Ukraine Conflict - Alle Dinge unterliegen Interpretation je nachdem, was Interpretation zu einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt herrscht, ist eine Funktion der Macht und nicht die Wahrheit

[Malcador]

https://www.euronews.com/2022/04/13/crashed-military-drone-in-croatia-contained-explosives-say-investigators

Where that drone came from is a mystery.  Maybe time travel.

[Mamoulian War]

6 hours ago, Darkpriest said:

Looks like Germany, Austria and Slovakia folded and are paying in rubbles (plus Hungary) and ten more are setting up rubble accounts. 

This is just a Russian propaganda. Austrian chancellor has denied it, and the CEO of SPP (Slovak Gas Industry) has released today this statements:

"This is a unilateral step by Russia, which is testing the European Union's united approach.

For the time being, Slovakia does not expect a unilateral suspension of supplies, because it has fulfilled its contractual obligation in advance by making a payment by the end of May.

I assume that Slovakia will follow the joint action of the EU countries. Slovakia has no reason to pay directly with rubles. The contract declares payment in euros or dollars."

Edited April 27, 2022 by Mamoulian War

[Darkpriest]

45 minutes ago, Mamoulian War said:

This is just a Russian propaganda. Austrian chancellor has denied it, and the CEO of SPP (Slovak Gas Industry) has released today this statements:

"This is a unilateral step by Russia, which is testing the European Union's united approach.

For the time being, Slovakia does not expect a unilateral suspension of supplies, because it has fulfilled its contractual obligation in advance by making a payment by the end of May.

I assume that Slovakia will follow the joint action of the EU countries. Slovakia has no reason to pay directly with rubles. The contract declares payment in euros or dollars."

Yeah, BBG had some **** ups today apparently, as they've caused misinformation with the Austrian and Slovak part. Haven't seen Germans openly denounce that. 

BBG ****ed up also some data release on Meta, not that it helped FB ticker in any way today... 

 

Interestingly, while the USD is highest in value in 20 years, RUB is gaining value on it still. Not sure who is pumping the RUB because this is beyond actions of what Russia alone could have done with regulations. 

[Sarex]

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/russia-natural-gas-germany-ruble-payment-poland-bulgaria-cut-off-2022-4

[xzar_monty]

On 4/26/2022 at 8:57 PM, Mamoulian War said:

The Sims got a lot of flak in media and church as an advertisement of gay relationships. And gays are in Russia the second most hated demographics, right after nazis...

I wonder about the jews these days in Russia. I mean, Russia has been extraordinarily anti-semitic in the recent past, but now? I don't know.

[Gorth]

7 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

I wonder about the jews these days in Russia. I mean, Russia has been extraordinarily anti-semitic in the recent past, but now? I don't know.

Not sure about that. Maybe among the common Russians, but a few of Putins closest oligarch friends are Jews (and have Israeli dual citizenship), like Abrahamovic. I would suspect Islamophobia is a thing though, considering Navalny used to campaign on an ideology (besides some extreme nationalist views) of kill all Muslims on sight including life sized posters (and Youtube videos, which has since been taken down) with him in combat fatigues waving a pistol at a middle eastern looking character and slogans to the effect of kill them now. He did later change strategy in his bid for power, trying to appeal to the west, but still, if Islamophobia was a platform that brought him to prominence domestically, I assume it is a thing. The Chechen war probably did help fuel such sentiments too.

 

[pmp10]

10 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

This is just a Russian propaganda.

Or more likely politicians just don't want to know.
If no one (save maybe Hungary) was really breaking-out they could find ways to confirm that. 

I suspect that when all this is over with, we will find out that many countries secretly caved. 

Edited April 28, 2022 by pmp10

[xzar_monty]

Incidentally, to anyone in general and @BruceVCin particular I recommend Masha Gessen's recent book The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia. Not a real historical study (like those done by, say, Orlando Figes and Ian Kershaw), but a thoroughly interesting document about the Soviet Union and Russia. Much of the stuff is rather harrowing, though, as the country has been and continues to be a very grim place to live in.

The recent military failures can also be seen as a symptom of the overarching malaise. Why do generals make shockingly poor decisions, why do soldiers lack initiative and why do we see ridiculously stupid things done on a regular basis? Well, we are witnessing the operations of a culture where individual thinking is not only actively discouraged but has a history of being punished extremely severely. "Make good decisions!" is not an order that anyone can realistically be expected to carry out, if there is almost literally zero history of critical individual thinking being encouraged. Critical thinking has been dangerous: the system not only discourages it, but it actively punishes it. As a military strategist in my country pointed out, Russian low- to mid-level commanders have historically adopted a strategy of not making any choices so as to avoid making mistakes. But it doesn't work on the battlefield, as we have seen for two+ months.

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Gorth said:

Not sure about that. Maybe among the common Russians, but a few of Putins closest oligarch friends are Jews (and have Israeli dual citizenship), like Abrahamovic. I would suspect Islamophobia is a thing though, considering Navalny used to campaign on an ideology (besides some extreme nationalist views) of kill all Muslims on sight including life sized posters (and Youtube videos, which has since been taken down) with him in combat fatigues waving a pistol at a middle eastern looking character and slogans to the effect of kill them now. He did later change strategy in his bid for power, trying to appeal to the west, but still, if Islamophobia was a platform that brought him to prominence domestically, I assume it is a thing. The Chechen war probably did help fuel such sentiments too.

 

Russia has always had a love\hate relationship with Russian Jews and their important contribution towards the country

Their have historically within the Russian Empire   been some of the worst examples of pogroms against Russian Jews seen anywhere in the world 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogroms_in_the_Russian_Empire

And I read a fascinating book called "Stalin and the Scientists " which discusses the important scientific role Russian Jews made towards the technological advancements of the USSR but still they were treated really badly within the Soviet leadership structures, I recommend this book to understand this reality that existed within USSR

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin_and_the_Scientists

But nowadays Russia under Putin is rife with all forms of bigoty and its institutionalized in certain cases. And whats different about the bigotry you see in Russia compared to Western countries is their is no free media to hold people accountable or raise visibility and the Russian government doesn't care about it 

 

[xzar_monty]

1 hour ago, BruceVC said:

And I read a fascinating book called "Stalin and the Scientists " which discusses the important scientific role Russian Jews made towards the technological advancements of the USSR but still they were treated really badly within the Soviet leadership structures

Speaking of this question more generally, here is probably the cruelest of all historical ironies: Adolf Hitler's anti-semitism saved the world. Without it, and without the exile of several important Jewish scientists, the Nazis would've had the atomic bomb in 1942, 1943, something like that, and it would have been goodbye England, goodbye so many places.

Albert Einstein pointed out in the late 1930s that Hitler's anti-semitism will prove very detrimental to his war effort. Einstein was right.

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, xzar_monty said:

Speaking of this question more generally, here is probably the cruelest of all historical ironies: Adolf Hitler's anti-semitism saved the world. Without it, and without the exile of several important Jewish scientists, the Nazis would've had the atomic bomb in 1942, 1943, something like that, and it would have been goodbye England, goodbye so many places.

Albert Einstein pointed out in the late 1930s that Hitler's anti-semitism will prove very detrimental to his war effort. Einstein was right.

Absolutely agree, the contribution the likes of Robert Oppenheimer made towards ensuring the Allies victory is immeasurable because if the Nazi  had developed Nukes first their appalling  ideological views would be what we would all be living under 

No BLM and other social protests would be tolerated  and their would be no " evil, Western, Capitalist " rhetoric because the views of minorities and SJ activists dont exist in the Nazi world view 

 

[majestic]

24 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

No BLM and other social protests would be tolerated  and their would be no " evil, Western, Capitalist " rhetoric because the views of minorities and SJ activists dont exist in the Nazi world view 

What? Of course there would be evil, western, capitalist rhetoric. There was plenty of that in Nazi Germany.

[BruceVC]

30 minutes ago, majestic said:

What? Of course there would be evil, western, capitalist rhetoric. There was plenty of that in Nazi Germany.

Yes their was when the " evil, Western, Capitalist" countries were fighting the Nazi

But if the Nazis had won WW2 their would  only be the Third Reich and their ideology and no more " evil, Western, Capitalist " countries left because everyone would have acquiesced to their views

And I dont consider the Nazi view of the world to be remotely similar to the current ideology of Western countries which are based on Constitutional Democracies 

Thats what I meant by no more " evil, Western, Capitalist " ideology 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by BruceVC

[Gorth]

3 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Their have historically within the Russian Empire   been some of the worst examples of pogroms against Russian Jews seen anywhere in the world

You can't really argue with that logic...

 

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Gorth said:

You can't really argue with that logic...

 

I was about to ask you what you mean but yes Im guilty of tautology, I should have said " Their have historically within the Russian Empire   been some of the worst examples of pogroms against Jews seen anywhere in the world "

Well spotted 

 

[Darkpriest]

So US economy Contracted by 1.4% in terms of annualized GDP... With more inflation pain incoming, how sustainable it will be for US to keep pushing for geopolitical disorder in the midterms election year? 

@BruceVCseems I was right 'again' with economic fallout of the ****ty policies of the last couple of years.

Can't wait for FED to pull the liquidity rug from under liquidity starved markets in the stagflatory / recession like conditions. 

[BruceVC]

10 minutes ago, Darkpriest said:

So US economy Contracted by 1.4% in terms of annualized GDP... With more inflation pain incoming, how sustainable it will be for US to keep pushing for geopolitical disorder in the midterms election year? 

@BruceVCseems I was right 'again' with economic fallout of the ****ty policies of the last couple of years.

Can't wait for FED to pull the liquidity rug from under liquidity starved markets in the stagflatory / recession like conditions. 

Im not surprised the US economy contracted by 1.4%.

The world has faced for 2 years  unhelpful economic  global lockdowns, global inflation from these lockdowns and then Putins War 

So yes I dont expect many countries GDP globally to grow in the next 2-3 quarters?

 

[Elerond]

17 hours ago, Darkpriest said:

Yeah, BBG had some **** ups today apparently, as they've caused misinformation with the Austrian and Slovak part. Haven't seen Germans openly denounce that. 

BBG ****ed up also some data release on Meta, not that it helped FB ticker in any way today... 

 

Interestingly, while the USD is highest in value in 20 years, RUB is gaining value on it still. Not sure who is pumping the RUB because this is beyond actions of what Russia alone could have done with regulations. 

Uniper plans to pay with euros, but using scheme where Russian bank switches them to rubles.

 

Ruble is not freely traded so it has currently value decided by Russian central bank as you can only buy rubles from them.

[kanisatha]

Documentation of systematic warcrimes by Russia at the UN yesterday. The details are pretty horrific, and the evidence clearly shows these acts were not idiosyncratic but rather the result of Russian soldiers having been instructed to engage in them.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/04/28/Ukrainians-executed-Russian-war-crimes/7051651120048/

https://www.businessinsider.com/evidence-russia-executing-ukrainians-trying-to-surrender-us-official-2022-4

[xzar_monty]

19 minutes ago, kanisatha said:

Documentation of systematic warcrimes by Russia at the UN yesterday. The details are pretty horrific, and the evidence clearly shows these acts were not idiosyncratic but rather the result of Russian soldiers having been instructed to engage in them.

No change from what they engaged in in the early 18th century, then. Horrific indeed.

One thing that has definitely changed outside Russia, perhaps irrevocably: nations outside Russia will recognize that all deals with Russia can be regarded as null and void, as Russia will not respect any of them.

[BruceVC]

21 minutes ago, kanisatha said:

Documentation of systematic warcrimes by Russia at the UN yesterday. The details are pretty horrific, and the evidence clearly shows these acts were not idiosyncratic but rather the result of Russian soldiers having been instructed to engage in them.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/04/28/Ukrainians-executed-Russian-war-crimes/7051651120048/

https://www.businessinsider.com/evidence-russia-executing-ukrainians-trying-to-surrender-us-official-2022-4

I have been following this on numerous international news channels, the killing of Ukrainian civilians and abuse of Ukrainian captured soldiers is much worse and widespread than  I thought 

Some of the Russian military are acting in a more barbaric and inhumane way than I could have ever thought possible 

Their is definitely a case of War Crimes to be answered to on a myriad of different examples 

[BruceVC]

11 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

No change from what they engaged in in the early 18th century, then. Horrific indeed.

One thing that has definitely changed outside Russia, perhaps irrevocably: nations outside Russia will recognize that all deals with Russia can be regarded as null and void, as Russia will not respect any of them.

Yes I agree, Putins War has demonstrated the Ruskies cant be trusted with legal documents or rather to honor them. The latest example of this is cutting energy to Poland and Bulgaria because of demands they must pay in Rubles but the agreed on, Russian signed  legal document, says only  $ and Euros are accepted currency 

The West should seize  and auction all Russian  Oligarch assets they can and give the money to Ukraine to assist and ameliorate the terrible suffering of the Ukrainian people 

Edited April 28, 2022 by BruceVC

[Darkpriest]

9 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

No change from what they engaged in in the early 18th century, then. Horrific indeed.

One thing that has definitely changed outside Russia, perhaps irrevocably: nations outside Russia will recognize that all deals with Russia can be regarded as null and void, as Russia will not respect any of them.

That could in theory be said also on US and EU as it was their unilatteral decision to ban trading etc. Despite existing contracts. This is a two way street, so one has to be really careful with all sorts of absolutisms. 

Russia did not attack any of the countries or seize the assets of such, which unilaterally broke trade relationships in multiple sectors. They did act in response to economic hostilities. 

[BruceVC]

5 minutes ago, Darkpriest said:

That could in theory be said also on US and EU as it was their unilatteral decision to ban trading etc. Despite existing contracts. This is a two way street, so one has to be really careful with all sorts of absolutisms. 

Russia did not attack any of the countries or seize the assets of such, which unilaterally broke trade relationships in multiple sectors. They did act in response to economic hostilities. 

What do you mean by " Russia didnt attack any countries or seize the assets " ....they invaded Ukraine and decided to unilaterally recreate the borders of a sovereign  country

Thats why their are Western sanctions against them, what do you mean by "unilatteral decision to ban trading"

 

[Malcador]

Would be interesting to see what non-unilateral sanctions look like.