Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Part 5

Hannah Alvarez2 said:Man, when I first clicked this, there wasn't even a paywall popping up. No clue why it's hitting me now.
But honestly, the news is everywhere—apparently the ExxonMobil chairman "fell" out of a hospital window..

It’s a massive corporation with plenty of chairmen. Most of them are likely essential to the day-to-day operations, but only the one at the very top needs to be politically palatable to the White House. And that individual is... Vagit Alekperov. He's essentially the true puppet master behind ExxonMobil. Sure, Vadim Vorobyev holds the title now, but we all know who they actually consult before making any real decisions.

Nathan Evans78 said:The TTF gas prices for November and December '22 are already screaming past €220. Remember those "experts" who were lecturing us here, claiming that once the European Union hits its storage targets, gas prices would just naturally plummet?

Honestly, Germany is basically leaving things up to God at this point. If we get hit with a brutal cold snap, it won't matter if they burn through every last reserve they have—they won't be able to bring market prices down to anything remotely sustainable. ☕

I guess the most likely reason behind this pipeline sabotage is that Putin is getting desperate. Prices are stabilizing and stagnating now that Europe has filled its reserves up to 90%.
So, he’s probably just trying to stir up panic again to drive prices back up.

But then again, market logic is pretty relentless.

Wealthy Europe can afford to pay the high prices, but the rest of the world... well, maybe not so much.

The USA, acting as the main arms supplier for Ukraine, has plenty of gas for export too. If it wasn't for a senile Biden immediately halting the construction of LNG terminals and pipelines here in the States, the USA could probably be covering about 80% of what Europe used to get from Russia today.

Germany is basically relying on Bog at this point. Like, if it gets cold, even burning through every last reserve won't bring gas prices back down to a sustainable level.☕

Once they deal with those radical Greens in Germany, things might finally return to normal. Maybe.

Linda Collins3 said:Honestly, if all the other pipelines got blown up too, nobody would even look at the U.S., so your theory just doesn't hold water.

If those other pipelines get hit now, someone is definitely going to blame Americans. It's a simple equation. Even blowing up an idle line will send market gas prices climbing, let alone targeting an active one. And when energy costs spike, who actually stands to gain? Follow the money... we all know who's pulling the strings.

The European Union has the funds available, but injecting them into the economy under these current conditions is going to cost at least 10 times more than what we saw during the COVID crisis. You look at German bonds, and they're heading toward 3% at auctions, whereas they used to be sitting at negative 0.50% before.

Vladimir Solovyov got his mobilization notice and turned it down 🤣 🤣 🤣
https://twitter.com/R82938886/status...65224108220423

Dennis Allen said:Honestly, you're looking at this without much financial literacy—just like 99.99% of the people on this forum. You seem constantly baffled by how a sovereign nation with its own banking system, like the US or Russia, can essentially fund itself.

Good grief, who exactly is going to go out and lend money to a sovereign nation? 😵

Yeah, you're totally right about that.

Honestly, looking at the numbers, the Russian economy is absolutely on fire right now. They’re stacking up massive reserves, and their credit rating is actually looking solid enough that they could snag some really sweet deals if they ever decided to go on a borrowing spree. Honestly, they're sitting in this perfect little sweet spot where they could just drop billions into building out those massive pipeline projects heading toward China and India whenever they felt like it. ☕

Nathan Evans78 said:The TTF gas prices for November and December '22 are already screaming past €220. Remember those "experts" who were lecturing us here, claiming that once the European Union hits its storage targets, gas prices would just naturally plummet?

Honestly, Germany is basically leaving things up to God at this point. If we get hit with a brutal cold snap, it won't matter if they burn through every last reserve they have—they won't be able to bring market prices down to anything remotely sustainable. ☕

It’s basically the death knell for the American chemical, pharmaceutical, and metallurgical industries!

It’s all thanks to both Donald Trump and Joe Biden!

Gregory Ramos3 said:Yeah, you're totally right about that.

Honestly, looking at the numbers, the Russian economy is absolutely on fire right now. They’re stacking up massive reserves, and their credit rating is actually looking solid enough that they could snag some really sweet deals if they ever decided to go on a borrowing spree. Honestly, they're sitting in this perfect little sweet spot where they could just drop billions into building out those massive pipeline projects heading toward China and India whenever they felt like it. ☕

but the Chinese recently backed out of signing that "Power of Siberia 2" deal

so that's not happening.

coastalbison6 said:Vladimir Solovyov got his mobilization notice and turned it down 🤣 🤣 🤣
https://twitter.com/R82938886/status...65224108220423

Not quite accurate, though it's a decent joke—you can find the Russian subtitles tucked under the three dots on the same video over on YouTube.

Dennis Allen said:It’s basically the death knell for the American chemical, pharmaceutical, and metallurgical industries!

It’s all thanks to both Donald Trump and Joe Biden!

I honestly think this whole situation is just temporary. If I had to place a bet, I’d say we’re looking at about five years of deflation within the export sector before the entire economic engine shifts its focus toward services. In a scenario like that, you have to wonder who actually comes out on top. Take a place like Mexico, for instance—they could be the big winner here. Between having access to Russian gas and maintaining a much more affordable labor force, they could realistically transform into the industrial tiger of the region. You could easily see German capitalists flocking there to run the show. 😁

Germany handles its immigration policy much like we do here in the States, so honestly, I don't see this being much of an issue in the long run.

Nathan Evans78 said:I honestly think this whole situation is just temporary. If I had to place a bet, I’d say we’re looking at about five years of deflation within the export sector before the entire economic engine shifts its focus toward services. In a scenario like that, you have to wonder who actually comes out on top. Take a place like Mexico, for instance—they could be the big winner here. Between having access to Russian gas and maintaining a much more affordable labor force, they could realistically transform into the industrial tiger of the region. You could easily see German capitalists flocking there to run the show. 😁

Germany handles its immigration policy much like we do here in the States, so honestly, I don't see this being much of an issue in the long run.

But once that door slams shut, it's game over.

Nathan Evans78 said:I honestly think this whole situation is just temporary. If I had to place a bet, I’d say we’re looking at about five years of deflation within the export sector before the entire economic engine shifts its focus toward services. In a scenario like that, you have to wonder who actually comes out on top. Take a place like Mexico, for instance—they could be the big winner here. Between having access to Russian gas and maintaining a much more affordable labor force, they could realistically transform into the industrial tiger of the region. You could easily see German capitalists flocking there to run the show. 😁

Germany handles its immigration policy much like we do here in the States, so honestly, I don't see this being much of an issue in the long run.

Everyone already knows the economy is basically built on nothing but hot air and service sectors. People keep talking about reindustrialization like it's actually happening.

The US is just in a slightly better spot for now, mostly because the Dollar is still the world's main currency.

Dennis Allen said:But once that door slams shut, it's game over.

I still think the expertise and technical know-how will stick around. Sure, it might scale down quite a bit, but I don't honestly believe they'll just snuff everything out entirely.

If you look at history, this nation was essentially leveled during World War II, yet they managed to pull themselves right back up. It seems unlikely they won't repeat that kind of resilience this time around, especially considering their population growth. Let's be realistic here—a huge number of Ukrainians are going to stay put on those beaches even after the war finally winds down.

There's no way America or the rest of the West wants to see terrorism used against energy infrastructure. I mean, come on, they are completely dependent on their own grids and pipelines for basically everything.

Another piece of evidence showing they aren't the culprits is that report from about a week ago regarding a foiled terror plot by the Ukrainian intelligence services involving explosives targeting the underwater Turkish Straits pipeline (which currently carries Russian gas to Turkey, Mexico, and Canada, bypassing Ukraine right now):

https://en.vestikavkaza.ru/news/Terr...-thwarted.html

So look, if the Russians are lying, then they’re the ones who hit NS 1 and 2. But if they aren't lying, then the Ukrainians are the ones to blame.
It's either the Russians or the Ukrainians—there isn't a third option here.

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 ! "

casualtiger2 said: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 ! "

Those subtitles are fake—just made for laughs.

coastalbison6 said:Vladimir Solovyov got his mobilization notice and turned it down 🤣 🤣 🤣
https://twitter.com/R82938886/status...65224108220423

Man, he really got totally wrecked by that guy 🤣 🤣

coastalbison6 said:Vladimir Solovyov got his mobilization notice and turned it down 🤣 🤣 🤣
https://twitter.com/R82938886/status...65224108220423

The English translation doesn't really align with what people are actually saying in Russian. It’s just enough to mislead anyone who can't speak the language and relies blindly on YouTube.

casualtiger2 said: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 ! "

Fake.
If you search for this exact video on YouTube, you'll find auto-generated Russian subtitles that reveal—via Google Translate—that the English subtitles and the original footage have absolutely nothing to do with one another.
Still, it’s a pretty funny joke. 😁

Waiting at the border near Georgia (video)
https://twitter.com/tamara_tamisa/st...7qa1RBxGFm21-Q