Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Oil and Gas prices globally are set in US $. Pricing in Roubles is just a side-show. No logic to the argument that somehow pricing in Roubles makes energy more expensive for Western importers, apart from second-order things like greater hedging costs, etc.

Mobilisation by Putin would be an admission of failure. However he could still do it. It would also be a high risk strategy. If he pushes untrained soldiers into the battle front there will be serious losses. Can he put the logistics in place to train, arm and move these untrained troops to the front. I am not buying that he can leave these troops at the rear. The existing army is largely made up of one year conscripts not released after duty.

If he sends untrained and unequipped troops into the battle front his losses will be steep. We already know that the regular army struggles for NCO's to drive the army forward. Where will he gets these in a mass mobilisation

This is turning into a technology war. If the Ukraine gets air defences and the mobile guided howitzer platforms in place losses in Russian troops would be horrific.

If the figures are true for tank losses unless the RU army send a mixed bag of older and newer tanks it has lost 50% of its more modern tanks. It has lost a couple thousand APC's. I just cannot see what mobilisation will achieve.

I would not discount a coup. It was mass mobilisation by the Tsar and sending poorly trained and equipped soldiers with no leadership that caused the Bolshevik Revolution. Actually the Bolsheviks just piggybacked onto it.

The next week will tell a story one way or the other for better or worse. If the Russian advanced start to crumble and there are setbacks then any possible mobilisation would be doomed to failure IMO

Advisor to the office of President of Ukraine: At first, anti-Semitic statements by Moscow, now massive missile strikes on Ukrainian cities. Lviv, Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Zakarpattia. Russia must be recognized as a sponsor of terrorism. There is less and less difference between the Kremlin and ISIS, even on a verbal level

genuine question, has any side ever been as well militarily & financially supported as ukraine in this war? as bad as the russian army has been compared to what was expected, surely a lot must have to do with the huge backing from other countries

On a technical point. It depends.

The VVER reactors, which are the only type now used in Ukraine are pressurised water, light water moderated reactors, very similar to American or French PWR reactors and those used in most places, and they do not produce plutonium.

The RMBK reactors, which are graphite moderated - the type used at Chernobyl had dual purpose and can produce weapons grade plutonium. This was one of the reasons for the extremely comprised design. So can British gas cooled, graphite moderated reactors. North Korea actually got its weapons grade plutonium by building an old British design that was rather idiotically made public knowledge online as it was an obsolete design, but for a country with limited technical resources, a 1950s design was ideal and was used.

All that being said, it’s extremely unlikely that Ukraine would have any kind of nuclear weapons.

They had soviet weapons located there until they agreed to hand them back to Russia, in exchange for a guarantee the Budapest Memorandum (1994), sponsored by the USA and UK.

France and China also offered formal assurances, China’s are a bit weaker but something that it needs to be very heavily reminded of.

• ”The Chinese Government has constantly opposed the practice of exerting political, economic or other pressure in international relations. It maintains that disputes and differences should be settled peacefully through consultations on an equal footing. Abiding by the spirit of the Sino-Ukrainian joint communiqué of January 4, 1992 on the establishment of diplomatic relations, the Sino-Ukrainian joint communiqué of October 31, 1992 and the Sino-Ukrainian joint statement of September 6, 1994, China recognizes and respects the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and stands ready to further develop friendly and cooperative Sino-Ukraine relations on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.”

It’s also worth noting that while Ukraine physically hosted those weapons, it never had control of them as they were electronically controlled from Moscow.

It's far from clear that the Russians even know what a "Nazi" is. It seems to be a catch all insult they hurl at anyone who they feel dislikes Putin and his regime.

It would actually make a lot of sense to put a couple of billion euro or dollars down as a massive bribe to get Russian soldiers to defect.

A lump sum and a visa, if they pass some security checks.

Could be extremely cost effective too.

Ukraine was doing some of that but perhaps propping it up with a lot more funds might work …

Interesting speech after his re-election. Specifically took a dig at Ukraine and Zelensky. It is somewhere in this report but the whole report is interesting anyway. You man Klepper does a good job at what he does.

My daughter just asked me if Russia is going to bomb Ireland - she's always been a bit of a worrier. I reassured her that Putin won't. "Are you sure he definitely won't?" FFS. She's supposed to be excited about an overnight school trip tomorrow and instead she's fretting over the country being taken out by that tiny-cocked cu_nt in the Kremlin.

Small beer I know compared to what kids in Ukraine are going through, but still.

Kremsplaining

Ah there is.

In Soviet Russia, hole digs you.

German DZ Bank has restarted banking transactions with Russia.

"It's just little transactions- sure what harm?"

🤬

What a truly beautiful and intelligent lady

" We are witnessing the mass killings of civilians"...

"We have no right to remain silent otherwise we become accomplices to this killing"

And that is true of all of us.

To the presenter Vira Hyrych who was killed in the Russian bombing of her home and who broadcast this ladies account of the attack on Mariupol ~ RIP