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Futures Soar, Near Record As Putin Speaks, Softens Russian Stance On Ukraine
Futures are soaring and are just shy of their record high first following news that the Russian military drill has ended, even if Russian troops stationed in the Crimea remain, but more importantly driven by a just completed press conference by Vladimir Putin in his residence outside of Moscow, in which the Russian leader appears to have softened his stance on Crimean aggression, saying he does not consider adding Crimea to its territory. What the market is focusing on is the repeat of Putin's stance that he will not be sending troops to the Crimea yet (even though they are there already), and that he suddenly appears concerned about the impact on markets and the fallout from sanctions.
The key highlights from the speech from Blooomberg.
- PUTIN SAYS UKRAINE SUFFERED COUP
- PUTIN SAYS UKRAINE GOVT OVERTHROW UNCONSTITUTIONAL, ARMED COUP
- PUTIN SAYS YANUKOVICH AGREED WITH OPPOSITION TO SURRENDER POWER
- PUTIN SAYS UKRAINE’S YANUKOVYCH DIDN’T GIVE ILLEGAL ORDER TO SHOOT
- PUTIN SAYS UKRAINE USED TO ONE SET OF CROOKS REPLACING ANOTHER
- PUTIN SAYS YANUKOVYCH IS UKRAINE'S LEGITIMATE PRESIDENT
- PUTIN SAYS YANUKOVYCH ASKED RUSSIA TO SEND TROOPS TO PROTECT PEOPLE
- PUTIN SAYS YANUKOVYCH HAS NO POLITICAL FUTURE
- PUTIN SAYS UKRAINE POLITICAL LIFE HAS BECOME FARCE
- PUTIN SAYS NO NEED TO SEND TROOPS TO UKRAINE YET
- PUTIN SAYS RUSSIA’S MILITARY EXERCISE HAD BEEN PLANNED LONG AGO
- PUTIN SAYS RUSSIA WOULD SEND TROOPS TO UKRAINE ONLY IN EXTREME CASE
- PUTIN SAYS NO BLOODSHED IN CRIMEA
- PUTIN SAYS RUSSIA TROOPS IN UKRAINE'S CRIMEA JUST REINFORCEMENT
- PUTIN SAYS MARKETS REACTED NERVOUSLY TO EVENTS DUE TO U.S. POLICY
- PUTIN SAYS POLITICS HAD "TACTICAL", TEMPORARY IMPACT ON MKTS
- PUTIN SAYS SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA WOULD CAUSE MUTUAL DAMAGE
- PUTIN SAYS CRIMEAN ADMINISTRATION IS FULLY LEGITIMATE
- PUTIN SAYS RUSSIA NOT CONSIDERING ADDING CRIMEA TO RUSSIA
- PUTIN SAYS CRIMEA SELF-DEFENSE BLOCKED UKRAINE FORCES
- PUTIN SAYS WE DON’T PLAN TO FIGHT UKRAINIAN PEOPLE
- PUTIN SAYS DOESN’T WANT TO RECALL AMBASSADOR FROM U.S.
- PUTIN ORDERED RUSSIAN GOVT TO RENEW CONTACTS WITH UKRAINE GOVT
- PUTIN SAYS WEST ASKED RUSSIA NOT TO BUY MORE UKRAINE BONDS
- PUTIN SAYS NO IDEA WHO UKRAINE WILL ELECT AS PRESIDENT
- PUTIN SAYS AGREES W/ UKRAINE PROTESTERS' DEMAND FOR NEW LEADERS
- PUTIN SAYS MET YANUKOVYCH 2 DAYS AGO, SAYS HE'S ALIVE
On the oh so sensitive topic of Russian gas:
- PUTIN SAYS UKRAINE MAY OWE $2B FOR GAS AT END FEB.
- PUTIN SAYS GAZPROM CANCELLING UKRAINE GAS DISCOUNT OVER DEBT
Then
- RUSSIA'S LAVROV SAYS HOPES "OUR PARTNERS" WILL NOT IMPOSE SANCTIONS OVER UKRAINE AND WILL UNDERSTAND RUSSIAN POSITION
- RUSSIA'S LAVROV SAYS OUR MOVE IN CRIMEA WAS CORRECT, FORCES SEIZED ARMS AND EXPLOSIVES
So is this Putin offering an olive branch to the West and de-escalating Crimea, or just more smoke and mirrors for the media to consume even as Putin fully entrenches in the territory? Expect to find out shortly.
Finally, here is Reuters recap of events:
President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia saw no need to use military force in the Crimea region of Ukraine for now, in remarks apparently intended to ease East-West tension over fears of war in the former Soviet republic.
The use of force by Russia in Ukraine would be a choice of last resort, Putin said, and sanctions being considered against Moscow by the West would be counter-productive.
Putin told a news conference at his state residence outside Moscow there had been an "unconstitutional coup" in Ukraine and ousted leader Viktor Yanukovich, an ally of Russia, was still the legitimate leader of the country despite giving up all power.
Earlier on Tuesday, Putin ordered troops involved in a military exercise in western Russia, close to the border with Ukraine, back to their bases.
Russian financial markets rebounded after sharp falls on Monday, and the euro and dollar rose in Japan, though Moscow's forces remained in control of Ukraine's Crimea region, seized bloodlessly after Yanukovich was ousted last month.
Russia paid a heavy financial price on Monday for its military intervention in Ukraine, with stocks, bonds and the rouble plunging as Putin's forces tightened their grip in Crimea, whose population is mainly ethnic Russian.
The Moscow stock market fell more than 10 percent on Monday, wiping nearly $60 billion off the value of Russian firms, but Russian stock indexes rose more than 4 percent early on Tuesday before slipping back again slightly, though still up on the day.
Putin said the turmoil in Russian markets was a "tactical, temporary" decision by investors.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will propose ways for a negotiation between Russia and Ukraine to be overseen by a multilateral organisation when he visits Kiev on Tuesday.
NATO allies will hold emergency talks on the crisis on Tuesday, for the second time in three days.
GAZPROM PRICES
In further pressure on Kiev, Russia's top gas producer Gazprom said it would remove a discount on gas prices for Ukraine from April, Interfax news agency cited the company's chief as saying on Tuesday.
However, Gazprom chief Alexei Miller also said the company could offer Ukraine a loan of $2-3 billion to pay off the country's debt of more than $1.5 billion after Ukraine said it was unable to pay in full for gas deliveries in February, Interfax news agency said.
Putin said at the weekend that he had the right to invade Ukraine to protect Russian interests and citizens after Yanukovich's downfall following months of popular unrest. Russia's Black Sea Fleet has a base in Crimea.
But the military exercises in central and western Russia, which began last week and raised fears that Russia might send forces to Russian-speaking regions of east Ukraine, were completed on schedule.
"The supreme commander of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, gave the order for the troops and units, taking part in the military exercises, to return to their bases," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
Although the end of the exercises had been planned, the announcement sent a more conciliatory message than much of the rhetoric from Russian officials, who say Moscow must defend national interests and those of compatriots in Ukraine.
Putin is dismayed that the new leadership in Ukraine, the cradle of Russian civilisation, has plotted a course towards the European Union and away from what had been Moscow's sphere of influence during generations of Soviet Communist rule.
Moscow's U.N. envoy told a stormy meeting of the Security Council that Yanukovich had sent a letter to Putin requesting he use Russia's military to restore law and order in Ukraine.
Ukraine said observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a pan-European security body, would travel at its invitation to Crimea in an attempt to defuse the military standoff there.
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Full speed ahead with the empire building. He's just putin it nicely.
Don't get exhausted pushing that boulder uphill.
Putin was soft.
HA.
One can only imagine how much money Putin’s inner circle of loyal Oligarchs made from their inside knowledge of market moving events over the past week. Chasing foreigners out of Russian assets at rock bottom prices and cranking up interest rates at the nadir to squeeze their margin calls.
Thus allowing Putin’s Oligarchs to repatriate capital in the other direction at huge discounts both on the currency and on the exchanges.
No, they wouldn’t do that would they? That would be.. pure genius. Of course that is what has happened.
Putin is at least ten steps ahead of the ENTIRE US Administration. He truly is playing chess, thinking multiple moves in advance. Barry etal are bumbling fools.
"President Obama has led a foreign policy based more on how he thinks the world should operate than on reality. ...the Obama administration thinks it exists in a world where “invasions, brute force, great-power games and shifting alliances” are things of the past." Washington Post Editorial Board
I guess everybody sees what he wants. Putin's apparatchik who used to rule Ukraine ran off and left his palace and auto collection behind, Russia's MICEX is still nearly 8% below its Friday level, the ruble is still weaker than 36, and the S&P may open at an ATH. Time will tell if he ends up with Crimea, though unless he really tries to play Nicholas I and take Turkey, too, he just has toys in a bathtub.
Of course, Putin has picked up a lot of new fanbois on Zerohedge, so that's something.
.....and he hasn't even taken his shirt off yet, wait for the applause when the nipple dance goes viral!!!
Frankly speaking---and the LGBT Putin fanboi crowd on ZH may correct me---Vlad could use some crunches and a cut back on the vodka. Tummy's a little flabby. No botox for the belly, Vlad. It's good to see, though, that Long Face and Vlabelly have something in common, exchanging cards on the best plastic surgeons this side of Michael Jackson and Liza Minelli.
I think he just showed the world that Crimea belongs to him..., did he not?
What's changed from yesterday to today?
Oh wait..., we're 200 points higher.
The Washington Post said it, well then
NAW. The WP doesn't understand the game. Hell, they don't even know which game is being played.
The grand Vice, Cheney, stated once that 'defecits don't matter'. Gazprom seems to have a different idea of what's important here, and their boi Putin is like the 'bill collector'. IF the USSA was REALLY Ukraine's 'ally', it would have 'loaned them the money' to pay the gas bill, but NO...something about 'pipelines' and stuff puts pressure on the Ukranians from BOTH sides.
Putin AND obama are both simply puppets of the Masters, here, but it seems that the Eastern bankster Masters have taken over the game (for now). The western Masters concentrated on Park Place, but the Eastern Masters started off with Baltic Avenue (and those pesky utilities), and they now own Pennsylvania Avenue. It's NOT 'chess', it's 'Monopoly'. as long as no one spills a beer (or a loose nuke) on the board, the game will continue.
WHEN the Eastern Masters call the note on the West, it will truly be OVER. That little Monopoly on Park Place and The Boardwalk is already mortgaged to the hilt...
ZH has a few State Dept d**k suckers here.
What else would u expect from such an arrogant narcissistic pathological lying sociopayhic ignoramus more interested in it and yhe wookies grand imperial lifestyle.
Putin is as much a puppet to owners of the markets as Obama and the rest of those figure heads. who was fool enough to think he wouldn't capitulate? at least now we know his pain threshold. 12% or so.
Bollocks. Stock market games are meaningless when your country is under a direct threat.
I agree with Occident's post that some oligarchs in Russia have become richer, but the attack was orchestrated from outside. Read these tweets.
i didn't say 'stock' markets, but i guess it's implied. while 'direct' threat is hardly what he was under, occident's point makes a whole lot of sense. oligarchs own the markets just the same.
This is really good news for me cause I was about to go out and buy all the inexpensive Russian made ammo I could get for my Mosin and VZ58 and various 5.56 I have to feed.
I would still do that actually.....you have a little time during the current lull in the action.
i'm still a little confused about how anyone watching that interview didn't notice his discomfort when answering questions about markets. it seems like a reach into self-delusion to think he 'won' this round. particularly after he goes on at length about what the US is doing, how it impacts EM, and the depricating light he tries to cast. hardly the stuff of victory laps. then again, what the F.A.C.S. do i know?
i'm still a little confused
Just pace yourself.....this might be more than a 2 hour trip.
Of course this could all be a massive head fake by Putin to gain more time to pull assets and put in more troops.
Yeah.. It's the old "we come in peace" ploy
Can he do that?
Putin annexes the Crimean Peninsula as a military drill. His idea of bill collection is invading the Ukraine. He who has the gold, makes the rules. Here in America you will not see, hear, or read that. You will read how Team Blue fumbled the ball, but Team Red won't!!!! Fuck yeah!!!
He who owns SS-400, Yakhont Suntan anti-ship missiles, R-36M/SS-18 Satan ICBMs and SU-27s makes the rules.
This could also be a move to strengthen the dollar so that Russia can unload their dollar reserves. I am quite sure this was orchestrated by Putin and Obamby's handlers and the real winners will not be apparent to the likes of me.
Maybe its time to tag the Chinese who will shift focus back to Japan and some small islands.
Here's an interesting article. Author talks oil & gas and petrodollar. Talks about massive US Government Debt being a National Security Issue.
Ever notice? Everything BHO and his socialist goons touch turns to shiite. Happens way too often to be “bad luck” or a coincidence. BHO has a penchant for undermining and destroying America’s reputation, credibility, moral standing abroad and America’s economic power at home. It must be the plan.
“In the end, the U.S. has no good options in Ukraine. The Obama administration helped aid and organize the violent revolution that overthrew the Ukrainian government, and now we have a giant mess.”
======
Russia And China Stand In Agreement On Ukraine
Published on Monday, 03 March 2014 20:13
Written by Michael Snyder
– And That Is Very Bad News For The United States
So much for "isolating" Russia. The Chinese government is publicly siding with Russia on the crisis in Ukraine, and that is very bad news for the United States. Not only does it mean that the U.S. is essentially powerless to do anything about the situation in Ukraine, it also means that Russia and China are starting to understand how much economic leverage that they really have. Yes, the Obama administration can threaten to slap "sanctions" on Russia or threaten to kick Russia "out of the G8", but those actions would not actually hurt too much. On the other hand, Russia and China hold approximately 25 percent of all foreign-owned U.S. debt, and if they started massively dumping U.S. debt it could rapidly create a nightmare scenario.
continues: http://www.rightsidenews.com/2014030433949/us/economics/russia-and-china-stand-in-agreement-on-ukraine.html
Drudge headline "Russian forces mass along border"
US media not sure if the Russians are "cumming" or going?
Will Mr. Ed now Flee?
Drudge and his closeted fan base are just hoping for another shirtless Putin shot to cream their panties over.
Oh, buy the way:
HEY, DICKWEED! Why don't you tell CONGRESS to stop linking to DRUDGE, like the OBAMA administration did?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/09/senate-warns-staffers-stay-cl...
FUCK YOU, you planted asswiping little stool-groomer!
HEY, 'honkadoo', go BACK to Alexandria or Haifa, and tell your Leutenant that you have been OUTED as the commiesymplant that you are. BETTER STILL, go back to JPM and tell your MANAGER, you silly little fuck!
Putin's adviser on economics Sergei Glazyev said:
- Russia will abandon the dollar.
- And also Russia will create its currency system , together with China and other countries.
- And also Russia will abandon all public U.S. Treasuries.
- And also Russia will refuse to return any U.S. loans.
- And also Russia will arrest all assets of the United States and the West.
- And also Russian will stop all Russian oil and gas supplies to Europe. Oil and gas from Russia will go to China.
- And also Russia already has banned the import of meat from the United States.
Goodbye dollar, hello gold. Goodbye to the United States and the West, hello China and East.
http://x2t.com/287425
Once again Putin the Chess player is thinking out in front of Obama the tic tac toe player.
Don't get me wrong, the US still has the upper hand globally, but with China aligning with the Ruskies... for how much longer?
This has been building since 1972 and the imbalances will eventually blow. Plus this appears ready to blast off just when our Prez plans to down size the millitary.
I swear if you could take Obama to Vegas and ask him to pick games, you could make a furtune betting agaisnt his advice.
While we are all watching Ukraine
http://freebeacon.com/china-fields-new-intermediate-range-nuclear-missile/
Older but relevant
http://rt.com/usa/china-nuclear-submarine-hawaii-alaska-930/
I slept better at night when the US wasnt sabre rattling against Nuke Chem and Biologic capable countries! I am really getting tired of US foreign policy now. Which just might be the point to all this.
not sure why, but reading the headline "Russia abandons the dollar" gave me chubb. confirmation would probably cause a spontaneous one of these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLnWf1sQkjY
WOW!
You must be really good in bed ^SARC!^! Don't the girls get disappointed when your gun fires before you get the target in your sights? I hope you come to the scene with toilet paper to clean your mess off her thighs!
@Hephaestus
While everyone was busy focusing on the Ukraine...
China and Japan on the brink of Third World War
Three Hidden Time Bombs in the US-Japan AllianceWhat about Iran? I would expect some kind of trouble in that area soon too if they want to stretch US forces even further past the brink of stupidity.
His troops are in Crimea and will stay there. Some of the Ukrainian navy has defected to him. He has more control of a strategic region than he did before. He has not suffered sanctions or penalties. There has been no blood shed. He has raised the price of gas.
Exactly how has he lost? What has he conceded? What has the West gained?
@ 'Wait What':
See my post, above yours in order, regarding the game and the players.
The 'Stock market' scripts are a simple thing to see, for those who seek and search. The 'Market' is simply a construct by those ('them', they') who wish to bring suckers in and take their wealth by 'investment'. The best example is the 'Roaring 20's' in the United States (and the subsequent 'Black Tuesday', when the oligarchs withdrew the 'free money support' and CALLED THE NOTES, or actually, did a 'MARGIN CALL'). The so-called 'insiders' quietly sold their 'Stocks', and the so-called 'man on the street' had to sell the clothes on his back (in some cases, LITERALLY, and hence the term 'I lost my shirt'), in order to cover the balance of the 'investments'.
Did anyone learn, and teach their children? NO...they were all too embarrassed to admit that they'd been played like a cheap whore in a 20-cent whorehouse...
SERIOUSLY: Look at the so-called 'Dow Jones Industrials', for example. How many INDUSTRIES are there, at this time? WHO OWNS these so-called 'Stock market compiling agencies' like (for example) 'Dow Jones'?
The so-called 'leaders' (politicians who are presented for selection by the masses) usually concentrate (ALWAYS concentrate) on 'wealth creation'. The MAIN indicator of this is their so-called 'nation's ' STOCK MARKET INDEX. Think about it. Reagan was a 'good president' because the ECONOMIC NUMBERS (which were either fabricated or spurred by the Oligarchy's 'investment' in CREDIT CREATION) looked better than, say, CARTER's numbers. CLINTON changed the rules, so that the Social Security Trust Fund would be COUNTED AS A 'POSITIVE LINE ITEM' IN THE 'FEDERAL BUDGET' (instead of the promised 'trust fund investment which was never to be counted or even touched by the Federal Government per se, which allowed its' passage in the FIRST PLACE under that COMMUNIST Roosevelt), therefore making it LOOK like the DEFECIT was NOT growing, and SO ON...
PUTIN basically equals 'GASPROM', in this context. It's OBVIOUS that he's owned, just like the Bushes were, just like Carter (in a smaller way), JUST LIKE THE REASON FOR KENNEDY'S ASSASINATION, JUST like BILLARY, and so on, ad infinitum. Of course, Bush the Younger was herded by Cheney, and Nixon was operated by Kissinger, and Obama is controlled by Valerie Jarrett (Rahm Emmanuel, that dual Isreali citizen, begged off, did you notice?).
OBAMA...That is a fictional creation. I mean; SOETORO... equals, well, the deconstruction by executive fiat of the last, best hope of all mankind; the Constitution For The United States (at the behest of the same masters that also own Putin and ALL OTHER Rothschild Central-banking-infested nations).
Did you know that I took your avatar, cut the hair a little, and painted a Groucho Marx mustache on it, just for fun, once. GOD, the person I saw when I got done looked SO FAMILIAR in the historical references of the 20th century!
ThirdWorldDude: "Bollocks. Stock market games are meaningless when your country is under a direct threat."
The merchant mind values everything in term of its money price, and nothing outside of what can be run up on a cash register. Unfortunately, that outlook has been used to entrap most of humanity.
It seems the Russians met their objectives of protecting their vital interests in the Crimea region. Their military bases are secure. No thugs taking over military armories and no 'color revolutions' there.
Totally agreed. Sad to see how humanity's been turned into voluntary slaves to Mammon and lost sense for all other "immaterial" values in the process.
Technological revolution is a spiritual devolution, or as Huxley said "Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards."
You mean like Khodorkovsky? You got that totally backwards. When Putin can throw your ass in prison, or poison you in London, you're owned. The oligarchs have made a Faustian bargain with Putin. That's why these suggestions of visa freezes and asset seizures of the Russian fat cats is pointless. Not worth your life to go against the top dog.
Unless you're a flea!
Good point, the Oligarchs took the meanest SOB in the KGB and made him PRAETORIAN at LARGE.
Guess what everybody is happy in RUSSIA.
In the USA, the CHICAGO ZIO- Mafia aka CASS-SUNSTEIN groom a fuckable 'tom' for 20+years,and then groom him enough to make him electable,
The ZIO- clan cannot get assholes elected they must have pretty bitch boyz.
PUTIN is a Believer and a true 'scout'. Obama is GIMP.
The ZIO- model is not a long term propositional model, that its clear they want to destroy the USA.
The Russians and CHINESE are playing the 'long game', the ZIO's are using hair-lip america as mercenary bitch army that is expendable.
This is why every ZIO- soldier on USA soil has a dual-passport and a Tel-Aviv condo awaiting, and a golden parachute.
The markets are a complete joke. Its like an athelete who got injured with a suspected broken leg but was misdiagnosed with a torn acl instead yet his chances of winning the race is actually higher now than before the injury. Fuckin farce. Told u guys yesterday was a buying opportunity of the week. Thx jbitch yellen
Consequences bitches!
History tells us that this ends in tears. This unbridled greed, the moral weakness of politicians to let banksters take their loses. Hell, even Putin appears to be bowing to the pressure of stawk markets. I truly worry for my kids.
Problem is....an .94% "dip"....ain't a fuckin dip
Today is the buying opportunity of the week in shiny.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-03/btfwwiiiers-missing-stocks-slum...
Vlad was just playin the market. The Put'n Call. Why should "blankenstein" and "dimond jim" have all the fun and all the wealth?
Now that we're all friends again, the west can bail out Ukraine. How easy was that?!? (Of course, Russia will keep troops in Crimea "just in case")
He had to do something.....Obama was about to bow.
Now waiting for simon.
Psycho vs psycho
Putin's worried about his growth 401k....the fuck
This is the most brilliant invasion ever. Put the troops in, then keep saying there is no need to send troops. Everyone just puts their head in the sand and presto. I mean, WTF? Putin really is playing some chess
This isn't war....it's just a police action.
You forgot to say, Putin Says!
Sorry....Putin says this is just a police action....not an invasion.
This was/is very well played by Putin. His softball is a perfect litmus test for testing the lengths that Zio-West will go in their attempts to destabilize Russia.
If ZATO continues with the fired-up rhetoric and pushes for sanctions/ intervention of any kind although Putin has taken a softer approach, their credibility will only suffer more domestically (at least with the 5% that haven't been brainwashed). Let's hope it all ends peacefully, but knowing who's in charge of Ukraine, I doubt it...
What sanctions? They can't do fuck all. As for their credibility, you are trolling right?
I'm not trolling dude, I see how my surroundings interpret what's been going on in Ukraine. The bloody sheeple are spoonfed Edward Bernays' crap from every mass-media presstitute out there and they eat it with no objections.
We're a minority. Hedge accordingly.
BREAKING NEWS from your news team leader, Reuters, news you can count on.
Now others will test the resolve of Barry and Co. They think he is weak and afraid...as do I. This is way too Macro (big picture) for Barry and Lurch. Lurch went over this morning to make a circle, join hands and have a sing a long.
And Bolton was any better? All he did was hurl insults while twirling empty cigarette butts into his ugly stache as he threatened to nuke Iran (over and over).
Obama plays the same game, the sheeple usually graze what their fed, they're not picky eaters.
He went as far in the press conference to say the troops on the ground weren't Russians, but local security forces. Unreal. I guess the local security forces have access to Mi-24s.
Even with all its twists &turns, the most interesting part of this story is the 'masked gunmen'. They show up in Kiev, run the president out, and are STILL allowed to guard the new Ukrainian leadership without questioning who they are or what is their motive.
The 'masked gunmen' show up in Crimea and do roughly the same, except they're protecting Russian interests, not the new Ukrainian leadership.
No one questions the motives or tries to expose who they really are. No doubt the Crimean are Russian-sanctioned, but they could still be bought and paid for by a different group. And the ones in Kiev could be bought and paid for by nearly anyone!
If this is a PR war, Putin is winning great respect among the everyday people. There is not a single point that does not have truly valid arguments to support his position. Unless he advances on Kiev, he has basically annexed the crimea and still come out looking like a peacemaker. Truly brilliant strategy!
"Putin is winning great respect among the everyday people."
He knows when to use/tell the truth to his advantage. He is dangerous because of that, because you have to agree with him sometimes.
Obama on the other hand is a compulsive liar that just can't stop himself fucking up every subject every single time he opens his mouth.
Weren't "we" all just laughing at the State Dept. for ordering the Russian troops back to base? Next day, back to base... Not sayin' anything... just sayin'.
You are saying diplomacy solved the issue, so far.
Putin wins the round by annexing Crimea and promising he won't advance his troops because he can't anyway (for various reasons).
State Department tries to save face and use that agreement to "order" his troops home (they will stay in Crimea, their new home).
Putin comes out and slaps the whole WH with a soft glove.
3x0 for the red team.
You guys are all missing the point. This is all kabuki theatre, for your distraction and consumption, and most people in here are lapping it up.
ZH commentator base is not what it used to be...
The Russian troops in Crimea are still there. Those that went back to the bases were those on the Russian soil. Moreover Putin committed to using Russian troops in Ukraine, if necessary.
I know some are eager to see a Western victory of some sort. But you are really reaching.
Yeah terminus c, 15,000 troops later, and a warm water port in occupation, and then it's all better now.
What does Putin NOT get out of this? He gets 'ownership' of Crimea, leverage over the US and EU friendly government in the Ukraine, a divided NATO (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/03/ukraine-crisis-us-europe-pu...), and he gets to look the part of the hard man of Europe by standing up to US, UK, and EU.
It cost him 4% of the market cap of the Russia stock exchange, some negative public opinion at home, and some Hind attack helicopter fuel.
And yes Terminus C, we are all still laughing at the State Department (when we aren't crying at their gross incompetence).
Somedays I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Between Bush and Obama, the credibility of the US government has become a laughing stock the world over, though many earlier helped. We've gone from american exceptionalism to the lowly tatics of third world banana republics. I ask family and friends what the US could or should do about Ukraine and every person has the same answer to both questions: absolutely nothing. Even the average citizen is starting to wake up to the propaganda.
You bring up an excellent point.
But it speaks more about the PUBLIC,
The USA elects ALAN-ALDA man-twats because Zio-Culture has told it so, ... ZIO- don't run RUSSIAN, in RUSSIAN they still respect real men.
Bush, Quayle, ... Obama are a symptom of giving the women a vote, and using zio- marketing to pussify men for 80+ years.
Yes, the USA is fucked, ... its not even respected by PUSSY nations, let alone nations with balls'.
I said here yesterday Putin would not go beyond Crimea, unless the West Ukrainian crazies attacked Russians in the East.
Crimea will never be under Kiev's control again, however.
Well, Putin also has his little dacha in the Crimea where he goes to swim and cavort shirtless in front of the paps... He's not giving that up without a fight.
Just a head fake...tell em what they ant to hear....and do what you came to do.
Yeah, whatever.
Putin: another Rothschild Republican.
Putin is a progressive?
Crap, double post......would that make Vlad an evil mixture of John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi?
You mean if they uhhh... had a kid!!/
Aggghhhh... Nooo.. Don't go there with that image of Boehner and Pelosi doing the wild thing!
My day is ruined now...
No worries. Boehner and Pelosi are from complete different Reptilian subspecies. You can tell by the coloration of the host bodies, the yellowish vs grayish tinges are dead giveaways.
oh balls, S&P to 2000 by day end then
wooo wooo!!! oh yeah!!! when I dip you dip we dip!! BTFD!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Dgk60nHCvcM
funniest part of the crisis: "U.S. is like a lab that runs experiments"
sounds like someone is a little sore, Mr. Putin.
It was well known that if given enough time, America would always do the right thing, they would just try everything else first, before doing the right thing.
Now we have proved otherwise, it will take the end of the world, in order for America to get another chance, to do the right thing, timers bitches.
We did what exactly again?
I believe that was a WWI & WWII reference. The US tried to stay out of both, but eventually got pulled in.
Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in!
if doing the right thing were profitable, more people would do it. in the real world, the wrong thing pays more often than not. America is, if nothing else, pragmatic.
"As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?" A. Tocqueville.
Obama to Putin:
"game over, man, game over"
Wont lead 'americans' to admit reality as it is though. Because they wont receive their share of the ukrainian loot. Already absorbed trying to make up for the huge debt bill.
http://www.piraeuspress.gr/on-the-road/story/7575/to-amerikaniko-aeroplanoforo-george-hw-bush-ston-peiraia-fotoreportaz/
Putin just got a job at Goldman, with a 30 billion hiring bonus and a promise that 1/2 of Manhattan's whores will be fluent in Russian pillow talk by 2015s
This is how Hitler played Chamberlain.
Pressure...release...pressure...release...
Chamberlain was a big fan of the Hitler Youth.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/unearthed-appeaser-neville-chamberlain-praised-hitler-youth/article/2519852
I'm therefore assuming he thought Hitler was a righteous dude as well.
Thanks fer that, cause all this time I thought it was a fiddle he played.
.
...except Putin is no Chamberlain.
Don't kid yourself. Obama is attempting deep sea fishing with a cane pole, bobber, and garden worm.
I don't know about anyone else, but clicking on to the comment section of any post on ZH is a nightmare. Creates a series of gitches, fits and starts. My computer screen literally begins to twitch left and right - and never can sync in to the comment format. Pretty weird. It almost like something is stopping the server from accepting my prompt. NSA on high alert??
Appears to be related to Flash plug-in which is used for video and maybe some of the ads. Firefox at least tells you what the problem is but still craps out. Explorer behaves as you describe with no indication of the problem. Mac Safari works great all the time.
Lewshine
Ditto on that one!
I've never experienced problems to this site until yesterday. And it has nothing to do with 'Flash plugins'.
I got on just long enough to write this after more than 4 minutes.
reverse springboard/springboard effect: gold lower than where it started...markets higher...
the ways these things usually play out is that we'll have one more reversal at least. This isn't over yet.
Gold in a freefall though.
It's amazing...these international crises are a boon for the market and terrible for gold....it's like a gravitational slingshot of "relief." What a joke. Even Putin is apparently working for the FED and the financial establishment.
gold and spy are now have a perfectly negative correlation. Silver on the other hand sucks donkey balls no matter what happens.
This is a little ot but caught my eye...
Don’t take faster US growth for granted, former Treasury chief sayshttps://bangordailynews.com/2014/03/04/news/nation/dont-take-faster-us-g...
ABU DHABI — Financial markets should not take an acceleration of U.S. economic growth this year for granted, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said on Tuesday.
“Many of us hoped that this will be the year (of faster U.S. growth). But we cannot take it for granted yet,” Summers, also a former top aide to President Barack Obama, said in a speech at a financial conference in the United Arab Emirates’ capital.
“The last couple of months’ data for the U.S. were not what we wanted them to be. Partly or almost everything is perhaps due to weather, but we cannot entirely count on it,” he said.
Summers, now an economist at Harvard University, withdrew last September from the nomination race to replace former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, whose term expired in January, opening the door for Janet Yellen.
He said the fracking revolution in the United States, which is allowing it to tap unconventional sources of oil and gas, was a big positive for the U.S. economy.
Now watch the kapital flee Europe to Hong Kong and Singapore.
Given that ZH is wrong 100% of the time, I would say buy EURO on this BANZAI call.
You do that!... Keep buying Euros.
Move to Greece and get that instant pension.
Sell all your gold quick. US failed in Syria, made Crimea safer for Russia, doubled the cost of gas in the Ukraine and Europe got a fright on its door step.
Rouble down, Russia happy.
Next trick up Obama's sleave....Oh wait its Putin's turn, and think it might be trouble brewing in Saudi Arabia.... pay back.
No matter how it's spun this looks like a win for the empire. The MSM will be blowing Zero even more as they trumpet his "victory". I think Putin is quickly finding out that countries are becoming obsolete, and there are only bankers and corporations left to rule the world.
obumfuck: "So you see how powerful I am. I made Putin back down. I see another Nobel Peace Prize. Shoot from my left profile, I look much prettier on that side. Well, time for some golf which I can't play for shit."
Brilliant PR.
I've got what I wanted , now I throw the onus on the west, after twisting their balls.
Game, set,and match
The EU/USA will sign the Memorandum of Understanding in much the same way that the oligarchs handle business affairs in Russia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMlsbB33QSc
Putin will wait for Europe to bail out Ukraine, then put in his own people.
USA learned that it can do nothing in Ukraine without trashing Europe, and that Putin/Russia will sacrifice their left testicle for the Crimea. Putin gave Obama an out, Putin wins some more. Waiting for the next US game....
Just make out the check to Vlad.....and send it straight to Moscow.
Hope we can do business again.....real soon.
Life is not a game, unless games are your life.
when Putin says sending troops he means sending in excess of 24000 allowed by the naval base lease agreemeant with Ukraine.
Right now the estimate is there are about 16000
Anschluss part deux
http://www.businessinsider.com/european-dependency-on-gazprom-2014-3
I think Putin played it right and won.
It appears that Russia is not the blood thirsty world beater that the west portrays it to be.
Maybe we should look at improving ourselves a little instead of playing the blame game, eh?
Watching Putin in Russian, later I listened to CNN cover up on it. Quite a lot is being just changed or misinterpreted ( e.g. statement that Russia sees Ukraine as new country without any agreements - he said that if it is revolution then it is new country (as it happend to Russian Empire after 1917 revolution), but Russia sees it other way : it is illigitemate government and illigitemate acting president in Kiev, half legitimate parlament and still same Ukraine, which he is prepared to talk).
It doesn't look like change in course - same stuff is being told over the time. Noone will bow - if Crimea decides to separate and joint Russia - it will be choice of their people and it will be considered.
Same thouhgts are repeated that South and East of Ukraine must have a say in what is going on - not bunch of guys on maidan or people under the gun point. He made a lot of fun out of appointment of two oligarchs as heads of Dombas and Dnepropetrovsk - it is exactly against of Maidan values: to get crooks out of the government and administration. Both had been Yanukovich supporters and benefited under him.
It seems like a pretty weighted approach with a message that : Let's talk, but people will decide - in reality, the longer it takes to fold, the worse it will be, IMHO.
One though was very bluntly put and had all the weight: if Ukraine army tries to fight with people, Russian Army will be hehind and will fight back - before that happens, there will be no war.
See no change in Russian standing as a result of the conference - same old bitten attempt to deliver message and to be heard - seems like it is being lost in translation...
Thank you.
Aonther smart move from Putin. Ukrainian army in Crimea has now been disarmed and Russia had enough time to form and instal Crimea's own "independant" military. Now everything can be done through remote control and let the Crimean parlament make its own referendum on increased autonomy from Kiev. Russia also maintains a strong Russian ethnic presence in Ukraine. This way Putin maintains his ability to shape future political events inside Ukraine, avoiding international trade sanctions, etc while protecting its naval base in Sevastopol.
Yes. The man is tactically brilliant or he listens to some very clever advisors.
He achieved a lot of things until now:
Putting pressure on Ukranians by
- showing them Russia is prepared to act with its military to 'protect' its citizens without using violence
- confirming the threat of rising gas prices
Good luck in taking an anti-Russian stance now, guys.
- He has tested the resilience of European and American policy makers and knows what he can expect in future conflicts.
- He has made a statement towards Syria that Russia lives up to its claims. Everybody now knows Russia is a major player again.
- He can dump Yanukovych and cancel the rise in gas price to gain sympathy.
4th DAN INTL recognized JUDO/Samurai, and youngest man in KGB history to take full power
A protege, a true protege and renaissance man.
On other hand you have Obama, a man that literally fucked his way up the ladder.
No fucking comparison.
*
. In fact, the Russian president is a black belt in judo, having practiced ... martial art since the age of 11 and later earning a Master of Sports in judo.
And you Sir, are a Master baiter.
95% of russians just want a good paying job and a decent dinner every night in a well heated apartment.
95% of americans want Moar FSA stuff
95% of americans want Moar FSA stuff
And the Western banks have been brilliant giving no incentives to "save" other than that "yellow" and "silver" colored stuff that is nothing more than an "asset class" that will never be money! Haven't they?
A pure chess player. Perfectly done.
Perfectly done...
Do you figure the one day 60B frn denominated free fall in domestic securities had any negative effect on him? I don't think so. He probably used it to buy the dip.
Didn't Chinese leadership drop in on the Kremlin yesterday for a little tet-a-tet?
Now Kerry and Obama will pretend they won, or worse try to kick Putin while he is down, even though he just took over the Crimea and actually won.
Putin allegedly said negotiating w the arrogant narcissistic lying illegal alien kenyan ignoramus is like playing chess w a pigeon. It knocks all the pieces over, shitz on the board, then struts around like it won.
Putin - 2
Arrogantnarcissistic kenyan. - 0
I love this man!
Time for Barry to change his diapers.
Softening... right on cue.
Visualize Putin lifting Obama over his head and slamming him to the ground.
Why didn't he just say what he REALLY meant, and thinks?
"I vin, as usual. Fools"
Putin seems once again much more reasonable than the Western warmongers. I particularly like
You could replace Ukraine with USA
Amazing, truly amazing. All that spent energy and then Putin says "just kidding". The Russians are either lying for now or they ended up making a deal with the International Financial Elites to get out from under the mountain of bad Ukrainian debt that is souring.
In the past 12 hours OBAMA issued a full MEA-CULPA, ... PUTIN is playing CHESS, he will let OBAMA save-face for now.
Watch CHINA, .. the Chinese 'CIA' Taleban killing elderly in KUNMING is going to haunt the CIA for a long time.
One other observation to note is that Russia could be front running for the Chinese to judge the US military's reaction to them seizing territory which tells the Chinese what to expect when they seize the disputed islands from the Japanese. All I know is no country goes through this extensive and taxing of an exersise, to just walk away at the end and say they were just kidding.
CIA Beats Shit Out of CIA MSM
This really cool coming out of AFGHAN, the CIA entered a Afghan Radio Station that was broadcasting CIA DISINFO, and the CIA goon's beat the shit out of the owner, who tried to explain that he was on 'contract with the good guys'.
***
Report: U.S. Troops Beat, Threatened Afghan Radio Broadcaster Who Aired U.S.-Paid CIA Ads
In news from Afghanistan, a radio station owner who airs ads paid for by U.S. forces says those same forces raided his station, beat him and threatened to kill him on Thursday, before releasing him the next day without charge. Qazi Nasir Mudassir told The New York Times that the U.S. special forces, who hooded him and damaged his equipment, appeared to be unaware that his station is largely supported by pro-government ads paid for by the U.S. military — ads which have earned him death threats from the Taliban. U.S. forces said the operation was "Afghan-led," but Afghan officials said they were unaware of it, and local police said they did not hear about the raid until it was underway.
One up just for the fact it proves how poorly the situation on the ground there really is.
Not knowing who their own mouth-pieces are? HAHAHA!
This is exactly what happened in KUNMING, CIA went to the Chinese Taleban and told them to send Ukraine a 'signal' and the Chinese Taleban went to China and slaughtered 50+ elderly Beijing tourists on there way home from Chinese New Year.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions in the CIA world where money grows and on tree's and nobody is accountable for being stupid and dumb.
mrblah
Exactly right. If they were government "weenies" they ain't collecting a government paycheck anymore!