Sanctions on Russia

Pepper said:Russia is making its own smartphone called the Ayya T1—you can look it up online if you don't believe me.

As far as chip manufacturers go, they've got Micron Technology, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon.

It's basically just a Chinese phone.
The chip inside is a Chinese MT6771T from back in 2019.

It’s kind of like those American brands—think of them like an old local startup that just assembled phones using cheap parts imported from China...

https://www.gizmochina.com/product/umidigi-f2/

Does this mean Russia itself is merely an instrument in the Chinese hand? Let’s be realistic—without Chinese imports, all that Russian weaponry would be utterly useless.
China clearly sees an interest in this conflict. Given how massive and resource-rich Russia is, perhaps it actually serves China's interests to let this war drag on until Russia loses as many people as possible.
Is it even possible that the West and China are quietly negotiating a way to divide Russia among themselves?

After all, if a nation as vast as Russia cannot design and provide chips, Intel processors, computers, advanced composite materials, and other high-end technology—offering nothing but magic tricks and ideology instead—then what on earth are we even looking at?

Kyle Murphy81 said:If Russia truly possesses its own domestic production for chips, Intel processors, and the software to run them—spanning from raw silicon to finished computers—then one must admit they have talented people and high-quality universities producing the engineers who design and lead these Russian companies.
Not to mention advanced composite materials and such.
If Russia produces all of that independently, then one must give them credit.

It doesn't just fall from the sky, allowing Putin and Kiril (Jesus's priest) to spend the lives of Americans as they please.
After all, someone actually has to invent all that advanced technology.

If the Russians truly have all this, why is it that the Ukrainians choose to align themselves with the West, where they won't exactly have the freedom to experiment, design, and manufacture their own Intel chips and other advanced tech?

With the Russians, they might have had better opportunities—given the shared language and culture—to research, innovate, and develop high-tech products that could benefit the world and foster national growth.

As it stands, in the West, they are left with nothing but speculation and intrigue.

I don't get you. If you're so convinced, just move to Russia. That's where your future lies.😁 As for the rest of us, we'll stick with products from the decaying West.🍿

Pepper said:Good grief... where are you getting this from?
The Russians produce all the electronics required for military purposes. They have been doing so since the days of the USSR.

What they truly struggle with is the transition from military applications to commercial use.
And honestly, is it even worth using data on comments regarding the division of Russia?

They clearly possess some level of electronics. But how high is their quality and precision?
Furthermore, they lack the advanced composite materials necessary to ensure a soldier is fully protected against the most intense fire. Clearly, they don't have the tech to make every soldier as protected as Iron Man.

Putin has already cost many lives; I wonder if the top religious leader, Patriarch Kiril, can simply authorize additional quotas, especially from the middle class.

The war in Ukraine will be the ultimate test of the quality of all this.

From what I can gather, all the forecasts suggest Russia's GDP will drop by about 10% this year.

The impact of sanctions is undeniable. Without them, they would be seeing growth. Some sectors might be performing better or worse than expected, but there is no question that sanctions have hit them hard.

However, I believe the military blow is what hurts them most. Even before these sanctions, Russia's economy was already struggling, much like Italy's economic situation. They were essentially a broken economy even before the restrictions kicked in. Population-wise, they have fewer people than the two largest countries in the EU, let alone the rest of Europe. They simply aren't, and cannot be, a global player. Their only two real arguments were their military and their natural resources.

1. Militarily, they've been stalled just a few miles from their own borders without even needing NATO to step in. That says everything you need to know about their status as a global superpower.

2. As for energy, they've been brushed off. In five years, Europe likely won't give a damn about their energy supplies because they'll have organized alternative channels. Good luck to them trying to blackmail China or India... those are ten times larger and more powerful nations, and they're only going to get stronger...

Pepper said:The calibers and Kinzals are plenty accurate, as we've seen in Ukraine. Honestly, Russia sends people into space and leads the way in rocket tech.

Russia might be masters of space, but they can't even take three small villages in two months...

Jack Hill2 said:Russia might be masters of space, but they can't even take three small villages in two months...

That’s what happens when you actually care about civilians. Dammit.

Pepper said:Ugh... where are you even getting that from?
The Russians manufacture all the electronics they need for military use. They've been doing it since the USSR days.

Basically, you're right that almost everything is inferior to Western equivalents. Out of pure necessity, they've become masters of analog electronics.

Jack Hill2 said:Russia might be masters of space, but they can't even take three small villages in two months...

It is their standard pattern. During the USSR era, they could tackle massive, complex engineering feats, yet they consistently failed at basic logistics—like producing enough grain to feed themselves. Once the system shifted, they suddenly became major grain exporters. It is the same people, the same land, and the same climate; all that changed was the political framework and their integration into global markets.

Pepper said:The calibers and Kinzals are plenty accurate—we've seen that in Ukraine. Look, Russia still sends people into space and they're leading the way in rocket tech.

To a fan like you, that's peak Russian technology. But for a college-educated Russian citizen, it would be much more important to actually produce cars, phones, gaming consoles, or TVs. They'd have Western-style wages. Instead, they're more like Korea. You see wealthy individuals alongside a poor population, just like in Korea. That's what happens when you live in a dictatorship.

Pepper said:It took the US two months just to take Fallujah, and even then, Fallujah was defended by an organized army that NATO had spent years training and equipping...

But the Russians are just losing people, equipment, and the war itself, and we're already approaching the six-month mark...

Man, stop dragging the US military into comparisons with Russia. It doesn't make sense. We could be comparing the Pakistani military to Russia or something else entirely... Just leave the USA out of it. If the Russians are struggling against Ukraine, they certainly aren't a match for the USA...

Kyle Murphy81 said:People know remarkably little about Russia. For instance, the average American has a clear grasp of what life is like there—their economy, school systems, universities, medicine, science, and so on.
We have a general idea of who develops weapons in the USA and how they do it.

Regarding Russia, we don't even know who is actually developing anything; supposedly there are institutes in Moscow, but is everything kept under wraps?
How do Russia and Putin actually acquire their weaponry?
In this day and age, you can't even start a car or run a washing machine without a chip—does Russia possess its own production for chips and CPUs, from the hardware all the way down to the software?

Sure, perhaps they have hardware production in the sense of assembling tanks and machinery... but how do they manage to develop the critical components?

It seems that if Russia is such a massive country, yet cannot independently develop its own weapons—meaning every single component, down to the molecular level including the chips—but instead imports vital parts from China, or heaven forbid, the USA or the West, then it appears Russia is merely a giant proxy, fighting for someone else's interests.

To sustain offensive or ideological wars, one must prove that a specific ideology works by, say, producing the necessary chips and software to support it. Or by developing advanced systems entirely on one's own.

Then again, even Ukraine doesn't handle all its own development.
So, making an assessment here is difficult.

The ideologies that succeed are those capable of motivating people and communities to produce and offer tangible solutions to concrete problems. Think of global challenges like climate, economics, transportation, asteroids, or terraforming other planets...

If Russia were to develop its own chip, CPU, PC, and Smartphone to offer to the world, that would be quite something.

They have all of it, but it’s less sophisticated, more expensive, or they simply can't scale production. Besides, even the US Army isn't immune to the fallout of globalization and the relentless pursuit of profit margins.

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/01/03/us-p...r-program.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/some-us...ed-from-china/
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/th...ge-chunk-25966
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defen...-parts-prices/

etc.

Noah Diaz said:They have all of it, but it’s less sophisticated, more expensive, or they simply can't scale production. Besides, even the US Army isn't immune to the fallout of globalization and the relentless pursuit of profit margins.

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/01/03/us-p...r-program.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/some-us...ed-from-china/
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/th...ge-chunk-25966
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defen...-parts-prices/

etc.

True, but the US outsources its intellect and tech to other nations primarily to leverage cheaper labor. They make sure that if an emergency hits, they can pivot production back home relatively easily...

The Russians just assemble foreign parts because they lack the homegrown technology and expertise to compete at that level...

Pepper said:Hold on. Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine sees 100 dead and 500 wounded every single day. Not to mention his constant complaining about everything from funding to weaponry.

Regarding the comparisons, at least the Russians didn't waste twenty years and billions of dollars just to swap one set of Taliban for another.

Reading your praise for Russia after this total disaster in Ukraine is honestly hilarious. Pure entertainment. 🍿 🤣

Pepper said:The caliber and Kinzal missiles are perfectly precise enough, as has already been proven in Ukraine. For heaven's sake, Russia is sending people into space and remains a leader in rocket technology.

I suspect those actually flying into orbit wouldn't care to disagree with you, but then again, what would they know?

The most outspoken critic of Rogozin and Russia's space program Has been Maxim Suraev, a Russian fighter pilot Who served six-month stints on The International Space station in 2010 and 2014. After retiring from the cosmonaut corps, Suraev was elected to the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian assembly.

For reasons that are not entirely clear, Suraev's criticism of The state of The Russian space program Has escalated in recent Weeks. For example, One Week aga He tweeted an image comparing The interior of The Russian Soyuz vehicle with that of SpaceX's Crew dragon spacecraft, developed for NASA, with the caption, "Needless to say, you can see for yourself."

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020...s-them-drunks/

https://mobile.twitter.com/Msuraev/s...45340039528448

Russia Admits Defeat, Says It'll launch Cosmonauts on SpaceX Spacecraft

https://futurism.com/russia-launch-c...cex-spacecraft

Now you can finally return to your clumsy little attempts at trolling.

Pepper said:Hold on, seriously... Zelenskyy himself stated that Ukraine sees 100 dead and 500 wounded every single day. Not to mention how he constantly complains about everything, from funding to weaponry...

Regarding comparisons, sure, the Russians haven't wasted twenty years and countless billions just to swap one set of Taliban for another.

From the Ukrainian perspective, Russian losses are even higher. Plus, Ukraine's recruitment potential for this conflict is significantly greater. Ukrainians actually want to defend their home. In Russia, no sane person wants to fight a war in someone else's country. It’s not like you would volunteer to fight for some politician in a special operation over in Mexico or Mexico. That is why Putin is doing everything possible to avoid forced mobilization; he knows the people might revolt. He can try filling the ranks with mercenaries or impoverished people dying for a few bucks, but that pool isn't infinite—it's already drying up. Now it's clear: Russia either needs total mobilization or they lose the war...

Forget about Americans, it doesn't make sense. You can argue about the strategic futility of American involvement in the Middle East, but those aren't military failures, they are political ones. Militarily, Americans have defeated them whenever they chose to. But that has absolutely nothing to do with the Russians. After 100 days of war, the Russians can't even make a dent in Kyiv... in fact, they were defeated in the battle for it.

The U.S. can conquer a nation of 60 million people halfway across the world in a month without anyone back home even noticing. If there weren't news reports, nobody would even know. To them, it's just routine military exercise. That is the scale of their power...

Russia has exhausted itself trying to seize two villages near the border, wrecking its own economy, draining its resources, losing its fleet and aircraft, decimating its professional military, and isolating its people... all to achieve nothing...

Pepper said:Hold on a second. Zelenskyy claims Ukraine is seeing 100 dead and 500 wounded every single day. And let’s not even get started on how he constantly complains about everything, from the funding to the actual weapons shipments.

You have to take all those numbers and multiply or divide them by two at the very least. That’s just how wartime propaganda works. It’s the exact same thing you see when reading Russian propaganda. It’s all just part of the so-called fog of war.

Pepper said:Yeah, according to the Ukrainians.

But you're just using them as a source.

With all these sanctions hitting, I bet Putin is out there telling his own people to shower in your bra and cook in the kettle instead of leaving that kind of nonsense to wealthy Englishmen 🤷

It’s funny how much we have to pay just to play the "democracy" card 🧐

bluerider63 said:With all these sanctions hitting, I bet Putin is out there telling his own people to shower in your bra and cook in the kettle instead of leaving that kind of nonsense to wealthy Englishmen 🤷

It’s funny how much we have to pay just to play the "democracy" card 🧐

Based on your comment, I wouldn't expect Russia's GDP to drop by 10% while the EU grows by 2% this year. It should be the exact opposite...

But who cares about GDP? It’s all about Lavrov and Putin...