Mac and Mike discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There are a lot of questions that only time will reveal. What will happen to oil and gas prices? How will it affect Europe and the United States? What will become of Ukraine once a puppet regime is installed?
We had planned on interviewing a veteran friend who was born in Ukraine, moved to Russia, and then came to America to serve in the US Army. Unfortunately, he was unable to get with us on Zoom. However, I did have several conversations about the situation in the previous week.
Vlad (the friend who could not make it) suggested that it was Ukraine that was in constant violation of the Minsk I and Minsk II Protocol agreements of 2014 and 2015. It is an interesting read. After reading about it I came to the conclusion that it is a “he said, she said” situation.
Apart from the conflict, Vlad pointed out something else that you might find interesting. Many of us have seen the World Debt Clock. Click here to open a separate window to view it. What is important to notice is the Debt to GDP (gross domestic product) ratio. The GDP is how much the country produces.
This section was updated on 27 Feb 2022 due to the sanctions. That may change what you see on the debt clock in relation to Russia. This is a screenshot of how things stood on 27 Feb 22.
As you likely know the USA is in the toilet. We are upside down by approximately 6 Trillion dollars! On the other hand, Russia is doing very well. Their GDP is 1.6 Trillion dollars and their debt is only 288 Billion. We can say what we want about Russia’s standard of living but they are much better than the USA at keeping their National Debt under control.
This is one of the factors that allows Russia to expend the manpower and resources to invade Ukraine. I’m guessing this will have a significant negative impact on the Russian economy. In turn, this might be the one thing that causes Putin to pull back on further invasions or trying to hold on to Ukraine.
To solve the problem of the Russian public seeing all the returning dead Russian soldiers they have brought in mobile crematoriums. This was reported yesterday by the New York Post and confirmed on Fox News today.
Will Russia be facing a second Afghanistan? We will see. In the meantime, our hearts go out to the Ukrainian people. They will suffer greatly. At the same time, both Mac and I agree that the United States has little to no national interest at stake.
In conclusion, the largest impact this will likely have on the United States will be soaring gas prices for a second time in a little over a year. Thanks Joe!
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