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Why London, Too, Will Balk At Sanctions Against Russia (And Putin Knows It)
A week ago, when the idea of sanctions against Russia was first officially announced, we made a statement, which was obviously in jest yet which, as so often happens, was so rooted in reality:
U.S. CONSIDERING SANCTIONS ON RUSSIAN BANKS, OFFICIAL SAYS. So short London/NYC real estate you say?
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 2, 2014
How is this an indication of reality? Well, for one, as we reported previously, the one country that has the most to lose from Russian sanctions, Germany, and specifically its industrial superlobby has already said "Nein" to any truly crippling trade blockade of Moscow would backfire on Germany's own economy and bottom line.
But what about London? Here, the NYT explains why, once again, it was all about the money, and why were right even when we were being humorous:
The White House has imposed visa restrictions on some Russian officials, and President Obama has issued an executive order enabling further sanctions. But Britain has already undermined any unified action by putting profit first.
It boils down to this: Britain is ready to betray the United States to protect the City of London’s hold on dirty Russian money. And forget about Ukraine.
At this point, in standing with the ideological framework of the host media outlet, the author takes a detour into naive idealism - a world in which it is not money that talks, but a declining global superpower, whose hypocrisy has been exposed time and again, and where extinct words like "mission" and "moral" are used with reckless abandon:
Britain, open for business, no longer has a “mission.” Any moralizing remnant of the British Empire is gone; it has turned back to the pirate England of Sir Walter Raleigh. Britain’s ruling class has decayed to the point where its first priority is protecting its cut of Russian money — even as Russian armored personnel carriers rumble around the streets of Sevastopol. But the establishment understands that, in the 21st century, what matters are banks, not tanks.
The Russians also understand this. They know that London is a center of Russian corruption, that their loot plunges into Britain’s empire of tax havens — from Gibraltar to Jersey, from the Cayman Islands to the British Virgin Islands — on which the sun never sets.
British residency is up for sale. “Investor visas” can be purchased, starting at £1 million ($1.6 million). London lawyers in the Commercial Court now get 60 percent of their work from Russian and Eastern European clients. More than 50 Russia-based companies swell the trade at London’s Stock Exchange. The planning regulations have been scrapped, and along the Thames, up go spires of steel and glass for the hedge-funding class.
Britain’s bright young things now become consultants, art dealers, private banker and hedge funders. Or, to put it another way, the oligarchs’ valets.
Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, gets it: you pay them, you own them. Mr. Putin was absolutely certain that Britain’s managers — shuttling through the revolving door between cabinet posts and financial boards — would never give up their fees and commissions from the oligarchs’ billions. He was right.
So, let us get this straight? It is great when the Russian oligrachs "invest" their stolen money in luxury London real estate, the FTSE100, and various other inflating assets which are mistaken for an improvement in the broader "economy", but when the alarm clock of realpolitick rings, it was all bad?
What we are more stunned by is that while London has at least figured out the quid pro quo, the US, and its leader, so far seem completely incapable of doing so. Perhaps someone should explain to Obama that with the Fed tapering, the only incremental buyer of high end real estate are precisely the oligarchs from Russia, whom he will soon alienate, as well as those from China, which also may decide it is too risky to park "hot money" in New York triplexes, and instead once again, like in 2011, park it all in gold and other precious metals.
But going back to the NYT article, the author does make the following accurate observation: "This is Britain’s growth business today: laundering oligarchs’ dirty billions, laundering their dirty reputations."
His conclusion, too, is spot on:
The Shard encapsulates the new hierarchy of the city. On the top floors, “ultra high net worth individuals” entertain escorts in luxury apartments. By day, on floors below, investment bankers trade incomprehensible derivatives.
Come nightfall, the elevators are full of African cleaners, paid next to nothing and treated as nonexistent. The acres of glass windows are scrubbed by Polish laborers, who sleep four to a room in bedsit slums. And near the Shard are the immigrants from Lithuania and Romania, who broke their backs on construction sites, but are now destitute and whiling away their hours along the banks of the Thames.
The Shard is London, a symbol of a city where oligarchs are celebrated and migrants are exploited but that pretends to be a multicultural utopia. Here, in their capital city, the English are no longer calling the shots. They are hirelings.
Still think Putin is ready to "blink"?
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Even though Obama says the US can make up for lost LNG from Russia, the US can't.
Seriously....what are we supposed to do...this is not our fight? Are we supposed to get into a nuclear conflict over any of this bullshit. Keep our noses out of all this shit. Rand Paul...I hope we can make it that far....and by the way...Bitcoin is a disaster.
A three hour tour?
Can you blame the Brits after Obama's treatment.
During the last election Obama went out of his way to re-write history and say that the US has no historical ties to Britain and to suggest so was racist. Remember that whole lefty uproar when a Romney campaign staff member in the UK stated that the US has a special relationship with the UK due to the common anglo-saxon cultural heritage, and the lefties went crazy, writting piece after piece stating how racist it is to think the US has a cultural heritage based on the UK, and they were writting these peices in ENGLISH which is a language from ENGLAND. If you were the Brits I'm sure you'd write off the US from now on. (BTW I am silician decent but have only spoken English because my family has lived in the US for generations and I understand that the UK is my cultural heritage)
As a US expat for many years (past) in Britian, I'd suggest the bottom line is that the US can go fugg'emselves.
PS Nobody fucks with the City of London.
Nobody.
The City is the last bastion of hope for the UK to have influence in the world. IOW, it IS the red line that the UK government will not allow to be crossed. IOW, "BHO, sure we've got your back in the UK."
"(BTW I am silician decent but have only spoken English because my family has lived in the US for generations and I understand that the UK is my cultural heritage)"
Ditto...
The Brits aren't totally stupid.
They know that possession is 9/10ths Jungle Law.
And, with troops and mobilized armored divisions already in place it'll take a world war to remove them.
The Brits may have been Uncle Sam's lap poodle in the past when it came to Iraq and Afghanistan, essentially since Uncle Sam was doing the heavy lifting, but I doubt you could mobilize the populace to fight another reenactment of the Somme in Crimea.
<<<=== Winston Churchill
<<<=== Neville Chamberlain, appeasement, head in the sand, all is fine
Why? Capitalists love money. That's why. They pray at the feet of the golden calf. Bastards.
Chamberlain was not a fool, he only want to play Hitler against Stalin by selling the Czech Sudetans. Unfortunately, Hitler was more cunning
The Brits have been on the wrong end of the stick since the beginning of time. When are you going to wake up? This is your demise, you are toast, the fat lady is singing. You are idiots and the US has been trying to rid ourselves of you fools since 1776 and before. You are idiots! You people have proven to be the most crooked, evil, non godly and useless since the beginning of time.
God, I pray that you will protect the innocent and at the same time you will punish the evil no matter where it is located. Game on and God Speed!
Fuck off with your Holier-than-thou claptrap theism.
God doesn't exist. Period. If you want to spend your own time in pious contemplation, go ahead, it's your right to do so, but spare me from your parsimonious drivel. Goddism is what has caused the delicious MESS that America now is. The people in power don't care one whit for your deity they just want power over YOU. If your God actually existed you wouldn't need to 'pray' to him/her/it - your problems would have long been interceded upon for you. They haven't and will not be and that should tell you all that you need to know inre 'His' existence.
Furthermore, there are no innocents.
Exactly, also they know their limits unlike many in America. Rule number one in propaganda, don't believe your own propaganda. Our leaders have started to believe what they have been telling us for decades, and it's going to nail us in the ass. Also good article about the shard.
Damn right knukles.
Hey CuntUkles,
You live in a land of unarmed, inbred pussies. Go fugg'yourselves...again.
Except goldman sachs. bitches.
the city within a city within a country ,the city of london one of the 3 axis of evil , Vatican , Wash DC , city of London , they are the ones running this show .
So; "Nobody fucks with the City of London".
Me thinks the Queen answers to only her subjects, and nobody "F...,s" with her.
not even Victoria, Victoria Nulland
I would not write off the Queen if I were "The City of London".
So, you deny your heritage of Betelgeuse?
Of the past twenty years, US businesses and the US Government are increasingly hostile and controlling to the countries closest to the USA. The behaviour of American politicians and institutions is seared into global conscience and we should ask "the land of the free" to consider what one word they think of when reading the following list; NSA, INSCOM, Federal Reserve System, Google, Apple, Facebook, MF Global, PFG Best, Madoff, AIG, Lehman, Enron, Worldcom, Cendant, Fannie Mae, HealthSouth, Tyco, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Federal Reserve System, Bernanke, Greenspan, Clinton², Bush², Obama, Geithner.
Just look at how Hilary Clinton, John Kerry and Victoria Nuland have flip-flopped their new BFF’s over the past year and all three historically despise Westminster.
Europe understands that Moscow has controlled East and South Ukraine since 1686 and Crimea since 1783 and will never give away its access to the Black Sea. Washington is implicated in fomenting and funding this crisis and riding roughshod over European sensibilities when the best course for peace is the divide the country along the 2012 electoral affiliations.
The NYT’s “London’s Laundry Business” is White House propaganda which is neatly “fisked” by CityAM editor Allister Heath here. http://www.cityam.com/article/1394429878/new-york-times-totally-wrong-it...
The world has learned that Americans in government and business cannot be trusted and are moving on. Bullies always end up having no friends.
Tail wagging dog. Britain's financial sector is a ridiculous multiple of the hollowed out real economy.
Oh well. It worked great for Iceland, Ireland, Cypress, anyway, it's different this time.
The UK is a crack cocaine snorting whore eeking out a sorry existence prostituting itself for money. The change in Cameron after geting into power is as obvious as it was when Blair got in. Popular at first, but then someone with money "gets to them". I'd say something needs to change, but then it never will. 99% of the population are hypnotised by TV/MSM or are just too damn stupid. Fuck 'em, I'm voting UKIP next time round just because I like the way Nigel throws shit over barrosos way.
your vote is very very important :)
Voting is bullshit and you know it. When this one gets into power he'll turn out to be another politician. When do people learn.
The hard way.
voting is masturbation. It only get economic values if we could trade it just like any other goods Is unfair that the big shots could enrich in elections campaigns of billions of dollars and we, small fish, could not sell our vote.
lol
Your vote is very impotent, like over here.
Nice piece in Asia Times
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/CEN-02-050314.html
"Seriously....what are we supposed to do"
We (USA) are Pirates -- get with the program!
R & P Action (Rape & Pillage) is the only game - yours is not to reason why, yours is just to do or die!
AAAARH!!!!!!
so next Cypress'd is London'd and shit really gets fukd...
Americans, Europeans, Russians, Chinese, Indians, Singaporeans, Japanese, Koreans, Indonesians, Mexicans, Australians, Brazilians, Canadians, Arabs, Jews, Chileans, and the rest of the world's citizenry, LEND ME YOUR EARS -
Do you now see the world as it is? Do you see the grotesque, decrepit, immoral, greedy, depraved conditions that fractional reserve fiat banks, who are puppets of the Money Masters, have created?
Clearly no. Even after the dust settles and the wars come to an end, those that remain still will not have made the connection between war and banking. It's damn frustrating.
DEATH TO THE MONEYCHANGERS.....GOD DAMMIT......
So stop reading and go to sleep. Or let your brain explode all over the neighbors.
They may not thank you for it, either. No satisfaction there...
Somewhere in all that, maybe stop giving the banksters any more power (money and respect).
Do business without them.
"We view our recent ancestors as backwards and uninformed, cavemen for all practical purposes, yet we never seriously consider that we are just as uninformed and will be considered so by the future ‘us’. "
and with the emotive language Britain is ready to betray the United States it's back to "either you're with us or against us"
So, any country that does not do exectly the bidding of USA is "betraying" ???
In fact the GB politicians have been pushing hard and denouncing Putin for his illegal acts of regime change, which are of course comletely different to our far more numerous illegal acts of regime change.
a little correction, not the USA, only the 1% of USA.
Imagine the required increase in fracking to achieve this, and the logistics of delivery.
WTF?
They would have to frack California and Colorado to achieve it and I don't think the liberals in those states are stupid enough to let them.
Also, refining the gas to liquid is a very unstable process - not to mention costly. Where on the East Coast should we put the plants? Nobody living there will want them in their backyards when an explosion would decimate the landscape for tens of square miles.
Soul Glow, not with our water supply where it is. I doubt even Gov. Moonbeam possesses the degree of rancidity of spirit to allow that to be considered.
the natural gas processing facilities have already been built and are fully operational in Ohio.
Why would the USA care if the Brits don't want to fight for their food supply? We don't have that problem in the USA that's fer sure. And why should we want to "save Europe" anyways? Maybe the right play is to go "full on bipolar" here and support Russia in its aggression. "It wouldn't be the first time" that's fer sure and of course the USA and Russia have never gone "hot" with one another...ever.
I do think the Brits won't let Cyprus go that easily...nor have they. And the bulk of the Russian oligarchs have been obliterated by the Olympics and the collapse of the ruble this year.
Germany has already come down hard against "independence" for Crimea. I can understand Putin's "temptation" because if he takes out Ukraine he gets control not just of the natural gas but of all the distribution into Western Europe. That's also a massive amount of food supplies to the world leaving out of Odessa...plus all the rail lines. Talk about "capital appreciation."
As an American i don't feel directly threatened by this...but I don't feel like Russian diplomacy has been very "pro-American" either. Surely if we want to take out all the other world financial capitals and leave only New York and Moscow we can start talking. I haven't seen that presented as a war aim yet though.
Diplomacy is a weird business. One day you're declaring war and rallying the troops...the next day it's "show me the money."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DmYLrxR0Y8
Coming to a DC near you pretty quick. This UK slum will migrate. The influence will come West and the gold will go East.
My head keeps humming Springsteen.
Waist deep in the big muddy. You start off standing but you end up.......
and again "poison snake bites you and you are poison too....waist deep in the big muddy"
See Arab Bankers Association/Larry Summers/UPC. More to come.
Obamao will not allow increased LNG exports for only one reason, politics. Red states have the most.
http://voices.yahoo.com/top-ten-natural-gas-producing-states-united-1215...
Someone please give me a clue: what is the common thread through obama's foreign policy decisions? Because I'm not seeing a strategy.
Screw Ze Middle Class.
i think he just likes nigger walking up to the podium as many times as possible....he is so fucking cool when he does that....
The common thread is 'there is no foreign policy' just make shit up as you go along and hope (heard that before!) for the best.
Posture, then fold.
Obozo's only foreign policy is to play as many rounds of golf overseas as possible.
The common thread? "I'm too busy fundamentally transforming America to worry about what the rest of the world is up to."
His foreign policy decisions (such as they are) do not flow from what is in this nations best interests. There is no real strategy, just as there was never a domestic policy outside of fucking shit up even worse.
He's been trying to fake both as he goes along, with the results of both presented before us and the entire world to see.
The emperor never had any clothes on.
.
Obama's decisions and actions are easily explained. He's a marionette, as are pretty much all politicians. What you are witnessing are the effects of multiple simultaneous puppetmasters whose goals are not in alignment. This leads to the disjoint actions and aimlessness, as observed.
As an aside, I thought this was the funniest line from the NYT article:
Hilarious. Based on actions rather than words, it's always been that way. At least during the pirate days of Sir Walter they were more honest about what they were doing. It wasn't until later that they began to feel the need to hide their shame from themselves with a moralizing veneer.
Pirates and privateers were tough. They had to take their loot from people who could ( and did) fight back. Get captured and you were hung. Not an easy life. The modern version is more swindler than buccaneer.
His foreign policy is "Victoria fuck EU" and what would you expect from Elizabeth? I suspect it is "Fuck EU and US"
Holy meow meow,,, common thread is line your masters pockets you ass, (not you personally).
Listen to insane sociopaths who have been unchecked in power and fed tentacles throughout your society to the point there is no "policy" left to be decided. Only power and the desperate motions of a cornered beast. Unfortunately this cornered beast has REAL Weapons of Mass Destruction and enough stupidity to actually think they can use them and survive.
Holy meow meow,,, common thread is line your masters pockets you ass, (not you personally).
Listen to insane sociopaths who have been unchecked in power and fed tentacles throughout your society to the point there is no "policy" left to be decided. Only power and the desperate motions of a cornered beast. Unfortunately this cornered beast has REAL Weapons of Mass Destruction and enough stupidity to actually think they can use them and survive.
Just check the Chicago Community Organizer Playbook. Chapter 3 covers foreign policy.
"This year has started on a high note. China Investment Corp, the country's US$575 billion sovereign wealth fund, this month agreed to buy Chiswick Park, a West London office development, from US private equity group Blackstone for about €917 million.
Separately, state-owned developer Greenland Group announced it was investing £1.2 billion (HK$15.3 billion) in two property projects in London.
CIC chairman and chief executive Ding Xuedong told a forum in Hong Kong on Monday that Europe had a lot of potential given its improving outlook. "In Europe, we favour making investments in infrastructure, small and medium-sized enterprises and properties," he said.
Ping An Insurance, the mainland's No 2 life insurer, made its first overseas property acquisition in July last year, buying London's iconic Lloyd's Building for €304 million."
SCMP
"and then enter the Russian Bear."
Where will Hudson on the Moscow come down on this indeed.
bbc radio going on the airplane down story big.
jewish murdoch now says muslim badguys america should use this to make up with china : )
when in or got bad news activate bearded bogey men of islam.
weakness at the moment the britam defense,aegis and renamed blackwater boyz need some bed down time before they can get the pseudo gang operations going in ukraine proper.
some of the back up teams still trapped in syria others coming out via incirlik
tony wilson, you are in excellent form on this one. I am enjoying this thread on a peaceful Sunday evening, with no immediate considerations more weighing than deciding which of my backyard lemon tree's offerings to harvest ;)
08 MARCH 2014
Third World America: 'The Greatest Health Care System In the World'
“Propaganda serves more to justify ourselves than to convince others; and the more reason we have to feel guilty, the more fervent our propaganda.”
Eric Hoffer
.
“It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense, than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.”
John Kenneth Galbraith
.
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2014/03/third-world-america-gre...
The Brits started the Boer war too.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/global-ruling-class-billionaires-and-how-th...
http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/6802
But of course,
has France surrendered yet?
http://www.elysee.fr/chronologie/#e5820,2014-03-08,entretien-avec-barack...
And has France started collaborating with the neo-Nazis in Ukraine, yet?
if they left mecceia out, they have awaken...
Merkel and Cameron weasel need to listen to Putin. The USSA, Obama, Kerry NeoCons and Zato started this shit. F the EU!
I am sure Putin told them that if they want to go over the cliff with Obama and Trayvon USSA then they are more than welecome.
In other words they declared their common interest by saying "Fuck the US".
All the so called 'leaders' are basically the same and are playing a game in which the rest of humanity are viewed as pieces to be manipulated - Bankers and politicians alike, just accomplices in the same crimes.
They were probably just putting a play together to continue the game.
Hey, Vlad, don't push too far, but make it look good, that way when Angela or David come up with some threatening sounding shit, you can play the 'better psychopath' and step back for the good of the people and Dave and Angela can claim credit for 'standing up against a threat' but in the end it's back to business as usual.
The potential wild card is some trigger-happy so-and-so on either side setting things off - think Franz Joseph.
Prepare for the worst and hope for the best!
Sadly, it is in the best interests of City of London to compel Putin to dump the dollar for energy-clearing. Maybe China waffles into it too.
Talk about a triple edged sword.
Obama's handlers want casus belli without the belli to otherwise plead for a new global currency.
You can't have that with UST under 3% and you can't price more risk without less demand.
No wonder the US has been developing its own energy "independance."
So basically if I get this article correct. London, because it admits to selling out to Russian criminals is more moral because it is consistently sold out to Russian?
While the US is derided because is some small cases, it acts as if it weren't sold out to suspect money like the Russians?
the usa is being played like a cheap violin as has
been the case for 100 years, what a bunch of financial
and political dupes. the fed did that, makes it possible.
apparently there is nothing that anyone can do to
bring it to the light of day/mind, never mind stop it.
they destroyed the constitution, the government and the
money system. what is next?
.
the people hear nothing of the ways of the world from
the authorities. it is their job to misinform and
idealise every topic to the point of numbness on the
part of their intended audience, us.
.
it is not about morality but about survival in
a poisoned domain by choice and relative advantage.
you have to look out for those that believe their
own press, so to speak. the london bankers are more
seasoned in this treachery than the rest of the people
on the planet. i was listening to this lady today tell
that it is because there is another race of humans mingling
with the elite and they have really big brains that make them
smarter and more able to lie to your face without you even
realising it. i don't know if i can believe that?
.
anyway, so it goes ...
If you look behind the curtain to see what is really going on, I believe this is the third attack on Russia’s Gazprom. It is a giant monopoly that Russia controls for natural gas.
The first attack was veiled and it was Cyprus. Gazprom bank was gigantic and it was in Cyprus. . . . Furthermore, Russia was using Cyprus as a clearing house for buying gold bullion.
The second attack against Gazprom was Syria. Iran pipelines were to be connected with Syrian ports. .
That’s what the U.S. does. There is a war in the way.
Now, we have the third attack against Russia Gazprom. The U.S. and Europe actually believe if they control the gas pipeline valves, they can control the flow on the Western corner (of Ukraine) that feeds Romania, Poland and Hungary. They actually believe if they control the valves, they can control the flow.
What if the flow is cut off?”
Dr. Willie, who has an earned PhD in statistics, thinks the manufactured Ukraine crisis is an act of desperation by the U.S. Dr. Willie explains, “Have you ever know someone truly desperate, who has no options, that did stupid things? That’s what we are seeing now.”
http://usawatchdog.com/80-decline-in-value-of-u-s-dollar-in-three-years-...
Indeed, the Golden Jackass Dr. Willie has emerged to be a very astute commentator as well as an entertaining writer.
d.p.
that makes sense, so we have the protagonists
gazprom and chevron/exxon and their associated
empires ready to go to war, killing the innocent
and uninformed, to further their bottom lines,
and it is all "by law".
.
bottom line, that is a "law".
" BY RICHARD GALE & GARY NULL
Today it is not so much that people believe our CEOs and politicians act without empathy or compassion regarding the well-being of average citizens, especially towards those in dire poverty, but rather whether or not our entire system is psychologically deranged. Psychopathology has become fully institutionalized as a legitimate way of doing business and making policy decisions. The Supreme Court decision on Citizens United, which ruled that corporations and banks are "persons," was a further step infecting our entire politics and society with a serious mental disorder that has steadily contributed to the US's widening inequality gap, class struggle, and Americans' loss of democracy and freedom of speech.
Joel Bakan is an internationally recognized legal scholar at the University of British Columbia specializing in Constitutional and economic law. The award-winning documentary film The Corporation was based upon his bestseller The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power. When I last spoke with Professor Bakan, I asked him about the kind of corporate personality the Supreme Court ruled in favor of. "The corporation," he said, "is legally programmed to always serve its own interests. Its directors and managers have a legal obligation always to put the financial interests of shareholders above all other interests. It breaks the law with impunity if it can get away with it.""
.
OpEdNews Op Eds 3/9/2014 at 11:18:46
Part II: The Wolves of Psycho Street: America's Economic Enslavement by the Psychopathic Corporate Elite
By Gary Null (about the author)
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Part-II-The-Wolves-of-Psy-by-Gary-Null-...
.
speaking of sanctions and morality ....
.
Madeleine Albright says 500,000 dead Iraqi Children was "worth it" wins Medal of Freedom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omnskeu-puE
.
.." very hard choice, but, the price, we think the price is worth it." m.a.
what is that medal of freedom tag about?
Bob Dylan, Madeleine Albright awarded Medal of Freedom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy4Oz34HP7I
.
more there to bear.
This was all set in motion when Russia played hardball with Gas prices and availability to Europe last time.
Syria is a response to that
This is a resonse to that.
Gasprom is the Russian government, just better payscales than western governments
in b4 russia sells ALL western paper.
Nothing!...I mean Nothing, is going to happen!
The markets are price locked!
Plan accordingly
The White House has imposed visa restrictions on some Russian officials, and President Obama has issued an executive order enabling further sanctions.
An EO that also declared a national emergency. Just a *tiny* miss on the details there.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/06/executive-order-bl...
But then as an opinion page article, perhaps the gloss over version was the only way the NYT would publish it, which would be par for the course. But then again that could never happen at the NYT because that would be censorship. Right?
Just sayin'...
That EO is UFB.
What's going on is UFB.
The world has gone collectively insane.
Now we can add India to the growing list of great powers that side with Russia over the Ukrainian crisis:
http://thediplomat.com/2014/03/india-backs-russias-legitimate-interests-in-ukraine/
So much for the US isolating Russia. That brilliant bit of American statesmanship by Obama is going over like a lead balloon.
The only ones siding with Russia on this are the Americans.
Anyone else standing around while the Bear exercises this naked power grab is a nut.
This give Mother Russia basic control over a fractured and destitute Europe and also tremendous leverage over food prices in the entirety of North Africa and the Middle East.
Australia, Brazil, the USA...talk about a choke-hold on energy and food.
If I'm China or India i'd be VERY worried actually.
I still find the "kick off" to be confusing however. Why aren't the Kiev Rus simply surrendering again?
That's why I like these people. First they protested to the point where they got a great deal...no strings attached...from Russia. Then they overthrew the guy who was looting the Treasury anyways.
Putin has already said that that guy isn't gonna be the new leader.
There's a deal in here somewhere.
Then again...maybe not.
(Google)
The Ukrainian Pendulum by ISRAEL SHAMIR The U.S. has Installed a Neo-Nazi Government in Ukraine By Prof Michel Chossudovsky It should also be noted that UK banks have been fined - theoretically and publically (but this is just noise) - for funding illicit drug cartels through money laundering, that enjoy killing anything and everything that does or doesn't move (clearly US Trained, of course) - Gasp, Horror, as we hear that global sucking sound of disbelief. Let it be known, that HSBC got its very start by selling Opium, arranged to be grown by the UK Government in UK's Colonial India and transported to, later, Hong Kong, but initially Macao *by the Royal Navy, Free of Charge, to the Chinese War Lords, against the wishes of the then Emperor. Hence, the Opium Wars - very profitable for both Britain and the then established HSBC, owned by Jardine Matheson and Co. So why are we supposed to be surprised and shocked at London's infatuation with Russia's Black, and others' Blood money and the government's preference priority to assist their Banks that deal in death and genocide?Banking is a crime scene, a priori, which centralizes productivity to itself, for itself and by itself. This is the system from which government: bureaucrats, economists, politicians, "leaaders", etc., etc., eagerly take their instructions and screw everybody else. These nutcases, I believe, under estimate Putin who, like the Japanese during WWII, will defend Russian Sovereignty, despite the US, Anglo and European blockades, sanctions and whatever. But, we can always rely of there being a Judas in every coalition of knuckle-draggers', with London having much more experience in this role than most of the other Nations today. Ho hum
Da betrayaaal! Shameeee :)
But this was clear, since syria no-vote from commons.
Moneee does not smell! Rosneft-BP is the name of the gameeee.
Poor Nuland Kaganate.
As observed before on ZH, Putin says "Master Blaster runs Barter Town" !
Based on my dealings in London, this article is spot on and well written. Thanks.
The game has already gone to Putin and both sides know it. Putin has the piece of Ukraine he wants and need do nothing more than sit tight in the region. He has control of the pipes and the valves and no one is going to get behind any sanctions and the Ukraine military is way overmatched, not even close. Those tight-focus shots of a few 45-year old enlistees, looked like Berlin 1945 to me. Putin has China's support and India's rung up for good measure. India's position is the only surprise this w/e. Game over and we may get another relief rally, so everybody wins but the shorts :)
Will India still deal with Monsanto or have they developed their own GM crop?
Money talks, debtors walk.
DC US paper-tiger goes "meow." LOL
Ok, so I was wrong.
Bring back the A-10s to Europe, but use them to strafe Oligarch's mansions in London.
The Ukraine is already gone.
When the Creative Class are no longer content giving away their intellectual property for a "livable wage" , things will change.
The casino economy of London would choke without a regular supply of hot money to keep the various Ponzi schemes going - not least the tax-free property wheezes.
There's no way in a zillion years the kleptocrats are going to impede this just because of something as trivial as war or geopolitics.
Mafiosa funds transfer to warp speed captain !!
Aye aye Bones!!
Enjoyed this post tremendously. Of course is the obvious answer. Good description of Lootdon City with she Shard as it's symbol. Long live the Queen!
and add to that the recent leak straight from london that the british would not support sanctions....it is not going to happen and this will make the ziocons even more desperate to complete their encirclement of russia....this childish game is far from over....
you can here the british position simply by listening to the radio.
asian airplane story is all
ukraine story has been chatham house down graded.
that is not to say special operations have stopped.
they have the KIEV gold.
they got monsanto and chevron in for free
and the rothschild central bank and what rich fertile earh for pennies.
the blackwater types will be breaking the country down creating instability.
but this will be frank kitson style low level operations.
the nato swag bag is only half full a poor show when compared to libya.
A NEW COUNTRY WILL BE NEEDED TO PIVOT INTO ASAP.
TOP PRIORITY
THE SATANISTS ARE HUNGRY AND SATURN TIME WAITS FOR NO MAN.
Nick Lowe - So It Goes (with lyrics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n1foJnOgvw
.
i remember the night the kid cut off his right arm
In a fit to save a bit of power
He got fifty thousand watts
In a big acoustic tower
Security's so tight tonight
Oh they're ready for a tussle
Gotta keep your backstage passes
'Cause your promoter had the muscle
And so it goes and so it goes
And s o it goes and so it goes
But where it's goin' no one knows
And so it goes and so it goes
And so it goes and so it goes
But where it's goin' no one knows
In the tall buildings
sit the head of all nations
Worthy men from Sapin and Siam
A!1 day discussions with the Russians
But they still went ahead
and vetoed the plan
Now up jumped the U.S. representative
He's the one with the tired eyes
747 for the midnight condition
Flyin' back from a peace keepin' mission
.
so it goes ....
.
and In the air there's absolution
in the wake of a snaky Persian
On his arm there's a skin tight vision
Wonder why she admires she is hissin'
.
so it goes ..
.
But where it's goin' no one knows
"How is this an indication of reality?"
agreed. and i don't even know what you're talking about.
sanctions, military, gas as a weapon...speaking russian...etc...
all not the reality on the ground.
pure and simple, the people of crimea have told uncle putin to stay out of town. sure wear your scary little uniforms, run a truck into a gate, plant a hundred feet of land mines for the camera loonies...but you invade and the crimean people will hunt you down. especially the ones who speak russian. they know russian history. they don't want to be ruled by putin.
and putin knows this. he knew it going in. hence the putin-speak-to-the-world: "there will be no annexation".
the people of crimea have putin over a barrel.
or, a pipe line.
:)
Zerohedge cirque 2012:
"Two very vivid examples are the most expensive house in Miami ever sold, which two months ago fetched a price of $47 million, which was purchased by "a Russian who bought the home in the name of a U.S.-based limited-liability company" and in the until recently a record $88 million paid for a 15 CPW penthouse for the daughter of Russian billionaire, Dmitry Rybolovlev (bought from Citi's Sandy "End TBTF" Weill). The record was topped at $90 million paid for a One57 duplex apartment paid by an unknown individual, almost certainly a foreigner."
Also from that article:
"Because if London is any indication, global ultra-luxury real estate market is the next "Swiss bank account."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-09-30/money-laundering-driven-real-es...
ANNNND
"while one hedge-fund manager said that London property was a “laundromat for Russian money.”
That was also 2012 here:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-post-2009-northern-western-european-housing-bubble
Is Obama planning his Russian strategy from the choom wagon?
It depends on who's calculations you use and who is actually included but organized crime which obviously includes international banks control large percentages of the world's economy.And yes,lots of this money comes from Russia.It's kind of like the bigger Mafia which took over Vegas from the smaller thug "punk" Mafia families that just made their money off of gambling,horse racing and prostitution.Today the Mafias are from all over and are bigger than Governments and use derivatives as leverage against stupid,corrupted politicians.Governments all know that they can be brought down very easily through different economic methods.Right now I'd say that after the Cyprus bail-in that the EU has pissed off a lot of big money that can take revenge.
I think the U.S. and France just found Germany's GLD. Maybe this is why they said it would take 7 years... To mine that is!...
that is either hilarious or hideous.
Think it is both. There was a time when I would have dismissed Willy out of hand for his lengths and hyperbole, but not with what we are witnessing now.
Fuck England!
They taught us everything we know and we've always been their “fist” to project power wherever they needed the military they no longer possessed since WWI and II when they needed “a job to be done” including overthrowing oil rich kingdoms replacing them with despots.
Wouldn’t be too certain that the U.K. will be getting what it wants from the Russians anytime in the distant future. They fucked the Russians over too many times to count, and like everything else the “toothless lion” once conquered all -the chickens have come home to roost. Game over for them as well as the U.S. and Israel. They are all trapped and the EU will start to separate before too long with their money heading East because they know they have no other choice.
What should worry everyone is the limited range and balance of the majority of non-thinkers in Congress and the White House who think they will be able to do it without anyone’s help, if enough abandon ship including our ‘old limey’ friend.
calling son of captain nemo ...
check this out.
09 MARCH 2014
Ukraine Gold Reserves Said To Be Put On Plane For Safekeeping in the US
.
Depiction on the Arch of Titus of the gold Menorah being
taken from the Temple to Rome after the sack of Jerusalem
" This is a story based on a report out of the Ukraine. Obviously I do not know yet if it is accurate. The information coming out of the Ukraine and Crimea should be sifted carefully, no matter what the source. "
jca.
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2014/03/ukraine-gold-reserve-pu...
Ah, the irony of the words, "fuck the EU"...
any move by the Russians to get back "right up the the border of Eastern Europe" sounds a lot more threatening to Europe than to the USA.
Why aren't the Russians in Kiev already? Why aren't the Europeans demanding an immediate stand down vis a vis World War II "issues" and "redrawing of borders"? Why did Putin go all in Crimea instead of simply sending his top General in to relieve the Ukrainian Commanders by simply buying them all off and "properly" relieving them and THEN going straight to Kiev?
Lavrov has to go back to Moscow to "get instructions"? That guy has been running the Foreign Ministry for 20 years now. He needs "instructions"?
I mean people waving the Soviet Flag in Crimea "with pride and honor"? This is not a good start if you're Putin. Now instead of buying off a few Ukrainian Generals and their commands you have to buy off the entire population and then blockade their ports?
Is the military option really on the table here? What if Ukraine wins?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzs-OvfG8tE
That might be a very ANGRY Kiev Rus.
They'll suddenly have a lot of friends "and designs on you."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gpNqB4dnT4
one has to look past a ton of shit when
seeking information to broaden the horizon.
why is the horizon important? because
without sight of it you have no orientation
to connect the immediate and the skyward-distant
and they are connected. but how? just a thought ...
at the horizon .
.
something navigators and builders were obsessed
with. orientation.
.
anyway, the problem with "money" is that it is
control, translates to control. you see it is
my "belief" that the Money system of federal reserve
notes of 1913 was a replacement system for the
failed human chattel system that preceded it and was
being fazed out after the civil war. usa 1865.
.
think about it. the master slave relationship.
is that evil? here an interesting video on slavery.
.
The Truth About Slavery: Past, Present and Future
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-vxT1Z7WQM
.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-irish-slave-trade-the-forgotten-white-s...
.
besides the structure of the money system is no different than that of
a privately held monopoly of a pyramid or ponzi scheme
which has the power to over rule all law, ethics, morality
or government .
that should be enough to arouse some healthy suspicion.
but, who would know, care or be willing to even consider
the implications over time, the time it takes for the system
to run out of resources, people or new suckers? it is just
like in biology and the impossibility of infinite growth
in a finite domain. there will be a die off
in the money system, the credit and credit markets
representing currency. when it dies i don't want to be
holding savings in it.
.
see?
.
Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women - Three Time Loser
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfWDHkl6TLs
.
Rockpile - Three Time Loser (Kampuchea 1979)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1pCoCkBSjA
Some excellent observations here.
Thanks
as an aside at the heart of the matter ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/virtual_tours/stonehenge/index_...
.
http://idialab.org/virtual-stonehenge/
.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01d4sqz
.
the lunatic 18.6 year period.
Lunar standstill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_standstill
.
Metonic cycle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonic_cycle
.
anyway ...
orientation is the missing energetic point.
"orientation" cannot be
virtually manufactured
in denial or contradiction
of true north/south,
that is obvious and never
insignificant. control or power
at odds or in contradiction
will invariably become lost
and fail one way or another.
i suppose east and west are
more relative and vary more
frequently.
anyway poems ^tm
They sure know how to give a Russian Blow job In Spitalfield.
I think you meant giving a "Russian" a blow job...
Can't speak for Spitalfield but those English "Page 3" 20-somethings in Victoria and Mayfair will more than likely be working overtime on the back to keep the real estate market in London steady and the Russian oil execs happy when they make their visit!
The one thing I'll add is that the Ukraine is a run down ghetto similar to Detroit in a way.If you look at how much pollution there is in this former Soviet industrial wasteland that obviously needs the environment cleaned up and their old outdated industrial shit that needs bulldozing just like the former East Germany,you can understand that estimates on the low end of the scale are at a $100 billion U.S. for a start.That's probably just the sucker cash that needs to be injected as con money.Greece was a walk in the park financially compared to the corruption in that dump.Any talk of the bankrupt EU and the U.S. stepping in to rebuild a run down former Soviet wasteland is a bunch of useless political talk from gutless grandstanding.The billion dollar cheque from Kerry will be absorbed like water into a sponge by the gas hike that they just got hit with from Gazprom.
Breadbasket or Industrial Wasteland or both?
If you're Greek or Cypriot"? London is your "port-O-call".
Fucking Skunks!
Lest you all forget, we are the main food exporter still. Also, London has no gold. I double dog dare Obama to do it. The world would fall into chaos, and here we are sitting on our food and fresh water supply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diuQiXt5qE4
PLUTONIUM . I HAZ IT.
" Any moralizing remnant of the British Empire..."
British morals. That may be the funniest fucking thing I have ever read. Thanks, Tyler!
London is simply becoming a juicier target every day. Chemical, biological, or suitcase nuke - take your choice. Britain is a lot easier to get into than the US, and has numerous 'fifth columns' already in place courtesy of decades of an idiotic immigration policy, so there is no shortage of homegrown jihadis who would gladly help get WMDs into the country in exchange for some Petrobucks and a 24 hour getaway window. London real estate is some of the most vulnerable to mass destruction in the world. Forget the 'Great Fire" and the "Blitz". You ain't seen nothing yet.
Oh, and don't expect to collect insurance on your gold-plated properties either you clever little oligarchs. Besides all those exclusions in the policies; when it happens, the insurance companies themselves will be gassed, poisoned or vaporized along with the rest of that cesspool on the Thames.
But going back to the NYT article, the author does make the following accurate observation: "This is Britain’s growth business today: laundering oligarchs’ dirty billions, laundering their dirty reputations."
Is it not the reason why Cyprus Banking, full with RUSSIAN Hot money, was done in???
The Shard makes me think of the "Hotel of Doom" in Pyongyang.
London has betrayed "Amerika" - get real.
Why would we want a potentially Nuclear confrontation over a piece of land which was part of Russia anyway just because some
US people want to "do something" - jut like Iraq ?
No - we will keep our Russian money and concentrate on the big picture - bringing Russia towards economic integration
and the peace that brings. Last thing we need is a bunch of Americans with guns who want to impose "solutions".
Block off the fighting and keep the talk going. Putin won't last forever.
This will not end much different from the West-Russia stand off over Syria. The West has to climb down, while Russia doesn't have to grant even an inch more than it already has. Vladimir Vladimirovich has already agreed that Yanukovich is finished and yet refuses to accept the regime in Kiev as legitimate. So the only way forward is for a new regime to be installed in Kiev pending elections. Before the West acknowledges that is the only way, sanctions will be imposed on Russia and Russia too will retaliate with financial instruments, setting off the next financial crisis in the West, the exact excuse needed for the BRICS countries to announce the international trading currency.
Once the US$ loses its status as the world's reserve currency, US will agree to the G20 proposal for IMF reform (US is the only hold out currently, all the others having already accepted it) that establishes the SDR as the world's reserve currency. Everything is as per plan. The US cannot voluntarily accept a proposal that removes the status of the US$ as reserve currency. The BRICS need a trigger event to justify launching of their trading currency. The West can neither be excluded from an international monetary regime, nor included in the BRICS bank. A solution fitting all the criteria, while pretending that it came about from entirely unexpected sequence of events.
Not a bad plan at all.
Ah, if only it were that simple. The BRIC's international trading currency will be something they will end up fighting over (for an analogy, look at the bitcoin teething problems).
If SDRs were the answer, there would be a move to use them during the "good times". No corrupt BRIC oligarch is going to place their personal fortunes in the hands of the IMF. There will always be a place for the US dollar. Britain will see to that.
Sheep-Sheared Redemption. good film
according to "Die Zeit" Russia's biggest trading partners are:
China: 44 (billions $$/yr 2013 stats jan thru aug); Netherlands: 39; Germany: 36; Italy: 27; Ukraine: 19; Japan: 16; Turkey: 16; Poland: 14; u.s.a: 13
According to the Russian Central Bank the Russians have 450 billion$$ parked in out-of-country accts. More then 1/2 are in Ireland, Cyprus, Netherlands, Luxemburg. GB and Switzerland are also locations. Germany has approx. 12 billion$$. Approx. 10% of the London luxury apts. are russian owned
RU and DE trade approx 30 billion$$/yr (import/export).
Europe imports from RU: Gas -36%; Oil-31%; Coal-30%. DE imports 40% of its gas. The new EU states eg Lithuania, Bulgarian are almost totally dependent on RU energy. 80% of Russian oil and 70% of RU gas flow into the EU.
6000 German companies/businesses are acitve in Russia, VW=100,000 autos/yr; chemical co. eg fertilizer; Claas eg farm machinery. Some figures say 200k jobs are threatened in DE.
RU holds 138 billion of u.s. paper. The threat to dump this is not considered much of a threat. But no one talks about the knock on effect for other holders of this shit paper.
Sanctions?? mutually destructive.
TY for summary.
As Schroeder said: we are in this for the long haul on energy and industrial cooperation.
As Cameron says : We want your money for Chelsea and shitty titty City.
As Obammy and Hollande say : Putin go to hell.
As Italy and Dutch say : Please don't take it out on us Putin we need trade.
The big question is WHO runs EU and which way does the economic tail waggle whatever the hydra head may mumble...
Does anybody know who the pilot of this vanished plane is?
Londongrad is conspicuous because the Russians have been at it for decades and they have a habit of capturing sordid headlines.
Russia holds London by the balls, meanwhile, more stealthy, wealthy Chinese are also deserving of attention:
Scraped from an article describing the launch of www.london.cn by the Mayor of London when he was over in China to put London up for sale.
http://www.londonandpartners.com/media-centre/press-releases/2013/131014...
What's any of this got to do with Ukraine? Oh, this might have something to do with it.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/22/china-ukraine-idUSL3N0HI046201...
That's about 10% of all the arable land in Ukraine. Ukraine's soils are arguably the finest on the planet, China needs them for food and they aren't alone. To threaten the stability of Ukraine, to directly manipulate trade policy of Ukraine (EU wants those soils too), is to threaten the security of China, a threat that can easily be countered by cutting back on investment in London.
London is the bitch of the East. Common knowledge, and seeing as bullshit financial games and foreign-financed property speculation in The City are the only things holding the UK economy together, the whole of Britain is therefore the bitch of the East.
Back to you USA, you're fast running out of reliable allies. [Maybe the impatient asshole neo-hawks should defer to "old Europe" for once instead of blasting on in there like frat-boys to a party with free beer and hos. Maybe, just maybe, the go-slow strategy of the Europeans is employed for a reason].
One derivitive over the lline sweet jesus, one derivitive over the line! Putin owned Crimea before he sent one soldier there. The deal was cut and dried long before. The question is with $100 trillion in debt to service, how long before he figures out just how dependent the money changers are on his stolen rubles. On a macro level ultimately his system is more stable than ours and this does not bode well for the future given the west's propensity for free or cheap ishit. One could make the arguemtn that amnesty for anyone who can cross the border into the U.S. is a good thing. We might need the cannon fodder soon. I think Putin understands clearly what is happening and his malignancy will spread further before it is all over, especailly if the west doesn't quit fucking with legitimate governments by trying to install their own puppets. Check ebay for a deal on Rosetta stone russian, load the AR, and pass the popcorn. This ain't over yet by a long shot. Ultimately Putin controls his people and our politicians are wildly out of control.
There aren't many theories about why the USG, EU and the UKG have been stirring up revolution in Ukraine and overthrowing the elected president with a rag-bag bunch of pro-western fascists.
So far, the one in my mind has been to achieve better energy security (gas) from Russia to Europe as it passes thru Ukraine. But this theory is largely blown out of the water if the UK and Germany are not prepared to apply serious sanctions on Russia unless it pulls out of Ukraine.
The major theory left is our old friend American Imperialism. The USG wants to take control of Ukraine to install NATO to further ring fence Russia.
Yeah, I think you have it. The US wants a base, the EU and China want the soil. None of them give two shits about the people.
EU had to go slow to keep gas flowing reliably. US was impatient and said "fuck the EU".
That's about it.
Tempting to pin the US as daft, but US strategists aren't stupid at all. I'd say they see a major world conflict coming due to resource depletion and the financial collapse that goes with it. Apparently they see it coming sooner rather than later (mid 2020s is my guess) so they're in a rush to position themselves.....or they just fucked up due to arrogance. I don't know.
Gentlemen, I think I have all the details now. You have ruled England for 400 years. By your own account you have not made the country endurable to men. By your own account you have helped the victory of vulgarity and smoke. And by your own account you are hand and glove with those very money-grubbers and adventurers whom gentlemen have no other business but to keep at bay. I do not know what your people will do; but my people would kill you. G.K Chesterton