US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis • Hacker News Board

Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis

#51

Post by cpursley » Tue, Jun 14, 2022, 6:38 PM UTC

tut-urut-utut wrote: post #9

nathanaldensr wrote: post #2

So "quiet" that Bloomberg's reporting on it? If you're a farmer, you're going to buy fertilizer from wherever and whomever unless prevented legally from doing so--and I, as a citizen of the US dependent on others growing this food on behalf of me, appreciate it.

And I, as an European, hate EU government for taking a self destructive way of introducing various sanctions that affect lives of the EU citizens in a very negative ways, without doing anything to help their proclaimed goals. At this point I am not sure if they are stupid, evil, corrupt or they just despise and hate their citizens. Or maybe all of that. You Americans are least have a pragmatic government that at leas…

You're getting downvoted by Americans with big fat paychecks in the Bay Area and other coastal cities on the energy self-sufficient North American content. Like it or not, Europe runs on Russian gas/oil/grain for the time being. The current crop of EU officials are probably not evil, but they are incredibly incompetent. By any object measure, the sanctions have filled the Russian Government's coffers and made Europe much poorer.

Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis

#52

Post by coryrc » Tue, Jun 14, 2022, 6:38 PM UTC

nathanaldensr wrote: post #2

So "quiet" that Bloomberg's reporting on it? If you're a farmer, you're going to buy fertilizer from wherever and whomever unless prevented legally from doing so--and I, as a citizen of the US dependent on others growing this food on behalf of me, appreciate it.

I, as a citizen of the US dependent on others growing this food on behalf of me, am fine with reduced yields and higher meat prices, to put more pressure on Russia.

I also wish we'd send in the big guns to put a lot more pressure in focused places.

Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis

#53

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jun 14, 2022, 6:38 PM UTC

tenpies wrote: post #42

nathanaldensr wrote: post #2

So "quiet" that Bloomberg's reporting on it? If you're a farmer, you're going to buy fertilizer from wherever and whomever unless prevented legally from doing so--and I, as a citizen of the US dependent on others growing this food on behalf of me, appreciate it.

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…

[deleted]

Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis

#54

Post by charles_kaw » Tue, Jun 14, 2022, 6:38 PM UTC

tenpies wrote: post #42

nathanaldensr wrote: post #2

So "quiet" that Bloomberg's reporting on it? If you're a farmer, you're going to buy fertilizer from wherever and whomever unless prevented legally from doing so--and I, as a citizen of the US dependent on others growing this food on behalf of me, appreciate it.

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…

And yet, we're not glowing. That's because cyber attacks are not viewed the same as physical attacks, especially when it doesn't lead to loss of life. This is literally the US AND Russia's stance, so it's not a completely untoward thing to do. I'm not in support of it, but, that's the reality

Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis

#55

Post by nickff » Tue, Jun 14, 2022, 6:39 PM UTC

tenpies wrote: post #42

nathanaldensr wrote: post #2

So "quiet" that Bloomberg's reporting on it? If you're a farmer, you're going to buy fertilizer from wherever and whomever unless prevented legally from doing so--and I, as a citizen of the US dependent on others growing this food on behalf of me, appreciate it.

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...

Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis

#56

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jun 14, 2022, 6:39 PM UTC

colordrops wrote: post #38

yks wrote: post #29

The West could've ended this war by now if they just went all in on sending howitzers, MLRS and other heavy equipment into Ukraine but they keep slow dripping it, or just doing nothing like Germany. The most powerful societies in the world history just twiddle their thumbs while negative consequences keep mounting.

The US is interested in a protracted war in Ukraine to both make money for weapons and other supplies manufacturers, and to drain the Russian economy. The Ukraine war was precipitated by years of US machinations, despite media characterizations to the contrary.

[deleted]

Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis

#57

Post by JumpCrisscross » Tue, Jun 14, 2022, 6:39 PM UTC

chinathrow wrote: post #36

yks wrote: post #29

The West could've ended this war by now if they just went all in on sending howitzers, MLRS and other heavy equipment into Ukraine but they keep slow dripping it, or just doing nothing like Germany. The most powerful societies in the world history just twiddle their thumbs while negative consequences keep mounting.

I really don't get it - the west must a) either know more about Russia and its plans than the public or b) are somewhat complicit in gaining from a long war.

> west must a) either know more about Russia and its plans than the public or b) are somewhat complicit in gaining from a long war.

Or didn't know what was going on until well after the war was underway. U.S. tactical intelligence has no match on earth. American strategic intelligence is almost predictably garbage. From Iraq to Kabul to Kyiv, we've consistently called the shots wrong.

Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis

#58

Post by goda90 » Tue, Jun 14, 2022, 6:40 PM UTC

pkaye wrote: post #13

What happened to all the people pushing organic fertilizers? Why don't they source more of that?

The best solution for this is years of weaning the soil off of chemical inputs towards a no-till, cover crop, managed grazing solution. It takes a few years of regrowing the soil before it can start to output as much as a synthetically fertilized field.

Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis

#59

Post by hinkley » Tue, Jun 14, 2022, 6:40 PM UTC

chinathrow wrote: post #36

yks wrote: post #29

The West could've ended this war by now if they just went all in on sending howitzers, MLRS and other heavy equipment into Ukraine but they keep slow dripping it, or just doing nothing like Germany. The most powerful societies in the world history just twiddle their thumbs while negative consequences keep mounting.

I really don't get it - the west must a) either know more about Russia and its plans than the public or b) are somewhat complicit in gaining from a long war.

If you consider that the US has been 'at war' with Russia since 1945, then the conflict in the Ukraine is one battle, not a war, and winning battles but losing the war is how the USSR disintegrated in the first place.

More of that was luck than the State Dept will ever admit, but here we are, and I'll be damned if I know where we are 'going'. There's a tendency for armchair commentators to imagine an opponent 'disappearing' once beaten. If you can make 6.6 million square miles of country disappear, then we should all be kneeling before you and calling you Zod.

Re: US quietly urges more use of Russia fertilizer to ease food crisis

#60

Post by sha256sum » Tue, Jun 14, 2022, 6:40 PM UTC

colordrops wrote: post #38

yks wrote: post #29

The West could've ended this war by now if they just went all in on sending howitzers, MLRS and other heavy equipment into Ukraine but they keep slow dripping it, or just doing nothing like Germany. The most powerful societies in the world history just twiddle their thumbs while negative consequences keep mounting.

The US is interested in a protracted war in Ukraine to both make money for weapons and other supplies manufacturers, and to drain the Russian economy. The Ukraine war was precipitated by years of US machinations, despite media characterizations to the contrary.

It's important to note the money drip from Afghanistan has been cut off, with manufacturers looking for more ways to drain tax money away from domestic projects and into the war machine, a status quo since at least Vietnam.