urbanSTL

Baltimore Jack wrote: ↑

Feb 28, 2022

^Condi Rice said Biden has united NATO like she never thought would be possible following the Cold War. 
She said this on FOX News, and my guess is she will never be asked to be back on that network. 

I thought she was saying this in reference to Putin?

Weapons — which could travel at more than 15 times the speed of sound with terrifying accuracy — threaten to change the nature of warfare.
If true, that would mean a Russian aircraft or ship firing one of them near Bermuda could strike the Pentagon, some 800 miles away, in five minutes Hypersonic Missiles Are Unstoppable. And They’re Starting a New Global Arms Race.

^^ I have all the confidence that US Cyber capabilities can disarm Russian nuclear war heads before they fire. Biden has an option on the table right now to shut off all electricity in Russia, stop all the trains from moving and more

FACTS! February 28, 2022 https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/44479/the-truth-about-russias-terrifying-tos-1a-thermobaric-rocket-launchers-now-in-ukraine

Got a good shot of it from my roof and my window of the wheel

This man is clearly losing his tenuous grip on sanity...

DTGstl314 wrote: ↑

Mar 01, 2022

This man is clearly losing his tenuous grip on sanity...

Gotta wonder how long it is till someone in his government pushes him out. Russian citizens having worthless money now, travel restrictions, and the fact that some Russians don’t agree with this war are all things that could push some people over the edge. Than there’s a photo of the Russian generals who control the nuclear weapons looking shocked when Putin announced everything be on high alert. I think most people there are annoyed with him, but are afraid to do anything since some loyalists will likely retaliate against citizens and generals who rise up.

Trololzilla wrote: ↑

Mar 01, 2022

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Feb 28, 2022

^^ I have all the confidence that US Cyber capabilities can disarm Russian nuclear war heads before they fire

Yeah no, that's not how that works.

https://www.iiss.org/blogs/research-pap ... onal-power

I was wondering why Putin was sitting in a box all alone at the Olympics; I guess the guy's getting extremely paranoid. 

^ that was my thought. worried about assassination attempts.

urban_dilettante wrote: ↑

Mar 01, 2022

^ that was my thought. worried about assassination attempts.

It's also about COVID. This has apparently been going on with this kook since the start of the pandemic. He's taken the whole social distancing guidance to absurd extremes, and because he's basically lived in nearly total isolation for close to two years now, I think it's having a severely deleterious impact on his psyche. It's just not a healthy way to live.

New York Times: Russians Were Urged to Return to Normal Life. Except for Putin.

^ oh, wow. that's fascinating.

At this point, can Russia win this war? My question is not whether or not they can destroy Ukraine. 

So far, the government is really not outwardly showing any remorse or signs of slowing their attack, but this war is costing Russia billions a day, and with a currency that is quickly slipping. 

Shipping company Maersk will no longer be handing Russian imports or exports. Maersk owns 31% of Russian port operator Global Ports, but it's not just them. There are German, French, and Asian shipping companies that are no longer going to deal with Russia during wartime. So how will Russia scrap together the money and resources for a long-term occupation of a country?

If Putin and Russia are willing to bomb Ukraine out of existence while slowly falling upon the sword that westerners left beneath them, that's on them. 

^ Putin and Russia cannot win at this point, which is the scary part.  People do irrational things when they can’t find a way out.    Best scenario is Putin try’s to safe face at home by announcing they’ve accomplished their goal of weakening Ukrainian military and Ukraine has agreed not to join NATO and hopes that west drops sanctions but I don’t think the west will or at least not all of them. I talked to someone at US Federal Reserve bank and they were shocked at the severity of sanctions, says only thing saving Russia from complete economic meltdown is energy exports are still happening.  Says if current sanctions are in place for few more months that it will take over a decade for Russia to recover

Right now you cannot use Apple Pay or Google pay or most credit cards in Russia.

FEBRUARY 28 2020 AND NOT JUST "GOOGLED"
That’s why I reached out to Fiona Hill, one of America’s most clear-eyed Russia experts, someone who has studied Putin for decades, worked in both Republican and Democratic administrations and has a reputation for truth-telling, earned when she testified during impeachment hearings for her former boss, President Donald Trump.
I wanted to know what she’s been thinking as she’s watched the extraordinary footage of Russian tanks rolling across international borders, what she thinks Putin has in mind and what insights she can offer into his motivations and objectives.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/02/28/world-war-iii-already-there-00012340

Americans need to be honest with ourselves.   We don't deserve to claim that we are standing by Ukraine when we literally import 8% or some plus 500,000 barrels of oil now @ $110 per barrel ($55 million a day) every single day from Russia.   We as Americans as well as Europeans are literally funding Russia's war on Ukraine.  

dredger wrote: ↑

Mar 02, 2022

Americans need to be honest with ourselves.   We don't deserve to claim that we are standing by Ukraine when we literally import 8% or some plus 500,000 barrels of oil now @ $110 per barrel ($55 million a day) every single day from Russia.   We as Americans as well as Europeans are literally funding Russia's war on Ukraine.  

While you're not wrong, the truth is that the whole world is funding Russia if we're talking about oil dependence, because they are the third largest oil producer in the world. If everybody cut them off tomorrow, the immediate short term effect would be a shockingly steep rise in the price of gas at the pump, for everyone. But you know all the groceries and merchandise you buy, even if you don't own a car? That stuff has to get shipped from somewhere, and moving it from Point A to Point B depends on oil as well, so those prices will also shoot up quickly. EVERYBODY would feel the pinch, not just car owners.

Anyway, the most simplistic answer for why we and Europe don't immediately cut off our oil relationship with Russia is because it would be economically devastating to us to do so, at least for the immediate future.

I know what you're getting at - that we should figure out how to quit our addiction to oil (and other fossil fuels), and we absolutely should. Or maybe I'm wrong and that's not what you're suggesting at all - but we still should try to get off oil as quickly as possible, because the planet's very survival demands it. Unfortunately, it isn't something we can just do with a snap of the fingers.

The US was a net exporter of petroleum in 2020 That's good for the trade deficit, but where are the good things that were supposed to happen for the little people who are captive to gas prices?

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil ... xports.php


Also domestic production is up from pandemic lows.

https://www.macrotrends.net/2562/us-cru ... ical-chart

It’s a meat grinder. US lost 2420 in 20 years in Afghanistan. Russia 6,000 in 6 days. The videos of captured show conscripts who had no glue they’re invading anything or even where they were. Russia being a military power was a paper Tiger.

On the economic front- something Russia definitely didn’t calculate is how many companies are blacklisting the country. Almost all major car makers have stopped selling cars there, Apple won’t sell iPhones, oracle stopped doing biz there and 100s of other major companies.