Never saw any of your macro analysis or fundamental analysis either market or not market-related. All you are is just a troll, an entertaining one I admit with your delusional proclamations. LOL
Yellen Confronts Russian Officials at G20 Meeting
- Thread starter piezoe
- Start date
Never saw any of your macro analysis or fundamental analysis either market or not market-related. All you are is just a troll, an entertaining one I admit with your delusional proclamations. LOL
You must be speaking about yourself. About others, read more carefully next time is all I can say.
Can't do if you've written nothing. LOL
It is Sunday morning, and as I read through the latest posts in this thread I can't help but notice a certain cognitive dissonance. I suppose brought on by what are felt as attacks on one's strongly held personal biases. One might go so far as to say personal biases almost as different as the worldviews of say the average Russian living in rural Russia and a Western European city dweller.
These tit for tat posts made for interesting Sunday reading. I'd like to digress though from these arguments that can never be settled; not in this forum anyway. May I have the assembled "experts" opinions on something coming from one of the NY Times Russian correspondents that gave me pause. Made me realize how wrong I have been; how foolish.
According to this Times correspondent, what is happening in Russia today is a drift not away from Putin's worldview; but toward it. This is the exact opposite I foolishly thought would happen as the pace of body bags returning from the war picked up. Apparently the exodus of younger, educated, Russian "trouble makers" brought on by the war is being philosophically welcomed by both Putin and those Russians who are happy with a less liberal, more conservative, "Putinesque" Russia --- those for whom life is pleasantly simplified by staying out of politics and keeping ones mouth shut. It seems now that I was very wrong in my belief that the Russian people themselves would end the war once the bodies of their sons were delivered. It is now clear to me that I was thinking far too much like a citizen of one of the Western democracies. I was incapable of understanding the psyche of the typical Russian.
Some who knew G.W. Bush and his V.P., Dick Cheney have said that it was clear to them that both Bush and Cheney went into office looking for an excuse to go after Saddam Hussein in Iraq. It is known that Hussein had threatened both Bush senior and Cheney. The 911 attack on America's World Trade Center was warped by Bush and Cheney into justification for a second invasion of Iraq --- a nation that had virtually nothing to do with the attack. Their justification was later revised into "Democracy Building". And now, it seems, a parallel may be drawn between that Bush-Cheney's false justification with subsequent revision and what has transpired with Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
There can be no question that Vladimir Putin has long harbored a nostalgic belief that Ukraine was an inseparable part of Russia. This has warped into an excuse to invade Ukraine, as the invasion was initially sold on an assertion that Ukraine was a hot bed of Nazism -- a politically useful red flag word in Russia, given its 20th Century history.
When Russian Troops arrived in February of 2022 they apparently found that there are too few Nazis in Ukraine to support the premises for Putin's "Special Military Operation." The original deception had to be revised. The war in Ukraine is now being sold as a proxy war with NATO, which in a very real sense it has become. However this is carried a step further in the minds of Russians. We receive reports that many in Russia now believe NATO was planning an invasion of Russia and that Putin's special military operation was a wise preemptive strike. As absurd as this sounds to citizens of the NATO countries, it must not sound absurd to Russians or they would not believe it.
I was wrong when I said the Russian people will end this war once the body bags start returning. The slaughter of their sons, it seems, is only hardening their resolve to see the war through in the belief of its moral righteousness in defense of the motherland. In the mind of the average Russian, they are indeed under attack by NATO. Apparently they don't ask questions such as: "If we are the ones under attack, why is the war in another Country." Unless of course they believe Ukraine is Russia.
If the returning body bags are not enough to end this senseless war, as all wars are, then what might end it? The Ukraine war is currently a war of attrition. Wars of attrition are fought until one side or the other gives in. They can go for decades. Let us hope therefore, that the present war can be transitioned into something more resolvable.
I was wrong before, so I can be just as wrong now, but knowing what I have learned, it seems to me that the outcome of this war can be controlled by NATO if it so chooses. Ending the war would require two things: 1) giving Ukraine enough military support to push the Russians out of Eastern Ukraine -- we have already learned that this is doable if the will is there; 2) tossing a face saving bone to the Russians.
What form such a face saving opportunity would take is to be determined, but were the Ukrainians to cut off Crimea from the mainland Russia -- achievable with NATO unbridled assistance --- then Crimea could become the needed bargaining chip. Reportedly, there are many pro-Russians in Crimea. If they have the option of freely choosing to be Russian by official recognition of Crimea as Russian, and so choose, this could be the face saving offer needed to conclude the war. Russia could claim, though it will be a false claim, that the war saved Russians in Crimea from the Ukrainian Nazis. If Mr. Putin can start a war based on a false justification, he can end one on a false justification.
There is just one problem, what if the those living in Crimea were to choose to be Ukrainian rather than Russian? This is probably a risk Mr. Putin would not be willing to take.
As with Stalin, the Russian people won't tear down statues of Mr. Putin until he is gone. Those in the Western democracies may think it sad that such an otherwise great nation that has contributed so much to our world has been saddled with the yoke of autocrats. I don't see anything to suggest, however, that the average Russian sees things this way at all. They seem quite satisfied to live under the autocrat's yoke. The number that have left seeking more liberal societies, and to avoid being conscripted into the war, is still small compared to the Russian population; yet one can not help to observe that those leaving are often younger and among the most accomplished and brightest. There is no way that this can augur well for Russia's future.
These tit for tat posts made for interesting Sunday reading. I'd like to digress though from these arguments that can never be settled; not in this forum anyway. May I have the assembled "experts" opinions on something coming from one of the NY Times Russian correspondents that gave me pause. Made me realize how wrong I have been; how foolish.
According to this Times correspondent, what is happening in Russia today is a drift not away from Putin's worldview; but toward it. This is the exact opposite I foolishly thought would happen as the pace of body bags returning from the war picked up. Apparently the exodus of younger, educated, Russian "trouble makers" brought on by the war is being philosophically welcomed by both Putin and those Russians who are happy with a less liberal, more conservative, "Putinesque" Russia --- those for whom life is pleasantly simplified by staying out of politics and keeping ones mouth shut. It seems now that I was very wrong in my belief that the Russian people themselves would end the war once the bodies of their sons were delivered. It is now clear to me that I was thinking far too much like a citizen of one of the Western democracies. I was incapable of understanding the psyche of the typical Russian.
Some who knew G.W. Bush and his V.P., Dick Cheney have said that it was clear to them that both Bush and Cheney went into office looking for an excuse to go after Saddam Hussein in Iraq. It is known that Hussein had threatened both Bush senior and Cheney. The 911 attack on America's World Trade Center was warped by Bush and Cheney into justification for a second invasion of Iraq --- a nation that had virtually nothing to do with the attack. Their justification was later revised into "Democracy Building". And now, it seems, a parallel may be drawn between that Bush-Cheney's false justification with subsequent revision and what has transpired with Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
There can be no question that Vladimir Putin has long harbored a nostalgic belief that Ukraine was an inseparable part of Russia. This has warped into an excuse to invade Ukraine, as the invasion was initially sold on an assertion that Ukraine was a hot bed of Nazism -- a politically useful red flag word in Russia, given its 20th Century history.
When Russian Troops arrived in February of 2022 they apparently found that there are too few Nazis in Ukraine to support the premises for Putin's "Special Military Operation." The original deception had to be revised. The war in Ukraine is now being sold as a proxy war with NATO, which in a very real sense it has become. However this is carried a step further in the minds of Russians. We receive reports that many in Russia now believe NATO was planning an invasion of Russia and that Putin's special military operation was a wise preemptive strike. As absurd as this sounds to citizens of the NATO countries, it must not sound absurd to Russians or they would not believe it.
I was wrong when I said the Russian people will end this war once the body bags start returning. The slaughter of their sons, it seems, is only hardening their resolve to see the war through in the belief of its moral righteousness in defense of the motherland. In the mind of the average Russian, they are indeed under attack by NATO. Apparently they don't ask questions such as: "If we are the ones under attack, why is the war in another Country." Unless of course they believe Ukraine is Russia.
If the returning body bags are not enough to end this senseless war, as all wars are, then what might end it? The Ukraine war is currently a war of attrition. Wars of attrition are fought until one side or the other gives in. They can go for decades. Let us hope therefore, that the present war can be transitioned into something more resolvable.
I was wrong before, so I can be just as wrong now, but knowing what I have learned, it seems to me that the outcome of this war can be controlled by NATO if it so chooses. Ending the war would require two things: 1) giving Ukraine enough military support to push the Russians out of Eastern Ukraine -- we have already learned that this is doable if the will is there; 2) tossing a face saving bone to the Russians.
What form such a face saving opportunity would take is to be determined, but were the Ukrainians to cut off Crimea from the mainland Russia -- achievable with NATO unbridled assistance --- then Crimea could become the needed bargaining chip. Reportedly, there are many pro-Russians in Crimea. If they have the option of freely choosing to be Russian by official recognition of Crimea as Russian, and so choose, this could be the face saving offer needed to conclude the war. Russia could claim, though it will be a false claim, that the war saved Russians in Crimea from the Ukrainian Nazis. If Mr. Putin can start a war based on a false justification, he can end one on a false justification.
There is just one problem, what if the those living in Crimea were to choose to be Ukrainian rather than Russian? This is probably a risk Mr. Putin would not be willing to take.
As with Stalin, the Russian people won't tear down statues of Mr. Putin until he is gone. Those in the Western democracies may think it sad that such an otherwise great nation that has contributed so much to our world has been saddled with the yoke of autocrats. I don't see anything to suggest, however, that the average Russian sees things this way at all. They seem quite satisfied to live under the autocrat's yoke. The number that have left seeking more liberal societies, and to avoid being conscripted into the war, is still small compared to the Russian population; yet one can not help to observe that those leaving are often younger and among the most accomplished and brightest. There is no way that this can augur well for Russia's future.
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So many words to say that they were, they are and they will continue to be fucked. The fuckers.
Wordy but at least it seems you agree how we are lied at by western media.
Russians are moving closer and support for Putin is increasing not decreasing. And Russians in Russia are hardly noticing anything going on in Ukraine. The impact is absolutely minimal, hardly felt. But you would never hear that on cnn, BBC, or cbc.
In an ironic twist, in many ways Putin is more ethical than most of the immature clowns here. At least he is truthful and honest, unlike the truth deniers here. A valid amd historically reconcilable point can be made that Ukraine belongs to Russia and that it was stolen in the post soviet era crash. Arguments can also be made to the contrary.
What is undeniable are the lies made up by many media outlets and the brainwashed woke believing those lies.
Russians are moving closer and support for Putin is increasing not decreasing. And Russians in Russia are hardly noticing anything going on in Ukraine. The impact is absolutely minimal, hardly felt. But you would never hear that on cnn, BBC, or cbc.
In an ironic twist, in many ways Putin is more ethical than most of the immature clowns here. At least he is truthful and honest, unlike the truth deniers here. A valid amd historically reconcilable point can be made that Ukraine belongs to Russia and that it was stolen in the post soviet era crash. Arguments can also be made to the contrary.
What is undeniable are the lies made up by many media outlets and the brainwashed woke believing those lies.
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Cheap take at the media and the use of the word/adjective woke, Moscow Warrior.
At this point hundreds of billions would be an overstatement if you are only mentioning voluntary contributions. The actual amount spent on the Ukraine war and associated expenditures so far by the contributing nations is roughly < 0.6% of the total size of the contributing economies. Still significant, but not as significant as you may have thought.
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120 billion dollars have been pledged by the US thus far (and you can bet that sum will be a drop in the bucket when all is said and done) , all paid for by American tax payers without asking them whether they have the slightest interest in entering into yet another prolonged war.
It seems "TheDawn" was referring to Ukraine's standing in regard to past and present international law rather than in regard to its current government budget.
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