0.32 degrees Fahrenheit a decade since 1981. You want to do the math as to when Dikson, Russia will be a desirable piece of land to take over?
When I have more time, I'll research the Brookings piece in more depth; for now I only followed the links of the first two citations to see what type of topics they discuss and find that in response to a $100,000,000+ computer scam by Russian criminals who are also cited as conspiring with the Russian government in illegal computer activity in the US, the United States sanctioned those individuals by publishing their names and the allegations. Nothing in the first citation indicates any criminal or financial penalties were placed on any individual or any Russian government agency. The second identifies a number of aircraft and a yacht owned by another Russian who was involved in attempting to influence mid term elections in 2018. The announcement cautions against doing business with the man or servicing his planes or boat, even though there is no indication any of them have ever been in the United States. A slap on the wrist would have been more painful than simply being put on a "bad boys" or "bad boats" list. I certainly would hope that on a list of 52 policy actions our government's response and its actions were more robust and effective. Whether you want to admit it or not, there may very well be a reason why Putin is only now flexing his muscles, and it may not be the reason you're hoping for.
If the Biden administration can make lemonade out of this it would help his polling numbers for sure. But if not... there will be a fresh wave of Russia blaming. The usual media suspects are already on board...
You think this huge electric car push was just because big auto corporations suddenly became a bunch of tree-huggers?
Dude the media wants a war. Covid is done with in terms of news coverage. The media wants the next big thing.
You really think it's the media wagging the dog? Maybe so... but I don't think Putin is being swayed by Wolf Blitzer...
I'm not saying he is. I'm just saying the media wants this to happen. The constant coverage has been bordering hysterical in the west.
Also putin just officially recognized the donbas region as an independent nation. It's a good move on his part. He has a pretext for war if ukraine attempts to regain the territory and he can still claim ti be a peacemaker if he does.
The pretext doesn't exist. Russia cannot unilaterally recognize an independent nation outside of it's sovereign territory. This would be like the US recognizing parts of northern Mexico as independent nations. It just doesn't work. The question we're all waiting to have answered is whether or not Putin is willing to trade Russian participation in the western economy for possession of Ukraine. If he is then he will go in and the sanctions will begin to roll in also and we'll be in whatever position that creates until Putin is no longer in office, which could be quite a long time. The sanctions the West is talking about now will essentially cripple the ability of Russian businesses to function in the western economy. Just the withdrawal of SWIFT would be enough to do that but it is likely there are harsher weapons in the West's economic arsenal and they'll likely be deployed all at once when it is clear that Russia has violated Ukraine's sovereignty. Putin isn't thinking in these terms but the West has clearly decided that he is as dangerous as Hitler was in 1938 and we're not going to appease him or let him get away with seizing territory. Everything he takes is going to come at a 10-1 cost in terms of actual Russian strength. Hitler took the positions he did to try to roll back the defeat in WWI. Putin is doing the same to try to roll back the defeat in the Cold War. However we all have the historical record of what Hitler did and where it led to compare to what is going on now and nobody is going to let that happen again.
Russian troops are moving into disputed areas Donetsk and Luhansk. So Putin did what Biden wanted all along. Biden is playing this very smartly.
Don’t hold your breathe, few months ago he said he would release some oil to help with prices and he released 2 days worth. Electric companies are already raising prices 45% ,and those bills are coming in now. The damage is already done. Middle class gets hit again.
Yeah but the headline reads nice big numbers like “50 million barrels” though despite the fact that it doesn’t move the needle at all on price.
I'm shocked Kamala couldn't fix Ukraine's border crisis. Is Nord Stream off the table? This administration is great at reactive measures... they never see the shit before it hits the fan. Don't worry... Joey B. has gone toe-to-toe with Evil Vlad before. He swings a big dick when it comes to dealing with Great Russia.
Putin is not worried about the sanctions one bit. He knows oil and natural gas money will keep flowing in no matter what, one way or another. Putin knows well that if he cuts off natural gas supply to Europe, the latter will be deep in sh*t. It's pretty obvious that, despite what Biden recently said, there's no way that Russian natural gas supply can be replaced on a short notice. It will take years. Putin can sell that gas just as well to China, who's willing to buy as much as offered. There's already a pipeline between China and Russia and they want to build another one. Will Biden sanction China too? China literally owns the entire Western economy.
I just hope I don't run into any of these unamerican a-holes who only care about their investment portfolios and who stand by would-be Hitler Putin against the free and proud Ukranian people, who are trying to maintain their independence and their fledgling democratic government. I grew up during the cold war, and I know enough history to know that Putin and his cronies are murderous thugs. I can't believe how blind to their own welfare (will it be good for them and their families if Putin succeeds in re-creating the USSR?) and indifferent to brutality these so-called "conservatives" are. In fact, for me they're the opposite of true conservatives. Instead, they are fifth-column, traitorous dupes who have swallowed Russian propaganda hook, line, and sinker to support a dictator against everything America has stood for since its founding! The best of them seem to be equally blind isolationists who just want to ignore the atrocities that Putin will inflict on the world and who are more motivated to whine about their utility bills than care about the deaths of thousands of innocent human beings. I'm hearing in these traitors' comments about the Russian aggression the same kind of crap that Lindbergh was saying about Nazis: "I do not believe we should be too quick to criticize the actions of a belligerent nation. There is always the question whether we, ourselves, would do better under similar circumstances." And for those who urge passivity and shed crocodile tears about the casualties the Ukrainian people will suffer, they are as misguided as Lindbergh talking about the Jews in 1939: "Instead of agitating for war, the Jewish groups in this country should be opposing it in every possible way for they will be among the first to feel its consequences. Tolerance is a virtue that depends upon peace and strength. History shows that it cannot survive war and devastations. A few far-sighted Jewish people realize this and stand opposed to intervention." The American Experience | Lindbergh | Des Moines Speech (pbs.org) Putin clearly aims to crush the Ukranian people and murder thousands. This is the kind of tyrant to fight, not to appease.
