Russian Tensions
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“Russia’s effective military expenditure actually ranged between $150 billion and $180 billion annually over the last five years.”
You make it sound like that is something to be proud of – investing in the killing industry. But I guess that is something to be expected of someone with a capitalist mindset and who supports an authoritarian capitalist regime like the Russian regime
But as it happens Russia’s military spending is less than a quarter of American military spending and yet you come out with daft claims about NATO’s arsenals being depleted by the war in Ukraine,
Do you seriously imagine America’s military-industrial complex – vastly larger than Russia’s – cannot continue to supply Ukraine with weapons for as long as it takes? This is to say nothing of the armaments industries of other NATO countries
The Putin fanboys at moon of Alabama Blog are saying the quiet part out loud: Switching off the lights
“Another effect of the strikes on the electricity systems and the blackouts in the big cities that follow them is a renewed stream of refugees that will want reach western Europe. It will over time change the public opinion and the political priorities of those countries. If they fail to end the war they will have to carry the burden.”
I agree with TS, in a modern industrialised society, it is impossible to disentangle the civilian from the military infrastructure, hence all civilians are actual targets in war. That is why we should reject war as a political method and project.
But, here we see also, there is a conscious aim to create refugees. Of course, our masters can always find trillions to kill, but baulk at humanitarian aid, real solidarity is accepting the refugees and evacuating the warzone to the greatest extent possible.
“Erm, it’s spelled “truly”. Truly priceless! Lol”
Fair do’s. We all make spelling mistakes but if you think that is, erm, “truly priceless” then that makes you truly desperate as well. Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to point scoring. LOL
Russian forces are digging new trenches 60km back from the current front line in Ukraine, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD), suggesting the Russians are bracing themselves for further Ukrainian advances.
A Russian governor appeared to confirm the British intelligence report by saying that his forces are carrying out work to fortify the Crimean territory.
Russia continues to lose ground and its forces are focussing on reorganising, preparing and refitting defences across Ukraine, the MoD said in its latest intelligence update.
Sort of supports my guess that this could be a very long war with no quick offensives breaking the deadlock and stalemate.
Will a winter with no heating break Ukraine’s and Europe’s resolve?
Hopefully, it brings serious attempts at resolution via the negotiating table.
Hungary will not support a EU plan to provide Ukraine with billions in budget assistance next year.
Orban said that while Hungary condemns Russia’s aggression and supports the Ukrainian people, he is not willing to put Ukraine’s interests before those of his own country.
The aid plan would provide 18 billion euros to Ukraine next year in regular payments to help keep its energy and health care facilities running as well as to fund salaries and pension schemes. The European Commission, said the aid to Ukraine would involve loans with extremely favorable terms worth around 1.5 billion euros every month, possibly starting in January. Ukraine would not have to reimburse the funds for at least a decade, and EU member countries would cover the interest costs. The commission intends to borrow the money on capital markets using the combined weight of the 27 countries to secure more favorable terms. Some of the effort would involve restructuring part of the EU’s long-term budget, and this requires the unanimous approval of member countries.
Orban recommended that the EU’s 27 members determine how much they are willing to provide to Ukraine and distribute the sum in a “proportional and fair way” among themselves without jointly taking out loans to make the payments.
He said Hungary would be willing to provide Ukraine with 60-70 billion forints ($152-$178 million) from its own budget on bilateral terms — an amount he said would not fundamentally harm Hungary’s national interests.BD – “Many of the countries in Nato have no significant history of what you would describe as imperialism (for example Poland”
Hahahahahahahahahahaha!
You seem to think that a history of colonialism in the 17th Century equates to Imperialism!!!
Can I just quote (I know you hate quotes) Your hero Lenin’s definition of imperialism – “If it were necessary to give the briefest possible definition of imperialism, we should have to say that imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism”.
So you think that either you think that the monolpoly stage of capitalism was achieved in 17th Century Poland, or you have no great understanding of the theoretical basis of the ideological construct you claim to support. I know which one my money is on.
Moving on from your clear and obvious lack of understanding of the ideology you support, the main thrust of my question is “in the terms of your desire to create a muti polar world wide system, do you think that NATO has any possible capability to be transformed into an anti imperialist force which could support your desired outcome?
“the actions of the Russian capitalist regime were justified because it was intent on “defending Donbas”, Well if so why did it not confine its military presence to Donbas rather than venture as far as the outskirts of Kiev. As per usual you squirmed out of answering that question”
I did no such thing. Russia’s war aims were made known at the very beginning of the conflict and have remained unchanged.
“I cannot predict the outcome of the war but at the moment it appears that both sides are being ground down and many of your “grounded hardened” Russian squaddies – poor sods – are surrendering in their thousands”
No, they are not. What is your source for such rubbish? Provide a link.
“and feeling distinctly disinclined to fight Putin’s war. I don’t blame them”
Erm, except not true.
“Gawd, TS- what’s it like living in a little make-believe world all on your own? American military spending alone exceeds that of China, Russia, India, France, Germany and the UK combined, FFS.”
That spending includes all sorts of things entirely unrelated to maintaining a military force capable of even giving Russia a stubbed toe from paying the upkeep on 800+ foreign bases, veterans affairs, nuclear weapons research and on and on. The US MIC is all about profit and therefore inefficient, their aircraft carrier groups sitting ducks for Russian hypersonic misiles. The US poses no threat to Russia except for its nukes and well, then it’s game over for everyone.
“Its military-industrial complex must be rubbing its hands in glee at the thought of all that extra weaponry required and will have no problem meeting the demand.”
Shows how little you know. Read a little Scott Ritter he’ll put those fairy-tales you believe in to bed.
“Russia’s military-industrial complex is by comparison tiny.”
No, it is huge and very efficient. Read the article MS just linked to.
“There is no way it can match the combined manufacturing capacity of the NATO countries.”
When in a hole one should stop digging. The more words you say the wronger you get.
“If anyone’s arsenals are being depleted it is Russia’s.”
Lol, I’ve been hearing for months that Russia’s running out of missiles. The largest barrage yet hit just yesterday. Russia is not running out of weapons. It has been preparing for this conflict since 2012.
“It’s little wonder it’s relying on North Korea and Iran for military support.”
Stories about Russia buying shells from DPRK are probably false though if they’re buying stockpiles of shells it’s hardly out of desperation. Apparently Russia is using Iranian drone technology but it’s not clear if this is under lisence, ie. the Russians have permission to build the drones themselves in Russian factories. But Russia has plenty of drones of its own some of which they may not wish to deploy to keep the tech out of NATOs hands.
“As for your talk of Nato’s armies not having fought anything but tribesmen in decades, it was Afghan tribesmen that routed the Russian army if you recall”
Lol, I’d like to see the Taliban take on Russia on Russia’s border. Apples and oranges.
“Depends on which propaganda you choose to believe in. Ukrainian sources believe Russian fatalities are approaching 100,000, The truth is probably somewhere in between”
No, the truth is not somewhere in between. Even the BBC admits Russian losses are low.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61987945
““Huge” is a relative term.”
5th largest in the world is huge by any standard.
“The Russian economy has not collapsed but there is no doubt that it is suffering as a result of sanctions and that things are going to get progressively worse the longer the war drags on.”
There is no evidence supporting your statements. The Russian economy is actually improving.
“As for China – well China has got Russia over a barrel (no pun intended) and has been able to purchase Russian oil and gas at a steep discount rate. Capitalist competition does not cease between capitalist countries just because they appear to be friendly toward each other”
Russia and China are in an alliance in all but name.
“You don’t. All you support is the struggle of one authoritarian capitalist regime against another authoritarian capitalist regime. You have no objection to either authoritarianism or capitalism as such”
To defeat Nazism requires a military which necessitates a good deal of authoritarianism. Without it Nazism wins. That’s the price one pays and the price is worth it. Likewise, civilization cannot exist without authoritarianism. If you want one then there’s no avoiding the other. Don’t like it, then go live in a cave in the Himalayas.
The followers of Neo-Nazism in the USA they are so powerful that they can not pay their rent, some that were arrested were living in house basement and they can not afford a lawyer for their defense, they had to use a public defender,
Many of them are poor members of the working class,( like in Ukraine ) or unemployed, their higher academic degree is secondary school or high school, and they do not even know what nazism was in Germany .
Nazism in Germany was a movement of the German capitalist class and they had economic power, spheres of influences, scientists and they had a lot of military resources, and technical advancement, and they had scientists, physicists, journalists, writers, doctors and lawyers
I do not think that he had read Lenin book on Imperialism and Bahrain book on Imperialism who is more accurate than Lenin, or Rosa Luxembourg on the accumulation of capital.
Lenin concept of imperialism is a total mess because it is not the higher state of capitalism, it is a consequence of capitalism, and it did not start on the end of the XIX century, it started since the emerge of capitalism,
it has been expanding itself since the very beginning, it is an inherent law of capitalism.
There was not imperialism during the 17 century, he will take any argument in order to defend his wrong case, probably, the Apache and the Cherokee were imperialist too, the real imperialist one is the ruling class that he is defending, it fulfill all the requirement to be called imoerialist including Lenin wrong definition
Luxembourg considered that every capitalist country ( small or large ) is potentially expansionist or imperialist, therefore, he does not know what he is talking about
The concept of anti imperialism is a delusion because it motivated workers to defend their own ruling class defending what they do not own, and contradicting what Marx said on the Communist Manifesto that workers do not have any country.
The concept of national liberation and self determination of the peoples developed by nation also contradicts Marx concept of real liberation and the concept of the nation state which is a product of capitalism.
Most Leninist do not read Lenin, they just repeat like parrots any conception
Stalin based on his anti imperialism and the pretext to combat the German he made alliance with the Orthodox Church in order to promote patriotism among the peasants and motivated them to fight against the German army, they defeated the German because it was 20 against one German soldier
Moving on from your clear and obvious lack of understanding of the ideology you support, the main thrust of my question is “in the terms of your desire to create a muti polar world wide system, do you think that NATO has any possible capability to be transformed into an anti imperialist force which could support your desired outcome?
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The Republican Party of the USA is calling itself a party of anti war and anti imperialism in order to obtain more votes for the 2024 election, and they have a history of imperialist invasions and conquering along with the other one. They are just making opposition to Joe Biden but they are not anti imperialist or anti capitalist, and midterm election has proven that most workers did not believe that
The capitalist class is like a chameleon, they adapt to the color of the tree, or they adapt themselves to the actual economical and political situation, like the Russian ruling class now it is anti imperialist like the soviets were anti imperialist too after they made alliance with the Nazis and authorized Molotov to include the Soviet Union as member of the Axis.
PS The United Nation Organization is not a good example of anti imperialism, they have supported many wars and invasions, and they supported the sending of troops to Haiti, they supported Lyndon B Johnson invasion to the Dominican Republic and the creation of an international troop, and the league of nation was dissolved by the capitalist class in order to start a world war, even more Chavez wanted the UN to dissolved or to be moved to another country
Stalin didn’t “make an alliance” exactly with the Church; he set up the patriarchate with his own appointees, to create a Church loyal to the Soviet state. His motives were patriotism and to assist fervour for the war.
The original patriarchate had collapsed in 1918.
Whatever they want to call it, it was a treaty in the same manner that the catholic church made many Concordato with dictators in Latin America to obtain economical benefits, they had to pay 10% of the national production to them, and the supported nationalism and to extend the time of the dictatorship and brainwashing the peasants. The Orthodox Church asked the Vatican to do the same and they refused because they were supporting the other side. The files of the KGB shows that he made a temporary alliance with the church and they received properties
“Russia is not running out of weapons. It has been preparing for this conflict since 2012.”
Do you mean 2014?
“I’d like to see the Taliban take on Russia on Russia’s border.”
We do have the example of the two Chechen wars.
Russian superiority did prevail but the body count and destruction dwarfed the Ukraine war.
Interestingly there are allegations that the terrorist bombings that created the justification for the 2nd war were false flags by the Russian FSB
Parts of the Russian economy may be described as improving but so can the Western economy – the energy corporations enjoying windfall profits as well as the armament industry and the grain speculators.
China unlike the Iranians appear to be generally abiding by the UN sanctions on Russia regards arms trade but it is taking full commercial advantage of the economic sanctions extracting trading price advantages from Russia such as cheap oil, in contrast to the rise in global prices
“The main buyers of both Iranian and Russian crude are the private refiners in China—the so-called teapots. Unlike the state-owned majors who need to tread carefully around sanctions and who have fuel export quotas…Even before Russia joined the sanctions party, however, China was gobbling up Iranian and Venezuelan barrels that pretty much nobody else wanted. Beijing may very well be secretly celebrating the sanctions on Russia…”
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/China-Is-Taking-Advantage-Of-Western-Sanctions-On-Russia.html
How different from the price-gouging of Saudi Arabia regards US oil supplies.
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