[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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ContinuityNewTimes: Dec 30, 2010; Я выдуман напрочь

They can scrap the catalytic converters and buy a couple of shells with the proceeds

# ? Dec 25, 2023 11:43

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# ? May 26, 2024 09:36

DancingShade: Jul 26, 2007; by Fluffdaddy

ContinuityNewTimes posted:

They can scrap the catalytic converters and buy a couple of shells with the proceeds

They can afford a couple shells with the proceeds. Whether stock exists to purchase at almost any price is another question.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 11:50

ContinuityNewTimes: Dec 30, 2010; Я выдуман напрочь

DancingShade posted:

They can afford a couple shells with the proceeds. Whether stock exists to purchase at almost any price is another question.

I'm sure one of the artisanal shell workshops will happily take their money. Delivery due by 2030.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 11:51

Endman: May 18, 2010; That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even anime may die

mila kunis posted:

"Artem and his friends, anti-authoritarian leftists, decided that they wanted to form a �hundred� themselves. They were committed to fighting for the cause, and their own self-defense group would reflect their particular vision for the country. They knew that Andriy Parubiy, one of the founders of the far-right Social-National Party (he left in 2004, as it became Svoboda) was overseeing the �registration� of the groups in Ukrainian House, a large building that rebels controlled on the square. One day in January, Artem and his friends got together around sixty leftists, anarchists, feminists, and social democrats, and presented themselves for duty.

Someone went off to deliver the message. As Artem and his friends waited, they took in a bizarre and spectacular scene. Young people with shields and weaponry were sparring and forming scrums and practicing how to push against police lines. They had formed a little revolutionary riot training camp. The anarchists in the group didn�t really like the idea of waiting around for some �military-looking guy with a big belly� to give them approval to fight, but they stayed there for an hour. A guy just like that did appear and said, �You don�t have enough people. You need one hundred. Come back in exactly forty-eight hours and come unarmed.� This seemed weird, since they knew that other �hundreds� were around the same size, but they figured, sure.

Two days later, they returned. C14, the far-right militia, was waiting for them. C14 is the radical youth wing associated with Svoboda and derives its name from the neo-Nazi �fourteen words.�30 i They were definitely not unarmed. They had batons, knives, and chains wrapped around their fists, and they immediately got in their faces. �Get out of here!� they said. They insulted them for being leftists and anti-fascists. �You are not welcome in Euromaidan!� This was not the registration process they had anticipated.

�We decided that they had weapons, and we didn�t, so a conflict was probably not a good idea,� Artem said. They left. Far-right forces had managed to establish some degree of hegemony over the militant protesters gathered on the square."

ahahahahahahahahaha

# ? Dec 25, 2023 12:10

Ardennes: May 12, 2002

mila kunis posted:

Any word on the if there's regional bias? Like are they leaving Lvov alone while focusing on civilians in Odessa?

I believe the roadblocks were seen out of Kiev, the apartment bloc clearing was in Dnipro, but there were smaller patrols in Chernivisi which is fairly far West. I don't know about Lvov specifically.

So perhaps the was somewhat of a regional bias initially, but I think things are getting more desperate they are starting to look for men anywhere.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 12:20

Orange Devil: Oct 1, 2010; Wullie's reign cannae smother the flames o' equality!

Today is the first time in history Ukraine celebrates Christmas in December.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 13:13

Lostconfused: Oct 1, 2008

Pretending that the first Ukrainian Republic didn't exist? Stalin much?

# ? Dec 25, 2023 13:18

bedpan: Apr 23, 2008

BadOptics posted:

Hmmmm....

ok....

somehow, this keeps on happening

# ? Dec 25, 2023 13:30

fizziester: Dec 21, 2023

Source: Institute for the Study of War

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-december-24-2023

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, DECEMBER 24, 2023

Key Takeaways:

- European Union (EU) Foreign Affairs High Representative Josep Borrell stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not interested in a limited territorial victory in Ukraine and will continue the war �until the final victory.�

- Russian forces are reportedly decreasing aviation activity and their use of glide bombs in Ukraine after Ukrainian forces shot down three Russian Su-34s in southern Ukraine between December 21 and 22.

- Russian forces conducted a series of drone and missile strikes against Ukraine on the night of December 23 to 24.

- Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov further detailed Ukraine�s efforts to establish a sustainable wartime force-generation apparatus and an effective defense industrial base (DIB) during an interview published on December 24.

- Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to portray himself as a gracious leader who cares about the well-being of Russian military personnel, while also presenting himself as an effective Commander-in-Chief of the Russian armed forces.

- Russia appears to be continuing its efforts to build out a military occupation force in Ukraine separate from its frontline units through the use of its newly formed Rosgvardia units.

- The Russian Black Sea Fleet�s 810th Naval Infantry Brigade edited its acknowledgement that its personnel are deliberately using chemical weapons in Ukraine in a likely effort to hide what could be evidence of an apparent violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which Russia is party.

- Russia�s labor shortage, which is partially a result of the war in Ukraine, reportedly amounted to about 4.8 million people in 2023 and will likely continue to exacerbate struggling Kremlin efforts aimed at increasing Russian economic capacity.

- Russian forces made confirmed advances near Kreminna and near Avdiivka as positional engagements continue along the entire line of contact.

- The newly formed 337th Airborne (VDV) Regiment (104th VDV Division) operating in east (left) bank Kherson Oblast near Krynky is continuing to suffer losses.

- Russian officials claimed that Russia�s handling of the situation at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is sufficient, despite recent unsafe incidents during Russian occupation of the plant.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 14:10

ContinuityNewTimes: Dec 30, 2010; Я выдуман напрочь

Orange Devil posted:

Today is the first time in history Ukraine celebrates Christmas in December.

For the first time in nearly 40 years of Ukrainian history,

# ? Dec 25, 2023 14:12

Orange Devil: Oct 1, 2010; Wullie's reign cannae smother the flames o' equality!

Here's how Dutch news reports it:

For the first time, Ukraine celebrates Christmas on December 25, just like most places in Europe. Previously, the country celebrated Orthodox Christmas in January, at the same time as Russia. That tradition is now being radically broken.

President Zelensky signed a law in July that stipulates that the official holiday for Christmas is December 25. Many Ukrainians also celebrated Christmas on this date last year, after the Ukrainian Orthodox Church allowed celebrations on December 24 and 25.

�Today all Ukrainians are together,� Zelensky said of the new date in his Christmas speech. �We all celebrate Christmas, on the same day, as one big family, as one united country.�

# ? Dec 25, 2023 14:30

VoicesCanBe: Jul 1, 2023; "Cóż, wygląda na to, że zostaliśmy łaskawie oszczędzeni trudu decydowania o własnym losie. Jakże uprzejme z ich strony, że przearanżowali Europę bez kłopotu naszego zdania!"

mila kunis posted:

"Artem and his friends, anti-authoritarian leftists, decided that they wanted to form a �hundred� themselves. They were committed to fighting for the cause, and their own self-defense group would reflect their particular vision for the country. They knew that Andriy Parubiy, one of the founders of the far-right Social-National Party (he left in 2004, as it became Svoboda) was overseeing the �registration� of the groups in Ukrainian House, a large building that rebels controlled on the square. One day in January, Artem and his friends got together around sixty leftists, anarchists, feminists, and social democrats, and presented themselves for duty.

Someone went off to deliver the message. As Artem and his friends waited, they took in a bizarre and spectacular scene. Young people with shields and weaponry were sparring and forming scrums and practicing how to push against police lines. They had formed a little revolutionary riot training camp. The anarchists in the group didn�t really like the idea of waiting around for some �military-looking guy with a big belly� to give them approval to fight, but they stayed there for an hour. A guy just like that did appear and said, �You don�t have enough people. You need one hundred. Come back in exactly forty-eight hours and come unarmed.� This seemed weird, since they knew that other �hundreds� were around the same size, but they figured, sure.

Two days later, they returned. C14, the far-right militia, was waiting for them. C14 is the radical youth wing associated with Svoboda and derives its name from the neo-Nazi �fourteen words.�30 i They were definitely not unarmed. They had batons, knives, and chains wrapped around their fists, and they immediately got in their faces. �Get out of here!� they said. They insulted them for being leftists and anti-fascists. �You are not welcome in Euromaidan!� This was not the registration process they had anticipated.

�We decided that they had weapons, and we didn�t, so a conflict was probably not a good idea,� Artem said. They left. Far-right forces had managed to establish some degree of hegemony over the militant protesters gathered on the square."

This story is kind of incredible, also extremely illuminating

# ? Dec 25, 2023 14:57

fits my needs: Jan 1, 2011; Grimey Drawer

https://x.com/CBSNews/status/1739300359120593310?s=20

# ? Dec 25, 2023 16:06

RedSky: Oct 30, 2023

The Ukraine is finally Catholic. I cannot wait until the whole concept of Ukraine goes back to where it's from, Greece.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 16:12

Doc Hawkins: Jun 15, 2010; Dashing? But I'm not even moving!

VoicesCanBe posted:

This story is kind of incredible, also extremely illuminating

it's a good book, op

# ? Dec 25, 2023 16:41

BadOptics: Sep 11, 2012

bedpan posted:

somehow, this keeps on happening

TBH, it's not even fun or exciting anymore. You go one layer deeper and it's "political" grandpas or the organizations they made after mysteriously teleporting to Canada in 1945.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 16:53

iCe-CuBe.: Jun 9, 2011

I've tried supporting Israel as best I can: thinking about how sexy Netenyahu is, fantasizing about him loving my wife, etc but it just... isn't doing it for me. Anyone else struggling with this?

# ? Dec 25, 2023 16:55

RedSky: Oct 30, 2023

iCe-CuBe. posted:

I've tried supporting Israel as best I can: thinking about how sexy Netenyahu is, fantasizing about him loving my wife, etc but it just... isn't doing it for me. Anyone else struggling with this?

I'm in a similar situation, it was so easy with Zelensky but netanyahu just doesn't have the body.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 17:02

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

fizziester posted:

- Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov further detailed Ukraine�s efforts to establish a sustainable wartime force-generation apparatus and an effective defense industrial base (DIB) during an interview published on December 24.

this is where you should be after almost two years of a supposedly existential and/or genocidal war, right?

# ? Dec 25, 2023 17:10

Phigs: Jan 23, 2019

BadOptics posted:

TBH, it's not even fun or exciting anymore. You go one layer deeper and it's "political" grandpas or the organizations they made after mysteriously teleporting to Canada in 1945.

Alexander Yakovlev, minister of propaganda under Gorbachev and liberal traitor who helped orchestrate the fall of the Soviet Union, was ambassador for Canada for a decade. It was in Canada during a 2 week visit by Gorbachev that the two formed their idea of perestroika.

Between learning that and all the Canada stuff in this thread I keep wondering how much Canada contributed to his ideas and the eventual downfall of the Soviet Union.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 17:10

BadOptics: Sep 11, 2012

Phigs posted:

Alexander Yakovlev, minister of propaganda under Gorbachev and liberal traitor who helped orchestrate the fall of the Soviet Union, was ambassador for Canada for a decade. It was in Canada during a 2 week visit by Gorbachev that the two formed their idea of perestroika.

Between learning that and all the Canada stuff in this thread I keep wondering how much Canada contributed to his ideas and the eventual downfall of the Soviet Union.

I remember reading about that guy in Socialism Betrayed, but I don't remember them mentioning that. Makes sense.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 17:17

Nix Panicus: Feb 25, 2007

Canada is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Sorry FF, but it has to go for the good of humanity

# ? Dec 25, 2023 17:25

Lostconfused: Oct 1, 2008

Nix Panicus posted:

Canada is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Sorry FF, but it has to go for the good of humanity

It's built on an indian burial ground afterall.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 17:28

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019; Can't post for 18 hours!

Nix Panicus posted:

Canada is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Sorry FF, but it has to go for the good of humanity

Canada must be dealt with. It's a matter of national security.
Fentanyl super labs in Canada pose new threat for U.S. opioid epidemic

www.washingtonpost.com posted:

At a rural property an hour outside Vancouver in October, Canadian police found 2.5 million doses of fentanyl and 528 gallons of chemicals in a shipping container and a storage unit. Six months earlier, they raided a home in a cookie-cutter Vancouver subdivision packed with barrels of fentanyl-making chemicals, glassware and lab equipment.

Thousands of miles away outside Toronto, police in August found what is believed to be the largest fentanyl lab so far in Canada � hidden at a property 30 miles from the U.S. border crossing at Niagara Falls, N.Y.

U.S. authorities say they have little indication that Canadian-made fentanyl is being smuggled south in significant quantities. But at a time when record numbers of people are dying from overdoses in the United States, the spread of clandestine fentanyl labs in Canada has the potential to undermine U.S. enforcement efforts and worsen the opioid epidemic in both nations.

Investigators in Canada say the labs are producing fentanyl for domestic users and for export to Australia, New Zealand and, they assume, the United States.

�It�d be hard to believe it�s not occurring,� said Philip Heard, commander of the organized crime unit for police in Vancouver, a city hard-hit by fentanyl overdose deaths. �Most police leaders I�ve spoken to believe our production outstrips what our domestic demand is.�

The Canadian labs are a curveball for U.S. authorities whose efforts to combat fentanyl are focused on the southern border with Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has installed about $800 million worth of powerful scanning and detection equipment at land border crossings since 2019. Nearly all that technology has been deployed along the U.S. southern border, where CBP confiscated nearly 27,000 pounds of fentanyl during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the most ever.

Republican lawmakers in recent months have called for U.S. military strikes in Mexico targeting fentanyl traffickers and drug labs. The spread of fentanyl production to Canada suggests traffickers there are poised to benefit if Mexican suppliers get squeezed. The lightly-patrolled U.S.-Canada border spans more than 5,500 miles � the longest international boundary between two nations in the world � and has few physical barriers.

One candidate seeking the GOP presidential nomination, Vivek Ramaswamy , has proposed building a wall along the U.S. northern border, citing the threat of fentanyl smuggling from Canada. But the appearance of the Canadian labs has generated little reaction in Washington, where the U.S.-Mexico border remains the focus of the fentanyl debate.

The powerful, intensely addictive drug and other synthetic opioids claim more than 70,000 lives a year in the United States. A similar proportion of Canadians are dying of overdoses � about 7,000 annually. The two countries remain the only nations where fentanyl poses such a lethal threat.

CBP seized just two pounds of fentanyl along the northern border during the 2023 fiscal year, the agency�s latest statistics show.

�We are not seeing any sort of southbound flow of fentanyl into the United States from Canada,� said Robert Hammer, the top Homeland Security Investigations agent in Seattle, who said he consulted with his fellow agents in Buffalo and Detroit.

�That�s not to say it�s not happening, and not to say it may not happen in the future,� Hammer cautioned.

Hammer said he remains skeptical Canadian-made fentanyl will displace the pills flooding into the United States from Mexico. �We are down to 45 cents a pill on the wholesale side here in Seattle,� he said. �You have to be pretty drat competitive to beat 45 cents a pill to compete with the Mexican cartels that have entrenched themselves with the distribution network they have set up here in the Pacific Northwest.�

Still, authorities in the United States and Canada are investigating the robust trade links between the countries,routes that provide ample opportunities for smuggling. In October, the Treasury Department issued sanctions against a Vancouver company that purports to sell beverage industry supplies, alleging it was a distributor of illicit precursor chemicals and equipment and sought to obtain from China nearly 3,000 liters of chemicals used to make fentanyl, heroin and meth. The company�s owner has denied the allegations.

Drug experts have long warned that a crackdown along the U.S.-Mexico border could prompt criminal groups to seek alternative sources or begin producing fentanyl in the United States. Most of the labs encountered in the United States are what police agencies refer to as �pill press� operations, where traffickers make tablets out of fentanyl powder smuggled from Mexico.

The super labs that police are finding in Canada differ because they are synthesizing the drug � not merely pressing pills � using precursor chemicals sourced primarily from China.

Chemical companies and brokers in China supply the raw ingredients for the Canadian labs. Canadian authorities say criminal organizations behind the fentanyl labs include biker gangs and groups with links to Asia, but there are few obvious ties to Mexican cartels.

Daniel Anson, director of intelligence and investigations at theCanada Border Services Agency, estimated that 98 percent of the country�s fentanyl-making materials are seized in Western Canada and originate in China. He said fewer seizures at maritimeports suggest smugglers may be increasingly using mail and courier services to get precursor chemicals into Canada; the packages are generally mislabeled to hide the true contents.

�Canada is struggling with the precursor chemicals,� Anson said in an interview. He, too, believes Canada has become a fentanyl-exporting nation.

�It�s pretty easy to move small amounts of precursors and still produce large amounts of fentanyl,� he said.

Drug markets in Canada and the United States have long been intertwined, dating to the late 1800s and early 1900s when opium factories in the Vancouver area provided supply to the south. Marijuana grown in British Columbia indoor labs proliferated in the Pacific Northwest. Biker gangs such as the Hells Angels were big producers of crystal meth smuggled into the United States.

�Canada has long punched above its weight when it comes to illegal drug manufacturing,� said Stephen Schneider , a professor of criminology at Saint Mary�s University and author of �Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada.�

Globalization and the rise of China upended the illicit trade in North America. In the mid-2010s, Chinese chemical companies became the main suppliers of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, selling them online and shipping directly to Canada and the United States in packages disguised as other items. In one case highlighting the illegal commerce between the three nations, a group ran a fentanyl ring from inside a Canadian prison in 2015, arranging shipments of fentanyl from China to U.S. states � leading to a string of fatal and nonfatal overdoses in New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota and Oregon.

After China began restricting fentanyl exports in 2019, chemical companies instead began shipping precursor chemicals used to make the opioid. Cartels cornered the lucrative, deadly trade by setting up clandestine labs in Mexico, smuggling finished fentanyl into the United States.

Jonathan P. Caulkins, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who researches the global drug trade, said it makes sense that Canadian criminal groups have created their own labs because they are easily hidden and production costs are so low.

�Canada has its own domestic market � and if you�re trying to supply the market, there�s no reason why you would want to start in Mexico and go through the United States to get to Canada because the United States has very tough law enforcement,� Caulkins said.

Fentanyl has driven an alarming rise in fatal drug overdoses in Canada, particularly in British Columbia, where they are the leading cause of death for people 10to 59 years old.

Derek Westwick, who runs the Royal Canadian Mounted Police unit in British Columbia responsible for stopping precursor chemicals and finding drug labs, said his team has busted 10 operations in Western Canada � in isolated rural areas and dense urban neighborhoods. �The only common thread is they�re always rental properties,� Westwick said, explaining that leased properties are generally protected from seizure by law enforcement.

Police say the fentanyl labs have spread eastward from British Columbia � into Alberta and now Toronto.

In the Toronto area in 2020, what started as a large-scale investigation into meth labs uncovered a large-scale fentanyl pill pressing operation. Investigators seized nearly 124,000 counterfeit pain pills and 70 kilograms of fentanyl powder.

By August, police concluded a separate investigation known as Project Odeon , which was sparked by an overdose death two years earlier in Hamilton, just outside Toronto. Investigators discovered a dismantled fentanyl lab and an active one at a rural Hamilton home. They seized 3.5 tons of chemical byproduct from fentanyl production, 800 gallons of chemicals used to make the opioid and more than 25 kilograms of finished fentanyl.

Ontario Police Detective Inspector Lee Fulford said the lab had the capacity to churn out 20 to 30 kilograms of fentanyl weekly. �It�s alarming that much fentanyl would be hitting the streets of Toronto,� said Fulford, of the Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau.

Authorities charged 12 people, including a Toronto physician. Hamilton police officials said they identified a U.S. company that had sold three pieces of lab equipment, although they did not name the company.

Border officials in both countries say they are increasing efforts to monitor the flow of precursor chemicals and drugs at the border and in ports. In 2024, CBP officials plan to deploy the first set of next-generation scanners along the northern border for commercial vehicles entering near Buffalo and Detroit.

Anson, of the Canadian border agency, cited significant investmentsin handheld drug scanners and drug dogs in ports and mail centers. The agency has also created �safe sampling� lab areas where scientists can quickly and safely test chemicals.

The agency has created a pilot program geared toward interdicting fentanyl leaving Canada toward the United States, Australia and New Zealand. He said the team has seized outbound meth and MDMA, although he was not sure if fentanyl has yet been seized.

At the labs, Canadian authorities have seized firearms along with large quantities of cash. Criminal groups in Canada have not generated the levels of gangland warfare associated with similar operations in Mexico, but Caulkins, the drug researcher, said murders and drug trafficking don�t always go together.

�I don�t want to be best friends with Canadian drug traffickers, but I don�t think they have anything like the same degree of horrible violence and the destruction of democratic institutions� that the cartels produce in Mexico, Caulkins said.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 17:33

lobster shirt: Jun 14, 2021

its time for the usa to invade canada

# ? Dec 25, 2023 17:35

Nix Panicus: Feb 25, 2007

lmao that the Taliban carrying out the most successful anti-drug campaign in human history resulted in the rise of fentanyl and the accelerated decay of western society. Shame what happened to the people of Afghanistan though

# ? Dec 25, 2023 17:36

Lostconfused: Oct 1, 2008

lobster shirt posted:

its time for the usa to invade canada

With what?

It would be cheaper to just buy it.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 17:42

Grimnarsson: Sep 4, 2018

Phigs posted:

Alexander Yakovlev, minister of propaganda under Gorbachev and liberal traitor who helped orchestrate the fall of the Soviet Union, was ambassador for Canada for a decade. It was in Canada during a 2 week visit by Gorbachev that the two formed their idea of perestroika.

Between learning that and all the Canada stuff in this thread I keep wondering how much Canada contributed to his ideas and the eventual downfall of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev? More like Garbagev!

# ? Dec 25, 2023 17:51

Organ Fiend: May 21, 2007; custom title

Nix Panicus posted:

Canada is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Sorry FF, but it has to go for the good of humanity

lobster shirt posted:

its time for the usa to invade canada

# ? Dec 25, 2023 17:56

Doc Hawkins: Jun 15, 2010; Dashing? But I'm not even moving!

iCe-CuBe. posted:

I've tried supporting Israel as best I can: thinking about how sexy Netenyahu is, fantasizing about him loving my wife, etc but it just... isn't doing it for me. Anyone else struggling with this?

report your location to a cum-harvesting team, imo

# ? Dec 25, 2023 18:10

Boat Stuck: Apr 20, 2021; I tried to sneak through the canal, man! Can't make it, can't make it, the ship's stuck! Outta my way son! BOAT STUCK! BOAT STUCK!

https://www.ft.com/content/69d83a44-1feb-4d6b-865d-9fb827b85578

paywall bypass:

https://archive.is/I6Gmk

quote:

The west�s Russia oil ban, one year on

How a shadow fleet undermined the price cap

...

Flows of Russian oil into Europe, previously its biggest export market, have shrunk to a trickle. Instead, millions of barrels are shipped every day from Russia�s western ports on the Baltic Sea and Black sea, on a circuitous journey to new buyers, mainly in India, China and Turkey.

But while the EU embargo has been effective in choking off most supplies into the bloc, western officials have acknowledged that 12 months later almost none of the Russian crude flowing to new buyers is selling at under $60 a barrel.

�In the first quarter the cap worked well, in Q2 Russia started to find ways around it, in Q3 the cap was almost over and now in Q4 the cap is definitely done,� said Maximilian Hess, founder of political risk group Enmetena Advisory.

The near universal violation of the price cap has been made possible by weaknesses in enforcement but also by Russia�s success in building a network of vessels, such as the Astro Sculptor, to move its oil, outside the reach of the G7.

...

Kyiv School of Economics, which has been studying evasion of the price cap, estimated that in October, 99 per cent of seaborne exports of Russian crude were sold at prices above $60 a barrel. Of those shipments, 71 per cent involved vessels and service providers outside of G7 countries, up from only 20 per cent in April 2022.

...

The challenge for the US and other western governments is that much of Russia�s new crude system has no need for western service providers.

�Russia�s been quite successful at building up its own fleet, finding alternative insurance, building an ecosystem of people who can help move crude and products� said Ben Cahill, a senior fellow at US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, who has studied the west�s energy sanctions on Moscow. �It�s hard to put the genie back in the bottle.�

Hahahahaha

Washington DC area think tanks:

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ? Dec 25, 2023 19:51

bedpan: Apr 23, 2008

Boat Stuck posted:

https://www.ft.com/content/69d83a44-1feb-4d6b-865d-9fb827b85578

paywall bypass:

https://archive.is/I6Gmk

Hahahahaha

Washington DC area think tanks:

hmm, have they tried enacting more sanctions yet? maybe try targeting putin's "inner circle"

# ? Dec 25, 2023 20:13

Nonsense: Jan 26, 2007

fits my needs posted:

https://x.com/CBSNews/status/1739300359120593310?s=20

This guy is immensely unpopular now, it is incredible lol

I wonder which celebs have been on the waiting list and they only meet him when he's finally termed a pariah

# ? Dec 25, 2023 20:13

bedpan: Apr 23, 2008

Nonsense posted:

This guy is immensely unpopular now, it is incredible lol

I wonder which celebs have been on the waiting list and they only meet him when he's finally termed a pariah

everyone loves a winner and hates a loser

# ? Dec 25, 2023 20:14

Fat-Lip-Sum-41.mp3: Nov 15, 2003

fits my needs posted:

https://x.com/CBSNews/status/1739300359120593310?s=20

eat dogshit with me this christmas

# ? Dec 25, 2023 20:21

Nix Panicus: Feb 25, 2007

Russia is committing cultural genocide in Ukraine!

Also, Ukraine has moved Christmas to the 25th for the first time in order to be more like the west

# ? Dec 25, 2023 20:29

OhFunny: Jun 26, 2013; EXTREMELY PISSED AT THE DNC

bedpan posted:

hmm, have they tried enacting more sanctions yet? maybe try targeting putin's "inner circle"

America just imposed secondary sanctions. We'll see what damage those cause to the world economy.

US Wields Risky Bank Sanctions in New Bid to Deny Putin Cash

quote:

(Bloomberg) -- The US is turning to a powerful yet risky tool in authorizing secondary sanctions against banks as it escalates efforts to deny Russia the money it needs to wage war in Ukraine.

In a statement Friday just before the Christmas holiday, the US Treasury Department announced that it would use sanctions against banks that facilitate deals in which Russia procures semiconductors, ball bearings and other equipment necessary for its war machine — even if they’re not aware they’re doing so.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 20:58

Thoguh: Nov 8, 2002; College Slice

OhFunny posted:

America just imposed secondary sanctions. We'll see what damage those cause to the world economy.

US Wields Risky Bank Sanctions in New Bid to Deny Putin Cash

Surely we just haven't sanctioned them hard enough and this time it'll work and not just further hasten dedollarization as other countries see what's happening and work to make sure that it'll never happen to them.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 21:05

Sapozhnik: Jan 2, 2005; Nap Ghost

Even 10 years ago the sanctions would have probably cut Russia's balls off, but I think BRICS in general and Russia in particular have seen the writing on the wall for quite a while now and started contingency planning for just something like this. And anyway they cut Russia off from SWIFT and stole all of its foreign currency reserves in the first 48 hours and it had a moderate impact at best, where do you even meaningfully escalate from there?

Russia has some very competent people running its economy, something that tends to go relatively un-remarked-on in the Western press. Crazy to think that a country might be capable of thinking ahead by more than one quarter or one election cycle.

# ? Dec 25, 2023 21:12

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 26, 2024 09:36

Ardennes: May 12, 2002

Admittedly, I think it is more Nabiullina and Mishustin than Putin, but yeah anyone with a clear head can't really deny that the Bank of Russia has done a good job here and that the Russian bureaucracy and industry has held together better than anyone thought. It is also unclear if the US wants to actively sanction banks in China or India all things considered, and if they are off the table, then it is completely meaningless.

The big issue were some major miscalculations on Putin's part including the initial phase (which I don't think the MoD could help considering what they were given) and then the whole weird thing with Prigozhin. In both cases, it didn't reflect well on him and his personal "inner circle."

Granted, in Russia itself, there are obviously big fans of Putin out there, but I think there is a strong case to be made that most of his support is pragmatic. It is clear there is going to have to be a way this all works, and even if you don't like the guy, you all have to work on the same team. It is also why Navalny's support was generally pretty low beyond his first mayoral campaign, he did a terrible job of actually looking like he was on the side of Russia or the Russian people. (It is also a reason why so much of the liberal opposition is self-defeating; no one is going to back you if you are literally making the population the enemy.)

Also, think Sobyanin has done a pretty great job with Moscow, it helps to have the money, but at very least there are results.

Ardennes has issued a correction as of 21:59 on Dec 25, 2023

# ? Dec 25, 2023 21:56

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

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