Posted on 02/24/2024 5:59:01 AM PST by SpeedyInTexas
Russian invaders heard the 🇺🇦 FPV drone and, out of desperation, decided to freeze in place in the hope that the operator would not notice them.
https://x.com/GloOouD/status/1866488958542344260
Do we have to send money to both of them now? 😩 pic.twitter.com/dNfWWPu26f— Gabe (@GabeZZOZZ) December 10, 2024
Putin bans Satanism
JUST IN: 🇷🇺 Russia outlaws Satanic Temple, deeming it "undesirable" and blasphemous of traditional religious values. pic.twitter.com/laRxluFUC7— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) December 5, 2024
Russia's economy is already overheated and could be destroyed if Saudi Arabia decides to flood the world with cheap crude oil.
https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1866522020638294342
Biden or his puppet master would never think to ask Saudi Arabia to flood the world with cheap crude oil.
My belief is that President Trump will "drill baby drill" which will have the same effect.
https://x.com/KyivIndependent/status/1866411646991859798
However, as soon as the infantry disembarked, the vehicles were destroyed by drones and artillery.
The infantry itself was then accurately targeted by a heavy machine gun operated by the Ukrainian marines of the 505th separate battalion.
https://x.com/wartranslated/status/1866516755843097086
https://x.com/putnik833/status/1866513252538028300
🚨🇩🇪🇺🇦 BREAKING: German AfD Chancellor candidate Alice Weidel calls for ENDING UKRAINE AID. pic.twitter.com/PqsPLUp4tS— Legitimate Targets (@LegitTargets) December 9, 2024
14 transported by train from Croatia to Germany.
M-84A4 Sniper (Croatia) - This version includes the all-new SCS-84 day/night sight, DBR-84 ballistic computer and improved elevation and traverse sensors. Croatia purchased around 40 of these models from 1996 till 2003 from its domestic factory.
It is rumored, but not officially confirmed, that these tanks have a different engine of German origin, rated at 1,100 hp instead of the 1,000 hp engine originally installed.
A Racal communication suite replaced the older communication set. By 2008 the entire Croatian M-84 tank fleet had been upgraded to the M-84A4 standard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-84
It is subtle, but see if you can spot the difference.
https://x.com/RealJakeBroe/status/1866348735913197905
https://x.com/front_ukrainian/status/1866447449025307129
According to sources, the attack took place the morning of December 5.
An unidentified drone crashed onto the runway at the Engels-1 airbase. As a result, two Tu-95 bomber-missile carriers were damaged. Two servicemen were injured and hospitalized.
Satellite images of the airbase in Engels before and after the drone attack have been published.
There was another attack on this airbase today, according to the local governor there was no damage. Ukraine has attacked this airbase several times.
https://x.com/Bricktop_NAFO/status/1866421042811375920
Marcus...have you seen any info on this attack?
"Peklo" missile-drone has successfully passed its first combat deployments.
Successful tests of the new "Ruta" missile are underway, long-range Neptune will soon become a terrible reality for the occupiers," —Zelensky
https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1866535531376464153
"Russia has agreed with North Korea to send MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter jets to Pyongyang in return for that country sending troops to help with Moscow's invasion of Ukraine" - Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command.
https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/1866449239682756887
“Russia increasingly relies on Chinese yuan reserves and gold sales to cover its budget deficit”
Those Chinese yuan reserves are generally not some pile of long term investment that they are withdrawing from, but rather they are the current income received for Russian commodity sales to China (or to others, like India, denominated in yuan). The Government has simply been taking more of those earnings than before, and blowing them on the war.
The Gold reserves however, do represent the significant spending down of long term savings (in addition to their ongoing gold production). Russian gold has been flooding into Chinese and Hong Kong markets. Since they have switched emphasis from spending down the liquid part of their National Wealth Fund, it appears that drawing down their Gold Reserves has increased to cover that shortfall.
Those are their two main pots of financial reserves, and they never want either to hit zero, so they will likely shift policies as they approach minimal levels. In total, their financial reserves continue declining, at a fairly robust rate (unsustainable, long term).
The true quantity of their remaining gold reserves is fairly opaque, and gold is amenable to covert transactions, so we won’t see accurate direct reports of the remaining balance. We will have to watch for indicators that the hoard is emptying out, and they may happen rather abruptly, as the managers try to conceal it until the last moment.
When the gold runs low, the remaining “liquid” part of the National Wealth Fund (itself already low) will be the remaining reserve backstop. A lot of that is invested in the declining Russian stock market. Suddenly withdrawing it, would likely drag that market down significantly, and could trigger a crash. That could be an indicator of the gold reserves running low.
The Russian Government started the war taxing more of the profits from the oil and gas industries, to near the level of effective Nationalization. Now they have gone beyond that, and passed broad economy-wide tax increases on businesses and individuals.
Another likely action by the Russian Government, to manage their financial shortfall (as reserves run low), will be to increase the rate of printing new rubles (already at a very high inflationary rate), even higher. There is likely no end of high inflation in Russia, until a couple of years after the end of the war, and a high risk of it accelerating at some point, especially if there are shocks (like a currency collapse).
So they are spreading around the costs of the war (taxing, printing, and spending down their reserves), but their reserve buffers are declining (likely to negligible levels in 2025, ceteris paribus), and the negative secondary effects of their actions are are accumulating (inflation, bankruptcies).
Russia is so vulnerable to new economic shocks now, like dropping oil prices, currency collapse, or significant new sanctions. It looks like a wave of bankruptcies is starting to hit the fan over there already.
“Jake Broe can drive me nuts with his anti-Trump nonsense”
I hear you Brother, me too.
I think he ate up too much of that Russia propaganda, about how Trump was going to cut off Ukraine, and throw them to the wolves. I think that Trump played along with that, to string the Russians along during the election.
We will see what Trump actually does. Actions speak louder than words, and Russia is between a rock and hard place, needing a deal badly. Trump knows how to drive a deal.
https://x.com/Tendar/status/1866611429413097841
Nope. Happened quietly. No leaks on either side at the time.
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