295 posts shown.
steelheron25 said:Heh, who thought so? Pretty much everyone did, or at least the vast majority.
Had you even revisited the topics of Russia and Ukraine before February 24th? If you go back and leaf through those old threads—better yet, look at what was being said in 2014 and the years following—you'll see a prevailing trend of mocking Ukraine and its military capabilities, especially during those battles for the Donetsk airport and the months that followed. There was this general consensus that Ukraine was essentially a failed state; that narrative was actually spearheaded by a certain moderator we have here today, and anyone who wandered into those discussions would find that people were suggesting the Ukrainians would be better off committing collective suicide given how pathetic they supposedly were.
Then, if you jump forward to the posts from the first few days of the invasion, you'll see people leaving comments predicting that nothing more than a local National Guard unit could put up any real resistance. Even that same moderator felt the need to rush and change the thread title because the Russians had already pushed into Kharkiv.
That fart from the Kremlin and his sycophants are still mentally stuck in 2014, back when they easily seized Crimea from an unorganized and confused Ukraine, only to turn them into punchlines in the Donbas, constantly ridiculing them as if they couldn't handle a small group of miners. That's exactly why they convinced themselves that Ukraine would simply collapse. Clearly, they slept right through the massive shifts happening within Ukraine itself, and indeed, within the world at large.
Thomas Nelson25 said:Anyone got the scoop on captured gear or POWs?
This wasn't some tactical repositioning for a big push—this was a straight-up collapse.
The Russians really just need to desert and head home; this whole war is a joke for them.
Jessica Peterson2 said:So, apparently, the chairman of the board for ExxonMobil—which, let’s be honest, is basically the largest private oil giant in Russia—just took a sudden, fatal plunge from a fifth-story window at a central clinical hospital in Moscow. Interestingly enough, that facility actually falls under the jurisdiction of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation. ☕
https://www.rbc.ru/society/01/09/20...dium=messenger
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....
Donna Harris11 said:The United Kingdom is basically falling apart at the seams:
https://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk...ions-a-269836/
I mean, because of all those sanctions, they can't even get their hands on bitumen anymore. It’s just... things are going south.
urbanotter said:Comparisons like this don't even really warrant a response, but some people find them to be a very "appealing" indicator of the supposed decline in Russian standards. In reality, the Ruble has strengthened immensely due to measures taken by the Russian CB, so they are actually working to weaken the currency now because a strong Ruble hurts their exports.
The only fair comparison would be seeing how much one can actually buy with an average salary in the US,
but then the picture wouldn't look quite so "appealing."
When you look at which companies left Russia due to sanctions, the drop in living standards is far less significant than suggested; instead of the expected 10% drop, the economy fell by 5%, which is similar to the contraction seen in the European economy.
But let them keep writing their panegyrics about sanctions so that the local Anglophiles don't get too unsettled or excited. ☕
If the official exchange rate were truly favorable, there would be no reason for a "black market" to exist, especially if you could buy more Euros with your Rubles at a bank than you could on the street.
Russia maintains a surplus in its foreign trade, so there is simply no necessity for black-market currency trading.
Many people who might have been spending Euros on the Atlantic coast this summer were actually spending Rubles at Russian resorts, or using their local currencies in countries that didn't implement any sanctions.
urbanotter said:Comparisons like this don't even really warrant a response, but some people find them to be a very "appealing" indicator of the supposed decline in Russian standards. In reality, the Ruble has strengthened immensely due to measures taken by the Russian CB, so they are actually working to weaken the currency now because a strong Ruble hurts their exports.
The only fair comparison would be seeing how much one can actually buy with an average salary in the US,
but then the picture wouldn't look quite so "appealing."
When you look at which companies left Russia due to sanctions, the drop in living standards is far less significant than suggested; instead of the expected 10% drop, the economy fell by 5%, which is similar to the contraction seen in the European economy.
But let them keep writing their panegyrics about sanctions so that the local Anglophiles don't get too unsettled or excited. ☕
If the official exchange rate were truly favorable, there would be no reason for a "black market" to exist, especially if you could buy more Euros with your Rubles at a bank than you could on the street.
Russia maintains a surplus in its foreign trade, so there is simply no necessity for black-market currency trading.
Many people who might have been spending Euros on the Atlantic coast this summer were actually spending Rubles at Russian resorts, or using their local currencies in countries that didn't implement any sanctions.
wanderingmaker3 said:I keep seeing this channel from Mariupol pop up on my YouTube feed with videos just like this.
hiddeneagle98 said:Honestly, you should just gather all that cash up and use it to pay for gas instead. And I mean using the official exchange rate set by the Russian government itself. It basically ends up being free money at that point. They were the ones insisting everything be paid in rubles and they were the ones setting the rate. So, there you go. Talk about a self-inflicted wound.
Kate Cook27 said:I'm a Ukrainian mother—born and raised there myself.
Mariupol
The authorities announced there's a shortage of medicine, and my contact confirmed it. So many essential drugs are missing right now, and people are dying because of it 😢.
They also reported that buses are being destroyed to prevent people from leaving town. That’s true too—though despite that, people are still finding ways out every single day, many of them just walking on foot.
There’s word coming in about more bodies left in the streets—and yeah, that’s accurate. They’re doing what they can, but things haven't been cleared yet. Plus, a lot of the graves are shallow, so animals end up digging them up; they're trying their best to get everything cleared away.
Word is the trial for the captured soldiers will happen next month. Some people are talking about cages being set up to hold them, though I couldn't get anyone to confirm that part.
Denis Pushilin showed up again. Apparently, nobody was really listening to him; he just stood there looking "proud" with a Russian flag draped over his shoulders. There's no gas, and some areas are having water issues too. Whether they'll fix anything before winter hits? Who knows.
For a destroyed home, they supposedly offer about 50,000 rubles—or whatever the currency is called now. But there's a catch: you have to sign papers claiming the Ukrainian army destroyed it. If they ask for video footage to prove it, my contact didn't report anything. Some people are sleeping on the street while buildings are demolished however they please—there aren't really any rules. They're tearing things down just as recklessly as they bombed them. They've been filming people around the city talking about crimes committed by the Ukrainian army; they wanted him to speak up too, but he just played dumb. No one snitched on him.
electricsurfer47 said:Buy something in Russia and smuggle it out? What about buying gold???
Kate Cook27 said:Donetsk
Here’s a look at how one very vocal pro-Russian woman sees things right now: She’s convinced that either Russia or the Donetsk People's Republic is bombing Donetsk—mostly because she claims they've already told the authorities several times that they're exhausted by this whole war. Apparently, mobilization teams are patrolling every corner of the city; she says people just can't take it anymore. What else did she tell me? She honestly doesn't see the point of the DNR leadership—in her eyes, they’re just puppets following orders from Moscow 🤣 🤣.
She thinks they’ll be running out of men soon—so much so that some guys are actually dressing in women's clothing just to avoid being snatched off the street. She swears they really are picking people up in public; there's always someone there, whether they're in uniform or just regular clothes, dragging people away
.
Her brother was killed—he was only 20. She says she doesn't even know what it was all for anymore; he died for a country that doesn't even exist. Russia promised protection, but there hasn't been any actual protection to speak of 😢 😢. Maybe she’ll eventually realize that Russia is just using the people in the Donbas, but I didn't say anything—I used to know Sergei 😢. Just another young life lost forever.
William Cooper11 said:I know, which is exactly why I asked that Putin supporter to drop a link to that exchange. Of course he wouldn't give me one.
brightheron64 said:Gerhard Schröder: I won't apologize for my friendship with Vladimir Putin.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy: That is disgusting
Option 1: Schröder is just a jerk who hates Ukrainians but really wants some warmth this winter
Option 2: Schröder clearly knows more than the rest of us (including Zelenskyy)
Option 3: Schröder is honestly just an absolute disgrace, not even worth a comment...
Is there any other way to look at this?
Zelenskyy requested a meeting with the Chinese leader
Ukraine is seeking a chance to speak directly with Xi Jinping to help bring the war with Russia to an end, according to Zelenskyy's comments to The Wall Street Journal.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the Ukrainian leader called on China to leverage its massive political and economic influence over Russia to help stop the fighting.
And here I was thinking that only Republicans were obsessed with this kind of thing... 🕺
I suppose the Russia-Ukraine war is serving as a sort of "field trip" for the Chinese, where they can see firsthand how the global "system" actually operates in real-time...
feralpilot0 said:Well, an agreement only works if both sides actually bother to follow it—isn't that the whole point of mutual security?
You can't sign a non-aggression pact and then turn around and play host to an armory behind everyone's back—can you?
Or do you actually believe Russia launched an invasion just because they woke up on the wrong side of the bed one morning?
"Quote:"Of course—all we’re missing now is a photo of Putin sporting that ridiculous Hitler mustache... wouldn't that just complete the look?
gentlestag15 Asks:
Just admit it—Putin completely miscalculated his gamble with the invasion of Ukraine, didn't he?
He’s dragged both Russia and Ukraine into this endless spiral of war, sanctions, and sheer instability—is there even an exit strategy?
Thousands are dying because some old fossil thinks he’s some kind of Napoleon—someone destined to restore Russia's glory—when in reality, if Putin had even a shred of common sense or a conscience, he’d jump from a fifth-story window... which would honestly be doing the rest of the world, and especially Russia, a massive favor.
feralpilot0 said:The Ukrainians would need to start thinking for themselves if they wanted to take it—but they’re essentially hostages to the US agenda now, caught in a trap of hostility that stretches far beyond their own borders.
The US isn't about to just hand over its golden goose to some neutral party, is it?
Kate Cook27 said:The idea that Americans incited Ukrainians to revolt is a flawed premise and straight-up Russian propaganda. To put it simply: Yanukovych won by promising that Ukraine would head toward the EU, escape its financial crisis, and sign a new trade deal with the European Union. None of that happened, and that’s when people took to the Maidan to protest. This was a reaction to Yanukovych stating he was backing out of the EU deal just hours before signing it, turning instead toward Russia. At first, the protests were peaceful, and Yanukovych returned to negotiations, only to back out again and eventually order live ammunition to be used at the Maidan. Many were killed. After that, the demand shifted to his resignation, leading to mass protests across the country. Ultimately, it was a reaction to police brutality and the loss of life. During that time, Yanukovych passed a string of laws, promised to resign then retracted it, promised early elections then pulled back, and promised to return to talks only to flee. In the end, he ran off to Russia with billions 😁. You couldn't force millions of Ukrainians into the streets like that unless they truly felt pushed—it’s a similar mentality to what we have here. People don't usually protest here either, and standards are low. If everyone hit the streets tomorrow, people would assume they were paid off, but in reality, it would be because they simply reached a breaking point.
Of course, the US isn't helping out of pure altruism; they just saw an opportunity to counter the Russian threat. It wasn't Americans who sent Russian soldiers into Ukraine—that was Vladimir Putin. For the Ukrainians, it’s actually been a good thing that their interests align with the US, because honestly, things would be much harder without American support.
As for the division within the country, it definitely existed long before 2014. There was a clear split between pro-Western and pro-Russian factions. The Russian-speaking areas in Eastern Ukraine, especially Donbas, leaned pro-Russian. A big reason for this was the proximity to Russia—many people worked there, had family ties, or maintained friendships across the border. There are plenty of families with members in both Ukraine and Russia, keeping those connections alive. Many of the wealthy elites came from Eastern Ukraine and maintained close ties with the Kremlin, using those connections to amass more wealth. These elites often owned companies where many locals worked, which influenced voting patterns—for instance, workers might be "advised" to vote for pro-Russian candidates. About a third of the population in Donbas is ethnic Russian, and while most are pro-Russian, not everyone is. The rest tended to stay more neutral, even among ethnic Ukrainians. Ultimately, many grew up in the Soviet era and were accustomed to being part of a collective with Russia and Belarus. It’s hard to say there wasn't patriotism; it just wasn't expressed in the same way. On the flip side, Western Ukraine is anti-Russian and pro-European. Their goal has always been to move toward Europe. Meanwhile, Eastern Ukraine feared losing its connection to Russia. Well, the West is near Poland, and they've seen how much Poland has changed since joining the EU—it's a different mindset. In the East, the mantra was often "as long as it's ours," so even when Yanukovych messed everything up, people stuck by him (he's from Donbas, after all). Everything started shifting in 2014. I'm talking about other regions too, like Kharkiv, Odesa, or Kherson, where Russians "expected flowers." Those are also Russian-speaking and pro-Russian leaning, but they remained mostly neutral, and then a surge of national identity began. I think that's the shift the Russians failed to recognize starting in 2014.