Quoted post unavailable.
12-month CPI excluding food and energy was 6.0% last month [1]. It's not that simple.
US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis
151–160 of 427 posts
Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
You have to understand the utter diplomatic and geopolitical incompetence of the current US adminsitration. You're talking about the same administration that literally admitted in the open to be executing cyber attacks on Russia[1]. The fact that they haven't made most of North America glow in the dark is an utter miracle. And to make my point clear, the issue isn't that they're conducting cyber attacks - that's a gi…
To be fair, I think that admission was probably less damaging than the "minor incursion" comment from January: https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/19/politics/russia-ukraine-joe-b...
Putin definitely thought the incursion would be minor. He didn’t think the Ukrainians would be (backed with advanced western weapons and intelligence) fighting back with such vigor.
Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis
#153Quoted post unavailable.
I'd think the Keystone pipeline would have been the lesser of the two evils.
Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis
#154Meanwhile RUB to USD is at its highest in nearly 5 years. Cutting Russia off from SWIFT has only strengthened their ties to India and China. Russia is still invading Ukraine, and now we're dealing with soaring food and energy prices at home. At some point you have to consider whether this level of diplomatic incompetence is intentional.
Absolutely agree. Moreover, it's the diplomatic incompetence on both sides that led to this war, which in my opinion could be easily avoided.
Which both sides? There are no sides in this conflict whose goals align in any way
Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This is exactly what everyone said about Putin invading Ukraine. First, not everyone, Ukrainians knew. Second, after the end of WW2 we lived (wanted to live) under a spell that conquering whole countries with some opportunistic genocide on top is not going to happen anymore, or at least not in the "civilized" Europe. Now, I hope the spell is off, we can see the world more clearly, and it's a raw power competition i…
> First, not everyone, Ukrainians knew That's completely false. Just read the news from February. U.S. Intelligence was warning Ukraine that Putin was planning to invade while Zelensky was in denial. The invasion began on Thursday Feb. 24. On Monday Feb. 21, Zelenky was insistent that Putin wouldn't be crazy enough invade Ukraine. Here's some articles from right before the invasion - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-eu…
What do you expect him to say, "Putin bring it on?". In some random interviews he said Ukraine is prepared [1].
And yes, no one was sure that this Feb military build up results in war cause there was already a build up in April before that. But this invasion was inevitable with the current Russian leadership, UAF underwent a series of reforms since 2014 to prepare for it.
[1] https://www.npr.org/2022/01/29/1076699748/ukraine-russian-at...
Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis
#156Meanwhile RUB to USD is at its highest in nearly 5 years. Cutting Russia off from SWIFT has only strengthened their ties to India and China. Russia is still invading Ukraine, and now we're dealing with soaring food and energy prices at home. At some point you have to consider whether this level of diplomatic incompetence is intentional.
> Meanwhile RUB to USD is at its highest in nearly 5 years
Is that meant to demonstrate economic strength?
* Russians have massive amount of brain drain. Most of tech employees have left, leaving only people extracting oil, people who turn it into fertilizer and gasoline and supporting roles.
* They can't build military tech because of sanctions. Starting to use 1950s and 1960s tanks.
* They've privatized and violated tons of foreign companies (for example Renault gave away 68% of car manufacturer Avtovaz to the state). Nobody in their right mind will bring money there in the future.
* They can't import smartphones, tech or luxury cars (things that keep russian upper middle class happy).
> Cutting Russia off from SWIFT has only strengthened their ties to India and China
There has been both strengthening and weakening. Russia depends on China, not the other way around.
> and now we're dealing with soaring food and energy prices at home
It hurts both ways. This is normal. Appeasement would be a better choice?
Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis
#157Meanwhile RUB to USD is at its highest in nearly 5 years. Cutting Russia off from SWIFT has only strengthened their ties to India and China. Russia is still invading Ukraine, and now we're dealing with soaring food and energy prices at home. At some point you have to consider whether this level of diplomatic incompetence is intentional.
check volume
Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis
#158Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
And Europe isn’t buying Russian oil? You have NATO members still on Russian energy. Why bother about other countries?
Funniest part is that US and Europe buy Russian oil from India. Because Indians are able to remove all evil totalitarian molecules from it.
"India has also denied recent reports that Russian crude imported by India was being shipped on as refined products to other countries, including the US."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60783874.amp
Even if it is true the oil shipments origins are being hidden so the US and Europe don't know it's from Russia. You implied they were aware it was from Russia but were ok because it went through.
Article about the hidden sale
https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-oil-producers-stay-one-...
Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
The European response to the war is populist and, as you say, self-destructive. But economies and people can only suffer to a limited extent. EU will return to Realpolitik soon. Let's face it, the whole bashing of Russia as a "regional power" was idiotic and wrong on the same level as starting the Ukraine war and believing they would win it within a week. Edit: stop downvoting. How silly are you?
The EU will not return to anything, because it can't do anything on its own. There are East/North European member states that are genuinely concerned that Russia could attack them next. They advocate for stronger sanctions. And while it's not said aloud, they believe the sanctions should be in place until there is (at least) a regime change in Russia. For them, the real issue is not the war in Ukraine but Putin. And…
I am sorry, but thinking that Russia will invade the Nordics is dumb. Ukraine made sense, but the Nordics.. that is ridiculous.
People will not carry this ideological politics as soon as they will feel the pressure over a longer period.
Sanctions will go, mark my words.