You mean the CIA might be playing games with us, or something?
Anyway, looks like the battle of Kiev is coming up shortly -- stay tuned.
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A mansion in Biarritz said to be owned by one of Putin’s daughters was raided by someone holding a Ukrainian flag reports Newsweek . The apartment in Monaco of one of his mistresses was identified from posts she made onInstagram apparently. Does anything exceed the stupidity of people who post on social media?
I can recall taking pleasure post Gorbachev in the revelation that almost everything the CIA had told us about Russia’s military capabilities was clearly wrong . It now seems likely that everything the Russian military told Putin about their capabilities is also wrong as is becoming apparent daily - they’re just not up to the job
I guess the US actually believed Russia's BS at the beginning of the cold war. It wasn't until the KGB double agent Oleg Gordievsky did they learn the truth that Russia were nowhere near as strong as they claimed to be. That's why the Cuban missile crisis ended by the US standing its ground and telling Russia to fuck off back home, which they promptly did as they didn't have a choice after the US called their bluff.
There's actually an excellent documentary on Curiosity Stream about him.
https://www.rbth.com/history/334196-...ievsky-kgb-mi6
I'm kind of hoping that's what happened between Putin and Xe Jing Ping. They had this whole plan of world domination in their minds, and China actually believed the Russian military was capable. The the invasion of Ukraine came and China was like, "WTF Russia?!?! You're soldiers are completely fucken useless.".
I have been staying out of this and I intend to continue staying out of it, but I do have one question that has been bugging me. Why now? If Putin wanted to do this, why didn't he do it during Trump's presidency. I think we all know Trump liked and admired Putin. It would not have surprised me if Trump supported Putin in this. If not, if there were sanctions at all they probably would have been insignificant - more like a gentle slap on the wrist.
The way I see it, if Putin wanted to do this, he had every reason to do it while Trump was president. Why did he wait for now?
For Putin and Ukraine, I can.
I'm assuming we'll never know why, as I'm sure there were lots of things happening behind the scenes leading up to this that we don't know about.
Nonetheless, one theory is why pick a fight with the US when you already have the US President wrapped around your finger running around the world doing your bidding for you? If you're going to pick a fight with the US, maybe best to wait until the President into your bitch, type of thing.
Many here claim to be Buddhists and the one thing that Buddhism teaches is that speculation resolves nothing and leads to frustration, a form of suffering. the so-called 'Serenity Prayer" expresses the same sentiments - https://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/...er%20to%20Your
Because "red lines" were crossed: NATO military training camps on the Ukrainian ground, Ukraine started to talk about nuclear weapon and even got samples of plutonium 239 from US, also Minsk 2 protocol wasn't implemented for 8 years. As well Zelensky's support rating dropped below 20% from 70+ 2 years ago.
From a confidential financial markets update I’ve just received: “ Russia’s economy is fraying, its currency has collapsed, and its debt is junk. Next up is a potential default that could cost investors billions and shut the country out of most funding markets.
Warning lights are flashing as the government kickstarts the process of paying $117 million ($163 million) in interest on dollar bonds on Wednesday, a key moment for debt holders who’ve already seen the value of their investments plunge since Russia invaded Ukraine last month.
Don't worry, Moses said Russia has some gold bars tucked away. Everything is fine.
Putin needs to apologize to the Russian people first, but he’s too busy lying to them and turning the country into China’s client state. What will follow is a dismantling of Russia when China asserts its claims on the territories it lost to Russia as a result of “Unequal Treaties”.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unequal_treaty
For those prepared to spend the money l can recommend no better reading on both the background, the current situation, and Vladimir Putin (“Russia’s new Stalin”) than the current issue of the Economist magazine. I particularly enjoyed a point made about the tyres on some photographed Russian military equipment - “cheap Chinese knock-offs”
This could really go either way. The West could be fucked, and the West could always enjoy another 50 years of being at the top of the world's pecking order.
Exciting times!
1. Trump told him he would be re-elected and pull the US out of NATO. NATO alone could and would not stand up to Putin the way he is being stood up to now.
2. Also, he had to secure his relationship with China first.
3. And, he truly believed that he could intimidate Zelenskiy into not joining NATO, or into allowing Putin to create a pro-Russian buffer between Russia and what he left of a NATO Ukraine. Which, by-the-way is his current plan.
Uh oh, now the gloves are off. Russia even sanctioned Biden and Trudeau, and a slew of other Westerners. Well, they missed the "jr." so sanctioned Biden's father who's been dead for quite some time, but hey, E for effort.
I liked the Whitehouse Press Secretary's response, "probably of no surprise for you to know, none of us have tourist trips to Russia planned, and none of us have bank accounts in Russia, so we are going to continue to forge ahead.".
I'm not so sure. Even if Putin himself reveals why he waited for now, any ideas would be speculation. But there is a difference between nonsense speculation and sensible speculation. In my opinion speculation is not necessarily a bad thing.
Khor tose and I don't get along. We haven't for years, but I have to admit what he wrote makes a lot of sense to me.
Certainly he could be wrong, but what both he and Moses say about why Putin waited for now is good enough for me.
So did Russia default today, or what's up?
No. It will not: all bonds what issued since 2018 have conditions to be paid in rubles. For rest amount Russia has grace period till April 15.
As said here https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60750642 "A default now would be hugely symbolic". Russia has enough of assets, so investors should be "grateful" to own govts for freezing half of them and for loosing moneys.
By the way: Ukraine already discussing "Swiss or Austrian neutrality" with limited army and navy size at meetings with Russia and Russian language in regions with Russian minority above 5%. I think till April 15 everything will be done.
So question is: why they didn't it at past 8 years within Minsk protocol in normal peaceful talks???