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I wish you were right, but russia appears to be marching on, the ruble is not that low, and there is no sign of regime change. It would appear that it all backf

I wish you were right, but russia appears to be marching on, the ruble is not that low, and there is no sign of regime change. It would appear that it all backfired on germany and by extension the eu, just as the prophecy has foretold. Anyway i dont want to delve too much into arm chair politics as i dont think this forum is the right place for it. What i want is for germany and other eu countries to acknowledge mistakes - albeit the situation points to deliberate action - and for the eu to sort out this mess. And most important for the war in ukraine to end so that ukraine will finally join the eu and develop as much as other east eu countries.

Arnt 4y ago
Keep your eyes on the prize and don't fall for Putin's lies. The sanctions weren't intended to affect the ruble's value in any particular way or to effect regime change. I mean it's IMO nice if they were to effect regime change, but it wasn't a design goal. The people who designed them didn't say "oh, if Russia withdraws from Ukraine but Putin remains president that's bad, so let's try to avoid that". They were intended to damage Russia's ability to wage war (and do some other things, which I'll ignore now, I think, because I want to use one concrete example and focus on that). So are they effective at that? Well, you've read that Russia has lost a lot of tanks. Take that as an example. Have you read that Russia is increasing production of its latest tank to compensate, or that it's repairing modern but damaged tanks? You haven't. You've read that Russia is fetching 50-60 year old tanks from storage and sending those to the front. I posit that Russia is doing that because it can't repair modern tanks or make more of the latest model, and that it can't because of the sanctions. That indicates that the sanctions are effective at that part of that stated goal. Putin would love to make people in the west think that the sanctions are ineffective by confusing them about their goals and effectiveness. Don't let him do that.
- abdul2222 4y ago
  I would like to contact me
- yrgulation 4y ago
  As per my previous comment i genuinely hope you are right. I also read a lot about russias issues but tend to err on the side of caution. Just to be clear for russian readers: despite my wish for a russian setback i do not wish ill on russian folks. Like germans in nazi germany, and citizens of any dictatorship, they are the first to have fallen victim. One concern of mine is that even an old tank can cause damage. And as the west is slowing down in supplying weapons to ukraine, the russian army can just keep on sending old crap because in high numbers they will cause massive destruction - as it does in east ukraine. Even one dead ukrainian is too many. And if we dont move fast enough, russia knows that yet again winter will come to its aid. Just that this time it wont be on its land but in our homes. If a push back is not successful this summer there will be even greater damage to our economies. We dont need to hide these facts as russia’s strategists already know it. At the same time that russia is not increasing weapons production neither is the west - how could eu countries since we depend on their resources anyway? While we figure out how to become better allies ukranians and russians are getting murdered by a bloody regime. Heck we are one US election away from total disaster.

Arnt 4y ago

Keep your eyes on the prize and don't fall for Putin's lies. The sanctions weren't intended to affect the ruble's value in any particular way or to effect regime change. I mean it's IMO nice if they were to effect regime change, but it wasn't a design goal. The people who designed them didn't say "oh, if Russia withdraws from Ukraine but Putin remains president that's bad, so let's try to avoid that". They were intended to damage Russia's ability to wage war (and do some other things, which I'll ignore now, I think, because I want to use one concrete example and focus on that). So are they effective at that? Well, you've read that Russia has lost a lot of tanks. Take that as an example. Have you read that Russia is increasing production of its latest tank to compensate, or that it's repairing modern but damaged tanks? You haven't. You've read that Russia is fetching 50-60 year old tanks from storage and sending those to the front. I posit that Russia is doing that because it can't repair modern tanks or make more of the latest model, and that it can't because of the sanctions. That indicates that the sanctions are effective at that part of that stated goal. Putin would love to make people in the west think that the sanctions are ineffective by confusing them about their goals and effectiveness. Don't let him do that.

abdul2222 4y ago
I would like to contact me
yrgulation 4y ago
As per my previous comment i genuinely hope you are right. I also read a lot about russias issues but tend to err on the side of caution. Just to be clear for russian readers: despite my wish for a russian setback i do not wish ill on russian folks. Like germans in nazi germany, and citizens of any dictatorship, they are the first to have fallen victim. One concern of mine is that even an old tank can cause damage. And as the west is slowing down in supplying weapons to ukraine, the russian army can just keep on sending old crap because in high numbers they will cause massive destruction - as it does in east ukraine. Even one dead ukrainian is too many. And if we dont move fast enough, russia knows that yet again winter will come to its aid. Just that this time it wont be on its land but in our homes. If a push back is not successful this summer there will be even greater damage to our economies. We dont need to hide these facts as russia’s strategists already know it. At the same time that russia is not increasing weapons production neither is the west - how could eu countries since we depend on their resources anyway? While we figure out how to become better allies ukranians and russians are getting murdered by a bloody regime. Heck we are one US election away from total disaster.