sburke

Fired Russian General’s Remarks the Latest Sign of Disarray in Military Leadership (yahoo.com) Yes you do have great trials facing you. Hopefully at the Hague.

Everything is still going according to plan! Top Putin Crony Curses Audience and Berates Colleague On-Air (yahoo.com)

Panicked Russians withdrew 100 billion rubles from banks during the Wagner revolt, central bank says (yahoo.com)

Kadyrov’s unit base in Mariupol reportedly hit; casualties removed secretly (yahoo.com)

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/russias-economy-dealt-crushing-blow-000937531.html Russia's current-account balance has collapsed, in another blow to the floundering economy. The nation's surplus tanked 93% to $5.4 billion last quarter from a year earlier, Bank of Russia data show. That comes as Western sanctions squeeze Russia's energy exports. Russia's economic woes are worsening, with the latest blow coming in the form of a collapse in its current account. The nation posted a current-account surplus of $5.4 billion for the April-June quarter, which marks a 93% plunge from a record $76.7 billion in the same period of 2022, Russia's central bank data show. That's also the smallest excess since the third quarter of 2020. The worsening trade dynamics are also reflected in the plunging fortunes of the ruble. The Russian currency tumbled to a 15-month low of around 94.48 per dollar earlier in July, hit hard by the country's weakening terms of trade. "The decline in the surplus of the balance of the external trade in goods in January – June 2023 compared to the comparable period of 2022 was caused by a decrease in both the physical volumes of export deliveries and the deterioration in the price situation for the basic Russian export commodities, energy commodities made the most significant contribution to the decline in the value of exports," the Bank of Russia said. Moscow's key source of revenue is through sales of its oil and gas products, but price caps and bans imposed on Russia's energy exports by a pool of nations following its unprecedented attack on Ukraine, have meant its commodities business has taken a huge hit. In June, Russia's Finance Ministry revealed that revenue from oil and gas taxes fell 36% compared to a year ago to about 570.7 billion rubles, while profits from crude and petroleum products tumbled 31% to 425.7 billion rubles.

I think that is only part of the calculus. China invading Vietnam didn't generate this kind of response. other factors 1. It is Europe. Too close to home for NATO 2. It's impact strategically is much more important to the US and NATO than the consequences of a war in SE Asia. 3. The Ukrainian victory at Maidan and continuing to hold out against Russian aggression was a cause the west could support. 4. The long term goal of fostering democracy in Ukraine did not have a counter part in Vietnam. If this had been Russia invading Belarus I don't think there would have been the same western response. The Ukrainians themselves set the conditions that made this a viable option for the west.

anything you download from the store now is an all in one (you'll notice right away from the file size, especially for CMBN). You'll need license keys to unlock the individual items including major upgrades. While you are at it, if you don't own them already this may be worth a look - the super bundle. Battlefront

it can be done, but not easily. Essentially, you'd need the original campaign files and would have to edit them, then compile.

I was being a bit tongue in cheek however I think the UA would love these guys to try an offensive, much easier to kill them. The days of fearing a Russian offensive capability are long gone.

Fixed that for ya

considering Turkey's relationship to Russia DESPITE being a NATO member, wonder why they didn't just decide to form the Baltic Treaty Organization with US, UK, Poland, Lithuania. Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Sweden with a formal invite to Ukraine pending the end of the war.

China has got to be pissed As China threat grows in Asia, Japan to open NATO liaison office to counter Beijing (yahoo.com)

This I can get behind.

you asked.

did she mention, they weren't done yet? Hurry up and leave while ya still have a bridge! Russia brings landing ship to help with Crimean Bridge congestion (yahoo.com)

‘Russia is a bizarre country’: Historian Nina Khruscheva on a strange few weeks in Moscow (yahoo.com)

translation : Russia is clusterfk'd

damn man are you asking the capt to come round and make you stay after class? How many times has he said it is about messaging? Losing Bakhmut is a huge blow to Russia from a messaging perspective. 10 months of catastrophic losses, their only claim to success (even if it is a huge stress to call that a success) in a very long time. Not only that it gives Prig more ammo to throw at the MoD and divisions within the Russian military are a very good thing. Yeah I'd say it has a lot of significance. Maybe not in strictly military terms, but war is not defined in strictly military terms.

and second best in Russia right?

heh we can't even get our own gov't out of stalemate and to be effective for things that are threatening our own stability.

well to be honest, expecting that much from the UN isn't reality. It has no enforcement capability even if it had a unified will. Generally, when it comes to general Assembly votes, Ukraine has been on the moral high ground. There are parts of the UN that do good work. resolving military conflicts however is never going to be their strong suit. It is a voluntary organization with member nations choosing when to comply or even participate depending on their agreement or not with any particular resolution. Every nation including the US plays that way. The US particularly with the purse strings. We really need that secret world order that is supposed to be running things,

I know a few Chinese, done a couple projects there. Been to Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai multiple times. Never heard of anyone having microchipped registered knives chained to the wall. No way am I gonna ask as their opinion of me will likely change pretty quick and deservedly so.

Support may be too strong a word, but Prig did make some statements blowing the cover off Russia’s stated losses. I think the position most expressed here was one of recognizing the fractures in Russia’s military/political class. so I wouldn’t necessarily call someone a liar because he supports Prig. Sometimes these guys slip up and state the truth to embarrass their rivals.

So you are saying there have been violent protests that forced the govt to back down yet the CCP wasn’t overthrown and the govt is likely to call out the army if protests spread nationwide. Have I got that right? not sure when this thread leapt into fantasy land about how quickly social change happens but it kind of aligns with the unrealistic expectations that get fielded for how quickly Ukraine will defeat the RA, how NATO is supposed to destroy Russia without Russia going bonkers and losing control of their nuclear arsenal etc we kind of need a healthy dose of reality here and patience. Like think in 20 year terms not 20 day terms it sucks when instant gratification is too slow, but human movements and social change take generations

See longer post above but if you followed that bank\housing issue where they manipulated the Covid data, that turned into a physical standoff with CCP goons and the common folks won that fight. So no I don’t think they are all that cowed, they are complacent until they get screwed. Then things start going sideways.