Darkpriest

Virtuous, but ultimately Swiss just lost its International banker of trust status. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/historic-breach-neutrality-switzerland-joins-eu-sanctions-russia

A risk factor: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/stocks-tied-chinas-swift-alternative-are-soaring

Yeah, foreign institutions will be bag holders with huge losses. Might cause severe liquidity issues if not addressed fast. Expect unexpected i guess...

Looking like things might get ugly in the markets...

Interesting PoV and why it is not as easy to say and block someone from SWIFT or sanction the whole country like Russia. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/pozsar-warns-another-lehman-weekend-russia-sanctions-may-trigger-central-bank-liquidity

Must be a bit more dire than letting know. You don't usually remove these restrictions https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/bring-only-passport-ukraine-removes-age-limits-enlist-army-fighting-intensifies

@Zoraptor not sure how valid of a solution this might be, but if it came to worst, they might be evacuating south-west towards carpathia and use that as a funneling channel for gear/people as well as keep claim that they are still in Ukraine and not abandoned it. Seems like a list ditch plan.

It was a bit humorous during a chat, but it was mainly pointing out that men in Western societies are on average weaker. There are lower level of testosterone, lower sperm quality (you can read studies comparing current vs ones 40yrs ago), and on average in much worse physical shape, and those who do get fit, usually are weaker psychologically and use body mostly like women, for display. In Ukraine you have a large populace of rural, industrial, maritime and other labor intensive jobs and also a large part still tjinks that man is responsible for wellbeing of the family and family is important That said, you can prove me wrong. Zelensky just opened legal way to form foreign legions and have them operate under Ukraine authority. At the same time, France did this To sum up, the countries in the west can send more than just equipment if men there are up for it. Yoy can experience this first hand

I'm still baffled by Putin's decision, which seemed to be very unlikely for his usual fairly calculated mind. I've talked with some more informed Ukrainians, and while officially no-one will ever confirm this, if Putins Russia just had a show of force and entered Donbas and Lukhansk, they were ready to give up on those provinces and the port city in the south. With Russians invading Ukraine and attacking Kiev, this is nations war at the moment and there is no chance Putin is going to achieve his goals without packing a lot of Russian bodies back home. (which by comparison might make Afghanistan numbers look like a footnote) The terrain might be a more flat terrain, but there are woodlands, swamps, etc as well as a lot of various spread out smaller towns with various buildings to use for ambushes. Big City fight will be a nightmare for Russian troops. These are not some low height building, low density towns of middle east... It's also a good thing that men there are not yet of the "soyboy latte" mentality and character. National pride helps too.

This is even better, look at that old 'babushka' in white head scarf tossing molotov like a champ

Calmly walking and typical 'blyat' shouting

So far the 2020s keep on giving with each year passing. 2023 Taiwan?

I guess it depends, I've seen men packing, especially those who were to work on temporal assignments and those in construction and more labor intensive jobs. Usually also those over 30ish Wont comment on the social media feeds, as thats dangerous area now. A vast majority is not 'eager' to fight, but they do stay and if it comes to worst, they said they will fight. That's the experience I've been shared with and videos in TV of refugees beyond Polish border seems to show in vast majority women, children and men unfit to fight, although you can occasionally pick some that could be of fighting age and form.

Yes, they keep some at the checkpoints around borders, but most are organizing in big cities or once move to around Lviv. A lot just escort families to the border and once they make sure they safely cross, they go back.

One intersting point on refugees. So far all the men capable of fighting are staying in Ukrainee and even some people working in Poland are packing to return to Ukraine. This leaves women, children and elderly as refugees. When other migrants were deemed refugees, those were mostly single young men... Shows cultural differences and priorities...

Germans

Well, i did something from my side, sent some stash of cash which a couple of friends can pick up around Lviv in the end. If you have friends there and means to securily deliver cash to the ones you know that are in need, paper USDs are best

There are more instances of cars being ran over, so not sure if thats the same.

Gas amd Luxuries, both apparel, and cars/motorcycles are a large swath of income for the companies from there and being sold to Russians who love spending **** tonne of cash for such 'prestige'... Thats why no SWIFT ban That plus Gas

Thia does look real

Interesting if not cynical point of view https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/rabobank-russia-showing-us-new-kind-war-two-ways

Not only Germans, but it is easy to put this on them due to historical reasons (Rib-Mol pact) You had more countries against it.

Inderinvested in most areas, with some exeptions of special forces and fast response. Good for support, but awful in the mainland fight. The state of German military is god awful, i expect Italian amd Spanish is not much better, maybe French? UK has some capability. Trump was right in a sense, that EU relies on US for its safety and the funding of milirtary was pitful.

In afghanistan it were peasants with goats and occasional RPG. This is Russia, which has hypersonic missiles, a tech which NATO does not have...

Do you imaagine announcing mobilization in Germany and having German youth go to fight in Ukraine with Russians? Do you really think the minority communities would now say, "yeah we are Germans and we will fight there." Do you see Swedish gov doing this amd society follow? Dane? Spanish? French? Which gov would hold and not have a domestic revolt when announcing full mobilization and sending people there? First pictures of killed people would cause a tremendous uproar and saying 'Let Russians have that! "