Not one at all, just making an observation. There will probably be some grumbling from environmental groups, but this is a pretty trying time
Like I was saying yesterday the Green Party is compromised and has been shaving dem points off elections while being supported by Republican money they only environmentalist group we should give the time of day is the indigenous peoples
I don't buy this either. wars are almost prohibitively expensive. anyone, including the US, would want an invasion over as soon as possible. that's before, as you said, them being embarrassed on an international level by being repelled so much. there's so many older people who still have the USSR view of Russia in their minds when Russia hasn't been a superpower for literally 25 years at this point. their economy is small, they don't have an extremely large budget for their military, and a percent of that is filtered out into Putin & co.'s pockets and not towards the upkeep and maintenance of the military, which you can currently see on video with these ancient, busted-ass tanks. the notion that in a week they're going to bring in the "real fighters" and there will be these grizzled Spetsnaz and shiny tanks is just folly. Russia is held together with bubble gum and duct tape, start thinking of their military the same.
I assume the Ukrainians realize they need the Russian financial markets to open so the Russians get to feel the weight of global sanctions before they concede anything?
“Tell me how this is Trump’s fault?” Well he got impeached for withholding aid to Ukraine so there’s always that for starters.
Fantastic post. People forget their economy is about the size of New York's and they have a critically underdeveloped service economy; they abandoned a great deal of intellectual development in favor of being a petrostate.
Which means their nuclear arsenal probably isn’t getting the attention and maintenance it needs right?
I will always remember learning about Roman army from hardcore history and being amazed that they would show up in a spot and would literally overnight construct a fortified camp. when the sun came up, their opposition was staring at a fortified defensive position in a key position. The battle was won overnight.
they have absolutely no economic diversity. all this time under Putin has just been him filling his coffers and robbing the Russian people blind. they're going to need such an adjustment period this century or they run the risk of ending up in serious trouble.
We don't know that. They have to be burning through tons of small arms ammo and even Kyiv is a long drive from the Polish border.
Real tricky to maintain an authoritarian oligarchy when you have pesky things like diversified economic engines with interests that supersede yours.
On a completely surface level. China could very well be called the great imitator; they really lag behind in terms of developing new intellectual properties, but make up for it through reverse-engineering and sheer manpower. Right now, they can take advantage of the fact that the vast majority of their population are essentially peasants so they can make American shit at dirt-cheap prices. Once the population starts realizing they have six times less money per person than the average American, there will probably be an internal reckoning.
obviously don’t want to test this but I have seen some comments wondering if their nuclear program is one giant bluff after seeing some of their incompetence in Ukraine
The only issue I have with the supply chain thoughts is they are bringing their troops from mostly allied lands that they control, so there should be a steady supply chain. It would seem they would have to be so incompetent to not be able to maintain the line.
I am not talking about within Kyiv. I am talking about the tanks that appear to be broken down way outside of Kyiv. Besides, isn't the point to stay connected and control ground so that is not an issue?
This is a huge issue. No matter the outcome of Ukraine, Win or lose Russia will still have sanctions and will get worse. For instance Airbus just stopped the sale of aircraft and parts, 40% of Russia's domestic air fleet. Boeing is another 35%, if they decide to impose as well. Their travel sector will be fucked.
The whole trading exercise thing along with chinas involvement really makes me wonder. You have to think that someone is trying to sabotage Putin, and it’s working. Wonder if China was like what’s the plan, and the response was possibly the dumbest shit they ever heard.
We don’t technically know that they’re not receiving replenished supplies, either. But given the lack of any reports indicating trouble getting the Ukrainians their supplies coupled with their continued ability to repel attacks the circumstantial evidence is that they’re not particularly worried about their supplies.
you can’t move the fuel trucks through a hostile area without risking them getting blown up so the stiff resistance russia has encountered is playing a big part with the supply chain issues. big time chicken and egg issue for them
I’d imagine the Ukrainians are just moving supplies around in civilian vehicles, seems the Russians have just left civilian vehicles alone to the point
This is a fairly dated view of China. Most of the cheap manufacturing moved to SE Asia (or even Africa) years ago, driven by higher worker compensation in areas like Shenzhen. What’s left, especially in the coastal provinces, is largely highly innovative, vertically integrated manufacturing that’s not easy to replicate anywhere else in the word. Their middle class has been expanding rapidly for some time, too (consumer debt is rising fast). This creates obvious challenges for their leadership, but I don’t think it’s going to lead to some form of internal reckoning, as you say. They definitely still reverse engineer (or at least learn through JVs), generally in areas where they welcome foreign investors, before shutting them out and heavily subsidizing local production (solar panels being one example). I moved away from HK in 2019 so some of my knowledge is dated at this point too.
Eh, as long as they aren't operating under US/UK jurisdiction, it's not really a big deal. There were a number of Americans who volunteered with the RAF before American entry into WWII and the Germans didn't use it as justification for declaring war.