World Politics

[do or die]

The Ukrainians are using their new long range arsenal of artillery and rockets, to to pound Russian supply routes - to choke off and deny the front line troops - gas, food, ammo, spare parts, and fresh (shrinking) reserve units.  This is the classic setup, to launching successful offensives.

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, do or die said:

The Ukrainians are using their new long range arsenal of artillery and rockets, to to pound Russian supply routes - to choke off and deny the front line troops - gas, food, ammo, spare parts, and fresh (shrinking) reserve units.  This is the classic setup, to launching successful offensives.

Ukrainian heavy artillery has damaged the bridges of Kherson so that no heavy vehicles like tanks, APC's mobile artillery and the like so that the only retreat for Russian forces in the looming Ukrainian assault will have to be on foot. Very worrisome for the occupying Russian troops.

[blue_gold_84]

Just what the world needs more of right now... Needless military posturing.

[Mark F]

20 hours ago, Tracker said:

Ukrainian heavy artillery has damaged the bridges of Kherson so that no heavy vehicles like tanks, APC's mobile artillery and the like so that the only retreat for Russian forces in the looming Ukrainian assault will have to be on foot. Very worrisome for the occupying Russian troops.

going to be a lot of construction and related employment in Ukraine after they throw the Russian's out.

 

 

[Tracker]

1 hour ago, Mark F said:

going to be a lot of construction and related employment in Ukraine after they throw the Russian's out.

 

 

I understand that Ukraine has asked or will ask the International Court in the Hague to seize all Russian foreign reserves (private and government) and hold them in anticipation of Ukraine petitioning the Court to award hundreds of billions in damages to Ukraine for rebuilding.

[WildPath]

6 hours ago, Tracker said:

I understand that Ukraine has asked or will ask the International Court in the Hague to seize all Russian foreign reserves (private and government) and hold them in anticipation of Ukraine petitioning the Court to award hundreds of billions in damages to Ukraine for rebuilding.

Is there precedence for this happening? Wondering if there's any chance it could happen.

[Mark F]

2 hours ago, WildPath said:

Is there precedence for this happening? Wondering if there's any chance it could happen.

germans paid war reparations for decades. 

[blue_gold_84]

https://fortune.com/2022/08/04/russia-sanctions-economic-oblivion-yale-report-gdp-ruble-ukraine/

Quote

Over the past six months, Russia has fortified its economic defenses after Western countries pummeled it with sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. 

Despite the crackdown, the Kremlin continues to rake in billions in oil and gas revenues, which helped the ruble rally to become the world’s best-performing currency this year. 

But all is not well with the Russian economy. 

The Western sanctions and widespread corporate exodus from Russia since Feb. 24 have ravaged the Russian economy—and its future prospects look even bleaker, according to a new report from Yale University researchers and economists led by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Yale School of Management professor and senior associate dean for leadership studies. It’s now become clear that the Kremlin’s “finances are in much, much more dire straits than conventionally understood” and that the large-scale “business retreats and sanctions are catastrophically crippling the Russian economy,” the researchers wrote. 

As of Aug. 4, over 1,000 companies, including U.S. firms like Nike, IBM, and Bain consulting, have curtailed their operations in Russia. Though some businesses have stayed, the mass corporate exodus represents 40% of Russia’s GDP and reverses 30 years’ worth of foreign investment, says the Yale report.  

The international retreat is morphing into a larger crisis for the country: a collapse in foreign imports and investments. 

Russia has descended into a technological crisis as a result of its isolation from the global economy. It’s having trouble securing critical technology and parts. “The domestic economy is largely reliant on imports across industries…with few exceptions,” says the report. Western export controls have largely halted the flow of imported technology from smartphones to data servers and networking equipment, straining its tech industry. Russia’s biggest internet company, Yandex—the country’s version of Google—is running short of the semiconductor chips it needs for its servers.

At the same time, Russia’s “domestic production has come to a complete standstill—with no capacity to replace lost businesses, products, and talent,” the Yale report said. Russian producers and manufacturers are unable to fill the gaps left by the collapse of Western imports. Russia’s telecom sector for instance, now hopes to lean on China, India, and Israel to supply 5G equipment.

Russia’s precarious economic position means that it faces even more dire, long-term challenges ahead. 

Sanctions aren’t designed to cause an immediate financial crisis or economic collapse, but are long-term tools to weaken a nation’s economy while isolating it from global markets, the report said. And the sanctions are doing exactly that for Russia.

The country is losing its richest and most educated citizens as its economy crumbles. Most estimates say that at least 500,000 Russians have fled the country since Feb. 24, with the “vast majority being highly educated and highly skilled workers in competitive industries such as technology,” the report said. Many wealthy Russians who flee are taking their money with them. One estimate is that 20% of Russia’s ultra-high-net-worth individuals have left this year. In the first quarter of 2022, official capital outflows stood at $70 billion, according to Bank of Russia estimates—but this figure is likely to be a “gross underestimate” of the actual amount of money that has left the country, the Yale team wrote.

Russian citizens are also set to become poorer, despite Putin’s minimum wage and pension income hikes. A former Putin aide predicts that the number of Russians living in poverty will likely double—and perhaps even triple, as the war continues. Russia “hasn’t seen the worst yet,” Russian political scientist Ilya Matveev, told Fortune last month. 

“There is no path out of economic oblivion as long as the allied countries remain unified in maintaining and increasing sanctions pressure against Russia,” the researchers wrote.

[Mark F]

41 minutes ago, blue_gold_84 said:

It’s having trouble securing critical technology and parts. “The domestic economy is largely reliant on imports across industries

lesson for other countries.

also, Europeans are finally done with Putin and hiis oil and gas. temporary pain, increase coal, then renewable energy. they will not make that mistake twice.

and, the High ruble... shows what a scam currency market is. also massive future losses when it finally collapses. also, does nothing for Russian average joe, since there is nothing for them to spend it on.

but putin propaganda pedlars are still around, selling that things are good in russia and putin is 

 

Edited August 5, 2022 by Mark F

[Fatty Liver]

12 hours ago, Mark F said:

germans paid war reparations for decades. 

Germany owes Poland over $850 billion in WW2 reparations, with no plans to pay them back.  You won't see the U.S. paying reparations to any country they've destroyed the infrastructure, economy and culture of either, they need all the funds they can gather to finance the destruction of their next victim. 

[Mark H.]

15 hours ago, Mark F said:

germans paid war reparations for decades. 

That was after WWI, which ultimately led to the Holocaust and World War II.

[JCon]

21 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

That was after WWI, which ultimately led to the Holocaust and World War II.

No, facism and racism led to WWII. But, they used the reperations as an excuse to feel bad for themselves. 

[Mark F]

23 minutes ago, JCon said:

No, facism and racism led to WWII. But, they used the reperations as an excuse to feel bad for themselves. 

also..."After World War II both West Germany and East Germany were obliged to pay war reparations to the Allied governments, according to the Potsdam Conference. "

also, Germany paid reparations for ww2 holocaust victims... until  2005.

and as was pointed out, by @Fatty Liver,stiffed Poland, for ww2 reparations.

Edited August 5, 2022 by Mark F

[bustamente]

GOP bootlicking Orban tells you all you need to know if they take power at the midterms or take the Presidency in 24

[Mark H.]

2 hours ago, JCon said:

No, facism and racism led to WWII. But, they used the reperations as an excuse to feel bad for themselves. 

Contributing factor. Hitler paid the bills, thus he was to be trusted and believed.

[Tracker]

Smoke rising after explosions near a Russian military air base in Crimea on Tuesday.

ODESA, Ukraine — A series of explosions rocked a key Russian air base in Kremlin-occupied Crimea on Tuesday, killing at least one person and sowing confusion among local officials about the cause and whether Ukraine’s military could threaten targets on the peninsula.

Publicly, Ukrainian officials would not confirm the involvement of Ukraine’s military, as Russian and occupation officials scrambled to determine the source of the blasts, raising the terrorist threat level in the area. But a senior Ukrainian military official with knowledge of the situation said that Ukrainian forces were responsible, having carried out an attack on the Saki air base on the western coast of Crimea.

Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters, the official said the air base was one from which planes regularly took off for attacks on Ukrainian forces. The official would not disclose what type of weapon caused the explosions, saying only that “a device exclusively of Ukrainian manufacture was used.”

A Ukrainian attack on Russian forces in the Crimean Peninsula would represent a significant expansion of Ukraine’s offensive efforts, which had mostly been confined to pushing Russian troops from territories occupied after Feb. 24, when the invasion began. For weeks, however, Ukraine has been shifting troops and striking deeper behind the front lines than before, as it signals that it is preparing a major counteroffensive in the Kherson region and uses longer-range weapons supplied by the West.

Crimea, shielded by the Russian Navy and heavily fortified after eight years in Russian control, has largely been spared the violence. Last month, a small explosive device delivered by drone blew up at the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, injuring six but causing little damage. Russia blamed Ukrainian forces for the attack, but Ukrainian officials vociferously denied it.

A strike in Crimea would also be an embarrassment for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who often speaks of Crimea, which he illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as if it were hallowed ground. Ukraine possesses few weapons that can reach the peninsula, aside from aircraft that would risk being shot down immediately by Russia’s heavy air defenses in the region. The air base, which is near the city of Novofederivka, is well over 100 miles from the nearest Ukrainian military position.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ukraine-claims-responsibility-for-massive-blasts-at-russian-base-in-crimea-despite-kremlins-story?ref=home

[Tracker]

                                  

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

So... this is where we are now?

 

 

[Tracker]

15 hours ago, Wanna-B-Fanboy said:

So... this is where we are now?

 

 

Putin and his thralls are rapidly approaching desperation and resorting to any and all measures short of nuclear warfare to restore their fortunes- literally and figuratively. They gambled that the west would be indifferent to a small nation being subjected to invasion and genocide, and have lost. 

[Mark H.]

11 minutes ago, Tracker said:

 They gambled that the west would be indifferent to a small nation being subjected to invasion and genocide, and have lost. 

In a sense, I don't blame them for taking the chance - the west has often been indifferent. 

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, Mark H. said:

In a sense, I don't blame them for taking the chance - the west has often been indifferent. 

Had Trump remained in power, I have no doubt that would have been the case. The European nations, Canada, Australia and New Zealand would have sent aid but without the US contributions and leadership, Ukraine would have still put up a valiant fight but would have been doomed.

[blue_gold_84]

Ya love to see it. **** Russia.

[Tracker]

 

 

                           

[Tracker]

                                      

[blue_gold_84]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-ukraine-war-1.6557789

Quote

The daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as "Putin's brain" was killed in a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow, authorities said Sunday. 

The Moscow branch of the Russian Investigative Committee said preliminary information indicated 29-year-old TV commentator Darya Dugina was killed by an explosive planted in the SUV she was driving Saturday night.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the bloodshed gave rise to suspicions that the intended target was her father, Alexander Dugin, a nationalist philosopher and writer. 

Dugin is a prominent proponent of the "Russian world" concept, a spiritual and political ideology that emphasizes traditional values, restoration of Russia's power and the unity of all ethnic Russians throughout the world. He is also a vehement supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin's move sending troops into Ukraine.

The explosion took place as his daughter was returning from a cultural festival she had attended with him. Russian media reports cited witnesses as saying the SUV belonged to Dugin and that he had decided at the last minute to travel in another vehicle.