The Brink of War?

[Moses]

I accept your correction regarding inflation in the eurozone rather than in the EU. However, in the EU, "In turn, the projection for inflation has been revised up significantly. In the EU, HICP inflation is now expected to average an all-time high of 6.8% in 2022, before declining to 3.2% in 2023. In the euro area, inflation is projected at 6.1% in 2022 and 2.7% in 2023. This compares with 3.5% and 1.7%, respectively, in the WiF" (WiF refers to the Winter 2022 interim forecast. HIPC refers to the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, which is an indicator of inflation and price stability for the European Central Bank. It is a consumer price index which is compiled according to a methodology that has been harmonised across EU countries) (https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-e...ic-forecast_en).

That's only dream of some EU clerks. In March EU already had 7.8% when sanctions even didn't pushed inflation up. https://www.statista.com/statistics/...n-rate-europe/

For example April's inflation in Estonia is 18,8%, UK 9%, Czech Republic 14,2%, Latvia 14%, Poland 13,9%...

Biden's exaggeration was based on the fact that "the most recent spike in gas prices has stemmed largely from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine." That was Putin's fault.

Sure. What else can he says? "I stopped import of oil into US and that why prices for gasoline are rocketed so high"? When you saw politician who says "My fault"? Especially if it is representative of Democracy party of US? Socialists never understands how market works. Every president of US from dems made US debt just more huge. Every!

With regard to your "P.S. Please use search tools - its shows news for past 24/72 hours..., " it is ironic that you write this when none of your statements are linked to sources. That is a point I have made repeatedly.

I hope you know how to use Google.

[Dragonman]

That's only dream of some EU clerks. In March EU already had 7.8% when sanctions even didn't pushed inflation up. https://www.statista.com/statistics/...n-rate-europe/

For example April's inflation in Estonia is 18,8%, UK 9%, Czech Republic 14,2%, Latvia 14%, Poland 13,9%...

Sure. What else can he says? "I stopped import of oil into US and that why prices for gasoline are rocketed so high"? When you saw politician who says "My fault"? Especially if it is representative of Democracy party of US? Socialists never understands how market works. Every president of US from dems made US debt just more huge. Every!

I hope you know how to use Google.

I am to use up-to-date figures but you're not? Your figures form Statistica are the "Harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) inflation rate of the European Union from January 1997 to March 2022." We are now in June.

You wrote, "Socialists never understands how market works. Every president of US from dems made US debt just more huge. Every! "

But you cite no statistics - but I will, as you are wrong.

Top 5 Presidents Who Contributed to the Debt by Percentage (https://www.thebalance.com/us-debt-b...ercent-3306296). By Kimberly Amadeo. Updated February 07, 2022. In the original article, the presidents' political affiliations were not noted, so I have added them.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) - DEMOCRAT. (This was during the Great Depression).
President Roosevelt added the largest percentage increase to the national debt. Although he only added $236 billion, this was an increase of about 1,048% from the $22.5 billion debt level left by President Herbert Hoover before him. The Great Depression and the New Deal contributed to FDR's yearly deficits, but the biggest cost was World War II—it added $186.3 billion to the debt between 1942 and 1945.3

Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) - DEMOCRAT - This was during World War I.
President Wilson was the second-largest contributor to the debt, percentage-wise. He added about $21 billion, which was a 723% increase over the $2.9 billion debt of his predecessor. World War I contributed to the deficits that raised the national debt.

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) - REPUBLICAN
President Reagan increased the debt by $1.86 trillion, or by 186%. Reagan's supply-side economics didn't grow the economy enough to offset the lost revenue from its tax cuts. Reagan also increased the defense budget by 35%.4

George W. Bush (2001-2009) - REPUBLICAN - this included both the Iraqi and Afghan special military operations - I use Putin's words as the US Congress has not declared war since 1942.
President Bush added $5.85 trillion to the national debt. That's a 101% increase, putting him in fourth. Bush launched the War on Terror in response to the 9/11 attacks, which led to multi-trillion-dollar spending on the War in Afghanistan and the War in Iraq. Bush also dealt with the 2001 recession and the 2008 financial crisis.5

Barack Obama (2009-2017) - DEMOCRAT - this was during the continuation of the Iraqi and Afghan special military operations.
Under President Obama, the national debt grew the most in dollar terms ($8.6 trillion) and was fifth by percentage at 74%. Obama fought the Great Recession with an $831 billion economic stimulus package and added $858 billion through tax cuts. Even though the fiscal year 2009 budget was set by President Bush, Obama added to it with the Economic Stimulus Act in 2009.657

You cite April's figures for Estonia is 18,8%, UK 9%, Czech Republic 14,2%, Latvia 14%, Poland 13,9%...not even as current as those of mine you criticized.

"I hope you know how to use Google." I do - as this report shows: Russian economic forecasts improve despite lingering conflict in Ukraine - Reuters poll
Reuters, May 31 (Reuters) - Russia's economy will contract less than expected this year and inflation will be lower than previously thought, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday, after what Moscow calls a "special military" operation in Ukraine entered its fourth month. May 31, 202210:34 PM GMT+8Last Updated a day ago.
Western sanctions hammer Russian economy
Inflation expected to accelerate to 16.4% in 2022
Economy seen shrinking 7.6% in 2022
Central bank expected to cut key rate to 8% by year-end.

Current enough for you?

The famous Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz, a military theorist who stressed the "moral" and political aspects of war, wrote that "War is merely the continuation of policy by other means. We see, therefore, that. war is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of. political intercourse, carried on with other means." We can paraphrase his words in the modern era as "the world’s democracies must recognize that disinformation is nothing but the continuation of war by other means. Defending against such threats will require not just stronger logistical means, but also stronger legal tools." Sanctions, anyone?

[Moses]

Today is sad anniversary. At June 2, 2014, Ukraine made first rocket strike by city Lugansk - city, what was yet Ukrainian at that time. 8 were killed, 20 injured.

In this video are clips from mobile phones and CCTV from streets, including moment of the strike from aircraft. Once again: June 2, 2014, 8 years ago.

[Andy]

Today is sad anniversary. At June 2, 2014, Ukraine made first rocket strike by city Lugansk - city, what was yet Ukrainian at that time. 8 were killed, 20 injured.

Ukraine is striking at its own territory, and Russia is rushing to help this work with best efforts. Looking at the Ukrainian cities they doing pretty well...

[Moses]

Ukraine is striking at its own territory, and Russia is rushing to help this work with best efforts. Looking at the Ukrainian cities they doing pretty well...

Not only own territory, but also own citizens. Barbarians.

"And Russia" waited for Minsk protocols implementation almost 8 years before to intervene.

[Dragonman]

Not only own territory, but also own citizens. Barbarians.

"And Russia" waited for Minsk protocols implementation almost 8 years before to intervene.

Why would Russia wait when the implementation of the Minsk Protocols was not its concern? The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova publicly stated in March 2016 that "Russia is not a party to the Minsk agreements. They are devoted to two conflicting sides. We must exert influence on the conflicting sides and, likewise, France and Germany must exert influence on Kiev. That’s all. We don’t have to do anything else."

And again in September 2021, "Diplomat reminds US, Ukraine that Russia is not a party to Minsk agreements," https://tass.com/world/1334327. She wrote: "MOSCOW, September 6. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has stressed that Russia is not a party to the Minsk agreements and urged the US Embassy in Moscow to inform the US diplomatic mission in Kiev about that.
Zakharova was commenting on reports saying that the US Embassy in Ukraine had called on Russia to fully honor its commitments under the Minsk accords. "I did not know that the US Embassy in Ukraine also performed the functions of the American diplomatic mission in Russia. Is that how they are optimizing or what?" she wrote on her Telegram channel.
"As long as we do not know anything about that, I urge the US Embassy in Russia to tell the US Embassy in Ukraine that Russia is not a party to the Minsk agreements. At the same time, the Package of Measures is mandatory for the parties to the intra-Ukrainian conflict: Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk," she stressed.
Zakharova noted that the Minsk Package of Measures made no mention of any obligations by Russia, but specified the parties to the conflict, which are the Ukrainian authorities and Ukraine’s armed forces on the one hand and the representatives of certain districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and their militias on the other, do have such obligations."

Al Jazeeera noted that "A major blockage has been Russia’s insistence that it is not a party to the conflict and therefore is not bound by its terms" ("Why has the 2015 agreement failed to end fighting in eastern Ukraine? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/...t-relevant-now).

If Russia is not a party to the Minsk protocols, and indeed is a major cause of them not being implemented, it has no right to intervene in what its Foreign Ministry clearly stated - stressed - is an intra-Ukrainian conflict in which Russia had no obligations!!

[Dragonman]

Not only own territory, but also own citizens. Barbarians..

Crocodile tears and blatant hypocrisy! Read Russia's own history of attacking and killing its own citizens!

Russia's wars in Chechnya offer a grim warning of what could be in Ukraine, March 12, 20228:27 AM ET, https://www.npr.org/2022/03/12/10858...-be-in-ukraine

Russia unleashes a heavy bombing campaign. Cities and towns are reduced to rubble. Thousands of civilians are killed.

Russia did this twice — against fellow Russian citizens — in Chechnya in the 1990s. That raises the question of whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is using the same playbook as he wages war in Ukraine today.

In Chechnya, a tiny Muslim republic in southern Russia with just 1.5 million people, resistance to Russian rule dates back at least two centuries. Rebels there began agitating for independence after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
After a couple of years of increasing tension, Russia unleashed a major invasion marked by relentless airstrikes and salvos of heavy artillery. Thousands of fighters and tens of thousands of Chechen civilians were killed. The Chechen capital, Grozny, was laid to waste.
Block after block, most every building was completely gutted. No other city had been so intensely bombed for decades. The devastation evoked those black-and-white photos of European cities pummeled in World War II.
Russia waged the campaign for two years, with its powerful military trying and repeatedly failing to crush a small band of rebels. Remarkably, Russia lost.

President Boris Yeltsin's government in 1996 signed a peace treaty with Chechnya, removed all Russian troops from the territory and granted broad autonomy to Chechnya, though not formal independence.

Putin comes to power
But three years later, as Yeltsin was about to leave office, he named an obscure spy turned politician to be his prime minister — Vladimir Putin.
Putin assumed that office on Aug. 9, 1999, and by the end of that month, Russia was waging a renewed bombing campaign against Chechen rebels in an attempt to reverse the earlier humiliation.
The second Chechen war was also brutal, though it proved more effective. Russian forces took control of the breakaway republic after just a few months.
In March 2000, a triumphant Putin, who had by this time become president, flew to Grozny in a Russian fighter jet. He emerged from the aircraft in a full pilot suit, to commemorate the victory.
Putin installed a Kremlin-friendly leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, to strengthen his hold of the territory. Kadyrov was assassinated in 2004, but his son, Ramzan Kadyrov, now rules Chechnya.

In the current battle in Ukraine, Chechen forces have been sent in to fight with the Russian military."

[Moses]

Crocodile tears and blatant hypocrisy! Read Russia's own history of attacking and killing its own citizens!

Russia's wars in Chechnya offer a grim warning of what could be in Ukraine, March 12, 20228:27 AM ET, https://www.npr.org/2022/03/12/10858...-be-in-ukraine

Russia unleashes a heavy bombing campaign. Cities and towns are reduced to rubble. Thousands of civilians are killed.

Russia did this twice — against fellow Russian citizens — in Chechnya in the 1990s. That raises the question of whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is using the same playbook as he wages war in Ukraine today.

In Chechnya, a tiny Muslim republic in southern Russia with just 1.5 million people, resistance to Russian rule dates back at least two centuries. Rebels there began agitating for independence after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
After a couple of years of increasing tension, Russia unleashed a major invasion marked by relentless airstrikes and salvos of heavy artillery. Thousands of fighters and tens of thousands of Chechen civilians were killed. The Chechen capital, Grozny, was laid to waste.
Block after block, most every building was completely gutted. No other city had been so intensely bombed for decades. The devastation evoked those black-and-white photos of European cities pummeled in World War II.
Russia waged the campaign for two years, with its powerful military trying and repeatedly failing to crush a small band of rebels. Remarkably, Russia lost.

President Boris Yeltsin's government in 1996 signed a peace treaty with Chechnya, removed all Russian troops from the territory and granted broad autonomy to Chechnya, though not formal independence.

Putin comes to power
But three years later, as Yeltsin was about to leave office, he named an obscure spy turned politician to be his prime minister — Vladimir Putin.
Putin assumed that office on Aug. 9, 1999, and by the end of that month, Russia was waging a renewed bombing campaign against Chechen rebels in an attempt to reverse the earlier humiliation.
The second Chechen war was also brutal, though it proved more effective. Russian forces took control of the breakaway republic after just a few months.
In March 2000, a triumphant Putin, who had by this time become president, flew to Grozny in a Russian fighter jet. He emerged from the aircraft in a full pilot suit, to commemorate the victory.
Putin installed a Kremlin-friendly leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, to strengthen his hold of the territory. Kadyrov was assassinated in 2004, but his son, Ramzan Kadyrov, now rules Chechnya.

In the current battle in Ukraine, Chechen forces have been sent in to fight with the Russian military."

So how your tens of lines excuse Ukraine for 8 years of bombing own citizens? 16000 killed...

July 2, 2014, 6 killed 11 injured




June, 2014 Kramatorsk, Slavyansk Ukraine,




June 2, 2014, Slavyansk, kindergarten

[Moses]

August 2014, tens killed, phosphorus bombs, bombed hospital and living area, family with kids killed by soldiers right in own car at time of evacuation




July 2014 Mariupol



October 2014 Donbass, phosphorous bombs

[Dragonman]

[QUOTE=Moses;290997]So how your tens of lines excuse Ukraine for 8 years of bombing own citizens? 16000 killed... /QUOTE]

As usual, you ignore my comments when they are unfavorable to the Russian position and respond by dragging in propaganda statements about so-called Ukrainian atrocities. Your video clips are less informative than my so-called "tens of lines" because they could have come from anywhere.

There is nothing in any of my comments that indicates I defend the deaths in the Donbas region as I was responding to your comment about the barbarity of Ukraine attacking and killing its own citizens. I was pointing out that Russia was in no position to condemn Ukraine when it had done exactly the same in Chechnya - also under Putin's administration.

As for comparing death tolls, consider the reported tolls in Chechnya. In the First Chechen War, between 1994 and 1996, the Russian troops invading Chechnya killed between 80,000 and 100,000 people, most civilians. Figures for the Second Chechen War from 1999 vary wildly, from 25,000 to 200,000 civilian dead plus 8,000 to 40,000 Russian military. They usually don't include the death toll in Dagestan, Ingushetia, and other neighbouring regions of North Caucasus, where the violence spilled over from Chechnya. Sources: https://www.google.com/search?client...n+of+chechnya; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casual...d_Chechen_War; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/...nalCode=ccas20.

You will probably ignore the above statements as being untrustworthy and biased, so consider the following one. In August, 2005, A "Chechen Official Puts War Death Toll At 160,000" (https://www.rferl.org/a/1060708.html): A top official in Chechnya's pro-Kremlin government said on 15 August that up to 160,000 troops and civilians have died or gone missing in the two wars waged by Russia against Chechen separatist rebels. The statement has created a stir in Russia -- not only because the figure exceeds by far previous official data, but also since ethnic Chechens make up only one-quarter of the toll. Experts have denounced the figure as purely political.

The article continues (more 10s of lines): Moscow, 16 August 2005 (RFE/RL) - Between 150,000 and 160,000 people -- this is the total death toll of the two wars in Chechnya, according to Taus Djabrailov, the head of Chechnya's interim parliament.

The toll includes federal troops, rebel fighters, and civilians who died or went missing during both the first conflict -- from 1994 to 1996 -- and the second, which began in 1999 and continues today.

Djabrailov also said ethnic Chechens make up no more than one-quarter of that death toll, although he failed to provide any explanation for this.

He told RFE/RL's Russian Service that his estimates were virtually impossible to confirm.

"This figure is for the total losses in the Chechen republic, of federal forces as well as of people who went missing," Djabrailov said. "We quote this figure, although, officially, it is almost impossible to back up with facts."

The Russian government has yet to issue official death tolls for either conflict, although officials occasionally mention various figures. But these are, as a rule, dismissed by human rights groups as gross underestimates.

According to official figures, some 10,000 federal troops have been killed in both wars so far. Independent experts and rights advocates put this figure at up to 40,000.

The high death toll given by Djabrailov therefore comes as a surprise for many Russians, particularly since the Chechen government remains largely loyal to the Kremlin, and would likely not be likely to highlight the grimmest aspects of the war."

The rest of the article discusses reasons why the figures might or might not be correct - in essence, highlighting the fact that "official" figures produced by Russian Federation authorities are not to be trusted.

[QUOTE=Moses;290997][SIZE=3][B] August 2014, tens killed, phosphorus bombs, bombed hospital and living area, family with kids killed by soldiers right in own car at time of evacuation. /QUOTE]

If you change the date to February to May, 2022, this comment would refer to the Russian Federation's targeting of civilian sites in Chernihiv, etc.