Okay, my point is still that those regions are devastated, people have left... they're an economic hand grenade with the pin out and Russia decided to throw its body on top of it.
This is completely worthless. The "territorial buffer" is several thousand nuclear warheads.
Whenever you go through middlemen, they take a cut.
I don't know how it works with other goods because there's many that can't be traced, but for example weapons from Russia have to spend X amount of years in another country before they can be imported into the US. So Canadians actually have access to cheaper Russian weapon imports because companies that handle foreign imports can bring them to Canada but not the US. I assume that if they try to go around embargos their products will have some bullshit arbitrary measure that's meant to prevent it from being exported out of middlemen.
I really don't care for this bullshit argument, you can't create wealth when people are stuck at home not doing anything.
The West might be giving away weapons, but Chinese factory workers under lockdown aren't manufacturing new ones either.
You're giving me the usual spiel about how the Chinese are submissive bugmen and don't desire freedom, yadda yadda yadda but that's completely unrelated. It also doesn't matter what particular flavor of economic system they've picked. Even if you're not a free market - you play by the free market's rules. It's like flat earthers and gravity. They can argue all day that gravity doesn't exist, but they know that if they jump off a building they'll splatter on the ground.
The West, for whatever reason that completely escapes me, took a 12 gauge and decided to fire it at its foot during the coof - but now is trying to move on and forget about it. China seems to be reaching for the rocket launcher. And people tell me "it's okay they don't want freedom" my brother in Christ we're talking about the economy?????
You seem to be obsessed with the state of the Eastern Economies while failing to assume both the economic and domestic issues going on in the West. Let's get back to the point:
- Russia will win the war
- Russia will take territory from Ukraine
- The West will cope and waste money on military weapons
- The West will suffer from food and energy shortages
- Inflation will get worse
- People will die in the West as a result of decisions made in the West
- There will be political and social ramifications for all of this
- ???
- The West wins!
This is where I came in with the pro-NATO sentiment. You have the economy of the West in one of the worst situations in at least 4 decades and you want to talk about mark ups for the Russians and Shanghai quarantines? That the self-sufficient Russians or Centrally planned Chinese are going to be the real losers here? It's not going to be Russian or Chinese grannies freezing their ass off this winter because they can't afford heating and it's not going to be Russian or Chinese workers having to live in their car or a tent because they can't afford both the gas and a room to rent, it's going to be NATO.
You want to talk about how "China has to obey the Free Market's rules! This is a bullshit argument" while we're talking about an economic situation so perilous that it involves the basic necessities of life, not about the GDP of Consumer goods. A Centrally planned nation can afford to centrally plan on what is needed for food and other necessities. It's not playing by a global free market rule in regards to its foodstuffs, a chingchong wearing a bowl on his head will still be able to eat his pork fried rice in his 2ft by 2ft dresser drawer house all cozy and warm because the CCP can make sure that happens. In the Free Market Liberal Western Nations, necessities of life are treated like any other commodity. Mr. Matt Howard is going to pay the 10 dollars a gallon gas, or he doesn't get to go to work and loses even more money. Mr. Matt Howard doesn't deserve McDonalds because he's a filthy working class person. Mr. Matt Howard will love the free market when all he can afford is excess rice that ChingChong don't want, while sleeping in his car with a blanket in January.
"The West is now trying to move on and forget about it." No it's not, it's doubling down on its retardation. The sanctions it's imposing on Russia harms the West more that it harms Russia. The West is governed by careless retards, and people like yourself need to stop giving it the benefit of the doubt.
By the way, Yes, the Chinese don't give a fuck about abstract notions of freedom like Americans have. They want the lockdowns to end so they can go about their day, they aren't trying to use it to change the government like the Cons and Liberals in the West are.