₦airaland Forum

Don't believe everything you see on the media.

If there’s anything we’ve learned about President Vladimir Putin over the 22 years or so that he’s been in power in Russia it’s that he has systematically and repeatedly tried to weaken and undermine the West.

But in his invasion of Ukraine he seems to have achieved exactly the opposite, managing to unite most of the international community in its condemnation of Russia’s aggression toward its neighbor.

“NATO is united — more so than at any point since the Soviet collapse — with a renewed sense of purpose and mission,” Ian Bremmer, president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, commented this week.

“So too is the European Union: Germany supports ending their economic dependence on Russia and is nearly doubling their defense spend; France is on board ... even Moscow-tilting Hungary has condemned the invasion, favored a crippling sanctions regime, and is allowing in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees,” Bremmer said in emailed comments Monday.

The West is used to Russia behaving like a “malign actor” on the global stage with its interference in democratic processes like its meddling in the 2016 U.S. election or support for far-right political groups in Europe, or the overseeing of state-sponsored cyberattacks and weaponizing energy supplies with recent gas price rises in Europe. It was also widely seen as responsible for a nerve agent attack on U.K. soil in 2018 and was subsequently sanctioned. Putin was then accused of ordering a nerve agent attack on his political nemesis and biggest critic, Alexei Navalny, in 2020. Russia denied involvement in both attacks despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

With this background of bad behavior and geopolitical meddling, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should come as no surprise, particularly given its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its overt attempts to politically influence other former Soviet neighbors, like Belarus and Georgia.

Despite imposing sanctions on Russia for Crimea’s annexation, the West was widely accused of not being tough enough on Moscow with analysts saying Putin learned from the Crimea experience that he could invade and annex part of a sovereign state and, essentially, get away with it.

But now, with Russia’s invasion of the north, south and east of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the West looks more united than it has been for many years. Recent divisions over, within and between NATO, the EU, the U.K. and other developed nations are seemingly dissipating overnight as nations unite to help Ukraine defeat Russia.

Anton Barbashin, a political analyst and editorial director of the journal Riddle Russia, told CNBC that Putin’s invasion has had a number of unintended consequences:

“Whatever was Putin’s end goal in Ukraine, it is already clear that what he has achieved is uniting the West, destroying Russia’s economy, endangering the survival of the Russian state as we know it, almost guaranteed Ukraine’s future inclusion into western institutions and ultimate demise of Russia’s grand power aspirations. To call it a mistake is to say nothing,” he told CNBC in emailed comments Wednesday.

World is ‘pulling together’
Global diplomatic circuits have been busy in recent months as officials largely feared Russia was gearing up for some kind of attack on Ukraine, although the full-scale invasion caught many analysts by surprise with most expecting a smaller-scale incursion into eastern Ukraine.

Since the invasion, there has been a further flurry of high-profile and urgent meetings, visits and video calls between the leaders of NATO countries with previous disagreements between members of the alliance — on a range of matters from defense spending to refugees, Brexit and energy security — put on the backburner.

Multiple public protests have been held across the world against Putin and his war in Ukraine while many iconic brands have pulled out of Russia, turning the country into a pariah on the global stage.

“Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine is reshaping the politics of Europe and – possibly – beyond,” Berenberg Bank’s chief economist, Holger Schmieding, noted in his latest report assessing the macro impact of the conflict. “The free world seems to be pulling together like rarely before,” he added.

Even before the war, Schmieding noted, Russia was starting to resemble some features “of a Soviet style petro-economy with an oversized military sector and ultimately unaffordable imperial ambitions” and seemed bound to slowly fall more and more behind the advanced world.

Now, the costs of war, increasing domestic repression and duly harsh Western sanctions “will likely hasten the economic demise of Putin’s Russia much more so and much faster than the costly occupation of Afghanistan contributed to the erosion of Soviet power in the 1980s,” Schmieding noted.

NATO strengthened
While Putin is looking increasingly isolated, Western democracies are treading a tightrope of supporting Ukraine while trying not to be perceived to intervene militarily, a move that could easily spark a wider and more destructive global conflict with Russia.

In his State of the Union address last week, President Joe Biden commented on the West’s cohesion in the crisis, saying that “we see the unity among leaders of nations and a more unified Europe, a more unified West” adding that “in the battle between democracy and autocracy, democracies are rising to the moment.”

Democracies in the West might be rising to the moment but Russia’s invasion has certainly posed a moral, military and geopolitical dilemma for the EU and NATO.

Ukraine is not a member of either bloc but its position on the edge of Europe, acting as a buffer state between NATO members and Russia, puts it in an important strategic position. Ukraine’s pro-Western and pro-democracy government and populace, and aspirations to join the EU and NATO, have also provoked widespread sympathy for Ukraine and its people. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled the war but many have stayed to fight, increasing global admiration for Ukraine.

Ironically, Putin’s invasion — largely predicated on the demand that Ukraine is never allowed to join NATO — has inadvertently boosted the case for joining the military alliance with public opinion in Finland and Sweden shifting in favor of joining the organization.

NATO deployments in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states have already been bolstered with more troops and weaponry, again strengthening an alliance Putin wanted to see diminished.

Russia’s invasion has also prompted tardy defense spenders, namely Germany, to pledge a massive boost in defense spending and infrastructure and has hastened Europe’s decoupling from Russia on the energy front, too, with the EU (which received 41% of its natural gas from Russia, and 27% of its crude oil, according to 2019 data) looking to diversify, and fast.

That dependence on Russian energy (which the U.S. and several European countries like Ukraine and Poland warned about with the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline) has led to some signs of division in Europe over how far the bloc should go in restricting Russian energy supplies. But on Tuesday, the U.S. and U.K. said they were banning Russian oil imports, while the EU announced updated plans to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels.

Asked whether he believed Russia expected a more disunited reaction from the West, political analyst Barbashin noted that the “Kremlin has certainly anticipated a reaction, sanctions and strong condemnation but he [Putin] has miscalculated for Germany’s ultimate change of policy towards Russia that granted a full European-Atlantic consolidation against Putin’s war.”

Even China is worried
Less than two weeks into Russia’s invasion, Ukraine’s armed forces and volunteers continue to mount a brave resistance against Russian forces who have attacked cities in the north, east and south of the country.

Many analysts and strategists believe it is only a matter of time before Ukraine is overwhelmed by Moscow’s military might, however, and they have predicted the installation of a pro-Russian regime in Kyiv followed by a long and bloody insurgency as Ukrainians refuse to accept Russia’s proxy rule.

China, Russia’s ally, is believed to be increasingly perturbed by the prospect of a long-term conflict. U.S. intelligence officials have suggested Beijing is not only unsettled by the war but its possible impact on the global economy and the fact that it is bringing the U.S. and Europe closer together.

Giving evidence before Congress on Tuesday, the CIA’s director, Bill Burns, said that China “did not anticipate the significant difficulty that the Russians would run into and I think they’re unsettled by the reputational damage that could come from their close association with President Putin,” Burns said.

China has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion but analysts believe Chinese President Xi Jinping likely did not believe Putin would launch such a full-scale attack.


https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/09/russia-ukraine-putin-always-wanted-to-weaken-west-hes-done-the-opposite.html

Photo credit: infobrics.org

bluefilm:
Umahi is the champion of Infrastructural development.

Umahi for President.

Which champion? Do you know what Ebonyians are going through? No promotion or salary increase for the past eight years. No gratuity for retired civil servants. Even when FG intervened with bailout funds, this man had the gut to pay retired workers 20% of their gratuity. This is after harrowing experience of going through one documentation or the other. Let's not even talk about tax increase. There's nothing wrong in paying tax but when it becomes extreme, it is no tax but punishment. No employment for the past eight years. The one he managed to conduct to save face, he's yet to release the result of the interview.

Have you ever wondered how he gets money for those infrastructural projects? Loans, direct labour, draconian tax,deductions from workers' salaries (both university and college of education workers receive 20% deductions from their salaries). As am typing this, university workers are yet to receive their February salary. Mind you, there was no local government election in his first few years as a governor. Believe me if not for court intervention, Dave wouldn't have conducted local government election.

The funny part is that you dare not challenge him or his boys will come for your head. In case you don't know, some of the concrete roads have started disintegrating. So forget about some of the things you read from the media.

Oil prices have plunged after the United Arab Emirates said it supported increasing production.

Brent crude, an international benchmark, fell more than 17% at one point after the statement by the UAE, a member of the powerful oil cartel Opec.

The fall follows weeks of skyrocketing prices due to supply disruptions sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The rising prices have put a financial squeeze on families around the world.
President Joe Biden and other leaders have pledged to try to ease the price pressures for households. Officials from the US have been in talks with oil producers aimed at boosting supply.

"We favour production increases and will be encouraging Opec to consider higher production levels," Ambassador Yousuf Al Otaiba said in a statement tweeted by the UAE Embassy in Washington.

Energy prices have been soaring for more than a year amid a rapid rebound in demand for oil, which had collapsed during the pandemic.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine added new price pressures, as sanctions make it hard for the country - typically the producer of about 7% of global supplies - to find buyers for its oil.

The US and Canada have also announced bans on Russian oil imports, while the UK said it would phase them out by the end of the year.

Oil prices have jumped more than 30% since 24 Feb, touching $139 (£105) at one point this week before falling back. Oil prices settled down about 12% in US trade, at about $112 a barrel.

Brent crude moved higher in Asia trade, to stand at around $115 a barrel by Thursday lunchtime.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) also recently agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from strategic national reserves, but that move is not enough to respond to the recent run-up in prices.

The agency said on Wednesday that oil reserves may be tapped further.

"If there's a need, if our governments decide so, we can bring more oil to the markets, as one part of the response," said EIA chief Faith Birol.

The UAE statement comes just one week after Opec rebuffed calls to raise production levels, saying it would stick to an earlier plan to gradually increase output.

Stocks in Asia jumped following gains in the US and Europe. Japan's Nikkei index was 3.9% higher in morning trade, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was up by almost 1%.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60680787

Photo credit: Wikipedia.org

What are nuclear warheads?
Nuclear warheads are weapons of mass destruction and are able to destroy whole cities and kill millions of people. They also have tremendous long-lasting effects on the environment and future generations due to radioactive contamination taking its toll years after the explosion. They only were used once by the United States in 1945 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the final stage of World War 2. Despite the devastating nature of nuclear weapons, some countries have been carrying out nuclear tests regularly.



Russia 6,255
USA 5,550
China 350
France 290
United Kingdom 225
Pakistan 165
India 156
Israel 90
North Korea 40


https://www.statista.com/statistics/264435/number-of-nuclear-warheads-worldwide/

Igbofam:
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/08/mcdonalds-will-temporarily-close-850-restaurants-in-russia-nearly-2-weeks-after-putin-invaded-ukraine.html

I'm worried about their workers.

This madness is actually getting out of hand. The earlier Russia and Ukraine put a stop to this war, the better for the rest of the world. To think the world just finished battling with COVID-19, we now have another situation which if not handled properly could affect the rest of the world.

In Nigeria, more than 50% of our refined oil are imported. With the price of oil expected to skyrocket coupled with decision by west to stop importation of oil from Russia plus Russia's counter threat to cut gas supply to Europe, Nigeria too will be affected.

May God help us.

The U.S. is expected to announce as early as Tuesday that it will ban imports of Russian oil, a move that would cut about 8% of America’s annual imports.

The news of the upcoming announcement, confirmed to CNBC by two people familiar with the matter, sent oil markets soaring.


WTI crude oil jumped 4.5% to session highs of above $124 a barrel following reports of the forthcoming ban. Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, jumped nearly 5% to near $129 a barrel.

The move is set to come as the international community works to heap as much economic punishment as possible on Russia in retaliation against its invasion of Ukraine. The European Union later Tuesday morning unveiled its own plan to wean itself off of Russian fossil fuels, citing Russia’s aggression.

“We simply cannot rely on a supplier who explicitly threatens us,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a press release announcing the plan.
The White House and the Department of Energy did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But the White House updated President Joe Biden’s daily schedule Tuesday morning to include an announcement of new U.S. actions intended to “hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine.”

Biden will deliver those remarks from the White House at 10:45 a.m. ET, the updated schedule said.

His speech will lay out the details of a ban specific to the U.S., a person told CNBC. Whether the stoppage of Russian imports will be immediate and abrupt, or a more gradual phase out, remained unclear less than an hour before the event was set to start.

The U.S. imported about 672,000 barrels a day from Russia in 2021, according to figures from the Energy Information Administration. That amount comprises roughly 8% of the total U.S. imports of oil and refined products.

Most of the country’s crude oil and petroleum imports come from Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia, making the U.S. far less dependent on Russian oil than many of its European partners.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions have provoked an unprecedented international reaction, as dozens of countries slap crippling sanctions on the Kremlin, its ultra-rich oligarchs and even Putin himself. Russia’s currency has plummeted in value and its stock market has closed, while a growing list of companies have pulled their business out of the country.

That includes businesses such as Shell, which vowed to immediately stop all purchases of Russian crude and shutter its service stations in the country.

In the U.S., Biden has faced calls to target Russian oil, the nation’s main export. But with gas prices heading toward all-time highs on fears of supply shortages stemming from Russia’s war, the U.S. president has so far resisted those calls.


https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/08/us-expected-to-announce-ban-on-russian-oil-as-soon-as-today-nbc-news-reports.html

This is a welcome development. It will help to strengthen our democracy. The idea of using a political party for selfish reason and dumping same party after actualising your goal should be disregarded.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has sent shivers of fear through many of its neighbours - from the Baltic states to Moldova.

Finland ought theoretically to be safe, since it has historically been neutral and gave Stalin's Soviet army a hard time when he invaded the country in 1939.

Like other Scandinavian countries, besides Sweden, there has never been much support here to join the Nato military alliance. But when the spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry recently warned Finland and Sweden explicitly that any move towards Nato could have military consequences, people in both countries were deeply shocked.

Since then, Russian warplanes have blatantly intruded into Swedish airspace.

If being neutral is not sufficient to guard against Russia, people here are saying that maybe joining Nato will give the two countries the protection they need.

This represents a major change of mood. In Finland, particularly, relations with Russia were thought to be pretty good.

The Ukraine invasion has changed everything.

A few days before the Russian troops moved in, Aleksi Salonen and Sampo Muhonen, a couple of geeks - their own description of themselves - were sitting in a Helsinki flat gaming. During a pause, they started talking about the growing threat from Russia, and agreed that it would be safer for Finland to apply for Nato membership.

They mentioned the idea to three friends online, and between them the five cooked up a plan to collect signatures for a petition to the Finnish parliament.

In order to launch a debate by MPs, a proposal has to have 50,000 signatures. Within 10 days they had reached 70,000.

They had touched a nerve in the Finnish population, and now the matter will be put to the government. The latest opinion polls indicate that a majority of people support the idea.

Finland is a cautious country, and its government is particularly so. When I asked Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen for his views, he was careful not to give an answer. He acknowledged the situation was difficult, but said that joining Nato was something that required very careful consideration.

Perhaps the Finnish government wants to see what happens in Ukraine before it makes up its mind. Clearly the Russians won't invade another country when their hands are full with the fighting in Ukraine.
Viewed from Finland, there are some striking similarities between the attack on Ukraine and the invasion of Finland in 1939 - the Winter War, as it's known.

Joseph Stalin, full of self-confidence, sent his army into Finland only to find that its resistance was far greater than his generals had assured him. The Finns staged a largely guerrilla war against an army which was huge, but whose morale had been seriously damaged by the treason trials of a year or so earlier, in which the majority of the most senior figures were purged and executed.

The Winter War dragged on for months before negotiations finally began and an agreement was reached. Russia took some territory from Finland, but the Finns kept their independence - and have done so ever since.

The invasion of Ukraine has similarly been mismanaged. The logistical side was botched from the start, with too little fuel, food and water supplied to the troops - many of whom had been assured they were only carrying out an exercise.

Western analysts say even maps were in short supply, with tank drivers often having to stop to get directions. This was not by any means a Blitzkrieg, and the prerequisite for any modern war - the destruction of the enemy's communications - simply never happened.

None of this means that President Vladimir Putin won't win in the end.

He has already assured France's President Macron that he will go on until he takes the whole of Ukraine. The danger is that if he cannot do it with his conventional forces, the temptation will be strong to use his tactical nuclear weapons to force Ukraine to surrender.

Russian nuclear theory seems to regard this as an acceptable risk; Western experts are much more worried by the possibilities. There can be no certainties if that threshold is crossed.

Russia claims to have invaded Ukraine because it wanted to save the Ukrainian people from neo-fascism. What President Putin really seems to want to ensure - apart from avenging what he sees as Ukraine's treachery in breaking away from Russia - is that there is no question of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joining Nato.

In fact, that genuinely doesn't seem to have been a possibility within the foreseeable future.

But there is a real irony in the fact that the war in Ukraine now seems to be giving Finland - and perhaps Sweden - real cause for considering whether they should join the Western military alliance.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60626536

Chinese rights holders have told the Premier League they will not broadcast English top-flight matches this weekend because of the league's planned shows of support for Ukraine, the BBC has learnt.

China is a close political ally of Russia, which has invaded Ukraine.
The Premier League has said it "wholeheartedly rejects Russia's actions" and is set to show solidarity with Ukraine.

"We call for peace and our thoughts are with all those who have been impacted," it added, when announcing its plans earlier this week.

That will include captains wearing special armbands in Ukrainian colours, while stadium screens will display 'Football Stands Together' in front of the country's blue and yellow flag.

Fans have also been encouraged to join "a moment of reflection and solidarity before kick-off at each game".

When asked about the Chinese refusal to show matches, the Premier League declined to comment.

In 2019 China's state broadcaster CCTV removed an Arsenal-Manchester City game from its schedule after comments made by then-Gunners midfielder Mesut Ozil.

Ozil had posted on social media about the treatment of Uighur Muslims in China.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60524865

Bonsujk:
Sold Le // gion // te// Ch in king

$2325

8 months hold

Congratulations!

budosky:
Sold

CloneRobotics /com

$4.7k

Afternic

5moths hold.
Picked from Deleted list
Negotiated from $2k inbound offer.

I initially received an offer through whois privacy mail a month earlier before this sale from a developer/domainer saying his client is interested and has a budget of $1.5k. I totally ignored the offer because of his presentation, he said in his mail that he knew "it's a few month old".. I was like "and so what?".
Exactly a month later, I received a $2k offer thru afternic broker while my asking price was just $6.5k. After some back and forth, we settled for $4.7k.

Goodluck to y'all

This is massive. Congratulations!

As we just reported, a new law in Russia is set to punish "fake" information with jail sentences of up to 15 years.

On Thursday, one of Russia’s last independent news outlets TV Rain stopped broadcasting indefinitely after coming under pressure for its coverage of the invasion.

The channel, also know as Dozhd, ended its final broadcast by showing staff walking off set.

Russia's telecommunications regulator accused the channel of "inciting extremism, abusing Russian citizens, causing mass disruption of public calm and safety, and encouraging protests".

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60532634

Gpexchange:
I always try to check if my supposed handreged name was actually handreg or dropped so I know what am dealing with

Thank you for this wonderful information.

Gpexchange:
U actually didn't come up with it first...it's been used and dropped since 10th October..so it has history....This is what I always see sometimes lol...most of the geos we think we handreged were actually dropped a long time ago

Wow!

Sapiosexuality:
Stop handregging if you are a newbie. I did it and it worked but it was a silly risk.

Is it ideal to register a geo domain without previous history? Ever since I registered oakland/solar/energy/king, I have been outbounding yet to no avail. Most of the replies came through Facebook. It's either im not interested or not interested for now. Could it be because the name has no history. I didn't pick the name from ED.

HIScraziness:
Handregging names as a newbie is financial sui-cide

Is it ideal to register a geo domain without previous history? Ever since I registered oakland/solar/energy/king, I have been outbounding yet to no avail. Most of the replies came through Facebook. It's either im not interested or not interested for now. Could it be because the name has no history. I didn't pick the name from ED.

If this news is true that will be an invitation for other European states sympathetic with Ukraine to be part of the war without involving their states directly. Already, the British government has given willing citizens the permission to be be part of the war if they want.

This present government can lie. The money is meant to be paid every five years (200b). The last time such money was released was during the time of President Goodluck.

DoggoneDogg:
[s][/s]

Let's leave future tense. Present tense with Ukraine first.

Where is your almighty NATO?

Ukraine is not a member of NATO and so they are not in any way obliged to interfere in the fight. They can only go the extent of offering them financial help or weapons. Ukraine as an independent state has made it clear that they want to join EU and NATO. Putin on the other hand has vowed that will not happen. Not when he's still in charge.

DoggoneDogg:
[s][/s]

One GoTV CNN war strategist spotted.


Tell your almighty US to enter Ukraine if e sure for dem na. We wan check something

Tell your almighty Russia to invade any NATO member state.

Bigman02:
Not at all... I just regged the name actually... Hand reg sef...
To my idea it's a good name... But what do you guys think??
Mehn can't remember how many per say... It was an inside sale bro

Did you pick the name from ED?

"He's gonna cry any minute" in his home stadium? Lol. Man U fans funny sha.

tranxo:
What the lesson please?

Domaining requires patience. Moreover, I should have read carefully the terms associated with Sav auction before enlisting.

SIBF:
So if the highest bid I got on Sav auction is $1 my domain will be sold for $1?
How do I opt out of auction?

I'm beginning to suspect some of the sales on sav.com are spurred by shill bidding.

moneymind:
I was thinking I could get up to $100 at least, I need to renew some names urgently. I might not honour the auction if it ends like this, worse worse, they will ban me from auction.

What if they decide to sue you? I had same thought as you but I had to let go.

Sapiosexuality:
That name is too good for $10 or auction. If you have the patience to wait, better do.

The domain is already up for auction. I doubt if he can cancel the auction.

moneymind:
Lol, its crazy bro. My domain NFTdata (.) xyz is currently at 10.49, that's because it started at 8.49. Imagine it sells at this price and they charge $20 for wire transfer withdrawal. Is that not a loss?

Gpexchange:
Hahahahahahahahhahah sorry for ur loss guy but this is hilarious

It's well!

Out of desperation, I decided to place blockchainly (.) xyz on auction at sav//com. It ended up selling for $0.96. I'm really pained right now but it's well Lesson learnt. Time to move on.

Sapiosexuality:
Read what exactly? You posted a sale without a name. What's there to read? The cost? At NP, posts like this are moved or hidden. What's the point, exactly?

May be he's waiting for the money to land in his account before disclosing the name.