RigaShiba 🇱🇻🇺🇦🇪🇺

Is there are a point to stimulate unsustainable demand (EU car market is expected to stagnate at best)? In such case wouldn’t further limiting of market access to Chinese imports be a better policy? Use subsidies to stimulate battery tech transfer and related investments in EU instead.

Just a thought. What if (EU produced) EV subsidies still will not help to stem EU (ICE related) supply chain job losses, given that large part of any EV supply chain value still comes from China? Wouldn’t a better policy be aimed at maximum localization of EV supply chain?

There are also a couple of myths about the gasoline crisis and stats that keep getting repeated that I want to address:

Already doing that.

Then keep attacking oil and gas pipeline pumping stations and within a year Russia will go CO2 negative.

The documents in German and Russian: The "Third Reich" and the Soviet Union proclaim to "secure peace in Europe" after the "collapse of the Polish state"

They both acuse France and GB of trying to "prolong the war". Which means modern tankies sound like Nazis

Oil vs gasoline barter with India?

1/9 European countries are preparing to defend against the Russia that invaded Ukraine in 2022.

But that version of Russia no longer exists.

The Russia of 2025 or 2027 is more dangerous, more experienced, and far ahead in unmanned warfare.

Europe is not ready

Ultimately it doesn’t matter whether Britain thinks we are at war with Russia if Moscow already considers itself at war with us, which it does. We either acknowledge the reality of it or bury our heads in the sand, in either scenario, the war for Europe has already begun.

Weird. Somehow it is possible to have energy security without Russian supplies for countries sharing border with Russia, but for Hungary (without such border) it is impossible. What does he mean by “energy security” then? 🤔

Baloons tend to pop if inflated too much.

Another point to be emphasized - since it does not believe in its own attraction, it appears that Russia at first tries to gain influence by corruption of target’s elites. If that fails, then all aforementioned bully tactics start.

Great article, should be read by all former and current “resetters”. On invention of crisis, I would add that Russia always keeps crisis in the pocket even if its attraction seems to work temporarily. Even they themselves do not believe in their own attraction.

Putin’s Lies Hide Weakness Russia has thrived on lies for centuries; its undoing will come when truth proves more powerful than the fictions it desperately spins

“It cannot control Ukraine by attraction or partnership, so it invents a crisis, manufactures lies about genocide and NATO expansion…It is the strategy of a bully: provoke, threaten, extract something for nothing, and repeat.”

tomorrowsaffairs.com/putins-lies-...

Reminder for those who still refuse to accept that “anti-imperialist” Russia was one of the instigators of WW2.

Can we spread this simple truth?

Dictatorships are not our friends!
They suppress their own people, act aggressively toward their neighbors, and constantly lie!

Why is this not common sense?

Why don’t we educate our children and protect our democracies?

Putin’s Lies Hide Weakness Russia has thrived on lies for centuries; its undoing will come when truth proves more powerful than the fictions it desperately spins

“When Russia cannot win by production, innovation, or persuasion, it wins by lying. When it cannot inspire allegiance, it coerces obedience. When it cannot dominate militarily, it turns to hybrid, cognitive, and political warfare.”

tomorrowsaffairs.com/putins-lies-...

And what stops x from just applying x10 multiplication to show view count? Fast search in topic says that advertisers have to completely rely on figures shown by x without way to verify those claims. No wonder many reputable firms stay away from platform.

And how many bot scrolls of those 22m? X view count in general is mystery to me - can anyone independently verify those calculations?

Increase the scale of joint production, R&D facilities with Ukraine on EU soil at much larger scale, invest rapidly in localization of drone supply chain.

Conveniently, shareholder value also had become an excuse to avoid taking strict ethical position for the executives. Sadly, even in companies who can afford taking one. Integrity used to matter.

Not only media companies, unfortunately. Happens when “shareholder value” is elevated above everything else.

Just a reminder!

On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union joined WWII on the side of Nazi Germany by invading Poland

This attack marked beginning of Soviet annexation of Western Ukrainian lands, setting stage for the formation of Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which fought against occupation
📹 1+1

My concern is that most decision makers in the government themselves do not realize the gravity of risk. Better to overprepare/overspend using real Ukrainian defence planning experience for invasion that will not happen than underprepare for invasion that can happen. Not seeing this approach here.

Government is not helping either by assuring that “everything is under control” and that country will be ready to resist. Thus giving pretext to population to mentally delegate the resistance mobilization to some abstract force that will take care of the issue if it comes up.

Unfortunately, my feeling from Latvia is that small minority understands this. The rest are just hoping for the best (just as Ukrainians did before 2022) and, despite not minding helping Ukraine from state budget, personally are not ready “to mobilize” for potential conflict. How to change this?

Indeed, Russia became the largest country on the planet by being “not imperialist”. Great take!

Valid take, if you think about it.

Looking at Russia’s war against Ukraine as a petro-aggression, it seems only natural to regard Ukrainian attacks on oil and gas depots and transit routes as targeting the “root causes of the conflict”, as Moscow likes to say.