“Russian troops deployed in Ukraine are using antiquated weaponry, according to influential voices in Russia's military sphere, Russian forces are using out-of-date arms, including a World War I-era Degtyaryov machine gun that had become "hopelessly obsolete" by the start of World War II, and a Maxim machine gun invented in 1884, prominent pro-Moscow military analyst, Rostislav Mokrenko, said earlier this month. When the troops have nothing to issue, [they] get outdated weapons," according to a Telegram channel of pro-Russian soldiers and bloggers claiming to have been fighting in Ukraine for a decade. "We are seeing a growing crisis" where Russian forces cannot access replacement parts,“ Russians fume over 19th-century machine guns, WW1 rifles in Ukraine
Sanctions strengthen the Ruble? The Russian Central Bank took steps to weaken the ruble? What kind of bizzaro world to you operate in? You must be posting from Moscow if you think the ruble nearing all-time lows is strengthening the ruble, the Central Bank frequently increasing interest rates is weakening the ruble, and Putin ordering Russians to repatriate money in other currencies to rubles is weakening the ruble. SMDH
After the sanctions were imposed on Russia the ruble soon reached a 7 year high. The Russian Central Bank took steps to weaken the ruble. Did the RCB overreact as Central Banks often do? Maybe, At some point they took steps to strengthen the ruble. The sanctions made the ruble stronger Look at the chart. Today the ruble is 90-91 per dollar. When the war began it was around 77 I Believe. Correct me if I''m wrong. The Russian economy is doing well compared to the European NATO economies. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/23/rus...ngest-level-in-7-years-despite-sanctions.html Below is a 2 year chart that starts off 17 days before the war. The lower the chart line the stronger the ruble. The ruble went way up to 145 per dollar (weakened) then dropped to about 50 because of the sanctions. In June 2022he Russian Central Bank then weakened the ruble 4 months after the Biden-Euro sanction made it strong.. when the war started the ruble was about 77 per dollar. Now at 90.9. which helps exports. RCB is making ruble stronger, possibly over correcting again
Per the article you posted -Russians jacked up interest rates. All else equal higher rates tend to increase the value of your currency - Capital controls were put on Russia reducing Russias ability to import - you can’t buy abroad if no one will take your currency. At that point the exchange rate is somewhat meaningless. A strong exchange rate won’t help much if you can’t take advantage of it internationally. However higher oil prices have greatly blunted the negative effect of sanctions even with price controls. The inability to import and buy key technologies like chips for weaponry has actually probably been more harmful to them.
According to hacked documents Russia is using gold to make purchases of drones from Iran (at great markup). Would suggest Iran not interested in accumulating Russian rubles. Will need to access the translated version of the article below. https://mil.in.ua/en/news/the-cost-of-shahed-136-for-russia-has-been-reported/ According to other published documents, at least part of Russia’s financial transactions and payments with Iran are made in gold. For example, in February 2013, the Alabuga Machinery organization transferred 2,067,795 grams of gold bullion to the Iranian shell company Sahara Thunder, presumably as payment for services and goods
This is a prime example of being horribly misinformed. Your timeline and justifications are fundamentally incorrect. You can argue whether they are effective, immoral, or whether their costs are borne by the people they’re intended to impact, but it is immensely funny to think anyone would seriously argue that sanctions benefited a sanctioned country. If anything they cause mutual harm as seen by rising fertilizer prices, natural gas prices in the EU, etc. Sanctions were imposed and ruble crumbled causing Russia to immediately take a series of drastic actions which resulted in the prolonged rebound and performance that even predated the war. Russia has taken similar steps between then and now too. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2022/04/05/1090920442/how-russia-rescued-the-ruble
He's already suspended elections, now sacking popular generals. At what point do we pull the plug? Zelensky sacks Ukraine's commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi
I'm more concerned with what we do, seems like they are reaching desperation mode. We shoulda looked for an out after their offensive failed, the longer this thing goes, the less likely there is to be a Ukraine to salvage. This move is an obvious shift to a protracted defensive struggle, a WWI-style war of attrition. I dont think they can count on the sort of aid to make that work.
this move is the exact opposite of what you state. it is the impatience of the west that has led to him dismissing the general. the west doesn't want to fund a stalemate. he can't sustain a stalemate without western support. the general doesn't want to mount an offensive that would result in high casualties because he doesn't have the air support needed because the west (US) was slow to respond with air support. what would you suggest? ending aid and let Putin take it over and encourage China to do the same with Taiwan?
Tell me again about the fear of Russian expansion in Europe? We pause exporting LNG while Spain and other European countries increase Russian LNG imports. All while we are asked to spend 60+ billion more than the 114 billion we already spent protecting Europe from Russian expansion ? I’m all for weakening Putin,But all of this just doesn’t add up. Oh and save the ‘ you don’t understand the Complexities and nuance ‘. Good life lesson. if you can’t figure out who’s the mark, it’s because it’s you. This is starting to feel like a good old fashioned grift on a grand scale EU turns a blind eye to 21% of Russian LNG flowing through its terminals. Spain is the leading importer of Russian LNG among EU countries, with 5.21 billion cubic metres (bcm) imported from January to September 2023, followed by France (3.19 bcm) and Belgium https://www.reuters.com/business/en...rt-projects-win-climate-activists-2024-01-26/ Biden pauses LNG export approvals after pressure from climate activists
I would suggest brokering some kind of resolution with Russia ASAP (if Trump wins its not getting better for Ukraine). And let China have Taiwan if they make that move, its not worth the cost of war. Also, I'm not sure how sending millions in aid to both Ukraine and Israel indefinitely is going to deter China, seems like an opportunity cost type of thing.
I've shared this on this same issue with you before but it seems to be falling on def ears. Europe had no options that early in the process. LNG went up when the land options to import from Russia were eliminated and europe was experiencing a cold winter with low reserves. There isn't spare capacity in the west system to supply spot product as almost all export capacity is locked up on long term contracts. Look at the cost of gas in Europe. This war has cost them dearly in additional energy costs. Much more so than the US that has profited by additional LNG exports. To claim they don't care because of an increase in one quarter imported lng is disingenuous at best. Not a fan of the hold on the permits review but perhaps it is a way to throttle the exports that drive up the price of gas at home without saying you are putting in trade barriers. Dirt cheap natural gas is what refueled the industrial revolution in the US and narrowing that advantage by raising our prices at home as more is exported doesn't necessarily help the US economy.
You quite obviously don't understand how the money is being spent. The vast majority is updating and improving our military hardware. You didn't really think Biden writes checks to Zelensky, did you?
That was almost a century ago, let it go. Hitler isn’t coming back. Also since he was born out of a war of various nationalistic states competing it’s probably best to avoid another WWI type event. Humiliating Russia is just as likely to produce a ‘new Hitler’ as anything else.
