The Peanut Gallery: Russian Oil Refining Output Drops 11% - Kremlin Eyes Austerity and Tax Hikes
March 20, 2024
Welcome to the Peanut Gallery! Today we're going to talk about how violence can solve most of life's problems.
Please remember that I know nothing.
Polish President Andrzej Duda emphasized in a March 20 interview with CNBC that Putin is intensifying efforts to shift Russia to a war economy with the intention of being able to attack NATO as early as 2026 or 2027, citing unspecified German research.[7]
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen stated on February 9 that new intelligence indicates that Russia may attempt to attack a NATO country within three to five years, an accelerated timeline from NATO’s reported assessment in 2023.
Folks, I hate to alarm, but that drumbeat in the distance? That rhythm of War? It’s getting louder.
We can pretend we don’t hear it...but we do. All of us, deep in our guts. Personally I thought it would sound glorious—all the books, games, and movies—thunderous orchestras and thrilling endings. Now that I hear it, though, all I can think is, “No. Please God. No.”
Yet here we are, chained together on this planet. And one of us is apparently going mad with power atop a pile of nuclear weapons. In his fist is a detonator.
I don’t think it undermines the effort to acknowledge our fear. Such acknowledgement must, however, follow with an understanding that the only way to resolve this situation is to recognize the reality and act appropriately. Our generation is cursed with understanding; we get to watch, from the front-fucking-row, as our fates are decided on a planetary scale.
Six-hundred and fifty-years ago, when the Black Death swept through Europe, some peasant tilling his soil had no idea why people died, but he knew it had something to do with Satan. That peasant believed in his heart of hearts that if he was just, if he obeyed the Will of God, then no ill would befall his family. He believed in the power of hope. He believed in the power of prayer. He believed in a benevolent universe, one where Right and Wrong were enforced by divine mandate.
Well that peasant was fucking stupid. He should’ve believed in military hardware.
Judicious application of napalm, for instance, will incinerate most mammals—rats, for instance. No rat, no fleas; no fleas, no apocalypse. Funny how that works out. Plus there’s the labor saving utility of artillery shells—fire one off, instantly furrowed field. Like magic—oh! And how could I forget the stupendous weather predictive capacity of the MiM-104 Patriot?
The point is that at the end of the day we should buy guns. Lots and lots of guns. Then give those guns to Ukraine so they can kill the crazy mother fucker threatening everyone we know and love.
The peasant couldn’t do shit about his predicament. We can.
The Russian military continues to undertake structural reforms to simultaneously support the war in Ukraine while expanding Russia’s conventional capabilities in the long term in preparation for a potential future large-scale conflict with NATO.
It’s a recognition of the current status quo, of a sort. And an indication that Putin intends to escalate. He is making moves that he’ll raise taxes on his equivalent of nobility: the ‘siloviki’, essentially feudal warlords. They’re oligarchs, usually control some vital (yet distinct) state function (like running a refinery or governing a district), which they use to raise funds to maintain their quasi-independent military force.
Seems to me that’s the proto-makings of a lord-vassal relationship. Didn’t we grow out of this shit? Didn’t Russia grow out of this shit?
GUR reportedly conducted a drone strike against a Russian air base in Saratov Oblast on March 20 amid further indications that Ukrainian drone strikes within Russia are achieving limited asymmetric effects against Russian military assets and economic output.
Hell yeah! Oh! And speaking of air-strikes, Bloomberg says) the Kremlin’s refined crude output is down by eleven percent! These attacks are having a huge effect.
Wait! Wait! I want to rub this in the IMF’s face.
Russia continues efforts to circumvent international sanctions, and the International Monetary Fund assessed that Russia’s GDP will grow by 2.6 percent in 2024 and reported that Russia’s GDP grew faster than all Group of Seven (G7) countries’ economies in 2023.[6]
Did it, IMF? Really?! Despite all that has happened, despite the sanctions, the war, the literal detonation of their infrastructure, mass emigration, inflation, and gasoline rationing, the Russian economy managed to grow .1% faster than the United States? That’s fuckin’ remarkable. I’ve just got one question: what’s it like to gargle Putin’s balls? Does he bathe regularly—are those things clean? Is it a salty sort of taste, or come with a bit of tang?
I’m sorry, that’s several questions. I’m just so damn curious as to why the IMF spends so much time on their knees. I just can’t understand the appeal.
A few more signed. Current count stands at 185( / 213-D) signatories, all Democrat. We’re sort of all sitting around with our thumbs up our asses over here waiting for the House to pass the government funding package.
Russian authorities continue to militarize children in occupied Ukraine as part of efforts to Russify Ukrainian children and create a resource for Russia’s future force generation needs. (..) Russian authorities have approved the creation of the Luhansk Cadet Corps under the Russian Investigative Committee (Russia’s rough equivalent to the American Federal Bureau of Investigation), possibly before 2025.[61] Lysohor stated that Luhansk Cadet Corps will teach Ukrainian children about pro-Russian concepts including their “debt” to the Russian “Motherland.”
Please give Ukraine what they need to bring this war to an end.
‘Q’ for the Community: /r/TheNuttySpectacle!
Military hardware has phenomenal utility, from antipersonnel mines as deer traps, to M-60s for ice-sculpting, the options are endless. What everyday applications can you think of for military hardware in your day-to-day life?
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