Is the Russian Rouble back to pre Ukrainian war value now vs the US dollar?
A bit mad. Hopefully its a sign of a ceasefire.
Or are emerging markets now buying RUB to get their gas in.
Its the latter kid. From a purely neutral perspective, it was a shrewd move by vlad to insist that the gas had to be paid for in roubles. Put the Germans under savage pressure.
The Germans come out of this looking like a bunch of wankers.
It’s been a terrible few years for the E.U.
This will be the saving of the EU. Its clear now the Germans and the Brits were bought and paid for by the Russians. The fallout from that is just beginning but should ultimately bring us to a better place. The Ukrainians are dying for the right to join. We shouldn’t overlook its benefits though it is obviously an unwieldy mess
Ukraine consistently didn’t meet the standards for EU membership. That’s hardly changed despite the horrible situation.
The trend of being complacent about democracy and it’s fragility will also hopefully be arrested.
This upset me.
Exact same value today as they were on the 27th of Feb, Russian Central bank is having a great war, so far!
Interesting documentary about Putin on RTE 1 now. Boris Yeltsin quickly realised the mistake he’d made by selecting Putin as his successor.
Germany landed in their position on energy because of historical factors and Merkel being short term in her approach.
Wasn’t the same as how London went.
Any word on how this is working out?
Not sure the standard bearers of the EU meet the standards either at this stage.
Some laugh you claiming to be worried about corruption.
A hape of red herrings. Europe didn’t want them, and effectively blocked their entry by imposing unrealistic and ruinous demands. Bad as ukraine was then i dont see it emerging from this conflict with anything other than an emotive claim to membership. If anything the prospect of civil war is more realistic…or a country that just goes full nazi.
The pragmatic move would be for both sides (russia and the US) to financially back Ukraine and dangle the sincere prospect of eventual membership …while making it contingent on russia also joining, with the same provisos etc
Strengthen both countries, bring russia in from the cold and set back Chinese imperialism… all at once.
I doubt that this has occurred to anyone other than @glenshane, but this is why i get paid the big bucks.
You heard it here first.
I think that’s probably something that can be applied to pretty much any thought that goes through your head.
I never claimed anything, you’re making that claim for me. I just stated a fact.
Consistently didn’t meet the standards, what are you on about? EU accession is generally a pretty long and torturous process. It takes years and years of incremental improvements to join. Ukraine is not even a candidate country yet. There are a number of countries currently in the process as candidate countries and yet they’re miles away yet, they may never get there. Once this is over (whenever that is) I would expect Ukraine to align more and more closely with the EU quite rapidly and to join in the long term.