JJxvi said:

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It would tie the ruble to gold and the rest of the entire Russian economy would swing wildly in volatility instead of just gold prices doing that.

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MaxPower said:

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Rossticus said:

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'Canada recently announced that it would now purchase supplies to send to Ukraine—because any further reduction of its existing stores would jeopardize Canada’s own self-defense requirements' Canada won't be the last I suspecthttps://t.co/fcjzY6pnoO

— Amael Kotlarski (@JakOSpades) March 29, 2022

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Bwahaha. They concerned Russia is going to open up a front in Nunavut?

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JJxvi said:

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It would tie the ruble to gold and the rest of the entire Russian economy would swing wildly in volatility instead of just gold prices doing that.

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Meanwhile on Russian state TV:

Host Evgeny Popov says it's time for the Russian people to call on Americans to change "the regime in the U.S." before its term expires "and to again help our partner Trump to become President."https://t.co/orPMoKoxwG pic.twitter.com/sPVDhVWm6Q

— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) March 29, 2022

BattleGrackle said:

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They want to hurt America, the division will continue to do that.

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Zelensky is already suggesting Ukraine would accept neutrality (with a security guarantee), and accepts it can't reclaim those parts of Eastern Ukraine, let alone Crimea. Trying to depict that as some grave humiliating loss for Russia will work only with NBC, CNN & BBC viewers.

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 29, 2022

lb3 said:

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Russia has sizable gold reserves beyond what was recently frozen in western banks. If oil is effectively being traded in gold, the price of gold will appreciate as oil buyers hit the market acquiring gold for their purchases.

In the short term, this could have some benefits for Russia.

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Rossticus said:

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Greenwald all in on "It's all going according to plan".

Zelensky is already suggesting Ukraine would accept neutrality (with a security guarantee), and accepts it can't reclaim those parts of Eastern Ukraine, let alone Crimea. Trying to depict that as some grave humiliating loss for Russia will work only with NBC, CNN & BBC viewers.

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 29, 2022

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Just over a month into the war, Moscow is facing unintended consequences of its aggression in Ukraine, ranging from high casualties among its troops to economic ruin for years to come.

Here are five of them:

1) Russian casualties are high
Russia has been coy about releasing statistics on its losses, but one Russian Defense Ministry official said Friday that 1,351 Russian soldiers had died in the war so far, and that 3,825 were injured.
Ukraine's authorities claim that more than 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the conflict, while a senior NATO official last week estimated that between 8,000 and 15,000 have been killed.

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To put the Russian forces' casualties in context, the United Nations' human rights office (OHCHR) said Tuesday that it has recorded a total of 1,151 deaths among Ukrainian civilians, including 54 children, and more than 1,800 injured civilians. It believes that the actual casualty figures are considerably higher.

"Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,

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2) Ukrainians now loathe Russia

One of the likely consequences of this war is that many Ukrainians will harbor an abiding animosity toward Russia, particularly after the bombing of homes and civilian infrastructure including a children's hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol, as well as a theater where families were seeking shelter. These are widely seen as war crimes by the international community. Russia claims it has not targeted civilians.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy summed up the mood in the country in early March when he stated that "we will not forgive, we will not forget, we will punish everyone who committed atrocities in this war on our land," before adding that "there will be no quiet place on this Earth except the grave."

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3) Economic ruin

The international community was accused of being slow and ineffective when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. This time, it upped the ante when Russia's full-scale invasion began, with Western democracies imposing wide-ranging sanctions on key Russian sectors, businesses and individuals connected to the Kremlin or who support the invasion.

As a result, the Russian economy is expected to fall into a deep recession this year. The Institute of International Finance predicts Russia's economy will contract by as much as 15% in 2022 because of the war. It also predicted a decline of 3% in 2023 and warned in a note last week that the war "will wipe out fifteen years of economic growth."

The annualized inflation rate stood at 9.2% in February and is expected to have risen markedly higher in March, and there is "a plausible end-year range of 30-35%," Christopher Granville and Madina Khrustaleva said in a note Monday.

This, they added, may have important medium- to longer-term consequences, especially on a political level, with Putin's popularity likely to be tested as a result. They did, however, note one way Russia can mitigate the impact of sanctions on its economy: boosting its oil exports to China and India. Russia's oil-producing allies in OPEC are also standing by it.

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4) Europe is dropping Russian energy

The war has also accelerated Europe's transition away from Russian energy imports, putting a large dent in the revenue the country gets from its oil and gas business."?

It has also made the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline designed to bring more Russian gas to Europe (and which the United States, Poland and Ukraine warned would increase the region's energy insecurity) redundant, perhaps for good.

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5) Russia has united the West

During Putin's 22 years or so in power, he has systematically and repeatedly tried to weaken and undermine the West, whether it has been interference in democratic processes in the U.S. (with the 2016 election) and Europe (with the funding of right-wing political groups) or serious incidents such as the alleged use of nerve agents against his personal and political enemies.

Experts think Putin likely expected his invasion of Ukraine to have a disunifying effect on the West, with countries unable to agree on sanctions, or sending arms to Ukraine, but the opposite has proven true.
"The West's reaction is unprecedented. It is beyond anyone could have anticipated united and much more than anyone in Russia was preparing or prepared for," Anton Barbashin, a political analyst and editorial director of the journal Riddle Russia, told CNBC.

"Essentially it is the ultimate economic warfare that will destroy Russia's economy as we know [it]. Will those sanctions deter Putin's war in Ukraine no, but it will certainly considerably limit the time we have with Putin's Russia as it is today," Barbashin added.

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JJxvi said:

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Agreeing to buy gold at a set rate is just them implementing "the gold standard"

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aggiehawg said:

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Reuters reporting Kremlin is backing down about only accepting rubles for oil and gas. Will not immediately require it.

Link

Guess they didn't expect the EU and particularly Germany to flat out refuse to do that.

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ATX_AG_08 said:

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And they say romance is dead.

Ukrainian engagement photos pic.twitter.com/NSHZShCBUQ

— Lost Weapons (@LostWeapons) March 29, 2022

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BusterAg said:

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ATX_AG_08 said:

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And they say romance is dead.

Ukrainian engagement photos pic.twitter.com/NSHZShCBUQ

— Lost Weapons (@LostWeapons) March 29, 2022

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Too bad he couldn't afford a tractor.

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Because Russia is a belligerent who will try to push anime

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Frankly I cannot tweet all the terrible news we are getting in Ukraine every day. Each day, more and more personal stories of people who were killed, raped, tortured. All normal people, looking like next-door neighbours. It makes me feel sick, fills me with so much anger and hate

— Olga Tokariuk (@olgatokariuk) March 30, 2022

Reports coming out that Russians rape children.Maybe I’m naïve, never thought it’s a possibility. In an intercepted Russian call a case is described when 3 soldiers raped a 14 year old & her mom.A volunteer from Bucha describes cases of 13 & 12 y.o.girls whose parents were killed

— Olena Tregub (@OTregub) March 30, 2022

The Russian govt “legalizes” “parallel imports”: the sale of goods without the permission of copyright holders. The list will include intellectual property like movies, music, software, and “inventions.” Russia goes from int’l pariah to PIRATE 🏴‍☠️. pic.twitter.com/o0imRpi1WX

— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) March 30, 2022

Rossticus said:

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The Russian govt “legalizes” “parallel imports”: the sale of goods without the permission of copyright holders. The list will include intellectual property like movies, music, software, and “inventions.” Russia goes from int’l pariah to PIRATE 🏴‍☠️. pic.twitter.com/o0imRpi1WX

— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) March 30, 2022

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The Federal Anti-monopoly Service of Russia (FAS) has prepared a draft federal law*, which amends the Civil Code to legalise parallel imports into Russia. The amendments will come into force in 2021 and allow the Russian government to authorise the import of certain types of goods without the permission of the owner of the brand for up to five years.

The term "parallel imports" means the free importation into Russia of original and trademarked products without the permission of the trademark owner. In this case, goods are imported not by the rights holder, its authorised importers or official distributors, but by other entities or individuals. According to current Russian legislation, parallel imports are considered a violation of trademark exclusive rights and are not allowed.

The FAS has long been trying to change this principle. Back in 2016, representatives of the anti-monopoly authority declared* that they were planning to legalise parallel imports for certain categories of goods, such as pharmaceuticals, car parts, children's products and others. In the summer of 2017, the FAS continued to work in this area and issued warnings* to well-known carmakers for unreasonably restricting the importation of goods under their brands by entrepreneurs who were not their official dealers. These restrictions were found to be a violation of anti-monopoly laws.

In February 2018, the Russian Constitutional Court actually authorised* the importation of original goods without the consent of a rights owner under certain conditions, such as if the rights owner abuses its exclusivity in respect of a trademark by imposing restrictions on the importation of goods into the Russian market, or deliberately and unreasonably overprices its products.

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This suggests to me that Finland and Sweden may be joining NATO sometime within the next few weeks, the Alliance has already said on Multiple Occasions that both Countries would be able to Join NATO within 24 hours of a Formal Request.

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 30, 2022

Just in case you did not understand the gravity of the situation, Germany and France have already initiated plans for gas rationing and interruptions to supplies because of Putin's deadline on April 1 for gas payments in rubles. Europe's energy crisis enters the next stage.

— Velina Tchakarova (@vtchakarova) March 30, 2022