1 minute ago, Gannan said:

What if Putin demanded Florida? There has to be a line somewhere, it's just a question of where that is.

On second thought, we might be willing to part with Florida. 

We’d poison pill Florida with DC.

But yeah, obviously there is a line. We have NATO. We signed our commitment to mutual defense. If Putin is so insane to demand NATO territory under threat of a nuclear attack, is denied, then follows through on it, then we unleash the boomers… and I’m not talking about the old people.

22 minutes ago, Kz! said:

I'm laughing at people uncritically sharing retarded propaganda despite Ukraine being caught lying about 3,853 times already.

As opposed to the retarded propaganda you share on a daily basis with zero critical thought given between copy-and-paste?

19 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

Remember when you said Putin was gaining all this prestige? 

Oh the prestige! The glorious prestige! 

Would you look at that. Just look at it!

 

   

Prestige of being a man of history and consequence, potentially starting the rebuilding of the Russian empire.

Yeah, he’s taking it on the chin with sanctions, but he’s willing to endure that for the long game. Much easier to negotiate trade and international finance a few decades down the line than to take Ukraine.

2 minutes ago, TEW said:

Prestige of being a man of history and consequence, potentially starting the rebuilding of the Russian empire.

Yeah, he’s taking it on the chin with sanctions, but he’s willing to endure that for the long game. Much easier to negotiate trade and international finance a few decades down the line than to take Ukraine.

  The glory of the Russian empire is unfathomable!

17 minutes ago, Paul852 said:

Ok, I'm done.

 

15 minutes ago, Gannan said:

What if Putin demanded Florida? There has to be a line somewhere, it's just a question of where that is.

On second thought, we might be willing to part with Florida. 

No give backs!

31 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said:

@Kz! seriously dude? you "haha'd" a post about Russia bombing a maternity hospital?

How can this behavior still surprise you?

2 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Disagree.  Stand for something....or fall for anything.  

Yeah, I stand for avoiding nuclear annihilation of human civilization.

This isn’t a video game. The risk here is everyone you’ve ever known getting vaporized.

At some point, the US/RUB rate won't even matter. If you haven't noticed, the two countries are ending trade with one another. Many other major countries are going to accept trade of Russian commodities in currencies other than the dollar. 

3 minutes ago, TEW said:

Yeah, I stand for avoiding nuclear annihilation of human civilization.

This isn’t a video game. The risk here is everyone you’ve ever known getting vaporized.

Most sane people do. Not everyone agrees with your hysterical conclusion, that the only way forward is appeasement.

You do not deal with bullies by appeasing them.

Just now, Abracadabra said:

At some point, the US/RUB rate won't even matter. If you haven't noticed, the two countries are ending trade with one another. Many other major countries are going to accept trade of Russian commodities in currencies other than the dollar. 

They might accept it in other currencies, but they’ll look to flip back into dollars. The US/NATO/Japan/Etc can also apply pressure of "us or them.” That’s going to hurt. A lot. The gambit is this is temporary and not permanent, that down the line trade will normalize. Which it probably will.

21 minutes ago, mr_hunt said:

abra's stealing too much attention so he's gotta be even more of a lowlife than usual. 

Don't forget Bacarty and his strong pro-war-crime stance. Lots of competition in the shithead Olympics this month. 

1 minute ago, Toastrel said:

Most sane people do. Not everyone agrees with your hysterical conclusion, that the only way forward is appeasement.

You do not deal with bullies by appeasing them.

Who said appeasement?

We should support Ukraine materially with weapons, equipment, training and intelligence. Apply pressure through trade and diplomacy. But avoid direct confrontation.

This is basic Cold War stuff. Weren’t you in the military during the Cold War?

There's only certain ways that this ends. One is that Russia kills Zelenskyy and creates the Ukrainian reality that they want to, although that likely leads to decades of an insurgency within Ukraine. Another is more of a diplomatic solution, but that's going to require Putin getting something pretty big that allows him to save face at home.  Strongmen who get defeated in foreign wars don't last long so he's not going to accept abject failure.  Another way is that someone takes Putin out, then what happens after that depends on who takes his place.  All bets are off there.  One other way is World War III. That's likely started by trying to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine. That will inevitably result in shooting down Russian aircraft, and things get really bad really fast after that.  See quite a few people who seem to be advocating for that, but there's a lot to consider there, not the least of which is are we really ready to consider another generation of our soldiers to death, dismemberment, and the resulting hell of the rest of their life that follows should they survive the war?  If any of us survive that war?  I'm sorry, I'm not there. I have family struggling with what they went through in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I'm not yet ready to subject other people's family to that.

1 minute ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Odd the same person, typed these two sentences.  Back to back.  

How is that odd? 

3 minutes ago, TEW said:

They might accept it in other currencies, but they’ll look to flip back into dollars. The US/NATO/Japan/Etc can also apply pressure of "us or them.” That’s going to hurt. A lot. The gambit is this is temporary and not permanent, that down the line trade will normalize. Which it probably will.

The ruble has never recovered previous losses against the USD.

I'm not sure why you think it would be different this time, especially considering the moves the west is making to reduce economic interdependence on Russia in the medium term.

I really hate it when I agree with TEW on stuff outside of brown liquor and the Eagles. 

1 minute ago, TEW said:

They might accept it in other currencies, but they’ll look to flip back into dollars. The US/NATO/Japan/Etc can also apply pressure of "us or them.” That’s going to hurt. A lot. The gambit is this is temporary and not permanent, that down the line trade will normalize. Which it probably will.

That may be true but it's also a question of volume. How many countries are going to cut their dollar reserves because needed commodities no longer require dollars to purchase. China, India, Turkey and others have already said they will trade outside the USD. That's nearly half the world's population. 

The demand for dollars is going to plummet. 

1 minute ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

You said it wasn't a video game and then said if we stood up to Putin we risk everyone getting totally vaporized.  

 

You don't think that doesn't sound like a video game?  

 

 

He probably means you don't get to start all over again from a save point or some sh** like that. There are lasting consequences to decisions being made right now.

4 minutes ago, The_Omega said:

There's only certain ways that this ends. One is that Russia kills Zelenskyy and creates the Ukrainian reality that they want to, although that likely leads to decades of an insurgency within Ukraine. Another is more of a diplomatic solution, but that's going to require Putin getting something pretty big that allows him to save face at home.  Strongmen who get defeated in foreign wars don't last long so he's not going to accept abject failure.  Another way is that someone takes Putin out, then what happens after that depends on who takes his place.  All bets are off there.  One other way is World War III. That's likely started by trying to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine. That will inevitably result in shooting down Russian aircraft, and things get really bad really fast after that.  See quite a few people who seem to be advocating for that, but there's a lot to consider there, not the least of which is are we really ready to consider another generation of our soldiers to death, dismemberment, and the resulting hell of the rest of their life that follows should they survive the war?  If any of us survive that war?  I'm sorry, I'm not there. I have family struggling with what they went through in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I'm not yet ready to subject other people's family to that.

The ending is becoming clear, based on comments over the last 24/48 hours.

1. Ukraine pledges not to join NATO. Likely they amend their constitution to prohibit it. 

2. Ukraine and Russia agree to hold plebiscites in the provinces that Putin recognized. They vote on whether they want independence or to stay part of Ukraine. Putin clearly rigs the vote for independence, and Ukraine relocates those who want to leave. 

3. Ukraine agrees to certain restrictions on its military capabilities in exchange for sovereignty guarantees from Russia.

4. The West makes massive loans available to Ukraine to rebuild.

3 minutes ago, Abracadabra said:

That may be true but it's also a question of volume. How many countries are going to cut their dollar reserves because needed commodities no longer require dollars to purchase. China, India, Turkey and others have already said they will trade outside the USD. That's nearly half the world's population. 

The demand for dollars is going to plummet. 

I usually ignore the Russian bot, but this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. Wow.

3 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

The ending is becoming clear, based on comments over the last 24/48 hours.

1. Ukraine pledges not to join NATO. Likely they amend their constitution to prohibit it. 

2. Ukraine and Russia agree to hold plebiscites in the provinces that Putin recognized. They vote on whether they want independence or to stay part of Ukraine. Putin clearly rigs the vote for independence, and Ukraine relocates those who want to leave. 

3. Ukraine agrees to certain restrictions on its military capabilities in exchange for sovereignty guarantees from Russia.

4. The West makes massive loans available to Ukraine to rebuild.

5.  US/European companies make massive amounts by being contracted through the loans.

10 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said:

The ruble has never recovered previous losses against the USD.

I'm not sure why you think it would be different this time, especially considering the moves the west is making to reduce economic interdependence on Russia in the medium term.

Duh, because this invasion will be different than previous ones. Putin's a brilliant, prestigious man of history and he operates on the foolproof MO of "third time's the charm!" 

 

2 hours ago, mayanh8 said:

You're an idiot who refuses to listen to anyone who tells you something that doesn't agree with your feelers.

LOL I really couldn't care less what you think.

2 hours ago, vikas83 said:

IT. CAN'T. BE. DONE. WITHOUT. FINANCING.

That has nothing to do with Biden, Trump, Obama, or anything. You can thank millennial and Gen Z idiots that have pushed ESG nonsense onto the financial sector. Want guys to drill? Tell your bank to drop its ESG mandates. 

We'll disagree.

Just now, Diehardfan said:

LOL I really couldn't care less what you think.

I know. That's why you continously post stupid things.

21 minutes ago, Abracadabra said:

At some point, the US/RUB rate won't even matter. If you haven't noticed, the two countries are ending trade with one another. Many other major countries are going to accept trade of Russian commodities in currencies other than the dollar. 

I'm no finance/market expert, but even I am not this retahded.