Embarrassing that Germany and Italy are so weak willled when it comes to removing Russia from SWIFT. Can't say the UK were much better with their relatively weak sanctions either.
Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion
- Thread starter Wednesday at Stoke
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Iraq and Afghanistan would like a word as well.
I think they're still working on them plus Cyprus. A few more days of carnage in Ukraine may change some minds.
conscripts for the meat grinder. Putin won't shed one tear or have one thought for them.
They did with the collapse of the USSR. The west never helped them. The whole economy collapsed. People begging on the streets. They are a proud Nation. Humiliated like a third world country.
Putin gave them a better life economically. It's a western myth that the majority of the people in the world wants freedom to shout "down with the government" while they starve and the cronies of the leaders get away with everything.
Now if Putin or Xii messes up economy they would already have been removed. The current situation in Russia is fairly decent compared to the end of the USSR and Yeltsin era.
Well, Germans can testify since it's "been there, done that" for them.Saw this on twitter and it brought a rare chuckle for today.
That's because the Soviet Union was a lost cause at that point. They had after all just come out of 70 years of hardcore communism that was undergirded by a highly corrupt KGB apparatus. There's a reason eastern European states had a much easier time transitioning into democracy after the cold war - they only had to deal with communism for 40 years. Post Soviet Russia was therefore doomed to take much longer, which was only exacerbated by the arrival of the rat who has managed to crown himself dictator for life.
What is the situation in Mariupol?
MRGA movement.
Still fighting on the periphery of the city. Power partially out.
Listening to an OSINT twitter space. They are saying withdrawing forces had Russian troops clinging to the vehicles which suggested Russian positions were in immediate danger.
The OSINT guys are talking about how they can't believe Russia is not taking out border and town live streaming cameras. You can watch where they are coming through and withdrawing to.
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I don't understand what is true about SWIFT. Does USA need the other counties to also agree to remove Russia from SWIFT? How many countries have to agree on this? Which countries? Or perhaps USA can decide by themselves to remove Russia and that's the end of it, but right now we are trying to build an alliance around this decision.
Ya, of course it shouldn't take carnage to Ukraine to implement these measures but could be a silver lining to it.
A good read on the complexities of removing Russia from SWFT.
TLDR - It could cause a global economic shock and/or it could steer other countries to create SWFT alternative systems that Russia can switch to.
https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/russia-swift-sanctions-ukraine
USA by itself can't remove anyone from SWIFT as I think it's based in Belgium and therefore adheres to Belgian and EU law. They need EU countries as a result to sign off on it I believe. Best the US can do is twist some arms if it comes to it but this administration in general tries to build consensus as best as possible before resorting to arm twisting.
Multiple alternatives exist according to wiki:
They should still do it. Will inconvenience Vlad at the very least.
WOW!!!
The problem with sanctioning too many countries (especially big ones like Russia and China) is that it will eventually weaken the tool you're using to sanction them and you might lose it as an effective weapon in the future, and Russia has been preparing for this day (together with China who also doesn't want to be bullied every now and then by US sanctions). Listen to John Kerry in 2015 (talking about the Iran deal), especially minutes 09:17-12:00.
Thank you, this is a nice article. However,I am now more confused about who makes the decision to remove Russia from SWIFT. Does it need consensus? It mentions Cyprus, which is a small island. It also mentions that EU has created a different system. So, who controls who is removed from SWIFT?
Disinformation
Explains why they have moved 100 000 troops on the Polish border then with Intel suggesting Poland is next. Stop burying your head in the sands
Look if the Russians are really that stupid they are welcome to try their hand at invading Poland. Could be the best thing that could happen for Ukraine ironically.
Good morning everyone, can someone please summarise what I missed during the (european) night?
Umm, may I have a source for that please? They moved 100k to the Ukrainian border and it was world headline news because it was an obvious buildup to an invasion. If they did it to Poland, NATO would be on full alert and we'd be expecting armageddon.
Thanks in advance.
Yet you have Germans in this thread claiming they are ready to form an EU super army, clowns.
Everyone always likes to dunk on the US but this conflict has really shown how incompetent Germany and France are and how they are dragging the rest of us down with them:
With a Turkish ship being destroyed NATO could have invoked article 5. But no, Biden, Boris and the rest of the leaders are all scared of Putin and would rather sit back on their comfy chairs and talk about sanctions.
Its a cooperative of 11,000 banks across 200 nations that are neutral on political affairs and who operate under Belgian law. Therefore no country "owns" it, but with the caveat that there is a precedent of the US removing Iran from Swift a few years ago. The way to remove Russia would be for the EU to enact sanctions against Russia, then Swift, which operates under Belgian law, would be forced to comply and remove Russia. They would then be shut out of a global financial system that runs global trade to a tune of about $5 trillion a day. This is why the support of Germany, Italy, and Cyprus are important, because it would create a degree of unanimity among EU nations to move forward (the likes of the US, Canada, and UK are already on board). This is why Biden was unable to get Russia removed during today's announcements, but may do so in the coming days after German and Italian leaders continue to see what Putin is up to in Ukraine.
Dude, first you suggest that Russia "has 100,000 troops waiting on the Poland border to invade" and now you complain that NATO has not declared war on Russia. You know the reason why? Because they don't want us all to die in a nuclear holocaust.
How is discussing an international agreement that was supposed to be in place until Vlad broke it "dragging the rest of us down" ?
I'm sure if Macron had just said FU to Vlad he'd have refrained from doing this...
Macron should have just called out Putin for what he's doing and not engage in a sham negotiation.
He let Putin play him for a fool as the talks made Putin look like a legitimate party when Putin had no intention of holding his troops back, regardless of what anyone in the West said. Literally hours before the launch of the invasion Macron was celebrating that he had negotiated a summit with Biden and Putin that will now not happen. He's hopelessly out of his depth.
Looks like the CNN report was accurate. They seem to have their reporters very close to the action on the ground, as we saw yesterday.
This isn't bin laden. Until this invasion Putin had always been very calculated and in my opionon there was reason to hope he'd stay that way. That he hasn't made all of Macron's efforts futile, but no one (save for those that cry wolf 365 days a year) seriously thought he'd go this insane.
Based. 
One could actually say he hasn't gone insane and is acting in a very calculated way. He knew that no one would intervene militarily on Ukraine's behalf and knew that his military was strong enough to attempt to install a puppet regime. The West would never have agreed to his core demands, we knew it and he knew it. He coldly did the one thing he felt would be the most efficient solution to his problems w/r/t Ukraine.
Even an old crow like Biden knew that Putin could not be convinced. For the last few months, Biden was fairly confident even when the press was crying that diplomacy was the only solution that he believed that Putin would invade Ukraine: Biden predicts Russia will invade Ukraine, warns Putin | AP News. He said that on January 19th, more than a full month before the start of the invasion. Macron was trying to negotiate until what, three days ago? This in and of itself proves your bolded statement incorrect also, people really did think Putin would invade long before this. Analysts were saying it even before Biden: .
Nah he's a nutter now. He's using reasoning even die hard Russian patriots are finding hard to defend. He's demoralising his country with this, and making sure the countries around him who have the option will invest in military and never believe him again. He might gain momentarily but there is no way he gains from this long term.
He isnt going to stop at ukraine is he? He wont attack a nato memeber country, but he'll probably go after the rest of the Soviet bloc and bring them back "home".
We i.e. the west will just raise sanction after sanction and they will find ways around them.
We i.e. the west will just raise sanction after sanction and they will find ways around them.