Oso planning to go pro
Once the Germans joined the Vlad Fan Club, it cleared the way for the rest of Europe, as Germany has the largest economy. I believe Vlad offered board seats to at least one Frenchman and one Italian soon after they left office. I guess we really need to focus on the here and now, but the Europeans are not innocent bystanders in this mess of having been so dependent on Russia for oil and gas. The handwriting was on the wall, but they pretended not to read it.
Unfortunately, yes IMO. People's pocketbooks will definitely impact their views.
This is one of my concerns regarding everything going on. While it is true that this has been a major failure by Putin and Russia, one outcome could still actually be increased world power in some regards.See the deal with the Taliban today in Afghanistan. I think you will see other countries who really do not care about Europe, look to make similar deals. With prices world-wide where they are right now, and both food and energy shortages. A lot of less-advanced countries very likely may economically align with Russia for cheap food and oil/gas. I think that in part was in their original goals. 1) Take what they want from Ukraine (failed miserably). 2) Precipitate a food and energy crisis that strengthens their economic ties to developing nations, while the US decreases exports to keep costs down at home.
They can sell oil all they want to the developing world. The problem is they can't really buy anything of value with the cash they are making. That is the essential problem with the sanctions from Russia's POV.
I think China is going to have more influence in developing countries. They probably do already. And selling more oil to developing nations will just create a bigger secondary market.
There's an Onion-like pundit in Russia who calls himself Darth Putin. Here are two of his one-liners:"Stop comparing me to Hitler. He kept things he annexed for several years. I can barely manage several hours." @DarthPutinKGB"The only people now afraid of the Russian military are Russian men of military age." @DarthPutinKGB
Is Putin actually crazy enough to use nuclear weapons the longer this plays out? I'm guessing he will amp up this nuclear threat as things continue to go poorly. I never thought Vlad was completely delusional but maybe he loses it completely?
He certainly may be desperate enough. International condemnation might be the better of two options, because he will be dead if he loses this thing. Again, just a stupid exercise from not only a geopolitical and economic point of view, but the amount of human suffering this is causing is just off the charts. But I guess he still has Roger Waters on his side.https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/roger-waters-ukrainian-kill-list-1234604081/
But I guess he still has Roger Waters on his side.
He has far too many U.S. politicians and Fox News personalities on his side, too.
The Tankies
this will have to go much further for him to use them. US has made it clear that's a red line that as the tactical nukes move, they'll be targeted quickly and struck. This has to be a slow methodical grind and Ukraine is doing it very well
Happy 70th Putin, will you see 71?
Let's hope for a "surprise" BD party today.
Cheering for the death of a justly and fairly elected foreign leader of a sovereign nation? How despicable.