Somewhat off topic but also related....for all the garbage people have talked about him, hats off to Elon Musk for stepping up & helping as a private citizen. Launching satellites, having the capability to rescue astronauts, helping keep Ukraine online, etc. He's like a real life Iron Man just without the weapons & the suit.
So you think! I bet he has some cool gadgets that he doesn't talk about. Remember the flame thrower? Flamethrower — The Boring Company
From CNN live...shows the problem with trying to negotiate or give in to what Putin claims are his "reasons": "White House calls Putin's actions "escalation without an endgame" From CNN's Betsy Klein Pressed on a path toward resolution of the war in Ukraine, the White House said Friday that Russia’s current strategy is “escalation without an endgame,” echoing US President Joe Biden’s assessment that an ultimate Russian victory is “impossible.” “We have provided Putin with possible off-ramps from the beginning, and we will continue to do so. But he is the only one who can decide whether to take them. So far, every time he has had an opportunity to take an off-ramp, he's instead gone full speed ahead. And the longer he forces his abused troops to attack Ukraine, the more he broadcasts his own profound weakness as a leader,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told reporters aboard Air Force One. He continued, “Putin's only strategy has been escalation at every turn, but it's becoming increasingly clear that it's escalation without an endgame, and his erratic brutality, which comes at the expense of the Russian people, and again, his own demoralized troops, is proving to be a disaster for his country.”"
They also had some guy back a box truck through the embassy gate during a demonstration. They referred to it as a "special parking operation"...
Russian President Vladimir Putin has given the green light for up to 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East to be deployed alongside Russian-backed rebels to fight in Ukraine, doubling down an invasion that the West says has been losing momentum. The move, just over two weeks since Putin ordered the invasion, allows Russia to deploy battle-hardened mercenaries from conflicts such as Syria without risking additional Russian military casualties. Putin to use Middle East volunteer troops
Yeah, these Wagner Group guys didn’t fare so well the last time they went up against a well equipped modern army. They pretty much got wiped out in what can only be labeled an unintentional suicide attack. At this point I’d have to rank them entirely overrated.....much like the Russian army.
There's audio of one of those guys talking about the absolute butt whooping they took in Syria. Heard it sometime last year on Reddit, but couldn't find it.
Nationalizing foreign assets - aka the suicide of the Russian economy. Putin has become Hugo Chavez, there is no going back once you’ve pulled the “nationalization” card. Let’s put it this way. Russia had a vibrant stock market last century. It closed in 1917 with the Bolshevik revolution. The Russian stock market didn’t open again until 1992 after the fall of the Soviet Union. 75 years of closure. Putin has just murdered the wealth of basically every Russian citizen by making them a pariah state the rest of the world won’t deal with. If his response to that is to “nationalize” everything then he’s choosing to be venezuela.
So the democrats and Putin have something in common. Both are trying to turn their respective countries into Venezuela.
I'm not sure thats what they are doing. Gazprom is already state owned, for example. They were already "Venezuela" in that regard. Even in Venezuela, the majority of the economy is privatized. They are basically just responding to the freezing and seizing of Russian assets (and Western corporations leaving Russia). Most likely they will simply sell most of those assets for pennies on the dollar to private interests. Much of it is probably real estate or property that cant be removed from the country anyways.
Under Putin, it’s a gangster state with weak rule of law and heavy handed state involvement in basically every major sector of the economy (particularly ag, energy, and industrials). I believe it was sort of like China in that basically every foreign business has to be “approved” and have a partnership with the govt. Not even sure of the distinction between that and the Chinese communism. There is some cursory illusion to private enterprise and tolerance of foreign investment. Obviously that’s all gone if they nationalize foreign investment. Was reading a thing on their airlines. Their airlines are going to likely default on their leases. The company leadership actually want to give the planes back because they know if they don’t, they will not be able to service them due to lack of support/parts. If they don’t live up to their arrangements they’ll basically never be able to finance/lease planes from Boeing or Airbus again in the future. But the govt likely won’t let them. So there you go, they’ll have a “nationalized” fleet of planes that after a few months won’t be able to fly at all. They’ll just end up rotting in Siberia. Except probably a few planes Putin and his cronies will continue flying using black market parts or Chinese support.
Some of Putin's most bought and paid for lickspittles are starting to mouth the new cover story about Ukranian biolabs being the reason for this invasion. Anyone you hear this from is a lock, stock and barrel traitor.
From CNN live: " Armed men detain Ukrainian mayor in Russian-occupied city From CNN's Paul P. Murphy, Mariya Knight and Celine Alkhaldi The mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, was seen on video being led away by armed men from a government building in the city on Friday, and the prosecutor's office for the separatist Russia-backed Luhansk region now says they are weighing terrorism charges against him. Fedorov's detention by the armed men is the first known instance of a Ukrainian political official being detained and investigated by Russian or Russian-backed forces since the invasion began. According to a message on the Luhansk prosecutor's website, Fedorov is being accused of assisting and financing terrorist activities and being part of a criminal community. The Luhansk prosecutor's office claimed that Fedorov was a member of the "Right Sector." CNN has previously reported that the group is a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and political group that operates in Ukraine. It has an anti-Russian stance, but independent observers say it’s not the fascist threat that Russian President Vladimir Putin claims it to be." ..... Well, he'll be tortured & "tried", and likely executed. All part of peacekeeping. Speaking of, why hasn't the UN stepped in with a peacekeeping force?
Could Middle East nations come to the rescue as the Ukraine war drives up oil prices? - CNN "A bombshell announcement by a United Arab Emirates diplomat on Wednesday raised hopes that Gulf oil producers might come to the rescue as oil prices climbed to an eight-year high on Russia's war in Ukraine. Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE ambassador in the United States, told CNN his country favors an oil output hike. It was the first indication from a member of the OPEC+ cartel of oil producers that a supply increase beyond what was agreed by the group could be considered. OPEC+ had refused to budge from its current plan to gradually ramp up output."
Which shows how asinine this veto power is. There should be a veto proof majority threshold. Russia is a bad actor and never should have had this power. That being said, even without this threat of VETO I don’t think UN would be quick to send in “peacekeeping” troops anyway. Nor do I think Putin would hesitate to attack them if they did try to set up supply lines or any other type of aid.
