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Russia’s apparent resilience is being kept up by policy tricks and cash

thetimes.co.uk

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Re: Russia’s apparent resilience is being kept up by policy tricks and cash

#141

Post by Zanfa »

scohesc wrote: post #63
IgorPartola wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because nukes. If Ukrainians push into Russia (which to be clear, they can’t for many other reasons aside from weapons), Russia would launch nukes and that could make the entirety of Europe uninhabitable for centuries.

I've tried to stay mostly ignorant about the war for my own health - what has been released or talked about that makes people think Putin will launch nukes and destroy a bunch of land and cause untold death and destruction to numerous countries not involved in the conflict? I'm not trying to be facetious or incidious with my question, feels like I need to worry more about paying bills and keeping my family fed but wi…

Russia’s been threatening to nuke everybody on a regular cadence for a decade. What’s different now is their threats are being broadcast more to western audiences who are not used to nuclear threats. Nobody in Eastern Europe has been phased by the threats for years already, so Russia’s been trying to find a new, more “naive” audience.

Re: Russia’s apparent resilience is being kept up by policy tricks and cash

#142

Post by icare_1er »

terryf wrote: post #120
icare_1er wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may be happy to pay more (sounds a lot like "the bread is expensive ? let them have brioche"), but that's not the case for business owners of small restaurant, bakeries, etc, that have an electricity bill which has doubled, tripled, or even more in some cases, not even talking about the state of mortgages.

And I'm also pying the bakeries and business owners more for their services. Really, talking to people here - even random ones, like a taxi driver, I've literally never ran into anyone that does not want to keep supporting Ukraine. Because we know that if Russia wins in Ukraine, we are next. What's money against your life and the feeling of safety?

Oh, i'm sure that people want to support Ukraine indeed, and they also want lower inflation and energy prices, just like they want strong social-protections with lower taxes.

But if you're telling me that people are happy with the 10% inflation, the energy bills and the mortgages, then fine, I feel better now, I thought this would not be bearable for very long.

Re: Russia’s apparent resilience is being kept up by policy tricks and cash

#143

Post by riku_iki »

Nifty3929 wrote: post #138
riku_iki wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Which means that in turn you must have produced something to exchange for that currency. and Russia still perfectly sells oil and gas.

Yes exactly. But I don't think QE will help.

why do you think Russia is doing any QE and why they would need it?..

Re: Russia’s apparent resilience is being kept up by policy tricks and cash

#144

Post by simion314 »

foverzar wrote: post #110
simion314 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Not so sure about this. That a handful of aggressive and hungry Russo-Warlords with Nukes is any improvement over Putin. They will fight between them with their remaining soviet weapons, since they are not competent to fight any large country. Maybe some of those would actually become a democracy.

> They will fight between them with their remaining soviet weapons Says who? They can just as well harass non-Russian neighbouring states. Or quite likely form some kind of > since they are not competent to fight any large country That doesn't prevent them from trying though. > Maybe some of those would actually become a democracy. Democracy in such states is an illusion. You are either USA with sustainable, refined…

Ex sovitet/communist states prove that democracy is possible. Go ont hose countries subrteddits and ask them if they feel they are vassals or if they would prefer to be part of USSR,

I know imperialists prefer to see the small countries as brainwashed nations that need to be put back in their place and probably this is the reason Putoin is threatening this countries all the time, they show non brainwashed Russians that democracy works, that you can live better then during Stalin or Putin regime, that cooperation works.

Re: Russia’s apparent resilience is being kept up by policy tricks and cash

#145

Post by dragonwriter »

opwantx wrote: post #124
rich_sasha wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will reiterate. Baltic states, Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, are constantly harassed and reminded that Russia doesn't really see them as sovereign states. They fly bombers into their airspaces (oops), deploys military manoeuvres at their borders, rambles about aiming their nukes at the capital cities. It actually invaded Ukraine for the second time in a decade! And even as this is all going on, Russia happily says, "he…

Is there a citation for the threat of invasion apart from unhinged Russian TV commentators? For example, the most hawkish interview with Dugin (Pozner is the interviewer) is from 2014. The interview is in Russian and Dugin is clearly enraged about the Maidan events, so he is more straightforward than in English interviews. If the English subtitles are correct, Pozner explicitly asks which countries should be part of…

> I don't think either that NATO is a threat in the case of Russia (unlike for Kosovo

You think NATO is a threat to Kosovo?

Re: Russia’s apparent resilience is being kept up by policy tricks and cash

#146

Post by denton-scratch »

greggarious wrote: post #9

They're running out of things like missles and bombs though IIRC? Why don't we honor the Budapest agreement and let the Ukrainians finish off Putin's regime with US made weapons if we are going to play word games about the difference between NATO and a firm and unambiguous promise to defend a nation if they give up their nuclear weapons? The people of Russia don't seem to want this war, they are conscripted. (From wh…

As far as I'm aware, about 70% of Russians polled support the war effort.

I think it's a bad mistake to blame everything on Putin. Russians are not benighted victims of propaganda; they have access to western media and the internet (although maybe they have to use a VPN). I know that older Russians are more likely to support the war; and that the population is ageing.But it seems very unlikely that Russians will revolt, unseat Putin, and force a withdrawal.

It seems to me that Ukraine isn't fighting a dictator; it's fighting a nation. And I don't think Russia will concede, until it's defeated militarily. Russians seem to have strong nationalist and imperialist sentiments. So I reckon that if Putin wants to get kicked out, his best bet would be to end the war.

As people have remarked upthread, the sanctions haven't even fully kicked in yet. Even if they were lifted tomorrow, the effects would continue for a decade. If I were Ukraine, I'd prefer my neighbour to be a stable state; but I can't see it staying inside its borders while remaining stable. In particular, Russians definitely regard Crimea as part of Russia; it's their favourite holiday destination.

Re: Russia’s apparent resilience is being kept up by policy tricks and cash

#147

Post by electrondood »

Kukumber wrote: post #108

Quoted post unavailable.

This is disgusting apologism for Putin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. No one forced Russia to attack Ukraine. No one forced them to target cities and civilian infrastructure. They are absolutely not victims.

Re: Russia’s apparent resilience is being kept up by policy tricks and cash

#148

Post by electrondood »

jcranmer wrote: post #109
greggarious wrote: post #9

They're running out of things like missles and bombs though IIRC? Why don't we honor the Budapest agreement and let the Ukrainians finish off Putin's regime with US made weapons if we are going to play word games about the difference between NATO and a firm and unambiguous promise to defend a nation if they give up their nuclear weapons? The people of Russia don't seem to want this war, they are conscripted. (From wh…

> The people of Russia don't seem to want this war, they are conscripted. (From what I've read from afar.) My understanding of Russian politics is that it is primarily driven by apathy: the population will support what the government does, so long as it doesn't affect them. Russian mobilization is a violation of that tacit agreement, which is why it seems that mobilization is being targeted more at marginal groups wi…

Apathy is one consequence of living in a post-truth society, created out of using decades of gaslighting and disinformation on your own people.

Re: Russia’s apparent resilience is being kept up by policy tricks and cash

#149

Post by lostmsu »

allisdust wrote: post #84
Nifty3929 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you cannot eat money, or live in money. A country can QE forever, but this will not put food on the table or shoes on people's feet. If people want those things, they must either be produced or imported. QE doesn't help with either of those. Production is a physical act, not a monetary one. And if you want to import from somewhere, then you need that nation's currency to do so. Which means that in turn you mu…

They have more than enough food to eat (except of course things that don't exactly grow there). They have surplus in energy and fertiliser. What they would lack in the short and medium term are high tech products like chips, advanced medicine. Given enough time and drive any energy and food surplus society can reinvent the high tech stuff. Of course it doesn't mean they would, seeing how corrupt the whole ruling clas…

There's also a question of trajectory of the high tech stuff vs the rest of the world. I don't see any reasons for it not to lag more and more behind.

Re: Russia’s apparent resilience is being kept up by policy tricks and cash

#150

Post by reducesuffering »

Kukumber wrote: post #108

Quoted post unavailable.

Agree, can we have a better educated and sourced discussion instead of yours?

Your source makes huge overreaching claims by only citing McCain visiting Ukraine and Nuland expressing preference for new leadership to an ambassador.

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