[...] Located at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri rivers, this island of around 300 square kilometers has long been a subject of dispute between the two countries. In 1929, Russia occupied the island and prohibited China from navigating that part of the Amur River, which Beijing has always contested. In 2004, however, the two countries reached a compromise: The western part of the island went to China, which could also navigate on the Amur River, but in return, Beijing accepted that the eastern part would go to Russia.
[...] Located at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri rivers, this island of around 300 square kilometers has long been a subject of dispute between the two countries. In 1929, Russia occupied the island and prohibited China from navigating that part of the Amur River, which Beijing has always contested. In 2004, however, the two countries reached a compromise: The western part of the island went to China, which could also navigate on the Amur River, but in return, Beijing accepted that the eastern part would go to Russia.
If Russia decides to start an armed conflict with Europe/"The West", then this is what will most likely happen.
Xi and his cabinet are only interested in widening "the central kingdom", and unlike Putin, Xi is no fool.
If it happens, Russia is facing economies it cannot oppose and it will lose. At that point, Xi will help Europe in some way, and as Russia loses - and loses hard - certain Eurasian oblasts and republics will be absorbed into China...
..which is good for those republics and oblasts, because Russia dgaf about them. Their only reason to exist is to give Moscow taxes, with no services or infrastructure levied can, something that will also help to motivate these oblasts and republics from Russia.
I'd love to see a comparison of manufacturing times for various things pre- and post-invasion
Like how long did it take to build a single su-37 before, and how long would I take now?
If I had to guess, I'd say it takes way longer to replace them nowadays, so basically every jet lost is a virtually permanent (for the purposes of this particular war anyway) loss. They can't possibly be building them faster than they've been getting destroyed.
One of the fund's main responsibilities is to support the Russian pension system, and since the closure of the Reserve Fund also funds budget deficits.
Russians might not be too happy if their pension gets slashed or stops showing up.
A few years back, Russia tried effectively reducing what the pension paid out via increasing the retirement age.
An intention to hike the national retirement age and the more so a final decision to launch the reform have drastically downed the rating of the president Vladimir Putin and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev in Russia. In July 2018, just 49% would vote for Putin if the presidential elections were held in that moment; during the elections in March, he got 76.7%.[6][7]
Putler successfully navigated the country he is stealing from into being a Chinese colony. Well done, I'm sure now you'll get the respect from the world you always wanted...
A lot of bad news for Russia on the economic front. The oil price cap being enforced hurts, the wealth fund is down a lot. That is despite 2022 having had record profits. Russia cutting gasoline exports again is also really good news. As is the oil price cap being enforced.
Russia is at 50billion$ left in their fund. That is gone very quickly. Especially with falling oil prices.
@3volver@0x815
Yes, I've been keeping an eye on it. It's not really exchangeable anymore. Technically it is, but nobody outside Russia wants to touch it. It's pretty tough in Russia now. People don't want to spend their money.
For personal context: I was a kid during the Iraqi invasion under dubya, and I remember being shocked when we reported 20 casualties in the daily npr report
Russia's been engaged in total war for over a year. Ever city they've 'taken' has been a blasted out skeleton where shell craters and collapsed city blocks replaced the civilization that was there before. Their only tactical achievements have been made under the rain of enormous amounts of artillery. And the US's fucking coward right wing fuckstick shitstains in congress are letting it happen unanswered. We could be helping Ukraine win this war and instead the GOP is playing games with ukrainian existence. It's ridiculous and disgraceful, which I guess is the GOP way but still makes me sick.
@mojofrododojo@andyburke
I can tell you that we in Europe think the US has lost the plot. They don't seem to have anything working, and can't make decisions. A whole generation of politicians need to die out and be replaced, before much will get better.
I don't blame you for that feeling, I feel we've lost the plot too. I despise trump, of course, but the mewling shitkids he's got in the house - people like Mungry Taylor Green who are exactly the kind of isolationist assholes who tried to keep the US out of WW2 when it was obviously going to happen. They're apologists for strongmen and traitors to democracy.
Yeah that's the difference between Russia's total war and US's full spectrum doctorines. Russia just mashes bodies and equipment at the enemy in hopes to starve the enemy out. The US will not act until it's confident it can rapidly secure all aspects of the warzone - air, sea, cyber, land. Once they're setup to commit though, they tend to shock and awe from combined arms to seize key land and assets really quickly forcing the enemy to react or most often surrender to the overwhelming force.
The US one is contingent on minimal loss of its force unlike the Russian one where it's a feature not a bug. So seeing 20 dead for us is pretty shocking where the Russians may lose 400 in the same timeframe.
charter97.org
Oldest