Doctor CamNC4Me wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 9:47 pm
Now Russia wants to take Moldova. -_-
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/17 ... bly-russia
After 30 years, it became clear that the presence of the Republic of Moldova in the structures of the CIS did not help us to remove the Russian army from the territory of the Republic of Moldova, to resolve the Transnistrian conflict. Being in the CIS did not protect us from blackmail in the middle of winter.
Withdrawal from the CIS Assembly is a first step. Ukraine left this organisation. The Republic of Moldova is a free country to make sovereign decisions. We demonstrated that we want democracy, freedom at home.
This is yuge. It makes one wonder how much longer before the “Stans” begin to make arrangements with China and perhaps India for trade and agreements? I suppose Kazakhstan might be the next one to bounce …
I guess I just don’t understand Putin’s realistic aims here, other than existing in a bubble and pining for the reestablishment of the Soviet Union’s glory days? I can’t see them keeping Crimea because of the cost of moving goods through a contested space. The Crimean canal is probably a loss too, since any repairs are moot since the entire thing can be shelled.
Russian Armed Forces (RAF) have incurred crazy losses to its most highly trained personnel. Training professionalized replacements would normally take a decade, but the RAF have also lost most of the people capable of doing that kind of thing. Even if the war stopped today, and every sanction were lifted, the RAF would take at least half a generation to replenish. And that’s not even talking about upgrading its materiel.
The other problem is demographic. The vatniks/mobiks who’re thrown to the meat grinder are part of the labor force, and, let’s be honest about men in Russia, they're their most valuable asset. Their productive years are ahead of them, but a dead man can’t extract oil out of the ground. Since Feb 2022 over a million men (and not a an insignificant number of educated women) in their 20’s and 30’s have left - this is a huge loss of economic potential, and a massive gain for places like Georgia, the EU, and US.
I don’t even know where to begin with sanctions, either. I’m ignorant as to the scope and extent of the sanctions levied on Russia, but I can’t imagine it going well for them. Recently some Russian billionaires were recorded on a phone call talking about how Russia is going to be destroyed. It has to be due to these sanctions.
Also, now that the RAF has been shown to be a retarded creature with outdated weaponry, I suspect the arms industry is going to shift hard to Europe, the US, and probably China (for its sheer production capability). I don’t know how Putin can project power when he just got dunked on, on the world’s biggest stage. Hell, even China just voted for some UN whatever stating Russia’s aggression is a threat to the world’s stability.
Putin owns this war and it’s associated costs in every sense of the word. I dunno. I don’t see how he can hold the territory he gained, which has to be the only way out for him. Dude has no exit plan. He could be offered a golden pathway up and over that bridge, back to Russia before this gets worse for him, but I don’t know if he’s capable of taking it. Perhaps a car bomb is in his future. *shrugs*
Maybe he can solace in that idiots like Ajax and Willy are rooting for him.
- Doc