I'd like to enter George Clooney into the betting pool for DOE 107
Italian villa dontcha know
So I can't enter George?
Meanwhile…
Sanctions have not crushed Russia because it's not a state-run economy as the West's 'fairy tales' suggest, says a Russian economist
Huileng Tan Jan 2, 2024
The West and its allies unleashed a swath of sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, but the restrictions have yet to compel Moscow to put an end to the war.
This is because there's a fundamental flaw in the West's assumptions about Russia's economy that has hampered its efforts to force Moscow's hand to halt the war, said a Russian economist.
"The main mistake of Western experts and politicians was to create fairy tales that the entire Russian economy is state-run," Vladislav Inozemtsev, founder of the think tank Moscow Center for Post-Industrial Studies, told the Spanish media outlet El PaĂs in a Tuesday report.
So sanctions were applied on the basis that Russia's economy is an inflexible state-run behemoth that would collapse quickly, he said.
"But that was a mistake, because the Russian economy is very much a market economy," added Inozemtsev.
Unlike the collapse of the Soviet Union's planned economy following its dissolution, Russia's economy is humming along because most employment is concentrated in the private sector, which has found ways to skirt sanctions.
Russia's massive oil trade, for instance, managed to divert most of its customer base from Europe to India and China. Russian companies have also developed new supply chains and are stocking up on parallel imports.
Russia reported 5.5% GDP growth in the third quarter of 2023. While reports suggest that much of the country's growth is due to massive military and government spending, Inozemtsev doesn't seem to think that's all due to the country's economic resilience.
Russia is planning to spend 6% of its GDP on military expenses this year, which was what the US spent on defense during then-President Ronald Reagan's first term from 1981 to 1985.
But "no one would say that the American economy was a war economy," Inozemtsev told El PaĂs.
Russia's economy is expected to grow 3.1% in 2023, reversing from a 2.1% contraction in 2022, according to a Reuters poll of 15 economists and analysts.
However, they expect Russia's GDP growth to slow to 1.1% due to high interest rates, which dampen investment and spending.
https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-west-sanctions-not-effective-state-run-market-private-2024-1
Did you lose the Internet Key AGAIN?
MAGA Patriots/MAGA Riots/MAGA Extractions/MAGA Civil War/MAGA Ex-Military/MAGA Mercenary/MAGA Code Red/MAGA Black Ops/MAGA Cyber/MAGA Point Blank/MAGA BlackOut Ops/MAGA Patriots 100% Cowboy/MAGA Cyber/MAGA Internet Key/MAGA Patriots Matrix Algebra/MAGA Patriots USA COMMAND CENTER/MAGA Cyber Warfare/MAGA AI Algorithms/ MAGA PATRIOTS CONSTITUTIONAL Americans/ MAGA AI Code Writers/MAGA Command Center/MAGA Cyber Technology/MAGA Patriots High Value Extraction/MAGA Super AI/MAGA Patriot Mercenary/MAGA AI mother code/MAGA WARZONE/MAGA Patriots Private Contractors/MAGA Skunkworks/MAGA First Responder Angels/MAGA Crusaders
Maga Patriots, the Patriot Front of 8Kun
What's the status on that Beer Run, Pissboy?
Every one of you fedbois is supposed to have a college degree. How could you morans not understand Beer Run? Every Freshman I ever met knew Beer Run. What kind of GPA did you idiots have in Lesbian Interpretive Dance?
I told you it was a Code Red, High Value Extraction you were tasked with. Simple thing, get anons beer for the Graveyard Shift frolicks. What kind of diversity hires are running that Command Center of yours? You've bragged about those great Algorithms you have but none of them understand Beer Run? Was your Internet Key broken off in the lock? Those Private Contractors of yours, Day Labor rejects? What kind of mercenary can't fathom Beer Run?
I waited, most esteemed anons waited, for hours. Where were your Black Ops? No black helicopters, no black SUVs, not even a black cat going down the pavement outside. Beer Run, you were tasked with extracting and distributing beer to anons.
So glad your mission wasn't to get us a shrubbery
Prepare for demotion to dick washer
''Was looking for something else, came across this"
Hilldawg Hot Pockets
A nonprofit is racing to get its portable baby incubators into Israel and Gaza as crisis deepens
By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Updated 6:59 PM EDT, Fri October 27, 2023
New York CNN — Jane Chen is racing against the clock, again. She knows well how every minute that passes is crucial for a new life that emerges prematurely into the world in the most vulnerable of circumstances — in the midst of war, in the aftermath of a natural disaster or in a remote village far away from a medical center.
Acutely aware of the deepening crisis between Israel and Gaza, Chen is mobilizing her team at Embrace Global, a nonprofit she co-founded to help save babies’ lives, in a way that’s become second nature to her.
Embrace, based in San Francisco, California, makes low-cost portable baby incubators that don’t require a stable electricity supply.
The Embrace incubator resembles a sleeping bag, but for a baby. It’s a three-part system consisting of an infant sleeping bag, a removable and reusable pouch filled with a wax-like phase-change material which maintains a constant temperature of 98 degrees F for up to eight hours at a stretch when heated, and a heater to reheat the pouch when it cools.
Chen said the pouch requires just a 30-minute charge to be fully ready for reuse. “This is really ideal for settings that have intermittent access to electricity, which is a lot of places where we work in the world,” she said.
From Ukraine to Gaza
In Ukraine, Chen said doctors have indicated that preterm births are on the rise across the country at the same time that intermittent power outages have made the use of conventional incubators very challenging. Several doctors and nurses, she said, also must consistently take babies and mothers to basement shelters as bombings continue.
Dr. Halyna Masiura, a general practitioner, is experiencing this first hand at the Berezivka Primary Healthcare Center in the Odesa region of Ukraine.
For Chen, the most pressing problem is to figure out how to get the incubators to where they are most needed on the ground there. “As we did for Ukraine, we’re looking for partnerships with organizations that can get into the region effectively and also for funding,” she said. As a nonprofit, Chen said donations are sought through GoFundMe and a mix of individual donors, foundations and corporate donations.
Her team is working on a partnership with a humanitarian relief organization to respond in Gaza. “We’re also reaching out to organizations in Israel to assess the need for our incubators there,” she added.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/25/business/baby-incubators-israel-gaza/index.html
What about the ones under it?
Red Sea Attacks Continue as Containership Reports Nearby Explosions
Reporting by Muhammad Al Gebaly and Enas Alashray January 2, 2024
CAIRO, Jan 2 (Reuters) – British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Tuesday that a Malta-flagged container ship reported seeing three explosions towards its port quarter, 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Yemen’s Mocha.
The vessel master was heard over VHF, calling a coalition warship, the firm added.
Ambrey said it understood that three missiles had been fired from the direction of Yemen’s Taiz Governorate.
A nearby vessel reported seeing a small boat, about 50 meters (160 feet) in length, and with two lights, within 1 mile (1.6 km) of the incident location soon afterwards, the firm added.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organization on Tuesday said it received reports of up to three explosions one to five nautical miles from a merchant vessel in the Bab al-Mandab strait 33 nautical miles east of Eritrea’s Assab.
UKMTO WARNING 001/JAN/2024
ATTACK – INCIDENT 001 UPDATE 001https://t.co/XsgrK5uW2N
UKMTO has received reports of up to 3 explosions 1-5nm from a merchant vessel in the Bab El Mandeb 33NM East of Assab, Eritrea.#Maritimesecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/nMqcZkAYBP
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) January 2, 2024
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militants, who control much of Yemen including the capital Sanaa, have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.
“It was assessed this particular vessel was not Israel-affiliated, but other vessels in the operator’s fleet had regularly called Israel, and this affiliation might have been sufficient for her to be targeted,” Ambrey said.
Several shipping lines have suspended operations through the Red Sea in response to the attacks, instead taking the longer journey around Africa.
The Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks until Israel halts the conflict in Gaza, and warned that it would attack U.S. warships if the militia group itself was targeted.
https://gcaptain.com/red-sea-shipping-attacks-continue-2/