[Ukraine] EU: Nice minister, shame if something were to happen...

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > [Ukraine] EU: Nice minister, shame if something were to happen...

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What is the most powerful flying bug? This poll is closed.
🦋	15	3.71%
🦇	115	28.47%
🪰	12	2.97%
🐦	67	16.58%
dragonfly	94	23.27%
🦟	14	3.47%
🐝	87	21.53%
Total:	404 votes

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Lord of Pie: Mar 2, 2007

lollontee posted:

i am the bongmaster, and gently caress the mods. and yeah now that you mentioned it... what russia brought seemed like it was hueg, but it turns out it was mostly paper mache filled with 20 year old rapists

that's straight up NATO doctrine and it worked out great for us, see?

# ? Dec 5, 2022 00:22

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# ? May 25, 2024 10:33

crepeface: Nov 5, 2004; r*p*f*c*

mlmp08 posted:

Seems hard to make this work. Ukraine wasn't joining NATO before Russia attacked, and they still got invaded. Then a guarantee of not joining NATO was part of the March discussions, and that didn't work. Unless the pain of the conflict has changed Russia's opinion on what is acceptable as a guarantee of compliance with Russia's interests.

lol you are such a disingenuous shithead

# ? Dec 5, 2022 00:24

mlmp08: Jul 11, 2004; Prepare for my priapic projectile's exalted penetration; Nap Ghost

crepeface posted:

lol you are such a disingenuous shithead

ok buddy!

# ? Dec 5, 2022 00:31

lollontee: Nov 4, 2014; Can't post for 10 years!

mlmp08 posted:

ok buddy!

# ? Dec 5, 2022 00:38

crepeface: Nov 5, 2004; r*p*f*c*

wb lollontee

# ? Dec 5, 2022 00:39

crepeface: Nov 5, 2004; r*p*f*c*

who else's probes are expiring who weren't perma'd? just Mans?

# ? Dec 5, 2022 00:41

lollontee: Nov 4, 2014; Can't post for 10 years!

so many accounts lost in the posting wars. smh, good night

# ? Dec 5, 2022 00:42

fits my needs: Jan 1, 2011; Grimey Drawer

https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1599508846355038208?s=20&t=8bPgCbqpGA001le5DSHJXg

# ? Dec 5, 2022 00:46

Zodium: Jun 19, 2004

Bar Crow posted:

It is a virus. A process that subverts the capabilities of a host to reproduce itself. Just with a money printer instead of a protean printer. It's not eating institutions, consuming their resources to grow something new. It is subverting the institutions to work themselves to death spreading itself and then be replaced by nothing. You cannot explain to a virus that it won't survive when the host dies.

that's right

# ? Dec 5, 2022 01:07

Corky Romanovsky: Oct 1, 2006; Soiled Meat

Sure, it's fine when YOU post videos of men getting run over by tanks...smh tankie hypocrites

# ? Dec 5, 2022 01:09

Cuttlefush: Jan 15, 2014; gotta have my purp

mlmp08 posted:

ok buddy!

i mean, you are. you know you are. we know you are. it's okay.

# ? Dec 5, 2022 01:42

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Corky Romanovsky posted:

Telegram is saying some civilians in Luhansk were hung, with the excuse that they were passing on info to Ukraine.

Apparently it was "pearl clutching" to express concern for civilians being similarly targeted by Ukraine in areas retaken.

This was apparently a report sourced from bellingcat. I also saw a thread debunking it, that the pictures were from years back, but the thread has the pictures so I will not be linking it here.

# ? Dec 5, 2022 01:51

mlmp08: Jul 11, 2004; Prepare for my priapic projectile's exalted penetration; Nap Ghost

Cuttlefush posted:

i mean, you are. you know you are. we know you are. it's okay.

If it's disingenuous to say that virtually every affected party to this conflict would be better off if Russia had chosen not to invade Ukraine, I guess I am very disingenuous.

# ? Dec 5, 2022 01:52

Futanari Damacy: Oct 30, 2021; by sebmojo

The main focus should be on how we can achieve peace. I personally think regime change is crucial.

# ? Dec 5, 2022 01:59

Slavvy: Dec 11, 2012

Futanari Damacy posted:

The main focus should be on how we can achieve peace. I personally think regime change is crucial.

the whole us government apparatus needs to go

# ? Dec 5, 2022 02:00

indigi: Jul 20, 2004; ^{how can we not talk about family

when family's all that we got?}

lobster shirt posted:

thats why i supoprt the astros

lol

# ? Dec 5, 2022 02:09

speng31b: May 8, 2010

Slavvy posted:

the whole us government apparatus needs to go

idk we could always try to double or triple down. lots of biden family

# ? Dec 5, 2022 02:09

CongoJack: Nov 5, 2009; Ask Why, Asshole

Lostconfused posted:

Look on the bright side, european union commingling suicide is extremely funny.

yea I mean if I were the Russians I would be pretty disappointed and embarrassed the war was not over quickly, to say the least. However if a quick victory was not an option a long bleeding of Europe with a possible victory in the future is a decent option if I didn�t care about the death and suffering of other humans much.

# ? Dec 5, 2022 02:15

indigi: Jul 20, 2004; ^{how can we not talk about family

when family's all that we got?}

but a long bleeding of Europe will also be a long bleeding of Russia. like yeah Germany and France probably can't survive 2-3 successive winters like this without something approaching a civil war (in political impact if not in violence), but can Russia?

# ? Dec 5, 2022 02:18

Egg Moron: Jul 21, 2003; the dreams of the delighting void

no one knows what the gently caress is happening, it's all getting mediated by the C LIE A through their information super SPYway, the world wide WEB OF LIES

# ? Dec 5, 2022 02:21

Danann: Aug 4, 2013

indigi posted:

but a long bleeding of Europe will also be a long bleeding of Russia. like yeah Germany and France probably can't survive 2-3 successive winters like this without something approaching a civil war (in political impact if not in violence), but can Russia?

international community consists more than just us europe and yankee puppets op

# ? Dec 5, 2022 02:24

OctaMurk: Jun 21, 2013

we know where hunter biden's bioweapons labs are. theyre north, south, east and west of bakhmut

# ? Dec 5, 2022 02:27

indigi: Jul 20, 2004; ^{how can we not talk about family

when family's all that we got?}

good thing I was specifically talking about France and Germany then

# ? Dec 5, 2022 02:28

Lostconfused: Oct 1, 2008

indigi posted:

but a long bleeding of Europe will also be a long bleeding of Russia. like yeah Germany and France probably can't survive 2-3 successive winters like this without something approaching a civil war (in political impact if not in violence), but can Russia?

The good part about this question is that it doesn't matter. We'll get to find out.

# ? Dec 5, 2022 02:29

iCe-CuBe.: Jun 9, 2011

lol i just remembered this war. pretty good times we had fighting it back in the day. really glad its over now though... slava ukraini

# ? Dec 5, 2022 02:29

speng31b: May 8, 2010

Lostconfused posted:

The good part about this question is that it doesn't matter. We'll get to find out.

i don't think it'll go on to that point but that's another famous prediction ill likely be wrong about

# ? Dec 5, 2022 02:33

Danann: Aug 4, 2013

indigi posted:

good thing I was specifically talking about France and Germany then

indigi posted:

but a long bleeding of Europe will also be a long bleeding of Russia. like yeah Germany and France probably can't survive 2-3 successive winters like this without something approaching a civil war (in political impact if not in violence), but can Russia?

I can read your post OP and you weren't just talking about France and Germany.

In terms of oil trade, Russian oil has already shifted from Europe:

Slavyangrad posted:

🇷🇺The Great Russian Oil Switch Is Gathering Momentum

Flows to India, China, Turkey jump to 2.39 million barrels a day

Diversion of�Russia�s crude exports to Asia is gathering pace,�with record volumes�heading on tankers to the region�s ports. The need to switch�is becoming more acute as a ban looms on seaborne imports into Europe, which�was previously Moscow�s core export market.

Two-thirds of�crude loaded onto tankers at Russian ports is�now heading to Asia. That compares with less than two-fifths�in the weeks before Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine in February. China and India form the backbone of the�trade, with minor volumes heading to places like Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates.

European Union sanctions, which will halt almost all seaborne crude deliveries from Russia to the bloc�s members, will�come into force�in just three weeks� time. The measures will also bar European tankers from hauling Russian crude and prohibit�the�provision of insurance,brokerage, finance, vessel classification and other services. There will be exemptions for vessels carrying cargoes that were purchased at a price below a yet-to-be-agreed cap.

🇷🇺Russia is winning the economic war

Join Slavyangrad chat. Your opinion matters.
https://t.me/+PUg0rQrZdiw4YWFh
@Slavyangrad
Join SLG 🔺 Intelligence Briefings, Strategy and Analysis, Expert Community

_{(from t.me/Slavyangrad/20401, via tgsa)}

And furthermore trade with China is going well:
https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/yuans-new-dollar-russia-rides-redback-2022-11-28/

quote:

reuters.com
The yuan's the new dollar as Russia rides to the redback
7 minute read November 29, 20224:00 AM PST Last Updated 6 days ago
9�11 minutes

MOSCOW/SHANGHAI, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Chinese entrepreneur Wang Min is delighted about Russia's embrace of the yuan. His LED lights company can price contracts to Russian customers in yuan rather than dollars or euros, and they can pay him in yuan. It's "win-win", he says.

Wang's plans have been transformed by the conflict in Ukraine and the subsequent Western sanctions on Moscow that have shut Russia's banks and many of its companies out of the dollar and euro payment systems.

His contract manufacturing business with Russia has been small in the past, but now he's preparing to invest in warehousing there.

"We hope that next year sales in Russia can account for 10-15% of our total sales," said the businessman from China's southern coastal province of Guangdong, whose annual revenue of about $20 million mainly comes from Africa and South America.

Wang is seeking to capitalise on a rapid "yuanisation" of Russia's economy this year as the isolated country seeks financial security from Asian powerhouse China. He sees a win-win situation in Chinese exporters reducing their currency risks and payment becoming more convenient for Russian buyers.

While the yuan, or renminbi, has been making gradual inroads into Russia for years, the crawl has turned into a sprint in the past nine months as the currency has swept into the country's markets and trade flows, according to a Reuters review of data and interviews with 10 business and finance players.

Russia's financial shift eastwards could boost cross-border commerce, present a growing economic counterweight to the dollar and limit Western efforts to pressure Moscow by economic means.

Total transactions in the yuan-rouble pair on the Moscow Exchange ballooned to an average of almost 9 billion yuan ($1.25 billion) a day last month, exchange data analysed by Reuters showed. Previously, they rarely exceeded 1 billion yuan in an entire week.

"What happened was that it became suddenly very risky and expensive to keep traditional currencies - dollar, euro, British pounds," said Andrei Akopian, managing director of Moscow-based investment firm Caderus Capital, citing the potential danger of a bank that keeps foreign currency deposits being sanctioned.

"Everybody was motivated and even pushed towards the rouble or other currencies including, and first of all, the renminbi."

Indeed, yuan-rouble trading totalled 185 billion yuan in October, more than 80 times the level seen in February when Russia launched what it refers to as a "special military operation" in Ukraine near the end of the month, according to exchange data.

The surge of interest has seen the yuan's share of the currency market jump to 40-45% from less than 1% at the start of the year, said Dmitry Piskulov, international projects head at the Moscow Exchange's foreign-exchange market department.

By comparison, the dollar/rouble pair, which commanded more than 80% of trading volumes on the Russian market in January, has seen its share drop to about 40% as of October, according to exchange data and the central bank.

The U.S. Treasury declined to comment on the yuan's growing presence in Russia.

RUSSIAN GIANTS WANT YUAN

International money flows reflect a similar trend.

Until April, Russia didn't even make the top 15 list of countries using the yuan outside mainland China, in terms of the value of inbound and outbound flows, according to data from global financial networking system SWIFT.

It has since jumped to No. 4, lagging only Hong Kong, the city's former colonial ruler Britain and Singapore.

To put this in a global context, though, the dollar and euro are still by far the dominant currencies, representing more than 42% and 35% of flows respectively as of September this year. The yuan has risen to almost 2.5% from below 2% two years earlier.

Wang's business optimism is echoed by Shen Muhui, who heads a trade group for small exporters to Russia in neighbouring Fujian province. He said more and more Russian buyers were opening yuan accounts and settling transactions directly in the Chinese currency, which he said was a big advantage.

"The Russia-Ukraine conflict has brought opportunities for Chinese businessman," said Shen, adding that his association had received many inquiries from Chinese companies interested in doing business in Russia.

It's not only Chinese companies, or small companies, joining the yuan train.

Seven Russian corporate giants, including Rusal, Rosneft and Polyus, have raised a total of 42 billion yuan in bonds on the Russian market, according to Reuters calculations, and the list could grow with No.1 lender Sberbank (SBER.MM) and oil firm Gazpromneft saying they're also considering renminbi debt.

Aluminium producer Rusal, which buys raw materials from China and then sells a large chunk of its finished goods there, told Reuters it had stepped up the share of yuan used in those purchases and sales this year, and that the share would continue to rise, though it declined to provide a detailed breakdown.

XI AND PUTIN: 'NO LIMITS'

While President Vladimir Putin has long sought to reduce Russia's reliance on the dollar, geopolitics has turbo-charged this trend in 2022.

China, the world's No. 2 economy, is the biggest global power not to join economic sanctions against Russia. Indeed, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping sealed a "no limits" partnership in February, weeks before Moscow launched what it describes as a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

The yuan comprised about 19% of Russia's trade settlements with China in 2021 versus the dollar's 49% share, Andrey Melnikov, deputy director at international cooperation department at the Russian central bank, said in September.

While 2022 figures haven't been published yet, the Chinese currency is gaining ground, according to Melnikov, who told a conference that demand for yuan liquidity had risen sharply due to reduced access to traditional payment methods and the freezing of its overseas gold and foreign exchange reserves.

The central bank declined to comment for this article.

Bank governor Elvira Nabiullina is tracking the growth, telling lawmakers this month that the influx of yuan illustrated a "transformation of the currency composition of our economy".

Regulators are also aware of potential perils, such as a disparity between a growing number of yuan-held current accounts and deposits of the currency, with yuan-denominated lending only starting to develop.

The central bank has said lenders should seek to reduce the growing risks of yuanisation of their balance sheets - or gaps between yuan assets and liabilities - by increasing payments in yuan for imports, investing in yuan-denominated securities or using yuan in trade transactions with other countries.

Regulators do not plan to limit yuan usage now and may encourage banks to use more by relaxing provisioning requirements for the currency while tightening them for dollars and euros, Elizaveta Danilova, director at the central bank's financial stability department, told a conference this month.

'ABUNDANCE OF RENMINBI'

Akopian at Caderus Capital said some Russian brokerages reported that their clients were keeping an increasingly large part of their assets in yuan.

The inflows have led to a broad fall in interest rates on yuan deposits within Russia. They range from 0.01% to 2.45% for one-year yuan deposits in Russia, compared with 1.6% for one-year deposits on the mainland, according to Russian banking aggregators and major Chinese banks.

"You can open a renminbi account in most Russian banks already. Interest rates are very low, because there is an abundance of renminbi in investors' pockets," Akopian added. "That's why as soon as any renminbi product comes to the market, it becomes very popular. There's great demand."

Some small Russian savers are also getting onboard, seeking to hedge against rouble uncertainty.

Andrey, a communications specialist from Moscow who said he relocated to Dubai in September to avoid being called up to fight in Ukraine, bought both yuan and dirhams online through his Russian bank, as a safety play before he left.

"I see it as a way to save my funds from an unpredictable drop in the rouble value," said the 35-year-old, who asked for his surname to be withheld because he evaded the mobilisation.

"I can convert my roubles to these alternative currencies, but it's more like buying a share or a bond."

($1 = 7.2074 Chinese yuan renminbi)

TL;DR Russia has economic relationships that allows it to survive the lack of Western trade while Europe has inflicted upon itself a structural energy disadvantage.

# ? Dec 5, 2022 02:49

indigi: Jul 20, 2004; ^{how can we not talk about family

when family's all that we got?}

Danann posted:

I can read your post OP and you weren't just talking about France and Germany.

I�m glad to learn Russia's expenditures during this war are purely economic and they will be able to purchase new infantry from India as well as public support for the war from China

# ? Dec 5, 2022 03:01

Danann: Aug 4, 2013

indigi posted:

I�m glad to learn Russia's expenditures during this war are purely economic and they will be able to purchase new infantry from India as well as public support for the war from China

You're either ignorant or dense to not realize what's implied by economic strength on such matters.

# ? Dec 5, 2022 03:22

indigi: Jul 20, 2004; ^{how can we not talk about family

when family's all that we got?}

in order to persecute this war Russia has to expend resources that can't be offset by reorienting their economic structure I really didn't think that needed to be expressly addressed but time makes fools of us all

# ? Dec 5, 2022 03:25

CODChimera: Jan 29, 2009

Cpt_Obvious posted:

Lmao that such an obvious propaganda outlet is losing faith in the economic war.

woah yeah wtf

# ? Dec 5, 2022 03:30

speng31b: May 8, 2010

russias got way too much vespene gas but forgot to catch up on supply depots. smdh

# ? Dec 5, 2022 03:32

Danann: Aug 4, 2013

indigi posted:

in order to persecute this war Russia has to expend resources that can't be offset by reorienting their economic structure I really didn't think that needed to be expressly addressed but time makes fools of us all

Tanks reduces the amount of frontline infantry required, artillery reduces the amount of infantry required, drones reduces the amount of infantry required, trucks, body armor, etc. Stuff that economies can buy in other words multiplies the efficacy of applied Russian manpower. Leaving aside that Ukraine is the one going through multiple mobilization waves that have been expanded on catching Russian artillery earlier on, Russia ultimately has more people than Ukraine and the trickle of foreigners coming in.

Propaganda effectiveness likewise is multiplied by internet access, stable electricity, physical infrastructure in addition to sheer labor and events. Welfare too for that matter requires economic strength to function and relies on a working bureaucracy and infrastructure to distribute.

# ? Dec 5, 2022 03:35

crepeface: Nov 5, 2004; r*p*f*c*

https://twitter.com/FT/status/1599404092970999810?s=20&t=_NVYmbM18tPRUhblA92PwA

EU belatedly trying to stop the US from cannibalizing all their industry

guessing it'll have as many loopholes the gas cap had

# ? Dec 5, 2022 04:12

crepeface: Nov 5, 2004; r*p*f*c*

gradenko_2000 posted:

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1599111452329013248?t=cefu8u800zx_t4UBX0Q0vw&s=19

assuming Macron's recent visit to the US to beg them to stop eating the Euro didn't go well:

https://twitter.com/ChassNews/status/1598218849484152832?s=20&t=_NVYmbM18tPRUhblA92PwA

# ? Dec 5, 2022 04:14

Majorian: Jul 1, 2009

He's holding a loving baguette in that photo. LMFAO

# ? Dec 5, 2022 04:17

bedpan: Apr 23, 2008

Majorian posted:

He's holding a loving baguette in that photo. LMFAO

Mama Mia!

# ? Dec 5, 2022 04:18

Lostconfused: Oct 1, 2008

crepeface posted:

https://twitter.com/FT/status/1599404092970999810?s=20&t=_NVYmbM18tPRUhblA92PwA

EU belatedly trying to stop the US from cannibalizing all their industry

guessing it'll have as many loopholes the gas cap had

quote:

�Of course, Europe will always do what is right for Europe. So yes, the European Union will respond in an adequate and well-calibrated manner to the Inflation Reduction Act,� she said.

�But does this mean that we will engage in a costly trade war with the United States in the middle of an actual war? This is not in our interest. And nor in the interest of the Americans,� she added.

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

# ? Dec 5, 2022 04:19

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

Majorian posted:

He's holding a loving baguette in that photo. LMFAO

# ? Dec 5, 2022 04:19

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# ? May 25, 2024 10:33

speng31b: May 8, 2010

lmao

# ? Dec 5, 2022 04:20

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > [Ukraine] EU: Nice minister, shame if something were to happen...

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