The Fascist Dictatorship called Russia under Dictator for Life Putin

[Starschy + 211]

Fact is French President Mitterand warned Leonid Kutschma President of Ukraine multiple times about tbe Budapest memorandum. Ukraine never grab the concept of this Document. It was intended as thanking letter to send about 180 Nuclear missiles back to Russia. The US never trusted Ukraine politicians to have Nukes. (Bill Clinton)

Edited February 5, 2022 by Starschy

[SUZNV + 1,197]

Western EU didn't care much about Ukraine  otherwise they wouldn't agree on  nordstream 1 and 2 with Russia to avoid transmitting fees. I didn't see any US interest in it.  Why Ukraine have any hope for they would help them a better solution. I found it laughable when Germany said they would destroy nordstream2 if Russia invaded Ukraine but if it is the case, what is the point of keeping Nordstream2, the transmitting fees discounted already. 

What choice do they have as EU depends on Russian Gas for heating no matter what. What other option do they have? Let Ukraine joined NATO and let Russia cut of the Gas or risk a WW3, do you think again US would get all of the blame if this happened? 

Ukraine President should ask Hunter for a refund. Joking aside, US spoiled their Germany and France allies just for an empty "leadership" label but to be fair, NATO protect EU from Russia as much as protect EU countries among themselves. Europe benefits from this the most and I couldn't see any US personal interest except empty "leadership" to spoiled allies who only see what US didn't do.

Russia is in declining demographics as well so I wouldn't mind US have a good relationship with Russia  which will make Ukraine became the bridge between both. 

Or:

Invest in Ukraine in the Western-Easter Germany competion style which eventually Eastern Donbass would want to be merged back to Ukraine. 

UK has been counter its  geopolitical solation in Europe with good relationship with ex colonials countries for ages. Now with Brexit it it is perfectly make sense that UK wants to tighten these relationship more. France has a lesser global system as well so even EU can claim a slice in South Pole. I see no problem of these .

[Tomasz + 1,608]

If we talk about falling living standards under Putin dictatorship let me suggest reading this one

Moscow is the third Singapore The UN City Program has published a ranking of the well-being of the largest metropolitan areas

The United Nations program UN-Habitat has published the materials of the CPI ranking - a comparison of the level of well-being for several dozen of the world's largest cities in 2021. Moscow ranks third among megacities with a population of more than 6 million people - primarily due to the best infrastructure in the world, according to analysts, and the “quality of life” - communal infrastructure, which includes healthcare, public spaces, education and the cultural sphere. The detailed UN-Habitat ranking often contradicts stereotypes, although this is not the first world ranking in which Moscow holds the leading position.

UN-Habitat is a program for the study of human settlements and living conditions of the population, opened by the United Nations in 1978. Comprehensive CPI ratings are prepared by experts in collaboration with the Spanish consulting center Centro EURE, and are comparable in complexity and quality to the Doing Business project closed by the World Bank last year. The UN-Habitat rating is quite authoritative in scientific and international circles - for example, Moscow's result in 2021 may improve the city's chances in selecting candidates for the Expo-2030 world exhibition.

CPI explores the conditions of urban life using a rather complex method, including independently determining the boundaries of a metropolis - one of the rating parameters is the ratio of urban growth rates to the occupied area. This makes it possible to assess the quality of growth in terms of land use, infrastructure density and sufficiency, etc. Initially, EURE and UN-Habitat considered data from 54 megacities, the final rating with comparable data included 29 of the world's largest megacities with a population of more than 6 million people. Moscow is therefore the only metropolis in the Russian Federation, its data were compared with the data of New York (the only city in the United States that met the conditions of the program), London, Paris and Madrid in Europe, Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Hong Kong in China, Tokyo and Osaka in Japan, Seoul in South Korea, Delhi in India, metropolitan areas of Latin America,

The rating took into account six criteria - economic productivity, infrastructure, quality of life, equality and social inclusion, environment and its sustainability, quality of public administration and legislation. Each of them is broken down into sub-criteria with objective external assessments related to urban development: UN-Habitat suggests that the CPI ranking as a composite should "weigh" in comparable cities both subjective satisfaction of the population (in the form of voter feedback), and political tensions, and crime , and the volume of available infrastructure, and the development of new territories, and migration - in total, CPI operates with several dozen subelements. The result of the composite rating is even more counterintuitive for skeptical residents of Moscow: the Moscow agglomeration is in the top three among the largest cities in the world, it is ahead of Singapore,

The main component of Moscow’s very high rating is its confident global leadership in terms of infrastructure (83.2 points on a scale of 100, followed by Hong Kong, Paris and London with a decent lag) and “quality of life” (68.3 points) along with Singapore ( 67), Hong Kong (62) and Madrid (60 points).

This is a clear result of the active development in Moscow over the past decade of social infrastructure, primarily healthcare, primary and secondary education, universities (here their high concentration in the Russian capital plays a role) and public spaces. For other positions, Moscow, as a rule, has average scores. It should be noted that UN-Habitat, taking into account “political” issues in the rating, does not always prefer “old” megacities - thus, considering Singapore’s state administration and legislation to be almost ideal (98.2 points), experts consider it to be comparable high in Paris, London, Lima and Bangkok (Moscow is in the top 10 for this indicator). If the global trend of migration to the first two megacities is hard to miss,

Apparently, the point is in the balance, which is better visible from the outside: this is not the first time in recent years that Moscow has been rated as one of the comfortable megacities, in The World's 100 Best Cities ranking in 2021 it was ranked fourth, in the BCG megacities attractiveness rating it was third after London and Paris.

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5195527

[Boat + 1,324]

3 hours ago, SUZNV said:

Western EU didn't care much about Ukraine  otherwise they wouldn't agree on  nordstream 1 and 2 with Russia to avoid transmitting fees. I didn't see any US interest in it.  Why Ukraine have any hope for they would help them a better solution. I found it laughable when Germany said they would destroy nordstream2 if Russia invaded Ukraine but if it is the case, what is the point of keeping Nordstream2, the transmitting fees discounted already. 

What choice do they have as EU depends on Russian Gas for heating no matter what. What other option do they have? Let Ukraine joined NATO and let Russia cut of the Gas or risk a WW3, do you think again US would get all of the blame if this happened? 

Ukraine President should ask Hunter for a refund. Joking aside, US spoiled their Germany and France allies just for an empty "leadership" label but to be fair, NATO protect EU from Russia as much as protect EU countries among themselves. Europe benefits from this the most and I couldn't see any US personal interest except empty "leadership" to spoiled allies who only see what US didn't do.

Russia is in declining demographics as well so I wouldn't mind US have a good relationship with Russia  which will make Ukraine became the bridge between both. 

Or:

Invest in Ukraine in the Western-Easter Germany competion style which eventually Eastern Donbass would want to be merged back to Ukraine. 

UK has been counter its  geopolitical solation in Europe with good relationship with ex colonials countries for ages. Now with Brexit it it is perfectly make sense that UK wants to tighten these relationship more. France has a lesser global system as well so even EU can claim a slice in South Pole. I see no problem of these .

Please, you think Putin and his oligarchs don’t pay off those off in Germany? Do you not know how the world works? There was powerful people that shut down working nuclear plants that put Germany in a energy deficit with Putin filling the void. You think that was an accident? Oligarchs fleece the public world over. Our only hope is competing oligarchs have enough power to balance somewhat the mess. 

[Boat + 1,324]

The Sierra Club is fighting Biden for allowing oil and gas drilling in the Gulf. Apparently the Sierra club cares little about the war on coal which is a much higher admitter  of pollution including mercury. If you forgot, nat gas was the fuel of choice to bridge energy consumption to the electric age. From one greenie to another, don’t be an idiot like Trump. Think, also don’t be starving the poor by cutting production in the gulf. If anything, overproduce in the Gulf and cut flaring in the Permian. See how thinking woke works? Ideology does not harm if you do woke stuff. 

[nsdp + 449]

2 hours ago, Boat said:

The Sierra Club is fighting Biden for allowing oil and gas drilling in the Gulf. Apparently the Sierra club cares little about the war on coal which is a much higher admitter  of pollution including mercury. If you forgot, nat gas was the fuel of choice to bridge energy consumption to the electric age. From one greenie to another, don’t be an idiot like Trump. Think, also don’t be starving the poor by cutting production in the gulf. If anything, overproduce in the Gulf and cut flaring in the Permian. See how thinking woke works? Ideology does not harm if you do woke stuff. 

Biden reversed the free pass Chump gave coal on mercury and PM 2.5 this last week.  Now it is back to the 2012 Obama standards.

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

5 hours ago, SUZNV said:

Western EU didn't care much about Ukraine  otherwise they wouldn't agree on  nordstream 1 and 2 with Russia to avoid transmitting fees. I didn't see any US interest in it.  Why Ukraine have any hope for they would help them a better solution. I found it laughable when Germany said they would destroy nordstream2 if Russia invaded Ukraine but if it is the case, what is the point of keeping Nordstream2, the transmitting fees discounted already. 

What choice do they have as EU depends on Russian Gas for heating no matter what. What other option do they have? Let Ukraine joined NATO and let Russia cut of the Gas or risk a WW3, do you think again US would get all of the blame if this happened? 

Ukraine President should ask Hunter for a refund. Joking aside, US spoiled their Germany and France allies just for an empty "leadership" label but to be fair, NATO protect EU from Russia as much as protect EU countries among themselves. Europe benefits from this the most and I couldn't see any US personal interest except empty "leadership" to spoiled allies who only see what US didn't do.

Russia is in declining demographics as well so I wouldn't mind US have a good relationship with Russia  which will make Ukraine became the bridge between both. 

Or:

Invest in Ukraine in the Western-Easter Germany competion style which eventually Eastern Donbass would want to be merged back to Ukraine. 

UK has been counter its  geopolitical solation in Europe with good relationship with ex colonials countries for ages. Now with Brexit it it is perfectly make sense that UK wants to tighten these relationship more. France has a lesser global system as well so even EU can claim a slice in South Pole. I see no problem of these .

The point of Ukraine for US is to irritate Russia. Secondary is to hold back the EU development by preventing flow of cheap Russian energy. Desirable is to have the Russians to foot the bill for the party, too.

[SUZNV + 1,197]

14 hours ago, Boat said:

Please, you think Putin and his oligarchs don’t pay off those off in Germany? Do you not know how the world works? There was powerful people that shut down working nuclear plants that put Germany in a energy deficit with Putin filling the void. You think that was an accident? Oligarchs fleece the public world over. Our only hope is competing oligarchs have enough power to balance somewhat the mess. 

You should read more about countries geopolitics and Europe politics especially the rise of Germany as a country history and their philosophy of moving Eastward with military and economics  throughout the history then you would know how the world works inside and outside US, then learn about how they related in macro economics and world banking. Germany and Russia are the most 2 natural geopolitical enemies and Germany 's finance and corporations have much more Eurodollar power to corrupt the Western politicians than oligarchs/Putin for the lobby competitions for politicians via middle man media because politicians advertising to get votes via media.  

Otherwise you learn nothing from watch TV and everything is simply your perception because media gave you the  pictures are too small and won't make sense to put them along side to each other.  No media will sell you the pictures that will not get them more donations as they losing the money from advertising to social internet like facebook, twitter, amazon, google... We no longer lives in the 1980s where TV and newspaper get most of profits from advertising, not donations. I don't think Putin can match the donation to medias and that is why the Western World is so hostile against Russia.

Do yourself a favor, the first question to ask if anyone tells you anything is there a conflict of interest involves, what benefit they will get from tell you this. I do watch media just like you, just for information not for their interpretation simply it conflicts itself following its own timeline and big pictures. I don't happen to trust the brand name blindly if it doesn't make any geopolitical sense . Ironically media brand name is where your confidence of knowledge comes from so spare me the lecturing as I can go straight to mainstream if I need anything.

For your own non media conspiracy version's alternative, how about the  reason powerful people and media in Germany want to such down nuclear power plants because they are promoting "clean" energy following ESG political movement and they want to such down nuclear as much as oil? Secondly Germany didn't fancy nuclear energy and they planned to retire nuclear powers ages ago  but have to keep extending their deadlines.

Have you ever considered this? This is widely published on mainstream not something conspiracy. Mainstream can change the perception of the people now but they cannot change what happened and trends in history. Try with the nationalism concept forming current Germany and through out cold war you will see the Putin corrupted Germany politicians is laughable.  

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by SUZNV

[SUZNV + 1,197]

12 hours ago, Andrei Moutchkine said:

The point of Ukraine for US is to irritate Russia. Secondary is to hold back the EU development by preventing flow of cheap Russian energy. Desirable is to have the Russians to foot the bill for the party, too.

US don't need to hold back the EU development. EU in a terrible geopolitics position, with conflicts  between monetary from ECB and  individual fiscal policies to make any individual economics reform effectively with the aging demographics constraints. I understand you mean the competition between USD and Euro but the Euro is declining in the SDR basket. I can't wait to see how the next SDR revision look like. The higher share in this represent the more trade deficit and more government spending pressure so I want US share is decline as well. Short term pain for long term gain but it is very unlikely so looks like the US MMT combines with Keynesian style policies make public debt go brrrrrr. 

Edited February 6, 2022 by SUZNV

[Starschy + 211]

16 hours ago, Andrei Moutchkine said:

The point of Ukraine for US is to irritate Russia. Secondary is to hold back the EU development by preventing flow of cheap Russian energy. Desirable is to have the Russians to foot the bill for the party, too.

Western Europe paid17 Billion Euro to Ukraine far more as those about 3 Billion from US.

Germany refused to send Weapon. Those Ukraines will create a Situation that Western Europe will freeze the money to Selenskies Government.

Edited February 6, 2022 by Starschy

[Boat + 1,324]

3 hours ago, SUZNV said:

You should read more about countries geopolitics and Europe politics especially the rise of Germany as a country history and their philosophy of moving Eastward with military and economics  throughout the history then you would know how the world works inside and outside US, then learn about how they related in macro economics and world banking. Germany and Russia are the most 2 natural geopolitical enemies and Germany 's finance and corporations have much more Eurodollar power to corrupt the Western politicians than oligarchs/Putin for the lobby competitions for politicians via middle man media because politicians advertising to get votes via media.  

Otherwise you learn nothing from watch TV and everything is simply your perception because media gave you the  pictures are too small and won't make sense to put them along side to each other.  No media will sell you the pictures that will not get them more donations as they losing the money from advertising to social internet like facebook, twitter, amazon, google... We no longer lives in the 1980s where TV and newspaper get most of profits from advertising, not donations. I don't think Putin can match the donation to medias and that is why the Western World is so hostile against Russia.

Do yourself a favor, the first question to ask if anyone tells you anything is there a conflict of interest involves, what benefit they will get from tell you this. I do watch media just like you, just for information not for their interpretation simply it conflicts itself following its own timeline and big pictures. I don't happen to trust the brand name blindly if it doesn't make any geopolitical sense . Ironically media brand name is where your confidence of knowledge comes from so spare me the lecturing as I can go straight to mainstream if I need anything.

For your own non media conspiracy version's alternative, how about the  reason powerful people and media in Germany want to such down nuclear power plants because they are promoting "clean" energy following ESG political movement and they want to such down nuclear as much as oil? Secondly Germany didn't fancy nuclear energy and they planned to retire nuclear powers ages ago  but have to keep extending their deadlines.

Have you ever considered this? This is widely published on mainstream not something conspiracy. Mainstream can change the perception of the people now but they cannot change what happened and trends in history. Try with the nationalism concept forming current Germany and through out cold war you will see the Putin corrupted Germany politicians is laughable.  

. Then you talk about the two great enemies of Europe when it seems  clear to me that ripping off the German population was a planned exercise with many in power in Germany going along with it. I say, not the media, it seems stupid to give up energy national security in exchange for getting nat gas from Putin. That’s lose, lose.

This claim you make I’ve heard many times. Whatever you say is media driven. I have my own opinions. I think Europe is run by the rich, for the rich. No different than Putin. Hell if I was running Europe green would never supersede national security. That’s means few imports from China and Russia. Hell they’re the enemy and aggressive to boot. Europe has many clowns that have poor priorities. Never put your energy needs in the hands of others unless you have no choice. And then kill nukes before coal? More clown action. 

 PS None of that opinion came from a Houston newspaper.

Edited February 6, 2022 by Boat

[SUZNV + 1,197]

Quote

 

. Then you talk about the two great enemies of Europe when it seems  clear to me that ripping off the German population was a planned exercise with many in power in Germany going along with it. I say, not the media, it seems stupid to give up energy national security in exchange for getting nat gas from Putin. That’s lose, lose.

This claim you make I’ve heard many times. Whatever you say is media driven. I have my own opinions. I think Europe is run by the rich, for the rich. No different than Putin. Hell if I was running Europe green would never supersede national security. That’s means few imports from China and Russia. Hell they’re the enemy and aggressive to boot. Europe has many clowns that have poor priorities. Never put your energy needs in the hands of others unless you have no choice. And then kill nukes before coal? More clown action. 

 PS None of that opinion came from a Houston newspaper.

 

You are not wrong, Europe is financially  run by the rich, for the rich because of their banking and financing structure, same with the US and form global elites. But would they need to stay in their home countries and pay high taxes or moving to tax haven countries? Do you think they will have to buy assets in their countries and not Wall Street? Capitalists has no borders and they can move to any country as will. 

But with Europe politicians their countries are not number 1 in the world  and the rivalries in Europe make it is  very hard to sell out their countries. Unlike in the US politicians can have the world Wall Street stocks for congress trading without consequences so US political career is a way to be rich, Europe politicians know their voters care about domestic politics and geopolitics and their policy directly affect their job securities and retirements but their favorites is using US as a blame for their failures. 

Do you think local elites like Putin or Xi can match the lobbying with global elites bankers on media, politicians' campaigns and propaganda?

------------

Germany traded nuclear for green energy in the long run and more depends on Russia energy in the short run. They cannot have a strong military and depends on NATO so why should they care anything about national security. Germany can keep importing nuclear power from France cheaply and selling machines to France without the need of maintaining any of their own. Back in 2000s, when I was in College they had plan to phase out nuclear gradually already but because the "green energy" cannot keep up, the process was much slower They didn't build any new one for a long time. I know this because NZ engineer degrees emphasized on sustainable energy and NZ banned any nuclear on the territory. They always take Germany and Holland as examples. It is not like your theory that Putin bribed for German politicians  to decide to phase out their nuclear plants. 

It's not easy to understand German culture.  They are the most practical and logical voters who are ready to pay higher and higher tax as long as Germany can have big influence in Eastern Europe, sacrificing their own wealth accumulation for retirement. The whole EU is their own market and their culture are slowly moving east. That were the main reason for WW1 and WW2, both against Russia. It is not mainstream but defined in History.

It  was the nationalism that formed Germany confederation , an inland country in middle Europe, late in colonials period with a fast growing Industry and Eastern Europe is their only ways out geopolitically and as always, Eastern Europe was in  Russia Empire's influence. This is why both WW1 and WW2 Germany and Russia has always been in opposite sides. 

They don't need war or racism this time to archive the same effect but focus on the new culture. You are in Germany, act like a Germain standard and you are accepted no matter of you are Asian, Slavic. Many labors from Eastern EU came to Germany to work and bring back home their Germain influence way.

Any Germany politicians who appeared not moving toward this goal would be voted out no question. German voters are not stupid and the politicians have to persuade them it is good for Germany first to deserve their voters sacrifices and they are very sensitive to this.

-------------

Many many other countries events I see US media never mentioned simply because they know US people won't interest in it does not fit in any agenda or stock. In the contrast news in the US are supervised by people all over the world. This leads to US people who depends on mainstream didn't understand much about how things works outside of the US and then perceive US people as ignorant. US people should try to understand  other positions before giving the solutions but US mainstream don't offer any independent opinion but propaganda makes the matter worse.  

----------------------

let's play a little healing game so both you and me can feel good. I will list a bunch of things I disagree about Trump who I voted for and you list a bunch of things you disagree about Biden. I will go first:

-Loud mouth and mean tweets.

-Perverted, has many divorces.

Edited February 6, 2022 by SUZNV

[Eyes Wide Open + 3,555]

4 hours ago, SUZNV said:

You are not wrong, Europe is financially  run by the rich, for the rich because of their banking and financing structure, same with the US and form global elites. But would they need to stay in their home countries and pay high taxes or moving to tax haven countries? Do you think they will have to buy assets in their countries and not Wall Street? Capitalists has no borders and they can move to any country as will. 

But with Europe politicians their countries are not number 1 in the world  and the rivalries in Europe make it is  very hard to sell out their countries. Unlike in the US politicians can have the world Wall Street stocks for congress trading without consequences so US political career is a way to be rich, Europe politicians know their voters care about domestic politics and geopolitics and their policy directly affect their job securities and retirements but their favorites is using US as a blame for their failures. 

Do you think local elites like Putin or Xi can match the lobbying with global elites bankers on media, politicians' campaigns and propaganda?

------------

Germany traded nuclear for green energy in the long run and more depends on Russia energy in the short run. They cannot have a strong military and depends on NATO so why should they care anything about national security. Germany can keep importing nuclear power from France cheaply and selling machines to France without the need of maintaining any of their own. Back in 2000s, when I was in College they had plan to phase out nuclear gradually already but because the "green energy" cannot keep up, the process was much slower They didn't build any new one for a long time. I know this because NZ engineer degrees emphasized on sustainable energy and NZ banned any nuclear on the territory. They always take Germany and Holland as examples. It is not like your theory that Putin bribed for German politicians  to decide to phase out their nuclear plants. 

It's not easy to understand German culture.  They are the most practical and logical voters who are ready to pay higher and higher tax as long as Germany can have big influence in Eastern Europe, sacrificing their own wealth accumulation for retirement. The whole EU is their own market and their culture are slowly moving east. That were the main reason for WW1 and WW2, both against Russia. It is not mainstream but defined in History.

It  was the nationalism that formed Germany confederation , an inland country in middle Europe, late in colonials period with a fast growing Industry and Eastern Europe is their only ways out geopolitically and as always, Eastern Europe was in  Russia Empire's influence. This is why both WW1 and WW2 Germany and Russia has always been in opposite sides. 

They don't need war or racism this time to archive the same effect but focus on the new culture. You are in Germany, act like a Germain standard and you are accepted no matter of you are Asian, Slavic. Many labors from Eastern EU came to Germany to work and bring back home their Germain influence way.

Any Germany politicians who appeared not moving toward this goal would be voted out no question. German voters are not stupid and the politicians have to persuade them it is good for Germany first to deserve their voters sacrifices and they are very sensitive to this.

-------------

Many many other countries events I see US media never mentioned simply because they know US people won't interest in it does not fit in any agenda or stock. In the contrast news in the US are supervised by people all over the world. This leads to US people who depends on mainstream didn't understand much about how things works outside of the US and then perceive US people as ignorant. US people should try to understand  other positions before giving the solutions but US mainstream don't offer any independent opinion but propaganda makes the matter worse.  

----------------------

let's play a little healing game so both you and me can feel good. I will list a bunch of things I disagree about Trump who I voted for and you list a bunch of things you disagree about Biden. I will go first:

-Loud mouth and mean tweets.

-Perverted, has many divorces.

I do believe you have hit the target with extraordinary precision,nicely articulated. 

When Trump was elected his agenda truly threatened world economic order/balance. China,Germany and the Middle East would and have taken the brunt of those course corrections. 

We live in a very big world, agendas exist at every turn. Watching world events for the last 5 yrs certainly have been eye opening. How this new order reassembles is anyone's guess

It is now quite apparent China and Russia will unite in a attempt to establish dominant role..Now that is extraordinary.

Odd you would mention Biden in the reshuffling...the man is merely a front man, and a very poor one that. His motor skills are broken...cohesive linear thoughts have left the building.

Speaking for myself I truly miss mr Van Eck commentary, yrs ago he connected the dots to a degree. All the discord in the US has a epicenter, NY city. Corporate home to the US, a world financial center...mass media playgrounds. 

Almost every investigation into Trump center's on NY..What lies in NY?...

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by Eyes Wide Open

[bobo88 + 58]

On 2/5/2022 at 7:28 PM, Tomasz said:

If we talk about falling living standards under Putin dictatorship let me suggest reading this one

Moscow is the third Singapore The UN City Program has published a ranking of the well-being of the largest metropolitan areas

The United Nations program UN-Habitat has published the materials of the CPI ranking - a comparison of the level of well-being for several dozen of the world's largest cities in 2021. Moscow ranks third among megacities with a population of more than 6 million people - primarily due to the best infrastructure in the world, according to analysts, and the “quality of life” - communal infrastructure, which includes healthcare, public spaces, education and the cultural sphere. The detailed UN-Habitat ranking often contradicts stereotypes, although this is not the first world ranking in which Moscow holds the leading position.

UN-Habitat is a program for the study of human settlements and living conditions of the population, opened by the United Nations in 1978. Comprehensive CPI ratings are prepared by experts in collaboration with the Spanish consulting center Centro EURE, and are comparable in complexity and quality to the Doing Business project closed by the World Bank last year. The UN-Habitat rating is quite authoritative in scientific and international circles - for example, Moscow's result in 2021 may improve the city's chances in selecting candidates for the Expo-2030 world exhibition.

CPI explores the conditions of urban life using a rather complex method, including independently determining the boundaries of a metropolis - one of the rating parameters is the ratio of urban growth rates to the occupied area. This makes it possible to assess the quality of growth in terms of land use, infrastructure density and sufficiency, etc. Initially, EURE and UN-Habitat considered data from 54 megacities, the final rating with comparable data included 29 of the world's largest megacities with a population of more than 6 million people. Moscow is therefore the only metropolis in the Russian Federation, its data were compared with the data of New York (the only city in the United States that met the conditions of the program), London, Paris and Madrid in Europe, Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Hong Kong in China, Tokyo and Osaka in Japan, Seoul in South Korea, Delhi in India, metropolitan areas of Latin America,

The rating took into account six criteria - economic productivity, infrastructure, quality of life, equality and social inclusion, environment and its sustainability, quality of public administration and legislation. Each of them is broken down into sub-criteria with objective external assessments related to urban development: UN-Habitat suggests that the CPI ranking as a composite should "weigh" in comparable cities both subjective satisfaction of the population (in the form of voter feedback), and political tensions, and crime , and the volume of available infrastructure, and the development of new territories, and migration - in total, CPI operates with several dozen subelements. The result of the composite rating is even more counterintuitive for skeptical residents of Moscow: the Moscow agglomeration is in the top three among the largest cities in the world, it is ahead of Singapore,

The main component of Moscow’s very high rating is its confident global leadership in terms of infrastructure (83.2 points on a scale of 100, followed by Hong Kong, Paris and London with a decent lag) and “quality of life” (68.3 points) along with Singapore ( 67), Hong Kong (62) and Madrid (60 points).

This is a clear result of the active development in Moscow over the past decade of social infrastructure, primarily healthcare, primary and secondary education, universities (here their high concentration in the Russian capital plays a role) and public spaces. For other positions, Moscow, as a rule, has average scores. It should be noted that UN-Habitat, taking into account “political” issues in the rating, does not always prefer “old” megacities - thus, considering Singapore’s state administration and legislation to be almost ideal (98.2 points), experts consider it to be comparable high in Paris, London, Lima and Bangkok (Moscow is in the top 10 for this indicator). If the global trend of migration to the first two megacities is hard to miss,

Apparently, the point is in the balance, which is better visible from the outside: this is not the first time in recent years that Moscow has been rated as one of the comfortable megacities, in The World's 100 Best Cities ranking in 2021 it was ranked fourth, in the BCG megacities attractiveness rating it was third after London and Paris.

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5195527

Like China only a small percentage of the population enjoy the high standard of living.

[Boat + 1,324]

4 hours ago, SUZNV said:

You are not wrong, Europe is financially  run by the rich, for the rich because of their banking and financing structure, same with the US and form global elites. But would they need to stay in their home countries and pay high taxes or moving to tax haven countries? Do you think they will have to buy assets in their countries and not Wall Street? Capitalists has no borders and they can move to any country as will. 

But with Europe politicians their countries are not number 1 in the world  and the rivalries in Europe make it is  very hard to sell out their countries. Unlike in the US politicians can have the world Wall Street stocks for congress trading without consequences so US political career is a way to be rich, Europe politicians know their voters care about domestic politics and geopolitics and their policy directly affect their job securities and retirements but their favorites is using US as a blame for their failures. 

Do you think local elites like Putin or Xi can match the lobbying with global elites bankers on media, politicians' campaigns and propaganda?

------------

Germany traded nuclear for green energy in the long run and more depends on Russia energy in the short run. They cannot have a strong military and depends on NATO so why should they care anything about national security. Germany can keep importing nuclear power from France cheaply and selling machines to France without the need of maintaining any of their own. Back in 2000s, when I was in College they had plan to phase out nuclear gradually already but because the "green energy" cannot keep up, the process was much slower They didn't build any new one for a long time. I know this because NZ engineer degrees emphasized on sustainable energy and NZ banned any nuclear on the territory. They always take Germany and Holland as examples. It is not like your theory that Putin bribed for German politicians  to decide to phase out their nuclear plants. 

It's not easy to understand German culture.  They are the most practical and logical voters who are ready to pay higher and higher tax as long as Germany can have big influence in Eastern Europe, sacrificing their own wealth accumulation for retirement. The whole EU is their own market and their culture are slowly moving east. That were the main reason for WW1 and WW2, both against Russia. It is not mainstream but defined in History.

It  was the nationalism that formed Germany confederation , an inland country in middle Europe, late in colonials period with a fast growing Industry and Eastern Europe is their only ways out geopolitically and as always, Eastern Europe was in  Russia Empire's influence. This is why both WW1 and WW2 Germany and Russia has always been in opposite sides. 

They don't need war or racism this time to archive the same effect but focus on the new culture. You are in Germany, act like a Germain standard and you are accepted no matter of you are Asian, Slavic. Many labors from Eastern EU came to Germany to work and bring back home their Germain influence way.

Any Germany politicians who appeared not moving toward this goal would be voted out no question. German voters are not stupid and the politicians have to persuade them it is good for Germany first to deserve their voters sacrifices and they are very sensitive to this.

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Many many other countries events I see US media never mentioned simply because they know US people won't interest in it does not fit in any agenda or stock. In the contrast news in the US are supervised by people all over the world. This leads to US people who depends on mainstream didn't understand much about how things works outside of the US and then perceive US people as ignorant. US people should try to understand  other positions before giving the solutions but US mainstream don't offer any independent opinion but propaganda makes the matter worse.  

----------------------

let's play a little healing game so both you and me can feel good. I will list a bunch of things I disagree about Trump who I voted for and you list a bunch of things you disagree about Biden. I will go first:

-Loud mouth and mean tweets.

-Perverted, has many divorces.

I will keep it short and simple. The German voters do not pay attention to their leaders and the obvious mess they could have avoided. Dependent on the US to save them and dependent on Russia for much of their energy. That is not smart policy in my opinion.

Like Australia allowing oligarchs to sell off the nations nat gas to the point of blackouts. Stupidity. 
The US allowing exports that cause energy prices to rise. Stupidity. There will always be oligarchs that have the power to extract political means to rob the poor. In this case asking the US and Russia to determine Europes fate is weakness. 
For example if there is war and no gas moves, people will freeze, industry could shut down. You gonna go to the German population and congratulate them on being so smart? 
Your citizens better learn pay attention. They will be the ones affected. 

[bobo88 + 58]

7 minutes ago, Eyes Wide Open said:

I do believe you have hit the target with extraordinary precision,nicely articulated. 

When Trump was elected his agenda truly threatened world economic order/balance. China,Germany and the Middle East would and have taken the brunt of those course corrections. 

We live in a very big world, agendas exist at every turn. Watching world events for the last 5 yrs certainly have been eye opening. How this new order reassembles is anyone's guess

It is now quite apparent China and Russia will unite in a attempt to establish dominant role..Now that is extraordinary.

Odd you would mention Biden in the reshuffling...the man is merely a front man, and a very poor one that. His motor skills are broken...cohesive linear thoughts have left the building.

Speaking for myself I truly miss mr Van Eck commentary, yrs ago he connected the dots to a degree. All the discord in the US has a epicenter, NY city. Corporate home to the US, a world financial center...mass media playgrounds. 

Almost every investigation into Trump center's on NY..What lies in NY?...

 

 

 

What ?

[Andrei Moutchkine + 828]

3 hours ago, bobo88 said:

Like China only a small percentage of the population enjoy the high standard of living.

Moscow is 3rd richest big city worldwide, but #1 in quality of life and standards of living

https://www.mos.ru/en/mayor/themes/36299/8050050/

Otherwise, it varies a lot by the region

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_subjects_of_Russia_by_GDP_per_capita

(spanning the spectrum from Papua New Guinea to Luxembourg)

Edited February 7, 2022 by Andrei Moutchkine

[SUZNV + 1,197]

22 minutes ago, Boat said:

I will keep it short and simple. The German voters do not pay attention to their leaders and the obvious mess they could have avoided. Dependent on the US to save them and dependent on Russia for much of their energy. That is not smart policy in my opinion.

Like Australia allowing oligarchs to sell off the nations nat gas to the point of blackouts. Stupidity. 
The US allowing exports that cause energy prices to rise. Stupidity. There will always be oligarchs that have the power to extract political means to rob the poor. In this case asking the US and Russia to determine Europes fate is weakness. 
For example if there is war and no gas moves, people will freeze, industry could shut down. You gonna go to the German population and congratulate them on being so smart? 
Your citizens better learn pay attention. They will be the ones affected. 

I keep it simple, Europe don't  trust each other especially a armed and nuclear advance Germany who caused the last 2 world wars. That is why most of the nuclear weapons are in France. Do you really think Germany can say: folks, I want to fully armed now and develop nuclear tech? Do you have any idea about the agreement and constraints Germany had after WW2? Do you really think Germany didn't want to arm themselves?

I don't know which event Australia allow sell of nations nat gas to the point of blackouts, most of the black out in the Western world are  the consequent of the weather disaster extreme weather hit on unreliable solar and wind energy without a fossil fuel or gas backing up system, Australia sep 2016, California summer 2020 and Texas in Fed 2021.. 

Please do some research and not spewing ignorance out of nowhere and think everyone else is that stupid. Stop simplizing very complicated things and jump to conclusion.

Edited February 7, 2022 by SUZNV

[Boat + 1,324]

2 minutes ago, SUZNV said:

I keep it simple, Europe don't  trust each other especially a armed and nuclear advance Germany who caused the last 2 world wars. That is why most of the nuclear weapons are in France. Do you really think Germany can say: folks, I want to fully armed now and develop nuclear? Do you have any idea about the agreement and constraints Germany had after WW2? Do you really think Germany didn't want to arm themselves?

I don't know which event Australia allow sell of nations nat gas to the point of blackouts, most of the black out in the Western world are  the consequent of the weather disaster or extreme weather unreliable solar and wind energy without a gas backing up system, Australia sep 2016, California summer 2020 and Texas in Fed 2021.. 

Please do some research and not spewing ignorance out of nowhere and think everyone else is that stupid. Stop simplizing very complicated things. 

It doesn’t take any research to know that if your fate relies on the US and Russia your stupid. Don’t take it so serious, it’s just an opinion.  Some things look obvious and others don’t see at all. This is why we argue. The rich have always been mostly in power and they make weird shyt happen. It’s not all bad and who says the less rich could do any better. Anything other than the current………….is just speculation. You get that concept? 
 

Like ground troops in a modern war with 10’s of thousands of missiles with a range of over 1300 miles. Hehe, Putin ain’t so brilliant, …….unles he has a Stalin plan to just have them killed. Seems an obvious place not to have a war is where the ground troops are. Is that to much for your brain?

 

[Boat + 1,324]

Because of your suggestion, I will ask you to do all my research. Tell me all about the cost structure of mining bit coin with flared nat gas. You the smart boy. Let’s see those brains at work. Then go into the ramifications of global bitcoin currency. What does that do to the world. Something like 110 Tera watts consumption?  

Edited February 7, 2022 by Boat

[SUZNV + 1,197]

1 minute ago, Boat said:

It doesn’t take any research to know that if your fate relies on the US and Russia your stupid. Don’t take it so serious, it’s just an opinion.  Some things look obvious and others don’t see at all. This is why we argue. The rich have always been mostly in power and they make weird shyt happen. It’s not all bad and who says the less rich could do any better. Anything other than the current………….is just speculation. You get that concept? 
 

Like ground troops in a modern war with 10’s of thousands of missiles with a range of over 1300 miles. Hehe, Putin ain’t so brilliant, …….unles he has a Stalin plan to just have them killed. Seems an obvious place not to have a war is where the ground troops are. Is that to much for your brain?

 

Sorry, I don't understand what you are talking about. Sounds to me you imply that stupid German voters voted for stupidly rich politicians making stupid decision. I gave up.

[SUZNV + 1,197]

13 minutes ago, Boat said:

Because of your suggestion, I will ask you to do all my research. Tell me all about the cost structure of mining bit coin with flared nat gas. You the smart boy. Let’s see those brains at work. Then go into the ramifications of global bitcoin currency. What does that do to the world. Something like 110 Tera watts consumption?  

1st I don't see why should us care? They open a business of mining, taking fully risks and rewards, pay for the energy that would be flared anyway. What is the problem with that? Do they own tax money or get subsidies or  anything that affect us?

2nd as long as there is profit, people are freely to do anything they want. If there is not a profit, they would stop doing that and the power needed would be dropped and for the worst case scenario, all bitcoin miners turn off all of their mining business and make bitcoin go to 0 along with any one hold bitcoins. Isn't that is all about investment and speculation? 

Edited February 7, 2022 by SUZNV

[Strangelovesurfing + 737]

On 2/2/2022 at 5:09 PM, Andrei Moutchkine said:

Not what FOI requests say

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2017-12-12/nato-expansion-what-gorbachev-heard-western-leaders-early

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2018-03-16/nato-expansion-what-yeltsin-heard

Memorandum is the full name of memo. It is not a binding treaty, but work-in-progress report / statement of intent.

One inch eastward was about East Germany territory not Eastern Europe as a whole. The US hasn't put any troops in former East German territory so no inch eastward was in fact followed.

By the looks of the discussions there were many different takes and understandings by many people involved on all sides about what was discussed. Everyone seems to have a differing point of view which is why you sign written document or even make a binding treaty.

The reason NATO expanded to East Europe was because countries located there wanted to be part of NATO. If those countries didn't consider Russia a repugnant entity there wouldn't have been any expansion.

If Russia wants security then quit acting in ways that frighten the neighbors. I'd add lower the paranoia but Putin exists in a KGB reality of total paranoia.

[bobo88 + 58]

On 2/5/2022 at 4:39 AM, Tomasz said:

Allow me to paste in yesterday's, in my opinion, a very instructive article from the Russian Kommersant. In my opinion, he aptly explains both the Russian armed demonstration and the hysteria in the Anglo-Saxon media. The goal is the final acceptance of the Minsk agreements by the Ukrainians.
The West and Russia play bad and good policemen against the Ukrainians
Objective
-NATO cannot officially resign from its treaty provisions under pressure from Russia because then there is practically no NATO as an organization, since it can be forced to disregard its own treaty provisions by a simple military demonstration
-The West, on the other hand, speaks very clearly to Ukraine itself - you know, you understand, we cannot and absolutely will not defend you militarily because it is what it is
-start to implement the Minsk agreements, it is the achievement, finally, peace and so, Russia as a richer and more powerful country, sooner or later you will destroy you as Ukraine economically by oil, expensive coal, and very expensive gas
The proverb says that before the fat one loses weight, the skinny one dies

When Ukraine finally starts implementing the Minsk agreements, it will turn out that it is not the West as a whole that gives way to Putin's demands, that is, it is not some new Munich 1938 , but the Ukrainians, simply by sovereign decision does not want to join the Union and NATO any longer

To achieve this result we need
1. Russia's fake military demonstration
2. Fake true Anglo-Saxon war hysteria
3. never ending stories of strange content what the West will impose sanctions from hell on Russia as soon as it attacks Ukraine by armed forces. Read how he will attack because as soon as, for example, the hybrid war against Ukraine is launched to the maximum, it is not because it is not a condition for imposing sanctions. even as it seems to make the so-called minor incursions (Crimea Donbass Luhansk) is also not. Well, but if there is a real blast like in Iraq, maybe so, but we are talking until then.
4. It all comes down to the fact that there will be no Iraq II.
5. The current situation around Ukraine is the best guarantee for Russia that every normally thinking businessman from the West will stay away from Ukraine for many years to come in terms of business, and the costs of the continuous, long-term militarization of Ukraine and the cyclical mobilization of the army and the rising prices of raw materials will sooner or later reach Ukraine even economically.
5. Even now, Russia is mobilizing around 100,000 and Ukraine needs a whole army of 250,000 at once. Mobilizing the army nowadays however, is very expensive fun.
6. And the decline of the Russian stock exchange is nothing more than the insider trading of the oligarchs who bought the shares at the bottom, knowing that there will be no major invasion. The variant seems to have been practiced one before in 2014/2015 in order to then to sell the same repurchased shares at the bottom to investors once again.
7. Russia also checked the answers to two important questions for her
Will the West defend Ukraine? No, maybe only with some sanctions, but certainly not militarily
Is NATO coherent with Russia as a whole? Probably not really. Because in whose vital interest it is? France and Germany do not necessarily seem to be interested. Maybe in  the Polish and Baltic countries it is but its is France and Germany who decidea bout that in Europe. The French and the Germans probably showed very clearly where they have Ukrainian interest in competing for cooperation with Russia. Is it in the interests of Spain or Ital when they lie behind the seven mountains and forests from Ukraine? Or in the interest of our ally Orban?

The conclusion of the article
It is difficult to perceive the negotiations on the Donbas in isolation from the discussion between Russia and the West on security guarantees, which began in anticipation of a real great war. While it concerns security in the broadest sense, the Ukrainian issue is not last. For Moscow, the maximum program is the permanent closure of Ukraine's road to NATO. Moreover, the alliance itself must guarantee this.
But such a concession would be too humiliating for the West and not very realistic. Another issue is the reintegration of Donbas in Ukraine under special conditions provided for in the Minsk agreements. Formally, neither the US, the EU, nor NATO admit anything here: the Ukrainian authorities are responsible for themselves. It is clear, however, that in this scenario ORDLO will become a serious obstacle on Kiev's path to Euro-Atlantic structures, which may suit Russia. It still remains to explain to the Ukrainian authorities why they have to agree to everything.

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5182121?fbclid=IwAR3JArIrlU7WMEdpZe7B1Ej3p4GavJ9cRi6Hvr_Ifu38pGSyo7hYiQyyDBY

I couldn't agree more.  You are 100% correct.

NATO is worthless. (Except maybe for Poland and Balkan States)

Russia is a distraction to U.S. 

Russian energy and agriculture exports will find their growth. 

Russia's future will be aligned with Germany and China.  

Democrat Party is living in the past with excessive concern over Russia.  No more dinosaurs like Biden please.

 

The world is at war . . . . an economic war.  The U.S is losing.  Wake up , enough Woke.

[Tomasz + 1,608]

Sanctions reduce external debt and the possibility of its refinancing Borrowing monitoring

According to the Central Bank, the volume of repayment of the external debt of the private sector in 2022 will amount to $64 billion, in 2023 - $38 billion. However, taking into account the traditional revision of the payment schedule, the repayment volume may increase to $113 billion banks) in 2022 and up to $62 billion ($46 billion and $16 billion) in 2023, analysts from the HSE Development Center estimated (see chart).

In January-September 2021, the private sector managed not only to fully refinance payments on external debt, but also increased it. Without taking into account exchange rate, cost and other changes, the external debt of the banking sector increased by $7.2 billion, companies - by $1.7 billion, which means its refinancing through balance of payments operations by 136% and 104%, respectively. However, in the fourth quarter the situation changed - the growth of banks' debt to non-residents continued, while enterprises were unable to refinance payments and their external debt decreased. “In the context of increased sanctions risks and rising interest rates, it will be difficult to refinance payments on the external debt of the private sector,” analysts conclude.

While maintaining the refinancing of the debt of enterprises and banks at the level of the fourth quarter of 2021 (by 90% of payments from enterprises and 70% from banks), the external debt of the private sector will decrease to $361 billion by the end of 2022 and to $352 billion in 2023. In this case, the debt burden in 2022-2023 could be reduced to a record low level of 19% of GDP compared to 27% in 2021. “This is caused not so much by the outstripping growth of the economy, but by the limited opportunities for new borrowing under the current sanctions and increased geopolitical risks,” explains Sergey Pukhov, author of the study. According to him, in the next two years, an increase in the cost of borrowing due to rising interest rates will be added to this. Now more than half of the external debt is denominated in rubles (about 30%) and euros (more than 20%), and the share of dollar liabilities is steadily declining. “Taking into account the accumulated foreign exchange reserves, the risk of default on external debt in the event of the introduction of new restrictions by the West is minimized,” the expert concludes.

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5205627?from=lenta