ICC to seek arrest warrants for Russian officials over Ukraine war
http://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/icc-to-seek-arrest-warrants-for-russian-officials-over-ukraine-war-20230314-p5cryk.html

“As of now we have information that Ukraine is sending reserves to Bakhmut that underwent training in Western countries. And we are suffering losses among reserves that we intended to use for counter-offensives,” Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said."We could lose here everything we wanted to use for those counter-offensives.”

Why the US dollar has become an at-risk currency
http://nypost.com/2023/03/11/why-the-us-dollar-has-become-an-at-risk-currency/

"It’s not farfetched to imagine the US experiencing a debt crisis because no one shows up to buy its bonds. The US dollar will become just one more currency, among many. And ultimately, if the dollar loses it shine, so will the ability of the US to project power.

To stem this tide, hard choices must be made: like strategically reducing our enemy count even as we continue to support allies like Ukraine. Perhaps most difficult, the US must get its economic house in order by – once and for all – finally figuring out how to live within its means."

Seems to me the SCO is waging a war against the petrodollar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation

They want a multipolar world...
What do you think happens if you go around the world crapping on everyone?
- Eventually all those people make friends and rise up against you.

Patriotic Nations are defined by no refugees !

AC,

From the same article, you quoted:

"U.S. and European officials have estimated that as many as 120,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded since the start of Russia’s invasion early last year, compared with about 200,000 on the Russian side". The Russian forces also have very few veterans left. Wagner is desperately recruiting in schools to replace the estimated 30 000 men Wagner has lost. The battles at Vuhledar almost wiped out 2 Russian divisions and it is looking like Russia has started a second "partial mobilization"

Russia is also desperately short of ammunition with ammunition arriving rusted from stocks that were previously deemed unusable. Tanks and APCs from the 50s and 60s are being delivered to the front to cover battlefield losses.

There are also 30 000 Ukrainian troops returning from 3 months of Nato training, along with 100s of tanks, IFVs howitzers etc.

Russia cannot win this war.

As far as a reserve currency is concerned:

"This article examines factors which could determine whether a currency can be a global reserve currency, the major candidates, and implications.
A credible currency needs to be (a) stable (b) safe (c) store of value (d) a medium of exchange (e) widely accepted and (f) trusted. Additional criteria for a global reserve currency are: (a) Features and stability of the political system of issuing country (structure, processes and institutions) (b) Quality of institutions and processes; (c) Size and prospects of the Economy; (d) Integration of markets and economy globally; (e) Transparent, open system."

Maybe you can show which of the BRICS countries have all these qualities?

The apologists for totalitarian regimes have been declaring the immanent end of the great Satan for as long as I can recall. According to them....

1960s - the USSR was winning the space race which showed its superior system. The great Satan was on the way out. (they said)

1970s - the oil crisis and the Carter recession. The great Satan was on the way out. The Soviets were so far ahead economically, that the capitalists stood no chance. (they said)

1980s - oops, Gorby was admitting that the USSR wasn't all sugar and cream. No worry, because here come Japan and its going to overwhelm the US with its new guided economy. The great Satan was finished (they said).

1990s - oh know. The USSR is no more. And Japan has stagnated. But look over there...The EU is coming to overwhelm the upstarts. the great Satan is finished (they said).

2000s - uh-oh the EU is falling apart. But hurrah, here comes China. Growth rates twice or more that of the US. It'll become the biggest economy in the world in (think of number and halve it) years. Never mind that it's entirely dependent on the US markets to stay open and the US to keep world trade routes safe. No China's gunna win and that's the end of the great Satan (they said).

As so here we are. The US currently led by perhaps the worst set of morons and charlatans in its history and things aren't looking great for the great Satan.(they said)

and the usual suspects look at the short term problems and proclaim to be long term trends. T'was always thus. (they said)

Where is that rudimentary historic understanding? Just a few droplets of it might open their blinded eyes.

I can't help but notice.

For weeks AC has been declaring that those dastardly Ukrainians had passed laws banning the Russian language in the country. Up-hill and down-dale he asserted it as fact. It had to be fact because a Russian official has said it and and AC knows as a fact that Russian officials never lie. So there, you Ukraine lovers...game, set, match.

oops...

Then I showed him the actual Ukrainian legislation which makes clear that the Russian language hasn't been banned. By extension therefore it shows that Russian officials were lying to poor AC and that Russian claims that they had to wage war to save their brethren from this fate were false.

AC's reaction? Crickets. Silence. Not a word. No attempt to walk back his moronic claims. No admission of error. No mea culpa. Not that I expected it from AC. A better man yes, but not AC.

Still it does help to note his duplicity.