There’s a lot of people saying Xi had the clout to make Putin wait until after the Olympics before his invasion. Putin is Sonny Corleone but Xi is Michael
They are their biggest trading partner by far, so yes they have the biggest leverage. Putin would truly be isolated if China turned on him, but will they?
Well said.
Where would you go with these clowns…
Very emotional interview with Shevchenko on sky news earlier
Timing
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"Russia has been turfed out of the indexes used by many fund managers to decide where to invest after provider MSCI declared the country “uninvestable”.
The decision is likely to result in the wholesale dumping of Russian shares by western investors.
Many have already pledged to sell out of Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, but the process has been made more difficult because the Moscow stock exchange has been closed all week.
In a statement, MSCI said the decision followed consultation with institutional investors and will take effect from next Wednesday."
The economic screw is really being turned on the Russians in every possible way
There are people in the Kremlin working for the West
Just like there are peope in the White House/Downing Street working for the Kremlin
It’s like the plot line to Narcos.
Belarus is a big issue too.
Only problem is the absolutely senseless attack on the Ukrainian society.
Even more of an incentive for Ukrainian civillians to go after Russian tanks now.
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Zelenskyy has asked for the Israeli Prime minister to broker peace talks with Russia.
This seems a pretty lame topic. But it kind of explains some of the things we’ve been seeing in North Ukraine
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This is a thread that will explain the implied poor Russian Army truck maintenance practices based on this photo of a Pantsir-S1 wheeled gun-missile system’s right rear pair of tires below & the operational implications during the Ukrainian mud season.
There’s a lot to unpack here.
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Putin thought they’d waltz into Kyiv and the population would roll over.
His own Army have cut corners on their systems, his own Generals have lied to Putin who thinks he has a modern unbeatable Army.
Money & the lack of it now is the issue for them. Problem is, a corned Rat is a very unpredictable dangerous animal.
Duly noted. Thanks mate…pity you didn’t inform @tank before he left, he could have passed this on to their military strategists.
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Their biggest export is oil. The barrel price was 47 dollars 12 months ago it’s now 111.
They have plenty of money
Their currency has been wiped out and their foreign reserves frozen. Far from loaded
China can pay them with some of the trillions of US dollars they’ve stashed
I think it’s fairly obvious that this is playing out to the benefit of a few who want Putin disposed of.
Problem is the Ukrainians are the sacrificial lambs and all the bordering countries are also been placed under stress of taking care of fleeing civilians.
This appears a land grab by Putin but it’s more than likely a power grab to weaken or end Putin now.
It’s fairly clear Russia will over run Ukraine - just a question of how long it takes and what happens then
-
negotiated settlement with removal of arms from Ukraine and loss of territory
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no settlement and continued insurgency/resistance drags on
At some point the humanitarian concerns have to mean Ukraine will settle
Sanctions will bite Russia in lots of ways - as an example Aeroflot fleet is mainly Boeing and Airbus - those planes now cannot be serviced in line wirh manufactures guidelines
On other hand the aircraft leasing companies won’t be paid and won’t be getting those planes back so there will be contagion effects in western economy if not quite so pronounced