Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Not as strange as the Korean who was captured in German uniform by the Allies on D-Day. It was discovered that he'd originally been conscripted by the Japanese, captured by the Russians at Khalkhin Gol in 1939, released into the (short of manpower) Red Army in 1942, captured by the Germans at Kharkiv in 1943, put into uniform and sent to Normandy as part of an Ostabteilung (a German unit consisting of ex-Russian soldiers) in 1944. Shipped to a prison camp in the US, he became a US citizen, dying in 1992.

If the story is true, then Yang Kyoungjong (for 'twas his name) may be the only person to have served in three different armies during WW2. Unfortunately, it probably isn't true as evidence is lacking and there is a lot of doubt about it.

Photo of a "Young Japanese" soldier captured at Utah beach who may (or may not) be the same person. Reports say that four "Asians in German uniform" were captured there that day:

(From the look on his face, it's not difficult to imagine him thinking "Three effing armies...right that's my lot, I'm done with this sh1t...")

I have been thinking.

I think Putin's request that the west pay in roubles (incidentally i have just realized it is spelt roubles not rubles just shows how seldom the currency is in the press) is a mistake. And not just that it shows Putin is not receiving good advice and is not economically educated.

You never ever sell something for unstable currency. You sell 100 dollars worth of oil today that is 10,175 rubles. But tomorrow 10.175 rubles can be worth only 80 dollars. Congratulations you sold 100 dollars of oil for 80 dollars.

He expects the rouble to rally faster than it can. He also expects that russian traders will not see through govt intervention and manipulation of the market which is not sustainable long term.

He is actually only going to shrink russian assets.

He should have asked for payment in gold if he wanted to punish the dollar or other currencies.

This can't repair the rouble. But it can devalue oil profits. You never sell internationally to unstable currency.

I must try and give this a look. Also Intrigued by your name…..would have to say it’s one of the strangest ines in boards.ie??

Lithuania would be a more likely route.

Here's an interesting observation. In my nerdy, raincoat days, I used to track aircraft. Take note of their build numbers, registration numbers, operators and operations etc. Unfortunately I don't have the time for that kind of thing any more. Now, it has been common practice for USSR, China, North Korea and even India to disguise spy ships and aircraft as commercial entities in order to collect data on unsuspecting countries over the years. Due to the re-routing of international airways, China, for example, has found its self routing their international flights through airspace not normally visited. I've noticed that Chinese commercial flights through Eastern Europe, from Turkey all the way up to Kaliningrad, have increased 10-fold. Some of these flights track right up through NATO controlled airspace, sometimes coming within 5 or 6,000ft of military refuelling aircraft and even ELINT aircraft. I wonder have Some of these "commercial" flights, especially those taking the scenic route to Moscow, been carrying mote than a few avionics boxes in their holds.

If there are any OSINT heads out there ( with no kids and plenty of time!) Willing to take on the tracking of Air China aircraft as a project. It looks a bit off to me...

It's not as strange as you might think!

It is up for negotiation because the contracts have stipulated the dollar usage.

But all of that is irrelevant to my point. Putin is choosing to sell oil for a currency that is possibly going to be worth less the after sale than the day of sale.

That is IDIOCY.

He has not mentioned gold. I was thinking that was because the west is possibly going to freeze russian ability to trade gold later in the year and perhaps he was anticipating that.

To be honest i would ask for flour sugar steel whatever other than roubles right now.Ca

Also China will OF COURSE accept dollars from putin. And you can hold on to dollars ...roubles i wouldn't hold on to.

The government are the people. The people are the government. I don’t like the idea of all these sanctions hurting decent and caring Russians, but these sanctions may well be necessary for the overall greater good.

What’s with those two jokes, Daly and Wallace constantly trying to deflect Russia’s sickening actions by bringing up the U.S. and NATO and poor people in Afghanistan….?!

J-town? Sorry not up on Milspeak.

FWIW, once upon a time way back when I had a friend whose cousin was in the US Military and had been evacuated to a fort in NJ to recover from an illness. We drove over to cheer him up, play some cards, and I asked him what the coolest bit of military hardware he'd seen. He described being a passenger in an AWACS airplane as the closest he could imagine to flying in a space ship, there was so much high tech stuff there. And this was more than 30 years ago, I can imagine the stuff they have today would make that materiel look like tinker-toys.

That is all fine, I am not talking about setting the price of oil. I am talking about setting the price of ruble which you will need to be able to pay for their oil.

And that is whole another situation where you may think as much as you want that that price is unfair yet at the end of the day you will have to pay it since there is only so much of saudi oil available.

Russians can and will set price of the ruble which you will need to pay for their oil in a way it will benefit them.