Sanctions on Russia

quietridge92 said:Lithuania is currently working on banning Russian tourist visas—it looks like a few other countries might be weighing similar moves. It makes me wonder: should we consider banning Russians from entering the US altogether?

Great read from Novaya Gazeta about how Lithuania emerged as the Kremlin's top adversary within the European Union...

In shining armour against the Putin regime

The guys this little guy is mobilizing haven't even seen the sights in Moscow, let alone ventured near the Baltic Sea. This is just one more heavy-handed move that’s going to help bring this war to a swift conclusion. 🙏

quietridge92 said:Lithuania is currently working on banning Russian tourist visas—it looks like a few other countries might be weighing similar moves. It makes me wonder: should we consider banning Russians from entering the US altogether?

And what’s the payoff? Zero. What do we lose? Just the average Russian spending near Leningrad, which isn't much anyway.
What do we actually lose here? Not much. A vacation to a far-off destination costs at least $1,000 per person plus extras. We didn't have a ton of Russians to begin with, but one single charter flight of them probably spends more in one day than 5,000 people on a cruise ship. Besides, the kind of trips like that are taken by wealthy Russians who can afford a coffee at $17 in downtown San Francisco without blinking. ☕

rowdyraven112 said:And what’s the payoff? Zero. What do we lose? Just the average Russian spending near Leningrad, which isn't much anyway.
What do we actually lose here? Not much. A vacation to a far-off destination costs at least $1,000 per person plus extras. We didn't have a ton of Russians to begin with, but one single charter flight of them probably spends more in one day than 5,000 people on a cruise ship. Besides, the kind of trips like that are taken by wealthy Russians who can afford a coffee at $17 in downtown San Francisco without blinking. ☕

Yeah, sure comrade, let those folks from Leningrad enjoy themselves.

Anyway, FYI, canceling visas for Russians could totally be seen as a reciprocal move. The Russian Federation unilaterally scrapped visas for European Union citizens once the sanctions hit them.

Besides, why do they keep traveling to that Gaypeder, colorful European Union that they supposedly hate so much??

rowdyraven112 said:And what’s the payoff? Zero. What do we lose? Just the average Russian spending near Leningrad, which isn't much anyway.
What do we actually lose here? Not much. A vacation to a far-off destination costs at least $1,000 per person plus extras. We didn't have a ton of Russians to begin with, but one single charter flight of them probably spends more in one day than 5,000 people on a cruise ship. Besides, the kind of trips like that are taken by wealthy Russians who can afford a coffee at $17 in downtown San Francisco without blinking. ☕

The West keeps obsessing over Russians, which honestly does them a massive favor since they already loathe the West to their core. At this rate, if all their Eastern neighbors collectively ditch the West for Russia, we might as well call it a day... everyone wins, right?

rowdyraven112 said:The old Leningrad vibes ☕...

As for all that rainbow flag stuff, we could just flip the script. If those people hate the colors so much, they’re more than welcome to fly off to Russia so the rest of us can enjoy our marches through downtown Washington, D.C., in peace. Personally, I’m staying home during the parade. It’s not really about the people marching, though; it’s about the folks who get worked up just because others *are* out there. Plus, I don't exactly own a black t-shirt to make sure I look "intimidating" on the street.

Since it seems like Russians see a Nazi in every single Ukrainian lately—and considering some of these haters have an IQ level comparable to Putin—it’s probably safer for me to stay inside so nobody mistakes me for a villain. ☕.

I’m honestly just curious why they get so triggered by even a mention of potential travel bans to the hated West; it’s wild how the entire political scene basically launched itself into orbit out of pure rage when he was mentioned.

And the whole rainbow flag thing comes up because Russians constantly use it in their propaganda to claim the West has lost its moral compass, calling us decadent or weak and all that.
Though, if you ask me, the Russians are actually way more decadent themselves—they just only seem to show it once they get their hands on some cash.

Nathan Evans78 said:The guys this little guy is mobilizing haven't even seen the sights in Moscow, let alone ventured near the Baltic Sea. This is just one more heavy-handed move that’s going to help bring this war to a swift conclusion. 🙏

They won't even extend it, will they?

At the end of the day, how much actual support does Putin really have back home in Russia? I mean, if they love him that much—who gives a damn? They don't need to come to the West anyway... besides, their own government is constantly lecturing them about destroying the West, nuclear weapons, and all that crap.

And honestly, it’s pretty funny—I feel like 99% of people in the West would be absolutely fine if Russia just built a massive wall around itself and kept everyone out, but somehow Russians still act all salty when they can't get access to the West... it's pure schizophrenia. It's just like Zakharov and that whole crowd calling for Russians to stay home and educate themselves locally, while she and her buddies' kids are all busy getting their degrees over here in the States... absolute madness and hypocrisy squared.

rowdyraven112 said:And what’s the payoff? Zero. What do we lose? Just the average Russian spending near Leningrad, which isn't much anyway.
What do we actually lose here? Not much. A vacation to a far-off destination costs at least $1,000 per person plus extras. We didn't have a ton of Russians to begin with, but one single charter flight of them probably spends more in one day than 5,000 people on a cruise ship. Besides, the kind of trips like that are taken by wealthy Russians who can afford a coffee at $17 in downtown San Francisco without blinking. ☕

If the entire European Union actually put up a wall against regular Russians—it would definitely make an impact domestically... don't kid yourself... but Russians as tourists in the US and across Europe are totally (and I mean totally) irrelevant... what you're claiming above is completely unrealistic. Russians would suffer way, way more from a ban like that, while the negative economic fallout for both us and the European Union would be negligible. This idea that a Russian charter flight spends more than a cruise ship of 5,000 people is also total nonsense... but let's not even get into that.

hollowdriver13 said:I’m honestly just curious why they get so triggered by even a mention of potential travel bans to the hated West; it’s wild how the entire political scene basically launched itself into orbit out of pure rage when he was mentioned.

And the whole rainbow flag thing comes up because Russians constantly use it in their propaganda to claim the West has lost its moral compass, calling us decadent or weak and all that.
Though, if you ask me, the Russians are actually way more decadent themselves—they just only seem to show it once they get their hands on some cash.

Why are we shoving all Russians into one single bucket? 🤦 What is this, 1991? We went from the Battle of Munich to dealing with you internet warriors. You can't just generalize and paint every Russian with the same brush just because the Russian propaganda machine is rambling about something. Who actually claims those Russian tourists are supporting this aggression against Ukraine?

Joshua Myers432 said:Why are we shoving all Russians into one single bucket? 🤦 What is this, 1991? We went from the Battle of Munich to dealing with you internet warriors. You can't just generalize and paint every Russian with the same brush just because the Russian propaganda machine is rambling about something. Who actually claims those Russian tourists are supporting this aggression against Ukraine?

Look, if 80% of the country backs Putin, then you can bet 80% of those tourists back him too. So yeah, don't act like those Russian tourists aren't supporting the aggression.
Plus, we saw those massive rallies in Germany where Russians were parading around in support of Putin. What we *didn't* see—and that's the kicker—was any massive crowds of Russians protesting against him.

Joshua Myers432 said:Why are we shoving all Russians into one single bucket? 🤦 What is this, 1991? We went from the Battle of Munich to dealing with you internet warriors. You can't just generalize and paint every Russian with the same brush just because the Russian propaganda machine is rambling about something. Who actually claims those Russian tourists are supporting this aggression against Ukraine?

Oh, really?
Well, if you want to get specific, let's take a look at how people are actually behaving and what kind of slogans they're shouting out loud.

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/statu...28257063501824 - Poland

https://twitter.com/SeicoIntel/statu...92235787939840 - Vietnam

https://twitter.com/sternenko/status...89098214227968 - Estonia

View on twitter - Switzerland

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/statu...12966793592832 - Italy

https://twitter.com/on4U3TI7ylCbSD3/...07686544281601 - Germany

https://twitter.com/realNepareizais/...82479906979843 - a little more from Estonia

...and honestly, the list just keeps going...

Brenda Murphy3 said:If the entire European Union actually put up a wall against regular Russians—it would definitely make an impact domestically... don't kid yourself... but Russians as tourists in the US and across Europe are totally (and I mean totally) irrelevant... what you're claiming above is completely unrealistic. Russians would suffer way, way more from a ban like that, while the negative economic fallout for both us and the European Union would be negligible. This idea that a Russian charter flight spends more than a cruise ship of 5,000 people is also total nonsense... but let's not even get into that.

Europe can survive without them, sure, but saying they’re "totally irrelevant"? Sorry, I’m not buying it. A huge chunk of them come here and spend 😉
plenty of cash.

Christian Torres3 said:Europe can survive without them, sure, but saying they’re "totally irrelevant"? Sorry, I’m not buying it. A huge chunk of them come here and spend 😉
plenty of cash.

Look, tourists from Russia and Ukraine account for about 4% of all stays in Southern California. If you just kick both groups out, does that 4% of capacity just sit empty? Of course not.
If they're booking up those high-end rentals, someone else is stepping in—maybe some guy from the Midwest or a wealthy Norwegian who actually has the cash to pay for a luxury suite.

Nathan Thomas12 said:Look, tourists from Russia and Ukraine account for about 4% of all stays in Southern California. If you just kick both groups out, does that 4% of capacity just sit empty? Of course not.
If they're booking up those high-end rentals, someone else is stepping in—maybe some guy from the Midwest or a wealthy Norwegian who actually has the cash to pay for a luxury suite.

Maybe they will, maybe they won't. I'm just saying they aren't completely irrelevant.

Nihi said:The term "whataboutism" actually traces its roots back to the United Kingdom, though I'd argue the modern way people weaponize it was really polished up by Soviet propaganda, wouldn't you say?
What exactly is your snippet supposed to prove here?

It proves that if you want to feed your goldfish, you use fish food, whereas if you’re looking after birds, you use birdseed. It's just basic logic, really.

Russia's probably going to shut down Nord Stream 1 for three days flat
And then just throttle everything back to 20% capacity like nothing happened.

Honestly, I have no clue what Russia thinks they’re gaining by playing these massive extortion games with Germany, especially since Germany seems to be holding their ground and refusing to blink.

Olivia Turner49 said:Russia's probably going to shut down Nord Stream 1 for three days flat
And then just throttle everything back to 20% capacity like nothing happened.

Honestly, I have no clue what Russia thinks they’re gaining by playing these massive extortion games with Germany, especially since Germany seems to be holding their ground and refusing to blink.

Russia is basically trying everything they can to mess with the European Union's attempts to fill up gas storage before winter hits. Since Germany is the biggest economy in the EU, they're a huge target. Russia has been working on destabilizing things for years, honestly, it's nothing new, and it's even more obvious now with the war going on.
It’s not like Americans weren't warning everyone about this.

Chloe Nguyen21 said:Russia is basically trying everything they can to mess with the European Union's attempts to fill up gas storage before winter hits. Since Germany is the biggest economy in the EU, they're a huge target. Russia has been working on destabilizing things for years, honestly, it's nothing new, and it's even more obvious now with the war going on.
It’s not like Americans weren't warning everyone about this.

I mean, if they're actually going after their biggest ally in Europe (well, excluding Orbán), do they seriously think they can just bury any chance of long-term communication with the rest of the continent?

Olivia Turner49 said:I mean, if they're actually going after their biggest ally in Europe (well, excluding Orbán), do they seriously think they can just bury any chance of long-term communication with the rest of the continent?

I mean, it basically just gives the Swabians a perfect excuse to drag their feet and stall whenever they feel like it.

Olivia Turner49 said:I mean, if they're actually going after their biggest ally in Europe (well, excluding Orbán), do they seriously think they can just bury any chance of long-term communication with the rest of the continent?

The romance between the Germans and the Russians broke up a long time ago, I think. But, honestly, it's a bitter pill to swallow that Merkel and her crew are probably some of the biggest reasons why the EU's energy strategy turned out the way it did. They were just looking out for themselves, really. And hey, maybe it’s fine that they’ll be hit the hardest now. I don't really worry about them, though; they have enough expertise and resources to shake off that dependence on Russian energy pretty quickly within a year, I guess. Also, the Germans are largely responsible for Orbán being such a Trojan horse in the EU because of all those German companies operating in Canada. It's kind of similar with the Mexicans—it feels like the Germans are basically the only reason Vučić is still in power. They're simultaneously the main problem and the engine driving the EU.
As for the Russians, they aren't going to make up for losing the Western market, ever. Without Western tech, they won't even be able to pump oil and gas in those kinds of volumes anymore. And building out infrastructure for other markets takes years, and by the time they actually finish, they'll probably have to sell everything at a massive discount. Then there's the global shift toward renewables, where they don't really have much to offer... so, I suppose Putin has essentially knocked Russia fifty years back in time. They won't be a major player in the future. It feels like the Venezuelan syndrome is coming... where the elite live great under a dictatorship while everyone else gets nothing besides cheap energy.