Two stories that came out a few days before Christmas.
From Business Insider, December 21:
Russia's central bank boss has issued a warning that the country's wartime economy is at risk of overheating
- Russian central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina warned the country's economy is at risk of overheating.
- The Bank of Russia hiked its key interest rate from 15% to 16% last Friday to cool inflation.
- Russian President Putin has apologized for the prices of eggs that have risen 40% this year.
Russia's sanctions-hit economy has appeared unusually resilient nearly 22 months into its war with Ukraine — but it may just be running too hot.
In fact, Russia's economy runs the risk of overheating, warned Elvira Nabiullina, the country's central bank governor, as she hiked the country's key interest rate to 16% last Friday, according to an official transcript.
"The economy is expanding so rapidly because it is using almost all the resources available," said Nabiullina.
"A stubborn high inflation is evidence that the economy has deviated from its potential and lacks capacities to meet soaring demand," she added.
Russia reported 5.5% GDP growth in the third quarter of this year — reversing a 3.5% decline in the same period last year, while unemployment has hit a record low as many have left the country or are fighting in the war.
Reports suggest that much of the country's growth is due to massive military and government spending.
Russia's economic growth has spurred inflation, which reached 7.48% in November — up from 6.69% in October, according to official statistics....
....MUCH MORE
And from Asia Times, December 22:
Exclusive: 150,000 Ukraine soldiers killed in action through October
Funeral announcement and prosthetic maker data indicate Ukraine’s war deaths are much higher than Russia’s
Recent articles in several leading US newspapers followed a statement from National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson saying that Russia had suffered “staggeringly high losses” in the Ukraine war.
The casualties are a vital part of understanding the war not only because the subject speaks to the future of Ukraine and Russia, but it also, if the losses are as severe as some insist, speaks to the issue of just how long the war can continue.
Every number cited below is from the Internet. There is no controlled, classified or proprietary data. The US National Security Council may know things that we don’t know, but this wouldn’t be the first time in history that casualty reports were inflated up the chain of command.
What we do know is that casualty ratios are fairly consistent across a large number of wars, and this helps us use public source data effectively. We have very little hard data. But what data we do have suggests that Ukraine’s casualties are higher than Russia’s.
The little hard data we have on Russia comes mainly from one source, an anti-Putin group who have people in Russia who have, since the beginning of the war, continually searched local newspapers as well as thousands of websites all over Russia looking for obituaries or blogger “memorials” to family members or friends....
....MUCH MORE
If interested see also September 25's:
Ukraine Running Out Of Cannon Fodder
Anyone who has looked at the demographics knows this.
Putting it bluntly in a July 1 post:
The war seems to come down to the question of who runs out first. Does Russia run out of money or does Ukraine run out of soldiers?
The ruble was approaching 90 to the dollar last I saw, an indication that there are deep changes going on in the Russian economy.
Ukraine is on its third army, the first two having been destroyed, and they are press-ganging 50-year-old insurance salesmen to fill the gaps left by the dead and wounded.
And the U.S. powers-that-be, through their media mouthpieces have dramatically shifted the story arc they wish to convey.
Two things about the headline:
More after the jump....1) There are Western commentators, including general officers (ret.), who are either flat out lying about the situation on the ground or are so incompetent that they don't understand what they are seeing. Either way, they should be stripped of their pensions and have their security clearances, if any, revoked.
2) We tried to raise the alarm within a day of the "counteroffensive" beginning:
Oh My God, What Are The Ukrainian Generals Doing?
They are ordering their men to attack defense-in-depth without air cover and 1/10th the artillery the troops need....
