Posts by analogbear5

Since Xiyev’s daughter went to Harvard, it's pretty obvious Americans are calling the shots in China.

Rifle: Bren

pilif12 said:Putin pushed Finland and Sweden straight into NATO, Switzerland finally spoke up, Ukrainians are more patriotic than ever, Moldova got its status, and Europe isn't buying gas or oil anymore. Putin's doing a great job.

Europe is still buying Russian oil—no real plans to cut it off entirely.

As for stopping gas imports? Nobody’s even thinking about that.

darkdriver said:Now the experts are gonna jump in and explain how easy it is to just bypass buying Russian raw materials.
Like, just grab a shovel, head out to your backyard, and dig up some titanium, nickel, or whatever else your heart desires!
Some genius actually tried to explain to me the other day that it's no big deal that there are only so many tankers and LNG ships on the planet, especially since Japan imports everything by sea.
In those kinds of minds, economics is just basic science.
So, for example, Japan could just stop importing a huge chunk of its raw materials by ship just to free up tonnage for someone else—which would totally screw over their own industry and their own citizens—and voilà, suddenly you've got tons of free shipping capacity.
It's as simple as pie, as they say.

Your imaginary "team" is honestly a joke.😁

Try coming up with someone who actually has a better argument.

Melissa Rivera5 said:I guess... well, they've got the resources right there, so why wouldn't they? Seems like a pretty obvious move.

European politicians are definitely cheaper than Chinese ones.

So why can Boeing manage without Russian titanium, while Airbus is stuck?

In the article:

“We’re heavily dependent on one specific supplier,” Mr. Fabro noted. “Changing the whole setup overnight just isn't easy.”

Europe—always living in the clouds, as usual.

A few things—mostly stuff made worse by the pandemic—have really messed with the supply and demand balance. Demand just keeps climbing because, let's face it, everyone needs chips for basically everything now. Meanwhile, supply has been lagging behind for a ton of reasons. Honestly, any dip in demand is a win at this point.

But look, the real goal should be some level of deglobalization—basically bringing chip manufacturing back to the US.

It’s a massive opportunity for America if we actually step up—launch a diplomatic blitz within the European Union, cook up a solid project, get the smartest minds on board, and use smart subsidies and tax breaks to pull a slice of that industry onto our shores.

Actually, hang on—that might be a bit much. 😁

Occam's razor, my friend. It's way simpler than those biblical tales you're spinning.

swiftjackal11 said:Back in July 2008, we saw crude hit a record high of $147 a barrel. Even then, gas was sitting at $9.75 and diesel was $3.25. Basically, oil was about 40 percent more expensive back then, yet fuel prices were actually 20 to 30 percent lower than they are now. What's the catch? Why is everything so pricey today?
And back then, there wasn't any conflict with Russia or Ukraine.

Then you've got 2020, when a ton of refineries across Europe shut down and just stayed closed—that's where the bottleneck started.

Not to mention that these refineries rely on gas to keep things running. It's all part of fractional distillation.

bluerider63 said:It’s always the individuals who pay the price, mostly the ones stuck at the bottom of the food chain, while the big powers eventually take the hit too.

"Flet victus, victor interiit"—is that how the saying goes?

bluerider63 said:Survival of the fittest 😁

That’s basically what geopolitics boils down to—doesn't matter which side you're on.

So what, the biggest power survives and everyone else just dies off?

Melissa Rivera5 said:I mean, Russia losing doesn't automatically mean a win for the Germans. And honestly, if they actually pulled it off, we wouldn't even be here to talk about it. They would've wiped us out too, since they view Slavs as subhuman anyway.

We aren't even Slavs—we're Iranian. Which basically makes us cleaner Aryans than any German.

Donna Harris11 said:Is it actually true that the dollar is pegged to gold now?

Nah, the dollar's tied to oil exports.

Melissa Rivera5 said:That would pretty much mean the instant death of NATO.

Everyone here keeps recycling the same old argument—that NATO is just a ghost organization—regardless of which side you're on.

GDP per capita based on PPP isn't actually that wild—those massive gaps usually only pop up in developing nations like Russia.

In more developed economies, say China, the difference is way less noticeable.

That bridge was a total cakewalk—easy pickings. If they’d had the chance, they would've leveled it while it was still actually useful.

Noah Diaz said:The SCO nations account for 30% of global GDP and house 40% of the world's population.

I’m laying this out to demonstrate how utterly pointless the sanctions against Russia are.

Of course China isn't going to sabotage itself; they are actually the sole winners in this conflict. Everyone is fully aware that if their red lines are crossed—specifically regarding Taiwan or the South China Sea—they won't give a second thought to European Union idiocy or American hegemony. Just as the Russians didn't hesitate when entering the war with Ukraine.

The European Union is a political dwarf. It holds zero real decision-making power on the global stage and exists entirely at the mercy of its suppliers, so long as those suppliers continue to profit off European fools.

You don't know the first thing about the SCO, other than the fact that it exists.

In its twenty-plus years of existence, how much actual economic integration has happened between member states? How many trade deals? They talked about free trade back in September 2003... and haven't touched it since.

Their real priority is fighting terrorism and maintaining stability in Central Asia. It's not about economics. None of these member states are willing to make the kind of concessions needed for real economic integration.

Attacking a NATO member isn't just a mistake—it’s a massive, calculated screw-up.

Nobody’s really talking about his recent speech in St. Petersburg. It didn't exactly set the world on fire.

Steven Kim35 said:If someone actually managed to hit the Golden Gate Bridge, then maybe Putin would finally have an excuse to claim he’s being attacked.

You weren't exactly around when Ukrainians were hitting Belgorod.