International Russia/Ukraine Megathread V13

[San Marino]

You know there are the same charts from right before the war started right? You don’t have to use entirely outdated data

Are the numbers really any different?

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Man would i like to see info on drug usage by troops in mariupol and bahmut

(both sides were loaded to shit in mariupol apperantly)

- Meth,steroids?

 

[San Marino]

To be fair he does say its the numbers from 2014
"I thought this was interesting, 2014 numbers"
so I am sure @San Marino knows its older numbers.

Sorry for butting in.

I doubt the numbers have changed much in 8 years.

 

[lsa]

- Meth,steroids?

catnip

 

[grimballer]

But which was it?
I mean was it the Nazis or NATO.
One second it was NATO provoked it!! Next its "denazification"!!!¨

Do you want me to talk about the counteroffensive?
Its going slowly but it seem to go forward.
And it seems Solov and the guys is no longer as cocky as they used to be.

For being a "special operation" its sure has been costly for the Russians
What was it? It was supposed to be a 3 day special operation..
Remind me has it been a week now?

you just keep repeating nonsense that was spread by msm...

msm said russian thought it was gonna take 3 days, and use that as some sort of guideline to measure russian performance....

also its not either or. it can be both

if i tell you i bought an electric car cause it's better for the environment and cheaper on gas, do you go

"well which one is it? it can't be both"

actually most of the time when you make a decision its due to many different things you take into consideration, not a single one.

in this case its nato expansion mixed with nato backing nazis in ukraine.

it's killing 2 birds with one stone

 

[Cole train]

- Meth,steroids?

Amphetamine/meth based "performance boosters", they are still issued in militaries in high intensity scenario

For example in my countrys military medic gets the squads "drug rations" to look after and give out if need arises

200 of these pills were actually stolen few weeks back lol

 

[San Marino]

Russia is a huge country, with some hostile borders and semi autonomous regions with separatist aspirations. They can't afford to deploy all their forces to the Ukraine theatre. They need soldiers elsewhere.

So the disparity of forces is not as big as the raw numbers suggest, because Russia can't use 100% of them.

Of course they can.
Hostile borders? Semi-autonomous regions with separatist aspirations? Where?
I doubt these 'locations' will be doing any kind of invasion inside of Russia.
Forces can always redeploy to another location in Russia if needed.

 

[SandisLL]

Once again was it verified that the weapons was hit in the schools?
You really believe Ukraine hid weapons in +1000 schools?
How did Russia find the weapons? What are the proof?
If its such a big violation I am sure its been documented by the Russians and they can prove it to the world what terrible people the Ukrainians are.

So bombing water and power supply are now suddenly okay because it was to put pressure on Zelensky.
But you said Russia only hit military targets and do not want to go after civilians..

Civies objects striking indirectly also is in order to put pressure on EU countries because it might create more refugees in EU....

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Caterpillar wants in just showed an absolute monster of a tractor with massive shovel and huge arms in the front of the unit. It rumor weigh is over 250,000 lbs with all metal track. They kept talking about dragon teeth and russian mines though lol. It's autonomous too but can get damaged but it has been improved to better handle these large mines.
It's none of these it was just a photo when I went to look for it.

- They're really using that?


Russia earns less from oil and spends more on war. So far, sanctions are working like a slow poison
The Russian currency has stabilized after dipping below 100 rubles to the U.S. dollar — but that doesn't mean the pressure is off Russia's economy

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer
August 30, 2023, 3:57 AM

The Russian ruble's wobble in value has exposed a crack in President Vladimir Putin's fortress economy, a vulnerability quickly plastered over by the Kremlin's economic team in a move that allowed the currency to regain its footing, at least for now.

Yet the patch — an emergency interest rate increase — cannot hide the dilemma at the heart of the Russian economy: how to fund the military while not undermining the national currency and overheating the economy with corrosive and politically embarrassing inflation.

Life in Moscow presents a facade of normality despite sweeping sanctions tied to the war in Ukraine and the departure of hundreds of name-brand Western companies.

Outdoor seating at restaurants and bars on the popular Bolshaya Nikitskaya street were packed on a recent evening with well-dressed residents enjoying balmy August weather. Loud music from DJs boomed from a nearby courtyard eatery. Malls haven’t changed at first glance, but where Zara and H&M once stood, shoppers find new clothing brands Maag and Vilet.

And doughnut seller Krunchy Dream could easily be mistaken for the Krispy Kreme that once stood in its place in Evropeisky mall, even the branding is similar. In the absence of Apple Pay, banks provide stickers with a chip that enables mobile payment.

Key economic gauges are also in normal ranges. Unemployment is low, economic growth is better than many had expected and inflation is moderate by Russian standards — at 4% in July — though hard on those with limited incomes.

People in Moscow — where criticism of the military can bring jail time and some only provided their first names — expressed a mix of unease and resignation.

Retiree Vladimir Cheremesyev, 68, recalled that the troubles after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 were delayed by several years.

“I think that although I am a pensioner, and there is not much income, I don’t feel much yet," Cheremesyev said, "but there is anxiety — sometimes my blood pressure rises.”

Others noted how prices constantly changed.

Yuliana, a 38-year-old entrepreneur, was more concerned: “Our condition has deteriorated sharply, it's no good. ... It won't end today or tomorrow, and not the day after tomorrow. I think more than one generation will pay for this story.”

For businesses in need of supplies, they're turning to alternatives.

Andrei Lavrov, owner of the Smile Atelier dental clinic, said he’s had to get sutures and silicone from Asia because he uses “quite a lot” of imported materials.

“But, by the way, no disaster happened,” he said. “If something is no longer supplied, then it is easily replaced through parallel channels.”

Some Russian-made sutures are “very high-quality material,” he said, as local industry picks up the slack: “A certain substitution is taking place.”

Still, imports to Russia are rebounding as goods come through nearby countries such as Kazakhstan and Armenia, avoiding sanctions. Government spending on the military and social programs is spreading cash to people and companies, who are using some of it on imported products.

Labor shortages, stemming from people leaving the country, also are supporting salaries, while government-subsidized mortgages help maintain real estate activity.

Some blows to the economy are obvious, particularly the auto industry after Western manufacturers abandoned their Russian businesses. But Chinese vehicle imports are gaining ground.

Foreign travel is painfully expensive and limited by visa and airline bans, though the rich manage as always and those with modest incomes couldn't afford it to begin with.

When it comes to the pressure on the ruble, Russia, one of the world's biggest oil suppliers, is earning less from selling its oil because of Western sanctions. That's narrowing the country’s trade surplus with the rest of the world because Russian people and companies also are buying more products from abroad.

Earning more from exports than what is spent on imports typically supports the ruble. While the shrinking trade surplus has led the currency to steadily decline, Moscow has benefited because a weaker exchange rate actually helps the government pay its bills.

That's because dollars earned from oil can be exchanged for a larger amount of rubles to spend on government agencies, workers' wages and pensions.

But Russia's currency dipped too far for the Kremlin's liking — below 100 rubles to the dollar on Aug. 14, a psychologically important level. It prompted the central bank to carry out a large emergency interest rate hike of 3.5 percentage points aimed at cooling local demand for imports. The currency rose to 92 to the dollar in the days following the rate hike but has steadily slipped since; it traded at 95.5 to the dollar on Tuesday.

While weaker than last year’s levels of about 60 rubles to the dollar, the lower exchange rate isn’t a crisis yet, if a freefall can be avoided.

The Kremlin has worked to sanctions-proof the economy following the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in 2014. It also shifted food production to local companies by banning EU imports and pushed manufacturers to source parts locally.

Thanks to oil earnings, the government has negligible debt and robust reserves, though about half of that stockpile has been frozen by sanctions.

Longer term, however, Russia's economy is facing a “slow burn” under pressure from sanctions and Putin's war spending, said Robin Brooks, chief economist with the Institute of International Finance.

“The dilemma is, on the one hand, he has to spend a lot of money — fighting a war is super expensive," Brooks said. "How do you square the circle between needing cash and hiking interest rates to keep the picture from spiraling out of control? In my view, there is no good solution.”

Russian oil faces Western bans and a price cap that the Group of Seven democracies imposed on sales to other nations. The G7 could “make this tradeoff much harder for Putin” by lowering the price cap from $60 to $50, reducing Russia's oil earnings, Brooks said.

That “would put even more pressure on the ruble, it would put more pressure on Russia's central bank to raise interest rates, and it would make that tradeoff much harder,” he said.

In the short term, the ruble's decline is “not a sign that Russia is about to run into a major financial crisis,” says Chris Weafer, CEO and Russian economy analyst at consulting firm Macro Advisory Partners.

With no foreign investment in the currency, the Kremlin can influence the exchange rate simply by telling state-controlled exporters when to sell foreign currency for rubles, Weafer said On top of that, prices for Russian oil have risen recently, shrinking the discounts it had to give customers in India and China.

Hiking interest rates to boost the ruble “throttles the private economy — or the part of the economy that is not related to the war and the defense industries — so that enough resources are left over for the war to continue,” said Janis Kluge, a Russian economy expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin.

“It's a clear prioritization of the government of this war over the welfare of households,” he said.

Longer term, Putin's choices will erode economic growth and put more long-term stress on the ruble, Kluge said. Without foreign investment needed to make complex goods, Russia will produce less of what it needs on its own and import more.

“And this will mean that going forward, Russian citizens will not be able to afford the same level, the same lifestyle as in past years,” Kluge said.

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wir...l-spends-war-sanctions-working-slow-102667020

 

[lsa]

you just keep repeating nonsense that was spread by msm...

msm said russian thought it was gonna take 3 days, and use that as some sort of guideline to measure russian performance....

also its not either or. it can be both

if i tell you i bought an electric car cause it's better for the environment and cheaper on gas, do you go

"well which one is it? it can't be both"

actually most of the time when you make a decision its due to many different things you take into consideration, not a single one.

in this case its nato expansion mixed with nato backing nazis in ukraine.

it's killing 2 birds with one stone

Ah yes... But its still not a war, its a special operation.
Do you also feel its a special operation?

By killing 2 birds to you mean civilians?
How many civilians has been killed by Ukraine and how many by Russia?

Also how come Russia has Nazis fighting for them in Ukraine?
Why would they use Nazis to denazify Ukraine?

Ah yes mainstream media. Could you please provide links to credible medias?
I long to read the truth.

 

[grimballer]

Once again was it verified that the weapons was hit in the schools?
You really believe Ukraine hid weapons in +1000 schools?
How did Russia find the weapons? What are the proof?
If its such a big violation I am sure its been documented by the Russians and they can prove it to the world what terrible people the Ukrainians are.

So bombing water and power supply are now suddenly okay because it was to put pressure on Zelensky.
But you said Russia only hit military targets and do not want to go after civilians..

nato was targeting tv stations, schools, hospitals.... in their military campaigns against iraq, syria, serbia...

were you this upset about those?

of course when nato did it, it was "honest mistake", right?

 

[GhostZ06]

Dude... even when those planes get there. It'll at least a year, likely much longer to train Ukraine pilots how to fly them. And then they'll probably end up just getting shot down anyway by Russian planes or anti-aircraft. It takes years to learn the muscle memorty required for combat.

It's basically a giant tax write off for foreign countries to dump unwanted old planes they don't need anyway.

Supposidely, Ukraine's best pilot died in a collision during a training exercise recently.

i wouldnt say he's they're best, but he was definitely the face of the ukrianian air force an gave good insite

 

[SandisLL]

Amphetamine/meth based "performance boosters", they are still issued in militaries in high intensity scenario

For example in my countrys military medic gets the squads "drug rations" to look after and give out if need arises

200 of these pills were actually stolen few weeks back lol

In russia it isn't used? They are saints?
If we will start to talk about am KB before 2000 ies when more normal testing had been started to use....

Furosemide to help cut weight via dehydration.
Clen buterelo.
Painkillers .....
Stimulants..
Ofc also juice .
Plus stuff used in cardiology.

 

[Strychnine]

lol how? I mean Su-35 and Su-33 have better radar, plus you have mig-31....

You'd need them flying constant Combat Air Patrols (C.A.P.) to stop the drones. Something tells me that..

A: Russia is just going to tell the people in Moscow to STFU and take it

or

B: They just don't have the supplies to fly constant C.A.P.

 

[lsa]

nato was targeting tv stations, schools, hospitals.... in their military campaigns against iraq, syria, serbia...

were you this upset about those?

of course when nato did it, it was "honest mistake", right?

So now we do a "what about"
I am not the one making the claim Russia only goes after strategic military targets.
When I make the claim Nato only goes after strategic military targets
then we can have that discussion. ... But then I never made such a claim and never will. So..

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Amphetamine/meth based "performance boosters", they are still issued in militaries in high intensity scenario

For example in my countrys military medic gets the squads "drug rations" to look after and give out if need arises

200 of these pills were actually stolen few weeks back lol

- Potenay Gold B12 was pretty use here in bodybuilding and fighting. Used to have mefentermine(spell?) in its formule.

 

[grimballer]

Ah yes... But its still not a war, its a special operation.
Do you also feel its a special operation?

By killing 2 birds to you mean civilians?
How many civilians has been killed by Ukraine and how many by Russia?

Also how come Russia has Nazis fighting for them in Ukraine?
Why would they use Nazis to denazify Ukraine?

Ah yes mainstream media. Could you please provide links to credible medias?
I long to read the truth.

so you just ignore actual nazis fighting for kiev regime and just go "but, but russia"

presence of nazis in ukrainian politics was even reported in msm, but suddenly it all disappeared in february 2022. all of a sudden all thise nazis had a change of heart and became democracy loving freedom fighters...

 

[grimballer]

So now we do a "what about"
I am not the one making the claim Russia only goes after strategic military targets.
When I make the claim Nato only goes after strategic military targets
then we can have that discussion. ... But then I never made such a claim and never will. So..

its a military conflict... there's gonna be civilian casualties

you think its a video game and 100% of civilian casualties can be avoided? and if civilian happen to be killed its "proof" they are deliberately targeting civilians?

how gullible can you be?

 

[Cole train]

- Potenay Gold B12 was pretty use here in bodybuilding and fighting. Used to have mefentermine(spell?) in its formule.

We had meth here in ww2

Interesting story thats related

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aimo_Koivunen

"Aimo Allan Koivunen (IPA: [ɑi̯mo ɑlːɑn koi̯ʋunen]), (17 October 1917 – 12 August 1989) was a Finnish soldier in the Continuation War and the first documented case of a soldier overdosing on methamphetamine during combat."

"Koivunen was a Finnish soldier, assigned to a ski patrol on 15 March 1944 along with several other Finnish soldiers. Three days into their mission on 18 March, the group was attacked and surrounded by Soviet forces, from whom they were able to escape.[3] Koivunen became fatigued after skiing for a long distance but could not stop. He was carrying his patrol's entire supply of army-issued Pervitin, or methamphetamine, a stimulant used to remain awake while on duty.[4] He consumed the entire supply of Pervitin, and had a short burst of energy, but soon entered a state of delirium and eventually lost consciousness. Koivunen later recalled waking up the following morning, separated from his patrol and having no supplies.[5] In the following days, he escaped Soviet forces once again, was injured by a land mine, and stayed in a ditch for a week, waiting for help.[5] Having skied more than 400 km (248.5 mi), he was found and admitted to a nearby hospital, where his heart rate was measured at 200 beats per minute, and he weighed only 43 kg (94.8 lbs).[5] In the week that Koivunen was gone, he subsisted only on pine buds and a single Siberian jay that he caught and ate raw. He was found, and survived, until he died in 1989 at the age of 71.[5]"

 

[Strychnine]

From the report...

Military spending for this year seems to be already exhausted at halfway through the year.
That's not a good thing.