Sanctions on Russia

Liz Truss has put together a bailout package totaling nearly $220 billion. 🙏🙏

Brenda Murphy3 said:It’s honestly hilarious how much you're missing the point here...

The fact that 70,000 people could actually gather in Prague—something Putin wouldn't allow in his wildest dreams—is precisely what demonstrates the sheer superiority of a democratic system. You just don't get it, and you clearly don't see why. And that right there is the exact reason why people living under dictatorships are usually broke, or at the very least, living way worse than they should be. It’s why those regimes are stuck in constant infighting and why they will never, ever catch up to democratic nations when it comes to quality of life.

Sure, dictatorships might grab a short-term win in certain situations because they don't have to deal with institutions or procedures—it's just whatever the leader says goes—but in reality, that's total BS. It leads absolutely nowhere... especially not anywhere good for their own citizens. That’s exactly why they’re always looking toward the West and toward democracy.

People don't exist to serve the state; it's the other way around. The state exists to provide a solid framework for people to live a good life. If that framework isn't there, and if the state is just crushing its own citizens, then the whole thing is fundamentally pointless. The Russians, and a good chunk of you guys on this forum, just can't wrap your heads around that. That's why Putin's tragicomic nonsense about history, Russian destiny, and all those other delusions is just pure stupidity.

You assume anyone thinking even a millimeter outside your worldview is completely wrong. That’s a pretty autocratic way to think for someone claiming to champion democracy. 🤣

I never claimed a dictatorship is inherently better than a democracy. I was making a specific point: in a scenario where a nation is at war, an autocratic decision-making model might move faster than a democracy. In 99.99% of all other circumstances, democracy is the superior model.

As for Putin's historical delusions regarding his sphere of influence, that belongs in the 19th century. In the 21st century, you exert power through economics, media, and soft power. Instead of learning from the USA—an opportunity he had since 1945—this fool is trying to implement 19th-century ideas using 1941 methods.

Even now, you can see columns of cars making their way from the European Union straight toward Russia.

People aren't blind; they know the truth and they’re simply heading wherever life is actually better...

The European Union is crumbling, just as everyone expected it would.

Nathan Evans78 said:Reducing this whole situation to just Hitler is a logical fallacy if you ask me. Back then, the Reich was fighting over energy resources—like the Caspian Sea—and they certainly didn't have nuclear warheads at their disposal.

Sure, slapping sanctions on the elite makes sense, and sending weapons to the Ukrainians is one thing, but we should have kept the gas and oil flowing just to let the Russians deal with their own mess. Even Khodorkovsky argues that's the way to go.☕

Calling it "energy resources" is total historical revisionism. The Reich already had plenty of fuel, mostly from Russia, back before the Russians were even "anti-fascists" and while official Moscow was busy tearing through Poland right alongside Germany.

Hitler hit the USSR just to make sure the USSR wouldn't hit Germany first. It was inevitable. It’s like watching two rabid dogs circling each other—you just don't know which one is going to snap first.

Nathan Evans78 said:Reducing this whole situation to just Hitler is a logical fallacy if you ask me. Back then, the Reich was fighting over energy resources—like the Caspian Sea—and they certainly didn't have nuclear warheads at their disposal.

Sure, slapping sanctions on the elite makes sense, and sending weapons to the Ukrainians is one thing, but we should have kept the gas and oil flowing just to let the Russians deal with their own mess. Even Khodorkovsky argues that's the way to go.☕

Of course, but this whole outcome plays right into the hands of the green agenda, which carries massive weight across Europe. This war in Ukraine feels almost tailor-made to push their platform forward; it's like we decided to cram everything we were facing in the coming years into a single twelve-month window. It’s going to be a fun ride.🎉

Joshua Myers432 said:You assume anyone thinking even a millimeter outside your worldview is completely wrong. That’s a pretty autocratic way to think for someone claiming to champion democracy. 🤣

I never claimed a dictatorship is inherently better than a democracy. I was making a specific point: in a scenario where a nation is at war, an autocratic decision-making model might move faster than a democracy. In 99.99% of all other circumstances, democracy is the superior model.

As for Putin's historical delusions regarding his sphere of influence, that belongs in the 19th century. In the 21st century, you exert power through economics, media, and soft power. Instead of learning from the USA—an opportunity he had since 1945—this fool is trying to implement 19th-century ideas using 1941 methods.

In WWI, most monarchies ended up on the losing side and collapsed.

Russia fell apart too, even if they weren't a clear loser, and while the UK was a monarchy, it had already moved toward democracy.

In WWII, most democratic systems plus autocratic Russia were the winners, while most autocratic regimes were the losers.

When it comes to serious, long-term wars, the economy probably matters more than anything else. That’s why bringing the USA into major wars with its limitless resources was so critical. It's also why it's so hard to beat the US unless you're tearing it apart from the inside.

The real question is whether democracies actually make a country more economically successful, or if we just got lucky that the USA happens to be a democracy with incomparable resources.

Thanks to the Masons and the Illuminati for the prosperity of the modern age. 👍

Kate Lewis3 said:Calling it "energy resources" is total historical revisionism. The Reich already had plenty of fuel, mostly from Russia, back before the Russians were even "anti-fascists" and while official Moscow was busy tearing through Poland right alongside Germany.

Hitler hit the USSR just to make sure the USSR wouldn't hit Germany first. It was inevitable. It’s like watching two rabid dogs circling each other—you just don't know which one is going to snap first.

Just so we're clear, what you're doing here is nothing more than historical revisionism.🕺

swiftjackal11 said:ExxonMobil released a video titled 'And winter will be massive,' showing them cutting off gas supplies to trigger an 'ice age' across Europe, according to the video description currently going viral online.
That’s just how Russians operate.

Here is the video and the lyrics

And the winter will be big ...
Here, look, across the river
Autumn is slowly dying
Waving yellow hand.
Wet aspens are crying,
Crying grandfather Arbat,
Crying Blue Russia Turned into leaf fall.
And, crushing the snowdrifts,
The sun shines in spring...
And the winter will be big -
Only dusk and snow.

Nathan Evans78 said:Liz Truss has put together a bailout package totaling nearly $220 billion. 🙏🙏

The US has its own set of headaches stemming from recent economic shifts and COVID-19 (not to mention Medicare was already struggling big time way before all this, so they've been dealing with these issues for ages), which are finally catching up to them now. Honestly, even without this war, they would have hit a wall eventually. The US had a laughably tiny share of Russian gas and oil in its total consumption (think North Sea imports) compared to mainland Europe, so trying to pin their domestic struggles on sanctions against Russia doesn't really make much sense.

I mean, what’s the issue with comparing the economies of the "collective West" and the Russian Federation while they're locked in this conflict? It seems pretty obvious to everyone that Russia is headed for an economic meltdown, but honestly, no kidding, Sherlock. We’re already sitting here tallying up the losses on the Western side—losses that are already hitting hundreds of billions of Euros—and debating how we're even going to weather the storm. ☕

Nathan Evans78 said:I mean, what’s the issue with comparing the economies of the "collective West" and the Russian Federation while they're locked in this conflict? It seems pretty obvious to everyone that Russia is headed for an economic meltdown, but honestly, no kidding, Sherlock. We’re already sitting here tallying up the losses on the Western side—losses that are already hitting hundreds of billions of Euros—and debating how we're even going to weather the storm. ☕

And you'd rather just let the culprits walk away scot-free?

Everyone has to face the music on both sides...

Nathan Evans78 said:I mean, what’s the issue with comparing the economies of the "collective West" and the Russian Federation while they're locked in this conflict? It seems pretty obvious to everyone that Russia is headed for an economic meltdown, but honestly, no kidding, Sherlock. We’re already sitting here tallying up the losses on the Western side—losses that are already hitting hundreds of billions of Euros—and debating how we're even going to weather the storm. ☕

Look, what I'm telling you is that the United Kingdom's issues were already there before the war started. bluemason3 just avoided dealing with them because it was easier to pretend they didn't exist. All this conflict really did was shrink their breathing room. It cut off those extra few years they were using to dodge massive internal problems and basically forced them to face the music sooner rather than later.

boldotter2 said:During this period, the European Union might be short on energy, but they still have N billion Euros tucked away in their pockets.

And that’s the crux of it.

I wouldn't say they're "holding" it if we slide straight into a recession. Besides, there's already talk of 1.5 billion Euros in guarantees being floated, not to mention the roughly 100 to 200 billion Euros in printed cash flowing through the system via subsidies. Honestly, just here in the States, we're looking at spending about 1.5 billion Euros in total on subsidies by the end of the year—money essentially printed during the pandemic era—and heaven knows how many hundreds of millions will flow to Exelon through those various guarantees.

The lion's share of that capital is eventually going to end up in Norway, the USA, Alzheimer's research, Central Asia, Qatar, or China. This means the Euro is going to be under constant pressure because we're buying all of that stuff using Dollars. Meanwhile, our domestic industry can't export high-value goods at those prices because the developed markets are teetering right on the edge of a recession. I believe China's GDP growth is hovering near 0% on a quarterly basis; do you really think the Volkswagen Group can maintain its current output levels over there? I highly doubt it, unless Xi pulls off some kind of miracle.

How exactly are we supposed to navigate this without triggering hyperinflation while simultaneously avoiding a recession?

bluemason3 said:Look at Venezuela—they’ve got massive reserves and yet they’re a failed state, whereas Japan is a powerhouse economy despite having zero domestic energy sources or even any major pipelines, relying almost entirely on ExxonMobil imports instead.

Honestly, I couldn't care less whether Russia collapses or not, because frankly, I'm just too preoccupied with what our own immediate future holds here in the States...

brightheron64 said:Honestly, I couldn't care less whether Russia collapses or not, because frankly, I'm just too preoccupied with what our own immediate future holds here in the States...

We might take a hit tomorrow, nothing too crazy. By the day after, or worst case, the day after that, things will likely settle down.

We lived through wartime, which was undoubtedly worse than any crisis we might face in the next year or two. Personally, I’d be willing to pay more than what actually ends up happening if it means helping Ukraine. My lifestyle isn't going to crumble; paying higher gas prices or delaying buying a new TV isn't exactly a catastrophe.

Look at us—we were right "in the middle of a crisis" and still had a great season. The American economy isn't just going to fall apart overnight.

Topic is "sanctions on Russia" ☕

Check out this video explaining just how bad things are getting in Russia.
So, I guess Russia is staring down a massive economic collapse. Between all that foreign capital pulling out and the loss of investments, it looks like they're heading for a nasty death spiral. Importers can't get stuff, manufacturers can't make stuff, and consumers just stop buying. Plus, they basically choked off their own energy exports, which might just trigger a total economic implosion.

Here is the link to the video, the original text, and the Google translation:

Because of western sanctions, $600 billion of corporate activity has flowed out of Russia. This effectively disintegrates 30 years of foreign investment since the fall of the Soviet Union.
To give you context as to how severe this is, Russia’s GDP only sits at $1.4 trillion. 42% of Russia’s GDP has flowed out of the country almost overnight. Over 1,000 companies have stopped doing business in Russia since the Ukraine invasion.
Russia claims that 12-15% of direct employment has been lost from sanctions. Using Russia’s numbers, the indirect unemployment is estimated to be roughly 35 to 40% of Russia’s labor force. This is because one man’s spending is another man’s income. If 12-15% of people suddenly lose their jobs, then they will also stop spending on other products and services. This increases the unemployment rate to 35 to 40% by Russia’s own numbers.

Due to Western sanctions, $600 billion in corporate activity has drained out of Russia. This effectively disintegrates 30 years of foreign investment since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Just to show you how crazy this is, Russia's GDP is only about $1.4 trillion. Basically, 42% of Russia's GDP vanished almost overnight. Since the Ukraine invasion, over 1,000 companies have walked away from doing business in Russia.
Russia says they've lost 12-15% of direct jobs because of the sanctions. But if you look at their own data, indirect unemployment could hit anywhere from 35% to 40% of the workforce. It's pretty simple—one person's spending is someone else's paycheck. If 12-15% of the population loses their jobs out of nowhere, they're obviously going to stop buying things. That pushes the total unemployment rate up to 35-40%, according to those same Russian figures.

These are the inevitable consequences of sanctions. You just have to wait for the lag time to pass before they fully hit. Theoretically, Russia could dodge this if they could still manufacture goods using Soviet Union-era infrastructure, but those days are long gone—Russia isn't the Soviet Union anymore. First, they’ve lost the industrial capacity once found in the "Ukrainian SSR," and soon enough, they'll feel the absence of all the other republics—with the possible exception of Belarus. If they weren't so deeply embedded in the global economic order, these sanctions wouldn't bite, but then they'd basically be living like North Korea. No matter how you slice it, time is working heavily against The Kremlin. It isn't too late for The Kremlin to pull out of Ukraine and end this farce where lives are being needlessly wasted. They should show some goodwill—the greatest display of it yet.

Sure, they saw the sanctions coming and built up some stockpiles and basic backup plans.
But that was all based on the idea of a quick three-day special operation. That whole thing turned into a total disaster, and I guess everything else is going to follow suit.

What’s happening in Russia right now? If you moved that situation over to the US, it would be like every major corporation pulling out of the country and tourists just stopping their flights. And then someone tries to sell you this story that we're totally stable because we have enough food, energy, and sunshine. Plus, let's just ban foreigners from entering, just because we can, and well, we don't exactly live off tourism anyway... 🤷

Sanctions tend to bite slowly, and by the time you actually feel the teeth sinking in, they’ve already done enough damage to make turning back impossible.

Then there's Putin, who seems hell-bent on ensuring history books credit him personally for expanding Russia's borders and playing the protector of Russians living in Ukraine. Nothing else really matters to him—not the collapse of the Russian economy, not widespread hunger, and certainly not some bleak future for his people. He’s carved out pieces of a neighboring country because he truly believes that's how he'll be remembered as one of the greatest figures in Russian history.
As for the Russians themselves? It feels like they're mostly just there to marvel at his ego; they could all suffer for all he cares, as long as there's someone left in the crowd to applaud.