Sanctions on Russia

Donna Harris11 said:?

But look, they actually have their own homegrown processors, like the Everest 8 S and Baikal m.

Yeah, right. Like they actually have anything of their own. They’re just running on old ARM licenses—and let's be real, they're using outdated ones, which is why nobody actually wants them. And honestly? They aren't even making them themselves, lol. That kind of stuff is way too complicated for the Russians to pull off on their own. They’ve been relying on places like TSMC to manufacture them. You really shouldn't take all those big claims about Russia launching its own advanced domestic tech seriously unless you're looking for a good laugh at their expense.
https://www.aroged.com/2022/05/06/th...-architecture/
https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/79684/

Give me a break... Did they drop the AC to a comfortable 28 degrees while it's 104 outside? Or maybe they set the cruise control ten miles under the limit? Just more of those ridiculous little tweaks some bureaucrats at a community college cooked up to satisfy some European Union foreign policy agenda? ☕

I haven't noticed anyone driving way under the speed limit, mostly because the cops are constantly pulling me over even when I'm right on the mark. ☕

Nathan Thomas12 said:Look, Iran has enough cash for nuclear missiles, yet they still can't get them.
Russia has plenty of money for plane parts and truck components, but they're still short. Their logistics guys have been whining about it for months. But hey, according to you, they'll just "find a way" to score microchips too. I guess I can't argue with that logic.

At the end of the day, the Russians will figure something out, but Europe? Not gonna happen.🥱

When we're talking about supply chains, they'll handle airplane parts by stripping them off other planes or just swapping in something similar enough. It’s not ideal, and it definitely isn't by the book, but it gets the job done.

Aviation safety in Russia might take a bit of a hit, but they'll trade that for economic security and just being able to keep moving.
It's kind of like how Cuba or India handle medicine, if I remember right. While the EU goes down the path of stricter controls and constant quality checks on drugs, places like India and Cuba tend to take shortcuts just to keep costs low and production high.

Donna Harris11 said:?

But look, they actually have their own homegrown processors, like the Everest 8 S and Baikal m.

Oh sure, just like how Americans have a massive auto industry and everyone cruises around in a Chevy.

I was reading some report on Tom's Hardware claiming that back in 2021, one of the biggest banks in Russia put the Everest 8 S through its paces, and apparently, it was a complete disaster—just a total failure by their standards.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/ru...t-unacceptable

I guess they just need to dump another few trillion dollars into R&D to catch up with how the rest of the world does things, and then maybe—just maybe—it’ll actually work...

Technically speaking, TSMC built it based on their own design. I mean, trying to go toe-to-toe with giants like AMD, Intel, or ARM—you know, those M1 and M2 chips—is just... it's massive. It's an insanely expensive, brutal engineering and scientific mountain to climb. I guess most companies wouldn't even dream of touching that unless they had a really, really good reason and, like, a ridiculous amount of cash and time on their hands.

Ever since those Snowden revelations dropped about how the US spies on its own allies, I guess it’s actually kind of surprising that besides China and Russia, nobody else really jumped on the bandwagon to develop their own processors.

Mainly because their long-term goals actually line up with American interests...
I mean, anyone with half a brain knows Google, Apple, and Amazon are basically watching our every move.
Honestly, if I have to deal with someone tracking my data, I’d much rather it be Google than the FBI or something like that.

Donna Harris11 said:Ever since those Snowden revelations dropped about how the US spies on its own allies, I guess it’s actually kind of surprising that besides China and Russia, nobody else really jumped on the bandwagon to develop their own processors.

I mean, you can't really do anything without access to the global market, and when countries decide to pull away from that international stage, things get messy. Just look at the auto industry for a comparison—think about a basic Ford versus high-end luxury cars sold globally; the gap is just massive. Sure, both will get you from point A to point B, but those premium models feel like spaceships compared to a budget commuter car...

electricsurfer47 said:When we're talking about supply chains, they'll handle airplane parts by stripping them off other planes or just swapping in something similar enough. It’s not ideal, and it definitely isn't by the book, but it gets the job done.

Aviation safety in Russia might take a bit of a hit, but they'll trade that for economic security and just being able to keep moving.
It's kind of like how Cuba or India handle medicine, if I remember right. While the EU goes down the path of stricter controls and constant quality checks on drugs, places like India and Cuba tend to take shortcuts just to keep costs low and production high.

What, do they pull extra planes out of a hat or something? They've only got so many. You have to look at sanctions that are designed to last decades.

Iran is dealing with a massive headache regarding civilian aircraft because half their fleet is grounded, leading to a high accident rate. Things are only getting worse—they've managed to scrape by by stripping parts from other planes, but that's a finite resource.

Once you finish a jar of Nutella, you can always scrape the sides, but you can't do that forever.

silentnomad7 said:And they've even claimed they'll develop their own technology.

It sounds so simple, doesn't it? You imagine a microchip today, you build it tomorrow, and by the day after, you're selling millions of units.

Honestly, those millions of educated Russians who fled the country at the start of the war don't even matter in the grand scheme of things. As long as Putin has the resources, you just have to assume he'll bend reality to his will through sheer force of thought...

But the truth is a bit more grim; under Putin and his little inner circle, Russia is basically regressing back to the Middle Ages.

Look at how people viewed Americans back in 1945: just a drunken, uneducated, primitive mob stuck in a bygone era. Then, suddenly, boom—the first satellite in 1957, then the first man in space in 1961. It was a massive wake-up call for those condescending critics. 🤣

Underestimating an enemy before they strike is stupidity; doing it after they've won is cowardice. ©Goethe

Honestly, you really only need to ask yourself one question: where would you actually prefer to live? France, Germany, Belgium... or Russia?
I’m pretty sure 90% of people would give you the same answer. Even those folks who claim to be huge fans of Russia.

dustyowl29 said:Honestly, you really only need to ask yourself one question: where would you actually prefer to live? France, Germany, Belgium... or Russia?
I’m pretty sure 90% of people would give you the same answer. Even those folks who claim to be huge fans of Russia.

Well, our local "Russia lovers" are living their best lives right here in the US and the EU... occasionally popping up on a forum from someone in Mexico or Canada... 😁 ...but you never see them actually packing a bag to move to Russia. And if they have kids? Yeah, they aren't exactly rushing to relocate the family to Moscow either. Nope. It's always just "the evil West" this and "the evil West" that. 😵

Give me a break. These "patriots" who love Russia are some of the most clueless, hypocritical people you'll ever run into... 😁

dustyowl29 said:Honestly, you really only need to ask yourself one question: where would you actually prefer to live? France, Germany, Belgium... or Russia?
I’m pretty sure 90% of people would give you the same answer. Even those folks who claim to be huge fans of Russia.

Our neighbors to the East can talk all they want, but the data doesn't lie. There are fewer than 15,000 of them living in Russia, compared to millions out West.

rowdyraven112 said:Give me a break... Did they drop the AC to a comfortable 28 degrees while it's 104 outside? Or maybe they set the cruise control ten miles under the limit? Just more of those ridiculous little tweaks some bureaucrats at a community college cooked up to satisfy some European Union foreign policy agenda? ☕

I haven't noticed anyone driving way under the speed limit, mostly because the cops are constantly pulling me over even when I'm right on the mark. ☕

How could you not notice? Are we all just riding bicycles now because we've collectively lost our minds?

Joshua Myers432 said:Look at how people viewed Americans back in 1945: just a drunken, uneducated, primitive mob stuck in a bygone era. Then, suddenly, boom—the first satellite in 1957, then the first man in space in 1961. It was a massive wake-up call for those condescending critics. 🤣

Underestimating an enemy before they strike is stupidity; doing it after they've won is cowardice. ©Goethe

But what did the people living in Russia actually get out of that whole space race journey?

Did they actually build up any meaningful industries from it, or improve daily life so things were better for the average person?

Or was it mostly just a massive exercise in vanity and bragging rights...

gentlestag15 said:Look, 2,000 tons of gold is about $100 billion. That’s significant, sure, but it’s nowhere near as massive as people love to pretend it is.
The American external debt is actually 70% private bank and corporate debt. It’s a sign that things are actually being built and invested in within the country, rather than just drowning in government loans.

You mentioned 70%,

but then they go around claiming it hit 82%. Honestly, what do journalists really know? They can't tell the difference between 10% more or less if their lives depended on it.

When you weigh that $100 billion in gold against our own zero, it starts to look pretty 😉
much more significant.

Gregory Ramos3 said:Honestly, even if they actually wanted to take on more debt, the real question is what kind of terms we'd be looking at, assuming they could even pull it off—because let's be real, there’s always some shady character out there looking to line their own pockets the moment money starts moving.

Things are only going to get truly interesting once the reserves completely dry up and the treasury hits zero. ☕

When you're looking at a budget, the most critical factor isn't just how much you have, but the balance between revenue coming in and expenses going out.😉

A budget doesn't necessarily need to be massive if the income is consistently outpacing the spending; you could manage a smaller fund for years and still see the balance grow or stay steady.

Russia earns significantly more from its oil and gas exports than it is currently spending on the war in Ukraine.

urbanotter said:You mentioned 70%,

but then they go around claiming it hit 82%. Honestly, what do journalists really know? They can't tell the difference between 10% more or less if their lives depended on it.

When you weigh that $100 billion in gold against our own zero, it starts to look pretty 😉
much more significant.

Economic genius Mirko E. Zlikovski—the legend himself, striking again.

If he could just manage to master basic reading comprehension, this whole situation would be slightly less of a comedy routine.

As it stands, it's just pathetic.

urbanotter said:You mentioned 70%,

but then they go around claiming it hit 82%. Honestly, what do journalists really know? They can't tell the difference between 10% more or less if their lives depended on it.

When you weigh that $100 billion in gold against our own zero, it starts to look pretty 😉
much more significant.

We were talking about foreign debt, yet you drop a link where you're bundling in domestic debt too.

Anyway, American foreign exchange reserves per capita were actually stronger before the war started.
Plus, I fully expect them to be more than double what Russia has left soon, since Russian reserves are melting away like snow in the sun. (The real question is whether they ever get back those $300 billion that were frozen, or if that money just goes straight toward rebuilding Ukraine.)
Within a year, once Europe stops importing energy from Russia entirely, things over there are going to collapse. They were selling 90% of their gas to Europe and 10% to the rest of the world, plus a huge chunk of oil. They basically lived off those sales—Russian state revenue was 60% fueled by energy exports.
Everything is going exactly according to plan in Putinland.😵

I’ve been digging through this for quite some time now, desperately searching for even a shred of evidence or a logical explanation to support the claim that sanctions are actually hurting the West more than they are hitting Russia, but I haven't come across a single argument that makes any sense at all.

It honestly feels like Russian propaganda hasn't quite polished this particular narrative yet—I suppose it's designed for people who don't ask many questions.

Can anyone actually walk me through the logic here? How on earth are these... if I recall correctly... six different rounds of sanctions supposed to be damaging the West instead of Russia?

Respectfully submitted,
Best regards,