re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict.

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I think his finances were exaggerated, he has done some very ethically dubious things using the office to enrich himself... and apparently he was in money trouble after he left office.


All of this is made up bullshite.

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It's gospel on DU and comrade media of the MSM. Spin, spin, spin that TDS.

Respectful request to keep this thread on the war in Ukraine. There's a whole board available to argue about Trump on.

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Respectful request to keep this thread on the war in Ukraine. There's a whole board available to argue about Trump on.

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Okay... seems inevitable as he gets brought up constantly and his motivations are questioned, but okay.

I thought this was interesting. It looks like something Ukraine could/would use to strike deep inside of Russia.

https://www.twz.com/land/mysterious-guided-rocket-launcher-disguised-in-a-shipping-container-at-fort-bragg-identified

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An unknown containerized launcher able to fire the same suite of artillery rockets and ballistic missiles as the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) seen at the U.S. Army’s Fort Bragg earlier this year has been identified. This comes as the Army’s top general in the Indo-Pacific region has highlighted the value of “boxes of rockets” hiding in plain sight as part of a broader strategy that “gives our adversary pause.”

As for the launcher seen at Bragg, it is a prototype launch system developed as part of the Palletized Field Artillery Launcher (PFAL) project that is said to currently belong to U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). PFAL presents a harder-to-spot and otherwise flexible strike capability, especially for launching ballistic missiles, which could be of interest to the regular Army if the service is not pursuing something in this vein already.

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Meanwhile we are building the successor to the MOP, the Next Generation Penetrator. Who will be the first to take it up their exhaust chute?

Kherson region, FPV drone attack...

UNITED24 Media
?@united24media.com?

Russian forces used a drone to attack a one-year-old child and an elderly woman in the village of Pravdyne, Kherson region. The child was killed on the spot.

According to regional authorities, the victims were in their yard when the strike hit.

Hopefully Trumps finance story can end Obama's Ukraine war. 11 years and counting.

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I feel like you need both a non nuclear one for actual use, and a nuclear one that you hope to never use.

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I always figured a precision nuke would follow the bunker buster to the same coordinates... and that's a "horseshoes and hand grenades" scenario at that point.

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I always figured a precision nuke would follow the bunker buster to the same coordinates... and that's a "horseshoes and hand grenades" scenario at that point.

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Lol yeah I guess it all comes down to do they think it can find the hole.

Modern Russian Business 101 - Cannibals in Love.

The state of the economy is now forcing Putin to eat his own.

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According to Bloomberg, the Kremlin has confiscated property worth $49.5 billion to fill budget gaps caused by declining oil revenues.

The Kremlin is aggressively seizing assets from businesses to replenish the nearly empty state coffers. Since 2022, property worth $49.5 billion has been expropriated in Russia, with the number of such seizures tripling just in the past year. Most often, strategic enterprises are confiscated and then transferred to loyal new owners close to Putin.

Asset seizures are surging in Russia, with the total value of confiscated property since 2022 reaching 3.9 trillion rubles, according to estimates from lawyers at Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in March that he wants to maintain that pace in 2025.

Lower oil prices and a stronger ruble threaten to deplete the remaining liquid reserves in the National Wellbeing Fund by the end of the year, according to Yakovlev. “That raises the question of how to finance military production and the army — and the sale of confiscated assets to regime-connected businessmen becomes a convenient option,” he said.

The trend of increasing asset seizures may help reinforce government finances and cement the state's control, but it's weakening the economy's resilience and hollowing out the private sector, as stated by Andrei Yakovlev, an economist and associate at Harvard University's Davis Center.

Authorities have invoked various justifications for the appropriations, including issues with privatization, claims of corruption, and alleged extremism, with courts often ignoring key protections and shifting the balance in favor of the plaintiff, according to lawyers at Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners.





Last year alone, these so-called “sales” generated 132 billion rubles for the budget—far exceeding the initially planned 1 billion. These funds are being used to cover a growing deficit caused by falling oil revenues. In June, oil and gas revenues fell by 33.7%, reaching their lowest point in 2.5 years.





... Widespread business confiscations are making the economy increasingly dependent on the Kremlin and are undermining its overall efficiency.

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While 1.5 trillion rubles worth of the targeted holdings belonged to strategically important enterprises over which the Kremlin seeks to tighten its grip, the rest comes from a wide range of industries and is often sold off to new owners with the state reaping the revenue. In total, the firm’s lawyers have tallied 102 such cases.

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“The Kremlin is solving two problems at once,” said Andrei Yakovlev, an economist and associate at Harvard University’s Davis Center. Confiscating property that’s later re-sold creates a new revenue stream for the budget and “reshapes the business elite so their fate is tied to the regime’s survival.”

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However, replacing private-sector owners who possess decades of experience “with those who owe their success to the state will inevitably reduce overall economic efficiency,” Yakovlev said.

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This month, the Prosecutor General’s Office moved to seize Yuzhuralzoloto, a gold miner owned by the family and close associates of local billionaire Konstantin Strukov, alleging he illegally controlled the business while holding a public post. By that logic, at least half of all regional entrepreneurs could face confiscation, said the economist Yakovlev. Holding a seat in local legislatures was once a common way for business owners to protect themselves, he added.

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If you don't think it's bad, look at what's happening here. Putin is re-selling these companies to oligarchs that have the money. They don't have any choice, if you have this kind of money in Russia now you are going to be forced to give it up one way or another. Paying Putin for these companies is the healthy option.

But that leaves nothing for capitalization, actually running the companies even if they had the experienced ownership left over. That will force the new owners to cut costs - lay off employees, delay payments to vendors and yes, delay tax payments to local authorities.

And as soon as another oligarch shows possession of any liquidity, the companies will be re-sold to them. Meanwhile, revenue productivity declines rapidly, turning a positive source of taxes into a revenue-neutral basket case. This process will only accelerate as Putin requires more and more funding, killing off remaining real sources of corporate tax revenue.

The effect of this practice is just a circle of asset stripping. It reminds us of Argentina thirty years ago. Except in this case, A.) there is no IMF/World Bank with bailout money and B.) they're in the middle of a very very expensive war with the West.

Many Western politicians and DoD think tank types don't want to see Russia defeated due to the huge unrest with nukes that would involve. But the way this is going, no one can prevent the coming crash and burn of the Russian state. It's coming, get ready.

LINK