I thought he was cold and calculating until he attacked Ukraine. This looks downright ham-handed and heedless compared to the maneuvering of the decades leading up to now. He's made a damned fool of himself, if you ask me.
It looks stupid to me too. Which is precisely why I think there's information I'm missing. Like, I've seen arguments that the whole "Ukraine joining NATO" justification is just a pretext. But if that's just a pretext, what's the actual reason? I haven't seen a good answer yet. I honestly don't think we'll know the true story for decades.
Perhaps natural resources? Usually it's always more or less that, when anything gets attacked. Or geostrategic position.
sigh Fifty years ago, the dollar had value because America was the one-stop-shop for everything. Cars, electronics, appliances, all of it. Nowadays, that's China. China makes everything, or the parts to make everything, and increasingly to a higher standard than can be produced in the US. Go watch Project Farm and think on those results. The dollar has value now because it functions as a medium of exchange. That's it…
The dollar had value now because US taxes must be paid in that currency.
great. this is why india is furiously pushing for "rupay" card system that they ingenuously developed rather than just lapping up whatever visa/mastercard offer. they can do 30/50% less fees than incumbent visa/MC and still operate in the ecosystem because all local gateways and tech stack has been built to incorporate Rupay card system same as visa/MC. the end result is, suppose tomorrow USA orders visa to quit indi…
China has UnionPay and Russia has MIR. Neither comes close to competing with VISA and MasterCard.
The thing is that these cards only work domestically and are literally impossible to pay for things online (unless the payment processor specifically caters to your market).
Unless RuPay can be used painlessly internationally, it won't be of much use.
I wonder how many of those promises will actually be fulfilled before Putin gets frustrated.
I don’t get comments like these. Does Putin strike you as an overly emotional guy who gets frustrated easily? My take is that he is cold and calculating. Not one I’d take lightly.
Like so many others have mentioned here, he isn't the same persona he used to be (if he ever truly was).
I thought he was cold and calculating until he attacked Ukraine. This looks downright ham-handed and heedless compared to the maneuvering of the decades leading up to now. He's made a damned fool of himself, if you ask me.
It looks stupid to me too. Which is precisely why I think there's information I'm missing. Like, I've seen arguments that the whole "Ukraine joining NATO" justification is just a pretext. But if that's just a pretext, what's the actual reason? I haven't seen a good answer yet. I honestly don't think we'll know the true story for decades.
I can't think the Russian people are pleased to see war again so close to home. If there were free elections there now I reckon Putin would be hammered. As Karl Popper and other people have said, free elections are the best mechanism for preventing governments from making stupid mistakes. The fear of being removed from power makes them much more cautious in their actions. The best illustration of this in action can be seen by comparing what happened to Churchill and Stalin at the end of WW2. Churchill made some stupid statements about the Labour party being like the Gestapo and he got crushed in the 1945 election. When Churchill got back into power a few years later he did not undo the Labour reforms. Stalin, who had killed millions of his own people in the 1930's and dithered like a frightened child at the Nazi invasion in 1941, stayed in power to kill more of his own people until his death in 1953. The Russian people deserve better.
Other networks. International ones like Visa or American Express, or national ones like Carte Bleue, Bancontact, etc.
Visa is blocking them too
I interpreted the parent comment as how to react if the Mastercard network goes down worldwide when Russia retaliates by trying to hack them.
Payments networks inside Russia is another matter altogether, but I assume like most countries they also have a local card network (Edit: found it, it's called Mir[0]). In that case, the issue will arise only when trying to use russian cards outside Russia.
great. this is why india is furiously pushing for "rupay" card system that they ingenuously developed rather than just lapping up whatever visa/mastercard offer. they can do 30/50% less fees than incumbent visa/MC and still operate in the ecosystem because all local gateways and tech stack has been built to incorporate Rupay card system same as visa/MC. the end result is, suppose tomorrow USA orders visa to quit indi…
China has UnionPay and Russia has MIR. Neither comes close to competing with VISA and MasterCard. The thing is that these cards only work domestically and are literally impossible to pay for things online (unless the payment processor specifically caters to your market). Unless RuPay can be used painlessly internationally, it won't be of much use.
yes. my point exactly for these cards working domestically. you imagine if russia or china or india does not have their own cards what would happen "within" that country? their entire infrastructure would collapse if visa/MC decides to quit or are forced to. that is what these locals cards offer. a hedge against american rugpull.
I agree with almost everything but Russia GDP is a trillion less than the italian one
Measuring Russia by GDP is like measuring a bank robber by their tax return. They have a shit ton of dark money that isn't calculated as part of GDP. Their economy is also in much better shape even with the smaller official calculations, having external debt equal to 38% of GDP compared to 102% for the US.
I mean are you really saying that italian mafia declares everything? Let's do mafias GDP then, let's see who has it bigger
great. this is why india is furiously pushing for "rupay" card system that they ingenuously developed rather than just lapping up whatever visa/mastercard offer. they can do 30/50% less fees than incumbent visa/MC and still operate in the ecosystem because all local gateways and tech stack has been built to incorporate Rupay card system same as visa/MC. the end result is, suppose tomorrow USA orders visa to quit indi…
China has UnionPay and Russia has MIR. Neither comes close to competing with VISA and MasterCard. The thing is that these cards only work domestically and are literally impossible to pay for things online (unless the payment processor specifically caters to your market). Unless RuPay can be used painlessly internationally, it won't be of much use.
I don't know about Mir, but UnionPay works just fine internationally in many places, especially in markets that cater(ed) to Chinese tourists many if not most merchants accept it. There's even UnionPay card-issuing banks outside Mainland China, for example in Thailand.