[Sticky] Russia-Ukraine War Geopolitical Analysis

 Russian ruble 30% stronger against US dollar than before invasion

Record Trade Surplus for Russia -- so much for sanctions...

Russia's trade surplus hit record levels in the first seven months of 2022, according to data from the country's Central Bank - a development that greatly reduces the effectiveness of Western sanctions at a time when higher energy prices have pushed inflation to all over Europe and the USA, while there is the threat of an energy crisis in the winter of 2023.

From January to July, the Russian surplus "jumped" to $167 billion, from just $50 billion for the same period last year.

As is well known, Moscow is heavily dependent on the revenue generated by its energy resources – revenue which has increased despite Western sanctions following Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

In fact, Russia's current account balance was also favored by the collapse of imports into the country, both because of the sanctions and because several Western companies have either limited themselves in their transactions with Russia, or have stopped their exports to it.

In such cases, of course, gaps are filled – and this was the case with China, which rushed to cover some of Russia's imports: Chinese exports to Russia rose 20% in July, reaching $6.7 billion. Indeed , as Business Market Insider notes, the strengthening of ties between the two countries led to a strengthening of their currencies.

As is well known, China – along with India – covered to a very large extent the decrease in orders for Urals crude caused by the Western sanctions. Moscow is selling at a significant discount to China and India – but the increased price levels bring greatly increased revenue to the Putin regime. At the same time, Russia is selling its natural gas at a very high price to Europe, making the biggest possible profits with the smallest possible quantities, bringing dependent economies – such as Germany – to the brink of an energy crisis and causing an inflationary “explosion” at the same time.

https://warnews247.gr/eboriko-pleona...yroseis-rosia/

CBS News has sensationally censored its own documentary after the film exposed how only 30% of weapons funding provided by the US makes it to the front lines.

A tweeted posted by CBS on Friday promoted its new film ‘Arming Ukraine’ by explaining that the documentary “explores why much of the billions of dollars of military aid that the U.S. is sending to Ukraine doesn’t make it to the front lines: “Like 30% of it reaches its final destination.”

In the documentary, experts told CBS they had no idea where most of the weaponry was going.

epublican lawmakers explained how they felt vindicated by the revelation, having previously opposed a $40 billion Ukraine aid package.

“This [is] one of the reasons I voted ‘no,’” US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) tweeted in response to the CBS report.

“Flooding a country with advanced weapons can have grave consequences, even when done with the best of intentions,” CBS’s description of the documentary read. “This CBS Reports documentary goes inside Ukraine to get a firsthand look at how military aid gets from the border to frontline soldiers, and explores the difficulties of getting the aid to the fighters who need it.”

However, the film has now been completely removed from the CBS website, with a ‘page not found’ label in its place.

After being bombarded with questions as to why the film was censored over the weekend, CBS finally announced why they had removed it.

“We removed a tweet promoting our recent doc, “Arming Ukraine,” which quoted the founder of the nonprofit Blue-Yellow, Jonas Ohman’s assessment in late April that only around 30% of aid was reaching the front lines in Ukraine,” said a tweet.

See the Video here:

https://summit.news/2022/08/08/cbs-n...ine-is-wasted/

Kiev regime’s irretrievable combat losses may exceed 193,000 — DPR militia

MOSCOW, August 8. /TASS/. The Ukrainian army’s irretrievable losses may exceed 193,000 service members since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, Spokesman for the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) Militia Eduard Basurin said on Monday.

"This has to be mentioned. The figure will, perhaps, even be much higher. These are the figures that they give. I believe that the scope may even be larger," Basurin said in a live broadcast on Russia’s TV Channel One, responding to a question by the anchorman about whether he could confirm the information that the Ukrainian military’s irretrievable losses amounted to 193,000 service members, as reported by Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny, according to some media outlets’ data.

As the spokesman for the DPR people’s militia specified, irretrievable losses included killed military personnel and crippled service members who could not rejoin the troops.

"UN warns stability of Ukraine’s nuclear plant is ‘extremely grave’ under Russian control"