The half-million estimated Russian casualties is not "staggering" at all. In fact, it's nothing. One of the very earliest Eastern Front battles of WWII, the First battle of Smolensk (summer of 1941) saw Russia lose that many, plus another quarter-million wounded. Just in one battle. The next few battles with the Germans each inflicted similar casualties. At the time, these were not seen by Russia as "losses" -- just normal war stuff. Today, the 500,000 gone so far are also not seen as losses in Russia; it's understood as simply what happens when you face Nazis.
Re Ukraine's attacks on Russian oil refineries. I can only see good coming out of them, and if you think it through, it is obvious that such attacks can only DECREASE the world price of crude oil. It works like this:
Russia pumps crude out of the ground and runs it through refineries to make "refined products" such as gasoline, diesel fuel, lubricants, heavy "bunker" fuel, and naphtha, which is the precursor substance for many petrochemicals. To the extent that Ukraine impairs Russia's refining capacity, Russia can only dump crude oil on world markets, and Adam Tooze of Chartbook has documented that this is indeed happening.
Ukraine's attacks on Russian refineries make it harder for Russia to power its military vehicles and are beneficial for non-Russian energy consumers around the world.
If using the term 'vaporized' doesn't give them away then what does? It makes the news sound like a comic book! 😂 I wonder how much they depend on AI for this sort of thing? Given how binary and rough it is (and probably even more so with translations between languages?) could we expect more of these poorly constructed headlines?
Your mum should be so proud of all you're doing! Thanks for keeping us up to date and for doing so in a rather challenging environment. I had no idea Italy was so supportive (or at least open) to Russia and Russian influence.
The half-million estimated Russian casualties is not "staggering" at all. In fact, it's nothing. One of the very earliest Eastern Front battles of WWII, the First battle of Smolensk (summer of 1941) saw Russia lose that many, plus another quarter-million wounded. Just in one battle. The next few battles with the Germans each inflicted similar casualties. At the time, these were not seen by Russia as "losses" -- just normal war stuff. Today, the 500,000 gone so far are also not seen as losses in Russia; it's understood as simply what happens when you face Nazis.
Hey there Monique, good to hear from you again.
Re Ukraine's attacks on Russian oil refineries. I can only see good coming out of them, and if you think it through, it is obvious that such attacks can only DECREASE the world price of crude oil. It works like this:
Russia pumps crude out of the ground and runs it through refineries to make "refined products" such as gasoline, diesel fuel, lubricants, heavy "bunker" fuel, and naphtha, which is the precursor substance for many petrochemicals. To the extent that Ukraine impairs Russia's refining capacity, Russia can only dump crude oil on world markets, and Adam Tooze of Chartbook has documented that this is indeed happening.
Ukraine's attacks on Russian refineries make it harder for Russia to power its military vehicles and are beneficial for non-Russian energy consumers around the world.
Thank you for pointing out Adam's work. I'll read his latest about this. Thank you, again.
If using the term 'vaporized' doesn't give them away then what does? It makes the news sound like a comic book! 😂 I wonder how much they depend on AI for this sort of thing? Given how binary and rough it is (and probably even more so with translations between languages?) could we expect more of these poorly constructed headlines?
Your mum should be so proud of all you're doing! Thanks for keeping us up to date and for doing so in a rather challenging environment. I had no idea Italy was so supportive (or at least open) to Russia and Russian influence.