Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Take a look at yourself and get a grip.

Myself or no-one else on the thread has said it's fine to blow up hospitals and children, so be very careful who you point your finger at with your lies.

Spouting off about "they did this" and "he did that" so many years ago doesn't help anything or anyone. We're not talking about Iraq, Iran, Israel, Syria, WW2 or anywhere else... we're talking about the HERE AND NOW, and Russia's unlawful invasion of Ukraine and the indiscriminate killing of civilians. Harping on about "well so and so kills civilians", and "we allow it to happen here and there" doesn't help with what's actually happening NOW and only derails the thread.

Why cant folk just concentrate on the humanitarian aspect, what could be done, what will happen, etc, instead of dozens of people on Boards who are set on making comparisons to past, and a few recent events.

There's the problem. The west can't sanction China like they are with Russia. Western countries have made a monster. They're absolutely beholden to the Chinese for practically all goods in their market to some extent or another. Made great sence when consumers wanted to buy cheap and companies tried to remain competitive. Walk around your house. Pick 10 items. Most if not all are made in China or have components made there. Even the big European made brands, cars etc, may be assembled in Germany or France but you can be certain there's Chinese components there.

China know this too.

Just watched a press meeting in Washington on TV and it was talked about by the US representative ( not sure who ) so its true alright.

He was very strong in his advice that this would be a seriously bad idea for China...

Christ this is really going global 😳

That can be undone too it was pure convivence that we got involved with china, i think the west should start systematically cutting off these countires why pander to them? It d take time but we could most defiantly ween of china and russia oil and gas and we d be all the better for it.

FT seem to be reporting China's openness to arms supplying

If China supply arms it's inevitable, we are watching the beginning of ww3

I think its a big leap to that point, but it's certainly a serious turn.

Id be more concerned if they supplied soldiers tbh.

Yep. Not sure what he's doing in Turkey. Maybe just a wee holiday. It's been a bit stressful for him recently 😁

I agree, but the blunt reality is thw west needs cheap labour, because without it, we will pay alot more for goods. Moving away from Chinese goods would take a generation, India is the only country that can match China for size but they're no where near geared up for that business. Other south east Asian countries that can manufacture are ultimately tiny by comparison.

I've seen it first hand in the industry I work in, Quality British made products coming up against garbage made in China, now, the British brand is made in China landed for less than half the price and not a patch on what it used to be. People like to blame "greedy companies" but the reality is its consumer driven

I absolutely agree, the west needs to diversify, be it major investment in countries like India, Brazil and Indonesia but its not a quick move. Its requires active policy change to which I would 100% endorse

We can survive a few years with our existing mobiles and low value plastic tat until Western countries reorientate their supply chain away from China.

We in the west just need food and fuel to survive which we don't rely on China for.

Yes it will be tough for companies to re-adjust but China need to get the message loud and clear, support Russia in the war and sanctions and isolation are on the way!

Based on how the US and NATO have behaved up until this point I can't imagine anything other than a large-scale and obviously Kremlin-ordered Russian attack on sovereign NATO soil could drag NATO any further into the conflict.

And even at that I suspect any response would be very precise and "proportional": i.e. they might target some sort of equipment belonging to the unit which was supposedly behind any attack; or in failing that they might target some infrastructure in Crimea.

I think it's beginning to dawn on them that they are up the creek, hence the desperation of threatening corporations.

On February 25th, there was a tender for crude announced on the St. Petersburg Merchantile Exchange (SPIMEX) with bids to be submitted by March 4th.

There were no bids placed, which means on the entire planet they couldn't find a single trader willing to do business with them.

ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited), a large Indian oil exploitation company also failed to get any bids for 700,000 barrels of Russian crude last week.

Those two outcomes are a serious kick in the balls for the Russian oil industry.

We can definitely do without certain material luxuries like a new phone every year and all that kind of thing which is pretty hedonistic when you think about it, but is that all China makes? For example, back when Coronavirus first broke out, I remember stories about China ramping up production on face masks. That makes me ask what other medical sundries they make - things that are simple in design but are necessary - things like hypodermic needles for example.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica

Beyond the cheap tat, could be a lot of necessities in there that would make a sudden cut off in trade not necessarily impossible, but a disaster. It would have to be done over a period of time in order to maintain Western stability if it were to be done.