Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Russian press reporting that there are 300m cards in usage in Russia and 75% of them are VISA and Mastercard. Anyone who claims that tonight's move is not a significant sanction against the country is talking nonsense.

But as pointed out earlier on this thread for every thousand pregnancies/births 500 are aborted(open to correction suffering with brain fog)

Nowhere is Europe comes close to those figures, shocking figures if correct

And looking next door to a country of 1.4 billion with a rapidly advancing economy and military cant help either. Russia with so much land in the east and so little population there. Vlad must be getting nervous.

Its why every act of resistance against Russia is so important. They are raising the bill on this horrid action. Lets hope Putin, or more likely, someone close to him (who happens to be armed preferably) takes note of that adage. and its follow up

'ending a battle to save an Empire is no defeat'

The above is tracking capture and destruction of Russian Military hardware - it seems legit it also cites some hardware that was abandoned by Ukraine.

They have more billionaires and gangsters than most other countries and corruption is a real money spinner ,sure hundreds of billions were syphoned out of Ukraine by russian owned companies

UK and France have near on 140 million population between them

also, in that eventuality - a great deal of MONEY is owed to Kiev - Reparations!! And no nonsense on that front -

Well there are a lot of Russian funds and assets frozen around the world....

There are probably going to be several each in St. Petersburg and Moscow alone, which drastically reduces the number of stores in the "provinces" Also, I'd bet that some of these "stores" are just in-store shops in larger Russian department stores, similar to the way Nespresso operates here in Ireland with their in-store boutiques in Brown Thomas.

Also, I'd just like to point out that some "provincial" cities in Russia can be pretty large. Cities like Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk or Samara all have more than a million inhabitants in the city alone, not counting their metropolitan areas. Plenty of space for both legit and "alternative economy" rich people to both make and spend money.

good read.

 Putin’s Strategic Mistakes In Ukraine Have Devastating Consequences For Russia – OpEd​

March 5, 2022 Paul Goble 0 Comments

By Paul Goble

Vladimir Putin made five strategic mistakes that led him to his broadening of his invasion of Ukraine, mistakes that collectively will have five devastating consequences for the Russian Federation for decades to come, according to London-based Russian analyst Vladimir Pastukhov.

The mistakes are easily listed:

First, Putin had a mistaken notion about the military-political situation in Ukraine. He thought the Ukrainian regime would collapse like a house of cards because he failed to understand “the nature of the Ukrainian revolution, its anti-colonial and national liberation character” (echo.msk.ru/blog/pastuhov_v/2988207-echo/).

Second, Pastukhov continues, Putin had a mistaken idea about the military potential of the Ukrainian army. Like most Western experts, he assumed it would be defeated in two to four days. But the Ukrainian army is still fighting and fighting well. Putin’s easy victory in Crimea eight years ago has played a dirty trick on him.

Third, Putin had an unrealistic assessment of the military capabilities of the Russian army. He assumed that the cartoons he liked to show about super weapons described its reality when in fact those weapons either aren’t part of the armament of his army or don’t work as well as he thought and its officers and men are less capable than he had convinced himself.

Fourth, Putin underrated the power and unity of the international reaction. Almost everyone turned against him and his war. “Even China has shown that its relations with the US were a priority” compared to those with Russia. Putin thus finds himself in a position like North Korea and not one like that of the former USSR.

And fifth, the Kremlin leader overrated the effectiveness of nuclear blackmail. Putin has always assumed that because he has a nuclear shield, he can act with impunity. But what he has done is reduce the reputation of Russia today to that of Hannibal Lector in “Silence of the Lambs.” Everyone knows he is a threat but they will do what is necessary not to live under him.

These strategic miscalculations, the London-based Russian analyst says, led Putin to invade; and that in turn has “serious and irreversible consequences for Russia in the next several decades:

· First, from now on, Putin, the Kremlin, Russia and Russians “in the eyes of international public opinion” are equivalents. “No one is going to divide sanctions anymore between those against the Kremlin and those against Russia.”

· Second, Putin’s actions have reduced Russia to the status of “the most tabooed regimes of the 20th century.” Reversing that will require “decades.”

Third, the Kremlin leader is on his way to establishing “a theocratic totalitarian regime without any pretense of post-modern liberality.” He is making Russia into a place like those described in all the classical anti-utopias of the 20th century.

Fourth, his isolation of Russia will leave it with little chance to recover to the level of the Soviet Union but rather push it down to that of North Korea, a country with nuclear weapons but without an effective economy.

And fifth, because Putin can be counted on to try to use nuclear weapons to blackmail the West into letting Russia reenter the world, the danger of nuclear war will be “a constant nightmare for several generations” not only over the rest of the world but of Russia too.

https://www.eurasiareview.com/05032022-putins-strategic-mistakes-in-ukraine-have-devastating-consequences-for-russia-oped/

Shell.

Please correct me here if I’m incorrect but did they not very recently relocate their stock listing to London ftse? The same London that thrives on Russian money?

Again, correct me if it’s needed.

Wonder how that call went:-

Reports that Mariupol has been captured on a few news outlets. Has I said earlier the Russians wouldn't agree to the cease fire and save passage for civilians because the new there were close to taking it and afraid of Ukrainian regrouping.

Odessa next. When taking. Russia will look to an end to peasant conflict.