stats I'm seeing suggest that around 110,000 have been killed.

--------
If this war drags on for another full year, how many men do you think will actually be left in Russia?

George Robinson43 said:I vividly remember when those RT/Sputnik bots were flooding online forums, claiming how much the Mount Elbrus chips would dominate the market. 🙏 🙏
As it turns out, they can't even manage to build them.

Look, that’s an ARM processor. It isn't even fully Russian; they have to pay licensing fees because they're using parts of the ARM architecture.
It’s never going to shake up the market because it doesn't offer anything unique compared to the competition, and they aren't making enough profit to actually invest back into their own manufacturing.
Maybe if they took all that cash from ExxonMobil and put it into production instead, things would be different, but clearly, they just didn't want to take the risk.

Just a little thought on processors—stuff even the Russians can't actually manufacture, despite how much they claim they designed them themselves.

Timothy Nelson5 said:The thing is, the Saudis were being pretty calculating here. They didn't bump up production, and instead, they signaled they’d try to keep prices from spiraling out of control.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/...de-oil-prices/

Looking at this graph, it seems like they were just looking out for themselves. They kept production intentionally low enough to create market uncertainty, which basically lets speculators drive prices through the roof.

If they had actually stepped up and said they'd maximize production to stabilize things, we probably wouldn't be seeing this kind of volatility at all. I guess.

That announcement about cutting back comes because people were talking about a recession, orders dropping from China, and wanting to stop a price collapse.
November 10.45 million

The reason behind it is that the USA increased their own production:
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-...20expectations.

And everyone else was doing as much as they possibly could, too.
It feels especially wrong when you see various European Union politicians and Putin-like mercenaries blaming the USA instead of Saudi Arabia.

Joe Biden asked for 12 million a day, but he was told it wasn't necessary—meaning prices would drop, so the Arabs were right.

Maybe senile Biden is the main culprit for this whole mess, including the war in Ukraine. It’s him and his clueless cronies, their Green New Deal, and the veto on the Keystone pipeline and fracking on federal land.
If a nationalist like Donald Trump had stayed in office, US fracking might have climbed to 16-17 MBBL/d—at least according to projections—and maybe Vladimir Putin wouldn't have had the nerve to gamble on a war under those circumstances.

I’m almost certain prices would be under $60 if Americans weren't filling up the reserves.

But what would be so bad about that? I mean, really.

The fact that energy prices went crazy during the first six months is exactly what allowed Russia to fund the war in Ukraine.
If the world had been more united, and if everyone who could have increased production had done so to steady the market, prices wouldn't have spiked. If that happened, the sanctions against Russia and the limits on their oil and gas prices would have been even more intense.
Russia would have run out of war money much sooner, and maybe we'd already be negotiating a lasting peace.
With 100,000 fewer dead.

And yeah—anyone can reasonably argue that it's perfectly fine for Saudi Arabia to look out for its own interests.
That’s exactly right.
But honestly, when that Iranian terrorist regime eventually goes after those Saudi refineries or tankers, they shouldn't be looking to Uncle Sam or the West to come running to defend a feudal monarchy.

Maybe some new president—someone other than this senile Biden—could just tell the Saudis, "Look, back when we actually needed you to cooperate and help us out, you basically screwed us over just to stack your own cash."
"Because of that, we had to dump hundreds of billions in military aid into Ukraine, and frankly, we don't have the desire or the capacity to keep propping you guys up anymore."
"Since you made your money, you can go ahead and buy your own high-end, battle-tested American hardware—the kind that’s already proven its worth in the war in Ukraine."

☕

The US is still going to step in and help, though. If they don't, they risk losing an ally that—even if they are unreliable—is still pretty much indispensable.
Otherwise, the Saudi people would probably just turn toward the Russians.

I honestly think the US and Europe need to find a whole new way to handle energy so we aren't stuck relying on Saudi Arabia.
It might sound like a pipe dream, but electric cars feel like the future if we ever want to stop being dependent on foreign energy sources.
I was reading recently that some car manufacturers are starting to bundle magnesium batteries with their vehicles because they're safer... now the big question is, will they actually be cheaper to make and easier to get a hold of?

Why aren't they fueling up Russia? 70% of Russia doesn't even have gas... they should be providing cheap fuel to their own country instead.

Nancy Gomez26 said:Regarding egg prices—it comes down to feed. Chickens eat corn and soy, both of which have surged by nearly 100% over the last few years. Grain costs began their climb long before the conflict in Ukraine, though the war certainly acted as an accelerant later on. What strikes me as odd is how egg prices remained stagnant on grocery shelves for so long. It suggests producers were likely tethered to outdated contracts with big-box retailers—who, predictably, enjoyed the margins while the farmers took the hit. Now, we’re all just feeling the delayed impact of those squeeze tactics.

I’d argue it’s more about stockpiles than contracts. If they knew prices were spiking, they would've raised them, but the retailer isn't the one hurting most here—it's the producer. A big retailer can sit on a massive inventory and hike prices whenever they feel like it without asking the farmer for permission. My uncle grows blueberries, and he tells me he can't even get a foot in the door with the giant supermarket chains because they buy in bulk at rock-bottom prices. Some producers end up slashing their own rates just out of desperation because they have nowhere else to sell.

Honestly, I don't think Aleksandar Vučić is actually planning anything with those Rafale jets. It felt like nothing more than media hype just to make them look important, especially since I'm personally eyeing some Rafale models for myself. When the time actually comes, as long as Vučić is still calling the shots, they’ll probably just go with Russian aircraft because he's way too cozy with Moscow.
If you recall, he even said Kherson would be the next Stalingrad, which basically means he views the Russians as the victims and the Ukrainians as the aggressors.

George Robinson43 said:Who in their right mind would purchase equipment that either explodes mid-flight or falls straight out of the sky?
In fact, I suspect Western manufacturers will simply ramp up production of older models that were already slated for retirement, provided they can secure enough orders.

Just look at what the Armenian military bought recently—it's mostly just for show, trying to flex their hardware.
So once the war is over, there'll probably be plenty of buyers looking for Russian weapons, provided the price tag isn't too crazy.

gentlestag15 said:It’s pretty wild how gas prices today are basically sitting right where they were before the invasion started.
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/eu-natural-gas

Oil is actually trading a bit lower than it was pre-invasion, too.
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/crude-oil

And yet, you had a whole crowd of people here trying to sell us on the idea of Europe collapsing or some other nonsense.😁

So, I was reading an article from the morning news earlier saying Germany is running into trouble because they're short on AdBlue—which uses urea, and you need gas to make urea. Apparently, some company making the stuff shut down because they couldn't deal with the high costs? Is that actually true???

If there's enough gas available and the price is back to where it used to be, there shouldn't be any issues.

casualtiger2 said:This keeps getting better. Now they’re just bickering and calling each other cowards for dodging the front lines. 🙂

"one million to be drafted.
There should be enough pedophiles and perverts in our country to fit this massive number and feed the meat grinder ...
I don`t want to to become cannon fodder. Send The useless ones like All The lousy street musicians and art students ! "

Is that video on YouTube?