Russo-Ukrainian War Thread - Page 86

On April 11 2022 20:03 Harris1st wrote:


That's a nice paper! Haven't read it fully yet but will do so.

Major concern is Germany is not that people will freeze to death but how it will affect the industry. Mainly glas, steel and concrete industries and everything that comes after that are gonna take a huge hit if gas import is cut. Coal (already decided and will take place end of July) and oil seems doable though

On April 10 2022 17:50 Ghanburighan wrote: I probably don't need to mention it, but Germany was supposed to have learned from its own history that genocidal empires are evil and cannot be tolerated. But, apparently, those were all hollow words. Germany hasn't learned its lesson, and that's dangerous in its own way.

Secondly, this will not go away. Not until Russia as it exists now is gone.

On April 11 2022 22:24 Daigoro wrote:


I do not know what kind of history you are taught in school, but the notion that there is a unconsolable agressive Empire in the east that has to be eradicated in the east is exactly the kind of rhetoric that germans are uncomfortable with, at least the ones that did not consider the last incursion into eastern Europe as a liberatory effort.
Out of curiosity, is this the only act of aggression and mass killing that you are against in this way and happy to equivocate with hitlerism or are there any other countries, lets say NATO members, that have shown (and are currently showing) equal disregard for civilian life in the world?

Russia has warned Finland and Sweden against joining Nato, arguing the move would not bring stability to Europe.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "the alliance remains a tool geared towards confrontation".

It comes as US defence officials said Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has been a "massive strategic blunder" which is likely to bring Nato enlargement.

US officials expect the Nordic neighbours to bid for membership of the alliance, potentially as early as June.

Washington is believed to support the move which would see the Western alliance grow to 32 members. US State Department officials said last week that discussions had taken place between Nato leaders and foreign ministers from Helsinki and Stockholm.

Before it launched its invasion, Russia demanded that the alliance agree to halt any future enlargement, but the war has led to the deployment of more Nato troops on its eastern flank and a rise in public support for Swedish and Finnish membership.

Finnish MPs are expected to receive a security report from intelligence officials this week, and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said she expects her government "will end the discussion before midsummer" on whether to make a membership application.

Finland shares a 1,340km (830 miles) long border with Russia and has been rattled by the invasion of Ukraine.

And Sweden's ruling Social Democratic party, which has traditionally opposed Nato membership, said it is rethinking this position in light of Russia's attack on its western neighbour. Party secretary Tobias Baudin told local media that the Nato review should be complete within the next few months.

"When Russia invaded Ukraine, Sweden's security position changed fundamentally," the party said in a statement on Monday.

But Moscow has been clear that it opposes any potential enlargement of the alliance. Mr Peskov warned the bloc "is not that kind of alliance which ensures peace and stability, and its further expansion will not bring additional security to the European continent".

Last week Mr Peskov said that Russia would have to "rebalance the situation" with its own measures were Sweden and Finland to join Nato.

And in February Maria Zakharova, Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman, warned of "military and political consequences" if the countries joined the bloc.

Nato was formed in 1949 to counter the threat of Soviet expansion, though since the fall of the Berlin wall a number of formerly communist eastern European countries have joined.

Under Article 5 of the bloc's founding charter, member states agree to come to one another's aid in the event of an armed attack against any individual member state.

Despite the threats, both countries have pushed ahead with their bids and stepped up defence spending.

On Monday, army leaders in Helsinki announced a new plan to allocate €14m (£10.88m) to purchase drones for Finland's military.

And last month Swedish officials said they would boost defence spending by three billion kronas ($317m; £243m) in 2022.

London (CNN Business)Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt because it offered bondholders payments in rubles, not dollars, credit ratings agency S&P has said.

Russia attempted to pay in rubles for two dollar-denominated bonds that matured on April 4, S&P said in a note on Friday. The agency said this amounted to a "selective default" because investors are unlikely to be able to convert the rubles into "dollars equivalent to the originally due amounts."

According to S&P, a selective default is declared when an entity has defaulted on a specific obligation but not its entire debt.

Moscow has a grace period of 30 days from April 4 to make the payments of capital and interest, but S&P said it does not expect it will convert them into dollars given Western sanctions that undermine its "willingness and technical abilities to honor the terms and conditions" of its obligations.

A full foreign currency default would be Russia's first in more than a century, when Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin repudiated bonds issued by the Tsarist government.

Russia cannot access roughly $315 billion of its foreign currency reserves as a result of Western sanctions imposed following its invasion of Ukraine. Until last week, the United States allowed Russia to use some of its frozen assets to pay back certain investors in dollars. But the US Treasury has since blocked the country from accessing its reserves at American banks, part of its effort to ramp up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin and further diminish his war chest.

JPMorgan estimates that Russia had about $40 billion of foreign currency debt at the end of last year, with about half of that held by foreign investors.

On April 12 2022 02:40 Artisreal wrote:
Scale.

On April 12 2022 02:47 maybenexttime wrote:

It's not like Nazi Germany started building death camps from get-go. Russia has been steadily ramping up the atrocities committed by its troops.

On April 10 2022 23:21 Acrofales wrote:


Pretty sure he wasn't implying people wouldn't sell them weapons, but rather that the cost of buying new stuff is prohibitively expensive if the old stuff you have works well enough. If you strike a deal where you give your old stuff to someone else, in exchange for a discount on new stuff, then suddenly you can afford it! Especially as you don't have to pay for the maintenance or decommissioning of the old stuff anymore either!