Sanctions on Russia

Anthony Hill5 said:The Italians have seized a luxury yacht valued at $700 million.

While they haven't explicitly declared it belongs to Putin, if you read the fine print provided by the finance ministry, the implication is unmistakable.

The Italian finance ministry announced that an investigation Had established that The ship ’

The ship’s captain, Guy Bennett-Pearce, told The New York Times recently that its owner was not on the sanctions list, but also denied to have seen or met Mr. Putin on the yacht.

And yet, isn't it curious that a former Scheherazade Crew member told The New York Times that He Had never heard of mr. Khudainatov and confirmed that Crew members always believed and discussed The real owner

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/06/w...?smid=url-copy

Going a bit off-topic here, but this whole "threat to international peace and security" thing got me thinking. It’d be interesting if we just made it a standard rule to seize all assets from these cartels, killers, arms dealers, and anyone else playing ball with them. Why wait for a crisis?

fadedranger162 said:Going a bit off-topic here, but this whole "threat to international peace and security" thing got me thinking. It’d be interesting if we just made it a standard rule to seize all assets from these cartels, killers, arms dealers, and anyone else playing ball with them. Why wait for a crisis?

So you're actually advocating for sanctions against criminals? 😵😵

fadedranger162 said:Going a bit off-topic here, but this whole "threat to international peace and security" thing got me thinking. It’d be interesting if we just made it a standard rule to seize all assets from these cartels, killers, arms dealers, and anyone else playing ball with them. Why wait for a crisis?

There’s actually been an agreement for a long time. The US has its own protocols, and there have been various European Union level agreements dating back to the 90s. I’m not entirely sure how effectively they’ve been integrated into individual national laws.

Another thing is that criminals go to great lengths to hide their tracks, so you need hard evidence first. It's a different story when you're dealing with military commanders or political backers; it’s much harder to mask a war campaign or the connections behind it.

Plus, with sanctions, things usually just get frozen—at least, that's my assumption. With criminal activity, the goal is actual seizure. At least, that's what I assume happens.

Dana Robinson4 said:What do you think would happen to those weapons in a scenario where a mob forcibly removes a democratically elected president?

Well, what happened to those Russian bombs during their two coups when tanks were actually firing on the capitol?

Russia's economy is finally bouncing back

Source, if you have a subscription to The Economist:
https://www.economist.com/finance-an...ck-on-its-feet

The Economist: Russia's economy is back on its feet.

Linda Collins3 said:Russia's economy is finally bouncing back

Source, if you have a subscription to The Economist:
https://www.economist.com/finance-an...ck-on-its-feet

The Economist: Russia's economy is back on its feet.

Could you perhaps provide a little more substance than just the headline?

Linda Collins3 said:Russia's economy is finally bouncing back

Source, if you have a subscription to The Economist:
https://www.economist.com/finance-an...ck-on-its-feet

The Economist: Russia's economy is back on its feet.

The headline is total clickbait; but when you actually dig into the text, it says this:

"True, US client costs have risen by greater than 10% since start of yr"

So basically, business expenses have spiked by over 10%.

"The variety of companies late on their wage funds appears to be rising."

The number of companies falling behind on payroll is actually going up.

"The US economic system is undoubtedly shrinking...."

The US economy is definitely getting smaller....

"....the greatest purpose for the economic system’s resilience pertains to fossil fuels."

The main reason they’re even managing to limp along is because of fossil fuel sales.

"on Could 4th The American fee proposed a Ban on imports of All Russian oil that will Come into full Drive by The tip of The yr. Till then, anticipate the Russian economic system to proceed to trundle alongside."

Until the EU bans fossil fuel imports from there, expect their economy to just somehow keep rolling along.

boldotter2 said:Well, what happened to those Russian bombs during their two coups when tanks were actually firing on the capitol?

So, bombs are perfectly fine then...?

Is there really any reason to be concerned if we just decide that anything goes—whether it’s happening in Tanzania, Canada, or anywhere else on the map?

rustywalker82 said:The US hasn't made up its mind yet on whether they'll push for an exemption from the oil embargo. Honestly, it’s not surprising one bit.

You really just have to look back at all those debates regarding offshore oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. Back then, a bunch of self-proclaimed geniuses spent all their time throwing insults at anyone who actually supported those kinds of investments (and let’s be real, those "experts" ended up being proven right). Even the Russian ambassador weighed in, getting quoted by everyone while he argued that we shouldn't even bother drilling just for a few extra drops of oil and gas. 🤣

By the way, I recall the folks in Texas went through a massive drilling project last year, but there hasn't been a single word about finding anything useful...

rustywalker82 said:The US hasn't made up its mind yet on whether they'll push for an exemption from the oil embargo. Honestly, it’s not surprising one bit.

You really just have to look back at all those debates regarding offshore oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. Back then, a bunch of self-proclaimed geniuses spent all their time throwing insults at anyone who actually supported those kinds of investments (and let’s be real, those "experts" ended up being proven right). Even the Russian ambassador weighed in, getting quoted by everyone while he argued that we shouldn't even bother drilling just for a few extra drops of oil and gas. 🤣

The most frustrating part is that while we had maybe 20 gas platforms in the same area, the Italians had over 200!
Still, it's much better to conduct business through ExxonMobil than to deal with the headache of drilling. 😉

Dennis Price said:So you're actually advocating for sanctions against criminals? 😵😵

You bet I am. Especially when it comes to the guys playing footsie with them—kind of like how everyone’s acting toward the Russians right now. You try to be a "good friend" to those types, and suddenly all your real estate in the States vanishes, and your businesses get blacklisted because nobody wants to risk being used as a laundry service for their dirty cash.

bluemason3 said:There’s actually been an agreement for a long time. The US has its own protocols, and there have been various European Union level agreements dating back to the 90s. I’m not entirely sure how effectively they’ve been integrated into individual national laws.

Another thing is that criminals go to great lengths to hide their tracks, so you need hard evidence first. It's a different story when you're dealing with military commanders or political backers; it’s much harder to mask a war campaign or the connections behind it.

Plus, with sanctions, things usually just get frozen—at least, that's my assumption. With criminal activity, the goal is actual seizure. At least, that's what I assume happens.

Sure, with people who haven't been proven guilty yet, pulling that off is basically impossible. But we've all seen what happens in places like Italy when they finally nail a whole branch of a mafia family and end up combing through every single thing they own.

But I've honestly never seen a blockade this massive—where they go after every possible friend, business, or connection linked to a criminal. There might be similar tools out there, but compared to this, they seem pretty weak, especially considering the civilian casualties in Ukraine could rival some of the drug cartels in Latin America—maybe even trail behind them if we look back further.

For a split second there, I found myself looking at these sanctions and thinking they felt like one giant, absurd farce—almost bordering on perverse.

I mean, think about it: Russian gas is still pumping steadily into the European Union (with Ukraine consistently collecting those transit fees), oil is still moving just fine, and a quarter of the EU is out there lobbying for exemptions... yet we’re banning Russian athletes and artists (and by the way, where exactly are 🤔 those people even living these days?) from competing on the world stage.

Honestly, if we’re going to go through with these heavy-duty, hardcore sanctions, then let's actually commit to them and say, "Zero points, you're out," starting right from the very source in Ukraine itself.

The way things are going, it feels like some twisted, distorted version of Fahrenheit 451 where we're essentially burning the works of Dostoevsky and Pushkin using fuel imported from Russia just yesterday. 🙄

True, but if the Ukrainian side threatens to cut off gas supplies, you can bet the European Union will just respond by saying, "Oh, really? Then maybe we'll just stop sending weapons."

Zachary Jackson4 said:True, but if the Ukrainian side threatens to cut off gas supplies, you can bet the European Union will just respond by saying, "Oh, really? Then maybe we'll just stop sending weapons."

But isn't there something deeply hypocritical about that—almost repulsive, actually...?

It brings back an incredibly unpleasant sense of déjà vu from the era of the American Civil War, where it was a truly sickening reality that even under strict embargoes, certain factions were still finding ways to source fuel through neighboring territories...

Or perhaps, as Sartre once famously noted “When the rich wage war, it is the poor who die,” is he actually right, in a way that feels painfully, piercingly true...

Zachary Jackson4 said:True, but if the Ukrainian side threatens to cut off gas supplies, you can bet the European Union will just respond by saying, "Oh, really? Then maybe we'll just stop sending weapons."

Don't sweat the Ukrainians too much—as long as the Americans have their backs, they won't have any issues with ammo.

brightheron64 said:For a split second there, I found myself looking at these sanctions and thinking they felt like one giant, absurd farce—almost bordering on perverse.

I mean, think about it: Russian gas is still pumping steadily into the European Union (with Ukraine consistently collecting those transit fees), oil is still moving just fine, and a quarter of the EU is out there lobbying for exemptions... yet we’re banning Russian athletes and artists (and by the way, where exactly are 🤔 those people even living these days?) from competing on the world stage.

Honestly, if we’re going to go through with these heavy-duty, hardcore sanctions, then let's actually commit to them and say, "Zero points, you're out," starting right from the very source in Ukraine itself.

The way things are going, it feels like some twisted, distorted version of Fahrenheit 451 where we're essentially burning the works of Dostoevsky and Pushkin using fuel imported from Russia just yesterday. 🙄

You can't just shut off a faucet overnight, but you can definitely turn down the flow. Russia earned a slow decline—makes it hurt more that way.

fadedjackal8 said:Don't sweat the Ukrainians too much—as long as the Americans have their backs, they won't have any issues with ammo.

The Ukrainians are the ones worrying, not me. Otherwise, they would have closed things down already.

fadedjackal8 said:You can't just shut off a faucet overnight, but you can definitely turn down the flow. Russia earned a slow decline—makes it hurt more that way.

Actually, you absolutely can. You pin that demon down while he's still on his back, you don't give him a second to breathe, let alone stand up... and come after you again.

That whole idea of a "deservedly slow death" feels like a tired cliché from some James Bond film where the villain is left to fade away, only to somehow manage to wreck everything anyway at the very end...

The general global population—and I say this gently, but many couldn't even point to Moscow on a map if their lives depended on it—happily swallows the narrative that sanctions will slowly wither Russia away. They fail to realize they are dealing with a nation that transitioned from feudalism and a brutal autocracy (essentially total destitution under the Tsars) into another form of struggle—communism—and was then handed a version of "progress" and democracy by Putin himself, leading to a lifestyle where things like BMWs, iPhones, Adidas, and Nestle became the standard norm...

The West (NATO) seems to be viewing this entire situation through rose-colored glasses, assuming that whatever hurts them must be hurting the Russians just as much. But if you want to see how effective that kind of policy really is, just look at South Korea... which, heaven help us, is still breathing, thriving, and living on nothing but a bowl of rice, all while building up a defense sector so massive that picking a fight with them would be genuinely, perilously dangerous...

fadedranger162 said:You bet I am. Especially when it comes to the guys playing footsie with them—kind of like how everyone’s acting toward the Russians right now. You try to be a "good friend" to those types, and suddenly all your real estate in the States vanishes, and your businesses get blacklisted because nobody wants to risk being used as a laundry service for their dirty cash.

Sure, with people who haven't been proven guilty yet, pulling that off is basically impossible. But we've all seen what happens in places like Italy when they finally nail a whole branch of a mafia family and end up combing through every single thing they own.

But I've honestly never seen a blockade this massive—where they go after every possible friend, business, or connection linked to a criminal. There might be similar tools out there, but compared to this, they seem pretty weak, especially considering the civilian casualties in Ukraine could rival some of the drug cartels in Latin America—maybe even trail behind them if we look back further.

There aren't any sanctions for crime. Crime is just crime.

brightheron64 said:Actually, you absolutely can. You pin that demon down while he's still on his back, you don't give him a second to breathe, let alone stand up... and come after you again.

That whole idea of a "deservedly slow death" feels like a tired cliché from some James Bond film where the villain is left to fade away, only to somehow manage to wreck everything anyway at the very end...

The general global population—and I say this gently, but many couldn't even point to Moscow on a map if their lives depended on it—happily swallows the narrative that sanctions will slowly wither Russia away. They fail to realize they are dealing with a nation that transitioned from feudalism and a brutal autocracy (essentially total destitution under the Tsars) into another form of struggle—communism—and was then handed a version of "progress" and democracy by Putin himself, leading to a lifestyle where things like BMWs, iPhones, Adidas, and Nestle became the standard norm...

The West (NATO) seems to be viewing this entire situation through rose-colored glasses, assuming that whatever hurts them must be hurting the Russians just as much. But if you want to see how effective that kind of policy really is, just look at South Korea... which, heaven help us, is still breathing, thriving, and living on nothing but a bowl of rice, all while building up a defense sector so massive that picking a fight with them would be genuinely, perilously dangerous...

South Korea? Yeah, they're breathing, they're alive. But who are they actually fighting wars with? Are they even capable of attacking J. Korea?