Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News News Bucha Horrors Test Europe in Putin’s War

I thought it was pretty interesting when the Ukrainian president suggested that, given the inability of the United Nation to take of the security of nations, perhaps it should just shut down as that was supposed to be what it is there for.

Republicans have been jostling to shut it down for ages. Same with NATO.

I heard one grousing recently about how Ukraine was gonna pay back the $10 Billion that Slow Joe Biden handed them!

Zelensky has every reason to gripe since he's currently getting the sh*t bombed out of him, but he isn't the first and likely won't be the last.

The United Nations was supposed to appeal to man's better nature. Some men don't have a better nature.

Big yes.
Rich?? Nope, don't think so.
Russia's economy is slightly smaller than New Jersey's, last I heard.

Interesting, and New Jersey doesn't even have any petroleum to sell.

Or a space program, nuclear arms, or a plethora of yacht happy oligarchs.

Russia was the eleventh largest economy in the world in 2020, with its gross domestic product measured at 1.46 trillion U.S. dollars.

Yet on the prosperity index, it rates 70th. Not unlike the United States in many ways, it caters primarily to the very very wealthy and the regular working folks can just go f*ck themselves.

It's a typical case of the bourgeoise exploiting the proletariat.

And shrinking fast: "Without question. Russia's GDP is projected to shrink by double digits this year. And this year alone, the economic shock that's being projected will wipe out the past 15 years of economic gains in Russia. I mean, Russia is descending into economic and financial isolation." Daleep Singh, White House Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics. Think about that. How were you doing, personally, 15 years ago, in 2007?

Sperbank, which holds one third of all the assets of Russia is now frozen out of the world market. Imagine if Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citibank were frozen. That's the level of pain being inflicted on Russia.

Now, the Ruble has bounced back, but that is because of artificial supports in Russia. That can't last. Further, the sanctions have created a hole for "sovereign debt" to be paid from outside assets (Russia holds/held $640 billion in assets in the US and Europe), which was allowed to protect third parties from Russian default. Again, that fund is being depleted rapidly.

JPMorgan estimates that international investors own 22 percent of Russian companies’ foreign currency debt. That's a chunk, and will depress some investment assets, but it is far from risking widespread default - especially since exposure to Russian assets has plummeted since the 2014 round of sanctions. The risks were deemed too high by most investors.

It will take time, but Russia's economy is headed for a total collapse, along the lines of the Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic in the 1920s.

Of course that carries with it some very dangerous scenarios as well.
Hyperinflation Weimar Style gave birth to .... well .... you know.