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Since a war is not only fought with weapons, here's an interesting news coming from the Shagai stock market. Chinese Payment Stocks Soar Amid SWIFT Curbs Against Russia
Stock tied to CIPS (China's own alternative to SWIFT) are soaring. So much, in fact that trading had to be suspended once some of them reached a +20% appreciation in one day.
'De-dollarization' of the world is the end game. Taking away the control of the financial markets from the US, UK and EU will make the 'west' irrelevant. This war is not about Ukraine.
It's a snowball effect. One you start to weaponize the SWIFT or the dollar, more and more actors will move away from it in fear of getting caught in situations like these. Other systems will also rise, tied to other currencies. India already announced that is shifting its trade with Russia from dollars to Rupees. Most likely, other BRICS nations will follow.And yet CIPS operates at a tiny fraction of the level of SWIFT. Democratic nations, which make up the vast majority of international trade, are not going to flip from SWIFT to CIPS. Yes, CIPS may get a larger share of the pie but I just don't see it getting a dominant slice.
That's for sure.Even this forum is united. So that must be a first.
i thought about diverting some of USAF ordered machines -- just shifting order of deliveries - Poland already did payed two tranches for F35 - US did it couple of times for Israel why not for Poland? I know that LM is rapidly upgrading its factory in Mielec for F16 th assembly - sure they stated that initiially it will be just "front, middle and aft part of fuselage"Agree about the aircraft coming from Poland.
As far as "speeding up F-35 shipments," that will not happen for a number of reasons - first, the pace of production has been contracted and more than likely "the customer," be it the US or a foreign buyer will make progress payments based on that negotiated production rate. Second, vendor made parts and sub-assemblies will have to be accelerated, some of these items like landing gear are long lead time items so that will definitely impact any accelerated timeline. Third consideration, someone will have to come up with a contract modification and money to LMCO to make this happen, LMCO will not make any attempt to bring in additional resources on their own. The last major consideration (there are many more) is once you get everything in place you will need the people to support production, and keep in mind that you re going to have a learning curve once you get everything in place.
Most Russians tends to become Nihilists with age. I was told it's something that even predate the hardships suffered under the soviet rule. It's just a way of life. Newer generations exposed to internet and the western culture may be different but there's a large disconnect between the people living in Moscow or in other few cities on the European and those living in smaller towns the middle of nowhere in that vast land.Thing about being rich is that you want to be richer. Being rich and then losing money is bad. So let's not do that.
Obviously Russia can survive sanctions. That is not a debate. But at what cost?
Would you be 30% poorer? Would you like that to happen? Could you survive that? Just because you can survive doesn't make it good.
In my view sanctions will hit very very hard plus now the West is going to place even further NATO forces against Russia.
So all Putin will show is a poorer Russia, stronger more aggressively NATO, and whatever disaster will be salvaged from Ukraine. So yeah. How will that be shown in a positive light?
And none of these events had to happen.
Title 18, US Code S 959 doesn't say anything about airmen.And depending who that foreign prince, state, colony, district is, this has been ignored.
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In this case, once the dust settles, the winning horse will be China. Europe is acting the way it is, instead of taking a more cautious approach, to appease Washington. Russia is stuck between an uneasy alliance with China and a western world whose only goal has always been putting their hands on their immense reserves of raw materials (and they nearly succeeded when Yeltsin was president). Other players are remaining at the window or they support tepidly the western side for fear or lack of better alternative.Problem is people will bet in a winning horse.
Not a losing horse.
Ever watch Game of Thrones? A king who has to go round telling people he is the King is not true king.
We got Putin threatening nuclear war every half hour. Is that the sign of a sensible and reasonable fellow?
I will be extremely annoyed if he launches nuclear war on Friday. Why not today? Means I don't have to work.
We see these burning tanks, but where are the Ukrainian tanks? Is this a Ukrainian tank?
Why hasn't this convoy been destroyed overnight?This convoy will be target #1 tonight. The West likely has satellites positioned right on top to guide Ukrainian missile and ground strikes.
Russian convoy of ground forces, tanks moving toward Kyiv, Maxar says
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Satellite imagery taken on Sunday showed a large deployment of Russian ground forces including tanks moving in the direction of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv from approximately 40 miles (64 km) away, a private U.S. company said. The images released by Maxar Technologies Inc...news.yahoo.com
Er....no.
People know one thing.
Do you think Poland is thinking or Finland is thinking?
They know they been invaded by Russia in the past and they don't want more.
Stop Russia in Kyiv before they get to Helsinki.
This has nothing to do with America or China. Stop changing the subject.
Japan only used Kamikaze tactics because they knew they were going to be invaded. Europe is only doing what they are doing because they are under genuine threat. They are scared. Not of China or America but because a country has invaded another country for no reason and now threatens other countries.
Stop being a Russian Bot and think for yourself.
China, and the world's arms producers and dealers. Russia is going to end up as a Chinese vassal.In this case, once the dust settles, the winning horse will be China.
In 4 years Trump convinced Germany to raise the defence budget from 1.2% to 1.4%, in 4 days Putin convinced them to raise it to 2%.China, and the world's arms producers and dealers. Russia is going to end up as a Chinese vassal.
That should speed up what could be called the Slavic Spring of 2022-2025. The Belarusians also want to be Europeans and won't put up with being involved in a modern day Holodomor. Lukashenko's going to end up like Ceaușescu.The latest twist…..according to US officials, Belarus is now considering deploying its own forces to support the Russian invasion.