patrick.net

Patrick says

richwicks says

Can I really be smarter than an intelligence group?

I think groups of people can be remarkably stupid, more stupid than any normal person.

I regard group stupidity to be a property of propaganda. If it bleeds into government policy, that's quite dangerous.

I still have the belief that even groups of stupidity are manipulated. I guess I'm about to find that out if that's true or not.

Patrick says

I think groups of people can be remarkably stupid, more stupid than any normal person.

The problem with groups is the best and brightest are not necessarily leading. Or they're an expert in one realm and suck at everything else that they're required to do. Or brown nosed ass wagons to beat their way to the top by lying and cheating to superiors.

I'm on a elected government board (tiny). The President is an amazing person, great community involvement and action. That said, she's not very bright. We're rehabbing a building for what we do (sorry no doxxing for me) and I'm literally the only one that knows anything about it. I already had to correct the architect we hired to save $20k in plumbing because we're on slab and the bathrooms were not logically placed.

From the outside looking in, sometimes I think elected officials are just trusted. Most are frankly stupid and the community never cares or are too lazy to run. The dumb asses elected then get to hire the bureaucrats. Now bring this to the Federal level and you get our current situation. The problem is I had no decision in any of it for the most part. I didn't vote for Biden or CA or IL Congressthings. We're a government of sales people that have no business being involved in hiring. Case in point, the current SCOTUS nominee. Now factor in who is on committees that hire and fire leadership. It's a shit show.

Indian State Oil Company announces 2nd multimillion barrel oil purchase from Russia.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/india-buys-russian-oil-pressure-sanctions-83522091?source=patrick.net

AmericanKulak says

Indian State Oil Company announces 2nd multimillion barrel oil purchase from Russia.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/india-buys-russian-oil-pressure-sanctions-83522091?source=patrick.net

Their Russian oil imports are still less than 1% of total imports.

Blue says

Their Russian oil imports are still less than 1% of total imports.

Last year. It won't change quickly, but if they keep getting deals, it's hard to pass up double digit percentages under the market rate. In the mid 90s, people said the same about Chinese Imports. "Just wait until the Chinese buy American made Caterpillars in the next few years - it'll balance out, you'll see, Free Trade Heretic!"

AmericanKulak says

Blue says

Their Russian oil imports are still less than 1% of total imports.

Last year. It won't change quickly, but if they keep getting deals, it's hard to pass up double digit percentages under the market rate. In the mid 90s, people said the same about Chinese Imports. "Just wait until the Chinese buy American made Caterpillars in the next few years - it'll balance out, you'll see, Free Trade Heretic!"

So Russian oil will flow to India with a discount (estimated at 30% currently) and the oil which was flowing there before will flow somewhere else. Net result: Russia gets 30% less for their oil and India spends 30% less on their energy. I say it's a win for everybody (except Russia, but who gives a fuck about Russia).

Russia’s oil exports shriveled by more than a quarter in the week March 17-23 compared with the prior week, according to industry data.
The country’s average daily shipments reached 495,300 tons, down 26.4% from the week before, according to figures seen by Bloomberg. That’s equivalent to about 3.63 million barrels a day.
While the data didn’t indicate any reasons for the change, the sharp decline came as Russia faces a growing movement by many of its usual customers to find alternative energy supplies after the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Only a handful of nations -- including the U.S. and the U.K. -- have imposed explicit bans on imports of Russian oil. Still, many of the country’s traditional customers have undertaken a self-imposed buyers’ strike in response to the war. Major companies from Shell Plc to TotalEnergies SE have said they intend to phase out purchases of crude and fuel from Russia.
The decline in exports was at least partly driven by lower volumes from Russia’s ports on the Baltic Sea and in the Asia-Pacific region, according to loadings data.
Total oil production over the period was little changed, dropping 0.3% from the week before, the output numbers show. The nation pumped about 11.08 million barrels a day on average in the period, according to Bloomberg calculations.

I have some bad news for you guys. Sanctions do work, and I have a close personal experience with the sanctions against USSR. They are not so effective as the gov't claims them to be but not so useless as you would like. They are like carpet-bombing and over time take some serious toll.

Comparing USSR to modern Russia: Russia is smaller and weaker, it is more dependent on the West. The Ukraine war is a good example: Ukrainian military using Western supplies is standing up to the outdated and mismanaged Russian army. The same will happen to the Russian economy.

still1bear says

Comparing USSR to modern Russia: Russia is smaller and weaker, it is more dependent on the West.

For what? Financial fraud and endless wars? What does the West produce today? Electronics are made in China and those are toys nobody needs a newer, better, television. In fact, the TV you have right now can last forever. You now what is going to fail on it? A capacitor and when it does, you're going to throw it away. It will be a $1.00 part that is EASY to find, because the enclosure will be bulging out. Easy fix if you can't get a new teeeveee.

The USSR needed GRAIN back in the day. What do they need from the United States today?

India is a good trading partner with them, they are getting along PRETTY well with China. Russia has MASSIVE amounts of resources beyond just energy. Ukraine still produces a lot of food though, THAT might create a problem, and not just for Russia, but Europe as well.

Some people think that a famine is being purposely engineered. I'll say, that's possible.. We'll find out in 12 months.

I think that the result of this stupid aggression toward Russia is going to made a trading bloc between Russia, India, and China and "the West" is going to be left out in the cold. If Russia and China can make reasonable deals in the Middle East, get them to stop fighting one another like a bunch of savages, and get them to adhere to peace agreements, they will be able to take over the entire region in under 2 decades. The Ottoman Empire could be recreated as a loose Confederacy in just a matter of years.

The goddamned Neocons are either asshole idiots, OR they are intentionally trying to destroy the country. I don't know which.

richwicks says

For what? Financial fraud and endless wars?

For agro tech. For car/truck manufacturing tech. For military tech. For medical tech. For comms tech. For oil/gas extraction tech. I can go on but you get the picture.

Latest news: Russia relaxes auto manufacturing standards to allowing cars w/o airbags, w/o cat converters, w/o ABS/ESC and adhering to emission regulations less strict than Euro-1.

Patrick says

I've really been enjoying using cash everywhere. Clerks are often surprised.

Imagine trying to use one of these around town...

Russians will definitely be negatively impacted by the sanctions.

The Europeans will definitely be negatively impacted by Russia's counter sanctions. I think they will cut the flow of natural gas tomorrow.

In America we won't have to worry about the electricity going out. Europeans are going to have to deal with that.

I guess in the UK they dealt with store shelves being empty recently. There will be panic buying throughout the EU because there are going to be shortages.

I was hoping for a short war with minimal loss of life. We are what 36 days into the conflict. The Syrian conflict lasted about 10 years.

Eric Holder says

Latest news: Russia relaxes auto manufacturing standards to allowing cars w/o airbags, w/o cat converters, w/o ABS/ESC and adhering to emission regulations less strict than Euro-1.

We need that here too.

Booger says

Eric Holder says

Latest news: Russia relaxes auto manufacturing standards to allowing cars w/o airbags, w/o cat converters, w/o ABS/ESC and adhering to emission regulations less strict than Euro-1.

We need that here too.

I dunno, man: there are plenty of classic car in my neighborhood and when I drive behind one of them on weekends I catch myself not missing the stench of unburned gasoline and the rest of the shit they emit. As for ABS/ESC and airbags - yes, couldn't care less.

PS. Apparently, every car manufactured in Russia was also required to have a Glonass chip in it (Glonass is a "Russian GPS" which currently doesn't work, because they failed to maintain a proper satellite constellation for it). This requirement has been dropped too.

Germany mulls nationalization of Gazprom, Rosneft units – Handelsblatt
By:Reuters
Updated: Mar 31, 2022, 11:20 PDT•1min read

BERLIN (Reuters) – The German economy ministry is considering expropriation of Gazprom and Rosneft units in the country amid concerns about security of energy supply, business daily Handelsblatt reported on Thursday, citing government sources.

The discussions between top ministry officials and Chancellor Olaf Scholz aim to prevent massive power cuts if either of these companies, which are systemically important for Germany, gets into difficulties, the newspaper reported.



Both companies are irreplaceable on the German energy market with Gazprom Germania operating large gas storage facilities and Rosneft Deutschland being a key player in the petrol, diesel and kerosene refinery markets, Handelsblatt reported.

At the same time, the companies risk a “technical bankruptcy” as banks and business partners have been distancing themselves from companies with Russian owners since Western sanctions against Russia came into force, Handelsblatt said.

Gazprom Germania, Rosneft Deutschland and the German economy ministry could not be immediately reached for comment.

(Reporting by Zuzanna Szymanska; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Misc says

The Syrian conflict lasted about 10 years.

Thanks to the same fuck, btw. And to Obama/Biden/Kerry who invited him there.

richwicks says

still1bear says

Comparing USSR to modern Russia: Russia is smaller and weaker, it is more dependent on the West.

For what? Financial fraud and endless wars? What does the West produce today? Electronics are made in China and those are toys nobody needs a newer, better, television. In fact, the TV you have right now can last forever. You now what is going to fail on it? A capacitor and when it does, you're going to throw it away. It will be a $1.00 part that is EASY to find, because the enclosure will be bulging out. Easy fix if you can't get a new teeeveee.

The USSR needed GRAIN back in the day. What do they need from the United States today?

India is a good trading partner with them, they are getting along PRETTY well with China. Russia has MASSIVE amounts of resources beyond just energy. Ukraine still produces a lot of food though, THAT might create a problem, a...

Just one small example: American oil service companies (Schlumberger, Halliburton et al.) are major suppliers of important equipment and services for Russia's oil industry. Without them Russia will miss a lot of oil production. You will see it within the next year.

I understand, you hate neocons but this hate should not cloud your thinking. Try to stay closer to reality.

If you want to learn more about this war and Mr. Putin listen to this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Shvets?source=patrick.net

He went to a KGB school together with Putin and later worked as the KGB resident in Washington DC. Find somebody to translate it from Russian, you will learn a lot.
This is his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb2oej0JtxlnywlqoSiHHVQ?source=patrick.net

New cars in Russia rose by an average of 40% in March against the backdrop of devaluation and suspension of deliveries. The most significant rise in prices - up to 60% - affected premium cars, the supply of which to the Russian Federation is limited not only due to problems with logistics, but also the sanctions of the United States, the EU and Japan. So far, the dealers' warehouses have not been empty, but due to high prices and a drop in real incomes of the population, demand has already fallen - the traffic of car dealerships is minimal. Some dealers are talking about a 60% drop in sales in March and expect it to get worse.

https://www-kommersant-ru.translate.goog/doc/5293055?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp&source=patrick.net

Air India stops selling tickets for flights to Russia
Indian airline Air India has stopped selling tickets from Delhi to Moscow and back

https://ria-ru.translate.goog/20220406/indiya-1782003022.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp&source=patrick.net

You know guys been thinking about it. We were constantly bombarded with "covid gonna kill everyone" shit and that's really all we talked about, because we knew it was all bullshit. Well, they swapped Ukraine in, overnight got rid of masks... and now we talking about Russia/Ukraine all day long.

Fuck it, I don't want to even pay attention to this shit anymore. I got my own fucking problems to deal with, and a move to plan. Just telling you guys, this is weird shit how they 1984 style move us from one crisis to next. It's like America has become a controlled environment.

FortWayneAsNancyPelosiHaircut says

You know guys been thinking about it. We were constantly bombarded with "covid gonna kill everyone" shit and that's really all we talked about, because we knew it was all bullshit. Well, they swapped Ukraine in, overnight got rid of masks... and now we talking about Russia/Ukraine all day long.

Fuck it, I don't want to even pay attention to this shit anymore. I got my own fucking problems to deal with, and a move to plan. Just telling you guys, this is weird shit how they 1984 style move us from one crisis to next. It's like America has become a controlled environment.

You want the whole America to be talking about your problems instead? For that you need at a very minimum have a Kardashian ass and put out a sex tape. =))

FortWayneAsNancyPelosiHaircut says

Well, they swapped Ukraine in, overnight got rid of masks... and now we talking about Russia/Ukraine all day long.

It's called the Overton Window. I actually regard the Ukraine war as basically yet another distraction. I wonder what fuckery our government is up to during times like these?

richwicks says

FortWayneAsNancyPelosiHaircut says

Well, they swapped Ukraine in, overnight got rid of masks... and now we talking about Russia/Ukraine all day long.

It's called the Overton Window. I actually regard the Ukraine war as basically yet another distraction. I wonder what fuckery our government is up to during times like these?

Obviously, our government has hired Pooty-poot to distract us from FortWhine's problems, duh.

RWSGFY says

Obviously, our government has hired Pooty-poot to distract us from FortWhine's problems, duh.

I'm pointing out that they don't care about sars-cov2-19 and never did. The fact that it's entirely off the radar is demonstration of that. The whole "pandemic" was bullshit.

Within in a week of that war starting up, it was entirely off the radar. Masking ended in Santa Clara county finally, all the talk about mandates for vaccinations ended, the censorship on people trying to discuss it rationally eased up tremendously.

In time I'll know what the US is trying to accomplish with Ukraine. Partially it's a money laundering operation, the US wants to isolate Russia since they view them as a military competitor, and the US wants to sell LNG to Europe but I doubt that's the complete picture.

I always thought that the pandemic was a cover for some economic problem, it was used to bailout banks. It started 3 months after there were repo failures in September of 2019. It WAS used to bailout the banking system. The criminals in our financial system just need something to blame a coming economic collapse on. It was the "pandemic" before, but now they are going to blame it on Russia I suspect. I bet they are breathing a sigh of relief, because nobody believed the pandemic hysteria - or less people were.

I really don't believe the Ukraine hysteria to be honest. Yes, there's a conflict, but I suspect a lot of it is exaggerated. Could be wrong, I'll find out in 12 months.

FortWayneAsNancyPelosiHaircut says

Fuck it, I don't want to even pay attention to this shit anymore. I got my own fucking problems to deal with, and a move to plan. Just telling you guys, this is weird shit how they 1984 style move us from one crisis to next. It's like America has become a controlled environment.

It's a constant Fear and Outrage Nikelodeon playing every instrument to focus people to supporting Corporate Socialism/Neoliberalism/NWO policies.

Literally every Vaccine Icon/Mask Up Nag on Twitter has replaced it with Ukraine Flags.

EBGuy says

Patrick says

I've really been enjoying using cash everywhere. Clerks are often surprised.

Imagine trying to use one of these around town...

Well F me - those are authentic and real. Those are actually US coins. Hunh.

London (CNN Business)Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt because it offered bondholders payments in rubles, not dollars, credit ratings agency S&P has said.
Russia attempted to pay in rubles for two dollar-denominated bonds that matured on April 4, S&P said in a note on Friday. The agency said this amounted to a "selective default" because investors are unlikely to be able to convert the rubles into "dollars equivalent to the originally due amounts."
According to S&P, a selective default is declared when an entity has defaulted on a specific obligation but not its entire debt.

Moscow has a grace period of 30 days from April 4 to make the payments of capital and interest, but S&P said it does not expect it will convert them into dollars given Western sanctions that undermine its "willingness and technical abilities to honor the terms and conditions" of its obligations.

A full foreign currency default would be Russia's first in more than a century, when Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin repudiated bonds issued by the Tsarist government.

Russia cannot access roughly $315 billion of its foreign currency reserves as a result of Western sanctions imposed following its invasion of Ukraine. Until last week, the United States allowed Russia to use some of its frozen assets to pay back certain investors in dollars. But the US Treasury has since blocked the country from accessing its reserves at American banks, part of its effort to ramp up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin and further diminish his war chest.

Indian steel company Tata Steel has ended its cooperation with Russia, the company says in a statement.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Flash43191300/status/1516792135047122947?source=patrick.net

Former Novatek top manager Sergey Protosenya, his wife and daughter were found dead in Spain, TASS reports with reference to the Telecinco TV channel.

The bodies of three people were found on Tuesday in a house in the village of Lloret de Mar (province of Girona), but the police did not name either the names or the nationality of the deceased. But, according to the channel, we are talking about Protosen and his family.

According to the channel, Protosenya owned a fortune of 400 million euros and lived in France. The family came to Spain for the Easter holidays.

The police are considering a version according to which Protosenya could have killed his wife and daughter, and then committed suicide.

On April 18, under similar circumstances, the former vice-president of Gazprombank Vladislav Avaev, his daughter and wife were found dead in Moscow. The bodies were found in an apartment on Universitetsky Prospekt - they were discovered by a relative who could not get through to the Avaevs for several days. According to investigators' preliminary version, Avaev shot his wife and 13-year-old daughter with a pistol and then committed suicide. The police made this conclusion because the weapon was in Avaev's hands. The door was locked from the inside, no traces of other persons being in the house during the shooting were found. The GSU TFR qualified the incident under Part 2 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code - the murder of two or more persons.

On February 25, 61-year-old Alexander Tyulyakov, deputy general director of the Gazprom Unified Settlement Center for corporate security, was found dead in a cottage near St. Petersburg. Previously, he served as Deputy General Director for Corporate Security and Human Resources at Gazprom Transgaz St. Petersburg, which was involved in the export and transportation of fuel to several Russian regions. Police determined that the man committed suicide. There was a note next to his body.

In January, in the same village, the 60-year-old top manager of Gazprom, Leonid Sh., who also previously worked at Gazprom Transgaz, committed suicide and left a suicide note.

richwicks says

I always thought that the pandemic was a cover for some economic problem,

I assumed shutting down the country was to tank the economy and get Trump out of office.

SunnyvaleCA says

richwicks says

I always thought that the pandemic was a cover for some economic problem,

I assumed shutting down the country was to tank the economy and get Trump out of office.

This.

Bill fucking Maher said it before the whole thing started.

Google translated from Russian sources:

* Closed: online store naukabooks.ru, stores "Akademkniga", scientific electronic database libnauka.ru.
* NOVATEK (Russia's second largest gas producer) announced that it will not publish financial statements and hold a teleconference with investors based on the results of the first quarter of 2022.
* In March, the volume of microloans issued in Russia fell by about 22%.
* Decrease in prices for apartments of mass demand in Moscow in March ranged from 3% to 9% depending on the district. The people are leaving Moscow.
* Sales of smartphones in Russia in March fell by 20% compared to March last year.
* In the first half of April, the average daily volume of oil refining into gasoline and diesel fuel in Russia decreased by 6%. And this is before the oil embargo.
* An automobile plant in Kaluga (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel) was stopped. And due to the shutdown of AvtoVAZ, electricity consumption in the Samara region decreased by 3.4% year-on-year.
* The production of Buk, Kub and Tunguska air defense systems was stopped at the Ulyanovsk Mechanical Plant - there are no imported parts. Employees have been sent on leave. The production of tanks at Uralvagonzavod was stopped a long time ago.

News of the political blockade of Russia
* Turkey has closed airspace for Russian aircraft flying to Syria.
* Air carriers from Russia will not be able to launch new flights to the US.
* The Pope has canceled a meeting with Patriarch Kirill.
* The parliaments of Lithuania and Latvia declared May 9 "the day of memory of the heroes of Ukraine." And Kazakhstan canceled the parade that day.
* Russia was stripped of its permanent observer status in the Organization of American States.
* The UNESCO session was supposed to be held in Kazan - it will be held outside of Russia.
* Russia will close the Consulate General of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in St. Petersburg.
* In 2019, the share of foreigners in the Russian concert market was, according to MTS ticket services, 20%. And in March of this year, it was less than 1%. A total of 15 concerts throughout Russia, three of which have already been cancelled.

(google translate from Russian source)

SYDNEY (Reuters) -A Fiji court ruled on Tuesday that the United States can seize a Russian-owned superyacht, 21 days after it arrived and was impounded by police, as the United States and its allies press Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. authorities assert that the luxury vessel, the Amadea, is ultimately owned by Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, who has been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union.
The U.S. Justice Department’s Taskforce KleptoCapture has focused on seizing yachts and other luxury assets to put the finances of Russian oligarchs under strain in a bid to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.
Fiji’s High Court granted the order to seize the Amadea, Fiji’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said in a statement.
The order was made after the DPP applied to register a U.S. warrant to seize the yacht, it said.

The fucking thing is YUUUGE, prolly bigger than the cruiser "there is no proof it really sunk" Moskva.

RWSGFY says

The fucking thing is YUUUGE, prolly bigger than the cruiser "there is no proof it really sunk" Moskva.

Yeah, even small shipping containers are 28' long or so. That thing is damn near a football field long. Just rent a ship that fucking big. Why own it? You've got the money as an oligarch. Even if it was your primary residence, it makes no sense. Shitty marina I might add. I'm sure that's so peaceful with all the cargo containers getting loaded daily. True luxury.

Liberators being pushed back near Kharkiv:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-19/china-in-talks-with-russia-to-buy-oil-for-strategic-reserves

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/20/china-quietly-increases-purchases-of-low-priced-russian-oil.html

Moscow — Russia has eased safety standards for cars produced on its territory, such as dropping the requirement for airbags, after Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine caused a shortage of electronic components and car parts. In a decree signed on May 12, the Russian government announced a list of reduced requirements to certify some types of new vehicles produced in the country.

It includes the production of cars without Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) sensors, airbags or Emergency Locking Retractors (ELR) for seatbelts. The decree is in effect until February 1, 2023.

Seatbelts? WE DON"T NEED NO STINKING SEATBELTS!!!