It's a propaganda strategy called DARVO. No point in engaging, beyond pointing out factually incorrect statements.Originally Posted by cdnmatt
It's a propaganda strategy called DARVO. No point in engaging, beyond pointing out factually incorrect statements.
dab69 (April 29th, 2022), Ruthrieston (April 29th, 2022)
Here we go with the “Woof Tickets” again.
Russia on Thursday warned the West that there would be a tough military response to any further attack on Russian territory, accusing the United States and its key European allies of openly inciting Ukraine to assault Russia. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the press in Moskow "I don't advise you to test our patience further.”
You just gotta love it.
After killing thousands of people, displacing millions of families from their homes, devastating entire towns murdering innocent civilians in the process, and threatening the World with a third world war, the West is now being advised “not to test their patience”. I’m at a total loss for words.
Tick…tok…tick…tok…tick…tok
https://www.aol.com/news/russia-warn...113627490.html
Dax (April 29th, 2022), Ruthrieston (April 30th, 2022)
Lots on Western media today along the lines of, "If Russia uses nukes, they'll be signing their own death certificate".
Ruthrieston (April 30th, 2022)
There are a wide range of options that NATO would consider if forced to take an active role is this war - which would produce lasting, disastrous consequences for Russia. Russia does not want a direct confrontation with the U.S. and NATO for this reason. That much we know.
NATO currently has more troops in regions bordering Ukraine than Russia has in Ukraine. NATO’s military is much better equipped and trained than Russia’s. Ukraine has administered many crushing defeats on the Russians. It is unlikely that Putin - even at the moment of his greatest arrogance or frustration would willingly undertake a battle with a force so clearly superior to his. As one senior U.S. national security official put it, “A fight would not be close.”
Regardless of how this war ends, unless Putin is stripped of his nuclear arsenal we're back to square one.
This is what concerns me more than anything else. ALL Nuclear Weapons should be banned in all countries...not reduced...not controlled...not monitored...just eliminated from our existence. It only tales 100 nuclear bombs to eliminate humanity - and between Russian and the US there's enough nuclear power to destroy the entire fucking universe. What's wrong with this picture?
Hopefully, lessons learned from this disaster will accelerate nuclear arms reduction initiatives with a goal of ZERO.
Dax (April 29th, 2022), Ruthrieston (April 30th, 2022)
According to the latest report from the BBC, I believe that this is not a completely accurate statements of how transactions are being completed. The BBC reports: "Gas companies in some EU countries, including Germany, Hungary and Slovakia, have agreed to pay for gas in euros through Russian bank Gazprombank, which will then convert the payments into roubles.
The Financial Times has reported that gas companies in Austria and Italy are also planning to open accounts with Gazprombank.
The EU said last week that if buyers of Russian gas could complete payments in euros and get confirmation of this before any conversion into roubles took place, that would not breach sanctions." https://www.bbc.com/news/58888451.
This is not the same as paying directly in rouble.
Comparing the number of nuclear weapons or warheads between the Russian Federation and the nuclear-armed NATO allies is not a particularly fruitful activity in my opinion. Assuming that no side would launch all its weapons at once, what matters is how effective the weapons first launched are - and whether enough people in the chain of command are still alive to launch the remainder. For example, there are three NATO nuclear capitals to target (Washington, London, and Paris) - but only Moscow in Russia. Moreover, given what seems to be the condition of current Russian military equipment (e.g., jack-in-the-box tanks, and warships with only 180 degree radar come to mind), assuming that all Russian nuclear weapons and/or warheads could be launched at all might be a leap of faith.
It is exactly the same: they open 2 accounts in Gazprombank: in euros and rubles, then they transfer money to euro account, then from this account they buy rubles at MOEX (it is only stock exchange where they are able to buy rubles) or issue order to bank to buy rubles for them, and add rubles to ruble account and then pay from ruble account to Gazprom. They can't "convert" euro to rubles in bank directly since this is forbidden for nonresidents.
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Gazprombank is the one doing the converting - the gas importers are not using their euros to buy rubles on MOEX, as the following article explains: https://www.bruegel.org/2022/04/a-sa...ssia-in-rubles. "The gas importer’s bank pays euros into the foreign currency account. THE GAS IMPORTER THEN ASKS GAZPROMBANK TO EXCHANGE THE EUROS INTO RUBLES. GAZPROMBANK DOES THIS BY BORROWING RUBLES FROM THE BANK OF RUSSIA, THUS INCREASING ITS RESERVES (DEPOSITS) AT THE BANK OF RUSSIA. The gas importer then asks Gazprombank to exchange the euros into rubles. Gazprombank does this by borrowing rubles from the Bank of Russia, thus increasing its reserves (deposits) at the Bank of Russia. This borrowing can be done against any collateral, including the euros it has received from the gas importer’s bank. Gazprombank then transfers the rubles it has borrowed from Bank of Russia to the gas importer’s ruble account. Gazprombank can then, on behalf of the gas importer, pay out rubles to the Russian state by drawing down on its deposits at the Bank of Russia.
In this way:
There are no euros involved in transactions with sanctioned entities (Gazprombank borrows from the Bank of Russia in rubles) and therefore no need for any euro settlement at Target 2 involving a sanctioned entity, thereby respecting sanctions.
The euros paid into Gazprombank remain untouched by sanctioned entities and thus there is no need for any further Target 2 settlement, again respecting sanctions.
There is an implicit foreign exchange transaction in the exchange of deposits between the Bank of Russia and Gazprombank. As the price of gas is fixed in euros, the exchange rate at which euros are exchanged into rubles should be irrelevant. However, Gazprombank can charge a fee to the gas importer as commission for the foreign exchange operation. Normally foreign exchange commissions are extremely low but, as the market for rubles is probably very illiquid, Gazprombank might ask for a hefty commission, de facto increasing the gas price. This ends up operating as a price instrument in the hands of the Russian state (an indirect indication that this could occur is that the fee applied by Russia’s VTB Bank for ruble/dollar transactions with private customers, which before the war was about 4%, is now three times higher).
The Central Bank of Russia has a potential euro claim on Gazprombank if this used as collateral for lending to Gazprombank, but this is suspended because of sanctions.
If this approach is followed, at the end of the transaction flow the Russian state has ruble funds with the Bank of Russia that it can access to finance its domestic expenses, without having recourse to monetary financing. HOWEVER, IT CANNOT ACCESS THE EUROS HELD BY GAZPROMBANK AS LONG AS SANCTIONS ARE IN PLACE."
The Devil is in the details.
Breaking news on Russian state TV. Poland and US have rejected NATO's peacekeeping plans, and now plan to unilaterally invade Ukraine.
Umm... yeah...
And I thought FOX was bad...LOL
Last edited by Jellybean; April 30th, 2022 at 16:59. Reason: Quote fixed.
Ruthrieston (May 1st, 2022)
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