Russo-Ukrainian War Thread - Page 40

WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - Poland's decision to put all its MiG-29 fighter jets at the disposal of the United States was "a surprise move" by Warsaw, the U.S. State Department's No. 3 diplomat said on Tuesday, after Ukraine asked European countries to provide aircraft to help it fight Russia's invasion.

"To my knowledge, it wasn't pre-consulted with us that they planned to give these planes to us," State Department Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. "So I think that actually was a surprise move by the Poles," she said.

Poland is ready to deploy all its MiG-29 jets to Ramstein Air Base in Germany and put them at the disposal of the United States, and urges other NATO members that own planes of that type to do the same, the Polish Foreign Ministry said earlier.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-surprised-polands-decision-give-it-fighter-jets-ukraine-2022-03-08/

Days after the U.S. and several allies choked off Russian access to semiconductors, the Commerce Secretary threatened to cut off Chinese company access to critical U.S. tech needed to manufacture chips should they violate the ban.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said to the New York Times Tuesday that the Biden administration could cut off SMIC and other Chinese chip makers’ access to the U.S. produced tools and software vital for the manufacture of the most advanced chips. While the prohibition on chip sales to Russia has always included the possibility of the U.S. punishing foreign businesses that violate the sanctions, Tuesday marked the first time a senior administration official specifically mentioned China and Chinese chip makers.

“They have their own self-interest to not supply this stuff to Russia,” Raimondo said to the Times. “So they’re not doing it out of the goodness of their heart. It would be devastating to China’s ability to produce these chips.”

According to the Times, Raimondo mentioned SMIC and that the Biden administration could “essentially shut” down any Chinese company that violates the ban on exporting chips to Russia and Belarus. Prior to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia bought the majority of its chips from China, though also sourced a substantial amount of memory from Samsung, and analog chips from the German company Infineon, according to a Protocol analysis of Russian import data.

In many ways, the tech sanctions implemented by the U.S. in coordination with allies in the EU and elsewhere, resemble the effort to damage Huawei. In Huawei’s case, the U.S. successfully cut it off from global semiconductor supplies, which amounted to billions of dollars in lost revenue.

On March 09 2022 07:04 plasmidghost wrote:
Well things in Russia are getting far worse

https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1501315627386118145

User was warned for this post.

On March 09 2022 12:16 Mohdoo wrote:


I'd like to use this post as an example of the fact that the strict guidelines of this thread are maybe a tad too much. I think that it is reasonable to have a high standard of posting, but this is not bad posting. Yes, they could have given more perspective, but this is not retweeting. If someone is contributing unique information that is not in the thread yet, and it is significant, I am not convinced the forum benefits from requiring the person to fully explain what the implications are.

Many of us really just aren't that well versed in international economics. I am not sure what else I would say here. I think they were not wrong to write this post, but they were warned for it. Sorry to backseat moderate, just giving my perspective.

On March 09 2022 05:01 SC-Shield wrote:
I donated a small amount of money today for charities that support Ukraine. If you haven't, please do your fair bit as war is devastating and this is war on democracy as you all well know. Other than that, I'm happy that most of the world is coming together, especially after a tough period like COVID after 2 years since this pandemic began.

On March 09 2022 13:00 FueledUpAndReadyToGo wrote:
This whole Mig for F-16 deal is weird. I don't understand how this discussion is done openly. Like either come to a conclusion internally that the extra risk of angering Russia is worth it and make the deal and then announce if after the planes are in Ukraine already... or decide the escalation risk is too high and don't do it and don't talk about it.

Now it feels like it's needlessly generating aggro from Russia and false hope for Ukraine

On March 09 2022 18:31 hitthat wrote:
Looks like my country again proves we are a laughing stock. If we really promised them fighters, then we should keep it. Angering Russia is a non-issue here, they are proving they can't be trusted and polish gouverment were properly paranoid of them all along. We already support them with weapons, what makes us believe that giving them another makes things different?

On March 09 2022 18:31 hitthat wrote:
Looks like my country again proves we are a laughing stock. If we really promised them fighters, then we should keep it. Angering Russia is a non-issue here, they are proving they can't be trusted and polish gouverment were properly paranoid of them all along. We already support them with weapons, what makes us believe that giving them another makes things different?

Russia warns the West: our sanctions will hurt you

LONDON, March 9 (Reuters) - Russia warned the West on Wednesday that it was working on a broad response to sanctions that would be swift and felt in the West's most sensitive areas.

Russia's economy is facing the gravest crisis since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union after the West imposed crippling sanctions on almost entire Russian financial and corporate system following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

"Russia's reaction will be swift, thoughtful and sensitive for those it addresses," Dmitry Birichevsky, the director of the foreign ministry's department for economic cooperation, was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency.

Fitch Ratings cut its credit ratings on Russia further into junk territory and warned that Moscow was likely to default on its debts shortly.

The ratings company slashed its rating on Russia by six notches to a single-C grade, near the bottom of its scale, less than a week after downgrading the country from investment-grade status.

Fitch’s action reflects the rapid collapse in Russia’s creditworthiness since it invaded Ukraine. Russia was judged investment-grade by all three major credit-rating companies as recently as Feb. 26.

“The 'C' rating reflects Fitch's view that a sovereign default is imminent,” Fitch said in a statement late Tuesday, pointing to recent actions by the Kremlin and the Bank of Russia.

Russia has allowed borrowers to make payments on their overseas debt, but only using rubles even for foreign-currency bonds, while the Russian central bank has effectively blocked coupon payments on onshore debt to foreign bondholders.

“More generally, the further ratcheting up of sanctions, and proposals that could limit trade in energy, increase the probability of a policy response by Russia that includes at least selective non-payment of its sovereign debt obligations,” Fitch added.

Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings have both already undertaken two rounds of downgrades and rate Russia at Ca and CCC-, respectively.

On March 09 2022 19:32 JimmiC wrote:
Kind of crazy to think that at just over 1.3 million refugees in Poland that would be the 3rd largest municipality in Canada at about the same size as Calgary.

So much displacement and hardship for such little gain for so few.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_municipalities_in_Canada_by_population

(Should be stated if you look at "greater vancouver area" it would be third as many municapalities touch and are considered one city by most).

On March 09 2022 12:16 Mohdoo wrote:


I'd like to use this post as an example of the fact that the strict guidelines of this thread are maybe a tad too much. I think that it is reasonable to have a high standard of posting, but this is not bad posting. Yes, they could have given more perspective, but this is not retweeting. If someone is contributing unique information that is not in the thread yet, and it is significant, I am not convinced the forum benefits from requiring the person to fully explain what the implications are.

Many of us really just aren't that well versed in international economics. I am not sure what else I would say here. I think they were not wrong to write this post, but they were warned for it. Sorry to backseat moderate, just giving my perspective.