Sanctions on Russia

dustyowl29 said:Down the road, once we're looking at lifting the sanctions on Russia, we could potentially force them to foot the bill.

There are endless ways to spin this. For instance, they could agree to divert a portion of the revenue from Russian gas sales directly to Ukraine as reparations over the next decade or so. It’s all just a matter of optics. The Russians will tell their people that Western consumers are essentially footing the bill for Ukraine's reconstruction. Meanwhile, the European Union will tell its citizens that Russia is paying the damages, even if it means receiving slightly less for their gas imports. In reality, the truth will likely sit somewhere in the murky middle of those two narratives. Right now, the priority remains simple: stop the fighting and ensure Ukraine remains free. Ideally, Russia would show some cooperation and withdraw "out of goodwill," seeing as it's become obvious to everyone that this prolonged attrition serves no one. Honestly, that realization hit most people by the fourth day of the conflict. If they didn't manage to break Ukraine then, they certainly won't do it now.

Nancy Gomez26 said:There are endless ways to spin this. For instance, they could agree to divert a portion of the revenue from Russian gas sales directly to Ukraine as reparations over the next decade or so. It’s all just a matter of optics. The Russians will tell their people that Western consumers are essentially footing the bill for Ukraine's reconstruction. Meanwhile, the European Union will tell its citizens that Russia is paying the damages, even if it means receiving slightly less for their gas imports. In reality, the truth will likely sit somewhere in the murky middle of those two narratives. Right now, the priority remains simple: stop the fighting and ensure Ukraine remains free. Ideally, Russia would show some cooperation and withdraw "out of goodwill," seeing as it's become obvious to everyone that this prolonged attrition serves no one. Honestly, that realization hit most people by the fourth day of the conflict. If they didn't manage to break Ukraine then, they certainly won't do it now.

Well, you can certainly think that...

But we've already discussed this—reparations are only ever paid by the defeated. By those who have been forced onto their knees...
Even back during the Paris negotiations regarding how the USA would pay reparations to Vietnam, they talked a big game. And did they actually pay? Not a dime!...

Nancy Gomez26 said:There are endless ways to spin this. For instance, they could agree to divert a portion of the revenue from Russian gas sales directly to Ukraine as reparations over the next decade or so. It’s all just a matter of optics. The Russians will tell their people that Western consumers are essentially footing the bill for Ukraine's reconstruction. Meanwhile, the European Union will tell its citizens that Russia is paying the damages, even if it means receiving slightly less for their gas imports. In reality, the truth will likely sit somewhere in the murky middle of those two narratives. Right now, the priority remains simple: stop the fighting and ensure Ukraine remains free. Ideally, Russia would show some cooperation and withdraw "out of goodwill," seeing as it's become obvious to everyone that this prolonged attrition serves no one. Honestly, that realization hit most people by the fourth day of the conflict. If they didn't manage to break Ukraine then, they certainly won't do it now.

That’s the ideal scenario, without question. It should happen immediately, right now!...
But, goodness, the Russian leadership making these calls is playing an entirely different movie in their heads... 😵

Nancy Gomez26 said:There are endless ways to spin this. For instance, they could agree to divert a portion of the revenue from Russian gas sales directly to Ukraine as reparations over the next decade or so. It’s all just a matter of optics. The Russians will tell their people that Western consumers are essentially footing the bill for Ukraine's reconstruction. Meanwhile, the European Union will tell its citizens that Russia is paying the damages, even if it means receiving slightly less for their gas imports. In reality, the truth will likely sit somewhere in the murky middle of those two narratives. Right now, the priority remains simple: stop the fighting and ensure Ukraine remains free. Ideally, Russia would show some cooperation and withdraw "out of goodwill," seeing as it's become obvious to everyone that this prolonged attrition serves no one. Honestly, that realization hit most people by the fourth day of the conflict. If they didn't manage to break Ukraine then, they certainly won't do it now.

This "special operation" was envisioned much like a coup in Afghanistan. Yet, here we are, watching it evolve in exactly the same direction. It seems someone simply refuses to grasp the old adage: "history is the greatest teacher"....

If you ask me, Putko would probably love nothing more than to just pack it all in right this second, hand back the Donbas and Crimea, and call it a day, but then he’d just get absolutely wrecked by his own people and end up branded a total traitor.

Man, he really stepped in it this time, didn't he? He's stuck in this massive mess of his own making, and there honestly isn't a single scenario where he comes out looking like a winner; at this point, it’s really just a question of how much of a disaster he drags down with him to the bottom.

The damage is already done, and we're going to be feeling the sting of it continuously for years to come. With all that capital vanishing and those major corporations pulling out, investors are going to be incredibly wary and super skeptical about ever stepping foot back into Russia.
Even if they manage to lift the sanctions on Russia, it'll likely take ages to neutralize the fallout from losing all that foreign investment and capital.

brightheron64 said:Well, you can certainly think that...

But we've already discussed this—reparations are only ever paid by the defeated. By those who have been forced onto their knees...
Even back during the Paris negotiations regarding how the USA would pay reparations to Vietnam, they talked a big game. And did they actually pay? Not a dime!...

That’s the ideal scenario, without question. It should happen immediately, right now!...
But, goodness, the Russian leadership making these calls is playing an entirely different movie in their heads... 😵

This "special operation" was envisioned much like a coup in Afghanistan. Yet, here we are, watching it evolve in exactly the same direction. It seems someone simply refuses to grasp the old adage: "history is the greatest teacher"....

That assertion is far from reality.
Long ago—back when wars were fought on actual battlefields and the Rothschilds funded both sides through massive credit lines—one of the primary conditions for lending was that the victor would settle their own debts along with the debts of the losing side. It sounds paradoxical at first glance, yet the logic is sound.
As for money today... it has lost its substance. It isn't even a pile of colorful paper anymore—neither dollars nor lire—but merely a digital figure sitting in some computer, somewhere. You can generate as much of it as you please in an instant; they don't even need paper or ink to print it anymore. Consequently, the concept is losing its inherent meaning. In the modern economy, being frozen out of the system—exactly how they handled the Russian Federation—is a far more pressing concern than the hypothetical question of future war reparations.

Nancy Gomez26 said:That assertion is far from reality.
Long ago—back when wars were fought on actual battlefields and the Rothschilds funded both sides through massive credit lines—one of the primary conditions for lending was that the victor would settle their own debts along with the debts of the losing side. It sounds paradoxical at first glance, yet the logic is sound.
As for money today... it has lost its substance. It isn't even a pile of colorful paper anymore—neither dollars nor lire—but merely a digital figure sitting in some computer, somewhere. You can generate as much of it as you please in an instant; they don't even need paper or ink to print it anymore. Consequently, the concept is losing its inherent meaning. In the modern economy, being frozen out of the system—exactly how they handled the Russian Federation—is a far more pressing concern than the hypothetical question of future war reparations.

That’s all a lovely thought, really, but profit and political consistency rarely walk the same path—if they ever meet at all...

Who could have possibly imagined fifty years ago that brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci would end up with full-scale boutiques in Vietnam? Or that Vietnam would become the No. 2 global coffee supplier?

https://eu.louisvuitton.com/eng-e1/p...on-ho-chi-minh
https://www.gucci.com/us/en/store/ho...eet-district-1

And, just to step away from the realm of "socialism" for a moment...

Imagine if you had sat an American down x years ago and told them that the Empire State Building would look like a mere trinket compared to what was going to rise out of the Arabian Desert (the Burj Khalifa), or that the airport in Dubai would eventually become one of the most vital hubs in global aviation...

Nancy Gomez26 said:That assertion is far from reality.
Long ago—back when wars were fought on actual battlefields and the Rothschilds funded both sides through massive credit lines—one of the primary conditions for lending was that the victor would settle their own debts along with the debts of the losing side. It sounds paradoxical at first glance, yet the logic is sound.
As for money today... it has lost its substance. It isn't even a pile of colorful paper anymore—neither dollars nor lire—but merely a digital figure sitting in some computer, somewhere. You can generate as much of it as you please in an instant; they don't even need paper or ink to print it anymore. Consequently, the concept is losing its inherent meaning. In the modern economy, being frozen out of the system—exactly how they handled the Russian Federation—is a far more pressing concern than the hypothetical question of future war reparations.

Not quite. Aside from actual cash, all the money moving through the system is sitting in primary bank accounts at the central banks. New money doesn't just pop into existence as random numbers on a screen—the central bank keeps a tight leash on that.

Richard Wilson4 said:Does Russia have to pay up for Afghanistan too, or what?

They have to—honestly, every ex-Soviet state should probably chip in—but only after the bill for Vietnam finally gets settled. ☕

But let's get real here: nobody is going to force the USA or Russia to pay out war reparations to anyone.
Russia is a nuclear power—as we can see, they're pretty much immune to sanctions—so nobody's going to stroll into Moscow and start dictating terms of surrender.

Unless the Ukrainians somehow manage to hit 🙂 what to be SF, which would likely just result in someone pulling the nuclear trigger to shut the whole thing down.

And if the Americans, the European Union, and everyone else decide to just keep those frozen assets, relations with Russia will stay stuck at a level similar to the USA-Iran standoff.

So, have you Europeans decided to hit us poor Russians with even more pathetic sanctions today?

wiredseal7 said:They have to—honestly, every ex-Soviet state should probably chip in—but only after the bill for Vietnam finally gets settled. ☕

But let's get real here: nobody is going to force the USA or Russia to pay out war reparations to anyone.
Russia is a nuclear power—as we can see, they're pretty much immune to sanctions—so nobody's going to stroll into Moscow and start dictating terms of surrender.

Unless the Ukrainians somehow manage to hit 🙂 what to be SF, which would likely just result in someone pulling the nuclear trigger to shut the whole thing down.

And if the Americans, the European Union, and everyone else decide to just keep those frozen assets, relations with Russia will stay stuck at a level similar to the USA-Iran standoff.

Permanently?

I mean, everything from the most trivial "good neighbor" disputes to primitive drug cartels and full-blown geopolitical clashes... people end up killing one another over money all the time. In some small town nearby, a neighbor once shot his neighbor just because they were fighting over a property line—literally just a few feet of dirt here and there. I’ve even heard of close relatives tearing each other apart until death over a tiny strip of land barely larger than a backyard plot...

For instance, the USA could tell the Taliban in Afghanistan, "We aren't handing over your funds, we're keeping your deposit"... and then what could they possibly do in response? Appeal to the world by pointing out mass starvation or dying children...?

In a higher sphere, where the balance of power shifts differently, who knows... 🤔
The outcomes could even turn quite dark and twisted...

Nathan Thomas12 said:Not quite. Aside from actual cash, all the money moving through the system is sitting in primary bank accounts at the central banks. New money doesn't just pop into existence as random numbers on a screen—the central bank keeps a tight leash on that.

Still, you have to admit the Fed can print as much as they damn well please, right? They could theoretically fund massive stock market speculation by lending at dirt-cheap interest rates if they felt like it. Let's take this to a private thread.

Jessica Peterson2 said:So, have you Europeans decided to hit us poor Russians with even more pathetic sanctions today?

I fail to see what else there is to be done regarding that matter... do you have any suggestions?

brightheron64 said:Permanently?

I mean, everything from the most trivial "good neighbor" disputes to primitive drug cartels and full-blown geopolitical clashes... people end up killing one another over money all the time. In some small town nearby, a neighbor once shot his neighbor just because they were fighting over a property line—literally just a few feet of dirt here and there. I’ve even heard of close relatives tearing each other apart until death over a tiny strip of land barely larger than a backyard plot...

For instance, the USA could tell the Taliban in Afghanistan, "We aren't handing over your funds, we're keeping your deposit"... and then what could they possibly do in response? Appeal to the world by pointing out mass starvation or dying children...?

In a higher sphere, where the balance of power shifts differently, who knows... 🤔
The outcomes could even turn quite dark and twisted...

Those people who killed each other over a fence line haven't actually resolved anything. For cases like that, there are courts and surveyors; that is the only thing that matters at the end of the day.
Once the Taliban deposited their cash into someone else's bank, it ceased to be their money. It became the bank's money. Now they have to beg for it back, fully prepared for the possibility that they will never see a cent of it again.

Jessica Peterson2 said:So, have you Europeans decided to hit us poor Russians with even more pathetic sanctions today?

How late are paychecks running in Russia?

Jessica Peterson2 said:So, have you Europeans decided to hit us poor Russians with even more pathetic sanctions today?

What's the deal with paychecks in Russia—are they actually late? And can you still grab foreign currency on the black market?

We’re all just sitting here waiting for an oil embargo and for them to shut down the gas pipelines—what more do you people want?

Honestly, the dream would be to just take out the Russian leadership and let the Russians and everyone else in that neck of the woods get back to living their lives normally...
But when does that actually happen?
I used to think it was just Putin being unhinged, but it turns out those thousand people surrounding him are also 100% absolute lunatics...

Nancy Gomez26 said:Still, you have to admit the Fed can print as much as they damn well please, right? They could theoretically fund massive stock market speculation by lending at dirt-cheap interest rates if they felt like it. Let's take this to a private thread.

Not quite. A government can't just borrow directly from the Fed. Money flows into the economy through commercial banks, period.
If those banks run low on cash to hand out loans, they have to go find it somewhere. They can borrow from other banks, sell bonds, or tap into the Fed via primary issuance. That’s where the new money actually comes from.
On the flip side, if there's too much USD floating around in bank accounts and the dollar starts tanking, the Fed sells dollars to those commercial banks—basically sucking the cash right back out of the system in one move.
The Fed's whole job is keeping things balanced; if they don't, the currency loses its punch. COVID-19 forced a massive wave of money printing because governments were busy bailing out the economy—and yeah, that's what triggered the inflation. You can't just pump money into the system without consequences.

Just some down-to-earth, everyday shopping stuff for you guys. This blogger from Russia decided to grab a full basket of the exact same products—nothing on sale, just standard shelf prices—across Belarus, Russia, Germany, and Poland to see how the costs stacked up.

In Belarus, he spent €176.19;
Over in Poland, it was only €97.83;
Germany came in at €119.98;
But man, in Russia, the total hit €199.54.

https://twitter.com/ru2ch/status/156...wOneAIXMzpSVuA

goldenowl73 said:Just some down-to-earth, everyday shopping stuff for you guys. This blogger from Russia decided to grab a full basket of the exact same products—nothing on sale, just standard shelf prices—across Belarus, Russia, Germany, and Poland to see how the costs stacked up.

In Belarus, he spent €176.19;
Over in Poland, it was only €97.83;
Germany came in at €119.98;
But man, in Russia, the total hit €199.54.

https://twitter.com/ru2ch/status/156...wOneAIXMzpSVuA

I noticed he picked up some Nutella too, which was only €2.32 in Poland.

It really makes you think about what's happening right here in America, because it feels like someone is seriously screwing us over...🤔

brightheron64 said:I noticed he picked up some Nutella too, which was only €2.32 in Poland.

It really makes you think about what's happening right here in America, because it feels like someone is seriously screwing us over...🤔

Ferrero actually has a plant in Poland, just outside of Warsaw.

analogbear5 said:Ferrero actually has a plant in Poland, just outside of Warsaw.

It reminds me of how we have Kraft Heinz based out of Columbus, which makes finding a small jar of Linolada almost... $10 🕺