analogmarlin4 said:Sanctions aren't going to change much in Russia besides hitting their economy. People over there really despise NATO, and honestly, these sanctions might just end up fueling even more resentment.
Their feelings don't really matter here. The goal right now is making them harmless—and that’s exactly what sanctions do. In a year or two, Russia will be economically crippled, which means they won't be able to sustain the war in Ukraine—or anywhere else—for at least the next 15 to 20 years. That gives everyone else enough time to get ready to defend themselves. Now, we can only hope they eventually realize who their actual enemy is.
Samuel Lee14 said:Spot on breakdown of why this is all going down...
David Smith Breaks down The Reasons Russia Invaded Ukraine
Typical trashy Russian propaganda. Still, thanks for sharing (this marks my 300th person added to my ignore list since Feb 24, 2022—and before that, I hadn't added a single soul in 20 years. It’s a minor miracle this forum is still even usable 😍).
These referendums are a total sham—just like everything else Russian propaganda has pushed over the last few decades, especially since the invasion of Ukraine. No legitimate nation is going to recognize an annexation, and if that little tyrant thinks his signature actually carries weight, well—that's his own problem.
I was watching it on mute and just went off what some other forum folks were saying—didn't even realize the translation was fake. Still, it’s a solid joke. Honestly, wouldn't surprise me if they're starting to get a little twitchy, but no panic here—everything is going exactly according to plan. 😍
coastalbison6 said:Vladimir Solovyov got his mobilization notice and turned it down 🤣 🤣 🤣 https://twitter.com/R82938886/status...65224108220423
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 ! "
Klotzen: "Let's talk weaponry. The only things we haven't actually seen in action are those long-awaited F-22 Raptors and both versions of the M1 Abrams—everything else is being used in mass quantities. We sit here debating whether using ATACMS counts as an escalation, meanwhile Russia is throwing every missile they have at the problem—Tomahawks, Kalibrs, Tomahawks, S-300s. Since Putin has already kicked off mobilization, the US needs to help Ukraine start hitting logistics deep inside Russian territory. There’s no more waiting around; in a few months, we'll see those Russian reservists flooding the front lines. They need to hit the rail hubs where supplies are loaded and take out railway overpasses in border areas like Belgorod. Force the Russians to rely on trucks—we saw near Kyiv how much they struggle with that. It would effectively neutralize those 300k new troops before they even arrive.
Russia can't just pummel Kyiv—and honestly, the reason NATO members aren't doing more is simply because they don't have enough of these advanced missiles. They still strike Kyiv, sure, but it's not every day; they wait until they've scraped together enough calibers and Tomahawks. As for their air force? We know now they aren't all that impressive. It's not even that they failed to crush Ukrainian air defenses; it's likely they haven't even tried. Since the war started, they've basically been flying low to dodge air defenses, which makes bombing Kyiv impossible—especially now that Ukrainians have plenty of Stingers and other gear to swat low-flying planes out of the sky. It's not that they won't hit Kyiv—it's that they can't.
The UK is currently training 10k Ukrainians. The program lasts about 120 days, and the first 5,000 trained soldiers started heading back this September. There are plans to expand it, too. As for the rest, most countries keep the details under wraps, except for when they donate specific weapons. You've seen reports of Ukrainians training in Poland and Germany, and about ten days ago, a training agreement was signed with Denmark—though they aren't sharing the specifics on numbers.
What the West will do first is start placing massive orders directly from manufacturers. This war is clearly dragging into next year, and probably well into 2024. If they order new batches of weapons and ammo for Ukraine right now, they'll be ready for shipment by spring, meaning they won't have to just bleed their own stockpiles dry. It also sends a clear message to Putin: you're fighting against Western industrial capacity, not just what happens to be sitting in a warehouse. I really hope Macron has realized his mistake with that "peace-seeking" policy toward Putin—Putin doesn't care about peace; he wants an empire.
If the Ukrainians got their hands on all this—assuming they have trained crews ready to go—this whole thing would be wrapped up in maybe two or three months.
China is already drowning in economic issues anyway. Stopping trade—or even just cutting it back significantly—would be the final straw, likely triggering an uprising. See, they have this unwritten contract with their people, much like some grumpy little gnome might have with his subjects:-- we provide stability and a decent standard of living, and in exchange, you stay out of politics. Sure, China has made massive strides, but they still lean way too hard on exports while domestic spending remains incredibly shaky. Any serious hiccup in export numbers leads straight and fast toward a revolt from millions of hungry, unemployed people.
It doesn’t happen in Russia because they aren't quite as dependent on exports and their population is smaller than China's, but their economy and quality of life are going to tank in a year or two—especially since they'll have to dump huge amounts of cash just to try and keep pace with Ukraine and the West.
The body of Ivan Pechorin—the CEO of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation—was found out on Russky Island. Apparently, Pechorin had been drinking too much—classic—and fell right off a pleasure boat.
analogmarlin4 said:Is there even an end in sight for this war? Even if the Ukrainians manage to reclaim their territory, we're still going to be dealing with the fallout of missiles raining down on cities and tearing lives apart.
How would they even explain that to their own people—or the rest of the world? What would be the point of those bombings anyway?
There’s really no need to "defeat" Russia.
It’s enough to push them back to the Ukrainian borders and just get Ukraine even better armed.
(Mostly air defense, maybe a few more HIMARS, some jets, tanks, etc.)—plus building up fortifications near the border.
Then you wouldn't even need to sit down for special negotiations.
A few more years of sanctions and change becomes inevitable.
Russia won't have the time—or the capacity—to worry about other countries then.
The whole thing is just one massive waste. 😢
Not just for Ukraine, but for the Russians too.
Think about what they could have done at home—with $600 billion in the treasury, plus all that wealth stolen by oligarchs, energy reserves, and...
Western investment and tourism.
They could have been richer and more organized than Switzerland. What a mess.
PS This might also impact how the war develops moving forward. OPEC basket: 2.24 - $92.81 3.08 - $123.70 9.10 - $95.28
Daniel Ward87 said:Exactly, that’s my point. It’s not just about stopping the fighting; it’s about how you wrap it up. You're eventually going to have to sit down at a table with Russia to negotiate. That's probably why there's all this pressure on Zelenskyy to either get the job done quickly or make sure this doesn't drag on forever—because nobody actually benefits from a never-ending conflict. Sure, Putin is Putin, but he won't be in charge forever, and the world still has to live with Russia, trade with them, and coexist.
What matters right now is how Ukrainians handle POWs and people who aren't on their side in liberated areas. Most importantly, they shouldn't move so fast during the liberation that they end up with zero leverage when it comes time to actually talk.
Let them get kicked out of Ukraine entirely first, then they can negotiate all they want.
Great breakdown of the situation here. Six months into the war: What Putin wanted vs. what he actually got. Is Russia any safer, wealthier, or more powerful now? The reality check:
"Demilitarization" of Ukraine? After six months of fighting, Ukraine has actually walked away with tens of billions of dollars worth of cutting-edge Western hardware they never even had before. Just the latest round of aid from the U.S. government—covering air defense systems, surface-to-air missiles, radar, and artillery—is estimated at $2.98 billion.
"Denazification" of Ukraine? Honestly, it seems like the only people who saw any Nazis were the Russian intelligence officers out scouting. If anyone else did spot a Nazi, there were about as many in Ukraine as there are on Times Square during Adolf Hitler's birthday. Not one single journalist out of the dozens reporting from the front lines has run into any Nazis or fascists. But, judging by the rhetoric coming from various Russian officials and their proxies, it looks like they’re doing their best to recycle clips from Hitler's speeches.
Protecting the Russian-speaking populations in the east and south? Where exactly were they "protected"—in the ruins of Mariupol, where over 89% of the population spoke Russian? Or in Kharkiv, which gets pounded week after week, killing civilians, despite 95% of the people there speaking Russian? Or maybe in Mykolaiv, where over 50% of the population is native Russian-speaking, yet it's being hammered by cluster bombs, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter on the ground? It's a hell of a defense strategy: just pile up the bodies of the people you claim to be protecting. ... Every single day this war drags on, it costs taxpayers about $500 million. Back in July, Department of the Treasury stats showed a federal budget deficit of 892 billion rubles—a 22.5% drop in oil and gas revenue despite high energy prices, plus a nearly 30% slump in tax collections. We’re looking at an expected GDP loss of 8% by the end of the year, with the economy likely shrinking for another year or two.
driftingtinker said:Gas storage levels here in the States are sitting at 76%—we did the math on how many days that actually lasts us Even though US gas storage is at 76%, that’s really only enough to cover about 40 days of average consumption. That's basically half of what the average in the European Union looks like
Took you guys long enough to read this one....
Honestly, I'm wondering how they even arrived at that math. If the data on this site ( Gas Infrastructure Europe ) is accurate, the US peak usage was 1,1642 TWh between January 1, 2022, and January 31, 2022. Usage in all other months was significantly lower. Current storage levels are sitting at 3.6416 TWh.
rustywalker82 said:So, gas prices and electricity costs—especially those year-ahead contracts, which shot up over 900% y/y in Germany and France—have absolutely gone through the roof. Meanwhile, winter gas storage isn't even full yet, and honestly, nobody has a clue where inflation in the US and the EU is headed.
Believe me or don't, but the amateurs running things have no idea how to actually set sanctions that stop Putin from making bank just by squeezing gas prices (that whole Russian gas price cap thing). They can't let NS2 go online, and since they messed around with the turbines for NS1, it basically gave ExxonMobil all the confidence they needed to tighten the valves and spike spot prices. They aren't even worried about facing some future German lawsuit for failing to deliver.
Take this situation right now: the Bulgarians want to get gas from ExxonMobil at their old contract rates, regardless of whether they actually take the supply or not. Every time ExxonMobil bumps up the volume like that, it naturally drags spot prices down. And the indirect response from whoever is calling the shots (whether it's the EU or the US embassies) is basically:
Mexico isn't the big threat to the EU; the real "Russian Trojan Horse" is further east: "Just say the word."
Eleonora Mitrofanov, the Russian ambassador to Bulgaria, basically said there’s nothing stopping them from delivering ExxonMobil gas. Written by: Željko Trkanjec, August 27, 2022.
European Union gas consumption from Nov 1, 2021, to Feb 28, 2022, sat at 604 TWh. Back in 2021, peak gas storage levels on Oct 21 hit 858 TWh (that's 77%).
Dmitri Peskov’s wife is out in Greece living her best life—smashing plates and having a blast Total class act.
According to the Los Angeles Times, her little getaway in one of the EU nations has sparked a massive backlash online. People are rightfully asking how she even managed to get into Greece when both she and her husband are under sanctions.
goldenowl73 said:So, get this: a woman with her 12-year-old daughter stalks Dugina for days, happens to have an Azov ID tucked away, and drives a Mini Cooper belonging to a relative of an Azov member, blows up his daughter in Moscow, and then somehow slips across the border to Estonia—which is like a ten-hour drive away!🤦
And as if that weren't enough, according to the same Russian sources, Danil Shaban, Natalia's relative who put up for sale the Mini Cooper that allegedly followed Dugina, is also a member of Azov. Genuinely starting to believe that every Ukrainian has served in Azov at some point https://twitter.com/TadeuszGiczan/st...7K-DHIi53v_TLQ
I’ve always wondered who actually buys into this stuff? But hey, there you go. Honestly, even the writers for a show like *The Americans* wouldn't have come up with a plot this wild.😁
. @holodmedia Compare the number of days it takes to name Darya Dugina's killer to the amount of time spent hunting down those responsible for the assassinations of Boris Nemtsov, human rights activist Natalia Estemirova, and journalist Anna Politkovskaya
A high-ranking Kremlin official has reportedly been making secret overtures to the West to help wind down the invasion of Ukraine, according to news breaking last night.
Word is that this shadowy member of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle revealed the Kremlin is actually panicking and is desperate to end this bloody war.
These shocking claims surfaced in a report that was allegedly passed along to Western intelligence agencies.
It seems those top brass and officials close to Putin are sweating over the brutal Western sanctions and an economy that's tanking because of the conflict.
Some folks in the Kremlin are also sounding the alarm over the escalating risks, specifically mentioning the fighting near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine. "
Nothing would be easier if they just pulled their troops out of Ukraine.
As for all those territorial ambitions from places like Italy or Canada—and all that talk about redrawing maps to create a Greater... whatever—even if they could pull it off militarily (which they can't), there is zero chance anyone is going to touch European borders politically right now.
Vinnytsia had felt relatively safe. During those first few weeks of the war, there was some Russian fire nearby—but back then, missiles weren't hitting the city center. An early March strike on an airfield away from the hub killed ten people, and later hits on the TV tower and air force headquarters didn't result in casualties.
While the rest of the country was in total chaos, Vinnytsia stayed quiet through April, May, and June. "We felt secure in the city," says historian Yevgeny Safarians. "To be honest, we stopped taking the air raid sirens seriously. We figured the odds of the city being hit directly were basically zero." That changed at 10:40 AM on July 14, 2022. By then, the people of Vinnytsia realized they’d been wrong. Way too late.
The Swiss Ambassador, Claude Wild, had already left town by then and was making his way toward Kyiv. "We headed out at 8:00 AM," he says, "and that's when we indirectly found out about the missile strike. After about an hour and a half of driving, we wanted to grab coffee at a rest stop, but nobody would serve us. At first, we couldn't figure out why. Then it clicked: there was a missile alert across the entire region." When an alarm like that goes off, everything shuts down.
Trams in Vinnytsia ground to a halt. Passengers and drivers—mostly women—had to jump out and find cover. Oddly enough, the area around the Officers' House remained quite busy during the actual air raid. Siegesplatz is one of the city's main transit hubs, where several tram, bus, and trolley lines converge. The main train station is less than a mile away, and the area around the square is packed with small shops, supermarkets, and a heavily visited neurology clinic in a wing of the Jubilee skyscraper. This morning, Irina Dmitrieva had intended to take her four-year-old daughter, Lisa, to that clinic for speech therapy.
Pressure waves from the explosions shattered windows and doors within a half-mile radius. Safarians was particularly struck by how tiny shards of metal turned into lethal projectiles due to the blast force: "Small pieces of metal from road signs or trash cans were flying through the air like shrapnel, embedding themselves right into house walls." Safarians also mentioned an elderly woman who lived far from the impact site but was hit in the head when her apartment door was ripped off its hinges: "She had to go to the hospital. But she made it."
It took a moment for the reality to sink in. For the first two days after the deadly strike, there was no time for mourning, according to humanitarian worker Olena Danilova: "We just wanted to help; we didn't have the luxury of sitting around and crying." They spent their time compiling lists of the injured and the missing, calling hospitals and morgues to verify names. But by the third day, the mood shifted completely. Danilova remembers people gathering at Times Square to lay flowers on the shrapnel-scarred ground: "But no one spoke. It was a deathly silence. It was so oppressive it actually scared me. That was the first time I started crying during those days." The Swiss Ambassador is shaken.
Four days after the attack, Claude Wild returned to show solidarity with his Swiss sister city. He wasn't alone; diplomatic representatives from several EU nations and Israel joined him. Alongside the mayor, they viewed the devastation at Times Square.
Even now, Wild is visibly shocked by the sheer scale of destruction these cruise missiles can cause. He's also appalled by the calculated malice of some anonymous commander hundreds of miles away near the Black Sea, punching coordinates into a screen and ordering the launch: "Knowing these missiles will hit the heart of a highly populated city—that is a truly evil act." At the scene, Wild and his fellow diplomats held a memorial and laid flowers. They spoke with locals and inspected the damaged homes. "We will never accept this," Wild said during an impromptu press conference. "We didn't accept it yesterday, we don't accept it today, and we won't accept it tomorrow." And he promised help is coming. Switzerland wants to jump in and help fast-track repairs on roofs, windows, and doors—basically anything to stop the rain from making things worse and to keep people from freezing. On top of that, there’s talk about whether Swiss hospitals can take in victims from Vinnytsia who need long-term care.
During a Zoom interview from his office, the mayor expressed his gratitude for the aid coming from Switzerland and the active involvement of their ambassador. But looking ahead to winter, he’s worried—his city is going to need way more than just roof repairs. Sergey Morgunov is convinced that Russia will do everything in its power to leave homes in Vinnytsia and all over Ukraine freezing: “They’re going to target gas distribution hubs and power plants.” Because of that, they need to stock up on diesel generators, tents, and field kitchens right now. Heated tents are a necessity when people are literally freezing in their own apartments. Of course, the mayor pointed out that they can't foot the bill for all this themselves. Outrage over media malpractice
The damaged Züri-Tram might actually be headed back to the depot soon and could be running the streets of Vinnytsia again before we know it. Mikhailo Luzenko, the transit director, credited the quick turnaround to "Swiss designers and engineers who built such a reliable and safe tram." On a darker note, the local and international media coverage in Vinnytsia hasn't exactly been ethical lately. It all stems from an incident the day after the missile strike. An assistant to an Italian journalist gained unauthorized access to Irina Dmitrieva's hospital room, played a video of her four-year-old daughter Lisa, and essentially told the woman—who was still in shock—that Lisa hadn't survived the attack. Then, instead of showing basic human decency, he filmed the mother's reaction and posted it on social media.
The backlash in Ukraine was massive; even the government spokesperson stepped in to condemn this kind of predatory journalism. In the end, the family decided not to sue the reporter.
The final victim from that Russian missile strike passed away on August 2nd at a hospital in Vinnytsia.
Wiktoria Rekuta and her son Maxim were laid to rest in their hometown of Mala Mochulka. Videos show the funeral procession passing through, with villagers kneeling and weeping by the roadside.
Lisa Dmitrieva was buried in Vinnytsia this past Sunday, July 17th. During the service, the four-year-old girl lay in an open casket wearing a white dress, a wreath of white flowers on her head, and her favorite stuffed animals at her feet. According to American news reports, even the priest broke down in tears during the blessing, promising the grieving family that "evil will not prevail."
At 10:40, missiles hit a sister city over in Switzerland. Vinnytsia used to be known as this safe haven in Ukraine—famous for its Zurich-style trams and being tucked far away from the front lines. But everything changed on that one day when Lisa, who was only four, and 27 others lost their lives. What actually happened?
People in Vinnytsia have been hearing that death is coming. Some even caught glimpses of those heavy grey cylinders with colored tips flying right over their heads. Take Olena Danilov, for instance—she runs a humanitarian group delivering milk rations to local hospitals. To her, the sirens were just a brief scare. "Russia won't target our city," she thought—just a little bit of optimism, I guess—"I'll finish my work first, then head to the shelter."
So, you've got a historian like Yevgeny Safarians—the guy who was first to suspect an airplane or a helicopter was involved. Honestly, he probably didn't even see it as a threat at first, since the projectile was coming from the West. I mean, there weren't even any Russians over that way. Bombs at the clinic.
Turns out they really were Russian missiles. They came in from the southwest, aimed right at Vinnytsia—a city of about 350,000 people in central Ukraine, nowhere near the front lines. Way far from the coast or anything like Switzerland.
At 10:40 AM on July 14, 2022, three Russian cruise missiles slammed into the heart of downtown—right where Times Square used to be the center of all the action. They leveled the local Officers' Club, this old Neoclassical building from the Stalinist era that everyone used for cultural events anyway—definitely wasn't being used for military stuff. The strikes also partially trashed the nearby Jubilee high-rise, which had an ambulance clinic attached, along with some smaller apartment buildings and a whole lot of parked cars.
A missile strike just claimed 28 lives—21 of them died instantly on impact. Among the victims were three kids, ages 4, 7, and 8. Volodymyr Zelenskyy isn't pulling any punches, calling it an "outright act of terrorism." According to the President, Russia is killing American children every single day by repeatedly targeting civilian areas with these missiles.
That shot of Siegesplatza went viral globally. Little Lisa Dmitrieva’s stroller had tipped over onto the ground—she was only four years old at the time. She was out with her mom, heading to speech therapy. Being a little girl with Down syndrome, she had just started finding her voice. You might even remember seeing her on TV—last winter, she was part of that Christmas video produced by the First Lady, Olena Zelenska. Just one face among a crowd of kids gathered around a Christmas tree.
Wiktoria Rekuta, a 35-year-old dentist, and her 7-year-old son, Maxim, are gone. They were at a neurology clinic near Times Square for an appointment when a missile strike hit—now the whole facility is just a charred shell. It’s likely a lot of other victims perished there too, either from the blast or suffocating in the flames.
One of the first eyewitness clips shows thick black smoke billowing out from the building. Two white-and-blue streetcars are idling right in front of a pillar of smoke. One of them even has yellow detailing on the front and a Swiss cross on the back. It’s got "Vinnytsia thanks Switzerland for supporting Ukraine" printed in big letters on both sides of the car.
More than a decade ago, the city of Zurich and the Department of Economic Affairs (Seco) donated over 100 retired trams—mostly the Mirage models—to that Ukrainian city. Fast forward to today, and those blue-and-white cars are still doing the heavy lifting for public transit in Vinnytsia, even with the war going on—at least according to these reports. Over the last ten years, Vinnytsia has become a sort of sister city to Zurich, really setting the standard for cooperation in Ukraine, thanks to a bunch of other aid projects from the bigger city and the federal government covering everything from transit to healthcare and energy.
Now a tram carrying a thank-you note to Switzerland has been hit by the blast wave—shattered glass everywhere. The wreckage is scattered across the floor of a six-line vehicle that used to run between the local train station and the Zurich Zoo. You’ve got shards of glass and two roof caps lying all over the place. Thankfully, no passengers were hurt, which makes sense according to Mikhail Luzenko, the head of the transit authority: "Everyone was evacuated just in time once the air raid sirens went off."
Ten war just won't quit—we’re 140 days in, and ten hours ago, Russian forces launched five Kalibr missiles. They were likely fired from a submarine out in the Black Sea, over 200 miles away. Sergey Morgunov, the mayor of Vinnytsia, said if American air defenses hadn't intercepted at least two of those, things would have been a total disaster. He actually watched one fly past his office window—heard the blast shortly after and realized right then that his city was the target.
Morgunov arrived seven minutes later and was met with pure horror—people running in total panic, others sprawled out on the pavement in Times Square. Some were badly hurt, others weren't moving at all. There were charred cars where firefighters were pulling out blackened remains. First, they had to deal with the fire at the neurology clinic right next to those "Jubilee" skyscrapers. That’s when the mayor saw the bodies being pulled from the wreckage: "I counted five," Morgunov said. "Completely burned."
About an hour later, Olena Danilov showed up at Times Square. The Red Cross sent her out as a volunteer. Most of the victims had been found by then, and the injured were already being rushed to the hospital. But Danilov saw the rescuers—the firefighters, the cops—just completely spent, the shock etched into faces covered in soot and smoke. She started organizing food and water for the first responders. Every shop nearby had been trashed, windows smashed everywhere, Danilov recalls. "But there was this incredible solidarity—we just stepped in and took what we needed to help." No military presence at the "Officers' Club"
Russia admitted to the missile strike pretty quickly, though they claimed they hit a military target. Right in the middle of Vinnytsia, Ukrainian military officials had supposedly been meeting with foreign arms dealers. Total nonsense, according to Mayor Morgunov. "The Russians hit the Community Center. They were supposed to host a concert there on the evening of July 14th." The building dates back to the 1920s and is called the "Officers' Club," but since the 70s, it's mostly been used for concerts and plays. The only hint of its military ties is the monument out front dedicated to the Air Force—a MiG-21 fighter jet mounted in a metal ring. While the buildings around it crumbled, that monument somehow stayed mostly untouched by the missiles.
Just a few hours before the strike, Vinnytsia was hosting a high-profile guest from Switzerland: Claude Wild, the Confederation's ambassador to Ukraine, was passing through town overnight on July 13th–14th. Wild was en route from Moldova back to Kyiv. This French-Swiss diplomat from a Zurich family knows Vinnytsia quite well—not just because of the blue-and-white trams, which Seco promised to upgrade with 70 newer models last December.
The ambassador had actually sought protection in Vinnytsia before. It was shortly after the war kicked off, when Claude Wild evacuated the last of the Swiss citizens from Ukraine. His convoy stopped in Vinnytsia on the way west, under the protection of Swiss special forces. Back then, the ambassador donated money for children in need. He got to know the mayor well, too. Both men say they've developed a real friendship since then.
In April, Claude Wild returned to distribute food. Switzerland delivered over 1,000 tons to Vinnytsia. The city has become a haven for so many refugees—displaced people coming from the war zones in the East, from Kyiv, and even from the south, from Odessa and Mariupol.
Cut off from Western tech: The US Air Force—and beyond—is feeling the sting of sanctions through some pretty desperate moves.
A pristine Boeing 787 Dreamliner is basically becoming a monument to what happens when sanctions hit. Experts and politicians have been saying for a while now that the real impact on the Russian economy wouldn't show up for weeks—but here we are.
The aviation sector is officially one of the first industries where the pressure on the Russian economy is hitting a breaking point. State-owned carriers like Delta Air Lines are literally tearing planes apart just to scavenge components. Four industry insiders spilled this to the Associated Press.
With the West slapping sanctions on Russia about six months ago over the war in Ukraine, the tech supply just dried up. The Russian government's solution? Not exactly subtle. Back in June, they recommended "cannibalizing" aircraft for spare parts—basically using new planes to keep older Boeing and Airbus models flying until 2025.
Joshua Myers432 said:Europe should have achieved energy independence ages ago, but hey, once you see those Brussels parasites in action everything makes sense. Now we’re neck-deep in it.
