Russia is terrorist state, Rockwool "rocks" in Russia, Turkey and raccoon (not related)

Welcome to my weekly newsletter about everything related to the war in Ukraine and realgeopolik. I try not to repeat the news you've already seen, but share the 2-3 page news you might have missed but what matter. Or just reflect the news from the different angle. A very personal view and I might be totally wrong, please find time to argue in the comments, if you don't agree - you are very smart people and together we are one "smart collective brain" :)

Russia = terrorist state = tribunals + reparations (says NATO)

According to reports from the Chairman of Ukrainian delegation to NATO Yegor Chernev, NATO Parliamentary Assembly has adopted a resolution stating that “Russia under the current regime is a terrorist state", while urging to create the Special International Tribunal and for Russia to pay the war reparations. Now the member countries have to vote (or not) for the resolution in their parliaments. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have done it already. Btw, Ukraine NATO delegation and General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg discussed also the current situation in regards to arming Ukraine. Is it true that NATO is running low on weapons? Well, NATO wasn't prepared for long-term war, but it will audit the reserves, make some long-term arrangements to ordering new "stuff", as well as will decrease the limit for "minimum mandatory reserves needed in case of war". Why would that be? Oh, because for many NATO countries, Russia IS the main threat and this IS the war that consernes also reserves. Ukraine beats Russia = less reserves needed in near future (oversimplyfying but you get the point).

Don't “Make Russia Great Again”

As I dont want to attract more attention to this family, so I will not mention that the MAGA-republicans and the representatives of the “not-mentioned-family” have said out loud that “no more cheques to Ukraine”. It would be more like MRGA “Make Russia Great Again” as cutting the financing for Ukraine will weaken the capacity of quicker victory in Ukraine and give Putin a chance to test the NATO borders, and that will mean much more lives and resources spent to arm NATO allies than spent today on Ukraine. Not to mention "boots on the ground". According to the very recently published US?National Defense Strategy, Russia is still one of the main international threats, so Ukraine is fighting for us all. US aid to Ukraine has so far been around 100 million, but to put it into perspective - according to the latest estimates 2.3 trillion was spent by?US in Afghanistan. I do believe in justice and that common sense will prevail, and the US support will continue, despite the latest polls showing that half of the Republican electorate shared the?“US is doing too much view”. Please read CIPA article "Its costing peanuts for US to defeat Russia".?

Russian small business shifting to Turkey

While the EU and US are continuing to implement sanctions and the next ones coming into force in December, the number of Russian and Iranian investments in Turkey has significantly increased. With the grain deal secured for the next 120-day period, Turkey is securing its place in international negotiations and winning some bonus points for upcoming elections. But business is business, and in 2022 1099 Iranian and 1081 Russian companies?were registered in Turkey, as compared to 27 Russian companies in 2021. It's mostly probably sales and trade, but every dollar is welcomed in times of economic crisis. Talking about the economic crisis in Turkey, I still don't quite get, how it is a smart move to lower the interest rate while inflation is boosting and reaching 85% in October. Usually, when you have too high inflation rates, you increase the interest rate to cool down the inflation. But the Turkish government prefers, for some reason, rising inflation. Beats me. (“This is how we do it” ???by Federal Reserve.

Guess what country has the longest border with Russia?

Talking about elections. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev just secured an electoral win by 81% (look, Putin, I remembered his name, not so hard) in early presidential elections. The second most popular candidate was “against all”. So what does it mean for Ukraine and Europe? Looking rather good at this point. Tokayev is shifting Kazakhstan away from Russian influence without abrupt moves and, like China,?“finds more in common with Europe and US”?than with Russia. Interestingly, Kazakhstan has the longest land border with Russia - 7500 kilometers and is overall the longest continuous international border in the world. Imagine securing it..

Defense budgets of Russia and Ukraine

Russia has increased their military budget for next year to 84 billion dollars. To compare - according to Kiel Institute tracker Ukraine has received military aid this year from 40 countries to the extent?of ca 100 billion euros. The military budget for next year is planned to account 44% of the total budget of Ukraine = 30 billion. Only four NATO members are spending more per year - the US, UK, Germany and France. So adding to this 30 billion also significant foreign aid, and by the end of the day its the quality of the weapons that counts, not simply the quantity. Giving over those frozen Russian assets would help a lot. According to Politico, EU has frozen over 68 billion euros of Russian assets, with 50 billion in Belgium.

Danish Rockwool is "keeping Russia warm"

Meanwhile, thanks to “Stop Business With Russia, " Danish Rockwool has quite literally “warm relations” with Russia. SBWR is a campaign launched by a group of Ukrainian professionals and executives working in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia so they know “where to dig”. Short version. Danish Rockwool is one of the global leaders in wool insulation products, operating under the brands Rockfon, Rockpanel, Lapinus, and Grodan. Rockwool still operates 4 manufacturing plants in Russia and is deep in the business and political community. The company employs 1200 people in 4 plants 1200 people, being in each region among the largest manufacturing enterprises and taxpayers. In 2022 (!!!) Rockwool allegedly continues working with the Ministry of Defense of Russia! Find out more.?

(Mil) tech snapshot

And the very snapshot overview of the tech and defense. “Russian software disguised as American” finds its way even to US Army. Ukrainian Ukroboronprom will start producing heavy weaponry and equipment together with 6 NATO countries. Israel has given permit to deliver weapons including Israeli components to Ukraine and even threatened with more severe consequences if Pakistan will start delivering missiles to Russia. Btw Iran is planning (or Russian is wishing) to start producing its drones in Russia as well. Btw, did you know that according to SIPRI 61% of all the drones exported in the world between 1985-2014 were of Israeli production. Meanwhile the allies weapon deliveries to Ukraine continue with more and more advanced systems like British laser-guided rocket Brimstone. https://bit.ly/3XmXaXE

Picture of the week

For some absolutely puzzling reason Russian troops abducted a raccoon from Kherson zoo. It quickly became the meme of the week.