I'm curious as to what the US Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense were doing in Kiev. I'm assuming it wasn't to chat about their favorite Justin Bieber songs.
I'm curious as to what the US Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense were doing in Kiev. I'm assuming it wasn't to chat about their favorite Justin Bieber songs.
“Western sanctions are pummeling Russia's economy”.
(Link below)
The IIF estimates Russia's gross domestic product will shrink 15% this year and 3% next year. Goldman Sachs predicted a smaller but still significant contraction of 10% in 2022.
Official figures show 95,000 workers in Russia were furloughed and nearly 60,000 laid off in the first four weeks of the war. Those figures are set to rise dramatically as the war continues and Western sanctions take a more severe toll on Russian civilians.
Russian fossil fuel exports, which makes up 40% of Russia's budget, could be on the chopping block. The EU on Tuesday banned Russian coal imports and some European nations are calling for bans on Russian oil and gas which would cost the country $250 billion to $300 billion in export losses, according to IIF.
Consumer prices in Russia are expected to rise by a staggering 20% this year, two-and-a-half times the rate in 2021.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sanctio...conomy-effect/
There’s no doubt that Russian controlled State media is providing conflicting information regarding the impact of the sanctions - rendering the people who are effected the most by these sanctions (the Russian People) ignorant to just how bad things are, and how much worse they can get if Putin isn’t stopped.
Ruthrieston (April 26th, 2022)
I imagine most of what they discussed will remain confidential, but according to the article linked below, Blinken told Zelinskyy that U.S. physical diplomatic presense in Ukraine will continue which I thought was significant. The U.S. plans to reopen its Embassy in Kiev which has been closed since 2019 - and a new U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine has already been appointed. They plan to do this is two weeks...Wow!.Originally Posted by cdnmatt
It appears the stakes are being raised!
Personally, I think the U.S. and its allies have taken about all the shit from Putin they're going to be taking. I think that message to Putin is clear:
https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-...-22/index.html
dab69 (April 26th, 2022), Dax (April 26th, 2022), Ruthrieston (April 26th, 2022)
Excellent. Again, people always love to complain about the person in charge because that's what people do, but I think Biden has been excellent during this. Strong, clear, and steadfast.
Let's see what happens.
Also while I'm here, I've heard that when the Kremlin released those photos and video a few days ago where the Russian defense secretary was saying they've taken Mariupol, Putin looked rather ill. His right hand was clutching the table and never moved, and he looked quite at unease and uncomfortable. Is that right?
There's been rumors going around for over a year that he has Parkinson's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD-jVuD-I-U
Dax (April 26th, 2022), Ruthrieston (April 26th, 2022)
After grandpa's Alzheimer, Putin looks like young boy. Matt, what do you think: Baiden still remember who he is?
Handshake with thin air: whom he sees in front of him? Mr. Washington? Pope Francis?
Mr. Alzheimer still think what ruble is 200 per dollar?
It is now 3% stronger than year ago (year 2021, not February'22). Countries and companies demand ruble for to pay for gas. Month ago EC declared what such payment is violation of sanctions, but few days ago agreed what it isn't. Welcome to world of fast changes.
https://tradingeconomics.com/currencies
1650907294.png
Matt, do you dreaming about default of Russia still?
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Russians Have Already Committed So Many War Crimes, It Will Take Years to Tally Them All Up
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine—It was the terrible stench they remembered as they left Mariupol. Before Russian airstrikes it was a city of nearly half a million people. Today dead bodies are still rotting under the debris of bombed buildings while only a few hundred Ukrainian soldiers continue to hold on.
It is possible to escape from a burning city but the smell—like the pain of loss—stays with you for a long time.
Shells crashed around the Lyubomirsky family and their friends as they carried a stretcher and pushed a wheelchair 11 miles from their still-burning home. The seven of them could not stop talking about the “demons” that destroyed their happy life.
Most of the refugees, who had been trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol without food or supplies for weeks, were Russian-speakers. The very people President Vladimir Putin claimed he wanted to protect.
Ever since he sent the army to Ukraine, Moscow has denied killing any civilians and baselessly blamed the atrocities on Ukraine.
The four members of the Lyubomirsky family and their three neighbors escaped on April 7 from the hellish war zone, their city now resembling Dresden after the bombings of World War II. “You might know the smell of rotten meat but this was deeper. The smell of rotting human bodies and of bodies being burnt in crematoriums was everywhere,” Mariupol siege survivor Vitaly Lyubomirsky told The Daily Beast.
The latest debate in Kyiv is about who should document the crimes of this war and how. Independent international groups including Amnesty International are preparing reports focusing on airstrikes targeting the civilian population, and soldiers raping civilian women, torturing or executing civilians, or burning bodies of the victims. Thousands of Ukrainians including more than 200 children have been killed in the war.
more:
https://news.yahoo.com/russians-alre...004656631.html
Dax (April 26th, 2022), Ruthrieston (April 26th, 2022)
Moses, President Biden may be 79 year old but he does not have Alzheimer's. Nor is he a cold blooded murderer like your President.
dab69 (April 26th, 2022), Dax (April 26th, 2022), Ruthrieston (April 27th, 2022)
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