Europe War in Ukraine - Thread 4 - thread rules updated

[Gethelred]

This is the thread for discussing the War in Ukraine. Should you want to discuss the geopolitics, the history, or an interesting tangent, head over here:

Europe - Backdrop to the war in Ukraine

This is the thread for the geopolitics, history and framework around the Russia-Ukraine conflict. If you want to discuss the events of the war, head over to this thread: https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/war-in-ukraine-thread-4-thread-rules-updated.1376293/page-146

www.bigfooty.com

If a post isn't directly concerning the events of the war or starts to derail the thread, report the post to us and we'll move it over there.

Seeing as multiple people seem to have forgotten, abuse is against the rules of BF. Continuous, page long attacks directed at a single poster in this thread will result in threadbans for a week from this point; doing so again once you have returned will make the bans permanent and will be escalated to infractions.

This thread still has misinformation rules, and occasionally you will be asked to demonstrate a claim you have made by moderation. If you cannot, you will be offered the opportunity to amend the post to reflect that it's opinion, to remove the post, or you will be threadbanned and infracted for sharing misinformation.

Addendum: from this point, use of any variant of the word 'orc' to describe combatants, politicians or russians in general will be deleted and the poster will receive a warning. If the behaviour continues, it will be escalated. Consider this fair warning.

Finally: If I see the word Nazi or Hitler being flung around, there had better have a good faith basis as to how it's applicable to the Russian invasion - as in, video/photographic evidence of POW camps designed to remove another ethnic group - or to the current Ukrainian army. If this does not occur, you will be threadbanned for posting off topic

This is a sensitive area, and I understand that this makes for fairly incensed conversation sometimes. This does not mean the rules do not apply, whether to a poster positing a Pro-Ukraine stance or a poster positing an alternative view.

Behave, people.

 

[wannabejack]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...lled-car-bomb-hit-claimed-by-kyiv-2024-11-13/
The operation was carried out by the SBU, which saw him as a "legitimate" target in line with the laws of war because of "war crimes" he committed, the source said. The source said he had ordered missile attacks that hit civilian targets in Ukraine, including a deadly strike on the city of Vinnytsia in July 2022.

 

[wannabejack]

Russian Studio Mosfilm Donates 36 Soviet-Era Tanks to Army - The Moscow Times

Russia’s oldest and biggest movie studio Mosfilm donated dozens of Soviet-era tanks and other armored vehicles to the Russian army last year, its CEO said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

www.themoscowtimes.com

Mosfilm storage facilities housed 28 T-55 tanks, eight PT-76 light tanks, six infantry fighting vehicles and other military equipment, according to the company’s chief executive Karen Shakhnazarov.

“I learned that there was a need, contacted the Defense Ministry and they took these vehicles,” Shakhnazarov told Putin in a meeting at the Kremlin.

 

[Zidane98]

 

[Zidane98]

Turns out long before the 2014 invasion Russia was already trying to steal / annex Ukranian territory.

Tuzla Island (now illegally occupied and used for Kerch bridge):



The warning signs were there all along. This happened while Ukraine was effectively a vassal of Russia.

Interesting to see if a vatnik can defend this behaviour.

 

[Zidane98]

A thread about a Russian report on the state of its economy (note - not a western report):






Panicked attempts by the central bank to increase interest rates rapidly in an attempt to control inflation are failing. Industrial & defence spending (economy on a war footing) are the main factors in Russia's runaway inflation.

A collapse of the Russian economy, similar to the 90s, is a matter of when if Putin continues to ramp up defense spending on a completely futile war bringing zero benefit to Russia.

The average everyday person is really going to suffer who isn't from the middle to upper classes of St Petersburg / Moscow regions.

 

[Zidane98]

Incredible while Ukraine occupies the independent people's republic of Kursk that there's no reports at all of torture, looting and / or summary executions by Ukrainian soldiers.


Yet in Kursk Russian soldiers have been looting their own people:

 

[jatz14]

A thread about a Russian report on the state of its economy (note - not a western report):






Panicked attempts by the central bank to increase interest rates rapidly in an attempt to control inflation are failing. Industrial & defence spending (economy on a war footing) are the main factors in Russia's runaway inflation.

A collapse of the Russian economy, similar to the 90s, is a matter of when if Putin continues to ramp up defense spending on a completely futile war bringing zero benefit to Russia.

The average everyday person is really going to suffer who isn't from the middle to upper classes of St Petersburg / Moscow regions.

This is one of those situations where the real pain from an event follows the event itself at some distance.

This let's people say, it's fine, I'm ok, nothing happening here. Then, by the time they start to realise it's not fine, it's way too late to act.

I suspect the worse impact on Russians occurs after the war, when all that money flowing into the war economy stops, and all those companies surviving on war production suddenly don't have it anymore.

The US was able to navigate this post WW2, by switching into a massive consumer production boom, and supplying the world's rebuilding efforts.

Don't think this is happening to Russia.

On SM-A346E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[wannabejack]

https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/russian-railways-expects-interest-costs-hit-7-bln-2025-2024-11-14/

The state-owned monopoly, which transports an average of 3.3 million metric tons of cargo a day and is a key logistical cog in Moscow's industrial machine, is one of many businesses struggling with interest rates which have already hit 21%.

Although Russia's economy has recovered from an initial hit from Western sanctions in response to Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, GDP growth is now dependent on huge military spending.

This has fuelled persistent inflation and consumer spending, ultimately leading to economic overheating, which the Bank of Russia is trying to tackle with higher interest rates.

The central bank says widespread labour shortages are the root cause of the stubborn inflation ...

A large part of its planned spending [Russian Railways] is on expanding the BAM and Trans-Siberian railroads as Moscow aims to supply more fossil fuels to Asia, particularly China, and the West strives to reduce its trade with Russia

 

[wannabejack]

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/13/politics/elise-stefanik-ukraine-nato/index.html

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for US ambassador to the United Nations, is now refusing to stand by her previous push for Ukraine’s NATO membership — a stance she once framed as critical to regional stability.

Now, when asked if she still supports NATO membership for Ukraine, Stefanik’s spokesperson declined to specifically address her current position. Instead, her office signaled that she is aligning with Trump’s approach.

Stefanik’s actions in the House also have shifted with public opinion. She initially championed pro-Ukraine legislation and supported numerous sanctions against Russia along with multiple rounds of military aid for Ukraine. But in April, she voted against a $60 billion Ukraine aid package, citing concerns over the spending and saying it was better to prioritize the crisis at the southern border.

 

[Zidane98]

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/13/politics/elise-stefanik-ukraine-nato/index.html

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for US ambassador to the United Nations, is now refusing to stand by her previous push for Ukraine’s NATO membership — a stance she once framed as critical to regional stability.

Now, when asked if she still supports NATO membership for Ukraine, Stefanik’s spokesperson declined to specifically address her current position. Instead, her office signaled that she is aligning with Trump’s approach.

Stefanik’s actions in the House also have shifted with public opinion. She initially championed pro-Ukraine legislation and supported numerous sanctions against Russia along with multiple rounds of military aid for Ukraine. But in April, she voted against a $60 billion Ukraine aid package, citing concerns over the spending and saying it was better to prioritize the crisis at the southern border.

Stefanik rhymes with vatnik.

 

[Mobbs]

German Chancellor Scholz had a phone call with Putin today, condemning Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. According to the spokesman of the German federal government, Steffen Gebestreit, Scholz "condemned the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and called on Putin to stop it and withdraw the troops." [NOEL Reports TG]

View attachment stop_it.mp4

 

[wannabejack]

German Chancellor Scholz had a phone call with Putin today, condemning Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. According to the spokesman of the German federal government, Steffen Gebestreit, Scholz "condemned the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and called on Putin to stop it and withdraw the troops." [NOEL Reports TG]

View attachment 2166553

Ukraine describes call between German chancellor and Putin as 'appeasement'

A source in Ukraine's presidential office says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz against taking part in the call, warning it would prolong the war and reduce Mr Putin's isolation.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Andre]

A thread about a Russian report on the state of its economy (note - not a western report):






Panicked attempts by the central bank to increase interest rates rapidly in an attempt to control inflation are failing. Industrial & defence spending (economy on a war footing) are the main factors in Russia's runaway inflation.

A collapse of the Russian economy, similar to the 90s, is a matter of when if Putin continues to ramp up defense spending on a completely futile war bringing zero benefit to Russia.

The average everyday person is really going to suffer who isn't from the middle to upper classes of St Petersburg / Moscow regions.

Yes, raising interest rates is pointless for them. They are designed to force a change in behaviour, that then allows to come down. Obviously though in Russia inflation is due to the war, and interest rates of 121% wouldn't change Putin's rearrangement of the economy to prioritise everything to the war effort. Obviously leaving low also has negative economic effects. They are screwed regardless, it's just pick how to suffer.

 

[Mobbs]

Sberbank raises its home loan interest rate by 3.5% more to I think from memory 28%