Easier said than done.NRao wrote:I happened to hear parts of Putin's speech on New Year's day.
Essentially declared Russia is going it alone and that Russia is ready for the clean cut from the West. And, that the collective West is the enemy.
And where might that statistic be coming from.Parasu wrote:Easier said than done.NRao wrote:I happened to hear parts of Putin's speech on New Year's day.
Essentially declared Russia is going it alone and that Russia is ready for the clean cut from the West. And, that the collective West is the enemy.
Nine out of ten Russians see themselves as European and want to study/visit/settle in Europe rather than Asia.
What next for Russia?
The country risks becoming ungovernable and descending into chaos
There is growing concern about Russia’s own ability to survive the war
WHEN RUSSIA’S president, Vladimir Putin, invaded Ukraine on February 24th 2022, he set out to grab territory, deprive it of sovereignty, wipe out the very idea of its national identity and turn what remained of it into a failed state. After months of Ukraine’s fierce resistance, its statehood and its identity are stronger than ever, and all the things that Mr Putin had intended to inflict on Ukraine are afflicting his own country.
Mr Putin’s war is turning Russia into a failed state, with uncontrolled borders, private military formations, a fleeing population, moral decay and the possibility of civil conflict. And though confidence among Western leaders in Ukraine’s ability to withstand Mr Putin’s terror has gone up, there is growing concern about Russia’s own ability to survive the war. It could become ungovernable and descend into chaos.
Consider its borders. Russia’s absurd and illegal annexation of four regions of Ukraine—Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia—before it could even establish full control over them, makes it a state with illegitimate territories and a fluid frontier. “The Russian Federation as we know it is self-liquidating and passing into a failed-state phase,” says Ekaterina Schulmann, a political scientist. Its administration, she notes, is unable to carry out its basic functions.The annexation will not deter Ukrainian forces, but it will create precedents for Russia’s own restive regions, including the north Caucasus republics, which are likely to head for the exit if the central government starts loosening its grip.
Another feature of a failing state is a loss of monopoly on the use of physical force. Private armies and mercenaries, although officially banned in Russia, are flourishing. Evgeny Prigozhin, a former convict nicknamed “Putin’s chef” and a front man for the Wagner Group, a private mercenary operation, has been openly recruiting prisoners and offering them pardons in exchange for joining his forces. Wagner, he says, has no desire to be “legalised” or integrated into the armed forces. The same could be said of the force controlled by Ramzan Kadyrov, a Chechen former warlord and now Chechnya’s president. Even Russia’s government security agencies are increasingly serving their own corporate interests.
The Russian state is failing in the most basic function of all. Far from protecting the lives of its people, it poses the biggest threat to them, by using them as cannon fodder. On September 21st, faced with military defeat on the battleground in Ukraine, Mr Putin ordered a mobilisation of some 300,000 people. Ill trained and ill equipped, their only function is to stand in the way of the advance of the Ukrainian forces. Many are unlikely to be alive this time next year.
The mobilisation caused a shock in Russia far greater than the beginning of the war itself. Some of its effects are already visible: recruitment centres were set ablaze, and at least 300,000 people fled abroad (on top of the 300,000 who left in the first weeks of the war). Most of them are young, educated and resourceful. The full impact of their departure on the country’s economy and demographics is yet to show, but social tension is rising.
While urbanites flee, tens of thousands of their poorer compatriots are being rounded up and sent into the trenches. By bringing his “special military operation” home Mr Putin has broken the fragile consensus under which people agreed not to protest against the war in exchange for being left alone. Now they are being told to fight and die for the sake of his regime.
Mr Putin cannot win, but he cannot afford to end the conflict either. He may hope that by making so many people collude in his war, and subjecting them to more of his poisonous, fascist propaganda, he will be able to drag things out. Whether he succeeds, or whether the flow of body bags, coupled with the discontent of the elite, results in his downfall, will determine how many more people will die and how far Russia falls.
As Alexei Navalny, Russia’s jailed opposition leader, said in one of his court hearings: “We have not been able to prevent the catastrophe and we are no longer sliding, but flying into it. The only question will be how hard Russia will hit that bottom and whether it will fall apart.” The coming year will give some indication of an answer to that grim question.
Arkady Ostrovsky, Russia editor, The Economist
Speculation and mockery abounded on social media after an eagle-eyed journalist spotted what appeared to be the same woman playing different roles in photos with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The oddity was first highlighted on Twitter Saturday morning by London-based Belarussian journalist, Tadeusz Giczan. In his post, Giczan shared three photos of Putin standing among various different crowds which included a line-up of soldiers, sailors on a boat, and worshippers attending some sort of religious service.
Kyiv Post correspondent Jason Jay Smart gave further context to the various photos, noting that the image with the line-up of "soldiers" was from Putin's New Year's Eve address and that the photo with the worshippers was from his Easter address earlier in the year. Echoing Ward's post, he also referred to the woman as an "actor," and also claimed that she and the others were most likely rounded up from Putin's security detail.
"As one would expect: Putin's New Year's Eve address did not even use real soldier, but actors (that is - people rounded-up from the Presidential Protection Office)," Smart wrote. "The blonde woman can also be seen in his Easter address. He's as fake as the value of the Ruble."
I think the more pertinent question - under the present circumstances - is do Russians feel that the existence of Russia (the nation and culture and ....) itself is threatened.Parasu wrote:Easier said than done.NRao wrote:I happened to hear parts of Putin's speech on New Year's day.
Essentially declared Russia is going it alone and that Russia is ready for the clean cut from the West. And, that the collective West is the enemy.
Nine out of ten Russians see themselves as European and want to study/visit/settle in Europe rather than Asia.
You are giving the Neocons toooooooo much intellectual capability.YashG wrote:One enemy less today is better than two weak tomorrow
minus russia today > russia + china weak tomorrow
West today prefers this even at the expense of likelihood of russia becoming subservient to China. Because before Russia goes kaput - it will simply allow Xi a deal he can not refuse. Since west is not facing direct wrath from China they are focusing more on Russia just like they didnt focus on terrorism till it didnt come to their home. India faces china today.
Neocons are all about "using military", for every problem.Possibly the most notable moment and one that best encapsulates the “Powell Doctrine” is this extraordinarily tense exchange with Madeleine Albright, then Secretary of State, over whether the Clinton administration should authorize NATO airstrikes on Bosnia in 1993.
“My constant, unwelcome message at all the meetings on Bosnia was simply that we could not commit military forces until we had a clear political objective,” Powell wrote in his memoir, “My American Journey.” Albright, he wrote, “asked me, ‘What’s the point of having this superb military that you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?’ I thought I would have an aneurysm.”
Powell also said Albright, who once said the death of 500,000 Iraqi children due to U.S. sanctions was “worth it,” was treating American GIs as “toy soldiers to be moved around on some global chessboard.”
When will the American people and the collective West realize that they are headed to disaster with this attitude ?NRao wrote:Neocons are all about "using military", for every problem
But...The EU and G7 froze some €300 billion ($311 billion) in reserves belonging to the Russian central bank, along with billions in assets owned by sanctioned Russian businessmen. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen earlier said the EU would “find legal ways” to seize Russian assets to use in Ukraine.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., failed for the fourth time on Wednesday to secure enough votes to become speaker of the House, as his right-wing opponents wielded their opposition to U.S. aid for Ukraine as part of their justification for voting against him.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, nominated fellow Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., for speaker against McCarthy, arguing the House needs changes to the leadership and rules in order to increase congressional debate over the billions of dollars in aid that the U.S. has been sending to Ukraine.
The deadlock over speaker illustrates how difficult it could be for President Joe Biden to rely on Congress if he needs to provide Ukraine with additional military aid this year, even as the bipartisan majority of Republicans and Democrats support the assistance for Kyiv.
“We should be in here having this kind of a conversation with this many people in the room about Ukraine,” Roy said on the House floor while nominating Donalds.
That is a classic Neocon mentality: we will do what we want to do."Our best days are ahead of us. And I mean this from the bottom of my heart. I've been doing this a long time, folks. Our best days are ahead of us. Are not behind us. I've long said. I mean, this. I have never, ever, ever been more optimistic about America's prospects. And am today. Never. Never. I've traveled over 140 countries around the world. I was the paraphrase the phrase in my old neighborhood. The rest of the countries the world is not a patch in our jeans. If we do what we want to do, we need to do," Biden said.
* There are pictures of them in Kieve!!IndraD wrote:but but France is gung ho and sending military supplies to YouCrane https://www.ft.com/content/df87839b-a7c ... 225b7b8148
France to send ‘tank killer’ armoured vehicles to Ukraine
if true that Eu countries are not prepared to take on Russia why not escalate war into Eu with missiles!?
My understanding that she will be teach a course titled "Regime Change through Color Revolutions".The former U.S. Secretary of State will hold two appointments as a professor of practice at the School of International and Public Affairs and a presidential fellow at Columbia World Projects.
WASHINGTON – Japan’s trade and industry minister said on Thursday that post-Cold War free trade and economic inter-dependence had bolstered authoritarian regimes, and the United States and like-minded democracies should counter them with a “new world order”.
“Authoritarian countries have amassed tremendous power, both economically and militarily,” Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said in a speech at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
“We must rebuild a world order based on the fundamental values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” he added.
Mr Nishimura spoke ahead of a visit to Washington next week by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for talks expected to cover issues including Ukraine, North Korea and China’s tensions with Taiwan. That summit will be preceded by talks between defence and foreign ministers of the two countries.
Mr Kishida said this week he would discuss Tokyo’s new security policy after Washington’s key ally in countering China’s growing might in Asia last month unveiled its biggest military build-up since World War II.
Mr Nishimura’s call to arms comes amid growing concern – after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – that Beijing and Moscow will use their control over energy resources and sway over manufacturing supply chains to stop the US, Japan, Europe and others from opposing their diplomatic and military goals.
Leaders from the Group of Seven industrialised nations are likely to discuss how to respond to economic coercion when they meet in May in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, Mr Nishimura said.
“We might need to make preparations to identify the choke points of countries wanting to engage in coercion and then take countermeasures if necessary,” he said.
Mr Nishimura warned that democracies need to protect their industrial power and guard against the loss of technologies, particularly those that could be diverted to military use.
He urged that US-Japan cooperation extend beyond semiconductors to biotechnology, artificial intelligence and quantum science.
He also promised to work more closely with Washington on export controls, although he did not say whether Tokyo would match the sweeping restriction on exports of chip manufacturing equipment imposed by US President Joe Biden’s administration in October.
“It is... absolutely imperative for us to reinforce our cooperation in the area of export controls,” he said. “We will implement strict export controls grounded in international cooperation while engaging closely in the exchange of views with the US and other relevant countries.”
Mr Nishimura met US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo ahead of his speech. A Commerce Department statement said they discussed the importance of working together on research and development and export controls.
The statement said they were joined by executives from IBM and Japan’s Rapidus Corp, who shared an overview of their collaboration on semiconductor R&D.
The Biden administration said in October it planned to ink a deal with allies in the near term to align them with sweeping new US rules curbing China’s access to sophisticated chipmaking tools in a bid to slow its technological and military advances.
Mr Nishimura is to meet US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Friday to sign a memorandum for the launch of a task force to promote human rights and international labour standards in supply chains, the US Trade Department said.
Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper cited Japanese officials as saying that the move was spurred by issues such as alleged forced labour of minority Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region. The new body will aim to promulgate within Japan the regulations that Washington has strengthened to tackle such problems. REUTERS
Kiev is shedding blood to carry out the mission NATO set for itself and expects the “civilized West” to provide weapons and ammunition in return, Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov has said in an interview for a domestic TV channel.
Appearing on the 1+1 network’s TSN channel on Thursday evening, Reznikov pointed out that at the Madrid summit last summer, NATO declared Russia the greatest threat to the US-led bloc.
“Today, Ukraine is addressing that threat. We’re carrying out NATO’s mission today, without shedding their blood. We shed our blood, so we expect them to provide weapons,” he said.
Reznikov also claimed that his NATO colleagues have told him, both in conversations and via text messages, that Ukraine is the “shield of civilization” and “defending the entire civilized world, the entire West.”
Ukrainian officials, from President Vladimir Zelensky down, routinely make public appeals for tanks, missiles, artillery and ammunition. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told the General Staff in December that Moscow was de facto fighting the collective West. By his estimates, the government in Kiev has received almost $100 billion worth of weapons, ammunition and other supplies in 2022 alone.
Reznikov has led that effort, boasting to the US outlet Politico in October that he had figured out the Pentagon’s political process. His goal, he said, was to keep raising the bar until Ukraine received main battle tanks.
While that particular threshold has yet to be crossed, on Friday Washington announced the delivery of 50 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, the most modern armor sent to Kiev so far, as part of a $3 billion weapons package. Earlier this week, France pledged a number of wheeled ‘light tanks’ as well.
These shipments are intended to replace Ukraine’s battlefield losses. Last month, Kiev’s top general Valery Zaluzhny told The Economist he would need 300 more tanks, up to 700 infantry fighting vehicles, and 500 howitzers to conduct offensive operations. This is more than the number of such vehicles in British or German inventory.
Moscow insists that Western weapon deliveries only serve to prolong the conflict, and has repeatedly warned Ukraine’s backers that this could result in an all-out military confrontation between Russia and NATO.
So that's how you fatten a "Bali ka Bakra"Reznikov also claimed that his NATO colleagues have told him, both in conversations and via text messages, that Ukraine is the “shield of civilization” and “defending the entire civilized world, the entire West.”
Thanks, I have actually seen the full length interview. The interesting thing is, the point he makes about media restrictions on Russian channels. The interview you posted is actually on the YouTube channel of an ex MEP Godfrey Bloom who has been described as a racist & sexist. The more restrictions they put on the free discussion of this war from the Anti-war & Russian PoV the more people like Godfrey Bloom will give publicity to Col Douglas MacGregor.NRao wrote:@Haresh,
FYI
An hour old video. 12 minutes long
Sight SeeingIndraD wrote:Two British men missing in Ukraine, say official, they were sight seeing in the Donestk region according to MEA UK
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64214977
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/gjhdq_ ... 05078.htmlQin Gang Has a Phone Call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
2023-01-09 23:00
On January 9, 2023, Foreign Minister Qin Gang had a phone call at request with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Qin Gang said that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era has maintained high-level development, exchanges and cooperation in various fields have been further advanced, and the public support for friendship has been constantly consolidated. [The new three NOs] China-Russia relations are based on non-alliance, non-confrontation and non-targeting of any third party. China is ready to join hands with Russia to follow through on important common understandings reached between the two heads of state and continue to push forward China-Russia relations.
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The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis. Qin Gang emphasized that China will continue to view and deal with the Ukraine issue under the fundamental guidance of the four points about what must be done and four things the international community must do together put forward by President Xi Jinping. (these are called the four coulds and four shoulds of Xi Jinping thoughts on foreign relations. These are still the same)
The Group of Seven (G7) coalition will seek to set two price caps on Russian refined products in February, one for products trading at a premium to crude oil and the other for those trading at a discount, a G7 official said.
The coalition - which consists of Australia, Canada, Japan and the United States, plus the 27-nation European Union - introduced a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian crude from Dec. 5, on top of the EU embargo on imports of Russian crude by sea.
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Do you really think either the Americans, EU, or the UK on one side and Russia (and perhaps China) on the other feel India has been impartial/neutral?Y. Kanan wrote:Why not? Neutrality has been working brilliantly for us over the last year.NRao wrote:India cannot straddle this divide.
I bet US companies armtwist Indian Companies a.k.a reliance to sell at a discount. US corporates , senators and lawmakers make money while Ukrainians sacrifice themselves for the Western cause.Pratyush wrote:India buys from Russia at a discount. Sells to US at market prices.
India laughs all the way to the bank.
Oil: A New Chapter in U.S.-India RelationsAditya_V wrote:I bet US companies armtwist Indian Companies a.k.a reliance to sell at a discount. US corporates , senators and lawmakers make money while Ukrainians sacrifice themselves for the Western cause.Pratyush wrote:India buys from Russia at a discount. Sells to US at market prices.
India laughs all the way to the bank.
A new chapter in India-U.S. ties has unfolded nearly unnoticed amidst the COVID pandemic: Petroleum has become the cornerstone of bilateral trade. The trade of crude oil and refined petroleum products now encompasses roughly 15 percent of India-U.S. merchandise trade. The kicker? India is now the largest oil export destination for the United States.[1]
This is a rather new story. The United States only lifted its ban on crude oil exports in 2015, and India only began importing U.S. crude in October 2017, “in an effort to reduce over-reliance” on just a handful of countries. Most of India’s oil majors, including Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum, and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), now buy copious amounts of U.S. crude of varied grades, including light ones like West Texas Intermediate, medium grades like Mars and Poseidon, and ultra-heavy grades that are harder to refine.[2]
Yet, few would have expected India to become the United States’ largest oil export destination so quickly. After all, India was the fifth-largest market for U.S. crude in 2020.
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