Russian banks went down en masse, the spread of foreign currencies was larger than the official numbers, and people were queuing outside the banks to withdraw money.
Of course, the Russian narrative is that this will hurt the west more than it will hurt Russia...
Huh? In what world?
> the Russian narrative
Dont say such things after saying stuff like you just did above. You people live in such a delusional false reality propagated by your establishment that its worse than 2003. Ukraine is 'winning' despite losing, Russia is sinking despite becoming the 4th largest economy and having major increase in real wages, US economy is 'doing fine' even as the number and size of the sunken US banks eclipse 2008.
1) Everyone I personally knew in Russia has left, and every international collaboration in science I have seen seems to have ended.
2) People I know who are full time online teachers report that Chinese have virtually overnight lost their spot as the most numerous students, replaced by hordes of Russians seeking to emigrate.
3) Indisputable military points of clarity from global news are that Russia failed to capture Ukraine's capital after planning and attempting to do so, lost much of its Black Sea fleet, and suffered from a brief internal military uprising.
4) Russia's petro-diplomacy clearly backfired: the entire world has pivoted away from fossil fuels and the IEA just announced peak oil will occur this decade.
I think any summary version of reality that includes Russia 'winning' at this stage is probably more stage-managed than the alternatives. Yes, they can grind people to death more than the Ukraine because of their larger population. No, that doesn't mean they 'win'. Both Russia and Ukraine will suffer long term macro-demographic structural issues from this war, however it ends. The people of Ukraine have greatly suffered. The Chinese will suffer too, because this aids Xi Jinping's narrative of resisting the west during a period in which he is asserting authoritarian nationalism and increasing financial, economic and cultural controls.
Few people are making money. Certainly not Russia.
Everyone I know in my home country which has absolutely no relation with any of these has also left. The 99.9% of the population have not. Your personal circle and the specific demographics you belong to do not constitute statistics.
> 3) Indisputable military points of clarity from global news are that Russia failed to capture Ukraine's capital after planning and attempting to do so
Angloamerican and satellite media outlets are not 'global', not to mention that all the 'experts' that they rely on are full of sh_t just like how they were back in 2003. Their sole job is to sell this war so that US and satellite taxpayer money can be channeled back to US defense corporations via Ukraine. The result is that Raytheon et al are posting record profits.
> 4) Russia's petro-diplomacy clearly backfired: the entire world
You people say these delirious things. 80% of the world has increased its business relations with Russia instead of decreasing it. India even told a bipartisan British parliamentary delegation to sod off when they went to India to lecture them about how they should cut their relations with Russia. Here's 'the entire world':
https://www.politico.eu/article/west-more-united-also-isolat...
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/02/23/world/russia-...
Even NYT admits that the West is isolated and 'the world' is literally with Russia. But you people contradict your own establishment mouthpieces.
Here in Europe we are still buying Russian oil and gas, even more than before, EXCEPT THROUGH INDIA, GABON and other intermediaries. Gabon, a tiny African country, increased its merchant marine to 100 ships in a few months just to sell Russian oil and gas to Europe. Europe's exports to Russia cratered, but its exports to Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and various neighboring countries skyrocketed with the EXACT percentage with which its exports to Russia cratered. Go figure. Everything is the same as before in Europe related to Russia, and yet imports are more expensive because it goes through intermediaries.
> the entire world has pivoted away from fossil fuels
Another self-propagated delirium that is the product of too much Angloamerican media consumption. Hasnt happened.
> I think any summary version of reality that includes Russia 'winning' at this stage
The summary version of the reality in which Russia is winning is this reality.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/27/opinion/ukraine-military-...
"Ukraine Doesn’t Need All Its Territory to Defeat Putin"
Your establishment has gone from "Ukraine will get to Moscow in 3 months" to "Ukraine doesn't need its territory to win". They are making 'perception management' to manage you people as if you were idiots. And they seem to be succeeding too.
> The Chinese will suffer too, because this aids Xi Jinping's narrative of resisting the west during a period in which he is asserting authoritarian nationalism and increasing financial, economic and cultural controls.
Nobody needs to 'resist' 'the West'. Its bankrupt. Its capitalist class started to eat the societies alive by trying to profit from housing, healthcare, education and even basic foodstuffs as they exhausted the means to exploit other countries. Dollar lost its place as the foreign exchange currency and unused dollars are now flowing back to the US, causing inflation. 99% of Americans are estimated to be going to be never own a house whereas 80% of 30 year olds and 90% of 40 year olds own their houses in China, which they paid with their own money.
'The West' is so in knee-deep sh*t that this is what's happening there:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AmerExit/
You people are delusional and speak delirious. This is how it must have been in the late stages of Roman empire as it was nearing its end: Delusion and denial.
That's very clearly not what the article says. Its key themes are that the world is "fragmented" and "ambivalent", and that Western sanctions haven't helped as much as hoped. At no point does it paint a picture of a world that is plainly "with Russia". In fact the article's most telling chart (the one that aligns abstaining UN votes with population) speaks directly against this assertion you're making.
Your establishment has gone from "Ukraine will get to Moscow in 3 months"
This is simply nonsense; absolutely no one has said anything about Ukraine getting to Moscow.
to "Ukraine doesn't need its territory to win"
That's the view of that one opinion piece. It's definitely not the consensus view of the political leadership in countries supporting Ukraine.
You people are delusional and speak delirious.
You are clearly misinformed about a lot of things -- and even when an NYT article is right in front of you, you can't seem to read its main points correctly.
Whether that means you are delusional or speak delirious -- is up to you, man.
That's what it says, like how Bloomberg does. Except, NYT cannot tell it as Bloomberg tells it so it must make it so that the establishment that it backs has still some chance. It has not. 80% of the world increased its business with Russia, including even Europe, despite all those sanctions.
> You are clearly misinformed about a lot of things -- and even when an NYT article is right in front of you, you can't seem to read its main points correctly.
Say the people who have been roped into believing all kinds of sh*t ranging from nonexistent WMDs to 'ghost of kiev'. When called out, NYT just admitted that yes, it was a lie, but it was 'good for morale so it was ok'.
You people who subscribe to the Angloamerican Western media have no business talking about being misinformed.