Posts by Thomas Stewart8

Arthur Watson4 said:At least we had a monetary expert on this thread providing fresh updates on exchange rates.

Where did they go? Where have they vanished to...?

Don't sweat it—we've got our "expert for everything" fueled by pure copium over here. That guy is apparently an authority on absolutely anything involving the war in Ukraine, whether it's direct or indirect.

Noah Diaz said:Misunderstanding? Misunderstanding what? Everything about this is crystal clear.

Up until now, you guys were busy comparing Russia to Spain using this PDF. Now that it doesn't fit your narrative anymore, suddenly we have to compare them to NATO or the EU.

I shut down those little playground games of yours from the very beginning by laying out the actual frameworks:

SCO, BRICS and BRI

Frankly, these "sanctions" are about as effective as a screen door on a submarine. 🤣

Let’s just say—for the sake of argument—that the sanctions aren't working at all. Let's assume they're nothing more than a complete and utter failure.

Do you honestly think someone like you needs to go out of their way every single time—constantly pushing and trying to prove a point, all while hiding behind those little smilies?

Nancy Lopez7 said:It honestly looks like they just pulled a whole fleet of tanks straight out of storage! 😁

Honestly, watching him go through this with all those little emojis—it's almost therapeutic. You can actually see the guy having a moment every once in a while.

So, what's the verdict? Are we looking at a jackpot or what?

I have to side with you guys here—his recent "disciplinary actions" caught me completely off guard. Honestly, it feels like there's a clear bias at play, especially since he keeps letting certain users post nothing but unverified, baseless nonsense without any pushback.

I'll give you that; someone else probably would have handled this whole situation much more professionally.

You forgot the smiley face!

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Donna Harris11 said:So, I was reading this thing about the olive oil situation, and honestly, it’s just one more thing to add to the pile of things going wrong lately. It seems like the whole supply chain is just falling apart, and now we're looking at prices for high-end oils shooting up because of some weird weather patterns and production issues over in Europe. I mean, I guess it makes sense if you look at the math, but still, it feels like everything is getting more expensive for no reason. It’s kind of like when the gas prices spike because of some drama halfway across the world—you're just sitting there at the pump in some suburb outside of Chicago, wondering why your paycheck isn't stretching as far as it did last summer. Maybe it's just bad luck? Or maybe it's just how things are going now. Everything feels a bit fragile, I suppose. You see these reports about shortages and then you go to the grocery store and suddenly that bottle of premium stuff you usually grab is double what it used to be. It's frustrating. I don't know. It just feels like we're constantly reacting to the next big crisis instead of actually fixing anything. Anyway, just my two cents. Probably doesn't matter much.

So, I was reading about this next round of sanctions coming down the pipeline, and it looks like things are getting pretty intense. Apparently, there’s going to be a total ban on exporting Western-made oyster shells and those specific cleaning brushes they use for them. It’s kind of wild when you think about the logistics of it all, I guess. You'd think they'd focus on bigger stuff, maybe tech or energy, but now we're talking about specialized gear for shellfish? Maybe that's just how it works though. I don't know. It feels like one more thing being thrown into the mix, making everything more complicated than it needs to be. Just another layer of red tape, I suppose.

And everyone just bursts out laughing...

Carl Lee27 said:It really does look like they've dipped into some gold sales just to keep covering the deficit. My guess is the big buyers are mostly everyday citizens and banks. Honestly, right now, moving your savings into gold instead of holding onto the ruble feels like the only rational move left on the board.
https://1prime-ru.translate.goog/sta...en&_x_tr_hl=X

Back in January, the Russian budget was already running a $25 billion deficit. And remember, that was *before* all the embargoes and the restrictions on oil derivatives really kicked in. They might have a little bit of breathing room left, but it’s coming, and it’s coming fast. The ruble is essentially living on borrowed time.

In a country like that, I wouldn't be shocked if certain groups "accidentally" ended up at the top of the list of preferred customers... You know, just so they can be taken care of if things start to go south.

Maybe we should just slap a special surcharge on every car with EU plates—kind of like how they decided to treat us.

I’m honestly curious what his logic for this annexation is going to be—since he’s basically just grabbing a slice of a "Nazi" state. What happens to the rest? Just more buttons for him to press?
It’s an obvious admission of an epic failure. They aren't anywhere near "denazification" or "demilitarization." What’s the actual plan there? Are they going to claim they're fighting Ukrainians after he already declared the whole nation doesn't even exist?

What a joke...

Joshua Myers432 said:That’s a desperate move. Their referendum plan only worked if they actually held the territory. Holding a referendum in an area you're losing bit by bit every single day is pure idiocy—not to mention that no living person is going to recognize those results. Sure, maybe North Korea would.

Exactly. Honestly, I don't even get why they're bothering with the referendum at all. If their goal is just to claim the land and trigger a mobilization, they could just declare it theirs and be done with it. Why go through the extra theater?

In any rational part of the world, it doesn't work like this—but then again, they aren't exactly living in the rational part of the world.

Christian Torres3 said:If they call up a mobilization, you'll just end up with a bunch of useless junk sitting in Moscow and St. Petersburg while the actual front line doesn't move an inch. Plus, all the rich guys will find ways to dodge service, which is basically just asking for riots.

There’s this thing in stock trading called a stop loss—you cut your losses before they bury you. Russia is already deep in the red with no way to turn the trend around; someone really needs to start thinking about an exit strategy.

You think a father beats his son because he was gambling, or because he was trying to pay off the debt? 😁

gentlestag15 said:It looks like Russia is clearing the decks for mobilization, and honestly, it feels like a done deal at this point.

They’ve already announced referendums for Zaporizhzhia, Donbas, and Kherson.
View on twitter
View on twitter

Over in the Russian Duma, they're already pushing to officially annex those territories once the votes wrap up.
View on twitter

Medvedev is out there claiming that once these areas become part of Russia, the country will have every right to call up a mobilization, since they supposedly act as a buffer protecting Russia from attacks.
https://twitter.com/StratcomCentre/s...86256100003840

Meanwhile, the Duma is even floating a new law to crack down on anyone who fails to show up when called for mobilization.
https://twitter.com/wartranslated/st...046082/photo/1

What can we actually expect if this all goes through and a full-scale mobilization really happens?

Honestly, you'd likely end up with a massive, incompetent army that has zero morale left. I don't see how Putin expects to win this war by triggering a mass mobilization, no matter how he tries to spin the justification to the public. 🤔

Joshua Myers432 said:The way I see it, Ukraine isn't even remotely close to being able to develop nuclear weapons in the short term, even if they had the desire. And even if they somehow managed to pull it off, there’s zero chance they could hide it from anyone. To start with, Russia would just launch a tactical nuke directly at whatever facility they were using.

Right. They'd probably get the intel through a glass pressed against the wall, and then someone would just wheel a tactical nuke over in a wheelbarrow and light the fuse on the fly.

Kate Lewis3 said:Look, when everyone is playing nice just because the alternative is getting served some "exotic tea," and people are busy swallowing sugar-coated reports while corruption is basically the local way of life, you can't be surprised when big plans turn out to be nothing more than fairy tales and soap bubbles. Throw in the fact that so many folks were just sitting around waiting for Russia to trip up—especially those who were too cozy with them to begin with—and you've got a perfect recipe for disaster.

It was pretty much the same deal in that cinematic version of Suleiman the Magnificent. He was convinced everything around him was pure bliss, while in reality, ruthless wars and petty power struggles were tearing his own inner circle apart.

Kate Cook27 said:Like what?

I honestly don't know—part of me is terrified, yet I’m desperately trying to convince myself that my fear is just irrational paranoia. 😁

Bryan Booth82 said:It’s not a matter of whether he *will* succeed; the reality is that he hasn't. Period. He has quite literally lost the war in Ukraine.

Best,

More than anything, I’d love to see this actually work out, but I just can't wrap my head around how someone could fail this spectacularly after years upon years of planning.

The whole thing feels off to me—honestly, it's a bit unsettling. I can't help but worry there's something being kept in the dark, like some ace up a sleeve that's waiting to catch us all completely off guard.

Brenda Murphy3 said:It's almost a mathematical certainty that it won't happen, but hey, if Putko happens to drink some bad tea or something... who knows? We aren't quite at that stage yet, but in situations like this, things can flip upside down incredibly fast.

As for an actual trial? That's pretty much out of the question...

That’s exactly where my head was at—and honestly, I’m even more skeptical about the whole "wrong tea" theory. If there were any way to pull off a tea stunt, it would have happened ages ago. My gut tells me we're looking at a massive "boom" instead.