Moose & Squirrel v Boris & Natasha: what's the deal with the rooskies and trumpland?

[TheGreatBuzz]

4 hours ago, Larry said:

You're assuming that he gives a crap what happens to his country.  

Or that he wouldn’t do things like launch cyber attacks against us.

[CousinsCowgirl84]

3 hours ago, RansomthePasserby said:

But at that point Russia has already attacked and it’s a shooting war. So asking if the sanctions will push them to attack when they’re already attacking doesn’t make sense. 

Well, I think the idea is that it pushes them closer to a direct confrontation with the US or perhaps attacking nato counties down the road; say 5-10 years down the road. 
 

Not unless China wants to get involved…
 

 

[China]

5 minutes ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

Well, I think the idea is that it pushes them closer to a direct confrontation with the US or perhaps attacking nato counties down the road; say 5-10 years down the road. 
 

Not unless China wants to get involved…
 

 

 

No, I don't want to get involved.  Discuss amongst yourselves.

[China]

What is SWIFT and why it might be the weapon Russia fears most

 

Some are calling it the "nuclear option".

As Western governments threaten Russia with a package of unprecedented sanctions aimed at deterring President Vladimir Putin from ordering an invasion of Ukraine, there's one measure in particular that appears to strike fear at the heart of the Kremlin: cutting the country off from the global banking system.

US politicians have suggested in recent weeks that Russia could be removed from SWIFT, a high security network that connect thousands of financial institutions around the world.

Senior Russian lawmakers have responded by saying that shipments of oil, gas and metals to Europe would stop if that happened.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Simmsy]

I can't believe that the GOP wants to go into the midterms as a party of anti-abortion, pro book burning, black, SCOTUS hating, bunch of Russia lovers. If this is the hill they want to die on, I say let them.

[Larry]

 

[88Comrade2000]

Russia will invade either during the Olympics or right after it.

[China]

Biden says he warned Ukraine's President Zelensky during call to 'prepare for impact' and that Russian forces could 'SACK Kiev' - but White House denies any new action even as Fort Bragg's 82nd Airborne waits on standby

 

President Joe Biden reportedly told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday to brace his country for a certain Russian invasion.

 

Biden told Zelensky that an invasion is virtually certain and to 'prepare for impact,' CNN reported. He said Kiev could be 'sacked' by Russian forces.

 

He reportedly said Ukraine would not be getting significantly more military help, including reiterating that no U.S. troops would be deployed there, nor would there be preemptive sanctions on Russia or any progress with NATO.

A Ukrainian official told CNN that the call between the two leaders 'did not go well.'  

 

The warning was not part of a White House readout provided after the call - and the spokesperson for the National Security Council Emily Horne called CNN's reporting 'not true' in a tweet.

 

'This is not true. President Biden said that there is a distinct possibility that the Russians could invade Ukraine in February. He has previously said this publicly & we have been warning about this for months. Reports of anything more or different than that are completely false,' Horne wrote. 

 

'Also, no one said "sacked." The only person who should be "sacked" is the anonymous source who is circulating an inaccurate portrayal of this conversation,' Horne added in a statement to CNN.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[CousinsCowgirl84]

It’s a bad look. Even when we stand up to Russia they get what they want.

[Larry]

We stand up to Russia?  
 

Have to say. I'm just stunned that we know something like this is happening, and we're deciding in advance that we're not going to do anything about it?  
 

For what, 50 years, there was nothing, no matter how immoral or expensive, that we would not do in the name of preventing Russian growth. 
 

And now we literally have advance notice that the Russian military is about to invade an conquer a small country in Europe. And worse than that, an invasion that will give them the ability to project naval power into the Med. 
 

And the Republicans aren't announcing that this is the collapse of civilization?  A party where being "anti communist" used to be their signature issue?  

[CousinsCowgirl84]

Those sanctions we are threatening have teeth. 
 

The whole thing is getting weird now, to me. I can’t get my head around Ukraine complaining that we are overhyping the threat from Russia. What’s up with that? 

[TradeTheBeal!]

 

[CousinsCowgirl84]

If I was betting I’d bet then won’t invade this year.

 

They can overthrow the government and install a shill regime from the outside without having to do something so provocative.

[Bang]

4 hours ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

If I was betting I’d bet then won’t invade this year.

 

They can overthrow the government and install a shill regime from the outside without having to do something so provocative.

I tend to agree, but he is rattling the sabre AWFULLY loud. Threatening NATO, threatening diplomatic ties, looks like he's painting himself into a corner.

 

~Bang

[Barry.Randolphe]

A part of me wonders if this is some agreement with China to distract everyone while China builds up to take Taiwan

[tshile]

Putin is in a win/win on a major foreign policy issue. And the fact that is the case should cause pause on just how bad things are. 
 

i assume the US will do nothing militarily. I assume, by extension, NATO will do nothing of substance militarily. I assume Putin also assumes these things. 
 

if he invades Ukraine he suffers sanctions and apparently has determined wheat is what he’ll leverage against those. That and the NG supply to Europe. The SWIFT thing will hurt, but, I’m unclear on how much. But  the point is he’ll gain Ukraine, play a trade war/sanction game with the world, but not suffer a serious military consequence and basically absorb a country with no one in the world doing anything about it. 

 

if he never invades Ukraine but does a bunch of saber rattling he makes Biden look weak. I realize for many frequents of political threads that’ll seem asinine, and I don’t think it makes Biden look weak, but for the general public and polling it will make him look weak. his polling numbers will suffer. And in the grand scheme of things, like a 2024 trump campaign, making Biden (and by extension traditional democrats) look weak is a huge win. 
 

i mean… if you can erode trust to the point that you can influence who wins the important elections in the United States, and you can influence the actual winner, well… damn if that isn’t a win. 
 

What’s the downside here?

they do nothing and continue to exist as a weird technically first world country that lives in poverty entity? 
 

we got duped by a Russian operation to sew discontent in the United States. It was wildly successful if by no other measure than Russia will reclaim territory and no one will stop them. 
 

If I was a political advisor I’d come to terms with that. Then ask myself what the real and actual downside of Russia absorbing Ukraine is. Then ask myself is that actually worth caring about and trying to do something about? Or is there maybe a better way to deal with this…

 

like, ignore it. Focus on making our county better; solving our problems. 
 

instead of focusing on Putin’s success is a ****ty situation let’s focus on making ourselves better. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by tshile

[TradeTheBeal!]

Putin getting his clock cleaned on the global economic stage to establish a puppet government in the northern 30-40% of Ukraine is hardly some grand victory.

[CousinsCowgirl84]

The sanctions will hurt Russia significantly if they get enacted and enforced. What does he really gain by invading Ukraine that couldn’t be gained by alternative means?

11 hours ago, Barry.Randolphe said:

A part of me wonders if this is some agreement with China to distract everyone while China builds up to take Taiwan

Well, we would see it in satellite imagery the same way we saw the Russia buildup.

[tshile]

13 minutes ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

The sanctions will hurt Russia significantly if they get enacted and enforced. What does he really gain by invading Ukraine that couldn’t be gained by alternative means?

Oh I have no idea. I don’t understand why it’s worth the price, other than him having some lifelong goal of reestablishing the USSR. 
 

none of this seems worth it to me but wtf do I know about global politics in that regard and Russia specifically 🤷‍♂️ 

 

it seems to me like China does a significantly better job of blending global power with regional dictatorship-like desires…

 

[China]

 

[China]

 

[visionary]

 

 

 

[China]

Russia shuts DW's Moscow bureau, withdraws staff credentials

 

Russia on Thursday said it was closing the Moscow bureau of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and revoking its employees' accreditations in the country.

 

The Russian Foreign Ministry also said in a statement that it would "terminate the satellite and other broadcasting (output) of Deutsche Welle" on Russian territory.

 

Russia had earlier criticized a German regulator's ban on German-language programming by Russia's state broadcaster RT as an attack on freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

 

The Russian government said it was planning to initiate a procedure to label DW a foreign media outlet performing the functions of a "foreign agent," a designation that carries additional government scrutiny.

 

Moscow said it would also ban officials involved in restricting the broadcasting of RT in Germany from entering the Russian Federation.

 

Later, the state State Duma, the lower house of parliament, officially banned DW journalists from entering and from receiving accreditation for events.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[LadySkinsFan]

Thus rolls on the authoritarian regime in Russia. RT should be banned in this country too. I'm sure we have plenty of other sources in Russia to report what's going on in there.

 

Banning a propaganda tool such as RT is a no brainer.

Edited February 4, 2022 by LadySkinsFan

[Bang]

1 hour ago, LadySkinsFan said:

Thus rolls on the authoritarian regime in Russia. RT should be banned in this country too. I'm sure we have plenty of other sources in Russia to report what's going on in there.

 

Banning a propaganda tool such as RT is a no brainer.

Agreed. A foreign entity should have no protection under our constitutional rights to free speech. Its amazing we even allowed it in the first place.

 

~Bang