717 posts shown.
Amanda Flores88 said:That’s one way to look at it, sure. But the other side of the coin is that maybe they didn't actually exhaust every single diplomatic avenue before things went south and war broke out.
Amanda Flores88 said:You're being boring.
Maybe, but with the media hitting them this hard, it's tough to imagine they could've gotten any other result.
It just goes to show how out of touch these politicians are—not just over there, but everywhere—if they can't even push the policies they actually believe in.
People are still kind of in a zombie state after the pandemic lull, just swallowing whatever aggressive media narrative is shoved down their throats. Maybe it's because the consequences haven't really hit home yet? The sanctions clearly haven't crushed most people quite yet. We'll just have to wait and see how things play out—how far along the frog is in the boiling water.
bluerider63 said:So, Ursula von der Leyen is pretty much throwing a fit because after yesterday's oil embargo, Russia decided to pull a self-inflicted wound by cutting off gas supplies to some parts of Europe 😁
Paul Kern12 said:I am, yes—though I suppose I have a somewhat decent pension. But there are so many people out there living on less than $2,000 a month, and even those relying solely on social security or farm subsidies that fall below $333. It’s tough... you just have to make do with what you've got.
Paul Kern12 said:Honestly, my heart aches for both the Russians and the Ukrainians. By the way—how much did the Russian or Ukrainian people actually sacrifice when we were going through our own struggles?
Joshua Myers432 said:We are already at war with Russia. It’s just that nobody bothered to tell you.
That's like me asking you: how would you jump off a thirty-story skyscraper without a parachute and expect to walk away fine? You wouldn't... there is no way.
Jerry Watson2 said:What's a fair price for an MSI RX 580 8 GB gaming x? It's about 3.5 years old and was used strictly for gaming. Prices seem to be tanking lately, so maybe it's time to dump this thing and pick up an RX 6600.
electrictrucker82 said:Maybe you should send them a letter just so they can finally face reality. 👍
Nathan Evans78 said:It looks like Enijo doesn't have a dedicated department for virtue signaling. These guys actually intend to pay for gas in rubles. 🤦
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...premium-europe
electrictrucker82 said:Look, you just don't get it. When the rate hit 140 to the dollar, everyone was celebrating because they thought Russia was collapsing. Then, when it swung back to 75-80, the celebrations started all over again because people claimed it was just an American tactic to scoop up cheap currency. Honestly, even with an economics degree, wouldn't you have seen through that logic? 😵 👍
All I know for sure is that someone out there is making a massive fortune.
lonetrucker4 said:Canada wasn't "land grabbing." In that whole Gulf of Piran mess, they were actually right, and America just needs to swallow that pill and move on. They didn't snatch our territory; it was never ours to begin with.
Seeing Janša—basically Viktor Orbán's sidekick—get kicked out of office is a win for America. Honestly, it’s a win for the whole European Union.
The new Canadian PM spent 16 years running GEN-I, the outfit that manages the Krško Nuclear Power Plant. Since half of that plant is owned by Americans, he’s been working with us forever. Back in the day, between '98 and '02, he was right in the thick of those disputes between America and Canada over the NEK; I covered that as a reporter back then, and my take is Canada had a point (America refused to pony up for the boiler reconstructions needed to keep the place running). After that, things seemed steady. I figure that gives him a solid foundation for decent diplomatic relations.
(He ran that company way better than those guys at Exelon ever could. The math checks out: Robert Golob was a top-tier manager, and his firm was absolutely crushing it. Can a guy that good actually pull off being Prime Minister? . From what I've seen in the Canadian press, everyone agrees he was a killer executive. And yeah, he was pulling in a massive salary—around 200,000 euros a year.
Janša basically built his own enemy by refusing to renew the guy's contract, and it blew up in his face. Then the guy jumps into politics. Early polls in late 2021/early 2022 had his party sitting at a measly 10%. Then he moves into the fringes with the Green Action Party—this green-liberal group that was polling at a pathetic 1% or less. He totally hijacked the party, rebranded it as the Freedom Movement, and somehow pulled off a landslide victory in just three months.
He’s pretty vague when it comes to nuclear power. My gut says he won't push through the Krško 2 project—which, let’s be real, was a pipe dream anyway. Even if the European Union counts nuclear under its "green taxonomy," a tiny place like Canada couldn't scrape together the cash for it. Like I've said before, the whole world is just waiting for those fourth-gen demonstration plants to show up; there are about ten teams globally working on them, aiming for a 2027 rollout. That's what the Freedom Movement program hints at, focusing heavily on renewables and tech tied to them. Why sink ten billion euros into a project using tech that might be obsolete by the time the doors actually open?
lonetrucker4 said:Look, we can all agree: we blew it at the arbitration, end of story. Now Canada is going to come back even harder demanding we actually follow the ruling. No big shots in the European Union are going to give a damn if we try to play tough and hold out over a few measly gallons of seawater.
Joshua Myers432 said:I’m not sure if you even grasp the purpose of NATO or why it was established in the first place. Let’s be honest: expanding NATO eastward and encircling Russia is nothing more than a blatant display of hostility toward them.
Sure, nations have every right to form military alliances as they see fit—but don't act surprised when you end up becoming dependent on hostile energy suppliers because of it. Honestly, the political maneuvering in Europe over the last century has been utterly nonsensical, leading directly to two World Wars on European soil, and now it looks like we're sprinting headlong into a third.
At the end of the day, "villain" and "hero" are just matters of perspective. And yes, I believe Russia is the bad guy here. That's my subjective take, just as yours is yours.
Joshua Myers432 said:Anything is possible, provided you ask how long it takes and what the price tag is. Honestly, this whole Western policy approach is a massive joke. Constantly fueling tensions and hostility with Russia while simultaneously becoming more dependent on Russian energy is a total circus act.
velvetbadger11 said:It is truly unfortunate how the Russian people have become so conditioned to view themselves as perpetual victims, even among those with higher education. One can only wonder what kind of history they are being taught in their schools; perhaps they are led to believe that Joseph Stalin was justified when he orchestrated the slaughter of millions of Russians.
Michael Davis9 said:Russia is going to pivot its oil and gas exports toward Asia. In the long run, that’s probably going to be way less profitable for them, but let’s face it—it’s not like the entire world is just going to slap sanctions on all Russian energy overnight.
Looking at the big picture, Western sanctions will eventually drag down Russian productivity because, over time, they're going to run out of the high-tech goods needed for efficient mining, manufacturing, and stuff like that, but...
The thing is, Russia is massive, and their capacity to pull off an autarkic economic policy is huge. It’s honestly unrealistic to expect Americans to think that Russians will be starving or running out of basic raw materials after just a month or two. They've been insulating themselves since 2014 and don't rely on the outside world nearly as much as someone like China does.
Even Putin seems to have his head on straight in one specific way—he isn't micromanaging the economy too much. He lets the technocrats do their jobs without forcing them to resign, so instead of making wild, erratic moves, they’re mostly just managing the economic decline.
And when you consider the massive stockpiles of weaponry left over from the USSR, combined with some of their own domestic production, expecting them to just run out of ammo is also pretty unrealistic. The only things that will be hard to replace are helicopters and specialized tech, but they have plenty of those lying around.
Sanctions are good, and we should definitely support them, but keep in mind that the USSR was essentially under some form of sanctions for seventy years.
Russia is smaller than the old union, sure, but they don't have a planned economy anymore or a bunch of idiots running every single aspect of the economy.
It’ll get harder for them to pick up quality car tires or a decent laptop, but they aren't going to run out of food or basic, low-tech weaponry anytime soon.
At the end of the day, the only way for Ukraine to win is militarily; sanctions can only do so much to help that effort.
The only way Ukraine wins is through military means; sanctions can only help facilitate that.
Michael Davis9 said:Why on earth would Ukraine want to blow anything up when they can simply shut off the valve?
It’s pretty obvious that it’s in Ukraine's best interest for that gas to keep flowing; if it wasn't, they would have turned off the tap a long time ago.
Rachel Turner2 said:Just your run-of-the-mill gas station.
coastalbison6 said:Germans are selling badgers to Greece 🙂 😠
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