94 journalists killed in 2023, says IFJ, 68 of them were killed in Gaza.

[Moses]

7 hours ago, stevenkesslar said:

And killing women and children. And killing women and children. 

Don't make false cries dear. In Gaza in 2 months died 10 times more kids, than in Ukraine in 2 years.

[stevenkesslar]

11 hours ago, Moses said:

Let's talk about dual morale.

Russia occupies Ukraine - that is bad.
Israel occupies Gaza already many years - that is good.

Thank you.

I am glad  you have figured out that Russia's occupation of Ukraine is bad.  Can you now convince your butcher/sadist leader of that?

In terms of a double standard - yes, you do have a double standard, as @Marc in Calif has noted.  Why are you a hypocrite that supports a butcher/sadist?

I despise both Netanyahu and Putin.  They both killed peace.  Netanyahu killed peace in Israel, and Putin killed peace in Ukraine. 

That said, as a butcher Netanyahu does not measure up to Putin.  Putin has killed maybe 500,000 Ukrainian soldiers, and turned hundreds of thousands of his own people into fertilizer.  Just because he is a butcher, and he can.  So I can be against both butchers.  And I am.  Why aren't you?  Why do you support a butcher and sadist who engages in mass slaughter, while going after Israel?

The double standard is yours, @Moses.  Go ahead and call out Israel all you want.  But the way Putin butchers soldiers, women, and children is even worse.  

Putin has turned Russia into a gas station and butcher shop.  Other than that, your economy sucks.  Xi Whiz is playing your butcher leader to be his strong man and sadist.  But don't be surprised down the line when Xi Whiz finds it convenient to abandon your butcher and sadist.  Even Xi Whiz, let alone Putin, can't change the fact that the US came out of COVID the strongest economy in the world.  Notice how the Dow just broke records, while your economy is a dumpster fire?  And everyone smart who can is leaving Russia, since they don't want to be Russian fertilizer.

You might want to think about your double standard.  It is not working well for you, or Russia.

[Moses]

3 hours ago, stevenkesslar said:

Other than that, your economy sucks.

Are you sure? Russian GDP 2023 growing +3.5%, you may compare with Germany -0.1%... And that is Russia under sanctions, not Germany.

EU GDP 2023 forecast +0.6%... Who is under sanctions - EU or Russia?

https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/russias-q3-gdp-growth-confirmed-55-rosstat-2023-12-13/

3 hours ago, stevenkesslar said:

Putin has turned Russia into a gas station

Gas in Russian GDP is lower than 2%, together with with oil and oil products in total number is lower than 10%

How many other city legends from propagandistic templates you know?

[Marc in Calif]

2 hours ago, Moses said:

Are you sure? Russian GDP 2023 growing +3.5%, you may compare with Germany -0.1%... And that is Russia under sanctions, not Germany.

You don't seem to understand GDP. It includes manufacturing -- especially military arms and weapons, as well as all other spending on war.

But how's the wartime economy doing for average Russians? Can you show that the following statements are incorrect? Facts, please.

https://www.eurotopics.net/en/311865/how-is-the-russian-economy-really-faring

Arms don't improve living standards

Economics professor Konstantin Sonin explains in Novaya Gazeta Europe why living standards in Russia are only improving on paper:
The 'GDP growth' that experts are currently discussing is a statistical fiction ... Under normal circumstances, a rise in the GDP per capita also shows how much the standards of living have improved. ... In wartime, these indicators diverge. ... This is because the tanks produced here which are burning outside Avdiivka in Ukraine or the missiles fired at Ukrainian cities are included in the GDP, but do not improve the living standards of Russians. If, instead of these things, it was computers or cars that were being manufactured, or dentists and sports coaches that were providing their services, this would actually have an impact on the standard of living.

Eggs instead of chicken

In a post on Facebook, journalist Anatoly Nesmiyan explains that there is a shortage of foreign currency in Russia:
According to the official reports everything is fine, GDP is growing, unemployment is falling, people's incomes are going through the roof - but in real life, people are fighting over eggs, because even the cheapest chicken is no longer affordable for a considerable part of the population. You can go on lying unthinkingly for a long time, and the lies will be believed. But when the TV is switched off, everything looks the way it is. A raw materials-based economic model is risky in itself. But when the leadership has managed to break off relations with all major buyers of export goods and switch to random ones, it's no wonder that the sources of foreign currency are drying up.

[stevenkesslar]

3 hours ago, Moses said:

Are you sure? Russian GDP 2023 growing +3.5%, you may compare with Germany -0.1%... And that is Russia under sanctions, not Germany.

EU GDP 2023 forecast +0.6%... Who is under sanctions - EU or Russia?

https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/russias-q3-gdp-growth-confirmed-55-rosstat-2023-12-13/

Poor Vlad.

I'm not a psychologist.  But maybe he butchers women because he can't get it up.

Meanwhile, Xi Whiz is playing poor Vlad like the pathetic old sadist he is.  One leads a growing economy that will compete with the US.  The other invades and butchers because he can't get his economy to rise.  Or anything else.

[Marc in Calif]

5 minutes ago, stevenkesslar said:

Poor Vlad.

I'm not a psychologist.  But maybe he butchers women because he can't get it up.

We know that he rides horses for the same reason! 🐎

[TotallyOz]

6 hours ago, stevenkesslar said:

Thank you.

I am glad  you have figured out that Russia's occupation of Ukraine is bad.  Can you now convince your butcher/sadist leader of that?

In terms of a double standard - yes, you do have a double standard, as @Marc in Calif has noted.  Why are you a hypocrite that supports a butcher/sadist?

I despise both Netanyahu and Putin.  They both killed peace.  Netanyahu killed peace in Israel, and Putin killed peace in Ukraine. 

That said, as a butcher Netanyahu does not measure up to Putin.  Putin has killed maybe 500,000 Ukrainian soldiers, and turned hundreds of thousands of his own people into fertilizer.  Just because he is a butcher, and he can.  So I can be against both butchers.  And I am.  Why aren't you?  Why do you support a butcher and sadist who engages in mass slaughter, while going after Israel?

The double standard is yours, @Moses.  Go ahead and call out Israel all you want.  But the way Putin butchers soldiers, women, and children is even worse.  

Putin has turned Russia into a gas station and butcher shop.  Other than that, your economy sucks.  Xi Whiz is playing your butcher leader to be his strong man and sadist.  But don't be surprised down the line when Xi Whiz finds it convenient to abandon your butcher and sadist.  Even Xi Whiz, let alone Putin, can't change the fact that the US came out of COVID the strongest economy in the world.  Notice how the Dow just broke records, while your economy is a dumpster fire?  And everyone smart who can is leaving Russia, since they don't want to be Russian fertilizer.

You might want to think about your double standard.  It is not working well for you, or Russia.

Steven, you are brilliant and agree wholeheartedly. However, you will never convince some people of the truth. Two things can be true at the same time. Yes, Putin is a butcher. Yes, some of his people love him. I don't know what that says about them but it says a lot of following leaders regardless of their decisions. I am a true pacifist and hate all war. But, others things that a strong leader is one who kills or berates their enemy.

[stevenkesslar]

25 minutes ago, TotallyOz said:

However, you will never convince some people of the truth.

Yes.  That explains why Trump was elected.  ☹️

There is clearly an authoritarian trend in the world.  The US is hardly immune from it.  Some would argue the US is leading it.  There was just a great interview of Fiona Hill in Politico where she talks about what is at stake in Ukraine.  And the wave of anti-US sentiment all over the world.  I suspect some of that has to do with the fact that we urged Ukraine to take on Putin.  And by "take on Putin" I really mean fight back, instead of submit or try to walk a very thin tightrope of neutrality.  And now many Americans are suddenly weak in the knees.  And since I am talking among friends, I should note that W. going after Iraq, just because he could, helped to open Pandora's box. 

That said, Putin didn't really learn the lesson of Iraq.  Or Afghanistan.  People like to own their country.  If Putin wants to understand the long term consequences of what he has done, he need only look to those two countries.  Afghanistan beat both the USSR and the US in the long term.  Putin doesn't stand a chance.

The nice thing about @Moses is he reminds us what is at stake.  And why sticking to our principles is important sometimes.

[Mavica]

53 minutes ago, Marc in Calif said:

We know that he rides horses for the same reason! 🐎

 

[Moses]

5 hours ago, stevenkesslar said:

Poor Vlad.

I'm not a psychologist.  But maybe he butchers women because he can't get it up.

[Moses]

5 hours ago, stevenkesslar said:

Or Afghanistan.

It is good example.

USSR went out of Afghanistan after few year of occupation. USA fast ran from Afghanistan after 20 years. Now is time for Israel to ran from occupied by Israel Gaza.

[unicorn]

On 12/15/2023 at 1:43 AM, Moses said:

...Israel occupies Gaza already many years - that is good.

Had Israel occupied Gaza, the current situation would not have taken place.

[Moses]

3 minutes ago, unicorn said:

Had Israel occupied Gaza, the current situation would not have taken place.

Gaza is occupied by Israel since 1967.

[TotallyOz]

27 minutes ago, Moses said:

It is good example.

USSR went out of Afghanistan after few year of occupation. USA fast ran from Afghanistan after 20 years. Now is time for Israel to ran from occupied by Israel Gaza.

Doesn't sound like fast run if it took 20 years. But,....

My question is simply, is it now for Russia to now not occupy the territories it occupies?

[Moses]

29 minutes ago, TotallyOz said:

Doesn't sound like fast run if it took 20 years

20 years of presence 2 months of evacuation

The US abandoned its supporters in Saigon, the US abandoned its supporters in Laos, the US abandoned its supporters in Afghanistan. It remains to wait a little, and the same fate will await Zelenskiy and Co. Every time it's the same.

 

1975

 

2021

[stevenkesslar]

1 hour ago, Moses said:

Here's the World Bank data you are using:

GDP per capita (current US$) - Russian Federation

You can toggle on lots of charts that measure Russian GDP in different ways.  You are correct that the picture looks very different if you compare $US to PPP.  That is true of most countries, including China.

The fact still remains that Russia sucks to live in compared to most Western countries, when you compare GDP.  

 

Sucks to be Russia, huh?

It is certainly true that Ukraine has a lower GDP than Russia.  So by annexing poor areas of Ukraine, Vlad made Russia poorer.  In addition to all the butchering of women and children.  Nobody ever argued that butchers and sadists like Vlad are actually smart, did they?

Since you like international data, here is the World Bank, then the IMF (those two charts are current) and then a dated (2014) comparison to the US and the world.

The picture is the same no matter what data source you use.

Here's the thing about Murderous Vlad.  On the one hand, he was a sadistic butcher right out of the gate.  He slaughtered women and children at will in Chechnya to gain power and show he was a sadistic murdering bad ass.  But in his first decade the Russian economy definitely grew under Putin.  That is when he aspired to be more like the West, rather than the authoritarian and sadistic leader of a big shitty gas station.   

I included that last chart because it shows that in his first decade Putin brought Russia back to about where it was before the breakup of the USSR.  I get it.  The 1990's sucked in Russia.  I get why even a sadistic authoritarian butcher was better than the 90's.  That's exactly why it really sucks to be Russia.  The 90's in the US and the West were great.

Since about 2008, Russia has not done so well.  Its standard of living has always been way below the West.  And the gap is growing.  It does have oil, and not much else.  Thank God that North Korea and Iran, also two more pathetic economies with murderous leaders, are helping Vlad.  Losers and butchers stick together, I guess.

But, hey, who cares?  Putin is probably one of the richest men in the world.  In addition to being a sadist and a butcher.  So why would he give a shit?  He just likes power.  And butchering women and children.  It is who Vlad is.  It is what Vlad does. 

[Moses]

7 minutes ago, stevenkesslar said:

The fact still remains that Russia sucks to live in compared to most Western countries, when you compare GDP.

Sure. Modern Russia exists only 30 year after communists era. It hasn't 300 years behind.

7 minutes ago, stevenkesslar said:

Sucks to be Russia, huh?

Looks like it is better than to be Ukraine, most corrupted country in World?

 

[Moses]

94 journalists killed in 2023, says IFJ, 68 of them were killed in Gaza

72% of journalists killed worldwide have been killed in the Gaza

 

[TotallyOz]

2 hours ago, TotallyOz said:

Doesn't sound like fast run if it took 20 years. But,....

My question is simply, is it now for Russia to now not occupy the territories it occupies?

@Moses you didn't answer the very simple question.

[Moses]

3 minutes ago, TotallyOz said:

you didn't answer the very simple question.

Should I? 

I already answered it here: https://www.gayguides.com/forums/topic/40396-the-palestinian-olympic-committee-reported-the-death-of-47-athletes-in-the-gaza-strip/?do=findComment&comment=369508

Quote

in threads discussing the USA or Gaza, for lack of an opportunity to refute the facts from my posts, they immediately turn the conversation to Russia just because I am from Russia, as if this will change something in the facts about the USA and the West

Because they remind me that I am from Russia, Biden will not become smarter and younger, 47 Palestinian Olympians and 68 journalists will not come to life, the number of children killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza will remain 10 times greater than the number of children who died in Ukraine, and the country, ranking first in the world in military spending, in the number of prisoners per 100,000 population, in the number of military conflicts that it initiated in the 21st century and in the number of foreign citizens killed by its army will not become more democratic in my eyes.

Perhaps, having reproached me for being from Russia, the citizens of Israel, the country that organized the largest concentration camp in the history of human civilization, are starting to feel a little better, let's leave this as an assumption. But I am sure that this is a low-grade approach to personalities.

 

[TotallyOz]

22 minutes ago, Moses said:

Should I? 

I already answered it here: https://www.gayguides.com/forums/topic/40396-the-palestinian-olympic-committee-reported-the-death-of-47-athletes-in-the-gaza-strip/?do=findComment&comment=369508

 

No, you didn't answer it. Nor, will you. The simple fact is that you are blind to the misgivings of your own country. At least that is what it seems to me. I am not blind to the faults of my own country nor to I make up BS just to prop it up.

[Moses]

22 minutes ago, TotallyOz said:

The simple fact is that you are blind to the misgivings of your own country.

The “simple fact” of the discussion of my personality and Russia in the forum thread about journalists killed in Gaza fully confirms what I quoted above

[TotallyOz]

19 minutes ago, Moses said:

The “simple fact” of the discussion of my personality and Russia in the forum thread about journalists killed in Gaza fully confirms what I quoted above

My question is simply, is it now time for Russia to not not occupy the territories it occupies?

[Moses]

8 minutes ago, TotallyOz said:

My question is simply, is it now time for Russia

It is in the thread for to talk about destiny of 68 journalists in Gaza. I prefer to keep thread on the rail.

You have admin privileges. If you will move your question into separate thread, I will participate in it.

[alvnv]

42 minutes ago, Moses said:

It is in the thread for to talk about destiny of 68 journalists in Gaza. I prefer to keep thread on the rail.

You have admin privileges. If you will move your question into separate thread, I will participate in it.

Where would you like to have it moved? Brink of War?