Sanctions And Surpluses
Not much time left till I bug out, so …
Western sanctions are creating real headaches for Russia, like, how should Russia spend all the money they’re pulling in:
Briefly noted via Zerohedge, How Sanctions Have Increased Russia's Oil And Gas Revenue:
Meanwhile:
US GDP contracts further in 1Q
Economists surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting a seasonally adjusted annual contraction of 1.3%
The contraction was 1.5%.
Lastly, I recommend the following Alex Mercouris video from this morning:
Russia 'Cuts off" Severodonetsk, Eyes Zaporozhye, As Ukraine Says Plans Counteroffensive
Pay attention to the bit about Zaporozhye, which concerns an important factory that, up until the war started, was supplying things like jet engines to Russia and … China. Russia has started targeting that factory which, as Mercouris says, suggests that Russia and China have worked out some supply issues. It’s interesting in that it provides some insight into the pacing of the war.
My own brief view regarding what some argue is a slow pace on Russia’s part. In modern warfare countries can’t afford large losses of personnel—there simply are not large reserves available and training takes way too long. It’s one thing for an advanced military like the US military to take on third worlders but, in Ukraine, Russia is dealing with a fairly large and sophisticated military that’s receiving top flight advice and technical assistance. The US can push the pace against third worlders without risking out of bounds casualties, but Russia needs to go more slowly. Nevertheless, its progress is sure, and (as Mercouris argues in the video) it is Ukraine that is suffering the irreplaceable losses—not Russia.
Zhou's approval rating fell to 36 percent in a Reuters-Ipsos poll released Tuesday, marking its lowest point to date in that particular poll.
The poll found Biden’s approval rating fell 6 percentage points from a week earlier, and it dropped from 76 percent to 72 percent among Democrats in that same span.
Totally off topic, but is anyone else as tired as I am of Bill Bart’s self-aggrandizing? This guy was in a position to make a huge difference and actually put a stop to a lot of the stuff that was going on during his tenure as AG, but he chose to do N O T H I N G. Now he is everywhere trying to convince us what a stand up guy he is and how outraged he is by what went down. Does he really think that we are that stupid and uninformed?
His colossal gall is breathtaking!
It’ll be a cold day in Hell before I see him as anything but a self-serving bureaucrat who displayed cowardice when courage was required. Pathetic.
Bill Barr’s impersonation of Patrick Henry,
“Give me liberty, or hey, maybe we can work something out.”