[deetee]

As the initial hysteria is dying down and realty check is being applied, we now see more balanced opinions appearing in media. I have come across this in-depth article in bloomberg that discusses the global impact of Russia-Ukraine war.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/ar...great-illusion

It is a long article but worth a read (tip: it is behind a pay wall, open it in a private browsing window, if you don't have subscription)

[SnS_12]

https://youtu.be/mZ59t92ZDsY

Countries like Germany and Italy who can’t even imagine the possibility of not receiving Russian Gas will have no option but to pay up in rubles from next week. They can say its a breach of contract and say they will continue to pay in USD or Euros as per contract but chances of Putin saying not acceptable and proceeding to shut off the taps are quite high.

The Russian stock markets opened up today where short selling is still banned and foreigners are not allowed to trade. However, they plan to allow them to start trading from 1st April, which will be after the one week deadline to Russian Central Bank to setup a mechanism to accept only Rubles for sale of gas.

EU governments now have to decide whether they maintain the pressure and stay politically correct or give up and save their economy and citizens from getting hit by Russias counter sanctions.

[nandadevieast]

Thanks for the link. Its a very well written article.

The write up has a graphic depicting country-wise share of global GDP. The author has categorised countries as ‘free’, ‘partially free’ and ‘not free’, and she has listed india under partially free country on the basis of political freedom and civil liberties.

I thought India was world’s largest democracy and having a right aligned party in power shouldn’t make India any less free than America under a right aligned Trump and widespread racism, talking about civil liberties…

The article also clubs Lenin with Hitler, calling them serpents.

Such is the bias.

Originally Posted by deetee

As the initial hysteria is dying down and realty check is being applied, we now see more balanced opinions appearing in media. I have come across this in-depth article in bloomberg that discusses the global impact of Russia-Ukraine war.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/ar...great-illusion

It is a long article but worth a read (tip: it is behind a pay wall, open it in a private browsing window, if you don't have subscription)

[fhdowntheline]

I think where the West underestimated Russia's threat for military intervention early on, Russia seems to have "underplayed" the theatre by not going for an all-out assault. This has gotten them into a bit of a rut, especially now that Ukraine is receiving arms support, the extent to which Russia did not expect. So militarily speaking, the ball is entirely in Russia's court, which they would have liked the other way round having estimated that Ukraine would be shaken up and sue for peace and other political changes on Russia's terms.

[volkman10]

Ukrainian supplier restarts production to support auto industry.

In the face of war, a key supplier in Ukraine is resuming work.

Czech carmaker Skoda Auto, part of the Volkswagen Group said its supply partner in Ukraine had decided to restart production of wire harnesses as the carmaker works through supply bottlenecks.

Link

[SnS_12]

With annual energy costs set to rise in countries like UK by almost 50% the last thing they want is higher energy bills because of shortage due to disruptions of Russian gas.

Also, the bigger dilemma for these unfriendly countries is how will they arrange for Rubles? No country holds it as a reserve currency and whatever countries had would have been dumped after the invasion. So the only option is to buy from the Russian Central Bank but against what? They won’t sell Rubles against USD or Euro as its the enemies currency, so how will they buy it?

Looks like things are going to get escalated in the coming days as the West will have to get rid of Putin someway to save themselves. And there are higher stakes involved for US as if this payment mode goes into effect next week than it will give confidence for energy rich countries under US sanctions and otherwise to try the same.

[deetee]

Originally Posted by nandadevieast

The write up has a graphic depicting country-wise share of global GDP. The author has categorised countries as ‘free’, ‘partially free’ and ‘not free’, and she has listed india under partially free country on the basis of political freedom and civil liberties.

Yes, I too noticed it and was quite amused by the opinion they have about India. I told to myself - another 5 years down the line, these shares of global GDP will change drastically. I saved the screenshot of the graphic.

Originally Posted by nandadevieast

The article also clubs Lenin with Hitler, calling them serpents.

Such is the bias.

It does carry some bias, but as I mentioned it is more balanced than the initial biased articles in western media. I am surprised to see this tone in a prominent western media. As they say - there is no smoke without fire. There should have been some awakening among the western scholars to realities of sanctions and prolonging the conflicts.

If there is a madman in the streets with gun blazing in hand, what should someone do to minimise the damage and take control of the situation? Shouting that the madman will be banned from society or announcing in megaphone that he will be arrested and tried for crime or cornering him and thinking you have gained upper hand?? will any of these help cool down the madman who has nothing to loose? Clearly, the US, UK and EU are doing more damage to the situation than helping to calm the conflict. Inturn, they are bringing on economic devastation and possible large scale conflict onto themselves.

Timing of this IMF working paper couldn't have been better: (its about errosion of dollar dominance)
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/...itional-515150

At some point last month, the US and Allies might have thought, lets sanction this madman and pump up Ukraine with more weapons - it wouldn't last more than a few weeks is what most might have thought. Now, the tables seems to have turned - everyone in the west must be thinking , how long this is going to last? Or more precisely how long can we last without getting ourselves choked?

As I mentioned in my previous post, the raging madman doesn't just have a gun but a whole suit of arsenal, including nukes, under his coat. So, unless one takes him down with a precisely placed sniper shot, enraging him with words or actions is the least desirable thing to do. Instead, the strategy should have been to fool him into thinking that he is in control of the whole situation. Evacuate the citizens from Ukraine to minimise collateral damage, let the fight go on while you lay traps silently. Wait till the madman lets his guard down slightly and then take him down with a precisely placed shot - easier said than done but that is more logical move than placing sanctions and shouting scares. But sadly, it seems neither US nor West had nothing more than short sighted selfish interests to begin with and now they are in a position where they can't withdraw or change to a better course of action. The world is divided between a deep sea and a devil.

[Aloneatma]

This is a beginning of a new world order. Western hegemony has been threatened and the west doesn't like it. The west has been the bully for centuries, altering the destinies of unsuspecting nations, and now it's their turn. You sow as you reap. Its not about vindicating Russian aggression. It's about a nation decisively taking a step to protect its sovereignty. Any cornered animal will attack it's predator. In this case Russia decided enough is enough and called out the NATO's bluff. The world is divided over this supposedly dastardly act of Russia. Many aren't even surprised. India for once, saw this was coming and got its priorities on point.

So much information has been exchanged on this thread that its boggling going through all of it. But if you sieve all the data diligently what crystallizes is that the world will definitely witness a shift in a balance of power. Its a subtle shift, nevertheless perceptible. Most world leaders are aware of this but no one wants to stick one's neck out.

China and Russia on one side. US, UK and EU on the other. Most of Africa couldn't care less about this fracas. Same goes for South America.

Counties like Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Australia and others are still not impacted as much as their western counterparts.

That focuses everyone's attention on INDIA. Never before, in the last few decades, has India come under so much scrutiny.

Why?

Because the world and international community feel that India matters. This is what India has achieved. Prominence. The west desperately wants, needs, India to put it's weight to their cause, whereas Russia and it's tacit allies, wants it to reshape the world order.

A very tricky tight rope walk for India. So far India has managed to maintain its balanced position with aplomb. But going forward it's going to get very messy. Its 30 days into the war with no signs of abating. The pressure on the international community will only increase.

I mean sustaining this kind of a scenario is debilitating to most nations. I foresee a lot of cracks and fissures appear in international relations in the coming days. Its going to be every nation fending for itself, which can get chaotic as so many nations depend on so many other countries for sustenance, thanks to international trade.

I strongly believe that India will play a significant role in reshaping the world order as right now it's the only major economy that is close to both the west and the east.

[volkman10]

VPN CEOs are making some services free in Russia because Russians have no way to pay.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine one month ago, traffic to virtual private network (VPN) service Windscribe from users in Russia has increased by a factor of twenty

VPN lets users circumvent Russia’s tightening internet restrictions by masking their locations and hiding their identities, the boom in Russian users is a positive development for his company even as other tech firms and multinationals race to cut ties to Russia over its Ukraine invasion.

Link

[SnS_12]

Originally Posted by Aloneatma

I strongly believe that India will play a significant role in reshaping the world order as right now it's the only major economy that is close to both the west and the east.

India definitely knew or at least read the signs that a shift from USD is on the cards. RBI Governor Mr. Das says in the below video that we already started diversifying in other currencies six months back.

https://youtu.be/7GwKLGCDRpA

I had mentioned earlier in this thread that 2022 may go down in history when the East started rising and West started sinking and India will play a big part in it. The current inflow of Foreign high level delegates is a sign that India’s dominance on the world stage is growing compared to what Biden is doing who went an attended a EU summit in Europe which many consider back home a sign of weakness and on top of that he embarrassed himself and America yet again by saying that sanctions will be though on EU and other countries and we will see more rise in price and food shortages in the coming days

[shancz]

YouTube has blocked WION from uploading anything for 7 days because they broadcasted the Russian foreign minister's speech after the Ukrainian foreign minister's. And to top it off they've blocked only WION whereas Reuters and France24 did the same.

So in the argument of neutrality, transparency and equality, this is incorrect. Now the whole argument of propagating only one side of the story is quite apparent.
They are making their case worse, expected something better from them.

So YouTube/Big Tech with Chinese characteristics is the future
Smart move to remove the "do no evil" clause.

While this might appear OT but it isn't, Information Warfare is a veritable arm in this conflict.
Highlights the risk of being totally dependent on a small group of platforms for info.

PS : Astonished by the pace at which this thread grew ! Will take time to catch up

[aim120]

Youtube desperately needed a excuse, funny the head of google and microsoft are Indian born. The moment they get their green cards and US citizenship, they will put their own mother under the bus.
Yet, they are happy to receive Padma Bushan awards.

Many a times chrome browser doesn't open RT but opens up in other browsers.
Sputnik news website also is not opening in India.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by shancz

YouTube has blocked WION from uploading anything for 7 days because they broadcasted the Russian foreign minister's speech after the Ukrainian foreign minister's. And to top it off they've blocked only WION whereas Reuters and France24 did the same.

So in the argument of neutrality, transparency and equality, this is incorrect. Now the whole argument of propagating only one side of the story is quite apparent.
They are making their case worse, expected something better from them.

So YouTube/Big Tech with Chinese characteristics is the future
Smart move to remove the "do no evil" clause.

To be honest, I have found WION coverage of most events to be incomplete, and that is putting it mildly.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on Russia's blockade on several independent sources of news except those that are state owned? Even Russia's own independent news channels have chosen to close down rather than parrot what Putin wants them to say.

Putin doesnt even let anyone call it a war! It is a "special operation"!

[FrozeninTime]

Following is the impact of war:

1. This war has shown how much West has influence on Global economy and if you don't toe the line then you are out of their sphere. It will slowly lead to decoupling of globalised economy.

2. Western Nations can tolerate war anywhere except if it's in their neighborhood and will do anything to stop war.

3.Switzerland and Sweden for very first time in history have shed their neutrality and this will have far reaching consequences.

4. By supplying weapons to Ukraine they are prolonging war.After war, where these weapons will end up we don't know.

5. Climate goals are going to be affected in long run.

6.Increased allocation for Military has already started in EU member countries and mostly benefit EU arms suppliers.

Offtopic
In 2018, Alex Jones and Infowars were removed by Big Tech YouTube and Facebook from their platform without any Court order. That showed power of Big Tech.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by amitoj

.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on Russia's blockade on several independent sources of news except those that are state owned? Even Russia's own independent news channels have chosen to close down rather than parrot what Putin wants them to say.

Putin doesnt even let anyone call it a war! It is a "special operation"!

That is expected of Putin, after all he is an autocrat isn't it?

But democratic nations and democratic institutions have democratic principles to uphold isn't it? Otherwise what is the difference between the two. The recent actions by western nations, be it Canada during the trucker protests or be it US/western block during this war raises severe questions. This is not how democracies are supposed to work.