As a way to create jobs, EC President Charles Michel promotes a war economy. Where that would lead is obvious. I have a suggestion.
Michel’s Rosy War Economy
Eurointelligence discusses Michel’s Rosy War Economy
What Michel wants concretely is EU targets to buy twice as much weapons from European defence producers by 2030; to use the profits from Russian frozen assets to finance weapons purchases for Ukraine; to facilitate financial access for European defence industry, including by issuing a European defence bond and getting the European Investment Bank to add defence purposes to its lending criteria. Michel sells it to us as a way to create jobs and growth. It is to provide more clarity to companies with multi-annual defence contracts to increase their capacities. And by investing in defence industry, the EU is boosting its technology and innovation, a confident Michel reassures us.
What Michel talks about is not a European Union we recognise any more – nor one that would work in practice. Perhaps that will be Vladimir Putin’s greatest triumph that he changed the DNA of our union.
The attempt to base economic integration and economic stimulus on defence creates precedents. If we build up a defence industry, we need conflicts to feed them. Beyond Ukraine, will we do the same for Georgia? Would we want our economy to depend on wars in Africa to prop up our GDP growth data? If the US decides to retreat, does that mean we need to pick up where the US left?
Michel wants a geopolitical Europe, and finishes his letter with the familiar cold war phrase that if you want peace you need to prepare for war. This is not a cold war but a hot war in Ukraine. Are those weapons in Michel’s war economy to speak for our failures in diplomacy? What is our historic contribution to this conflict? Should we not start from there?
The language Michel uses is dramatic and dangerous. Some of our older citizens still remember what it means to live in a war economy. Michel’s loose talk is disrespectful. And it is insincere to suggest that we need a war economy to help Ukraine. He focusses on the bright side of this war, the solidarity the EU shows with Ukraine and the economic growth that could come from an increasingly thriving defence economy. Michel is deliberately ignoring the dark side of this war, with the many tough life-and-death decisions to be taken. Just look at Israel to see where this has gone.
Is Michel acting alone, or is he building a case for leaders like Emmanuel Macron or the next European parliament? Macron recently talked about European troops in Ukraine and a defence union. We think this loose and un-coordinated talk is careless. It gives rise to fear narratives that the public is not in the position to judge within a rational framework. It does not solve the more fundamental disagreements amongst European countries either. Then there is the European Parliament which is expected to swing further to the right after the elections in June. We have to resist the temptation to reduce our policy options to defence-only. Europe will need to a lot more, in terms of diplomacy especially, to become a geopolitical player in its own right.
Loose, Uncoordinated, Careless, and Cheered
Zelensky: “The war will not be over as long as Crimea is occupied.”
The war will end when people decide enough is enough. And it will not be with Ukraine controlling Crimea.
A negotiated settlement is political and economic reality. Neither side will win. This has nothing to do with liking Putin, and I don’t.
With that, let’s return to reality.
European Parliament Polls in France
Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is clobbering Renew/Modem by a whopping 12 percentage points, 30-18. This is France only, not the entire parliament, but it reflects on Macron’s sinking popularity and the sinking centrists in general.
Composition of French Seats
Renew and the greens are going to get clobbered in France. The winner will be National Rally. The Greens will get clobbered everywhere.
Solidarity With Ukraine
Solidarity with Ukraine is drying up everywhere. Support is “so deep” that in the EU it died over wheat. Seriously.
How Ukraine Overcame Russia’s Grain Blockade
On February 27, 2024, the Council on Foreign Affairs explained How Ukraine Overcame Russia’s Grain Blockade
One might have thought that would lead to cheers everywhere. But something else happened.
Grain Sabotage by Polish Farmers
Please consider Ukraine Grain Tensions Rise After Sabotage by Polish Farmers.
A backlash against cheap imports has resulted in 160 tonnes of Ukrainian grain being deliberately spilt in Poland amid large-scale protests in the country against what farmers describe as unfair competition.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, described Sunday’s destruction of the corn near a Polish railway station – the fourth such incident in recent months – as an act of “impunity and irresponsibility”.
Sharing pictures of mounds of grain spilt from train wagons, he wrote on X: “These pictures show 160 tonnes of destroyed Ukrainian grain. The grain was in transit to the port of Gdansk and then to other countries.
“The fourth case of vandalism at Polish railway stations. The fourth case of impunity and irresponsibility.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later warned: “If steps to solve the problem with Poland at the border are not found, we will protect our business.”
Solidarity with Ukraine is so deep that Zelenskyy is warning Poland “we will protect our business.”
It’s not just Poland. Farmers across the EU are hopping mad over Ukrainian wheat and corn.
Europe’s Support for Ukrainian Wheat Gets Farmers Even Angrier
Bloomberg reports Europe’s Support for Ukrainian Wheat Gets Farmers Even Angrier
A move by the EU this week to extend free trade measures with Ukraine has poured fuel on the already growing frustration among grain producers from Poland to France. A provisional deal early on March 20 to suspend duties and quotas for another year means Ukraine would be able to continue to sell wheat in the common market of 27 European countries.
Ukraine is only one of the worries for European farmers, and the country isn’t to blame for the tumble in wheat prices. Imports, though, have become a rallying point. The disquiet presents a challenge for politicians as they balance priorities at home with support for Kyiv against Russia’s invasion.
Poland, where farmers blocked more than 500 roads again this week, threatened to extend its grain ban and even halt flows of wheat to other countries in the EU. “We are flooded by Ukrainian grains, and the government needs to find a solution,” said OPZZ farming union leader Slawomir Izdebski.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron has made support for Ukraine central to his campaign to thwart the rise of the far right at European elections in June. His government has been working to appease farmers, rolling out concessions ranging from fuel costs to pesticides and green rules.
It appears Macron’s Green principles go as far as the European elections in June.
His appeasement is far too little and far too late.
By the way, have any of these solidarity candidates thought through the idea of allowing Ukraine in the EU where it would be able to sell wheat freely?
Ukraine Won’t Win the War, It’s Time for a New Strategy
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is refusing to send Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
On March 16, I commented Ukraine Won’t Win the War, It’s Time for a New Strategy
SPD Now Openly Supports Partition of Ukraine
I do no not have details of that because it’s behind a paywall. But it is from Eurointelligence, a source I trust for accuracy, but not philosophically. The latter because it is very pro-EU, and I am not.
The political reality in the west is that political support for Ukraine aid is falling. In Germany barely half of the population supports weapon deliveries according to a recent poll. In Italy, support is even lower. With the return of fiscal austerity, support for Ukraine is starting to compete with domestic policies.
You might call the Congressional Republicans irresponsible. But they would not be doing this if a large majority of the US electorate supported Ukraine.
When total victory is no longer a realistic option, the second-best outcome is to avoid defeat.
There’s Solidarity, Then There’s Solidarity
Poll after poll shows support for Ukraine. Every one of then is flawed because they fail to ask “how much are you willing to pay.”
There’s solidarity in the EU, but it stops with wheat and weapons.
In the US, Biden is desperate for the war to go on. But he still has no goal. Is Biden’s goal the same as Zelensky’s: “The war will not be over as long as Crimea is occupied.”
We don’t know because Biden won’t say. Biden also will not say how much he is willing to commit. Is it another $150 billion or is it $1 trillion or more?
Lindsey Graham Tells Ukraine to Force More Young Men Into War With Russia
Political jackass Lindsey Graham travels to Kyiv and tells Ukraine to Force More Young Men Into War With Russia
Senator Graham visited Ukraine and made an ass of himself, proving he do so on multiple continents.
I have a suggestion that would fix the problem: Lindsey Graham should lead the charge along with EC President Charles Michel.
Meanwhile, prepare for carnage of the center, Greens, and warmongers in the next European Parliament elections.
Strataland: “The quickest way to lessen the death of thousands, is to aggressively compel a settlement as soon as possible.”
Totally agree. But that’s too logical. Many more will have to die before the obvious becomes acceptable.
RAND Corporation published a convincing research piece over a year ago saying a negotiated settlement was the only way this conflict ends. It is pretty telling when a federally funded research and development center breaks ranks with its sponsor’s official policy decision….
Don’t worry. Zalensky is recruiting 500,000 more men. Whatever he gets this is the last conscription. After that no men left to fight. There will be no support left. There will be no battle in 2025.
Shooting at russia is stupid, so you should do that, like, never times. They already said that any country providing material aid or soldiers to support ukraine could and would be considered direct parties to the conflict. NATO should be sunsetted so nobody gets any bright ideas. We’re in missile wars now…short/medium/long…possibility of nookers.
“It appears Macron’s Green principles go as far as the European elections in June.”
The issue with the principles of modern Green parties is that they aren’t well thought out. I know, I have talked a lot with members of my local Green Party. And while I have a lot of sympathy for their aims, they simply never worked out the implications of anything.
A true Green policy, worked out from the basics, would begin with ensuring that basic needs are well covered. That means, among other things, talking with farmers about what they need in order to keep their operations going. It’s all well and good, for example, to hope that pesticides aren’t needed, but the reality is that farmers use pesticides because crop yields aren’t anywhere near the same without them. Any regulations on farming need to be done with people that are very knowledgeable about best farming practices, so that farmers aren’t given pressure that they can’t withstand, and those that need support to implement best farming practices get that support.
The Polish “farmers” are a Russian disinformation/subversion operation.
Russian grain flows into Poland via Belarus no problem.
Why aren’t the “farmers” blocking that?
Why are some of the “farmers” flying Soviet hammer & sickle flags on their tractors?
Why do the “farmers” stop border traffic into & out of Ukraine, not just stop incoming grain?
The answers to these questions is who’s paying the “farmers”, which is Russia.
There will be no negotiations; the notion that no one will win is passé.
Who will be party to such negotiations?
Ukraine will collapse because it has run out of men & means, and will capitulate.
The West will have no voice.
= france and Russia
why once 100 or 200 years some french w/ obv. SEXUAL deviations need to attack biggest country in Europe?
napoleon, macron, etc??
i wonder
ukraine must return to natural borders of 1654 when small region along Dnepro river became part of Russian empire (voluntary) and war will be over in 1 min.
you cant blame communists and Russia tsars for everything after they gave modern Ukraine 90% of all lands for last almost 400 years!
did you know Russian empire BOUGHT WHOLE KIEV CITY AND ALL population from
ancient Poland in 1686???
Russians paid 146 000 rubles ( gold ones i guess)
it is true. look it up. it is called Truce of Andrusovo !!!!
wiki / Truce_of_Andrusovo
“If Ukraine can neutralize Russia’s ability to block grain shipments through the Black Sea and can keep shipping lanes open, Moscow will lose a powerful source of leverage in any future peace negotiations,” retired Marine Corps Colonel Mark Cancian writes for Foreign Affairs.
———-
was he retarted or retired ??
when you read that kind of BS from =etired Marine Corps Colonel= , USA based i think , you do understand why military in the world considered morons!!
no exceptions.!!
———-
Russia dont need block anything!!!
THERE IS A ONE SIMPLE WAY TO STOP ANY SHIPMENTS and this is :
blow off civil ships in or out Ukraine ports!!! before or afte loading.
Russia does have a lots subs in Black sea. so it is piece of cake!!
THAT WAS GERMAN DID DURING WW2!
QUESION is why Russia did no do anything like this??
any reasonable and astute person knows!!!
======
Russia has a huge geo. problem on its hands called Kalingrad. why?
cause Russia or Belarussia DONT HAVE land link to this (former Keninsberg) region.
so Russia needs Poland and baltics to move stuff in and out region.
other way – using Baltic sea! not fun sailing during winter!!!
so if Russia bomb Ukraine ships outside ports, Western (nato) countries stop Kalinigrad transit.
alx
Look, it’s easy to resolve this. All that we need is for Putin to call his troops back and give up on conquering Ukraine.
what Ukraine? you meant ukraine solialist republic , part Of USSR?
——
look there is even easier solution.
ukraine returns to natural borders of 1654 when small region along Dnepro river became part of Russian empire (voluntary) and war will be over in 1 min.
you cant blame communists and Russia tsars for everything after they gave modern Ukraine 90% of all lands for last almost 400 years!
alx
So the French think they can beat Russia? ASK NAPOLEAN
Putin has Made Russia Great Again – MRGA!
Our overlords just want a war to reduce the population and make billions in war they do not have to fight in, but the little people will be sacrificed.
The Dow is hugging 40K.
If they had the internet and credit cards 100 years ago in Weimar then they wouldn’t have needed the wheelbarrows.
The higher stocks go the deeper they ll fall at one point ! Wanna bet ?
For 5 months I provide data, that most of u have no access to. If u don’t like it ==> read Tom Friedman.
Here is an interesting story about Macron’s blow hard statements and how Russia will respond.
link to zerohedge.com
a War Economy?
Europe has zero soldiers & zero practical military capacity.
What good will a ‘war economy’ do when there are zero soldiers & zero real officers to operate the weapons?
Europe is DELUSIONAL. Cut them loose. The USA should end the “EU charity project”, like, yesterday… asap.
BTW your comments regarding Ukrainian grain in Poland is… slightly misguided.
Ukrainian grain is supposed to travel in transit through Poland to Polish ports, into ships and to final export destinations, mostly in Africa and Arabic world.
But somehow some Ukrainian grain manages to change identity within Poland to transform into EU grain. Only much cheaper. This problem is mostly internal Polish problem and this is main issue that Polish farmers are protesting.
The issue is that cheap Ukraine grain will put Polish farmers put of business. And all other EU farmers
As if the Eurostrash human garbage of the EU care about farmers.
Who needs food, when you can virtue signal all day.
I’ve read foods are expensive in Europe and living standard is getting worse.
Am I right?
Which grains have the Roundup and atrazine?
It baffles me that Ukraine and the US remain steadfast in policies that result in the mass killing of people. I am in no way a Putin supporter. I am a human life supporter. The quickest way to lessen the death of thousands, is to aggressively compel a settlement as soon as possible. In a settlement, neither side will win. Ukraine is going to have to give up some territory and Russia must stop advancing. The killing will not stop until the shooting stops. How many more Ukrainians will die because of Zelensky’s asinine policies bolstered by US arms and financial support? A negotiated settlement is a political, economic and military reality. They need to get to it.
It also baffles me that not one congressional leader who is opposed to further military aid to Ukraine, has brought up the enormous costs that will be needed to rebuild Ukraine. All this discussion about billions more in military aid with no regard for the massive costs to rebuild.
There is nothing special or important about human life compared to any other life on this planet. People will quickly be born to replace those that have died.
Which country US rebuild? Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Libya, African countries, Vietnam.
Only destruction. No profit for MICC.
“If you want peace you need to prepare for war” is not a cold war phrase, like claims the Eurointelligence article.
Is an Ancient Rome proverb. “Si vis pacem, para bellum” in latin.
True and old wisdom.
If the nostrums about appeasement and deterrence were true, it would mean negotiation, compromise, and diplomacy are never a solution.
Try this in your personal life, just insist outright all the time that your interests must prevail at all costs.
Politicians like Michel have zero self-awareness. Their ability to move to a war footing is fatally hampered by the economic sanctions they themselves placed on their enemy, Russia. We’re supposed to believe that rapidly deindustrilizing countries like Germany are somehow going to reindustrialize without access to cheap Russian energy? Only at tremendous cost that their broken budgets can’t sustain.
Even after war in Ukraine is over, with Russia it will not be business as usual.
Energy is plentiful, Russia can send its gas to China (if it can build the infrastructure, good luck with that).
Check out European gas prices. They are back down to what they were before Russia invaded. Europe does very nicely without Russian energy. Now we will see how much Ukraine can cut Russian oil and gas exports.
Germany’s industrial collapse suggests otherwise.
Mish,
Why must you always state I don’t like Putin. Much of the reason people don’t like Putin is because of the lies told about him. When you want to start a war in a Democracy, the first thing you do is vilify the other side.
The US loved Yeltsin but look at how the Russian people suffered under him. Life expectancy dropped 5 years. Putin came in a turned things around. The standard of living has grown dramatically in the last 20 years.
Look at our leaders and what they’ve done for the the American people. What a dismal failure: exported jobs, imported illegals, eess wars for Israel, the plandemic, …
I like Putin. He is a great man who loves his country and has resurrected it from the ash heap of history. Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden are all idiot pretenders selling America out to the highest bidder ( big pharma, the Israeli Lobby, the MIC, …) I wish we would get a man the calibre of Putin for President instead of the used car salesman type that we always endure with.
Putin is the most sortsighted russian in history. He is killing slavic brothers while traditional enemies, China and Turkey, are laughing and awaiting the best moment to get the spoils.
Delusional ukronazi ^
Sorry, but I do not support people who fire missiles at civilians as Putin has done.
We fire missiles at civilians all the time and call it collateral damage.
I think that may be Ukrainian propaganda. Sure a lot of Ukrainians are dying, but, Putin tried multiple times for a peaceful resolution to no avail. The West thought they could defeat Russia and carve it up for its resources. Well they figured wrong. Both the US and Zelensky are continuing to push this stupid war even though the outcome was known early on. It is they that are responsible for these deaths.
If anyone is great, they don’t need to subvert the will of their own people. If anyone is great, they don’t prevent anyone from running against them in an election, and they humbly accept winning or losing. If anyone is great, they don’t debase the currency of their country and people. If anyone is great, they don’t intimidate or kill anyone who criticizes them.
Ouch, what do we see here? Anti-Ukraine propaganda production went into daily overdrive?
What is underlying cause for this? Increased European support for Ukraine? I think you said yourself few weeks ago that Europe not USA should case about Ukraine?
Or um… recent ‘smoking incidents’ in Russian oil industry?
I can tell you what happened in Europe. Putin and Trump jointly managed to (finally) scare old good Europe out of complacent slumber. 70 years from WW2 till now Europe relied to US to solve all and any problems. And assumed US will play this role forever. But last remarks by Trump broke spell finally. Europeans started to scratch their heads: “heck maybe Trump really means what he is saying”.
BTW, your fascination with Europarlament elections is completely misplaced. Europarlament is one of those EU institutions that have fancy titles and can produce fancy documents but their real influence is very limited.
Imminent danger causes you to focus the mind.
Putin only invaded Ukraine when Trump was not President, e.g., Crimea when Obama was President and the Donbass and other Eastern Ukrainian regions after Biden took office. He made zero moves against Ukraine when Trump was in office. Perhaps they should hope for another Trump term. And perhaps you should speak to farmers across the EU about how “limited” the power of the European Parliament is in their lives.
Maybe Putin would have done it under a Trump presidency anyway. We now know that preparations had been going on for quite some time. Since Trump was not president at the time we will never know.
What we do know is that Putin only invaded Ukraine when Democrats were President. That’s objective truth with zero speculation.
Just a coincidence probably.
You really think major decisions costing billions of dollars and huge losses of life are coincidences? That’s absurd and once again total speculation. The fact is Putin invaded Ukraine twice, both times with Democrat Presidents no matter how inconvenient that fact is to your worldview.
Timing is not coincidence but depends on logistics and Russia was still building his army. Covid delayed it also.
Sure. Democrats are never accountable.
Delusional ^
So Putin invaded Ukraine when Trump was in office? OK, then.
“Trump says he would encourage Russia to ‘do whatever the hell they want’ to any NATO country that doesn’t pay enough” (Feb 10, 2024 headline)
This Trump comment was final straw that finally convinced some European leadership that Trump is serious after all.
Irrelevant. Putin only invaded when Obama and Biden were in office. Actions mean more than words.
@Ted.Starchild….when you mention about a President actually meaning what he says, I remember back in the 1980s that the Soviet Union was extremely interested in Reagan. They wanted to see if he was going to back up his words about firing all of the Professional-Air-Traffic Controllers (PATCO) union that was on strike. The Soviets didn’t give a hoot about the controllers and their strike, but they were interested in Reagan’s resolve. Reagan fired all of the controllers. The Soviets were stunned. They thought Reagan was just bluffing. They respected his word after that incident.
Michel is not talking about a war economy. We leave that to the Russians. The EU is seriously scared as much by Trump as it is by Putin. Trump pulling the plug on Nato would be a very rude awakening for Europe.
European countries spend on average 1.5% of gdp on defense and that needs to go to perhaps 3%. Hardly a war economy.
As in many countries the leaders in charge do not want to tell the population the sad truth (more cannons less butter) then the EU might do it. By issuing common debt, the EU can kill three birds with one stone: pay for needed military capabilities, move closer to a fiscal union, create an embryo of a common defence policy.
Last but not least: deter Putin.
You forgot the fourth bird the EU can kill: the sovereignty of individual European countries to make their own decisions. Common debt means the need for pan-European taxes from the EU.
@ NC,,,the old “All-for-one…One for all”
Just like socialism/communism.
We are not talking a common army here. We are talking pooling resources.
Common debt may need taxes, alright, but not European taxes.
How in the world does the EU repay common bonds without common European taxes?
Sort of like in 1789 under the new Constitution the US government put on tariffs to finance the government. Before under the Artiles of Confederation the government couldn’t levy taxes and had to beg the states for money.
Or as Ben Frankin said, “We must hang together or we will all hang separately.”
That’s fine in a representative Republic with shared values, not so great across multiple countries with multiple cultures and beliefs.
Nevertheless, it is happening.
Sure, and it’s happening to the detriment of the common citizens of European countries.
The EU and the ECB set up the means to finance the buildup by issuing bonds guaranteed by the EU as a whole. That was a landmark and shows that they are deadly serious and the subsequent funding will be larger than what most people realize. The EU is tightening rather than falling apart as some people expected and hoped. Hungry is an outer but hasn’t been able to stop nor reverse the trajectory and hasn’t really even tried when you look under the hood.
The EU is not tightening. Farmers and other citizens across the EU are engaging in mass protests in multiple countries regarding EU environmental and immigration policies. Nationalist/Euroskeptic parties are making significant gains and will only grow over the next few years.
Pathetic reality detachment disorder.
2/3 of German manufacturing businesses have either shut down or will leave Germany soon, because of the idiotic sanctions put on Russian energy. Its called suicide by stupidity.
EU support requires a single digit IQ, as evidenced by your comment’s.
I fully support the EU staying the course. It hastens their demise.
That’s what Russian TV claims.
And reality.
Doug, you wouldnt recognize a fact if you tripped over it:
“German living standards plummeted after Russia invaded Ukraine, say economists”
“Energy price shocks had a huge knock-on effect, with real wages falling further in 2022 than any year since 1950, says report.”
link to theguardian.com
” In a joint paper designed to underline the depth of the economic crisis in Europe’s erstwhile powerhouse, two former economic advisers to the German government have said that real wages in the country slumped further in 2022 than in any year since 1950.
A failure to protect German industry from the energy price spike may turn the 2020s into “a lost decade for Germany” and further fuel the rise of the populist far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the authors warned in a working paper published by the Forum for a New Economy.”
Note, this is the woketard Guardian, NOT the Russian media. It must have slipped by the editors by mistake.
Of course it took a hit because of energy prices going through the roof. Russia expected the Germans and Europeans to freeze and they didn’t because they sourced elsewhere. Now prices are back down to where they were before and the dip is over. Russians really expected Germany and Europe to come crawling back but they gave a big middle finger to Putin and completely revamped their energy sector within one year. Growth rebounded in 2023 and will grow more in 2024. The Guardian article in about 2022 and not about now.
Always delusional. Once a company leaves, they are gone, no jobs, no taxes. Just 1 example:BASF used to have over 45 major industrial sites in Germany, employing over 7,000,000 people directly and indirectly through their supply chains. Now they are on-track to employ 0 in Germany, but for a few salesmen, as they move all production to China, where they will buy cheap gas (from Russia, ha ha ha) and make those chemical products.
The USA cut off the Russian gas, with the idiiotic sanctions, and by blowing up the Nordstream Pipeline. With allies like the US, who needs enemies?
You can twist yourself into mental pretzels trying to blame ths on Russia,if it makes you feel better. Russia reliably supplied Germany with cheap gas for 30 years, until this war was started by NATO in 2013, as admitted by NATO Chief Potato Stoltenburg. The German manufacturing economy was built on this fact. Now Germans can enjoy watching their economy implode, which is well deserved for being the clueless liberals they are. I have a few Germans at my work, good engineers, but idiotic liberals in all other ways.
This is not a “hit” Doug, this is economic suicide by self-inflicted stupidity. Or as liberals call it, “progress”.
If Europe doesn’t expand its arms business, China will gladly sell. To keep Chinese military influence out of Europe, there cannot be market for their products.
Chinese military equipment is even worse than Russia’s. Nobody is buying it.
Russian equipment is defeating NATO equipment on the battlefields and there are multiple stories in the Western media acknowledging the quality of the new Russian equipment. One can acknowledge that reality even as they disapprove of Putin’s ruthlessness.
Like what equipment exactly?
Check out the fate of Challenger and Abrams tanks and Patriot missile systems. Look into the efficacy of the Iskander missile.
I am looking at what happened to the T-90’s being taken out by a Bradley and the Patriots take down Kinzhal and Iskander missiles with no problem. Russian military equipment sales collapsed last year because everyone could see its bad performance across the board. Putin really sold you a dream.
Europe is switching to a war economy, while threatening Israel. Special forces raided Shifa hospital 4 days ago at 2AM. This special op will cont for a few more days. Five months ago it took weeks to destroy Shifa’s tunnels, command centers and ammunition depot. This week, in 20 min. Navy Seals raided the Qatar section and arrested “very senior” leaders. 500 were arrested. Among them 360 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists. Those who raise their hands and drop their weapon survive. They provide info. Hamas didn’t expect an attack on Shifa hospital during the Ramadan bc Biden and the European leaders gang on Israel.
Fiction from our local zionist stooge.
Do the French have leftover uniforms with tin buttons from the Moscow winter of 1812?
^ ZioN a z i
A war economy is built on?? MORE DEBT. A war economy cannot lead to true GDP growth.
With what raw materials, steel, titanium, energy, etc , is Europe going to feed its war industry, when it has cut itself off from russian gas?? The Global South/Global Majority control most of the remaining resources of most vital raw materials.
Europe needs to grow up and realise that Russia should be their Best Friend – which would also negate any necessity for a war.
Who will be named Il Duce?
That would be Lukashenko.
Europe isn’t girding for war. Europe is naked on main street. They need a larger force in order not to be humiliated by Chuck and Biden.
The EU, after sucking the life out of the peace economy, is ready to shift to a war economy to exploit. Visionaries are no longer needed.
The Zelensky regime is literally the worst government on earth because no other government has a goal of exterminating its population – not even North Korea. This is the plain meaning of “to the last drop”, “to the last Ukrainian” and so on.
This policy ensures Russia’s security, not by treaty or negotiation, but by demographic extinction such that Ukraine will be eliminated as a threat permanently. And it’s no joke as the conscription officers are kidnapping workers immediately found at construction sites.
So… What is Russian goal? To outdo Holocaust and kill millions of Ukrainians in Ukraine? By now even dumbest person should have been realized that Ukrainians very pointedly Do Not Want to be ruled by Russians.
Then why did the citizens of the Donbass and Crimea vote to be independent of Ukraine and aligned with Russia? The vast majority of citizens in eastern Ukraine are ethnically Russian and speak Russian, not Ukrainian. Don’t presume to speak for all Ukrainians.
The vast majority of citizens in eastern Ukraine speak Russian but are self-declared Ukrainians NOT Russians. Highest percentage of self-declared Russian nationals in some spot in Eastern Ukraine was 37% in most recent census.
Heck even fighters in so called “nazi” Azov battalion spoke in Russian between themselves. According to your claim they should love Putin and Kremlin automatically?
Any votes conducted by Kremlin administration in Ukrainian territories was complete fraud. We know that in some cases Russian officials not even bothered to count “votes” or even to really organized voting process. Because what is point to do job if you are inventing numbers anyway?
Umm no. Idiot.
Sounds like they learned from Biden
Odd how they vote to join Russia every time, when asked.
Galicians, no, but they were never part of Russia anyway. Have you ever actually spoken to a Ukrainian?
There are 2 of them at my workplace, they agree with me on all of it.
Charles Michel is a fckn disaster of an ex Belgian politician that after messing up nationally, got a cushy parasitic EU job thanks to his father Louis, a shrewd corrupt politician within the maffia run french speaking region of Belgium ,la Wallonie they call it….In order to become some kind of a president within the idiotic parasitic EU circus one has to be a utterly worthless crony , that much should be obvious by now….Our equally( flemish) belgian Guy verhofstadt no matter how desperately he wanted to become president in order to give an extra boost to his grifter’s existence never made it as he was probably considered too smart and influencial, merely allowing him to become filthy rich on the ‘sidelines ‘ ….Well, money, THAT must be what it is all about, I guess…. What corrupt bastards have joined, gowd will not put asunder …not for a while anyway ….
If u want peace prepare for a war. The war industry replaces the green industry. It reduces Europe’s dependence on Chuck & Biden. It will provide high paying jobs in the
high tech and the industrial sectors.
With what energy and metals?? Europe doesn’t produce, or control, those any more, but….Russia & Global South do!
It will also lead to more death and conflict around the world. No country builds up it’s war making capability without using it. Your path is one of cynicism and needless suffering for innocent people.
The major threat to Europe is mass migration not Russia. Well that and the feckless leadership.
100% correct. But that doesn’t feed the Biden and neocon narratives.
Let’s break some more glass storefronts. That’s always great for the economy…the glass installers, that is.
This is baffling. The only reasonable explanation is that Biden’s puppet masters want to start WW III. Putin said he would go nuclear if the West continues to provoke Russia. The West seemingly cannot stop provoking Russia. No one should be surprised if nukes start flying.
Now you reeeeally scared us!
Biden can’t state a goal. The reason is that if he does, then he (and by extension the US) will be held to that goal and if it’s not achieved then the US has to admit defeat in a war and Biden will have to take the blame for that. That’s simply not politically feasible for Biden nor is it feasible for the US to ever admit defeat again in any conflict after Vietnam (witness what was said about Afghanistan. Simply that the objective was achieved so we could withdraw without ever having stating what the objective was in the first place)
So the US will meander along in Ukraine riding whatever way the winds of approval from the US population blow with regards to the Ukraine war. Eventually when everything gets settled the US (and whomever is president at that time) will claim that the objective in Ukraine has been met so that the US can ‘win’ this conflict.
The US population is finally waking up to the fact that this is just another disastrous neocon war. All the neocon think tanks should be raided and their occupants marched to the gallows for their crimes against humanity.
I would hope so after the 20-year debacle in Afghanistan.. how much blood and treasure over 20 years.. and for what I don’t even know the cost hundreds of billions? Abandoned billions in weapons and an air base.. I hate to be right but I told people for years it was a colossal waste of money and nothing would change
link to pravda-fr.com;”Russia sent French President Emmanuel Macron a set of toy soldiers and cars for him to “play with” The gift was sent by the French Embassy in Moscow.”
The essence of the problem is psychological.
It goes back to at least WW1 which was something of a watershed in the history of wars.
If those, who drove millions of men against machine guns, were put to the wall as they deserved,
we would have fewer of these adolescent cretins running our societies.
They are unfit in time of peace, but dangerous in time of war.
The European Union is collapsing . . . this is a last ditch attempt to maintain power and they cannot afford it. . . .
What piece of BS… Alternative to EU is to have many merry inter-European wars again. And everyone in EU very very strongly do not want to go back to this practice.
Besides that… External pressure creates unity like nothing else. And right now everyone on planet tries to put some sort of pressure on EU.
Quite the straw man. Either an oppressive EU bureaucracy or inter-European wars. Is it at all conceivable that there is a third possibility?
Yes perhaps nation-state sovereignty where the leaders of their people are not run over roughshod by the EU warmongers.. perhaps a quaint notion but at least leaders like Orban and Hungary don’t want to really participate in the madness.. I think macron and France has enough issues without provoking and expanded conflict with Russia.. tough talk and expansion of the war will not end well
Here we go again! I will sit out this one.
by all means sit it out but what about the profits? Turning EU into a war footing means lots of profits for the prudent investor.
I started buying defense in the US and Europe when Russia moved two years ago.
I knew you had a little choo! choo! in ya!
It’s moolah and not choo choo.
Milk the cash cow! moo! moo!
Well, in your ‘position’ as an (ex) agent, you definitely were favored with inside information then, weren ‘ t you ?! I mean, in Mars 2022, Nazilensky, who had promised his constituency there would be no war, was eager and willing to sign peace agreements with Russia, YOUR sick US/UK warmongers gang however preferred a long lasting war, strictly forbidding any peace deals with Russia ! CONGRATULATIONS for being such a swell bunch of belligerent neo con bastards , I d say …
I will just sit back and watch you make a fool of yourself.
…whatchup…., shall we connect with watchup then,….in order to watch me , I mean…. we used to be frends before the war , remember ?
I remember I told you how the war would start before it started, that the US and especially Europe would little by arm Ukraine to the teeth and how Russia when it sees it is losing badly will be tempted to go nuclear.
Let s hope the first one falls on Paris then….slightly hitting the North east too … Paradise is gettin closer by the day…
You have no idea how to guarantee profitable investing from this. The outcomes resulting from the law of unintended consequencs for such huge changes in Europe are impossible to predict.
This conversation is reminiscent of Lindsey, Chuck, Joe and Mitt. “Who cares how many innocent people die as long as my wallet is getting fatter”
That is not what Doug is saying at all. Let me offer this translation on behalf of Doug, MPO, and PapaDave.
“I cannot do anything about this. So what investing decisions do I make to reflect what I believe is going to happen?”
That said, I do suggest we stop with the choo choo stuff.
Makes sense. Thanks for clarifying.
Investing in defense companies is a no brainer in this environment and keeping their stock prices up makes it easier for them to raise capital and barrow money to expand arms production. For the rest you do not know me or know what I have done or not have done so please no judgments on what you do not know. I support Ukraine because I hate that Putin and Russia have brought back large-scale war to a continent that I am fond of. It is just not right that they did this so I say I hope and expect Russia will lose.
I am very angry with you because I said I would sit this one out and here you go making a comment that I felt I had to answer thereby breaking my wish to sit this one out.
AI a la chip makers are defense stocks.
Yes. In this environment, high-tech innovation is going through the roof.
Incredible that your smart unbiased agent’s mind doesn t realise, or is not willing to admit rather, that this fckn war has been brought to Whorekraine and soon to the rest of Europe, by no one else but your warmonging Employer. It wasn t enough for Your Employer to have been messing up all over the Middle East in recent decades, dividing and stealing big time in the name of fckn democracy …..Not one inch to the East your Employer promised solemnly, while ejaculating all over the lush, ages old phantasy of Russia’s final demise……Nobody will get out of this unscathed I think , hope rather , especially those who really deserve to get evaporated at one point ….
Your posts have really gone downhill. You no longer try to convince but only insult. You feel it slipping away.
What these guys never acknowledge is that the law of unintended consequences for such radical economic meddling produces outcomes that are impossible to predict. It’s all an effort to sound smarter and more worldly than the average schmuck, but it comes off as a smug pose. Show me the guy who is always bragging about being ahead of the market and I’ll show you a mediocrity spouting hokum on internet blogs.