patrick.net

richwicks says

Did you know in the USSR it was basically mandatory to receive Pravda and Izvestia?

Resident Patnet Russia/USSR specialists strike again.

I lived in USSR for 20 yrs of my life, and we were not required to receive Pravda or Izvestiya. Neither did any of our friends.

AmericanKulak says

Users of M48 Patton (introduced 1952):

Greece: 390 M48A5 MOLF.
Germany: 20 Minenräumpanzer Keiler in service as of 2007
Iran: 180 M48A5.
Lebanon: 104 M48A5.
Morocco: 225 M48A5.
Poland: 4 Minenräumpanzer Keiler, transferred from Germany.
South Korea: Around 200 M48A3K and 400 M48A5K1/K2/KW are remaining in service with the Republic of Korea Army as of 2023.[94]
Taiwan: 450 CM-11, 100 CM-12[95]
Thailand: 105 M48A5PI.
Turkey: 758 M48A5T2 in service. All other variants, 2,250 pieces including the 1,389 M48A5T1 are phased out of active service.

One Tank can really fuck up a city
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_San_Diego_tank_rampage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Perth_tank_rampage (APC, not a tank)

The M60 is also still in service, a...

Ah, the truth...where for art thou?

Bd6r says

richwicks says

Did you know in the USSR it was basically mandatory to receive Pravda and Izvestia?

Resident Patnet Russia/USSR specialists strike again.

I lived in USSR for 20 yrs of my life, and we were not required to receive Pravda or Izvestiya. Neither did any of our friends.

Are you Russian or American? I know Americans had different privileges. Americans, which were mostly fucking pieces spies in Russia, could always go to the embassy.

It was dangerous to be at all unorthodox in the USSR. You disagreeing with that? What comrade, don't want to read the Truth and News? What's wrong comrade?

So you're familiar with the USSR. Well enlighten us about it then, tell us, correct me. I know I may be in error, my experience IS quite limited. Share your knowledge.

I bet this is where you shut the fuck up. What were doing in the USSR for 20 years? That makes you at minimum 50 years old.

I was born in USSR in one of the republics (not Ukraine), I speak Russian as good as my native language language, and I lived in USSR until it collapsed in 1991.
richwicks says

I bet this is where you shut the fuck up.

I think this is where you should shut the fuck up as you have no clue about what happened or happens over there, as evidenced by a lot of your posts.

@Patrick who knows me personally, can verify that I am telling the truth.

Yes, Bd6r is telling the truth. I have met him.

Bd6r says

I was born in USSR in one of the republics (not Ukraine), I speak Russian as good as my native language language, and I lived in USSR until it collapsed in 1991.

Always the cagey evasive bullshit from you, every fucking time. Here is where I was born (or at least grew up) until I was 18:

https://goo.gl/maps/puJsw6uXtCYDxp3F7

Bd6r says

richwicks says

I bet this is where you shut the fuck up.

I think this is where you should shut the fuck up as you have no clue about what happened or happens over there, as evidenced by a lot of your posts.

Patrick who knows me personally, can verify that I am telling the truth.

Yeah, but I don't know you.

You are very deceptive in my estimation about the current conflict with Ukraine. You actively deceive people about the situation. You are fucking delighted to see this conflict. I'm very realistic. I expect the Ukrainian population to be devastated - at least the male population and I do not expect it to recover in my lifetime.

Angela Merkel has stated outright that the whole purpose of the Minsk Accords was to buy time, to arm Ukraine because they WANTED a fucking war.

Maybe you're Chechen. The US destabilized that to, as they did Yugoslavia. Maybe Georgian, or S. Ossetian? I wonder why Mikhail Saakashvili showed up in Ukraine just in time for their "revolution"? He's US educated in Columbia University and George Washington University.

richwicks says

The US destabilized that to

Bullshit. Prove with links

Bd6r says

richwicks says

The US destabilized that to

Bullshit. Prove with links

The US follows a very consistent pattern. The US supports Islamic terrorists, always, that's why they are so adamant they don't.

https://www.russiamatters.org/node/20317

I don't know if that site is honest, but if you want more information, specific names, operations if I can get them, I can. I know my fucking government. You just don't. The US supports the PKK, despite also calling it a terrorist group. Who do you think our "Kuridsh allies" are?

The US created Al-Qaeda. Do you think it's just a coincidence that Osama binLaden is from the binLaden family, a family which the US has tight ties to. It was the US that supported the Taliban which is just the Mujahideen.

You know how the Proud Boys leader, Enrique Tarrio, turned out to be an FIB information? They always do this shit, including internationally. They control their opposition if they can.

So your source is claim by Vladimir Putin. Bullshit squared, he started second Chechen war to get elected.

richwicks says

When the USSR existed, there was secret police and people couldn't exit the Soviet Union. There were travel restrictions imposed on everybody, people were forcibly located into areas in order to control them.

They have travel restrictions in Russia now. I believe you have to carry a passport or national ID in certain areas of Russia based on what I read in the news and heard on various news outlets.

I know they do identification checks in Russia, as that is commonly done by the police there.

.

Bd6r says

So your source is claim by Vladimir Putin. Bullshit squared, he started second Chechen war to get elected.

Look, I cannot see that you've responded to me if you don't quote me.

I expect that you know that. Why do you do this?

Tell me how I'm incorrect, let me understand how I'm wrong. If you won't do that, I assume you can't do that.

I have a very open mind. It's my job, my job is critical thinking, I'm a fucking awesome engineer because I leave ego at home when I go to work. I've done this for decades. You show I'm wrong, I'll accept it and even more, I'll promote what I consider correct.

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richwicks says

When the USSR existed, there was secret police and people couldn't exit the Soviet Union. There were travel restrictions imposed on everybody, people were forcibly located into areas in order to control them.

They have travel restrictions in Russia now. I believe you have to carry a passport or national ID in certain areas of Russia based on what I read in the news and heard on various news outlets.

I know they do identification checks in Russia, as that is commonly done by the police there.

They might. I don't know. The point I'm making is we shouldn't ever be like the fucking USSR. That was a shithole.

I don't know what Russia is like today, but I full on know well what the US is today, and the US is my problem, not Russia.

Doesn't anybody but me see it a LITTLE disturbing to see the US adopt the same bullshit restrictions of the USSR?

Bd6r says

I lived in USSR for 20 yrs of my life

Where? When?

Just curious about your time under communism.

On exports Russia is about where it was pre-invasion in oil exports (quantity) prices are up since then.

Don't know about its ability to import. I am sure the black markets are swarming.

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/china-india-russian-oil-crude-moscow-war-ukraine-volumes-kpler-2023-4

Onvacation says

Bd6r says

I lived in USSR for 20 yrs of my life

Where? When?

Just curious about your time under communism.

@Onvacation

When?

1970 to 1991 when it collapsed.

Where?

Most of time in one of non-Slavic republics, and some time in Russia, mostly Moscow.

Latest nimbers on Soviet oil revenues:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5TyIkLniiQg

The Rubble is getting stronger ....

https://twitter.com/NatalkaKyiv/status/1661368251257954307?ref_src=patrick.net

Bd6r says

Onvacation says

Bd6r says

I lived in USSR for 20 yrs of my life

Where? When?

Just curious about your time under communism.

Onvacation

When?

1970 to 1991 when it collapsed.

Where?

Most of time in one of non-Slavic republics, and some time in Russia, mostly Moscow.

WHY did you live there?

My cousin was in Warsaw in the 1980's. He was studying physics there. He was there because my family split just before Poland fell to Germany in WWII. My great grandfather escaped.

Being an American, he told me he was under constant suspicion.

Perhaps we should troll Russia by sending them our excess Bud Light?

MOSCOW, July 5 (Reuters) - The Russian budget's oil and gas revenues fell by 47% to 3.38 trillion roubles ($37.4 billion) in the first half of the year from the same period in 2022, finance ministry data showed on Wednesday, as tax returns fell because of lower prices and sales volumes.

Proceeds from oil and gas sales are crucial for Russia's commodity-oriented economy and for the financing of what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

The oil and gas revenues declined by 26.4% in the month of June, year on year, to 528.6 billion roubles - less steep than the 36% fall seen in May.

Russia's energy revenues have been squeezed by a western price cap on its oil and by the closure of the Nord Stream gas pipelines to Europe that were blown up last September. Investigators have yet to establish who was responsible.

Russia's budget deficit hit $42 billion for the first five months of the year, already 17% above the plan for the whole of 2023.

June's oil and gas budget revenues were down 7.4% from May, mainly due to lower proceeds from a mineral extraction tax (MET) on oil and gas and from export duty on natural gas.

Proceeds from the MET fell to 631.6 billion roubles in June from May's 703.6 billion roubles, while export duty declined to 57.7 billion roubles from 66.1 billion roubles in May.

Budget subsidies to refining companies from an "oil reverse excise tax" declined to 73.9 billion roubles from 91 billion roubles in May.

Payments to refineries under the "damping mechanism" - introduced to stop companies from capitalizing on high fuel export prices and defend the domestic market - fell to 78.6 billion roubles from 103.5 billion roubles in May.

The finance ministry projects oil and gas revenues this year to decline by 23% to 8.94 trillion roubles, while the budget deficit is seen at almost 3 trillion roubles, or 2% of gross domestic product.

($1 = 90.5000 roubles)

Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Mark Trevelyan

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I believe you have to carry a passport or national ID in certain areas of Russia based on what I read in the news and heard on various news outlets.

This was even the case in Germany back when I studied there.

Everyone was required to carry official ID at all times. I think it's still true.

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/succeeding-backwards-monday-august

📈 You won’t see this story in corporate media. After two years of Biden Sanctions, Russia’s economy has continued growing and is now larger than any other European country. Here is Friday’s headline from Russia Today:




Since I couldn’t source the story to any Western media, I checked the IMF’s website for myself. Russia Today’s story is accurate. Not only that, despite two years of “brutal” U.S.-led sanctions, Russia now ranks among the world’s top five largest economies, and the largest in Europe in terms of ‘purchasing power parity’ (PPP) as of the end of 2022.

Presumably, halfway through 2023, Russia’s numbers are up even more.

Instead of sanctioning Russia for invading Ukraine, if Joe Biden had set out to deliberately expand Russia’s economy, he could not possibly have done it any better. Does that seem weird to you? Meanwhile, here in the U.S., we are either in a recession or headed straight towards one, depending on who you believe. Here’s Bloomberg, from Friday:




Thanks Joe! If he sanctions Russia much harder, maybe it will help the former Soviet Union’s economy surpass America. Wouldn’t that be something.

Whole lot of surpassing recently:



GETTING RICHER EVERY DAY!!!

Gotta love that emergency 12% rate.

Patrick says

Thanks Joe! If he sanctions Russia much harder, maybe it will help the former Soviet Union’s economy surpass America.

Scale. If Russia grew its GDP by half, it would be on par with California.

HeadSet says

Patrick says

Thanks Joe! If he sanctions Russia much harder, maybe it will help the former Soviet Union’s economy surpass America.

Scale. If Russia grew its GDP by half, it would be on par with California.

Is growing your GDP by making more artillery shells to be immediately spent and refurbishing more 1960s tanks to be immediately burned in some unneccessary imperial adventure really the same as growing it by producing some useful gadgets and providing some useful services?

GDP grows either way but it's obvious which one is real growth and which one is BS.

Patrick says

Not screwing with domestic oil producers would be sufficient. Since US is a net oil exporting country, higher oil and gas prices are a net benefit and cutting off competitors such as Russia exports is an overall positive. Remember Trump and Russian gas.

Besides the above logic, as a Texan I welcome high oil prices, they benefit my Great State and it’s inhabitants. Let damned Yankees from NY heat their houses with mortgage based securities and Clownifornians eat iPads.

Steven Kotkin and two Russian economists assess the effects, lessons and the future of sanctions on the USSR:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8x-qmMgVN8c

MOSCOW, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Russia, one of the world's biggest oil producers, has faced shortages of fuel crucial for gathering the harvest in some parts of its southern breadbasket and the situation may get worse in coming months, market sources told Reuters.

Traders said that the fuel market has been hit by a combination of different factors including maintenance at oil refineries, infrastructure bottlenecks on railways and the weaker rouble which incentivises fuel exports.

Russia has tried to tackle diesel and gasoline shortages over recent months, contemplating export curbs as the last-ditch attempt to prevent a serious fuel crisis - which is sensitive for the Kremlin ahead of a presidential election in March.

A government decision to cut subsidies for refineries is likely worsen the availability of fuel in the world's biggest grain exporter.

Regional oil product depots in Russia's southern regions have had to cut or even suspend fuel sales, while retail filling stations were forced to limit fuel sale volumes to customers.

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"The Ai-92 gasoline is not available for retail sales in Krasnodar region, Adygea and Astrakhan, there is hardly any Ai-95 gasoline and diesel," a trader in Russia's south said.

Another trader said there have been no diesel sales at oil depots and there is no diesel on retail markets for the second week running in the whole Samara region, located in the Volga river region.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday that there were no fuel shortages.

But he also said government was working on measures to ensure a stable supply of it on the domestic market, including increasing levels of mandatory sales on exchanges and limiting the number of exporters.

FUEL CRUNCH

Traders said the shortages on the retail market followed by a sharp rise of wholesales prices. The state caps the retail prices, ordering the sellers to raise prices of gasoline and diesel only in line with official inflation.

Some farmers also complained about scarcity of fuel.

"There are shortages of fuel ... oil products prices rose in the range of between 10% and 20%," Andrei Neduzhko, director general of agricultural holding Step said in written comments.

His company operates in Russia's southern regions of Rostov, Krasnodar and Stavropol. He said, however, there are no risks to the autumn sowing campaign for his holding.

Wholesale diesel prices started to sharply rise in July. For the past two months commodity exchange diesel prices jumped on average by more than a quarter to 67,000 roubles ($700) per ton.

"We do not buy. The prices are crazy," an owner of a fuel depot said.

...

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russia-faces-domestic-fuel-crunch-braces-more-shortages-2023-08-31/

PS. This reminds me of an old joke: "What will happen if USSR occupies Sahara? -- Shortages of sand."

Ministry of Agriculture fears disruption of field work due to fuel shortages in a number of regions

Moscow. September 6th. INTERFAX.RU - Russian Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev called the screaming problem of providing farmers with fuel in the most crucial period of agricultural land and expressed concern that fuel shortages could stop field work.

"We have problems with availability ( grumbling - IF ), we will stop the harvesting now, and we will not cut off according to the winter. This will be a disaster, "Patrushev said at a meeting of the State Duma control and agricultural committees on Wednesday.

"And the second - well, these are thoughts out loud. Maybe in general now temporarily block the export of petroleum products until we stabilize the situation in the domestic market? "he suggested.

According to him, a week ago it was said that "the fuel and lubricants is needed at some reduced price, because the price has risen greatly". "Now it's about something else. We need fuel and lubricants available. We are really working very closely with the Ministry of Energy, we will communicate directly with oil refineries and look for the necessary volume for each region so that it is agricultural producers who receive it, "the minister said.

"You need to solve this problem - ( provide fuel - IF ) available to make it appear, "Patrushev said, referring to the first deputy minister of energy Pavel Sorokin.

Sorokin, in turn, confirmed that work with the Ministry of Agriculture is "daily in terms of bringing the necessary volumes to agricultural consumers".

According to him, the Ministry of Agriculture stated the need for 500 thousand tons of fuel to complete field work before November. Currently, issues of ensuring the necessary volumes are being worked out with oil companies.

"Tomorrow is most likely going to a quadripartite meeting with Novak ( Vice Prime Minister Alexander Novak - IF ), to it ( agreements - IF ) fix it, "said Sorokin.

"The problem with fuel is screaming, everything needs to be dealt with," Patrushev concluded.

https://www.interfax.ru/russia/919452

Russian gas stations have been suffering losses for the third month due to rising exchange prices for fuel.

About it writes Russian edition of "Vedomosti" with reference to the data of the research group "Petromarket".

"Gasoline trade has been in a negative zone since mid-June, diesel fuel - since mid-August," the study said.

Thus, the margin of refueling on gasoline Ai-92 and Ai-95 at the beginning of September averaged minus 3 rubles./l, on diesel - minus 2 rubles./l.

Negative margin on the sale of A-95 gasoline is confirmed in the Russian Independent Fuel Association.

The Central Bank of Russia raised its key lending rate by one percentage
point to 13% on Friday, a month after imposing an even larger hike.
Concerns about inflation persist and the ruble continues to struggle
against the dollar.

“Russia has introduced a temporary ban on fuel exports.

To stabilize the situation in the domestic market, Russia has introduced a temporary ban on the export of gasoline and diesel fuel.

The corresponding resolution was approved by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishutin and immediately from today, September 21, came into force. However, how long it will last is not yet specified.

The day before, the Government really noted that new measures are being prepared to stabilize the situation in the domestic fuel market and that options for limiting export supplies are being worked out.

From the previous statements by the Ministry of Energy, it could have been assumed that they were talking about restrictions on the number of companies that will be allowed to sell fuel abroad, and not, in principle, about a ban on sales.

However, the Government decided to take a more radical step.

Thus, from today, September 21, and for an indefinite period, the export of gasoline and diesel fuel from Russia is prohibited.

Of course, the ban does not apply to fuel in the tanks of vehicles, as well as to the volumes that are exported by individuals for personal use.”

Source: https://trans.ru/news/v-rossii-vveli-vremennii-zapret-na-eksport-topliva

yeah, it lost value to its main trading partner also .... however with oil and gas going up in price, this should not be as much a factor...
.



.

The Euro is less than 1.06. The dollar is crushing everything not just the Ruble.

Misc says

The Euro is less than 1.06. The dollar is crushing everything not just the Ruble.

Yeah rising dollar is not helping mutual funds that invest in foreign countries like Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund

Everything cycles so perhaps that fund as well as the Total Bond Market Fund ETF (ticker: BND) will provide better returns within a couple of years when the dollar retreats and interest rates decrease

.

Yep, thanks for pointing out that you gotta try and time the markets.

A bond fund that's lost money since inception 16 years ago. - Sure do it for diversification for the long term. Lying financial firms.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bnd+performance+history&sca_esv=572136157&sxsrf=AM9HkKlrF4N_EDdav2Ybza1OJt4U0I2cNA%3A1696923412017&source=hp&ei=E_8kZcz7OuXKkPIPk-OWgAk&iflsig=AO6bgOgAAAAAZSUNJL-CjEMTMBdOssIL2n5OdyhXTjuj&oq=bnd+performance&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6Ig9ibmQgcGVyZm9ybWFuY2UqAggBMgoQABiABBhGGPoBMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMggQABiKBRiGA0jAWVDgD1jOMnABeACQAQCYAaICoAHiDaoBBTguNi4xuAEByAEA-AEBqAIKwgIHECMY6gIYJ8ICDRAuGMcBGK8BGOoCGCfCAgcQIxiKBRgnwgIEECMYJ8ICCBAuGLEDGIAEwgILEC4YigUYsQMYgwHCAhEQLhiABBixAxiDARjHARjRA8ICCBAAGIAEGLEDwgIREC4YgwEYxwEYsQMY0QMYgATCAgsQABiABBixAxiDAcICCxAuGIAEGMcBGK8BwgILEC4YgAQYsQMYgwHCAg4QLhiABBixAxjHARivAcICCxAAGIoFGLEDGIMBwgIHEAAYgAQYCsICCBAAGBYYHhgK&sclient=gws-wiz

Click on the mac time button.