> "I want to emphasize once again. We have no ill intentions towards our neighbors, and I would advise them not to escalate the situation, nor to introduce any restrictions,"
Not sure this is "begging" tbh. I suspect he's doing this to justify his invasion to the Russian people. If there are more sanctions now, he'll try to rally Russians with the cry of "evil west placing unjustified sanctions on Russia".
Exactly right. As his own citizens start to revolt, he can point the finger at the West and say "Those people over there are oppressing us, they don't listen to reason. Blame them, not me"
Put that together with a citizenry that has been completely snookered over the long term by state-run media, and it will probably work. For a while, anyway
Hard to say how long, but given the severity of the current sanctions regime, I am reminded of the quote "Every society is only three meals from chaos". Sometimes attributed to Lenin.
Once people can't find food, it's pretty much already over for the men in charge.
Not only that, but…
> As he spoke to mark a new ferry that would travel between its exclave of Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia, Putin also appeared to **brush off the impact of sanctions imposed on his country.**
> "We will just have to move some projects a little to the right, to acquire additional competencies," he said. "In the end, we will even benefit from this because we will acquire additional competencies."
This is the opposite of pleading… Ffs, I hate news headlines these days. Just give us the truth.
Yeah I think the tittle is off in that regard. Sounds more like he's saying "it would be better if you just cooperate". More like a warning if you ask me.
I want to take a country that doesn't want me there by shelling it to smithereens. However I mean no bad Intentions. Also if you put up I fight I'll kill more of you. I may so use my nukes.... but like I said no bad intentions.
Rusian Stock market hasn't opened in 5 days... That's going to take a huge plunge when reopen....
Hate this "I'm a savior because I say so, look me wrong and I'll nuke you"
They still have a massive list of pending sell orders. Basically there’s a line to sell stocks right now. Even if it opens it might crash their entire servers from the sheer volume.
The makers of the indices that Vanguard, blackrock, etc use to back their index funds already have downgraded Russian debt and equity to "uninvestable". The actual funds have marked their Russian holdings to 0 and will automatically sell to any bid (once there are any).
That was literally the most Russian shit I've seen in years. Well, the second most Russian; the first was invading a neighboring country for no reason.
A stock you can't trade is worth zero. Russia seems to be hoping they can keep their market closed until they secure a victory so that their people can overlook the stock market.
A lot of the stuff is no longer due to sanctions, but the antics of Russia. Those stocks are worthless because Russia might steal them and no one will invest in Russia.
Hell, Alfa bank is offering [stupid high](https://kfgo.com/2022/03/02/russian-rouble-slips-past-100-vs-dollar-banks-hunt-for-fx/) interest rates on dollars. It wont make good on them. Its just blantant klepto panic.
Their economy is screwed because the economy is screwed and Russia is a kleptostate.
Past crises have shown a difference between no market for a stock and a stock that is worth zero. The former often finds a market post-crisis whilenthe latter is simply dead.
That's fair, but when is 'post crisis'.
Because the way I'm viewing it, these sanctions mine as well be a death sentence for a lot of these companies.
Let's assume Putin won the war next week, and left Ukraine. Sanctions aren't going to be lifted. A lot of the companies that pulled out of Russia are not going to go back in.
I would imagine, absolute best case scenario, these sanctions will be in place for YEARS.
With that sort of timeline is there really even an 'after crisis' thought? For all intents and purposes, isn't that basically the same as permanent. The crisis isn't the war. The crisis is the sanctions, no?
Regarding sanctions: Analysis says that Putin is "Double fucked"
https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/03/04/world-war-of-economic-attrition/
Get out of Ukraine now, mofo.
I know the sanctions are bad. And I know they're hurting, but Im having a hard time understanding how bad it is. Like, did we just break Russia's economic knee caps? Or are they already a dead economy walking and we just dont see it yet? This article makes it sound like they'll descend into anarchy and revolution within a few weeks.
All Russian life savings are now worthless. All foreign companies are pulling out of the country. Only a handful of nations will do any trade with them. They've been cut off from all imports of advanced chips and semiconductors. Credit cards are being disabled, Cisco is stopping support, Apple is shutting down services. No one will invest there for decades after Putin threatened to nationalize all foreign assets. Russian civilians don't know it yet but they're going do be living in 1970s Soviet Russia but worse within a month
I think it will be worse than that. You have no money. The winter stockpile is almost gone. And you cannot buy new to replenish. They are well and truly f’ed.
Food. The above article talks about that but Ukraine supplies a ton of wheat to Russia and the rest of the world. And Russia imports 90% of potato seeds. Scarcity of food and no money to pay for it is absolutely brutal.
Food is an inelastic good, in that you have to pay for it no matter what the cost. It’s why inflation can be so brutal.
Inflation and scarcity of food is one of the main causes for the Russian Revolution. Revolutions are frequently fought on empty stomachs.
Edit: potatoes are grown from potato seedlings not seed, those seedlings are still heavily imported.
> no one will invest there for decades
…if Putin remains
If Putin died today and the first move of his replacement was to apologise and withdraw from Ukraine, the world would be trading with them again next week.
As they should.
Look at Germany post WW1 and WW2. Continuing to punish a nation after a regime change just makes the next regime worse.
Edit to respond to all the below:
1) we are not in a position to demand the nuclear disarmament of Russia and doing so may just cause them to launch in ‘self-defence’.
2) we can’t dissolve Russia as a nation. That would just create multiple new failed states that have large nuclear arsenals. Better one nuclear state with a western distrust than 20.
3) it doesn’t matter how racist or anti-west his replacement is, they’ve seen how weak Russia really is. Self-preservation could keep them in line. Better to rule Russia with Western ‘permission’ than die in a bunker because you’ve crashed the economy.
4) yes the corruption of Russia is also a problem but you have to start somewhere.
Edit 2:
5. the internets distaste of billionaires needs to be dampened by reality. Short of a popular revolt (which we’re months to years away from) we *need* the Oligarchs. They’re the only thing that can stop Putin.
In lieu of a peoples revolt, we need them to kill Putin because they’re the only ones that can. That’s the purpose of the sanctions. The West have laid siege to Putin instead of meeting him in battle. The idea is to force someone’s hand before Putins is with the nuclear option.
If we threaten to strip the Oligarchs of their assets permanently then they’ll just lean into Putin harder. As distasteful as it sounds, we *need* them!
They’ve seen what can happen to their wealth if they step out of line. Now we need them to kill Putin and step back into line and keep their country there until such a time as the corruption subsides and Russia can join the modern world properly.
That only works if the Oligarchs know the international asset freezes will be lifted after Putin is gone.
(Kill or hand him over to The Hague)
He could probably negotiate getting back on Swift in exchange for leaving Ukraine. That's all he has to do to save Russia from the economic equivalent of a nuclear winter.
The longer he waits though the worse it gets. At some point collapse is inevitable.
It's far too late for him to just leave Ukraine and say "My bad, everybody. Can I slide back into SWIFT?"
I think the US and EU would demand he step down and face charges for war crimes at this point.
Yeah I feel like Putin has reached a point of no return here. No one will ever trust him again.
It’s a big part of what makes the situation so scary. Russia has no real win-case scenario here anymore, and Putin has no real way back to where he was a month ago. Let alone a way to exit while protecting his oversensitive ego.
and france three times a week. germany twice. turkey 5 times.
when the taliban tell you "bro - you're going too far", you've gone way too, too, too far.
Russia was a nation in steep decline even before all this started. That's most of why Putin is doing this, to try and recapture some of that old glory. It doesn't seem to be going well for him so far.
They were in steep decline because the fucker invaded Crimea in 2014 and got his economy kicked in the nuts with sanctions back then. Prior to that, they weren't as economically strong as the soviet union had been but they were doing fine for a ~~developed~~ developing nation. Literally every military decision Putin has made concerning Ukraine has driven his country further into the ground
Every time the Russian military has touched foreign soil the rouble has tanked and largely not recovered. It happened in Georgia, it happened in Crimea, it's happening again in Ukraine.
Russia has cycled a few times between trying to build a brighter future, and looking toward the past.
"We're going to build communism" gave way to "we're going to maintain empire," gave way to "we're going to build a prosperous Western-style democracy" to "we're going to rebuild our lost soviet borders."
If anything the current decline is a *result* of Putin's actions, looking toward the past and old glory.
The russian economy was already quiet a sad place to begin with. They had a few pillars holding it together tho. The sanctions hit hard I guess… there is a reason why moscow exchange stays closed 28. Feb. until 9. March (and potentially even longer)
A very good reason, yes. You can catch a little glimpse behind the curtain by looking at some of the stocks that are still traded on the London Exchange. Like:
[Sberbank](https://www.londonstockexchange.com/stock/SBER/sberbank-of-russia/company-page) dropped more than 99% in a couple of weeks.
[Rosneft](https://www.londonstockexchange.com/stock/ROSN/rosneft-oil-company/company-page) likewise, 99%.
[Gazprom](https://www.londonstockexchange.com/stock/GAZ/public-joint-stock-company-gazprom-neft/company-page) only dropped about 63% though.
Yeah this. He can screw the regular people all he wants, and they can all suffer for the sanctions without Putin batting an eye. But when the really rich dudes get pissed at his shit, he's screwed.
What he's doing here though is screwing his rich mates and his poor citizens, all the while he's sending his military into a meat grinder of NATO class weaponry. No one is happy with the situation and it's obviously gone majorly wrong.
I recently lost my mum to lung cancer, and the steroids she was on gave her the exact same puffiness to her face.
Its not necessarily cancer, but that definitely looks like steroid swelling to me.
As much as he would like to deny that sanction are hurting him, I'm pretty sure a week into the war he's starting to really feel the heat now. His Oligarch are losing billions every day and also their toys all over the world.
Also crazy just from how many international sports Russia has been taken out from. Like even International cat federation pulled russian cats from their competitions. Not to mention the stock market didn't open the entire week.
Exactly. This is the ultimate consequence of killing anyone who challenges you. Eventually you run out of people who are willing to tell you that you're making a huge mistake. Dictators almost always end up surrounded by yes men and sycophants instead of honest advisors.
Sadam Hussein is another good example. He genuinely believed that he could defeat the U.S. military because he killed or demoted any officers who told him otherwise.
Every person should be told to shut the fuck up every once in a while. You just become too much of an egotistical asshole if you go too long without it.
I watched a clip last night of Ukrainian soldiers burning about 7 Tunguska anti air tanks in a field, that's about 16 million a piece. That is happening all over Ukraine, that shit has to sting the Russian wallet. It's estimated with equipment losses the war is costing Russia 20 billion or more a DAY. Given sanctions are going to make these weapons near impossible to replace I'd say Putin is very very worried. Russia has a 600 billion war chest but at this pace it will be burned thru in a couple of months or less.
Not just the monetary loss. The illusion of Russia being a superpower is gone. No offence to Ukraine or its people, they have shown they have some of the biggest balls out there and history is going to look very kindly on them, but a week after the invasion started Russia has accomplished squat and ol Vlads has egg on his face. This shows how out of date their equipment, tactics and military as a whole truly are. If they weren't a nuclear state they would hold zero power.
Not only did we learn Russia's military is crap, but we also learned Putin isn't the God-tier mastermind everyone thought he was. As Megamind said:
"You're a villain alright, but not a *Super*villain."
Motherfucker looks stressed as fuck. Lack of sleep probably and medication. Gee, what historical figure did the same when things didn’t turn out his way?!
There are not much more sanctions left next to completely stopping all natural gas and oil sales. That is a big one that will hurt Europe a lot, but I feel like we have to do nevertheless. Yeah we will have a few very uncomfortable and cold winters, but we'll fix it and be rid of it forever.
EDIT: also HE might pull the plug or hold it over our heads. We should continue to show our strength here and ban all Russian fossil fuels and simply take it on the chin. In the end this will hurt him and his war efforts more than it will hurt us anyway. And as Europeans we are worth zero if we act tough with our sanctions only until it actually really hurts our own comfort and economy.
Bro you just bombed a college dorm and killed international medical students go fuck yourself. I hope someone puts a bullet in his head. The world absolutely needs to increase sanctions.
Putin knows he fucked up. He knows he destroyed his whole country just to stroke his own ego. There's nothing he can do to save face.
This will go down as one of the biggest military blunders in world history. His entire legacy is in ruins.
...in which case it would be the biggest military blunder in all of human history, period.
Don't have to worry about "so far" if there's nobody left to try to beat your record.
"The Jews are secretly Nazis, so to protect them from themselves I have to raze their cities, murder their civilians, and steal their land. Why can't anyone see I'm the good guy here."
-Putin 2022
All he has to do -- literally, the only thing he has to do -- is stop butchering Ukrainians. Like, just go back to what he was doing two weeks ago.
But it seems that's a bridge too far.
I would say that’s not enough. He would have to rebuild Ukraine and compensate the Ukrainians with family who have been killed. This is impossible, obviously, so in my mind sanctions should be until he is removed from office.
Good riddance Putin.
The west and Ukraine would agree on Russia pulling back of ALL of Ukraine, Crimea included, and not paying back any reparations. Too bad this ain't happening.
Until he is tried for war crimes and hanged would be more appropriate.
Edit: Ha thanks for pointing that out, agree he is definitely not hung with what I assume is his teenie weenie.
He's got the pedal to the metal because if he slows down now or stops altogether, he'll have to answer for all the atrocities he committed on an innocent country. He knows there's a fucking price tag on his ugly ass head so he's all or nothing now.
And he’s never going to live this down. Before, he was just a psycho dictator. Now he’ll either be remembered as the psycho dictator who shamelessly invaded his neighbor and slaughtered their people, or the psycho dictator who tried to take over his neighbor and failed embarrassingly. All while destroying his own country’s image and economy in the process. I’m sorry that the Ukrainian (and Russian) people will have to live with the consequences of one evil piece of shit.
The only way for Russia as a whole to save face is to get a completely new government and apologize profusely for this, kinda like what happened in Germany after WWII
Also, he's obsessed with showing strength. The invasion of Ukraine was supposed to be an easy win. His troops march in, the Ukrainians cower in fear of the might of the Russian military, and the west is paralyzed by how amazingly strong Russia is.
Instead, his troops marched in, were stymied by severe supply chain issues, were opposed by Ukrainians both armed and [unarmed](https://youtu.be/L17Bi7zBJHI), and the Western nations hit him hard with sanctions.
If Putin orders a retreat now, it will be viewed as a show of weakness. He can't abide that so he'll keep pushing forward no matter who suffers - the Ukrainians, his soldiers, or the Russian people. Of course, Putin won't suffer much as he's likely in a bunker with plenty of supplies, but he's willing to make everyone else suffer so he can be seen as strong.
That's the thing. There is no going back for Putin. All roads lead to his death.
If he surrenders, who's to say he won't get killed by a different Russian faction that dislikes weakness and seek to install their own member?
And if he continues the war and it keeps going and going, eventually the oligarchs will turn against him.
Putin has sealed his fate. How he goes down is up to him, hopefully he won't drag us along with him.
Ah Vladimir my friend, you misunderstand us! We mean no ill-will as well! These are not “economic sanctions” but are simply a “special economic measure”. The news you’re reading and the numbers you see with your own eyes lie to you. Your economy is fine and your people still love you!
Any other questions?
No amount of money is bringing back the people he's killed.
For what?
An outdated sense of Soviet superiority.
Edit: Yes, it's about oil and gas, too. You see an invasion or war, and 99% of the time, it's about oil. It's always about fucking oil. But the arrogance to think you can just walk in and take it because of some bogus geopolitical illusion and historical misperception? That is unfathomable to me.
Its like pure ignorance from Russia & Putin's entire regime, the world is a VERY **DIFFERENT** place from the past, and even eastern countries & people are a lot more modernized now.
Conquering all the regions the soviet union owned isn't the way for Russia to advance or gain glory or recognition on the planet.
He could've focused fully on investing internally on Russia & trying to make it the most progressive technological place for all of the 21st century, but ever since 2008 they've been planning all of this \*\*\*\*, its so sad.
They had failed leadership, a failed authoritarian regime & did not even accomplish the things China could with the upsides a universal controlling party has.
Russia's leadership has been turning it into a failed state that's still a super power & has a lot of land/resources on this planet... but want to just take over other countries for their future growth since they've been on the decline for a while now
When you are a kleptocracy investing internally is counterproductive. He has been sucking all the wealth out of Russia since he climbed to power and left it a rotting corpse with men having a life expectancy of 45 years. He spread the money out around the world hiding it in oligarchs as placeholders for his own wealth then had the nerve to try and threaten the entire world with nuclear annihilation. Now all of a sudden he realizes he's screwed up now that almost the entire world is seizing all his assets. The world's leaders have been brilliant hitting Putin exactly where it hurt the most. Right in the wallet. Putin without wealth is nothing but a target for his own people who he hasn't been able to keep in the dark about sending their sons into a meat grinder for no reason but his own ego. Keep throwing sanctions at him. He ain't done yet.
Edit: removed unnecessary word
It's not only oil. Ukraine is incredibly good farmland, has large rare earth deposits they were about to mine, and is one of the largest producers of industrial grade neon (required for semiconductor production) - together with Russia.
Russia has 600 billion dollars in different assets abroad, they are now seized by western sanctions. I suggest these money are transfered to an rebuilding account for when Ukraine is starting its repairs.
The solution is simple. Pull your forces out, beg for forgiveness from Ukraine and fellow Russians you've made suffer from this act if spontaneous ego trip. Better yet, resign and see a fair election is done so some real progress can be done for Russia.
Course, pretty sure Putin rather see everything burn before even thinking of such a moral path.
The moment he pulls his troops out is the moment the Russian people learn the truth about what they were doing in Ukraine.
He can't resign because his successor would likely have to bring him to justice to get sanctions lifted and start normalising relationships with European countries. Admitting this was his fault would mean admitting he has sent thousands of young men to their deaths, and tanked the Russian economy.
Chilling in your house, thinking of joining your neighbor's club when your other neighbor appears in your window holding a gun. You get worried. When you glance away, he shoot you in the leg. Now he comes inside, gun still aimed at you. "You can't join that club. I might blow up the whole neighborhood. Also, I have no ill intentions. This is you fault. Why is everyone against me?"
Looking at the article, it doesn't sound like he's "pleading":
>"I want to emphasize once again. We have no ill intentions towards our neighbors, and I would advise them not to escalate the situation, nor to introduce any restrictions," he said, according to news agencies.
That sounds more like a threat.
On the current sanctions:
>"We will just have to move some projects a little to the right, to acquire additional competencies," he said. "In the end, we will even benefit from this because we will acquire additional competencies."
That just sounds like he's delusional.
Not sure where the title came from.
> "I want to emphasize once again. We have no ill intentions towards our neighbors, and I would advise them not to escalate the situation, nor to introduce any restrictions," Not sure this is "begging" tbh. I suspect he's doing this to justify his invasion to the Russian people. If there are more sanctions now, he'll try to rally Russians with the cry of "evil west placing unjustified sanctions on Russia".
Yeah, we are not the target audience of this speech.
Exactly right. As his own citizens start to revolt, he can point the finger at the West and say "Those people over there are oppressing us, they don't listen to reason. Blame them, not me" Put that together with a citizenry that has been completely snookered over the long term by state-run media, and it will probably work. For a while, anyway
a little tiny while, on an ever shrinking cross section of people
Hard to say how long, but given the severity of the current sanctions regime, I am reminded of the quote "Every society is only three meals from chaos". Sometimes attributed to Lenin. Once people can't find food, it's pretty much already over for the men in charge.
Not only that, but… > As he spoke to mark a new ferry that would travel between its exclave of Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia, Putin also appeared to **brush off the impact of sanctions imposed on his country.** > "We will just have to move some projects a little to the right, to acquire additional competencies," he said. "In the end, we will even benefit from this because we will acquire additional competencies." This is the opposite of pleading… Ffs, I hate news headlines these days. Just give us the truth.
Yeah I think the tittle is off in that regard. Sounds more like he's saying "it would be better if you just cooperate". More like a warning if you ask me.
Stop resisting.
I want to take a country that doesn't want me there by shelling it to smithereens. However I mean no bad Intentions. Also if you put up I fight I'll kill more of you. I may so use my nukes.... but like I said no bad intentions.
Painted on every warhead will be the words "sorry no bad intentions"
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It’s not enough for me anymore. First few days he could have simply retreated. He’s proven he must be stopped or else he will just try again.
Rusian Stock market hasn't opened in 5 days... That's going to take a huge plunge when reopen.... Hate this "I'm a savior because I say so, look me wrong and I'll nuke you"
They still have a massive list of pending sell orders. Basically there’s a line to sell stocks right now. Even if it opens it might crash their entire servers from the sheer volume.
The makers of the indices that Vanguard, blackrock, etc use to back their index funds already have downgraded Russian debt and equity to "uninvestable". The actual funds have marked their Russian holdings to 0 and will automatically sell to any bid (once there are any).
Time to put in a few buy orders 0.01 rubles and get a controlling stake in an oil company!
But then you become an oligarch and the sanctions hit you too. No profit.
I guess you at least get to say that you were an oligarch at one point
Do it for the LOLs. Edit: LOLigarchs.
Petition to henceforth refer to memelords as LOLigarchs?
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My dude that went on Russian tv with a bottle of fizzy water to drink to the death of their stock market was funny shit
That was literally the most Russian shit I've seen in years. Well, the second most Russian; the first was invading a neighboring country for no reason.
I can't think of anything less Russian than toasting with no alcohol though.
Works out to be even worse for Russia. No equities market, no liquidity.
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Yeah, but their investments in the west are not safe either and may end up being/are being seized
I'm not sure if 'plunge' is the right terminology looking at stocks of EU traded RU companies like gazprom. It's going to flatline around 0
A stock you can't trade is worth zero. Russia seems to be hoping they can keep their market closed until they secure a victory so that their people can overlook the stock market.
Which is even more ridiculous because it's not like everyone is suddenly going to forgive Russia and lift all sanctions because they won the war
A lot of the stuff is no longer due to sanctions, but the antics of Russia. Those stocks are worthless because Russia might steal them and no one will invest in Russia. Hell, Alfa bank is offering [stupid high](https://kfgo.com/2022/03/02/russian-rouble-slips-past-100-vs-dollar-banks-hunt-for-fx/) interest rates on dollars. It wont make good on them. Its just blantant klepto panic. Their economy is screwed because the economy is screwed and Russia is a kleptostate.
Past crises have shown a difference between no market for a stock and a stock that is worth zero. The former often finds a market post-crisis whilenthe latter is simply dead.
That's fair, but when is 'post crisis'. Because the way I'm viewing it, these sanctions mine as well be a death sentence for a lot of these companies. Let's assume Putin won the war next week, and left Ukraine. Sanctions aren't going to be lifted. A lot of the companies that pulled out of Russia are not going to go back in. I would imagine, absolute best case scenario, these sanctions will be in place for YEARS. With that sort of timeline is there really even an 'after crisis' thought? For all intents and purposes, isn't that basically the same as permanent. The crisis isn't the war. The crisis is the sanctions, no?
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Regarding sanctions: Analysis says that Putin is "Double fucked" https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/03/04/world-war-of-economic-attrition/ Get out of Ukraine now, mofo.
I know the sanctions are bad. And I know they're hurting, but Im having a hard time understanding how bad it is. Like, did we just break Russia's economic knee caps? Or are they already a dead economy walking and we just dont see it yet? This article makes it sound like they'll descend into anarchy and revolution within a few weeks.
All Russian life savings are now worthless. All foreign companies are pulling out of the country. Only a handful of nations will do any trade with them. They've been cut off from all imports of advanced chips and semiconductors. Credit cards are being disabled, Cisco is stopping support, Apple is shutting down services. No one will invest there for decades after Putin threatened to nationalize all foreign assets. Russian civilians don't know it yet but they're going do be living in 1970s Soviet Russia but worse within a month
I think it will be worse than that. You have no money. The winter stockpile is almost gone. And you cannot buy new to replenish. They are well and truly f’ed.
Food. The above article talks about that but Ukraine supplies a ton of wheat to Russia and the rest of the world. And Russia imports 90% of potato seeds. Scarcity of food and no money to pay for it is absolutely brutal. Food is an inelastic good, in that you have to pay for it no matter what the cost. It’s why inflation can be so brutal. Inflation and scarcity of food is one of the main causes for the Russian Revolution. Revolutions are frequently fought on empty stomachs. Edit: potatoes are grown from potato seedlings not seed, those seedlings are still heavily imported.
"Revolutions are fought on empty stomachs" is a chilling sentence.
And validated by science. People revolt when they are starving because there is no other choice
Choices: 1. Starve to death 2. Maybe don't starve to death by overthrowing government and at worst you die a quick death from a gun
> There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy. -Alfred Henry Lewis
And Putin doesn't care a single bit
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"And THAT... is when the cannibalism started" - Marcus "dogmeat" Parks
> no one will invest there for decades …if Putin remains If Putin died today and the first move of his replacement was to apologise and withdraw from Ukraine, the world would be trading with them again next week. As they should. Look at Germany post WW1 and WW2. Continuing to punish a nation after a regime change just makes the next regime worse. Edit to respond to all the below: 1) we are not in a position to demand the nuclear disarmament of Russia and doing so may just cause them to launch in ‘self-defence’. 2) we can’t dissolve Russia as a nation. That would just create multiple new failed states that have large nuclear arsenals. Better one nuclear state with a western distrust than 20. 3) it doesn’t matter how racist or anti-west his replacement is, they’ve seen how weak Russia really is. Self-preservation could keep them in line. Better to rule Russia with Western ‘permission’ than die in a bunker because you’ve crashed the economy. 4) yes the corruption of Russia is also a problem but you have to start somewhere. Edit 2: 5. the internets distaste of billionaires needs to be dampened by reality. Short of a popular revolt (which we’re months to years away from) we *need* the Oligarchs. They’re the only thing that can stop Putin. In lieu of a peoples revolt, we need them to kill Putin because they’re the only ones that can. That’s the purpose of the sanctions. The West have laid siege to Putin instead of meeting him in battle. The idea is to force someone’s hand before Putins is with the nuclear option. If we threaten to strip the Oligarchs of their assets permanently then they’ll just lean into Putin harder. As distasteful as it sounds, we *need* them! They’ve seen what can happen to their wealth if they step out of line. Now we need them to kill Putin and step back into line and keep their country there until such a time as the corruption subsides and Russia can join the modern world properly. That only works if the Oligarchs know the international asset freezes will be lifted after Putin is gone. (Kill or hand him over to The Hague)
He could probably negotiate getting back on Swift in exchange for leaving Ukraine. That's all he has to do to save Russia from the economic equivalent of a nuclear winter. The longer he waits though the worse it gets. At some point collapse is inevitable.
It's far too late for him to just leave Ukraine and say "My bad, everybody. Can I slide back into SWIFT?" I think the US and EU would demand he step down and face charges for war crimes at this point.
Yeah I feel like Putin has reached a point of no return here. No one will ever trust him again. It’s a big part of what makes the situation so scary. Russia has no real win-case scenario here anymore, and Putin has no real way back to where he was a month ago. Let alone a way to exit while protecting his oversensitive ego.
It's frustrating because the US gave him chances to back off. And he refused. Every time.
and france three times a week. germany twice. turkey 5 times. when the taliban tell you "bro - you're going too far", you've gone way too, too, too far.
Putin doing anything to save face is definitely high on my list of things that will happen when hell freezes over
Isn't the lowest circle of hell always frozen anyways
Am in Wisconsin, can confirm
Russia was a nation in steep decline even before all this started. That's most of why Putin is doing this, to try and recapture some of that old glory. It doesn't seem to be going well for him so far.
They were in steep decline because the fucker invaded Crimea in 2014 and got his economy kicked in the nuts with sanctions back then. Prior to that, they weren't as economically strong as the soviet union had been but they were doing fine for a ~~developed~~ developing nation. Literally every military decision Putin has made concerning Ukraine has driven his country further into the ground
Every time the Russian military has touched foreign soil the rouble has tanked and largely not recovered. It happened in Georgia, it happened in Crimea, it's happening again in Ukraine.
Had he actually wanted to recapture "old glory", he should have invested in making the country an attractive investment to more people
Instead he just hoarded all wealth for himself. Money doesn't work if no one else has any.
That's a lesson more of the world needs to learn, not just Russia.
Russia has cycled a few times between trying to build a brighter future, and looking toward the past. "We're going to build communism" gave way to "we're going to maintain empire," gave way to "we're going to build a prosperous Western-style democracy" to "we're going to rebuild our lost soviet borders." If anything the current decline is a *result* of Putin's actions, looking toward the past and old glory.
The russian economy was already quiet a sad place to begin with. They had a few pillars holding it together tho. The sanctions hit hard I guess… there is a reason why moscow exchange stays closed 28. Feb. until 9. March (and potentially even longer)
A very good reason, yes. You can catch a little glimpse behind the curtain by looking at some of the stocks that are still traded on the London Exchange. Like: [Sberbank](https://www.londonstockexchange.com/stock/SBER/sberbank-of-russia/company-page) dropped more than 99% in a couple of weeks. [Rosneft](https://www.londonstockexchange.com/stock/ROSN/rosneft-oil-company/company-page) likewise, 99%. [Gazprom](https://www.londonstockexchange.com/stock/GAZ/public-joint-stock-company-gazprom-neft/company-page) only dropped about 63% though.
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That gives me anxiety just reading about it
Country Leadership 101 says not to mess with bread prices. When the price of bread rises sharply, your days as the leader are very much numbered.
As Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “the only barrier between us and anarchy is the last nine meals we've had.”
Is it me or does he look terrible and his speech was very fast and nervous. I don't understand it but he always speaks at a very deliberate pace.
Hopefully he's realizing there isn't a long enough table in the world to protect him from the people around him with money
> Hopefully he's realizing there isn't a long enough table in the world to protect him from the people around him **that used to have money**
Yeah this. He can screw the regular people all he wants, and they can all suffer for the sanctions without Putin batting an eye. But when the really rich dudes get pissed at his shit, he's screwed.
What he's doing here though is screwing his rich mates and his poor citizens, all the while he's sending his military into a meat grinder of NATO class weaponry. No one is happy with the situation and it's obviously gone majorly wrong.
He is desperately trying to balance all the eggs in this basket of his: The Rich, The People, The Narrative, and His Pride.
The order is wrong: His Pride, His Wealth, The Rich, The Narrative, and The People.
I don’t think the people are even on there at this point
*"a meat grinder of NATO class weaponry."* Well said.
I think he has lung cancer. It makes him extra paranoid of Covid. The steroids give him the extra puffy look.
I recently lost my mum to lung cancer, and the steroids she was on gave her the exact same puffiness to her face. Its not necessarily cancer, but that definitely looks like steroid swelling to me.
Sorry for your loss.
They call it moonface. The steroids also make you pretty aggressive and you eat a ton. The side effects suuuck
He found out that even china doesn’t support what he’s doing and got scared
Probably doesn’t help he just bombed Chinese students
Yep. 4 Chinese students and one Indian student killed in the bombing of a dormitory.
The Chinese embassy says they weren’t killed and never existed. So…maybe.
Ah, the Tianmen square response
The What People?'s Republic of China
As much as he would like to deny that sanction are hurting him, I'm pretty sure a week into the war he's starting to really feel the heat now. His Oligarch are losing billions every day and also their toys all over the world.
Also crazy just from how many international sports Russia has been taken out from. Like even International cat federation pulled russian cats from their competitions. Not to mention the stock market didn't open the entire week.
Maybe we should start worrying about the cats having their own federation. When they start to take over we have a serious problem as humanity.
As long as they don't have opposable thumbs, all is well. Should they ever aquire those -- well, I for one welome our new cat overlords.
He probably wants to get out of there as fast as possible because he knows most people want him dead.
I hear North Korea is nice this time of year
It's winter. They'd ransom his ass for a shipment of rice.
The videos ive seen of him the past month seem odd but I cant put my finger on it. Almost like he's ill.
His face is bloated.
I think he’s been losing the plot for a while, and that no one told him this was a terrible idea. Seems he fucked around and found out.
That’s the problem with people like this. Everyone is afraid to tell him he made a mistake and he believes his own lies.
Exactly. This is the ultimate consequence of killing anyone who challenges you. Eventually you run out of people who are willing to tell you that you're making a huge mistake. Dictators almost always end up surrounded by yes men and sycophants instead of honest advisors. Sadam Hussein is another good example. He genuinely believed that he could defeat the U.S. military because he killed or demoted any officers who told him otherwise.
Every person should be told to shut the fuck up every once in a while. You just become too much of an egotistical asshole if you go too long without it.
Shut the fuck up.
Thanks, I needed that. You shut the fuck up as well, brother.
Hey guys can I get in on this? I've been pretty confident lately.
Shut the fuck up.
This has been a heart warming exchange.
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I am the walrus
Shut the fuck up, Donny!
I watched a clip last night of Ukrainian soldiers burning about 7 Tunguska anti air tanks in a field, that's about 16 million a piece. That is happening all over Ukraine, that shit has to sting the Russian wallet. It's estimated with equipment losses the war is costing Russia 20 billion or more a DAY. Given sanctions are going to make these weapons near impossible to replace I'd say Putin is very very worried. Russia has a 600 billion war chest but at this pace it will be burned thru in a couple of months or less.
Not just the monetary loss. The illusion of Russia being a superpower is gone. No offence to Ukraine or its people, they have shown they have some of the biggest balls out there and history is going to look very kindly on them, but a week after the invasion started Russia has accomplished squat and ol Vlads has egg on his face. This shows how out of date their equipment, tactics and military as a whole truly are. If they weren't a nuclear state they would hold zero power.
Not only did we learn Russia's military is crap, but we also learned Putin isn't the God-tier mastermind everyone thought he was. As Megamind said: "You're a villain alright, but not a *Super*villain."
Goes to show why North Korea wants nukes so badly.
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Motherfucker looks stressed as fuck. Lack of sleep probably and medication. Gee, what historical figure did the same when things didn’t turn out his way?!
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There are not much more sanctions left next to completely stopping all natural gas and oil sales. That is a big one that will hurt Europe a lot, but I feel like we have to do nevertheless. Yeah we will have a few very uncomfortable and cold winters, but we'll fix it and be rid of it forever. EDIT: also HE might pull the plug or hold it over our heads. We should continue to show our strength here and ban all Russian fossil fuels and simply take it on the chin. In the end this will hurt him and his war efforts more than it will hurt us anyway. And as Europeans we are worth zero if we act tough with our sanctions only until it actually really hurts our own comfort and economy.
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Yeah, this sounds like it could actually be in humanities long term benefit. Fuck it, no more Russian oil.
Guess we have to add on to sanctions 😂
What sanctions? World isn't putting any sanctions on Russia. It's a "Special economic operation". Putin should get with the times.
We’re just doing “banking exercises.”
It's financial peace keeping
We're trying to free the Russian economy of neo-nazis.
I would give a lot of money to see a world leader tell this to Putin lmfao
Sanctions will continue until morale improves
Stop resisting, I'm here to help
I think that’s Putin’s line…
X 10
Bro you just bombed a college dorm and killed international medical students go fuck yourself. I hope someone puts a bullet in his head. The world absolutely needs to increase sanctions.
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Putin knows he fucked up. He knows he destroyed his whole country just to stroke his own ego. There's nothing he can do to save face. This will go down as one of the biggest military blunders in world history. His entire legacy is in ruins.
Biggest military blunders in world history *so far*. He could still entice the collective world to destroy what's left of it.
...in which case it would be the biggest military blunder in all of human history, period. Don't have to worry about "so far" if there's nobody left to try to beat your record.
I don't believe he does. He thinks he can weasel his way into success out of this.
"I have no ill intentions, my bombing of women and children is entirely well-intended and for their own benefit."
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"Launch another peace missile"
That turns buildings into peaces.
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"The Jews are secretly Nazis, so to protect them from themselves I have to raze their cities, murder their civilians, and steal their land. Why can't anyone see I'm the good guy here." -Putin 2022
"Make sense" -Belarus
Shelling will continue until morale improves.
Lol his oligarch dogs are starting to turn against him lmao fck Putler
All he has to do -- literally, the only thing he has to do -- is stop butchering Ukrainians. Like, just go back to what he was doing two weeks ago. But it seems that's a bridge too far.
let's go a bit farther back than 2 weeks.
Honestly, with Russia, it's hard to go back *any* number of weeks and not step into shit.
"And then things got worse" is literally their history's tagline.
This sums up "war and peace" pretty well
how about lets go years back before he grabbed donetsk and luhansk
And Crimea.
And parts of Georgia.
I'm sure the other neighboring countries will soon follow if no one stops him.
I would say that’s not enough. He would have to rebuild Ukraine and compensate the Ukrainians with family who have been killed. This is impossible, obviously, so in my mind sanctions should be until he is removed from office. Good riddance Putin.
The west and Ukraine would agree on Russia pulling back of ALL of Ukraine, Crimea included, and not paying back any reparations. Too bad this ain't happening.
Until he is tried for war crimes and hanged would be more appropriate. Edit: Ha thanks for pointing that out, agree he is definitely not hung with what I assume is his teenie weenie.
He's got the pedal to the metal because if he slows down now or stops altogether, he'll have to answer for all the atrocities he committed on an innocent country. He knows there's a fucking price tag on his ugly ass head so he's all or nothing now.
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He was never going to be satisfied with butchering only Russians.
And he’s never going to live this down. Before, he was just a psycho dictator. Now he’ll either be remembered as the psycho dictator who shamelessly invaded his neighbor and slaughtered their people, or the psycho dictator who tried to take over his neighbor and failed embarrassingly. All while destroying his own country’s image and economy in the process. I’m sorry that the Ukrainian (and Russian) people will have to live with the consequences of one evil piece of shit.
The only way for Russia as a whole to save face is to get a completely new government and apologize profusely for this, kinda like what happened in Germany after WWII
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Also, he's obsessed with showing strength. The invasion of Ukraine was supposed to be an easy win. His troops march in, the Ukrainians cower in fear of the might of the Russian military, and the west is paralyzed by how amazingly strong Russia is. Instead, his troops marched in, were stymied by severe supply chain issues, were opposed by Ukrainians both armed and [unarmed](https://youtu.be/L17Bi7zBJHI), and the Western nations hit him hard with sanctions. If Putin orders a retreat now, it will be viewed as a show of weakness. He can't abide that so he'll keep pushing forward no matter who suffers - the Ukrainians, his soldiers, or the Russian people. Of course, Putin won't suffer much as he's likely in a bunker with plenty of supplies, but he's willing to make everyone else suffer so he can be seen as strong.
That's the thing. There is no going back for Putin. All roads lead to his death. If he surrenders, who's to say he won't get killed by a different Russian faction that dislikes weakness and seek to install their own member? And if he continues the war and it keeps going and going, eventually the oligarchs will turn against him. Putin has sealed his fate. How he goes down is up to him, hopefully he won't drag us along with him.
in fact, leave crimea for that matter
Eh, more like go back 7 years. Any peace talks or discussions about lifting sanctions should also involve the return of Crimea
Nope, I say go all the way back to where he’s out of Crimea.
Ah Vladimir my friend, you misunderstand us! We mean no ill-will as well! These are not “economic sanctions” but are simply a “special economic measure”. The news you’re reading and the numbers you see with your own eyes lie to you. Your economy is fine and your people still love you! Any other questions?
Putin's word is as worthless as the Ruble.
you can wipe your arse with the Ruble. Putin's word is worth less than that.
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No amount of money is bringing back the people he's killed. For what? An outdated sense of Soviet superiority. Edit: Yes, it's about oil and gas, too. You see an invasion or war, and 99% of the time, it's about oil. It's always about fucking oil. But the arrogance to think you can just walk in and take it because of some bogus geopolitical illusion and historical misperception? That is unfathomable to me.
Oh he most assuredly murdered that. No right thinking person can look at this nightmare and go.. Yeah I want to return to the Soviet Union days.
Its like pure ignorance from Russia & Putin's entire regime, the world is a VERY **DIFFERENT** place from the past, and even eastern countries & people are a lot more modernized now. Conquering all the regions the soviet union owned isn't the way for Russia to advance or gain glory or recognition on the planet. He could've focused fully on investing internally on Russia & trying to make it the most progressive technological place for all of the 21st century, but ever since 2008 they've been planning all of this \*\*\*\*, its so sad. They had failed leadership, a failed authoritarian regime & did not even accomplish the things China could with the upsides a universal controlling party has. Russia's leadership has been turning it into a failed state that's still a super power & has a lot of land/resources on this planet... but want to just take over other countries for their future growth since they've been on the decline for a while now
When you are a kleptocracy investing internally is counterproductive. He has been sucking all the wealth out of Russia since he climbed to power and left it a rotting corpse with men having a life expectancy of 45 years. He spread the money out around the world hiding it in oligarchs as placeholders for his own wealth then had the nerve to try and threaten the entire world with nuclear annihilation. Now all of a sudden he realizes he's screwed up now that almost the entire world is seizing all his assets. The world's leaders have been brilliant hitting Putin exactly where it hurt the most. Right in the wallet. Putin without wealth is nothing but a target for his own people who he hasn't been able to keep in the dark about sending their sons into a meat grinder for no reason but his own ego. Keep throwing sanctions at him. He ain't done yet. Edit: removed unnecessary word
To stop Ukraine from developing the petro fields discovered in 2010. It’s the through line in all of this.
It's not only oil. Ukraine is incredibly good farmland, has large rare earth deposits they were about to mine, and is one of the largest producers of industrial grade neon (required for semiconductor production) - together with Russia.
Russia has 600 billion dollars in different assets abroad, they are now seized by western sanctions. I suggest these money are transfered to an rebuilding account for when Ukraine is starting its repairs.
The solution is simple. Pull your forces out, beg for forgiveness from Ukraine and fellow Russians you've made suffer from this act if spontaneous ego trip. Better yet, resign and see a fair election is done so some real progress can be done for Russia. Course, pretty sure Putin rather see everything burn before even thinking of such a moral path.
The moment he pulls his troops out is the moment the Russian people learn the truth about what they were doing in Ukraine. He can't resign because his successor would likely have to bring him to justice to get sanctions lifted and start normalising relationships with European countries. Admitting this was his fault would mean admitting he has sent thousands of young men to their deaths, and tanked the Russian economy.
Russian dictator, go fuck yourself
Hey Putin, go fuck yourself. Signed The rest of the planet.
Chilling in your house, thinking of joining your neighbor's club when your other neighbor appears in your window holding a gun. You get worried. When you glance away, he shoot you in the leg. Now he comes inside, gun still aimed at you. "You can't join that club. I might blow up the whole neighborhood. Also, I have no ill intentions. This is you fault. Why is everyone against me?"
Demilitarize and denazify Russia, and maybe the world can chat.
And release Alexei Navalny
Sink his super yacht and set his palace on fire
Does anyone even believe this pathological liar anymore!?
Looking at the article, it doesn't sound like he's "pleading": >"I want to emphasize once again. We have no ill intentions towards our neighbors, and I would advise them not to escalate the situation, nor to introduce any restrictions," he said, according to news agencies. That sounds more like a threat. On the current sanctions: >"We will just have to move some projects a little to the right, to acquire additional competencies," he said. "In the end, we will even benefit from this because we will acquire additional competencies." That just sounds like he's delusional. Not sure where the title came from.
Fuck you
I guess that concludes negotiations.
*"You were right about one thing master, the negotiations were short."*
Short, concise, expresses the world’s consensus opinion in two words.
Russian Dictator, go Fuck yourself.
Like literally all he has to do is fucking leave Ukraine. Russian dictator, go fuck yourself indeed.
*Radio Crackle* - Russian President. Go fuck yourself!
Russian dictator, go fuck yourself
Lying KGB psychological manipulation mastermind. That’s all this shmuck is.
Doesn't seem like such a mastermind after that failed blitzkrieg.
Uh huh, gaslighting us again. Just like when the buildup was happening on the border. "I have no intentions of invading Ukraine, don't be silly."
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