Russia - Ukraine war part ll. News and Discussions

[marco-polo]

With all due respect, nominal GDP is poor tool that simply doesn't provide a reliable basis for comparison of national economic outputs. PPP is a far more reliable measure (but still far from perfect). National comparisons accouding to the World Bank as as follows (quick Google search):

View attachment 221369

Andrew Spannaus has pointed this out on several occasions, referring to the CIA’s website.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Putin throwing a warning out to the Western Europeans:

Putin warns the West he is 'prepared for war'

In a chilling new threat to the West, the Russian tyrant said there would be 'no winners' if he entered a conflict with Nato.

www.dailymail.com

 

[Viet]

Putin throwing a warning out to the Western Europeans:

Putin warns the West he is 'prepared for war'

In a chilling new threat to the West, the Russian tyrant said there would be 'no winners' if he entered a conflict with Nato.

www.dailymail.com

Nothing new. He spews this war threat since 30y something. Putin is driven by hatred. He accuses Ukraine, the West of collapsing USSR. The only problem he has: Russia army is a corrupt incompetent bunch for his ambitions.

 

[BigGazza]

Nothing new

Yes, nothing new, just more of the same stupid nonsense from our corrupt Russophobe elites and their bought-and-paid-for media scribblers.

Clowns who know the wheels are falling off their wagon but they won't engage in any sort of self-preservation... just keep antagonising the big angry bear who is smashing their nasty little psychotic domination dreams into matchstick wood...

Pride cometh before the fall, and these Russophobe copium-addicts are so well and truly stuffed full of their own (lack of) significance.

 

[Leclerc]

Destruction of 2 Ukrainian drones by Pantsir AD system:

 

[F-22Raptor]

As I said, Ukraine can smash the Russian homeland whenever they want to.

 

[F-22Raptor]

It might be of interest to you that I know some folks over there right now. Air raid warnings in Kiev are a real thing. Scrambling of GPS systems is a real thing. Taking shelter every time the warning sirens go off is a real thing.

The question is how much longer can Ukraine hold out without a return of US support.

Yeah it’s been a “real thing” from Day 1 AZ.

Ukr hasn’t received a US dime in nearly 2 years now and their position on the front has actually improved. What they do continue to receive is intelligence, targeting, air defense etc.

I’ve been hearing “Ukr lines will collapse” for 3+ years now AZ. It just hasn’t come to fruition. Russian progress is actually regressing, despite its manpower advantage.

 

[F-22Raptor]

With all due respect, nominal GDP is poor tool that simply doesn't provide a reliable basis for comparison of national economic outputs. PPP is a far more reliable measure (but still far from perfect). National comparisons accouding to the World Bank as as follows (quick Google search):

View attachment 221369

PPP at national scale is third world cope. The only relevant PPP metric is measuring individual standard of living.

 

[Leclerc]

It's the PPP that measures the actual size of the economy, nominal GDP is confounded by currency exchange rates, speculation etc. that have nothing to do with how much is actually produced.

The only thing PPP doesn't measure well is purchasing power on the international market. So if say, Russian MOD buys vast majority of its stuff domestically, its budget in nominal terms is virtually irrelevant to how it functions.

 

[F-22Raptor]

It's the PPP that measures the actual size of the economy, nominal GDP is confounded by currency exchange rates, speculation etc. that have nothing to do with how much is actually produced.

The only thing PPP doesn't measure well is purchasing power on the international market. So if say, Russian MOD buys vast majority of its stuff domestically, its budget in nominal terms is virtually irrelevant to how it functions.

No, PPP only measures domestic price levels. Thats great when you want to compare individual standard of living. That doesn’t mean Russia gets an equivalent increase in internationally convertible wealth, financial resources, or access to foreign technology.

PPP does NOT translate to national economic power, which is why nominal GDP is the better standard.

Also, military equipment is not priced at the average costs of goods and services in an economy. Military production depends on sophisticated microelectronics, machine tools, industrial software etc. Russia is NOT technologically self sufficient so that point is moot regardless.

India, for example, measured in PPP would jump from a $4T economy to a $19T economy. No one believes India has the national economic power of a $19T economy. It’s why economists don’t use PPP when measuring relative national economic power and why it’s third world cope.

Real money=real power. No one cares a haircut costs less in India than the US.

 

[Soldier35]

An instance of a Russian Pantsir-S1 air defense system in action in Ukraine. The video shows the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft gun-missile system engaging and destroying two Ukrainian drones using missiles. The location of the footage is not disclosed.

 

[BigGazza]

It's the PPP that measures the actual size of the economy, nominal GDP is confounded by currency exchange rates, speculation etc. that have nothing to do with how much is actually produced.

The only thing PPP doesn't measure well is purchasing power on the international market. So if say, Russian MOD buys vast majority of its stuff domestically, its budget in nominal terms is virtually irrelevant to how it functions.

You're trying to debate with someone whose response is simply to dump a wall of text, copy/pasted from somewhere but without a link or a reference. He has no idea what he means, he can't state a viewpoint in his own words...

Establishment scribblers insist on the idea that a foreign nations total economic output can be ascertained on a normalised basis by simply summing up their public data of output in local currency and then applying the prevailing FOREX rate. It a nonsense metric but its always used and quoted as it maximises the rating of Western nations and down-plays that of the Wests adversaries. Its weaknesses are many, but the obvious ones are that publically released data is never complete, it doesn't include either grey or black market. Foreign nations tend not to comment on such activity within their borders. In the West however we go overboard to include every last brass razoo into the GDP estimate, even including stuff like prostitution, illegal drug trade, and non-productive financial churns like the derivatoives market.

 

[BigGazza]

Real money=real power. No one cares a haircut costs less in India than the US.

Power comes from hair-cuts?

Real power comes from being able to assert your will and actually win wars. You absurd clowns spent 20 years trying to defeat the Taliban (who had no allies and no external support) who had zero armour or arty or airpower and whose troops only had small arms, RPGs and IEDs, and then YOU STILL MANAGED TO LOSE!

Iran just defied you and smashed your bases, alienated your Gulf "allies", humiliated the Empire by showing everyone that while the US can dish it out, you lack resiliance and staying power, you are unable to bear pain, and you have a fragile ego. Iran is WINNING by not losing, by remaining defiant, and keeping the home front burning. Murika is LOSING by thrashing around, dropping bombs in the empty desert or hitting building that were abandoned long ago as part of a deliberate dispersal of forces and means...

Bud, if there really is more oil flowing now than pre-crisis then why is Brent sitting at USD117 and diesel in Caifornia costs more than 8 bucks a gallon?

The reality is that some tankers are moving because Iran is getting paid its transit fees thru back channels. Sometimes tanker owners try to play games and don't follow the rules, and the IRGC smacks them upside the head. Then it all goes quiet as the message sinks in and the owners go back to following the rules (and stop listening to US fools who try to convince them to not play ball with Tehran).

That is the true extent of US "power". Smoke, mirrors, bullsh!t and bluster... The world rolls its eyes and patitently waits for end of Empire while murkhan elites chase their tails in ever-decreasing circles and they strain to keep sniffing each other bung holes.

 

[F-22Raptor]

Power comes from hair-cuts?

Real power comes from being able to assert your will and actually win wars. You absurd clowns spent 20 years trying to defeat the Taliban (who had no allies and no external support) who had zero armour or arty or airpower and whose troops only had small arms, RPGs and IEDs, and then YOU STILL MANAGED TO LOSE!

Iran just defied you and smashed your bases, alienated your Gulf "allies", humiliated the Empire by showing everyone that while the US can dish it out, you lack resiliance and staying power, you are unable to bear pain, and you have a fragile ego. Iran is WINNING by not losing, by remaining defiant, and keeping the home front burning. Murika is LOSING by thrashing around, dropping bombs in the empty desert or hitting building that were abandoned long ago as part of a deliberate dispersal of forces and means...

Bud, if there really is more oil flowing now than pre-crisis then why is Brent sitting at USD117 and diesel in Caifornia costs more than 8 bucks a gallon?

The reality is that some tankers are moving because Iran is getting paid its transit fees thru back channels. Sometimes tanker owners try to play games and don't follow the rules, and the IRGC smacks them upside the head. Then it all goes quiet as the message sinks in and the owners go back to following the rules (and stop listening to US fools who try to convince them to not play ball with Tehran).

That is the true extent of US "power". Smoke, mirrors, bullsh!t and bluster... The world rolls its eyes and patitently waits for end of Empire while murkhan elites chase their tails in ever-decreasing circles and they strain to keep sniffing each other bung holes.

American power is greater today relative to it’s adversaries than at any point outside the immediate post WW2 and Cold War space

- Russia buried in Ukraine
- Peak perfect strategic capture of Venezuela
- Cuba can’t keep its lights on
- Assad gone from Syria and now lead by a CIA asset.
- Hamas and Hezbollah destroyed
- Iran at its weakest point in history. Nuclear program destroyed, military industrial base destroyed, Navy entirely sunk, economic failed state under naval blockade
- China vastly underperforming pre Covid economic expectations, impending demographic collapse, relegated to #2 economy in perpetuity, fast following the US in nearly all science and tech advancements, its Iranian oil blockaded and done nothing.


Primary goal in Afghanistan was the defeat of Al Qaeda which was achieved. Practically all AQ members from the 9/11 era have been killed or captured. We tried to nation build Afghanistan into a respectable country which failed because we decided to stop holding the Afghans hands after 20 years. Thats Afghanistans loss not ours.

American bases are smashed? That’s news because hundreds of American fighters and tankers are operating out of Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE today.

Oil prices are elevated because the US operation to defend oil flow through the Strait has been so wildly successful markets are pricing in Iranian retaliation.

An we’re doing all of this thousands of miles from home. Meanwhile, Russia is getting crushed by its next door neighbor.

 

[F-22Raptor]

You're trying to debate with someone whose response is simply to dump a wall of text, copy/pasted from somewhere but without a link or a reference. He has no idea what he means, he can't state a viewpoint in his own words...

Establishment scribblers insist on the idea that a foreign nations total economic output can be ascertained on a normalised basis by simply summing up their public data of output in local currency and then applying the prevailing FOREX rate. It a nonsense metric but its always used and quoted as it maximises the rating of Western nations and down-plays that of the Wests adversaries. Its weaknesses are many, but the obvious ones are that publically released data is never complete, it doesn't include either grey or black market. Foreign nations tend not to comment on such activity within their borders. In the West however we go overboard to include every last brass razoo into the GDP estimate, even including stuff like prostitution, illegal drug trade, and non-productive financial churns like the derivatoives market.

A wall of third world cope. You said absolutely nothing other than babbling excuses for why economies like Russia aren’t hellholes.