BruceVC

Yes but their is a reason people retire at a certain age and its not because of them automatically being incapable due to age. Its about retirement funds and what governments can pay and allowing younger people into the job market which has limited jobs available always. But you dont necessarily have the same considerations with politicians because they come and go based on peoples votes So why would you support our politicians being restricted to a certain age ? Dont you think it should be about their cognitive ability and not their age ?

I was going to give you examples by comments I have read over the last 12 years but I would rather not because it may offend people and thats not my intention I dont put you in that group but their is general sentiment where some constantly refer to the US as "warmongers " but handwave the same thing done by Russia. So for me its about consistency with outrage and criticism

Im a little confused, who are you saying created this mess ?

I thought you were going to stop using zerohedge as your reason for predictions after they have been so wrong ? Their is nothing wrong with the SWIFT system and it wont become weaponized so no need to be concerned. The primary reason it is so effective is because it is used by choice by the majority of banks globally and it works , no one is forcing any bank to use it so you welcome to create your system and try to convince other banks to use it? Also these Russian sanctions have really become so damaging to Putin because the US has slapped Dollar related sanctions on the various Russian banks meaning they cant trade in the $. This is not the same as SWIFT sanctions And this works because the $ is the worlds reserve currency and very stable https://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex-currencies/092316/how-us-dollar-became-worlds-reserve-currency.asp

Remember that some of our forum friends have always thought of Putin and Russia as an alternative to the current Western "hegemony " so the reality of how he is acting now is disappointing and shatters that narrative Now you may immediately ask " why would you want to replace governments that are Constitutional Democracies that have proven to offer historically overall the best quality of life compared to other systems of government " ? And I cant answer that and why people use to think Putin was such an great leader compared to Western leaders, I have never liked him and he has history of irrational and highly controversial behavior Western ideology is not perfect and neither are its leaders but compared to Putin they Mother Theresa

Geez that is ageism 101 and Im very surprised. Hurlshot please dont be a bigot. Old people have a right to dignity the same as the rest of us What would your students think if they found out you pushing bigotry on the Internet ????? You not automatically useless at a certain age unless your mental faculties are not functioning correctly, no need for someone at 70 to not be an effective president

Thanks Gorthfuscious, you make me laugh sometimes Only you could find positive things to say about Putin when globally this is probably the most unpopular he has ever been in his life But I do appreciate the sentiment

@Malcador Malc what does your Russian lady friend think about this whole invasion ?

I just assumed we were all thinking about it

Another serious economic blow to Putin is by putting sanctions on the Russian central bank you directly impact their ability to access their $650 billion foreign reserve war chest which is in dollars and the central bank cant trade in dollars....this type of sanction is very clever https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/27/swift-action-at-last-brings-meaningful-sanctions-against-putin-regime

Radiohead is too Western for him but yes on the Vodka and hot Russian escorts

Congratulations and well done to the Finnish people for making this prudent change of perspective The sooner the better. Its been mentioned before but one of the real consequence to Putins War is to unite the EU even more and to get more countries to want to join NATO @PidescoNow we just need Sweden to want to join NATO and the EU will really be a happy family

GD I hope you paying her overtime, medical aid, UIF, leave pay and ensuring she gets a bonus with no KPI ....you dont want to be seen as greedy, Capitalist abusing his workers and only being concerned with profit !!!!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-28/russian-stocks-plummet-in-london-with-moscow-exchange-shut Okay I must be honest I have never seen such damage done so quickly to an economy as this and its only going to get worse for Russia I wish it wasnt about life and death because its interesting to see how being banned from systems like SWIFT immediately impact any economy. And the West and its allies are not even targeting all Russian banks and companies with sanctions that could be worse. The Moscow exchange shutdown today, wait till they reopen to see further mass selling of shares into this economic maelstrom created by Putins War Putin needs to end this madness and immediately pull the Russian army out of Ukraine

Have you ever asked yourself why the majority of countries that use to be ex-Soviet states couldnt wait to join the EU and NATO? If Russia offered an better way of life sovereign countries like Ukraine would join them like you said Western countries are not just about selling weapons and causing wars, they offer a better quality of life and that works for most people who have lived under the Soviet rule or who look at Putins idea of resurrecting the old borders of the Russian empire and they reject it People outside what you have always known your whole life generally dont think badly of the idea of Western ideology

The threat and reality of a nuclear war is always something to be concerned about. I do think its highly unlikely because it never happened in the 50 years of the Cold War due to Mutually Assured Destruction and in those days you also had mentally unhinged people like Putin in both the West and East but they werent that irrational to doom their countries and or the world to nuclear holocaust so its unlikely it will happen now

Add to that the economic burden on all of our countries due to the global interest rate increases due to the end of lockdowns and Putins War becomes even more unpalatable I enjoyed your new Chancellors speech yesterday, he made a lot of sense

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/russia-hikes-key-rate-20-tells-companies-sell-fx-2022-02-28/ The egregious raising of the Russian key interest rate to 20% by their Central Bank is just another example of the severe economic consequences Russia is facing due to Putins War Well least Russia is such a strong economy their will no impact due to the invasion of Ukraine....oh wait

Tired? Surly you jest, this is just the beginning I have been having debates around the US invasion of Iraq for nearly 20 years and we are going to talking about how Russia lied to justify an invasion of Ukraine for decades You must have fortitude ....its going to be a long and glorious series of debates and outrage for the rest of your life, or at least the next 20-30 years

The US learnt lots of important lessons about urban warfare in places like Iraq and the battles for Fallujah The Ruskies have let to learn those lessons

Absolutely but I was watching a comparison on CNN between the sizes and resources of the Ukrainian army vs the Russian army and its literally like David vs Goliath. So we need to be realistic but I do think the Ukrainian army has done exceptionally well so far against the much better resourced and much larger Russian army https://en.as.com/en/2022/02/26/latest_news/1645907062_698195.html But what has made this invasion much harder for Russia is they cant just adopt their normal military strategy of " bombing cities to the ground " and they have been forced to use boots on the ground and hand to hand combat and clearly their training of infantry is not that great

I wish it was that simple, Russia will definitely win a sustained war Their should be no doubt of that. But this invasion has highlighted weaknesses of the new Russian army when they are involved in this type of city warfare

Yes they are trying to avoid civilian casualties, the Geneva Convention does apply to them but also they have no way to control the media narrative until Ukraine is occupied then they can ban\arrest journalists. So its an accurate point, Russia is trying to avoid civilian casualties which is a noticeable difference to other conflicts they have been involved in

Interesting story, thanks for sharing Did you not drink tea when you were young instead of coffee? I was raised on tea growing up and the first time I had coffee was maybe 17-18 years old. Tea is so much better than coffee

Thats not a nice thing to suggest, I am sure @Elerond is ethnically pure blood Finnish?