Aug 21, 2025 07:51 PM
(This post was last modified: Aug 21, 2025 08:59 PM by C C.)
Hate to say it (in light of the below), but maybe the only way to punish Putin now (if a peace deal fails) is to encourage Europe to keep supplying Ukraine with significant military aid, and drag out the war enough years that it deeply cuts into Russian demographics, via the loss of more men (tragic, horrible, yata-yata, but...). He'll ultimately still acquire all or much of Ukraine, but at least it won't be handed to him on a silver platter in a shorter period. The deprivation that an extended war causes Russia might at least slow down its future objectives to exert complete dominance over former Iron Curtain countries in Eastern Europe.
And turning Western Europe into an arms manufacturing service to support Ukraine will also benefit Europe's independence transition to providing its own defense of the continent. As Syne mentioned in the other thread, secondary tariffs may simply add countries like India to a tentatively forging bloc that will be an enemy of the West. (India was a partial fellate buddy of the Soviet Union back in the Cold War era.) Although, it's difficult to imagine China and India ever getting along with each other as concubines sharing the Russian bed.
Russia launches biggest wave of strikes on Ukraine for weeks
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62wj8yje2eo
EXCERPTS: Russia has launched 574 drones and 40 missiles on Ukraine in one of the heaviest bombardments in weeks, Ukrainian officials say.
One person was killed in a drone and missile strike on the western city of Lviv, while 15 others were reported wounded in an attack on the south-western Transcarpathia region.
The attacks came as US President Donald Trump spearheads diplomatic moves to halt the war. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the strikes highlighted why efforts to bring it to an end were "so critical".
[...] Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Zelensky said there was still no sign from Moscow that they "truly intend to engage in substantive negotiations" to end the war...
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Trump is ready to ‘crush’ the Russian economy if Putin doesn’t meet with Zelensky, says Lindsey Graham
https://www.msn.com/en-za/politics/gover...r-AA1KSauu
INTRO: Sen. Lindsey Graham has said that Donald Trump is ready to “crush” the Russian economy if Vladimir Putin refuses to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky in the coming weeks to discuss an end to the Ukraine war.
Graham has reportedly been pressuring Trump for months to support a sweeping sanctions bill designed to punish the Kremlin by placing massive tariffs on any country that continues to buy Russian oil and gas, thereby indirectly helping to bankroll its invasion of its western neighbor state.
The legislation would most obviously hurt rival superpowers China and India, who currently account for 70 percent of Russia’s energy exports and would face 500 percent U.S. tariffs if it were to be enacted...
- - - - - - - - - - - -
We had one chance to sink the Russian economy and we blew it – Putin knew we would
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world...11432.html
EXCERPT: Despite the deaths of hundreds of thousands, and billions in military aid to Kyiv, Putin’s forces continue to advance beyond the 20 per cent of Ukraine he now controls. His missiles rain nightly death on Ukraine’s cities; Moscow’s army launched 270 drones and 10 missiles at central Ukraine just hours after President Zelensky concluded peace talks at the White House.
Though Putin’s economy is floundering, it is by no means crippled. And while Putin has failed to subjugate the whole of Ukraine to his will, he is on course to accomplish many of his war aims, including the “liberation” of the Russian-speaking region of the country and blocking Kyiv’s membership of Nato.
The West carries much of the blame for this failure. Oil and gas are the lifeblood of Russia’s war machine – yet from the outset of the war, the US prioritised protecting steady world oil supplies over properly punishing Putin. Europe, too, has imposed 18 rounds of sanctions against Russia – yet itself has continued to find ways to import Russian oil, piped and liquefied gas (LNG), and refined oil products.
A large proportion of Russia’s oil exports are carried in tankers ultimately owned by EU – especially Greek – shipping companies. And the shocking truth is that over the course of the war, Europeans have paid far more into Kremlin coffers in the form of payments for oil and gas than they have given to defend Ukraine.
Europe had one chance to sink the Russian economy and blew it. Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has pocketed nearly €1 trillion from oil and gas. After China, the EU has been the second biggest buyer of Putin’s gas, handing over €260bn.
While the EU has repeatedly pledged to reduce its reliance on Russian gas, it has never actually placed any sanctions or price caps on it. Ironically, it was saboteurs rather than European governments that put the biggest dent in Gazprom’s revenues after three of the four Nord Stream undersea gas pipelines were blown up in September 2022. The culprits, according to arrest warrants issued by German police, were Ukrainians. But even after the Nord Stream sabotage, Europe quickly switched to Russian LNG exported from the Baltic terminals of Ust-Luga and Vysotsk.
Over three years of war, European leaders have promised Kyiv their support is absolute, or “your fight is our fight,” in the words of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. But rather than cut off Putin’s core revenues, the thing that could have really inflicted serious damage, Europeans have chosen legal workarounds...
And turning Western Europe into an arms manufacturing service to support Ukraine will also benefit Europe's independence transition to providing its own defense of the continent. As Syne mentioned in the other thread, secondary tariffs may simply add countries like India to a tentatively forging bloc that will be an enemy of the West. (India was a partial fellate buddy of the Soviet Union back in the Cold War era.) Although, it's difficult to imagine China and India ever getting along with each other as concubines sharing the Russian bed.
Russia launches biggest wave of strikes on Ukraine for weeks
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62wj8yje2eo
EXCERPTS: Russia has launched 574 drones and 40 missiles on Ukraine in one of the heaviest bombardments in weeks, Ukrainian officials say.
One person was killed in a drone and missile strike on the western city of Lviv, while 15 others were reported wounded in an attack on the south-western Transcarpathia region.
The attacks came as US President Donald Trump spearheads diplomatic moves to halt the war. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the strikes highlighted why efforts to bring it to an end were "so critical".
[...] Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Zelensky said there was still no sign from Moscow that they "truly intend to engage in substantive negotiations" to end the war...
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Trump is ready to ‘crush’ the Russian economy if Putin doesn’t meet with Zelensky, says Lindsey Graham
https://www.msn.com/en-za/politics/gover...r-AA1KSauu
INTRO: Sen. Lindsey Graham has said that Donald Trump is ready to “crush” the Russian economy if Vladimir Putin refuses to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky in the coming weeks to discuss an end to the Ukraine war.
Graham has reportedly been pressuring Trump for months to support a sweeping sanctions bill designed to punish the Kremlin by placing massive tariffs on any country that continues to buy Russian oil and gas, thereby indirectly helping to bankroll its invasion of its western neighbor state.
The legislation would most obviously hurt rival superpowers China and India, who currently account for 70 percent of Russia’s energy exports and would face 500 percent U.S. tariffs if it were to be enacted...
- - - - - - - - - - - -
We had one chance to sink the Russian economy and we blew it – Putin knew we would
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world...11432.html
EXCERPT: Despite the deaths of hundreds of thousands, and billions in military aid to Kyiv, Putin’s forces continue to advance beyond the 20 per cent of Ukraine he now controls. His missiles rain nightly death on Ukraine’s cities; Moscow’s army launched 270 drones and 10 missiles at central Ukraine just hours after President Zelensky concluded peace talks at the White House.
Though Putin’s economy is floundering, it is by no means crippled. And while Putin has failed to subjugate the whole of Ukraine to his will, he is on course to accomplish many of his war aims, including the “liberation” of the Russian-speaking region of the country and blocking Kyiv’s membership of Nato.
The West carries much of the blame for this failure. Oil and gas are the lifeblood of Russia’s war machine – yet from the outset of the war, the US prioritised protecting steady world oil supplies over properly punishing Putin. Europe, too, has imposed 18 rounds of sanctions against Russia – yet itself has continued to find ways to import Russian oil, piped and liquefied gas (LNG), and refined oil products.
A large proportion of Russia’s oil exports are carried in tankers ultimately owned by EU – especially Greek – shipping companies. And the shocking truth is that over the course of the war, Europeans have paid far more into Kremlin coffers in the form of payments for oil and gas than they have given to defend Ukraine.
Europe had one chance to sink the Russian economy and blew it. Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has pocketed nearly €1 trillion from oil and gas. After China, the EU has been the second biggest buyer of Putin’s gas, handing over €260bn.
While the EU has repeatedly pledged to reduce its reliance on Russian gas, it has never actually placed any sanctions or price caps on it. Ironically, it was saboteurs rather than European governments that put the biggest dent in Gazprom’s revenues after three of the four Nord Stream undersea gas pipelines were blown up in September 2022. The culprits, according to arrest warrants issued by German police, were Ukrainians. But even after the Nord Stream sabotage, Europe quickly switched to Russian LNG exported from the Baltic terminals of Ust-Luga and Vysotsk.
Over three years of war, European leaders have promised Kyiv their support is absolute, or “your fight is our fight,” in the words of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. But rather than cut off Putin’s core revenues, the thing that could have really inflicted serious damage, Europeans have chosen legal workarounds...
