| | | Dude...
Get a grip...
I don't trust anything posted on Youtube about how "great" things are in Russia... with zero real impact from having half their economy obliterated...
You'd have to be an idiot to believe that crap... just as you'd have to be if you listen to the propaganda, from either side, on how great the Ukraine war is going for them.
Anyone older than... not very old... would know a lot of this from experience in prior history... the Soviet Union often touting, like that vid you posted, the amazing selection in those stores that no one but the elite were allowed near... And, in case you didn't know... North Korea is also, still, a consumers paradise...
Reality is... the conflict is having profound economic consequences in Russia and in Europe... but, in Europe, those are more temporary than they're likely to be in Russia, for a lot of obvious reasons. It is easier for Europe to shift suppliers... than it is for Russia to enable new forms of transportation to move the bulk of their production to new customers.
But, that is sort of the point being discussed here, today... is that... as you are AWARE that there is a dedicated and deliberate effort being made in propagandizing you... how do you sort through the "crap" to find the "ponies" that have to be "hinted at" there... and probably do actually exist ?
Ukraine claims "its over" for Russia every day... but, they also tell you "where" the war is occurring... when they make progress on some front... if not so much when things shift the other way. I don't know that its all that useful to follow it all that closely, now. Not that hard, still, to keep a finger on the pulse of how things seem to be going... but seeing "the big picture"... in context of "other clues" and "what else you know has to be true"...
The war is playing out... about like yet another instance of the same in how WW I or WW II battles were fought... its been a lot more costly, and a lot bloodier, than Russia expected, clearly. It clearly is stressing Russian society in important ways... and, currently, "they say"... Russia has begun evacuating civilians from Donetsk and Luhansk... after the "major offensive" launched last week... went no where at first... and, "breakthroughs" Russia reports today... means moving a few kilometers in a couple of places, instead of winning hundreds of meters, and then losing them again, as has been happening for a while...
The big build up to "the war really accelerating about now" with a new Russian offensive... might happen... but, it looks more like Russia throwing more cannon fodder to the front... with larger numbers of ill-trained and ill-equipped troops not really putting them in much of a position to alter the dynamic in an important way.
Its likely there will be more meaningful change occurring "soon"... but... not seeing anything like that, yet ?
I'd not take any of that to mean I think you don't need to be cautious... and stay prepared... with adequate food supplies in reserve, as always... but with a greater sense of urgency if you've not bothered before ? If you have a reasonable reserve... the temporary issues like those we saw occurring with Covid won't have any meaningful impact on you... which is "always" why its worth bothering to be prepared ?
Just the fact they bothered themselves in making a video purporting "nothing to see here"... tells you its probably bullshit. I haven't bothered looking... but I doubt there are many comparable videos on the other side... claiming to show you that, whatever, there's no problem at all with empty store shelves in the U.S. ?
But, then... I'm not held hostage by morons posting Youtube videos claiming that there are... because... I've been to a grocery store or two in the last year... ? LOL!!! I don't have to look to Youtube vids to tell me whether the stores have... whatever... or not ?
In the degree that there have been "shortages" of this or that... recently... they've been easily enough accommodated by changing prices. The pigs all got sick, there for a while... and pork got expensive... but, now, its cheaper than it was before as production has over-compensated. Same with chicken... and eggs... which I'm told are still expensive in result of a bird flu taking out large commercial producers.
Might be worth asking more pointed questions about those issues occurring... now... given the context ?
I don't worry about the egg issue, personally, as we grow our own, and always have twice what we need... so end up giving half away. That there were other issues, back during Covid, is clearly true... Pork wasn't available because they shut down the slaughterhouses. All of that stuff is ancient history, now ? There are undoubtedly still "supply chain" disruptions occurring... as "fragility" does what it does when things break. That isn't likely going to make significant food shortages occur... in the U.S. ?
They are still increasingly likely, in Africa... and in places that get wheat supplies from Ukraine... places dependent on imports have greater risks than major producers, obviously...
And, obviously... things might change again.
Change occurring about now... still leaves a few question marks... as a lot of the Russian sanctions announced have not been implemented, yet... but are only being implemented now, with delayed impacts in result, for both Russia, Europe, and the U.S. ? Diesel shortages being predicted for the U.S., didn't occur... and aren't likely to, now... prices at the pump are a bit lower as Biden has "been convinced" to quit being a moron in his management of energy policy. The most recent economic impacts in oil... have more to do with OPEC raising prices than they have to do with anything new occurring in the "economic" component of the war that's ongoing ?
That might change, this month... as old sanctions on oil finally begin being implemented... but, the delays were tolerated in order to enable alternative sourcing... which means Europe's got it covered better now... while forcibly reducing a larger portion of Russia's sales... leaves them without a market, without meaning new problems for Europe ?
For now, the war seems, wherever its going, that its not going there quickly... so the changes occurring in the economic conflict might make it appear more important than it has been, yet, by late spring or early summer...
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