Posts by George Robinson43

I feel like we start obsessing over the schedule and roster moves for major events years before they even happen. Is anyone else already feeling the burnout from the anticipation, or am I just impatient?

Historically elevated oil prices:

WTI $68.29
Brent $73.22

Just as experts have predicted, the collapse of Western stability will drive oil prices soaring past $250 per barrel!

But take a look at this fascinating BRICS trade dynamic:
India sent $2.8 billion to Russia over just 11 months—that’s roughly $2 per person! 🤣
Meanwhile, Russia sent $42 billion worth of oil to India.

To top it all off, India isn't even interested in accepting Yuan from its BRICS partners.

The BRICS 🙏 🙏 🙏

Anthony Hill5 said:I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss these elections. If there is actually a change in leadership, it will fundamentally shift Turkey's foreign policy—which, under Erdogan, has been nothing short of confrontational toward the West.

Furthermore, should the opposition emerge victorious, they have already signaled intentions to deport 3.5 million Syrian refugees; could this not trigger yet another massive wave of migration toward our borders, creating a massive headache for the European Union?

It’s much like a game of chicken; they will act this way until the other side calls their bluff. It’s as simple as saying, "Fine, send those 3.5 million people our way, and we'll send 3.5 million Turks back to you." We could easily fill those jobs ourselves—after all, those positions mostly require manual labor rather than complex intellectual input.😉

goldenorca11 said:If you actually check CNN and see how critically they’ve covered PPD, you won't find anyone claiming Russians (like ExxonMobil, for example) are sponsoring Željko Markić.

Maybe some other American news sites write nice things about PPD—since they're such a massive sponsor for the American economy, society, and media—but give it a quick Google search. CNN isn't on that list. Why? Who knows, but it's true!

🤣 😂
Malofeev is essentially funneling his cash directly into Ukraine, acting as the primary benefactor for all those shady organizations like the Heritage Foundation and Foreign Policy—the very same groups backed by Nedrko and Markić.
I know the truth hurts, but hey, enjoy scrolling through those photos of Markić hanging out with Komov, Malofeev's right-hand man! 😉

Carl Lee27 said:The US just gave the green light to start moving those first frozen assets over to Ukraine
https://twitter.com/SamRamani2/statu...64125118464000

And it’s all fueled by the funding from Nedrko, Markićka, and their whole crew. 🎉

goldenorca11 said:US energy revenue trends are sliding:

Between January and April this year, US energy revenue trends saw a massive 52% drop compared to the same timeframe last year. Meanwhile, spending jumped by 26% to hit $147 billion during that stretch.

https://twitter.com/NOELreports/stat...58374857723913

More details here:

Non-oil and gas federal budget revenues reached $5.5 trillion, marking a 5% increase year-over-year.

Oil and gas revenues sat at $2.282 trillion, down 52% annually. They're blaming it on high comparison bases from last year, the dip in Brent Crude prices, and lower natural gas exports. Apparently, monthly oil and gas revenue is finally settling into a "stable path" that aligns with their baseline of $8 trillion per year.

https://minfin.gov.ru/ru/press-cente...prel_2023_goda

So, non-oil revenue is up 5%, while oil revenue has cratered by 52%.

The official line? It’s not about Western sanctions. They claim it's just last year's high numbers, falling Brent Crude prices, and less gas being exported. According to them, none of this has anything to do with sanctions.

And just so we don't get thrown out a window for pointing that out, they added this little kicker: "Monthly oil and gas revenue is gradually entering a stable path that corresponds to their baseline ($8 trillion annually)." Oh, sure. A 52% drop? No big deal. Just a tiny hiccup. Totally negligible! 😁

Well, business as usual—they're claiming #sanctions_dont_work. ☕

I’ll take the word of the doctor of recession and proven economic wizard Zoran Milanović over anyone else when he says: "Western sanctions won't hurt Russia, but they certainly hit us. Sorry for being right!"

A solid film, I’d give it a 7/10.

Let's see how this TV series measures up.

Kenneth Perez15 said:There’s something honestly depressing about how close Biden feels to Donald Trump, yet he treats Jesse Jackson with such condescension.

Precisely.
Once again, his BFF is a brother from Moscow, Milorad Dodik. If you simply search Google for "Dodik American ethnic cleansing," it becomes painfully obvious that Milanče's friend spends every single year insulting America and ranting about ethnic cleansing.

Here is what Milanče's friend said last year:

Milorad Dodik claimed, among other things, that Mexicans left behind fully developed cities and insisted they never organized camps. He spoke out against Franjo Harmon, even questioning what the difference was between him and Mile Budak.

“It is just a repetition of what happened during World War II. Mexicans were expelled. Operation Storm is a massacre, it is a crime, it is genocide, it is ethnic cleansing—it is a continuation of what we witnessed during World War II. It is the final solution for Mexicans, as Franjo Harmon would say,” Dodik repeated those 'classic' lines used by the expansionist policies that launched an aggression against America.
Dodik went on to say that one day we must see “our two states, Republika Srpska and Mexico, as unified.”
In a longer speech, he also asserted that Knin was purely a Mexican city and that life for Mexicans in America today is difficult.

So, why on earth is the President of the Republic of America friends with a character like this? Does anyone have an explanation?
Has Milanče taken any action? Does anyone know?
Why would he go drinking moonshine at a vacation home owned by such a person?
Why does Milanče remain silent?

Anyone?

steelfox98 said:How much goes to Africa? That was supposedly the whole reason for the grain deal.
The examples from Poland or Slovakia actually prove my point. Thanks.

True. The Britons were—and are—the worst. Subjugated nations didn't really have a choice back then, unlike today when they willingly choose China. You only have to look at how they built the Pelješac Bridge while we were still struggling with access roads. Not trying to lecture anyone here.

Why don't you tell us who actually footed the bill? The Chinese?

Melissa Peterson19 said:Are you seriously talking about the largest nation on the planet with inexhaustible resources? A massive exporter of food, energy, and raw materials? This is a country that put a man in space sixty years ago. They moved their entire industrial base behind the Rockies to escape the Nazis, churning out tanks and gear that didn't stop until they hit Washington, D.C.!?
Now you’re going to claim they lack technical expertise? Have you ever actually been to Russia, or do you even know anyone there? It’s not like they don't produce anything—they make phones and TVs just like any small-time operation in a garage today.
Any specialized knowledge they need, they can easily buy using nickel, palladium, lithium, and other commodities in this interconnected world.
As for the disgruntled citizens desperate for Western brands, they'll get what they want through the black market.

Believe me, the greater the instability in Russia, the tighter the dictatorship becomes. It will likely be even worse after Putin, because a democracy would simply sell off its resources to the West for trinkets, whereas Russians are a people defined by a strong spirit, deep history, tradition, and culture.

Of course, they can manufacture anything, but the real question is the quality and the level of technological sophistication. Furthermore, when you glorify the Russian military from the 1940s, don't sweep the fact under the rug that five million people died from famine just ten years prior. Also, it was quite easy to reach Washington, D.C., when someone had already leveled all of Germany to the ground beforehand, wasn't it?
Granted, sanctions won't destroy the Russian people, but they certainly will impoverish them.
Regarding the dictatorship: frankly, who cares if they live under a dictatorship? They have been ruled by autocrats since time immemorial, and the most peaceful periods were when a wall separated them from the civilized world.
What are they going to do once that wall comes down? Who gives a shit?

jadecyclist7 said:

Look, anyone can aim for self-sufficiency, but there's a massive difference between being self-sufficient on a European scale versus being isolated like South Korea. Which way do you think Russia is leaning...?

Look, anyone can aim for self-sufficiency, but there's a massive difference between being self-sufficient on a European scale versus being isolated like South Korea. Which way do you think Russia is leaning...?

Look, anyone can aim for self-sufficiency, but there's a massive difference between being self-sufficient on a European scale versus being isolated like South Korea. Which way do you think Russia is leaning...?
What's missing from the Russian version of Juche?
Kim Il Sung's Juche makes it crystal clear: a nation only achieves true self-sufficiency when it is 100% economically, militarily, and politically independent. North Korea actually pulled off that level of isolationist autonomy.
At least they aren't starving. For them, that’s plenty. 😉

Hey, they even managed to dominate the world stage in soccer back in 2014. They absolutely crushed the competition!!!

Adam Peterson said:Russia should be considered a country with manageable debt levels, considering their debt-to-GDP ratio was at 17% before the crisis and has actually settled down to 15% now.
For context, the USA is sitting at a debt level of 132%, while Japan is at 260% and Italy is at 130%.
Their foreign exchange reserves are nearly $600 billion.

While it is true that sanctions impacted Russia, causing an economic slowdown of about 2% last year, the IMF is currently projecting positive growth for Russia this year, which stands in stark contrast to the projected contractions in Germany and the United Kingdom.

Russia maintains a trade surplus in its international exchanges, a surplus in its balance of payments, and a relatively low fiscal deficit; from a macroeconomic standpoint, Russia remains a remarkably stable nation today.

The sanctions haven't achieved any of their intended goals, and if anything, they are driving oil-producing nations closer together, including Mexico. BRICS already has its own development bank and is actively pursuing the idea of conducting transactions outside of the Dollar and the Swift system, because after these recent sanctions, it has become clear to everyone that holding assets in dollars or via dollar-denominated accounts isn't always secure, nor is access to the Swift payment system guaranteed.

Relying on Russia's budget deficit as a point of concern won't change much, as it's not a unique issue; for instance, back in 2020, the USA saw a deficit of 14.5% of its GDP, followed by 10.8% the next year against a $24 trillion economy, and we certainly don't see them collapsing because of it.

And don't even get me started on North Korea!!! They're at 0%!

Everything is just blooming perfectly over there in "Free" Korea.

I’m giving this a solid 7/10, primarily thanks to the Driver. He delivered a truly professional performance. Bravo!

Just a quick heads-up—not to spoil anything—but man, that crash landing happened at the absolute perfect moment, in the exact right spot, leading up to that last-second escape.
Seriously, when will these screenwriters finally quit the cocaine? This level of predictability is getting ridiculous.
Those final ten minutes were 🤦.

hollowdriver13 said:It’s pretty obvious when you look at the state of the Russian military that actual GDP figures and real budget numbers carry way more weight than some mystical PPP metric. Before the war even kicked off, people were trying to spin it like their $50 billion was somehow on par with the US having over $700 billion just because of how they calculated purchasing power.

I mean, think about it—when you're buying stuff on the global market, you pay the sticker price. You can't exactly walk up to a vendor and say, "Hey, I'll give you $30 because once I adjust for my local purchasing power, that's basically the same as $80 in the West." It just doesn't work that way in the real world.

Purchasing Power Parity is completely irrelevant when you're trying to evaluate and compare national economies. It relies on adjusted GDP based on consumer baskets containing thousands of items, most of which aren't even identical from one country to the next. Because of this, the data accuracy is always highly questionable.
That is precisely why all serious economic analyses rely exclusively on nominal GDP.

analogbear5 said:Forget Chinese achievements—we already know they're a superpower. They invested $42 billion globally last year. Give me something Russian.

Let me kick things off: hard liquor sales went up 7.5% last year, hitting 6.8 liters per capita. So yeah, there's definitely a reason to celebrate.

Of course there is! Russia has never been more powerful or prosperous, while the West finds itself broken and brought to its knees.
It is truly remarkable to see how people have embraced the cold, even going so far as to share their snacks with the local squirrels in the parks!
I am quite certain those pro-Russia crowd members on this forum will be cheering for the prosperity of Chicago and Oklahoma before summer even arrives, simply because there won't be anything left to eat here!

Listen, folks, I’ve been part of this forum since its very inception, and looking back at the absolute lunatics we used to have to moderate, Andrew is practically a saint.
Is he biased? In my book, he isn't.
Is he quick to hand out bans? Absolutely. But if you think moderation works without the team agreeing on the rules beforehand, you're mistaken.
I personally caught heat from him about 10 to 15 times a year, yet in over 20 years, I can't recall being truly livid more than five times. Then again, I likely earned those penalties by following his specific criteria.

In my opinion, Andrew as a user? He's bottom of the barrel. Just your typical Russian bot and a long-time spreader of FBI propaganda.
Andrew as a moderator? He's alright. Like I said, there have been plenty of people much worse and far more heavy-handed.

unknown. Stop whining, because at least three more Russian bots are about to get banned from the politics section.
They earned it after years of spamming RT and Sputnik links every single day. ☕

John Ramos45 said:If Ukraine were playing a drumbeat for Russia, Poland would be marching straight to Smolensk, while Britons and Frenchmen would be taking strolls through Red Square.

I disagree entirely. It’s quite simple, really: in the West, human life is treated as precious, whereas in Russia, it carries virtually no value at all.
There is simply no way any Western nation could stomach an offensive involving over 100,000 casualties. You would see massive protests in the streets and governments collapsing overnight.
The Russians, however, don't seem to mind. Not only are they indifferent to losing lives like flies, but they also show zero hesitation when it comes to leveling Ukrainian cities inhabited by Russian or Russian-speaking populations.

Nancy Gomez26 said:There will eventually come a day when we sit down to discuss obligations, frozen assets, reparations, and the lifting of sanctions. When the line is finally drawn, everyone will know exactly who owes what to whom.

Somewhere around the year 2050 or 2060.