Ukraine Conflict - "A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny"

[Gorth]

2 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Okay, my bad. Sorry for the misunderstanding 

Bruce, it I can recognize Putin's attempt at mind games, I sincerely hope whatshisname Scholz(?) recognizes it too. Question is, what is he going to do about it? Like the fish in my observation, getting obsessed with the lure (some gas is better than no gas) or make a clean cut and decide he doesn't want to play mind games and let the angler (Putin) end up disappointed and empty handed (edit: even if the immediate cost to the economy may be disastrous)

Disclaimer: Read that as you will...

[BruceVC]

6 minutes ago, Gorth said:

Bruce, it I can recognize Putin's attempt at mind games, I sincerely hope whatshisname Scholz(?) recognizes it too. Question is, what is he going to do about it? Like the fish in my observation, getting obsessed with the lure (some gas is better than no gas) or make a clean cut and decide he doesn't want to play mind games and let the angler (Putin) end up disappointed and empty handed (edit: even if the immediate cost to the economy may be disastrous)

Disclaimer: Read that as you will...

Sure but we  still want the Nordstrom pipe providing gas than not providing gas. If Putin turns it off later I agree he can do that and EU and Germany  will be impacted. But the concern was after the normal yearly maintenance Putin would not turn the gas back on 

And that would have impacted Germany and the whole EU economic recovery 

I dont see how it helps the EU economy if Scholtz decides to not use Russian gas because there arent working  alternatives at the moment? But the EU will move away from Russia gas and then Germany can decide that

I misunderstood your initial fishing analogy but I see what you saying but for me its not  worth it due to the economic impact to leave Russia empty handed

There are too many other real issues to do this now 

[Malcador]

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-turkey-global-trade-middle-east-3135d38fd0d8d16334c77e1e71c030ff

Turkish officials say a deal on a U.N. plan to unblock the exports of Ukrainian grain amid the war and to allow Russia to export grain and fertilizers will be signed Friday in Istanbul.

 

[Sarex]

Isn't the US already importing a lot of Russian fertilizer? I think they even removed import duties on it.

Yeah here it is.

[Elerond]

There is no block for exporting Russian grain and fertilizers. Russia is blocked exporting grain and fertilizers they have taken from Ukraine. Russia has self blocked its exports because they feel they aren't treated fairly.

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-03-04/card/russian-ministry-recommends-suspending-fertilizer-exports-8gJNAaRR7PBi6HvV4T3o

So US farmers haven't been able to buy fertilizers from Russia even though there is no import duties, because Russia doesn't sell fertilizers.

Media seem to be very lazy when it comes to details why these negotiations happen.

[Sarex]

That is not what I heard, the story went that companies were scared to buy from Russia for fear of breaking sanctions.

[Katphood]

Yeah, this **** for brains(Putin) showed up here in Tehran a few days ago. Man, wish I had a team of 30 people armed with rocket launchers. Motherf*cker was being escorted with 45 cars!

...and now they are going to sell drones to Russia. If I don't show up someday, it probably means I have died of hopelessness. 

Oh yeah, they also signed a 40 billion dollar deal on gas and oil.

Death I tell ya, is a luxury for us Iranians. I am almost 40, when will this nightmare end.  

 

[BruceVC]

24 minutes ago, Katphood said:

Yeah, this **** for brains(Putin) showed up here in Tehran a few days ago. Man, wish I had a team of 30 people armed with rocket launchers. Motherf*cker was being escorted with 45 cars!

...and now they are going to sell drones to Russia. If I don't show up someday, it probably means I have died of hopelessness. 

Oh yeah, they also signed a 40 billion dollar deal on gas and oil.

Death I tell ya, is a luxury for us Iranians. I am almost 40, when will this nightmare end.  

 

I dont want you to die, I like you too much 

[Gorth]

27 minutes ago, Katphood said:

Oh yeah, they also signed a 40 billion dollar deal on gas and oil.

Huh, Iran too... Saudi Arabia has become a major buyer of Russian oil

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exclusive-saudi-arabia-doubles-q2-russian-fuel-oil-imports-power-generation-2022-07-14/

Supposedly they buy refined oil cheap and sell their own crude to western countries at premium rates.

[Lexx]

1 hour ago, Katphood said:

Yeah, this **** for brains(Putin) showed up here in Tehran a few days ago. Man, wish I had a team of 30 people armed with rocket launchers. Motherf*cker was being escorted with 45 cars!

...and now they are going to sell drones to Russia. If I don't show up someday, it probably means I have died of hopelessness. 

Oh yeah, they also signed a 40 billion dollar deal on gas and oil.

Death I tell ya, is a luxury for us Iranians. I am almost 40, when will this nightmare end.  

 

Did you ever thought of leaving, or is that even an option?

[Elerond]

1 hour ago, Sarex said:

That is not what I heard, the story went that companies were scared to buy from Russia for fear of breaking sanctions.

There has been issues where some countries have had problems to pay Russia, because banks have refused to do transactions in fear of breaking sanctions, but those issues have not been concern of US companies. 

[Katphood]

12 minutes ago, Lexx said:

Did you ever thought of leaving, or is that even an option?

My older brother has his own place in Austria(check out Kosari Architekten). He could help me out but yeah, he ain't the nicest person out there. Funny how I helped him for 2 long years with his debts and in the end, he didn't even bother letting out a fart...

People are like that. "I know you helped, doesn't mean I have to do the same thing".

I guess after that, along with mom's death, I grew tired of trying. 

 

[Elerond]

49 minutes ago, Gorth said:

Huh, Iran too... Saudi Arabia has become a major buyer of Russian oil

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exclusive-saudi-arabia-doubles-q2-russian-fuel-oil-imports-power-generation-2022-07-14/

Supposedly they buy refined oil cheap and sell their own crude to western countries at premium rates.

India just buys Russian oil and sells it to west and Greece is so nice that they help them to hide origin of the oil when Greece tankers carry the oil.

https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-is-india-violating-the-eu-oil-embargo/a-62291074

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/greece-emerging-new-hub-russian-ship-to-ship-fuel-oil-exports-data-shows-2022-05-19/

As there is no sanctions against Russian oil in the EU, there is not illegal in what they are doing, but when energy companies in EU say that they have stopped using Russian oil they probably don't tell truth as most of them buy oil from Greece.

Strangest thing is that Russia is make less money from oil than before as they sell it to India with massive discount, and also India don't seem to make much profit of the arrangement. Meaning that it looks like that EU's energy companies are the party that seems to make most of the profit, because market price of the oil is so high, as they seem to buy oil cheaper than before Ukraine crisis, but sell fuel in record high price because of oil's market price.

[Mamoulian War]

In the beginning of June, I have posted a Tweet about destruction of Wagner Base deep in LNR with hundreds of their mercenaries blown up. At the time it was just a rumour, although Girkin the **** was tweeting little bit about it as well, in the UA, there was almost complete silence about this mission. Now finally after month and a half, there is finally official confirmation of this attack from the Ukrainian side, in a nice article, how the information is collected behind enemy lines. The number of killed mercenaries is between 50 - 200, which is a pretty big blow, as most of these Wagners were highly trained and disciplined compared to DNR/LNR "volunteers".

https://kyivindependent.com/national/exclusive-inside-ukraines-covert-operation-to-take-out-elite-wagner-group-mercenaries-in-donbas

 

Edited July 22, 2022 by Mamoulian War

[Katphood]

lol...Wagner Group are even dumber than your average Russian soldier. Wagner Group is basically 'cheap soldiers'. I think the Americans blew up a few hundred of them in Syria at some point.

 

[BruceVC]

3 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

In the beginning of June, I have posted a Tweet about destruction of Wagner Base deep in LNR with hundreds of their mercenaries blown up. At the time it was just a rumour, although Girkin the **** was tweeting little bit about it as well, in the UA, there was almost complete silence about this mission. Now finally after month and a half, there is finally official confirmation of this attack from the Ukrainian side, in a nice article, how the information is collected behind enemy lines. The number of killed mercenaries is between 50 - 200, which is a pretty big blow, as most of these Wagners were highly trained and disciplined compared to DNR/LNR "volunteers".

https://kyivindependent.com/national/exclusive-inside-ukraines-covert-operation-to-take-out-elite-wagner-group-mercenaries-in-donbas

 

The Wagner group  have also been linked to atrocities on the African continent, it shouldn't surprise us. If Russian soldiers have been committing wanton acts of rape and killing civilians  in Ukraine you can only imagine what Russian mercenaries are  capable of doing 

https://adf-magazine.com/2022/04/russian-wagner-group-tied-to-atrocities-in-mali/

 

 

https://adf-magazine.com/2022/04/russian-wagner-group-tied-to-atrocities-in-mali/

[kanisatha]

Here's an excellent article on current issues in the Ukraine war (and also some coverage of the Iran-Russia connection and lessons for China v. Taiwan. But most importantly, a great assessment of Putin's current mindset about the war (very troubling):

https://www.voanews.com/a/us-warns-putin-falling-for-his-own-rhetoric/6667777.html

[kanisatha]

4 hours ago, Katphood said:

My older brother has his own place in Austria(check out Kosari Architekten). He could help me out but yeah, he ain't the nicest person out there. Funny how I helped him for 2 long years with his debts and in the end, he didn't even bother letting out a fart...

People are like that. "I know you helped, doesn't mean I have to do the same thing".

I guess after that, along with mom's death, I grew tired of trying.

That is just so horrible that he would abandon family like this, especially as the older brother.

[Malcador]

Edit, actually scratch that, wonder what Russia got out of the deal.

Edited July 22, 2022 by Malcador

[Lexx]

2 hours ago, Katphood said:

lol...Wagner Group are even dumber than your average Russian soldier. Wagner Group is basically 'cheap soldiers'. I think the Americans blew up a few hundred of them in Syria at some point.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/world/middleeast/american-commandos-russian-mercenaries-syria.html

I occasionally read the wikipedia page about it, because I love that story so much. It's exactly what you expect from idiot leaders, their lies and propaganda.

[pmp10]

2 hours ago, Malcador said:

Edit, actually scratch that, wonder what Russia got out of the deal.

At a minimum an official recognition that they get to blockade Ukraine.
The legal status of it was likely less clear before-hand. 

[Sarex]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-titanium-maker-is-pulled-off-sanctions-list-11658425381

[HoonDing]

Dirlewagner

[Zoraptor]

7 hours ago, Katphood said:

lol...Wagner Group are even dumber than your average Russian soldier. Wagner Group is basically 'cheap soldiers'. I think the Americans blew up a few hundred of them in Syria at some point.

8-12 Russians. Funnily enough the source for hundreds of Russians always resolves to... Girkin again, who wanted a war between Russia and the US, preferably nuclear. Hundreds may well have died, but they were locals trained by Wagner.

(Basically the rebels in rif Deir ez Zor all defected to ISIS in 2014 and the loyalists were under siege in Deir ez Zor for 4 years; around 200k people. The US supported forces took a very long operational pause in the hope that Deir ez Zor city would be captured by ISIS- indeed the only ever major strike in the area by the coalition was the infamous 'mistaken identity' attack of September 2016 where they spent an hour attacking... Syrian government forces- and that would cut off the alternative land route to Iraq/ Iran along the Euphrates having already taken Al Tanf from Jordan. Didn't really care about the 200k civilians, but then they were also fine with drowning them as well. When Deir ez Zor city was relieved by the government forces Saudi bribed the ISIS aligned locals to swap sides to the SDF (coalition) with the carrot that they could keep the oil fields in the area. Oddly enough the half of the local tribes that were loyalists didn't like that much, and employed Wagner to train them up to go after the Omar field. So it was 95% local anti ISIS fighters being killed there to protect... ISIS fighters who'd swapped sides for the 3rd time)

[Sarex]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/lithuania-lifts-ban-rail-transport-goods-into-russian-exclave-agencies-2022-07-22/