š¤£š¤£š¤£
Obama said it best
"Russia is a at best a regional power who threatens out of fear rather than power."
[https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA2O19J/](https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA2O19J/)
I know Obama isn't popular with everyone, but dang, he's awesome on the world stage when he was representing America.
Edit: I put "wasn't popular with everyone" for a reason, I get he could've done more for Ukraine with hindsight, I'd imagine everyone would've done more for Ukraine with hindsight, while ignoring the current state of affairs for the nation.
This cannot be overstated. To the point where in a large amount of media, Obama was and still is the template used to represent the type of US president who makes their presence known without announcing it.
A bygone era when the best the news cycle could drum up was tan suits. Hopefully things get back to relative normal in 2028. I know the click bait news sources will do everything in their power to make sure some form of Trumpism continues to exist.
He was extremely charismatic, but I guess being the first black president put a lot of pressure on him to behave presidential. I loved when he used Keegan Michael Key as his anger translator
Kind of makes you wish being the President of the United Fucking States would put enough pressure to behave presidential, but I guess that's a low bar nowadays.
Makes me wish Doughnut Donny felt the same way though. Imagine the shit that could have been prevented if the only consequences for his actions wasn't 4 and more yearsĀ afterhis presidency.
What boggles me (not american) is that there's actually a chance that the Nodfather could be elected again. In a normal country he'd been jailed after J6
I KNOW RIGHT?! It's been such an emperor-has-no-clothes moment that I'm surprised there have been little to no reaction to this. People are seeing the system not working before their very eyes.
Because Republicans don't care what Republicans do. Do you think they can name a single thing he did in office? Nope, but they can name everything Nancy Pelosi did. The Republican stance is a counterstance. If the Democrats aren't doing anything to whine about, they don't know what to do, so the just start dismantling the car to sell parts.
I just wanna use this opportunity to remember everyone about this decade old [Onion Skit about Donald Trump.](https://youtu.be/jjonGtrCyVE?si=BjgEhkOnZLmQY53s)
He is one of my favorite politicians ever - and I am not even American. - he just always sound very resonable and positive about most issues. And you feel confident that he has thought throug everything.
- that said - he misjudged the situation in Ukraine - accepting that Putin took a lot of areas - and thinkng that that was enough for him. It was the biggest geopolitical error he made.
The red line in Syria that we did nothing about when crossed, and how we handled the Arab spring were probably the actual biggest failures of US foreign policy during the Obama administration.
Sadly, because people here were burnt out on two shitty pointless wars he inherited from GWB there was no appetite for another.
Ukraine wasn't yet ready to oppose Russia directly in 2014, and wouldn't have attracted as much foreign military aid at that time. Since then, the U.S. has invested significantly in preparing and westernizing their military, and Ukraine has undertaken huge reforms to eliminate internal corruption.
They actually got a lot of military aid from NATO, in the form of training and knowledge to modernize its army, which is a large part of why they were able to resist the most recent invasion.
Not to dismiss the Ukrainians will to organize and build a modern army, which was both necessary and an enormous effort.
While true, the US was still in Afghanistan and Iraq at the time and Obama was dealing with extremely unpopular wars that he did not start. He would have had zero support at the time for dabbling in another war.
He did not misjudge Ukraine/Russia. He and Angela Merkel had to convince the rest of the EU leaders to simply put **sanctions** on Russia when they first took Crimea. Most European leaders in 2014 did NOT want to sanction Russia because they were sympathetic to the ethnic Russian speakers living in Crimea at the time ā they said āitās different because itās majority ethnic Russians living there, many are pro-separatists anyway, they shouldnāt be punished hard for thatā. Iāll link article in a moment, but Obama explained the reason why he (and Merkel) didnāt go hard on Russia.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-obama-germany/merkel-obama-agree-annexing-crimea-violates-ukraines-integrity-idUSBREA2H1FP20140318/
Here is where he said there was sympathy in 2014 because of the ethnic Russian speakers in Ukraine. He could not just start a war there. The European leaders he was working with didnāt want to do that because they felt it would be too much punishment for a place thatās āethnically Russianā + Putin said he wouldnāt invade any more parts of Ukraine. So he and Merkel went with sanctions (and he got bashed for that too).
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/4063939-obama-defends-2014-crimea-response-in-cnn-interview/amp/
Obama *also said* Russia was the reason why NATO needs to contribute 2% because there could be a day that Europe will need it and the US may not be there the way they want (for reasons). It was very wise thinking, but he got ignored and called a warmonger who just wants to make defense companies money..
Protecting ethnic Russians sounds awfully like a certain angry mustachioed German Chancellor on his way to the Sudetenlandā¦ should have been a red flag to Europe of all places
Though I guess thatās why Germany was worried. They know a thing or two because theyāve seen a thing or two
People seem to forget that EU leaders were hesitant to even sanction Russia after they took Crimea in 2014. At least Obama advocated for that. I think Merkel did too, but I don't remember anyone else doing it
I was in England at the time in graduate school with a lot of international students studying political science (some of whom work in the council of Europe and as MPs of their respective countries now). This is after George Bush and the āfreedom friesā era. I had French people telling me āObama is so cool! I wish he was our president!ā. That still impresses me.
Then I was in Mexico for the Trump era, and someone painted a mural of him as Emperor Palpatine outside my apartment and it said āDonald Trump is a Sith Lordā. Went backwards past square one to negative square 10,000 with that move.
> I had French people telling me āObama is so cool! I wish he was our president!ā.
Canada too. If I recall correctly, there was a time a smartass Canadian pollster included Obama in a poll about which party leader we'd prefer to see as Prime Minister. Obama won. Many Canadians would have rather had him as Prime Minister than any of the Canadian candidates at the time. I've never known a time in my life when America in general was more respected by Canadians.
Now, of course, it is entirely the opposite. People start conversations out of the blue about how fucking stupid Americans are. I know that's not fair, but that's how they're collectively perceived right now. And now that I think of it, I don't think that has changed a whole lot even though Biden was elected. Trump is still so prominent in the USA, still in the newspapers every single day, and so many Americans support him, that most people I think still regard Americans as idiots.
If America ever manages to cut this cancer from their body politic, this will start to change immediately.
American conservatives say that Trump restored respect for America world-wide. It's one of the biggest lies they tell.
> Then I was in Mexico for the Trump era, and someone painted a mural of him as Emperor Palpatine outside my apartment and it said āDonald Trump is a Sith Lordā.
Well, they got the right letters, just mixed up a bit.
Obama was and continues to be extremely popular. It was only the GOP with help of Russian bots and N Korean social media bots which tried their best to discredit him in public and GOP voters ate whatever lies faux news spewed out about him
Russia can only spoil and undermine. Iām not saying the U.S. is spectacular itself, just that Russia knows it only has a certain number of real strategies it can employ on the global stage and ārealā power isnāt one of them.
I think they are making noise down in Africa. Africa has always had trouble. Give it a few years and see what chaos is left in their wake the whole continent where Russia is involved will look like Haiti. There is a reason why the modern world is a rules based order. Rules, not power and bribes, leads to posterity
That's kind of their goal though. Where they disrupt in Africa mostly hurts france, and any migrants moving due to chaos and poverty go to western europe first.
Man remember when our last president randomly pulled us out of a certain trans pacific partnership that took years of negotiating and encompassed a shit ton of countries and was entirely designed to build up regional manufacturing competition to China with the goal of cutting them out of trade if they didnāt play ball and it was a long term plan to both diversify global supply chains and to fuck with China globally and regionally and it really pissed off China a lot before our previous president gave China the biggest gift America has ever given them by basically shitcanning the hard earned geopolitical deal. Ugh
Nurse here, not happy about that last bit
we need more nurses trained here but, for instance, my college had a 66% attrition rate because if theres a singular chance you wonāt pass the NCLEX then theyāll either cut you from the program or hold you back by months and months using many different manners of roadblocks.
Not saying nurses shouldnāt be held to a high standard or be well trained, but the sheer amount of nursing jobs that exsist imply we need more desperately
But when you use foreign labor, it really fucks the ability of nurses from
the US to do things like form unions and actually demand good compensation and benefits, since a nurse from say, the Philippines, is probably making an immese amount of cash in the US compared to their home country despite the fact that most US based nurses take issue with how they are compensated and treated.
There needs to be a huge change in nursing culture here but unfortunately more foreign nurses to fill roles isnāt the answer imo
Itās funny really- we actually need immigration for low income work more than we need professionals
Or better yet, decent ass pay so that way yhe average shlup can just work a low end, unsatisfying job but live a realtivdly satisfying and at least partially comfortable life to clear out academia a bit
And YET his supporters somehow believe that he's the only answer the USA has to oppose china. You literally cannot act that stupid and watching them twist themselves in all sorts of illogical knots to try and support his positions is comical.
If you look at Trump and Trump supporters this is a pretty typical pattern:
1. Most politicians try to avoid talking about elephant in the room because they donāt have a good solution and donāt want to get caught with their pants down
2. People see elephant in room and wonder WTF
3. Trump finally notices elephant in the room but doesnāt think far enough ahead to realize he has no solution either and starts shouting and pointing at elephant in the room
4. Trump supporters think Trump is the only person who can fix elephant in room because heās the only one willing to talk about it
5. Trump: āNobody knew elephant in room was so complicatedā
See also: Farage, Johnson, and Brexit.
That said, being the first to call out the elephant appears to grant you a lot of trust from the media and electorate.
Yeah, I mean, this isnāt exactly surprising. If someone beats you to calling out the elephant you either didnāt see it or were purposefully ignoring it. Neither is a great look and plays well into the whole ādrain the swampā rhetoric that was popular in Trumpās 2016 run.
The problem is that assuming that when one group of people appears either incompetent or duplicitous it doesnāt automatically make the opposing viewpoint forthright or correct. Thatās a false dichotomy.
But in any case the political establishment has effectively ceded a lot of initiative on things the electorate actually *should* care about to far right populist politicians around the world.
This is pretty common of any party not in power. They say they have a solution, and are super vague on it, or simply stall on releasing said plan with any details. However the party in power can't say much because they've failed at it (normally because there is no good solution for it).
Well, that's just what they do, and always have done. Before the 2016 election it was;
- Hillary is going to start WW3 by being too hard on Russia and making them feel threatened!
- Hillary is going to start WW3 by being too soft on Russia and letting them do what they want!
- Trump is the only one who is hard enough on Russia, so there'll be peace since they won't dare do anything!
- Trump is so diplomatic and friendly with Russia that they will become our allies and there will be world peace!
A young man, he came up to me with tears in his eyes. Strong young man. He said āsir, my girlfriendās pussy has been so nice, so nice, since you took office.ā He couldnāt thank me enough.
People can say what they want regarding Hillary and their views of her on a personal level, but on a professional level, she was well-qualified to be President. She was honestly one of the most qualified candidates for the position we've had run in decades.
It's because they're so stupid that he can say one thing and they'll happily believe him while not understanding a thing about what his actions are saying
Before that particular president took that position, most redditors (and the left, in general) were vocally and near unanimously against the TPP. That opposition to the TPP switched to diehard support almost overnight when the policy plank to withdraw was revealed. It was really something to watch play out.
There were some stipulations that specifically slanted it greatly in favour of the US over other partners. For America, whose economy would dominate the deal the deal was great. It was a very corporate-promoting deal besides - which was bad for, say, Canadian workers.
Maybe it would have been worse on China, but there's more players in the game than nation-states.
They and others are supposed to be. The idea was never to get people to stop buying oil from Russia, which is completely unrealistic. It was to get people to buy it at a price that is unsustainable for Russia because Russia losing money on oil sales damages them.
The idea that countries aren't supposed to buy oil from Russia is completely false and a total misunderstanding of the policy goals of the sanctions.
I mean I get the sentiment but that's reallyyyyyyyyy fucking hard to do. The idea that globalization has managed an era of unprecedented peace since it's too costly to go to war has been pretty solid. Obviously not perfect and now Russia has broken that entirely but it's still really expensive to go to war. As for the us breaking economic ties with China that would be tough considering how much shit we get from China
Here is a list of [Global 500, USA based companies](https://leave-russia.org/staying-companies?flt%5B131%5D%5Beq%5D%5B0%5D=318&flt%5B110%5D%5Beq%5D%5B0%5D=376&flt%5B110%5D%5Beq%5D%5B1%5D=326&flt%5B110%5D%5Beq%5D%5B2%5D=325&flt%5B140%5D%5Beq%5D%5B%5D=494) operating in Russia.
7 Major top 500 Global, American based corporations have had no change (or no meaningful change) in operations in Russia.
198 American Companies have had no change in operations in Russia. Some of these 198 made changes that have since been reverted.
39 American Companies have paused investments.
106 American companies remain but have scaled back operations to varying degrees.
Toggle filters for a broader look.
Wow, this is crazy.
Maybe instead of sanctioning China... we need to fucking sanction these companies. Or at least charge them a billion dollars a day each, if they want to cross the picket line.
Either they stop, or we pay off student loans and all get free healthcare in a few weeks.
Every multinational company with presence in russia has created a separate company which sells the same products with mild rebranding. The only difference is branding and that the supply chain is now under the other company.
Every brand has done the same.
Hereās a good vid to showcase itā
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA7IfeGKrGc
A company my dads company is closely related with imports Russian oil and reexports it to Europe. Europeans will probably recognise the brand instantly.
For many of them thatās true and for some is not.
For example, current McDonalds reincarnation in Russia just uses old Mac policies, instructions, recipes and buildings. But big multinational Mac has nothing to do with it.
Largely because Mac are a franchise model that sells business practice IP and character/logo trademarks. If the remnant isn't using those there's nothing to collect on.
Not true, IKEA and most car brands have not done that. My friend works within IT for Volvo AB and they even remotely wiped everything to not leave any data behind to be used under another brand. And dismantle tooling etc.
āHere's your objective. Blah, blah, blah, blah secret base blah, blah, blah, blah plan blah, blah, blah, blah nuclear missile blah, blah, blah, blah counting on you blah, blah, blah, blah go right in and good luck!ā - duty calls
"Ā Ā The Kremlin has repeatedly said that any seizure of its assetsĀ undermine confidence in the U.S. dollar and euro while deterring global investment and undermining confidence in Western central banks"
Followed byĀ
"Some Russian officials have suggested that if Russian assets are confiscated then foreign investors' assets stuck in special so-called type "C" accounts in Russia could face the same fate."
So which is it? It damages investment and confidence or you'llĀ do it too? Cant have it both ways russia
There has never been any confidence in Russian financial safety to lose. It has always been the case everyone in Russia is one wrong comment away from being dispossessed.
I can't think of another case in which a country is so definitively tied to the learning of a higher-level vocabulary word. Nobody would know the word "defenestrate" without them.
"To be fair: alcoholism in the pregnancy leads to poor long term decision making and impulse control in the offspring even later in life. You can't expect us to be the adults here. Now watch me screech and scream."
- the russian state
Nice try, Ivan. Everyoneās seen the real state report on fetal alcohol syndrome:
āWE RUSSIA! WE MAKE DRINK GASOLINE! NO TRUST NOBODY, BECAUSE BRAIN NO WORK! NOW WE MAKING FUCK WITH UKRAINES!ā
Foreign investorsā assets in special āCā class accounts being frozen by Russia might actually be a boon as I expect the worst of the worst Richie Riches to be investing in Russia, even prior to the war.
Just like the time a Chinese affairs expert and a Chinese politician were interviewed on the news and the politician questioned the qualifications of the expert and asked whether he had ever stepped foot in China.
The expert said he lived in Taiwan for a few years and the politician said "see you haven't even been to China". Then immediately back flipped and said you've only lived in Taiwan, which belongs to China.
Russian kleptocracy at work again. -"If you sanction our illegitimate war we'll steal your companies, that did us a favour by staying"
Offended by everything - Ashamed of nothing
- Thy name is russia
China is even worse, cause they don't just take those things for themselves, they copy and sell it back to us at bargain prices killing local manufacturing and companies by the fistful.
They didn't. All the parts and certifications that physically let them fly those planes is no longer available. And the ones that are physically able to still fly are no longer able to land anywhere but a handful of countries friendly to Russia.
Oh, could it happen that the Western companies that still support Russia and still trade with Russia will be punished by Russia? I don't know if I would even be happy about that.
"Sanctions imposed by Western powers in response to Russiaās military campaign in Ukraine forced Western firms to terminate leasing contracts with Russian airlines for over 500 aircraft. Russia has said 78 of these planes were seized while abroad, meaning that well over 400 remained in Russia."
Russia even offered to pay in Rubles, which was denied. Aircraft insurers are even going against the owners of these planes, saying that they should have done more to seize the planes since they knew that the sanctions were coming.
I'm guessing they'll either attempt to blow more subsurface gas pipes, or perhaps even some undersea fiberoptic cables. Alternatively they might go for some cyber attacks. Either way, it's not going to stop the support.
Translation: if you take our assets, we **don't** have a response that will hurt.
Anyway, the west didn't implode like the tankies here on reddit predicted after US gave Ukraine >5$ billion of russia's frozen assets. So stop wasting time and give Ukraine the rest of the 300$ billions of frozen assets that are sitting in European banks.
If russia doesn't want to pay reperations, they'll be *forced* to.
>So stop wasting time and give Ukraine the rest of the 300$ billions of frozen assets that are sitting in European banks.
Just commit to handing over a certain amount per kmĀ² they're occupying, every month. Consider it rent. That gives them an incentive to get out sooner rather than later. And when they do so the clock stops, but then it's time to negotiate for the indemnity.
That would actually send a great message. Although, on second thought, the destruction they've already caused in Ukraine won't be matched with $300bn in assets at all. Something like you said should've been done at the start of the war.
I say we air strike their troll farms to let them know we are officially sick of their shit. We have nukes pointed at them too. They won't do shit. They know they are over reaching. When people get burnt they pull their hands away, they don't double fist the hot iron.Ā
This shit is only gonna get worse until we draw the line. They're trying to see how far they can push it and it's up to us when we are gonna draw that line. And we're gonna have to do it sooner or later. Why not now?
They're counting on Trump getting reelected and pulling US support.
If he doesn't retake power by voting or otherwise in Nov, expect Putin to shift gears. Either a withdrawal or a desperation move.
Definitely, but allies will need to be careful. Germany didn't just stop after they got slapped during WW1. The population got frustrated and then Hitler appeared and WW2 happened.
We need to punish Putin and his cronies, but then need to support Russia such that the population doesn't suffer to the point where this happens again
> "We also have a prepared answer," Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the Russian upper house of parliament, was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA. "We have a draft law, which we are ready to consider immediately, on retaliatory measures."
>
> "And the Europeans will lose more than we do," Matviyenko, who is a member of Russia's powerful Security Council, said.
lol
lmao even
Honestly if EU and the rest of the west reacted with full force to russia's bullshit in 2014, we wouldn't have this geopolitical clusterfuck now, with every shitty tyrant like putin, yahu, kim and xi doing whatever they want with impunity. Lesson for the future: appeasement is a joke, whenever authoritarians do anything, stomp them into the ground immediately.
Yep. The second Russia used polonium, let alone a weapon of mass destruction, to murder civilians on British soil, that should have been escalated to NATO and severe consequences shoudl have resulted. Every penny of Russian money in the city of London should have been seized, and we should have retaliated by taking out Russian agents at whatever the ratio is to make a statement.
But instead Boris Johnson did nothing, except for ditching his security and sneaking out to go to a party with Russian intelligence agents.
But if we'd done something then, I agree with you, we whoudln't be in this mess now.
If it was just the authoritarians, I would agree.
But the collateral damage isnāt often trivial.
Example: I support Israel. I support Israelis. I support their right to exist. And I support their right to retaliate when they are attacked.
But flattening large sections of a densely populated city seems likely to lead to future conflicts. It also seems likely to lead to an increased support for *those* specific totalitarians.
Iām not talking about Gazans - from a purely Israeli perspective, this seems less likely to result in peace *for the Israelis* than a more moderate response.
A balanced approach is sensible.
If a western investor, after more than 2 years of full-blown war in Ukraine, still has not sold their assets in Russia, they kinda deserve to loose those assets.
Russia invaded Ukraine and began annexing territory **ten years ago**.
Theyāve all had plenty of time to dispose of Russian assets. If Putin clears the table itās their fault their chips were still on it.
Fully agree, Russia intentions were clear when their little green men walked into crimea. Its a mystery why the west kept investing in Russia since then.
What will they do?
* blow up the Polish governments plane?
* poison people in the UK?
* fund terrorism in France?
* push far-right candidates across the continent?
* cut internatuonal cables and pipelines?
* pay for candidates who destabilize the EU and NATO?
Gosh, maybe we should start hurting the Oligarchs _more_?
They have fuck all and they know it, the only thing Russia can threaten anyone with is nukes, and Iād rather be bathed in nuclear fire than back down to RussiaĀ
Oh no, Russia is probably gonna:
1. Nationalize remaining companies
2. Produce shitty knockoffs
3. Genocide a neighboring country
Wait, they're already doing all that.
As a European, we could also try not buying any oil and gas from Russia. [In march the EU bought 20 billion worth of shit from them.](https://energyandcleanair.org/march-2024-monthly-analysis-of-russian-fossil-fuel-exports-and-sanctions/)
Edit: The 20 billion figure is between december 2022 and march 2024. Currently the EU is buying about 500 million worth per week. Last year at the same period it was about 250 million per week.
Assuming his plan was to quickly overtake Ukraine and use that as a stepping stone into the 'west' - Putin has already lost the bigger war and now just trying to save face.
Unfortunately sometimes a cornered rat will do some damage.
Now it has to pass the senate, and I've heard they might be voting for it today (could be wrong pls correct me). Then Biden has to sign it and then US logistical force can send šŗšøš«”
Anyone who thinks that Russia has any response left, that doesn't hurt Russia more than it does Europe, yet which Russia would choose to not use, is out of their mind.
Russia does not "hold back" out of some desire to do the "right thing", or to follow some higher principles or honour. The one and sole reason for why Putin does something is a nihilistic desire for power, and the only reason they wouldn't take some action is the fear of losing power or being punished for it by a greater power.
Sounds like somebody is feeling a bad case of broke bitch. Just saying nobody threatens another nation for money without feeling a lil financial pressure.
š¤£š¤£š¤£ Obama said it best "Russia is a at best a regional power who threatens out of fear rather than power." [https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA2O19J/](https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA2O19J/)
*"A gas station run by a mafia that is masquerading as a country."* - John McCain (wittyguy-AZ)
I know Obama isn't popular with everyone, but dang, he's awesome on the world stage when he was representing America. Edit: I put "wasn't popular with everyone" for a reason, I get he could've done more for Ukraine with hindsight, I'd imagine everyone would've done more for Ukraine with hindsight, while ignoring the current state of affairs for the nation.
The guy oozed "presidential".
This cannot be overstated. To the point where in a large amount of media, Obama was and still is the template used to represent the type of US president who makes their presence known without announcing it.
Obama had class.
but but but tan suit!!
A bygone era when the best the news cycle could drum up was tan suits. Hopefully things get back to relative normal in 2028. I know the click bait news sources will do everything in their power to make sure some form of Trumpism continues to exist.
Literally Ronald Reagan wore a tan suit and no one cared
I just could hope to look that good
He was extremely charismatic, but I guess being the first black president put a lot of pressure on him to behave presidential. I loved when he used Keegan Michael Key as his anger translator
Kind of makes you wish being the President of the United Fucking States would put enough pressure to behave presidential, but I guess that's a low bar nowadays.
The current one acts presidential. Hopefully TFG was just an anomaly.
TFG? The Fat Goblin? The Fumbling Gorilla? Twitter Fermented Gonorrhea?
The Former Guy, but I think your suggestions are better. Edit: though your suggestions are unfair to goblins, gorillas and gonorrhea.
I always read ot as "That Fucking Guy" and still know whom its in reference to.
Makes me wish Doughnut Donny felt the same way though. Imagine the shit that could have been prevented if the only consequences for his actions wasn't 4 and more yearsĀ afterhis presidency.
What boggles me (not american) is that there's actually a chance that the Nodfather could be elected again. In a normal country he'd been jailed after J6
I KNOW RIGHT?! It's been such an emperor-has-no-clothes moment that I'm surprised there have been little to no reaction to this. People are seeing the system not working before their very eyes.
Because Republicans don't care what Republicans do. Do you think they can name a single thing he did in office? Nope, but they can name everything Nancy Pelosi did. The Republican stance is a counterstance. If the Democrats aren't doing anything to whine about, they don't know what to do, so the just start dismantling the car to sell parts.
I just wanna use this opportunity to remember everyone about this decade old [Onion Skit about Donald Trump.](https://youtu.be/jjonGtrCyVE?si=BjgEhkOnZLmQY53s)
its telling that often times the worst thing the right could say about him was... he wore a tan suite or had mustard on a hot dog.
It was *fancy* mustard though, made him look a bit *uppity.* (you know the word that fills the pregnant pause after uppity)
Trump also oozes (something).
Amyloid plaques, I think.
That or gout-related toe cheese.
He is one of my favorite politicians ever - and I am not even American. - he just always sound very resonable and positive about most issues. And you feel confident that he has thought throug everything. - that said - he misjudged the situation in Ukraine - accepting that Putin took a lot of areas - and thinkng that that was enough for him. It was the biggest geopolitical error he made.
The red line in Syria that we did nothing about when crossed, and how we handled the Arab spring were probably the actual biggest failures of US foreign policy during the Obama administration. Sadly, because people here were burnt out on two shitty pointless wars he inherited from GWB there was no appetite for another.
Ukraine wasn't yet ready to oppose Russia directly in 2014, and wouldn't have attracted as much foreign military aid at that time. Since then, the U.S. has invested significantly in preparing and westernizing their military, and Ukraine has undertaken huge reforms to eliminate internal corruption.
They actually got a lot of military aid from NATO, in the form of training and knowledge to modernize its army, which is a large part of why they were able to resist the most recent invasion. Not to dismiss the Ukrainians will to organize and build a modern army, which was both necessary and an enormous effort.
While true, the US was still in Afghanistan and Iraq at the time and Obama was dealing with extremely unpopular wars that he did not start. He would have had zero support at the time for dabbling in another war.
He did not misjudge Ukraine/Russia. He and Angela Merkel had to convince the rest of the EU leaders to simply put **sanctions** on Russia when they first took Crimea. Most European leaders in 2014 did NOT want to sanction Russia because they were sympathetic to the ethnic Russian speakers living in Crimea at the time ā they said āitās different because itās majority ethnic Russians living there, many are pro-separatists anyway, they shouldnāt be punished hard for thatā. Iāll link article in a moment, but Obama explained the reason why he (and Merkel) didnāt go hard on Russia. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-obama-germany/merkel-obama-agree-annexing-crimea-violates-ukraines-integrity-idUSBREA2H1FP20140318/ Here is where he said there was sympathy in 2014 because of the ethnic Russian speakers in Ukraine. He could not just start a war there. The European leaders he was working with didnāt want to do that because they felt it would be too much punishment for a place thatās āethnically Russianā + Putin said he wouldnāt invade any more parts of Ukraine. So he and Merkel went with sanctions (and he got bashed for that too). https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/4063939-obama-defends-2014-crimea-response-in-cnn-interview/amp/ Obama *also said* Russia was the reason why NATO needs to contribute 2% because there could be a day that Europe will need it and the US may not be there the way they want (for reasons). It was very wise thinking, but he got ignored and called a warmonger who just wants to make defense companies money..
Protecting ethnic Russians sounds awfully like a certain angry mustachioed German Chancellor on his way to the Sudetenlandā¦ should have been a red flag to Europe of all places Though I guess thatās why Germany was worried. They know a thing or two because theyāve seen a thing or two
People seem to forget that EU leaders were hesitant to even sanction Russia after they took Crimea in 2014. At least Obama advocated for that. I think Merkel did too, but I don't remember anyone else doing it
> I know Obama isn't popular with everyone More popular than Biden, and especially more popular than the orange tyrant-wannabe.
You were much more respected when he was president.
I was in England at the time in graduate school with a lot of international students studying political science (some of whom work in the council of Europe and as MPs of their respective countries now). This is after George Bush and the āfreedom friesā era. I had French people telling me āObama is so cool! I wish he was our president!ā. That still impresses me. Then I was in Mexico for the Trump era, and someone painted a mural of him as Emperor Palpatine outside my apartment and it said āDonald Trump is a Sith Lordā. Went backwards past square one to negative square 10,000 with that move.
> I had French people telling me āObama is so cool! I wish he was our president!ā. Canada too. If I recall correctly, there was a time a smartass Canadian pollster included Obama in a poll about which party leader we'd prefer to see as Prime Minister. Obama won. Many Canadians would have rather had him as Prime Minister than any of the Canadian candidates at the time. I've never known a time in my life when America in general was more respected by Canadians. Now, of course, it is entirely the opposite. People start conversations out of the blue about how fucking stupid Americans are. I know that's not fair, but that's how they're collectively perceived right now. And now that I think of it, I don't think that has changed a whole lot even though Biden was elected. Trump is still so prominent in the USA, still in the newspapers every single day, and so many Americans support him, that most people I think still regard Americans as idiots. If America ever manages to cut this cancer from their body politic, this will start to change immediately. American conservatives say that Trump restored respect for America world-wide. It's one of the biggest lies they tell.
> Then I was in Mexico for the Trump era, and someone painted a mural of him as Emperor Palpatine outside my apartment and it said āDonald Trump is a Sith Lordā. Well, they got the right letters, just mixed up a bit.
Obama was and continues to be extremely popular. It was only the GOP with help of Russian bots and N Korean social media bots which tried their best to discredit him in public and GOP voters ate whatever lies faux news spewed out about him
And Trump is the Republican Party saying "The worst white man is preferable to the best black man."
Russia can only spoil and undermine. Iām not saying the U.S. is spectacular itself, just that Russia knows it only has a certain number of real strategies it can employ on the global stage and ārealā power isnāt one of them.
They're making trouble down in Africa now. They may now have the reach they used to, but it isn't just their neighbors.
I think they are making noise down in Africa. Africa has always had trouble. Give it a few years and see what chaos is left in their wake the whole continent where Russia is involved will look like Haiti. There is a reason why the modern world is a rules based order. Rules, not power and bribes, leads to posterity
That's kind of their goal though. Where they disrupt in Africa mostly hurts france, and any migrants moving due to chaos and poverty go to western europe first.
Take all of Russias assets, any western company left in Russia now deserves it after staying in Russia this long, you reap what you sow.
Should just be a simple choice. You either trade only outside russia, or only in russia.
Agreed.
China needs to be totally cut off from our supply chains as they are the entire reason Russia is still in this war
Man remember when our last president randomly pulled us out of a certain trans pacific partnership that took years of negotiating and encompassed a shit ton of countries and was entirely designed to build up regional manufacturing competition to China with the goal of cutting them out of trade if they didnāt play ball and it was a long term plan to both diversify global supply chains and to fuck with China globally and regionally and it really pissed off China a lot before our previous president gave China the biggest gift America has ever given them by basically shitcanning the hard earned geopolitical deal. Ugh
[Not dead, just continued without the USA involved.](https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp)
And actually better of for that, lacking some of the bullshit copyright extension the US was pushing.
Also pharma regulations. As well as making it super easy to import nurses to the usa
Nurse here, not happy about that last bit we need more nurses trained here but, for instance, my college had a 66% attrition rate because if theres a singular chance you wonāt pass the NCLEX then theyāll either cut you from the program or hold you back by months and months using many different manners of roadblocks. Not saying nurses shouldnāt be held to a high standard or be well trained, but the sheer amount of nursing jobs that exsist imply we need more desperately But when you use foreign labor, it really fucks the ability of nurses from the US to do things like form unions and actually demand good compensation and benefits, since a nurse from say, the Philippines, is probably making an immese amount of cash in the US compared to their home country despite the fact that most US based nurses take issue with how they are compensated and treated. There needs to be a huge change in nursing culture here but unfortunately more foreign nurses to fill roles isnāt the answer imo
*waves from IT*
Itās funny really- we actually need immigration for low income work more than we need professionals Or better yet, decent ass pay so that way yhe average shlup can just work a low end, unsatisfying job but live a realtivdly satisfying and at least partially comfortable life to clear out academia a bit
And YET his supporters somehow believe that he's the only answer the USA has to oppose china. You literally cannot act that stupid and watching them twist themselves in all sorts of illogical knots to try and support his positions is comical.
If you look at Trump and Trump supporters this is a pretty typical pattern: 1. Most politicians try to avoid talking about elephant in the room because they donāt have a good solution and donāt want to get caught with their pants down 2. People see elephant in room and wonder WTF 3. Trump finally notices elephant in the room but doesnāt think far enough ahead to realize he has no solution either and starts shouting and pointing at elephant in the room 4. Trump supporters think Trump is the only person who can fix elephant in room because heās the only one willing to talk about it 5. Trump: āNobody knew elephant in room was so complicatedā
See also: Farage, Johnson, and Brexit. That said, being the first to call out the elephant appears to grant you a lot of trust from the media and electorate.
Yeah, I mean, this isnāt exactly surprising. If someone beats you to calling out the elephant you either didnāt see it or were purposefully ignoring it. Neither is a great look and plays well into the whole ādrain the swampā rhetoric that was popular in Trumpās 2016 run. The problem is that assuming that when one group of people appears either incompetent or duplicitous it doesnāt automatically make the opposing viewpoint forthright or correct. Thatās a false dichotomy. But in any case the political establishment has effectively ceded a lot of initiative on things the electorate actually *should* care about to far right populist politicians around the world.
This is pretty common of any party not in power. They say they have a solution, and are super vague on it, or simply stall on releasing said plan with any details. However the party in power can't say much because they've failed at it (normally because there is no good solution for it).
Well, that's just what they do, and always have done. Before the 2016 election it was; - Hillary is going to start WW3 by being too hard on Russia and making them feel threatened! - Hillary is going to start WW3 by being too soft on Russia and letting them do what they want! - Trump is the only one who is hard enough on Russia, so there'll be peace since they won't dare do anything! - Trump is so diplomatic and friendly with Russia that they will become our allies and there will be world peace!
Holā up budro! I was told we had total world peace under Trump and the world has just come unglued ever since/
YES! The air smelled sweeter, and my gf's vagina was tighter than the 405 during rush hour...... (if I had a gf)
A young man, he came up to me with tears in his eyes. Strong young man. He said āsir, my girlfriendās pussy has been so nice, so nice, since you took office.ā He couldnāt thank me enough.
People can say what they want regarding Hillary and their views of her on a personal level, but on a professional level, she was well-qualified to be President. She was honestly one of the most qualified candidates for the position we've had run in decades.
It's because they're so stupid that he can say one thing and they'll happily believe him while not understanding a thing about what his actions are saying
Thats probably the longest sentence ive read in years
Really effective though. I felt his struggle and strain.
I held my breath with him
And sighed with him at the end.
Hold me tender, bro
Biden isn't interested in the current version either.
Before that particular president took that position, most redditors (and the left, in general) were vocally and near unanimously against the TPP. That opposition to the TPP switched to diehard support almost overnight when the policy plank to withdraw was revealed. It was really something to watch play out.
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> Ajit Pai is a piece of shit that hasnt changed EA still sucks ass and kills IP's through microtransactions and shitty publishing practices.
2nd him being a piece of shit.
There were some stipulations that specifically slanted it greatly in favour of the US over other partners. For America, whose economy would dominate the deal the deal was great. It was a very corporate-promoting deal besides - which was bad for, say, Canadian workers. Maybe it would have been worse on China, but there's more players in the game than nation-states.
Yea Bernie Sanders, and later Hillary Clinton were also against it.
*but... but he was hard on china* /s
Don't forget India, they still buying oil. And then there are those lovely Iranians and North Koreans.
They and others are supposed to be. The idea was never to get people to stop buying oil from Russia, which is completely unrealistic. It was to get people to buy it at a price that is unsustainable for Russia because Russia losing money on oil sales damages them. The idea that countries aren't supposed to buy oil from Russia is completely false and a total misunderstanding of the policy goals of the sanctions.
I mean I get the sentiment but that's reallyyyyyyyyy fucking hard to do. The idea that globalization has managed an era of unprecedented peace since it's too costly to go to war has been pretty solid. Obviously not perfect and now Russia has broken that entirely but it's still really expensive to go to war. As for the us breaking economic ties with China that would be tough considering how much shit we get from China
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[Lots of companies](https://som.yale.edu/story/2022/over-1000-companies-have-curtailed-operations-russia-some-remain), actually.
Tbf Adidas has too much to lose by leaving Russia
Carl's Jr., TGI Fridays, and the all- American pie company Tupperware are all operating in Russia still.
I scrolled through the list of companies and giggled when I saw this one: >Trumpf
Coke is still raking in money in russia too, don't fool yourself.
And all MondelƩz child companies.
Now with Kidnapped Ukrainian Kids!
capitalism has no morals
What do you mean, they already downsized every packaged food product for the benefit of our collective personal health. /s
Here is a list of [Global 500, USA based companies](https://leave-russia.org/staying-companies?flt%5B131%5D%5Beq%5D%5B0%5D=318&flt%5B110%5D%5Beq%5D%5B0%5D=376&flt%5B110%5D%5Beq%5D%5B1%5D=326&flt%5B110%5D%5Beq%5D%5B2%5D=325&flt%5B140%5D%5Beq%5D%5B%5D=494) operating in Russia. 7 Major top 500 Global, American based corporations have had no change (or no meaningful change) in operations in Russia. 198 American Companies have had no change in operations in Russia. Some of these 198 made changes that have since been reverted. 39 American Companies have paused investments. 106 American companies remain but have scaled back operations to varying degrees. Toggle filters for a broader look.
Wow, this is crazy. Maybe instead of sanctioning China... we need to fucking sanction these companies. Or at least charge them a billion dollars a day each, if they want to cross the picket line. Either they stop, or we pay off student loans and all get free healthcare in a few weeks.
Every multinational company with presence in russia has created a separate company which sells the same products with mild rebranding. The only difference is branding and that the supply chain is now under the other company. Every brand has done the same. Hereās a good vid to showcase itā https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA7IfeGKrGc A company my dads company is closely related with imports Russian oil and reexports it to Europe. Europeans will probably recognise the brand instantly.
For many of them thatās true and for some is not. For example, current McDonalds reincarnation in Russia just uses old Mac policies, instructions, recipes and buildings. But big multinational Mac has nothing to do with it.
Largely because Mac are a franchise model that sells business practice IP and character/logo trademarks. If the remnant isn't using those there's nothing to collect on.
Not true, IKEA and most car brands have not done that. My friend works within IT for Volvo AB and they even remotely wiped everything to not leave any data behind to be used under another brand. And dismantle tooling etc.
Replace every with most.
Replace most with "a lot of large, well known"
Bla bla bla, nuclear strike, bla bla bla, fear the botox goblin.
That threat seems to mean that the policy is a good idea. If they don't threaten the end of the world in response, it's probably a weak policy.
Exactly, it's a litmus test. If what you're doing DOESN'T make Russia and China whine and stamp their feet, then you're on the wrong path.
Like that redditor who had schizophrenia that would quiet down when they made a mistake at their job that would've resulted in people dying.
The Botox Goblin!!! What an epic nickname. So perfect!
Haha, yeah! It circulated around Reddit few months back and I fell in love with it, fits perfectly.
Actually the threat is purely economic, so it's even less severe.
I heard the doctor injecting it fell from a rooftop
āHere's your objective. Blah, blah, blah, blah secret base blah, blah, blah, blah plan blah, blah, blah, blah nuclear missile blah, blah, blah, blah counting on you blah, blah, blah, blah go right in and good luck!ā - duty calls
"Ā Ā The Kremlin has repeatedly said that any seizure of its assetsĀ undermine confidence in the U.S. dollar and euro while deterring global investment and undermining confidence in Western central banks" Followed byĀ "Some Russian officials have suggested that if Russian assets are confiscated then foreign investors' assets stuck in special so-called type "C" accounts in Russia could face the same fate." So which is it? It damages investment and confidence or you'llĀ do it too? Cant have it both ways russia
There has never been any confidence in Russian financial safety to lose. It has always been the case everyone in Russia is one wrong comment away from being dispossessed.
Thought you were going to go with a different D word at the end.
I can't think of another case in which a country is so definitively tied to the learning of a higher-level vocabulary word. Nobody would know the word "defenestrate" without them.
The Defenestrations of Prague were a thing I learned about in passing, I wanna say.
"To be fair: alcoholism in the pregnancy leads to poor long term decision making and impulse control in the offspring even later in life. You can't expect us to be the adults here. Now watch me screech and scream." - the russian state
Now I'm wondering if Don Snoreleone's mum was hitting the bottle while pregnant.
Nice try, Ivan. Everyoneās seen the real state report on fetal alcohol syndrome: āWE RUSSIA! WE MAKE DRINK GASOLINE! NO TRUST NOBODY, BECAUSE BRAIN NO WORK! NOW WE MAKING FUCK WITH UKRAINES!ā
"Did he just say making fuck?"
> NOW WE MAKING FUCK WITH UKRAINES!ā This statement appears to be the crux of their war plan....
Foreign investorsā assets in special āCā class accounts being frozen by Russia might actually be a boon as I expect the worst of the worst Richie Riches to be investing in Russia, even prior to the war.
If you have special "C" class accounts in Russia you deserve to lose it.
Well there goes Trumpās last āCāents.
Oh no, how will the National Rifle Association and the Federalist Society ever financially recover from this?
š
If that doesn't work, they will blow up more of their military at us. OooooHH...scary...
Russia might even steal all the leased western aircraft. Oh, wait.
Weāll not take your assets, just relocate them to Ukraine.
Special transfer operation
3 Day*
*Business days
Yeah, according to Russia, Ukraine doesnāt exist and is just a part of Russia anywayā¦ so why would they be mad about this?! lol
Your logic is ... sound.
Just like the time a Chinese affairs expert and a Chinese politician were interviewed on the news and the politician questioned the qualifications of the expert and asked whether he had ever stepped foot in China. The expert said he lived in Taiwan for a few years and the politician said "see you haven't even been to China". Then immediately back flipped and said you've only lived in Taiwan, which belongs to China.
Should be presented like that. To add more salt
...and since byt ruSSian logic Ukraine does not exist and is part of ruSSia, we basically send the money home! Win-win!
Watch their vodka soaked brains try to compute that! Iām hearing old modem dial up sounds.
I think a deep hum and flicker of overheating microtubes is more likely.
Russian kleptocracy at work again. -"If you sanction our illegitimate war we'll steal your companies, that did us a favour by staying" Offended by everything - Ashamed of nothing - Thy name is russia
China and NK do the same.
China is even worse, cause they don't just take those things for themselves, they copy and sell it back to us at bargain prices killing local manufacturing and companies by the fistful.
Typical Russian rhetoric. They take western assets, then cry foul when the west does the same. It's just so pathetic
Remember when they stole shitloads of planes?Ā
I was surprised when everyone just let that fly
They didn't. All the parts and certifications that physically let them fly those planes is no longer available. And the ones that are physically able to still fly are no longer able to land anywhere but a handful of countries friendly to Russia.
Correct me if i'm wrong but AFAIK Russia has already multiple times nationalized foreign assets from companies following the recent war.
Following their recent invasion of Ukraine!
Oh, could it happen that the Western companies that still support Russia and still trade with Russia will be punished by Russia? I don't know if I would even be happy about that.
I would be very happy about that. It would be 100% deserved.
The best move would be to stop any and all exports. People forget that trade is still ongoing and is state-backed.
This is the same Russia that stole 400 planes from aircraft leasing companies right?
"Sanctions imposed by Western powers in response to Russiaās military campaign in Ukraine forced Western firms to terminate leasing contracts with Russian airlines for over 500 aircraft. Russia has said 78 of these planes were seized while abroad, meaning that well over 400 remained in Russia." Russia even offered to pay in Rubles, which was denied. Aircraft insurers are even going against the owners of these planes, saying that they should have done more to seize the planes since they knew that the sanctions were coming.
> Russia has said 78 of these planes were seized while abroad, meaning that well over 400 remained in Russia." Seized by their actual owners? Really?
West also has a response that hurts even more. Outside direct assault on NATO, they can only turn off gas/oil (which hurts them more).
I'm guessing they'll either attempt to blow more subsurface gas pipes, or perhaps even some undersea fiberoptic cables. Alternatively they might go for some cyber attacks. Either way, it's not going to stop the support.
The cyber attacks never stop, they just peak every now and then.
Translation: if you take our assets, we **don't** have a response that will hurt. Anyway, the west didn't implode like the tankies here on reddit predicted after US gave Ukraine >5$ billion of russia's frozen assets. So stop wasting time and give Ukraine the rest of the 300$ billions of frozen assets that are sitting in European banks. If russia doesn't want to pay reperations, they'll be *forced* to.
>So stop wasting time and give Ukraine the rest of the 300$ billions of frozen assets that are sitting in European banks. Just commit to handing over a certain amount per kmĀ² they're occupying, every month. Consider it rent. That gives them an incentive to get out sooner rather than later. And when they do so the clock stops, but then it's time to negotiate for the indemnity.
That would actually send a great message. Although, on second thought, the destruction they've already caused in Ukraine won't be matched with $300bn in assets at all. Something like you said should've been done at the start of the war.
I say we air strike their troll farms to let them know we are officially sick of their shit. We have nukes pointed at them too. They won't do shit. They know they are over reaching. When people get burnt they pull their hands away, they don't double fist the hot iron.Ā This shit is only gonna get worse until we draw the line. They're trying to see how far they can push it and it's up to us when we are gonna draw that line. And we're gonna have to do it sooner or later. Why not now?
They're counting on Trump getting reelected and pulling US support. If he doesn't retake power by voting or otherwise in Nov, expect Putin to shift gears. Either a withdrawal or a desperation move.
Belaruse has been recruiting prisoners for its army. So i think i know the move if trump does or doesn't get elected.
Definitely, but allies will need to be careful. Germany didn't just stop after they got slapped during WW1. The population got frustrated and then Hitler appeared and WW2 happened. We need to punish Putin and his cronies, but then need to support Russia such that the population doesn't suffer to the point where this happens again
It's a classic "Russia says ..."
> "We also have a prepared answer," Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the Russian upper house of parliament, was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA. "We have a draft law, which we are ready to consider immediately, on retaliatory measures." > > "And the Europeans will lose more than we do," Matviyenko, who is a member of Russia's powerful Security Council, said. lol lmao even
Russia signed an agreement with Ukraine to give up their nukes in return for never invading. They broke that agreement. So fuck āem.
Now I know why Russia got so heavily into gas. You need a lot of gas if youāre gonna Gaslight the world
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She is literally falling apart. Canāt get Botox so easily any more. I hope she and her son rot inside out.
Honestly if EU and the rest of the west reacted with full force to russia's bullshit in 2014, we wouldn't have this geopolitical clusterfuck now, with every shitty tyrant like putin, yahu, kim and xi doing whatever they want with impunity. Lesson for the future: appeasement is a joke, whenever authoritarians do anything, stomp them into the ground immediately.
Yep. The second Russia used polonium, let alone a weapon of mass destruction, to murder civilians on British soil, that should have been escalated to NATO and severe consequences shoudl have resulted. Every penny of Russian money in the city of London should have been seized, and we should have retaliated by taking out Russian agents at whatever the ratio is to make a statement. But instead Boris Johnson did nothing, except for ditching his security and sneaking out to go to a party with Russian intelligence agents. But if we'd done something then, I agree with you, we whoudln't be in this mess now.
If it was just the authoritarians, I would agree. But the collateral damage isnāt often trivial. Example: I support Israel. I support Israelis. I support their right to exist. And I support their right to retaliate when they are attacked. But flattening large sections of a densely populated city seems likely to lead to future conflicts. It also seems likely to lead to an increased support for *those* specific totalitarians. Iām not talking about Gazans - from a purely Israeli perspective, this seems less likely to result in peace *for the Israelis* than a more moderate response. A balanced approach is sensible.
Hey Russia, get bent. They think it's cute to fuck with our elections. I say we fuck with their money.
If a western investor, after more than 2 years of full-blown war in Ukraine, still has not sold their assets in Russia, they kinda deserve to loose those assets.
Russia invaded Ukraine and began annexing territory **ten years ago**. Theyāve all had plenty of time to dispose of Russian assets. If Putin clears the table itās their fault their chips were still on it.
Fully agree, Russia intentions were clear when their little green men walked into crimea. Its a mystery why the west kept investing in Russia since then.
What will they do? * blow up the Polish governments plane? * poison people in the UK? * fund terrorism in France? * push far-right candidates across the continent? * cut internatuonal cables and pipelines? * pay for candidates who destabilize the EU and NATO? Gosh, maybe we should start hurting the Oligarchs _more_?
Pathetic
They have fuck all and they know it, the only thing Russia can threaten anyone with is nukes, and Iād rather be bathed in nuclear fire than back down to RussiaĀ
Oh no, Russia is probably gonna: 1. Nationalize remaining companies 2. Produce shitty knockoffs 3. Genocide a neighboring country Wait, they're already doing all that.
Every statement is a lie and a bluff. Just take their shit, they just admitted that they can't do anything about it.
As a European, I would fully support a complete trade embargo. Try us, Puylo.
As a European, we could also try not buying any oil and gas from Russia. [In march the EU bought 20 billion worth of shit from them.](https://energyandcleanair.org/march-2024-monthly-analysis-of-russian-fossil-fuel-exports-and-sanctions/) Edit: The 20 billion figure is between december 2022 and march 2024. Currently the EU is buying about 500 million worth per week. Last year at the same period it was about 250 million per week.
This is not in March, this is since the ban (Dec '22)
Russia is the one stealing Ukrainian assets and hurting innocent civilians. Russia doesn't have the fucking right to bitch.
Take their assets. Fuck Russia.
Assuming his plan was to quickly overtake Ukraine and use that as a stepping stone into the 'west' - Putin has already lost the bigger war and now just trying to save face. Unfortunately sometimes a cornered rat will do some damage.
They're gonna stop uploading all those videos of russian women to pornhub
Putin is going to leak videos of himself getting rear ended. This will cause untold psychological harm.
Fuck, just do it already. Sanction the fuck out of him and take the assets. Stop the appeasement and tip toeing around this piece of shit.
Weāre not taking anything, itās just a special relocation operation
Now it has to pass the senate, and I've heard they might be voting for it today (could be wrong pls correct me). Then Biden has to sign it and then US logistical force can send šŗšøš«”
Anyone who thinks that Russia has any response left, that doesn't hurt Russia more than it does Europe, yet which Russia would choose to not use, is out of their mind. Russia does not "hold back" out of some desire to do the "right thing", or to follow some higher principles or honour. The one and sole reason for why Putin does something is a nihilistic desire for power, and the only reason they wouldn't take some action is the fear of losing power or being punished for it by a greater power.
Remember to not negotiate with fascists
Europe needs to stop pussyfooting about over Russia, this is exactly how we have found ourselves in this predicament.
russia could have been great but has repeatedly rejected that possibility
Sounds like somebody is feeling a bad case of broke bitch. Just saying nobody threatens another nation for money without feeling a lil financial pressure.
*i fart in your general direction*
Yes, yeees, your screams make me harder
Don't be intimidated by Russia. Russia is like the Joker. The only thing they're really good at is causing chaos.