Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Easo]

You say it's not hard to check... so it should be pretty easy for you to prove your point.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/P8KufJfDvesQTTJv6

A well known restaurant in Kaliningrad - the most expensive menu item there in July was under 1k roubles, read, ~10 EUR at the time, most around 500 roubles - so 5 EUR.
Suffice to say a year ago they did not cost like 250-400, but about what they are now.


Or we can just look at Vkusno i Tochka, which you might remember as the rebrand of McDonalds:
https://vkusnoitochka.ru/menu

You think it looks like they had 30% menu price increase, let alone 60?

[Saradain]

Hehe, a peer-reviewed professor not valid information, but local moldy meat-selling McD ripoff is legit. Sub-standard living standards of russians outside of the Kremlin-protected region obviously have nothing to do with piss-cheap prices.

Sounds like sleeper troll agents have been activated in sheer desperation

[Huehuecoyotl]

https://maps.app.goo.gl/P8KufJfDvesQTTJv6

A well known restaurant in Kaliningrad - the most expensive menu item there in July was under 1k roubles, read, ~10 EUR at the time, most around 500 roubles - so 5 EUR.
Suffice to say a year ago they did not cost like 250-400, but about what they are now.


Or we can just look at Vkusno i Tochka, which you might remember as the rebrand of McDonalds:
https://vkusnoitochka.ru/menu

You think it looks like they had 30% menu price increase, let alone 60?

Are we unable to comment on the situation in Russia due to "fog of economics" then?

[Makabreska]

https://maps.app.goo.gl/P8KufJfDvesQTTJv6

A well known restaurant in Kaliningrad - the most expensive menu item there in July was under 1k roubles, read, ~10 EUR at the time, most around 500 roubles - so 5 EUR.
Suffice to say a year ago they did not cost like 250-400, but about what they are now.


Or we can just look at Vkusno i Tochka, which you might remember as the rebrand of McDonalds:
https://vkusnoitochka.ru/menu

You think it looks like they had 30% menu price increase, let alone 60?

So your "gotcha" moment is a price comparison of some restaurants vs actual research provided by economics specialists that sign their results with their names? Like, seriously? Why do we even have economics professors if all you have to do it just check the menu, eh? You still doing this thing of "ha ha y'all dumb, my Telegram sources are the real deal and everything else are memes"?

[Hansworst]

Foggy wallet?

[Elder Millennial]

They probably should look at Armenia and see the writing on the wall if they expect russian support.

probably have and noticed the azeris have done some ethnic cleansing and nobody has done anything about it. doubled edged sword comparison there.

Unlike Armenia/Azerbaijan which is geographically inaccessible for NATO, Serbia is literally landlocked by NATO countries. Unless the Russians invented a teleportation device, the Serbs would be taking one helluva gambit if they tried to invade a place currently hosting NATO peacekeepers.

I don't think the Serbs are retarded enough to try.

But this situation also highlights the fact that allowing the Serbs to re-arm was a mistake.

- - - Updated - - -

Foggy wallet?

Foggynomics.

[Makabreska]

Welp, pro-Russina dude once again wins election in Slovakia.

[Iphie]

Except NATO is already in Kosovo, *slightly* different situation.

did you miss this? As it seems you did.

Unlike Armenia/Azerbaijan which is geographically inaccessible for NATO, Serbia is literally landlocked by NATO countries. Unless the Russians invented a teleportation device, the Serbs would be taking one helluva gambit if they tried to invade a place currently hosting NATO peacekeepers.

I don't think the Serbs are retarded enough to try.

But this situation also highlights the fact that allowing the Serbs to re-arm was a mistake.

So yeah, I'm quite aware of that fact, and that Serbia should think real hard before going in a la russia, as they would have to go up against NATO without russia.

[Elegiac]

Are we unable to comment on the situation in Russia due to "fog of economics" then?

Dude's still trying to recover the face he lost with all the doomposting about how Ukraine was going to capitulate any day now.

We've gone from fuggoff war to fuggoff economics.

[Saradain]

Dude's still trying to recover the face he lost with all the doomposting about how Ukraine was going to capitulate any day now.

We've gone from fuggoff war to fuggoff economics.

And he comes back from a year of exile after being dismantled utterly with his propaganda talking points...appearing as a reddit neckbeard in a body of a peacock preening his feathers of disinformation with a "GOTCHA" attitude, preaching his superiority with ever-so-vague reference to "other posters" while, as always, ignoring any counter-evidence to his "claims". He's the king of the Kremlin propaganda regurgitation hill now, although the turnip payout won't be very high with that level of engagement...

[Elegiac]

And he comes back from a year of exile after being dismantled utterly with his propaganda talking points...appearing as a reddit neckbeard in a body of a peacock preening his feathers of disinformation with a "GOTCHA" attitude, preaching his superiority with ever-so-vague reference to "other posters" while, as always, ignoring any counter-evidence to his "claims". He's the king of the Kremlin propaganda regurgitation hill now, although the turnip payout won't be very high with that level of engagement...

I don't think it's necessarily intentionally malicious, per se. To quote Dan Olson:

"One of the most insidious elements of a confidence scam is that the victims who invested the most are often the most passionate defenders. Because shame is a powerful force in the human psyche, and they can't bear the shame of admitting they were tricked."

In this case, the confidence scam is the image of Russia as a global power. You see exactly the same shit with Chomsky and the other social media tankies trying to fish what remains of their credibility out of the storm drain.

[zealo]

Unlike Armenia/Azerbaijan which is geographically inaccessible for NATO, Serbia is literally landlocked by NATO countries. Unless the Russians invented a teleportation device, the Serbs would be taking one helluva gambit if they tried to invade a place currently hosting NATO peacekeepers.

I don't think the Serbs are retarded enough to try.

But this situation also highlights the fact that allowing the Serbs to re-arm was a mistake.

- - - Updated - - -



Foggynomics.

It's all moot anyway, Serbia started pulling forces back again after the US reminded them what would follow if they invade Kosovo, they're not going to do shit at this time.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...arning-from-us

[Elder Millennial]

Welp, pro-Russina dude once again wins election in Slovakia.

That dude is legitimately concerning. The Hungarian-Slovak pro-Ruzzian alliance is really not something anyone needs at this time.

[Kallisto]

While this guy's party has more votes than any other party, does he have a road to being PM or can the other parties band together and have someone else as PM?

[Saradain]

While this guy's party has more votes than any other party, does he have a road to being PM or can the other parties band together and have someone else as PM?

Apparently they need to form a majority coalition with the other parties to make a functional goverment, which makes it hard for both sides (had any other party won).

[Iphie]

Apparently they need to form a majority coalition with the other parties to make a functional goverment, which makes it hard for both sides (had any other party won).

Gotta love working democracy eh?

No, seriously I'm quite glad that on our side of the pond more often than not multiple parties are required to get to a majority since that prevents extremes (usually)...*pointed look at the Persfinnit and sellout RKP*.

[Forogil]

Unlike Armenia/Azerbaijan which is geographically inaccessible for NATO,

It's more complicated, which is relevant for this thread.

Azerbaijan is very friendly with Turkey (that they share a small border with), and Turkey is a NATO member.
Armenia (that has a longer border with Turkey - but a genocide is making the relations less friendly) was instead more Russian-friendly, but is now trying to get friendly with NATO as well/instead; including having US troops there last month - https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/...ia-ties-a82425

The reason Armenia tried to shift is that Russia cannot protect them anymore, due to Russia being occupied with occupying parts of Ukraine and also the lack of strength shown there.

Serbia is literally landlocked by NATO countries. Unless the Russians invented a teleportation device, the Serbs would be taking one helluva gambit if they tried to invade a place currently hosting NATO peacekeepers.

Based on the part above it's an even worse gambit.

[Wilian]

Gotta love working democracy eh?

No, seriously I'm quite glad that on our side of the pond more often than not multiple parties are required to get to a majority since that prevents extremes (usually)...*pointed look at the Persfinnit and sellout RKP*.

Hey now, just because persut keep lying through their teeth surely doesn't make them disqualified from government!

[Forogil]

Apparently they need to form a majority coalition with the other parties to make a functional goverment, which makes it hard for both sides (had any other party won).

Yes, SMER only got about 24%.

So, they will have to attempt to form a coalition goverment. I was curious whether the largest party usually forms the government and there's a messy story (without Germany's grand coalitions).

In 2020 OĽaNO (and anti-corruption party running against SMER) got the most vote with 25% and formed a coalition government.
In 2016 SMER got the most votes with 28% and formed a coalition government.
In 2012 SMER got 44% and the majority of seats in parliament (and obviously formed the government).
In 2010 SMER got the most votes with 35%, but instead an anti-SMER government was formed with five parties.
In 2006 SMER got the most votes with with 29% and formed the government.

So, only did the largest party not form the goverment and that government fell in half-time (in 2018 the leader of SMER fell in half-time due to a journalist killing).

[Biglog]

It's more complicated, which is relevant for this thread.

Azerbaijan is very friendly with Turkey (that they share a small border with), and Turkey is a NATO member.
Armenia (that has a longer border with Turkey - but a genocide is making the relations less friendly) was instead more Russian-friendly, but is now trying to get friendly with NATO as well/instead; including having US troops there last month - https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/...ia-ties-a82425

The ties are even quite a bit stronger even than this. Armenia is a CSTO alliance member along with Russia and several other former Soviet states, which is very similar to the NATO alliance pact where an attack on one is an attack on all. Armenia made a call under CSTO for protection and Russia declined, which is why Azerbaijan was able to easily take Nagorno-Karabakh. It's not as easy as just switching sides when a country is in an military alliance with countries already at war.

And for Azerbaijan and Turkey, they are essentially sister states like Russia and Belarus or the US and Canada. Turkey helped Azerbaijan extensively in the last Nagorno-Karabakh war, pushing the line to assist militarily as far as they could without directly dropping bombs themselves or having troops on the ground. So that was another major hurdle to the West getting involved.