All I know is the best trade I ever made was going heavy into oil stocks in April - May 2020 when COVID knocked oil down to $0 and watching those companies double and triple between emergence from COVID recession and Russia spiking oil with their actions. Now the further sanctions will push the oil stocks even higher with these high oil prices. But I also remember what happened last time oil spiked to $150 and the crash that occurred after which will further punish Russia as well as OPEC countries. Might cause some real economic changes to energy in the world and become the next issue in the 2024 election.
Ukrainians intercept dozens of Russian soldiers' conversations with their friends and families back in Russia a day. Here is one: the soldier tells his friend that he started in a group of 150 and in the end 20 or so got out. That's in one engagement. Guess what, Ukrainian estimates look like they are close to reality.
Former UN Inspector Scott Ritter on What The Hell Is Happening Scott Ritter is a former Marine Corps intelligence officer who served in the former Soviet Union implementing arms control treaties, in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm, and in Iraq overseeing the disarmament of WMD
UN (I am not kidding) banned the use of the words "war" and "invasion" referring to the war in Ukraine among UN staff. Appeasing gutless idiots.
Russia operation in Ukraine 'will be unsustainable within three weeks' https://uk.news.yahoo.com/russia-operation-ukraine-unsustainable-war-153037343.html Russia’s military operation in Ukraine will be “unsustainable” within three weeks, a defence expert has said. Ed Arnold, a research fellow for European security at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, said Russia is meeting more resistance from Ukrainian troops than it expected. He told the Reuters news agency on Monday: “At the current rate of Russian losses, which are not confirmed, but we do have indications that this operation would be unsustainable within about three weeks from the Russian perspective.” He added: “In which case that they would have to consolidate the gains already made and look to see a way of trying to freeze the conflict on the current lines of advance while they mobilise more forces from Russia.” While Arnold said Russia continues its advance into Ukraine, he described its progress as “slow”. He said: “Within the north, they are still looking to fully encircle Kyiv. “In the south, the Russian advance is continued to be slow but they're seeing a lot more successes in the south, taking Kherson and consolidating and pushing further west, and then also focusing now on Mariupol. “However, at the moment, the Russian operation is going so badly, especially from logistics point of view that really Russia might just not have the numbers to make another conflict that is cold be hot again." His comments came as Ukraine claimed on Monday it had retaken the city of Chuhuiv from Russian troops. Lieutenant General Serhiy Shaptala said defending Ukrainian forces had seized Chuhuiv from Russian control, killing two high-ranking Russian commanders in the process. Ukraine’s military, the General Staff, said on Facebook: "In the course of hostilities, the city of Chuhuiv was liberated. "The occupiers suffered heavy losses in personnel and equipment.” Ukrainian and Russian negotiators are expected to sit down for a third round of peace talks on Monday. The discussions will take place in Belarus, close to the border with Poland. In the previous set of talks last Thursday, it was agreed to set up humanitarian corridors to allow refugees to flee Ukraine. But proposed ceasefire attempts in the city of Mariupol collapsed at the weekend. Russia announced new humanitarian corridors on Monday, but Ukraine branded the plans “immoral” as they would lead refugees straight into the arms of Russia and its close ally, Belarus. Meanwhile, the mayor of the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv claimed that Russians dropped cluster bombs on residential buildings and a zoo on Monday morning. Russia issued a list of demands on Monday, saying Ukraine must follow four criteria for its invasion to stop. These included ceasing military action; changing its constitution to enshrine neutrality; acknowledging Crimea as Russian territory and recognising the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent territories.
Recent and reliable figures are murky but this article- below- gives some context although might not be up to date in some areas. What gets murky is that although VZ's production has taken a major hit due to sanctions, it- as it always goes- has a sizeable export to shady countries that it has to play sanctions games with - and those games are expensive and circuitous- to be able to sell in the sanction market. Long winded way of saying, that ramping up would take months quite a few months but just lifting the sanctions would give them a better market closer to home for what they are already producing. It would piss Russia off though- bigtime- so they would have to make some decisions. Can't wait for them to traipse Vice President Root Cause out to say that improving VZ's economy will help to stem migration. Yeh baby. That's what I be talkin about right there. Mark you calendar. Made for TV bullshiite. https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-of...ss-oil-exports-to-replace-russias-11646591752
Those foreign fighters are shit-bums who specialize in civliian slaughter= Chechens, Syrian butchers.
Scott Ridder has solid credentials, knows the detailed history Russia and Ukraine, and addresses questions why Russia has executed the invasion as “Inefficiently” as they did. Further, Scott seems to have some solid insights to Russia’s next moves. In addition, it was pointed out that Putin’s tenure has been at least double of his current NATO member counterparts. Personally, I’ve long felt Russian and the Chinese leadership to be more focused that the West. Censorship and propaganda was also discussed, pointing the finger on Biden, the CIA, and our media. There was area that Scott covered did not make sense to me. He said Russia invaded Ukraine with a 1:3 disadvantage if Ukraine reserve forces are counted, whereas normally at least 3:1 advantage is needed for a successful invasion. If the preceding where true, why wasn’t Ukraine able to take over the Donbas region after years of fighting? This is a must see video on several levels.
Aleppo after the Syrians and Russians did their thing. Now the Syrian fighters are headed to Ukraine to return their debt to Putin. Not sayin that they will succeed. Just that they know their mission and they are experienced unlike some of the recent conscript kids.