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The Russians Have Already Quietly Pulled Their Money From The West
Earlier today we reported that according to weekly Fed data, a record amount - some $105 billion - in Treasurys had been sold or simply reallocated (which for political reasons is the same thing) from the Fed's custody accounts, bringing the total amount of US paper held at the Fed to a level not seen since December 2012. While China was one of the culprits suggested to have withdrawn the near USD-equivalent paper, a far likelier candidate was Russia, which as is well-known, has had a modest falling out with the West in general, and its financial system in particular. Turns out what Russian official institutions may have done with their Treasurys (and we won't know for sure until June), it was merely the beginning. In fact, as the FT reports, in silent and not so silent preparations for what will be near-certain financial sanctions (which would include account freezes and asset confiscations following this Sunday's Crimean referendum) the snealy Russians, read oligarchs, have already pulled billions from banks in the west thereby essentially making the biggest western gambit - that of going after the wealth of Russia's 0.0001% - moot.
Russian companies are pulling billions out of western banks, fearful that any US sanctions over the Crimean crisis could lead to an asset freeze, according to bankers in Moscow.
Sberbank and VTB, Russia’s giant partly state-owned banks, as well as industrial companies, such as energy group Lukoil, are among those repatriating cash from western lenders with operations in the US. VTB has also cancelled a planned US investor summit next month, according to bankers.
The flight comes as last-ditch diplomatic talks between Russia’s foreign minister and the US secretary of state to resolve the tensions in Ukraine ended without an agreement.
Markets were nervous before Sunday’s Crimea referendum on secession from Ukraine. Traders and businesspeople fear this could spark western sanctions against Russia as early as Monday.
It probably will. What it will also do is force Russia to engage China far more actively in bilateral trade and ultimately to transact using either Rubles or Renminbi, and bypass the dollar. Perhaps even using gold, something which the price of the yellow metal sniffed out this week, pushing itself to 6 month highs. It will also make financial ties between the two commodity-rich nations even closer, while further alienating that "imperialist devil," the US.
Of course, the west thinking like the west, and assuming that all that matters to Russia is the closing level of the Micex, believes that a sufficient plunge in Russian stocks would have been enough to deter Putin. After all, the only thing everyone in the US cares about is if the S&P 500 closed at yet another all time high, right?
What the west didn't realize, as we predicted a month ago, for Putin it is orders of magnitude more important to have the price of commodities, primarily crude and gas, high than seeing the illusion of paper wealth, aka stocks, hitting all time highs. Especially since in Russia an even smaller portion of the population cares about the daily fluctuations of the stock market. As for the oligarchs, if there is someone who will be delighted to see their power, wealth and influence impacted adversely, if only for a short period of time, it is Vladimir Vladimirovich himself, whom the west misjudged massively once more. Not to mention that the general population will be even more delighted, and boost Putin's rating even higher, if these crony billionaires are made to suffer by the west, if only a little.
(Here we would be remiss not to comment on his easy it supposedly is for Obama to freeze the assets of a few corrupt Russian billionaires, and yet the very proud Americans who nearly brought the entire financial system to the brink in 2008, are now richer than ever.)
In the meantime, some of Russia's oligarchs are effectively welcoming the challenge. Bloomberg reports:
Alisher Usmanov, the country’s richest person, controls his most valuable asset, Metalloinvest Holding Co., Russia’s largest iron ore producer, through three subsidiaries, one of which is located in Cyprus, an EU member nation. The 60-year-old also owns a Victorian mansion in London that he bought in 2008 for $70 million, according to a May 18, 2008, Sunday Times newspaper report. He’s lost $1.5 billion since the crisis began, according to the Bloomberg ranking.
“We are concerned with the possible sanctions against Russia but don’t see any dramatic repercussions for our business,” Ivan Streshinsky, CEO at USM Advisors LLC, which manages Usmanov’s assets, including stakes in Megafon OAO and Mail.Ru Group Ltd., said in an interview at Bloomberg’s offices in Moscow today.
“Mail.Ru and Megafon revenue is coming from Russia and people won’t stop making calls and using the Internet,” he said. “Metalloinvest may face closure in European and American markets, but it can re-direct sales to China and other markets.”
Great job, Obama: you just pushed Russia and China even closer by necessity! Furthermore, it should come as no surprise that while Russians were pulling their money from the west, western firms were getting out of Dodgeski.
One senior Moscow banker said 90 per cent of investors were already behaving as if sanctions were in place, adding that this was “prudent exposure management”.
These moves represent the flipside of the more obvious withdrawal of western money from Russian markets that has been evident over the past fortnight.
Traders and bankers said US banks had been particularly heavy sellers of Russian bonds. According to data from the Bank for International Settlements, US banks and asset managers between them have about $75bn of exposure to Russia.
Joseph Dayan, head of markets at BCS, one of Russia’s largest brokers said: “It’s been quite an ugly picture in Russian bonds the last few days and some of it has to do with international banks reducing exposure.”
Although foreign banks have not yet begun cutting credit to Russian companies en masse, bankers said half a dozen live deals to fund some of Russia’s biggest companies were in limbo as lenders waited to see how punitive western sanctions would be.
So the bottom line is that Russia, thinking a few steps ahead, already has withdrawn the bulk of its assets from the West, and why not. Recall that a year ago it was revealed that the same Russians who were supposed to be punished in Cyprus had mostly withdrawn their funds in advance of the bail in: they tend to know what is coming. It was the ordinary Cypriot citizens, who had done nothing wrong, who were most impaired.
And so while the Russian response is already known, we wonder just how true is the inverse: just how prepared is the west, and especially Europe, to exist in a world in which a third of Germany's gas is suddenly cut off? We can't wait to find out early next week.
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Oh My God!!! Hahahah! So in your opinion, which I'm sure you think is educated and informed, there is no one who would defend the USA especially when it's being bashed by some RT paid bullshit propoganda. Motherfuckers you don't know what Russia is, I was born there and I am one of the luckiest motherfucker alive to have been naturalized by the US. I will lick this countries ass and polish its balls any day before hearing some ignorant mentally fucks like you bad mouthing this country and praising a murderer Vlad Putin. Yeah I'm being paid. You're right. Good for you, fucking genius. And your 4 up votes, bunch of Einsteins the lot of you.
Calm the fuck down. Did i praise putin? Dont lump me in that category.
I'm not sure why everything I'm writing is double posting. messed up shiz but That was actually for Mscreant. My response to you is below.
Probably the trolling software you're using....?
Probably the trolling software you're using....?
Nicely done.
Nicely done.
I thought so too.
So it's our fault that they put all of their eggs into the USD basket? Am I understanding that correctly?
So if I sold you a promise and you bought it with all of your savings and told all of your friends to come buy it with all of their savings. Then I changed my promise or altered it. I'm the one to blame or you're the one to blame for putting all of your money into it? Emerging markets are volatile because their economies are based on the same boom/bust cycles that we encounter here. Theirs are just far more sporadic and entropic.
Not the USA's fault. Oh yeah, Fuck you RT. Fuck you Putin.
you are just too naive to realize that the precious establishment of the u.s. works for the same results as putin. at least putin has the decency to be overt about it. our dear govt goes the furtive route. have you checked out the wealth gap in the u.s. eatyourcorn?? heeehhh??? where do you think all this printed money is going? to the rapidly dwindling middle class?? you are 4 decades too late to waving the american rah rah flag. both govts move the money to the top, its the method that differs. oh and fuck you cnn, fuck you msnbc, fuck you fox.
So it's our fault that they put all of their eggs into the USD basket? Am I understanding that correctly?
So if I sold you a promise and you bought it with all of your savings and told all of your friends to come buy it with all of their savings. Then I changed my promise or altered it. I'm the one to blame or you're the one to blame for putting all of your money into it? Emerging markets are volatile because their economies are based on the same boom/bust cycles that we encounter here. Theirs are just far more sporadic and entropic.
Not the USA's fault. Oh yeah, Fuck you RT. Fuck you Putin.
Yes it is our fault. They have to hold dollars to exchange for oil. The carry trade incentivises folks to dump money into EM's. Most of the investment is foriegn corps an hedgefunds. Most of those poor fuckers dont get any benifit from this. So you can tout te good ol usa allyou want and play bruce springstein on fullblast just count me out
Let me just explain to this to you.
This is not a malady of the US. This is a malady of human nature. If we wouldn't do it. Someone else would.
You think the chinks don't wish they had our surveillance technology, the french? The germans. It's every countries wet fucking dream.
You think they dont wish they had our reserve currency status so that they could abuse it.
You think they aren't jealous of our governments superiority top down? Open your eyes my friend. Humanity is broken up into wolves and sheep. Not countries and borders. If we weren't the wolves, we would be in the bucket of sheep with the others.
Let me just explain to this to you.
This is not a malady of the US. This is a malady of human nature. If we wouldn't do it. Someone else would.
You think the chinks don't wish they had our surveillance technology, the french? The germans. It's every countries wet fucking dream.
You think they dont wish they had our reserve currency status so that they could abuse it.
You think they aren't jealous of our governments superiority top down? Open your eyes my friend. Humanity is broken up into wolves and sheep. Not countries and borders. If we weren't the wolves, we would be in the bucket of sheep with the others.
So u bash putin, then you go and make a statement like that? I should hope that humanity can evolve from this national geographic dystopia you speak of. And i damn sure am not going to sit back and accept it. Not on my watch fuck that shit.
I don't think you understand that the American Sheep is very lucky to be protected by the strongest wolves. If they were born a Chinese sheep, which was a much higher probability, they would probably be in a sweatshop whereas the American sheep can watch dancing with the stars and midgets protecting dogs and whatever bullshit they want to watch. You think that shit was cheap? It took two world wars, many CIA operations, economic, military, and covert brilliance.
Yes I wish that humanity could evolve as well but that won't be happening anytime soon. I came back from cynicism to realism and try to enjoy every single day that the USD is the reserve currency. The USD reserve currency party is nowhere near done. Enjoy the ride while you can because in 5-10-20 years when it's over. You might not have the opportunity to freely state your contrarian views and all of the other little things you take forgranted today. That guys for all you cynical fucks out there.
Human life is not black and white. It's a spectrum, nothing is perfect, relativly speaking the U.S is the best place to live. There are people willing to sell their children into slavery to be here.
And yeah I will bash Putin, I would never beat the shit out of someone and throw them in jail for 10 years because they disagreed with me. I grew up in the US believing that every person is entitled to their opinion no matter how crude, ignorant, and uninformed it may be. So yeah, I support liberty of the individual and the fact that I won't be blackbagged and have my family all fired from their jobs for disagreeing with obamacare brings me great pleasure. I wish I could say the same for the Russian citizenry.
Snowden is in Russia, facing a blackbag in the U.S. Stick that in your Red White and Blue pipe and smoke it.
Let me explain this to you; wolves dont protect sheep, they hunt and kill them. Its just a matter of time untill they go full retard. ZH's are always pissed because we see the transition from a great country to that of russia and or china ect...
And i think zh's give respect to putin because he is standing up to american empirialsm. What he does to his own citizens is another story. I dont think threatening indefinite detention and monitoring. Everyones phone calls and webcams is protectig us. And if they didn ship all of our fuckig jobs over seas china wouldnt have the sweat shops you speak of. Cia doesnt protect shit there is not any terrorism its all bullshit. I think you have what appears to be a case of Stockholm syndrome
Well that's your opinion and you're entitled to it. I think you're mistaken about the average IQ of a zh poster. Most of them seem like their batshit crazy. I only read this blog because about 1/3 of the articles are accurate. Much better percentage than the MSM. Otherwise, I would read MSM. I've been reading this website for about 2 years now and this website has seriously degraded. The reason I'm even here venting is because of how much anger has built up at the idiocy of the average poster. When I started, most of the comments were funny and intelligent. Now it's a shitshow and the tyler's are worse too.
The U.S has a history of freedom and we've never had a king. It's not in our blood and if something ever truly threatened freedom, I think you would see a shitshow beyond belief. This isn't Russia, where the people love a czar. Although those approval polls that RT keeps posting on here under a tyler account are just as crooked as that entire website. At least our politicians have the balls to face their real approval ratings. I think Putin has been living in his KGB created propoganda for so long (several years now since he jailed all opposition and closed all TV and newspapers) that he truly is living in another world, like Merkel said.
"you're mistaken about the average IQ of a zh poster. Most of them seem like their batshit crazy."
Here's an idea. If you're going to bash the IQ of the average ZH poster, it's "they're." Not the grammar police until you pull the "I'm smarter than the average ZH poster" bullshit. That said, I agree where all stupid.
Seeing as how this isn't a professional email that I'm writing to my colleagues, but a comment on a blog post in cyberspace. I reserve the right to not proofread shit. If I make a typo, I make a typo. Shit happens. Has nothing to do with intelligence, just my apathy for impressing you. Mr. I'msosmart "where all stupid" not the grammar police though either. So suck a dick.
You really didn't get the "where all stupid" thing? Jesus. Get a fucking sense of humor douchebag. And stop being a bag of rocks calling other's* stupid.
*Spot the spelling error, bag of rocks. The asterisk is for stupid. And Chinabots. I can't believe I left out the Chinabots.
Dear EatYourCornTake,
This massive trolling attack? Or just your personal verbal diarrhea? LOL
RusPut vs USSA, red pill, blue pill...
How about a purple pill?
Enemies, Both Foreign and Domestic, Prepare to Invade America U.S. aims to give up control over Internet administrationA. The United States has the largest prison population in the entire world, truly the mark of a benevolent protector.
B. Much of what you perceive as American greatness is actually the result of the US living at the expense of the rest of the planet, quietly — and often not so quietly — imposing its will upon others.
C. You really come off as a bit of a cunt, but I imagine you've heard that before.
Zero Sum world motherfucker. Someone always benefits at the expense of someone else. You paid only 500-1000 for your computer instead of half your fucking salary because someone made it for almost free. That's right, so sit there mr. high and mighty preaching while being a big fucking hypocrit.
You're a real ray of sociopathic sunshine.
Don't forget to stomp a puppy before you turn in for the night.
I'm not the one profiteering from injustice and sitting there pretending like I'm not. I've accepted my reality a long time ago. Maybe you should too, either that or donate all of your money to chinese charity. Those people need it a heck of a lot more than you do. The funny thing is that, I know you're not actually doing anything about the injustice of the world, you're just sitting in your mom's basement quoting some bullshit stats and probably think you're a real fair and virtuous guy.
I get almost everything second-hand from thrift stores, and I buy as much shit as I can locally. I'm in a small apartment with my three kids because I don't need any more than what I already have.
It's pretty obvious I had you pegged when I called you a sociopath. I read below that you're considering having kids someday. While it's unlikely anyone would willingly procreate with you, on the slim chance that it could happen, for the love of all that is holy, please don't. This world doesn't need any more people like you.
p.s. Stop voting up your own comments. It's unseemly.
Actually, I have been giving a lot of up votes. The man is highly intelligent. He is intense, but I admire intense people even if I don't agree with them fully. I don't believe that he is quite as harsh as he comes across. I like you, McMolotov. I hope that you also see the great value of a highly intelligent and singular poster even if an abrasive contrarian. You gotta admit, he dived into a hostile crowd, and votes be damned, he's holdin' his own.
I have a new neighbor and already unusual strong solvent odors are coming into my window and I am going to search for a source. Goodnight, McMolotov!
Sincere question:
Is our compassion part of the reason that we are getting our asses handed to us by oligarchs and like minded people?
If you live in the West, I really don't think that things are as bad as you make them out to be. You have far more opportunity than most people have in other countries. As to weakness, that's for you to decide. I don't think that compassion is a weakness. I think that greed is a weakness. I think the oligarchs are much worse off than you think. Yes, I envy their lives, but for some reason I doubt they are satisfied. Look at Putin, he's the richest man in the world probably, but that's not enough. He needs to go down in history. He wants it. He craves it. He'll do anything for it.
Could you consider for a moment that Putin has had to be a hard man to succeed? You have described a dangerous environment. If he was just one iota less hard, he might be facing color revolutions, civil strife, and protests that would weaken Russia.
Can you rule out with certainty that if Vladimir Putin faced less formidible foe(s) and a more hospitable environment, that there may actually be a Renaissance man under that Machiavellian exterior?
Thank you for your excellent previous reply.
I guess it depends on what a person decides the goal of their life should be.
For me the ultimate goal of life is happiness.
Yes, that will require money but not billions of dollars. It doesn't require hurting people. It doesn't require backstabbing people, etc.
Putin was chosen by the oligarchs and brought to power by Berezovsky. Who he subsequently had killed by the KGB.
He poisoned Litvenenko because I would expect that the things he was saying were true. (Apparently, there were videos of him in the FSB/KGB archives of him fornicating with children, etc.)
As for being less hard, absolutely I think so. He could have left Russia as having been a good president in 2008. The Russian GDP had grown significantly since he came to power mostly because of rising oil prices, but he was greedy and wanted to be King forever. Now he has an ecomony growing at 1.5%, which by developing world standards is absolutely pathetic. So he needs to make a powerplay. Crimea is actually an economic disaster, I don't think that it's financially feasible for the Russians to annex it without annexing Donetsk as well. Donetsk because it is a very rich city.
I don't believe that he is a Renaissance man and he is the Machiavellian Prince both exterior and interior. Since Khodorkovsky was jailed there has been no progress in purification of Russian oil. Khodorkovsky actually had plans to make Russian oil competetive by world standards, because it's very high in sulfur content. So no I don't believe there is a Renaissance man. What has he done? Has he collected a world library? He has certainly perfected the Goebbels propoganda machine.
"Yes, I envy their lives," you wrote. In that case, there are things you need to learn. Who envies them is not aware what's going on ....
And there, dear heart, are your colors on full display for all of us to see. Wow.
It seems like your mind never really left russia. You just picked a bigger bully.
Edit: You suck.
No I just woke up to the reality of the world. Human and animal nature. I donated $2000 to the ron paul campaign because I believed in all of that bullshit he said. Unfortunately, you come to realize human nature, that the majority is looking out ofr themselves, and that's all it takes. A majority.
You have to be realistic about it and the US is a good guy. At least so far they have not done anything to make me think that personal liberty is under immediate danger. I don't really give a shit about gun culture because I would never shoot someone with a gun. The NDAA, whatever the government could always blackbag someone under suspicion of terrorism. And all the other shit, same thing. Other countries do all of that shit much worse. There is no libertarian utopia because there is a scarcity of resources and people are not equal. We have our own talents and abilities. I find it hard to believe that my vote is worth the same as a drunk who abuses his wife, but for some reason I'm sure a lot of you will say that they are equal.
You woke up to being an unprincipled shithead, that's all. I'm guessing you are fat and happy now, so you now say "fuck everyone else, it's a dog eat dog world". Am I right? If you were poor in America, living in philadelphia, baltimore, or detrioit, I bet your positions would be completely different. It's a "dog eat dog" world for you now because you've eaten.
In any case, you engage in a moral relativism that is extremely dangerous. I suspect as others get worse, you will too, justifying your own positions downward until you are at the heart of evil. That is how your philosophy of "how the world is" works. A principled person loses. A fucking asshole justifies his own tyrany by citing the tyrany of others.
Negative my friend. My point is merely that I would much rather my country have reserve currency than another. I do not support any kind of violence nor do I support throwing people under the bus to get ahead. I think that the only investment of integrity is investing in yourself. That's my philosophy. People on here love guns, but I prefer investing in my education. Acquiring skills and knowledge. Working out, doing yoga. If you want to succeed, you have the pay the price in working hard.
As for moral relativism, I have my morals. I will face life as it comes. I don't pretend to know the future better than any other bloke but in studying philosophy and history, I have found repitition upon repitition. Life is a circle, we have not evolved since the first written records and I don't expect us to evolve any time soon. Nor do I care any more if the average man evolves. An age is defined by its brightest stars, not the average. When people in 2200 look back at 2014, what they will read about are our scientists, our philosophers, our visionaries. Not some fucking dickweed watching dancing with the stars, catch my drift.
The more he talks, the more he sounds like a sociopath. He'd actually fit right in with the assholes at the top of the food chain. It's likely the only reason he pays lip-service to hating them is because he wasn't invited to be part of their Big Club, but maybe there's still time for him to apply for a PNAC membership.
Doesn't seem like he is being an asshole at all. He is simply saying that we have i comparatively good here in America. I'm disgusted by what is happening in the US these days but that doesn't mean that I can't regognize that we have it better than in most parts of the world. There is an irony in someone arguing for compassion for the poor in "philadelphia, baltimore, or detroit." In what sense are they poor? Only in the sense that have have less relative to those who have more in the US. So if those of us who have comparatively more should be concerned for the poor in philadelphia, baltimore, and detroit be concerned for the poor in Bangladesh and Mogadishu? Should I bitch because there are those in the US who have more than me? I think the corn eater is simply calling for a dose of reality and balance. There are a lot of screwed up things we can point to in the US. Still we can be thankful. And the fact that we have flaws here doesn't negate the flaws in other countries.
Exactly. When you take off the first world goggles, you can see the world in a completely different way. Do people in those cities have to worry about getting fresh drinking water today? What's an average American problem? Over eating? Try starving to death in other places of the world. Try getting jailed because someone didn't like the way you looked at them. Getting your limbs chopped off. Watching your family beaten and murdered. Try doing all that shit and then tell me how bad of a place the U.S is to live in. Here you can actually make a difference with hard work and determination.
By world standards, we live in a fantastic place. No reason to come on here and pretend like it's oh so bad.
Disclaimer: I don't support eating corn. Unfortunately, at least 80% of the food here has some corn ingredients. Enjoy that shit motherfuckers, and the prozac. :)
You are a neo-con douche. Think you own the world. "they" took the deal, so they are guilty? Well, what about he who gave the deal, often by force? That is what BIS and IMF are. They are part of the WHOLE system, upon which you rely, to transfer wealth to you...so have a little humility and understand that this monoculture of greed will be the downfall of humanity unless it is stopped. Currency isn't real. We made it up. Because we made it up, we manipulate it to the standards of our human nature. No, of course you cannot have that kind of humility.
A currency is a promise of a payment to be made in Goods and Services. When the currency was backed by those honorable enough, moral enough, in the strictest sense, to honor their debt, the currency remained stable and reliable. It could be saved without concern that the Purchasing Power of the currency would diminish.
Today, since their is an prevalent degeneration of Moral Standards, a Moral Relativism, the currency is subject to being devalued and it is a Relative measure of savings. The Saving's Purchasing Power is being eroded away at ever increasing rates. As the Morals in a Nation decline you will be able to watch the same rate of decline in the Purchasing Power of the Nation's Currency.
A Currency is a decent indicator of the Morals within a society. Manipulation of the Currecy's value is not just a manipulation of the value of the Currency but it is also a manipulation of the social values. It is the outward manifestation, the evidential result of the Moral Relativism's prvailence.. People whom support this are basically immoral as they rob from the savers through the erosion of Purchasing Power of the currency. This is a fraudulent and covert method of STEALING....justified through the sin of EXPEDIENCE.
Excellent post!
EatYourCorn
You got it wrong. No saint book says your happinness is a goal. They say saving your soul is a goal, and that is a painful difference.
Satan offers you all the riches in the world, but way to hell is very broad.
What I mean, you are here not for yourself. And definitively not for hollywood made stupid pseudo-goals.
Your life is unique, think about it.
"I see people type all kinds of shit on zerohedge and not getting blackbagged. "
Oops, you just exposed your silly self gov employee, you guys must be new to the game to talk so lose lipped! That's "inside company" talk right there for all you people that aren't familiar with them!
How would you know who's getting "blackbagged" and who isn't????
Obviously, because I know the identity of every poster on zerohedge and I also know the names of their family members and where they're supposed to be tomorrow. Seeing as how they are where they're supposed to be, I know that neither my agency nor any other government agency has abducted them. Gee, I really hope I don't get fired for saying all this. Or blackbagged for that matter.
.
Nope, no worries about that. You've already been ballbagged.
Why would you care about what others click?
Are you that insecure?
Since 911 this country has been going down at the same rate as an anvil thrown from the top of the Sears tower.
Way to exaggerate.
Spain is like 600 years after losing reserve currency and it's only finally getting shitty there.
Holland same thing, not shitty yet.
Britain, not shitty yet.
U.S reserve currency for at least 20 more years. and then 600 more until getting shitty.
I might even have children into this oh so terrible world.
Do not worry, as soon as Russia begins to sell its natural resources for the gold, your holiday endless printing of dollars will end very quickly.
And after that, we will be able to look at the actual performance of the U.S. economy and Russia. LOL.
Zimbabwe has printed more than the Fed, its just that at some point people stopped believing that their dollars were worth anything.
The World is starting to reach a similar point with the US dollar.
Kasparov always get in trouble with authorithy, when there is a conflict between USZios and Russia, why? because he is a jew. Only the christians are not united.
Multiple videos of 13 year old Magnus Carlsen getting a draw in a game of speed chess from Kasparov in 2004. The word is Kasparov almost lost and was lucky to get the draw. He was not happy that this little kid almost beat him, very defensive in body language and rude.
Magnus also beat Karpov at age 13 and recently became is the #1 chess player in the world today. He also has the highest ranking ever in the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjEmquJhSas
Kasparov - this "opposition" ? LOL
In Russia now not present any patriotic opposition.
In Russia now is only people, who call themselves " opposition", but in reality, they are only paid agents of Washington and nothing more.
If tomorrow , they will receive instructions from Washington about how to kiss ass Putin , they will kiss Putin's ass , strictly following the instructions of their masters from Washington.
You know the difference between the concept of "opposition" and concept of "fifth column" ?
Opposition - is primarily patriots of their country and their people , who want to make life better.
The Fifth Column - is primarily mercenaries who receive grants and instructions for their subversion anti-people and anti-state activities from abroad.
I repeat, in Russia today, there is no opposition , there is only the fifth column of Washington.
it won't be just Russia and China.
The US MSM is as controlled as China's, as for the internet... they'll be coming after that before too long.
And no fiat is safe, shithead.
Feds retaliate against another critic of the U.S. government.
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/august192012/marine-fakcebook-arrest-...
We all know what happens to those that turn their backs to the dollar. This is the first step. This bold move shows that they mean business and are fully prepared to go all the way.
First nuclear power to do so. The playground bully may have difficulty with that.
Unless they are willing to go very unconventional the playground bully is having his bluff called.
The big question in my mind is whether this is part of the plan, or off script. Hard to say.
Off script would imply some real hope. Now that is scary.
On another thread I asked the general question, if the NSA is as bad assed as it would seem to be, why are we not deploying those resources to fuck Russia up?
Are we and we are not being told?
Is Obama too dumb or not informed of this as an option?
Are the NSA's capacities an exaggeration?
If we wanted to really rock and roll and do some war, I think we could fuck some folks up, unless the NSA is bullshit.
Script, in light of this, becomes more plausible, less paranoia.
The nsa and cia exist not for external threats, but for those from within. They know all of our secrets and extort and exploit those who dissent.
I agree. Script seems more likely.
The NSA's capacities being exaggerated is a very likely possibility with a lot of historical precedents. Exaggeration is cheaper than the real thing, maybe the ship is going down. If the NSA is what they say it is, pretty much everyone here should have felt it's impact by now.
The nsa facility in utah takes almost 2 millions gallons of water per day to cool its processors. Utah is drafting legislation to shut the water off. Shut off the water and you shut the nsa down... Clever
I bet the Romner and his band of Mormons (they all have good teeth if I recall) will kill it. But go Utah just in case.
mscreant - what would you want the nsa to do? russia hasn't occupied farmingdale (lovely name) long island. they are protecting themselves against idiots that create death and suffering everwhere possible. in the name of coca-cola, mcdonalds, boeing and warren buffett. that's the american way? not everybody wants it? and actually, nobody needs it.
I do not want war or the NSA to "fuck them up." We claim to have these capacities. I would think the US would use them if they really wanted to get their way.
I am wondering if the claims to the NSA's power are not all they are cracked up to be. If you really have a weapon that powerful and it does not leave bodies you can trace weapons back to (in other words create chaos), why wouldn't you do it? I think there is a cognitive dissonace of some kind regarding this. There is some limit to their power, or they have it. If it is limited, they are lying/exageratting (that might mean Snowden too though I want to believe, I really do). If they can do the things they claim, then the Russians should be very afraid of us that way. They are not.
The story does not work, so I keep puzzling with it.
There are a number of these I puzzle with.
Just hope the world could put the jews to their places. No more killing and enslaving others.
Unless they are willing to go very unconventional
No need for that. Lots of dirty tricks in the dirty tricks playbook.
You have to imagine people who don't have your moral scruples. An army of Raskilnikovs with a penchant for murder is hard to counter. Indeed, there is no real defense.
Except a good offense.
Sooner or later the consequences are going to tend toward the unexpected.
.
The playground bully, if lucky, is going to get his nose bloodied and lose any pretensions of invincibility. If he's unlucky, he's going to get the severe ass kicking that he deserves and all of the kids who pretended to be his friends because they were afraid of him will turn their backs and walk away.
The playground bully is strong and ruthless; anyone directly challenging him to fight will lose. This is where Putin's skills in judo come into play. Judo is based on an underlying philosophy:
In every step of this conflict, you can see this playing out. With comparatively little effort, Putin has been turning the bully's strengths back upon him.
Syria was the bully's first big stumble. Once the bully was fully committed to an attack of sanctimonious bluster about the evils of chemical weapons and the need to respect international standards of conduct, Putin used that momentum against him.
The incident involving the exposure of dirty tricks by Victoria Nuland (or Nudelman or Kagan or whatever she calls herself today) was the bully's next stumble. It exposed, on the world stage, the bully's contempt for democracy when it doesn't give him what he wants. The bully wanted a puppet named Yats and that's now what he has, but the strings are exposed to all.
This embarrassed the bully, causing him to lurch and flail in anger. The bully has now painted himself into a corner, and with very little effort on the part of Putin. Keep in mind that at each point, Putin has left a way for the bully to save face. It only required the bully to live up to his professed ideals and renounce bullying.
This brings us to where we are now. The bully can still save face, but it has become incrementally more difficult to do so.
The bully has been offered the chance to return to the February 21 agreement. Although acceptance would allow him to continue to pay lip service to democratic principles, he'd have to find someone to throw under the bus for those snipers he brought in. The bully's refusal shows that his diplomatic agreements cannot be trusted.
The bully has the chance to accept the choice of the Crimean people in their referendum on Sunday. He can take the high road and concede that, as much as he dislikes it, the people will have spoken. This will still allow the bully some opportunity to save face. The bully's refusal, though, will forever rob him of the opportunity to use "spreading democracy" as a justification for intervention into the affairs of other countries.
This is also where the bully's past will come back to haunt him. His strongarm tactics with regard to the secession of Kosovo were wrapped in the rhetoric of "respect for international law". By refusing to accept the choice of the Crimean people in their referendum, the bully will never again be able to fall back upon "international law" to excuse his lawlessness. This will have the unintended consequence of marking the beginning of the end of the United Nations, the bully's favorite rubber stamp seal of approval.
Putin has done nothing more than employ the bully's strengths (diplomacy, democracy, international norms, international law, the right to self determination) against him. Knowing that the bully always resorts to sanctions and financial fuckery, Putin anticipated his move and has acted to neutralize it. Should the bully send goon squads to crack heads in eastern and southern Ukraine, the videos will go viral and Putin will need to intervene in defense of human rights, no doubt using the bully's doctrine of "responsibility to protect".
Even at this late stage, the bully still has the opportunity to save some face and salvage some credibility. This would surprise me, though, because so far the bully has displayed wisdom inversely proportional to pride.
Lt. Werner: They made us all train for this day. "To be fearless and proud and alone. To need no one, just sacrifice. All for the Fatherland." Oh God, all just empty words. It's not the way they said it was, is it? I just want someone to be with. The only thing I feel is afraid.
Captain: I'm sorry.
Lt. Werner: Is it hopeless?
Captain: It's been 15 hours. He's not going to pull it off. I'm sorry.
Lt. Werner: I asked for it. ... "To be heading into the inexorable ... where no mother will care for us... no woman crosses our path ... where only reality reigns ... with cruelty and grandeur." I was drunk with those words. ... {now becoming unable to hold-off tears of grim realization of his seemingly innocent subscription to the extreme attractiveness of what, in retrospect, was an inevitably fatal delusion, which had somehow gradually and unnoticed, coiled like a strangling python around his very best of intentions} ... well, ... this is reality.
-- Das Boot
Twisted stateist and nationalist propaganda and its hypocrisy has to be demolished, before it demolishes us. We can't eliminate their nukes, if they refuse to relinquish them, but we only have to point out truth in order to destroy their insidious edifice of mass-murder inducing treacherous lies.
Hey, Russians did not ever mention to close the Afhgan air window for US forces. Guys, pleeeze :)
How will the US heroes go home then, by foot via Pakistan?
HahHahahhaa.
Khyber pass? Iran?
"First nuclear power to do so."
I believe in the near future it will become multiple nuclear powers allied against the dying "world reserve currency".
They had the entire Olympics to come up with a plan which likely means Russian leadership is all on the same page. You have to figure with an attack on the dollar that China will be involved somewhere down the line.
It all boils down to a much needed strategy to convert money into oil. I think thats why russia and china have been stockpiling gold because sooner or later that method of exchange will be standard
All that is needed is an agreement for China to sell enough treasuries to pay off Russia's debt in return for oil. If they feel the dollar is going to lose value they would probably be willing to pay a premium for the oil.
The CIA for 50+ years controlled the worlds black-market to make sure the USD is king.
So long as heroin, opium, meth, cocaine, child prostitutes, human blood, organs are all sold in USD the USA doesn't drone your country.
Once the Imperial US-MIL merc zio-con army goes unpaid a week the black-market no longer has the USA looking over its head to make sure it trades ONLY in USD. Overnight Colombian cocaine dealers will gladly accept EURO.
The CIA has been most careful to offer MAFIA protection for every criminal organization on earth to do bad, but only if you take USD.
*
Once the BLACK-MARKET can safely quit accepting those $100 ben franklin notes, over night the USD will become worthless.
where is Libya's gold?
For that matter, where is Germany's or France's?
Or the US's?
Where does TEL-AVIV keep its ( stolen libyan, Ukrainian, German,.... ) GOLD??
It sure as shit ain't in the USA.
Where is Ukraine gold, Yatsenyk you son if a bitch!
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_03_16/Yatsenyuk-takes-Scythian-gold-t...
Another example of the east playing chess, while the west is playing more like jenga, I think. I wouldn't even give them the credit of playing checkers.
We'll seen Monday, when the ultimatum is enforced .
"We'll seen Monday, when the ultimatum is enforced . "
We'll see clues late Sunday with the price action in gold.
WSJ Reports "END is NEAR for USD"
Big Drop in Foreigners' Treasury Holdings at Fed Stirs Talk Wall Street Journal - 3 hours ago The value of U.S. government bonds held by foreign central banks at the Federal Reserve shrank by a record amount this week, causing a stir in the Treasury market.I hope the banks open on Monday in the U.S.
The banks will open on Monday.
With the same surly tellers
The FED just debited one account and credited another, swapping holdings and cash between the two
The Ponzi will continue until everybody is happy.
Everybody will be happy until Russia demands gold in payment for all energy products.
That or rubles.
Nice game of Stratego, Mr Putin. Well played.
Cocksucker.
Well, not like the West didn't walk right into this one, walked all over their own dicks with cleats on....
See, this is the shit that happens in Leadership Vacuums
So a wise man keeps very little fiat in the bank, eh?
<I hope everyone is trying to be as wise as I think I am, lol.>
DaddyO
I suspect when the SHTF for real, none of us will be talking, they'll take the internet down, so the message can be contained.
Just saying,... but we're not there yet, but when it happens don't count on chat's like we're getting now, the first thing they will do is take down our world-wide ability to chat with like minded men/women.
Just saying ...
Another bellwether, watch when they shutdown these internet blogs or all of the internet.
Taking down the internet is not possible unless you turn off the power, and not turn it back on!! This is why we were seeing live stream feeds from all these revolutions around the world, and ours will be no different!
The world will definitely watch the chaos in real time from rooftop cams and cell phones, even if the powder is off!!
Taking down the internet is not possible unless you turn off the power
Wrong.
Exactly, a SMART-GUY may want to back-up his/her own DNS,
But all they do is take out the MAJOR DNS and you can type 'google' or zerohedge.com, all day long you will get shit,
If you know the raw IP, ... ok maybe you can connect, but most people don't even know how the internet works.
Will they shut off servers? Or TELCO's nope.
All they got to do is shutdown the DNS systems, and reroute them to trojan houses or porn sites, or CIA/NSA IP collection sites,...
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Just news today that USA is giving up its INTERNIC position of power, and ceding to UN or EU or some fucking ZIO outfit ran by Rockefeller.
The INTERNIC domain name registration system is what I'm talking about DNS.
To keep it simple for all, the internet was never new, its just a like the TELCO(telephone), just that you don't have to know a number(IP) to dial, you just type 'redtube.com'
on your browswer to see pussy, but if they take down DNS, then you got to know the real NUMBER for 'redtube' and unless your savvy to this shit, you be fucked.
The timing of the US "giving up governance" of the Internet is just TOO suspicious...
The shit is going down folks...
Interesting observation. Maybe the CGI Group out of Canada will be taking it over :)
see what happens? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ausPKEMVk0
The stir in the T market moved 10 year yields from 2.66% to 2.65%.
They must have read the Zero Hedge article ;)
What's telling is that the WSJ is now using inflamatory headlines like ZH uses everyday, now that is telling :)
Www 3 Bitchez
WWIII is long in the tooth. The move by foreighners - ie Russia - to channel their paper wealth from USTs may just be the nail in the coffin.
10 years of faux recovery between the market crash of 1929 and 1939. Then bang! WW2.
Though, I'm pretty sure we won't have to wait tilll 2018. HFT algos are working overtime to deliver us a complete World War trilogy as early as this weekend.
SUCK, SUCK, SUCK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTSWdHY9Ny4
" All the Kings horses and all the Kings men"...Well, you know the rest of this nursery rhyme.
Yeah, SecState Kerry did a yeomans job this week trying to mount ole Humpty...
DaddyO
Shit's getting embarassing.
Got credibility?
Snealy Russians!
Obama needs to pull his Head out of his ASS and Kerry needs to put his Head back up his Ass.. I am sick of looking at his long face
Will Kenneth Feinberg compensate me for my losses? Isn't this an act of terror?
Remind me to never make an "homemade pizza" while logged into Z/H. What was supposed to be an 1.5 hour task has turned into an OVER 3 hour task!
~Thanks Tyler~
Maybe I'll watch a little bit of 'Fight Club' this weekend . . . haven't seen it for a long while.
Whoa Dude, my oldesy son got home from college for spring break today and guess what we had for dinner, homemade pizza.
Quick go buy me a lottery ticket!!!
DaddyO
Give the kid a kick in the ass for me! ;-)
Yen, that is too funny! Takes me 3 hours every Friday night to make homemade pizza. But, I don't blame ZH ... I blame the multitude of beers and the comradierie of family and friends come together to partake of the Friday Night Pizza Frenzy !!
EDIT ... that and the classic rock and dancing ... it's a good time party to end the week long skulldugery *_*
EDIT2 ... tonight I spent the same 3 hours making fried chicken for my stepson ( he loves my fried chicken). And he is graduating William & Mary University this May. So proud of him for his hard work and commitment to seeing it through and going the course !!
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts brined in 3 cups water, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 tablespoon honey for an hour in the fridge. Take it out, dry it off with paper towels and put it back in the bowl with buttermilk to cover. Pop it back in the fridge for 1/2 an hour. Meanwhile, mix together 1 cup of Panko crumbs, 1 cup of whole wheat (preferably homemade) fresh bread crumbs, 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesano Reggionianno cheese and herbs of choice. Beat 2 eggs with like a tablespoon or two of water in a separate bowl. Get a third bowl going with flour and salt and pepper added. Get out that cooling rack hidden somewhere in your kitchen, and if you have parchment paper lurking, well that is perfect and if you don't have that then paper towels work! and place that under the cooling rack.
Take the chicken pieces out of the buttermilk, let most of the buttermilk drain off it and dredge it in the flour .. really well, until it is no longer sticky. Run it through the bowl with the beaten eggs and water then put it in the crumbs/herbs mix, coating it thoroughly. Place the pieces of coated chicken on the rack to dry for 15-20 minutes while your oil heats up.
Heat a cast-iron skillet (or 2) on medium/medium-low heat with about 1/4-3/8" or so of a mixture of canola oil and olive oil to 350 degrees F. Place the coated chicken pieces in the hot oil and fry turning every 5 minutes or so, don't crowd the pieces (think "Driving Miss Daisy") and adjust the heat down dependent on how thick the chicken is (y'all don't want to burn the crumb coating). Remove from the skillet when the temp (as registered by an instant-read thermometer) is 170 degrees. Transfer to a paper-towel lined platter, cover loosely with foil and let rest for 5-10 minutes.
I live in the south ... trust me *_*
Payback for Cyprus. Served cold.
Prepare to be Dieselboomed .... http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-29/guest-post-why-mr-dijsselbloem-...
Who gives a fuck? The offshore cartel has already donated our sovereignty to the precious global community. Yea the same community that starts wars and leaves liberty loving Americans to fight. FUCK YOU!
It is going to be very hard to undo this financial mess Obama has created.
Until you get over your own biases, you are not going to get to the real cause and be able to survive it....
"this financial mess Obama has created."
Sorry, that's not how it works. If it is an amazing recovery, then he's responsible. This "mess" you speak of? Why of course, it's Bush's fault.
Cyprus Redux.
Where did the oligarchs park their money? Don't tell me they're putting all their billions into Rubles. LOL If their money is in EUR or CHF, they are still part of the same USD hegemony.
Russian oligarchs pulled their billions from Western banks in Russia.
They transfered the money into Western banks in the West.
Russia is broke again. That's the real story. Rasputin spent too much on the Games and all other kind of pomp & glory. Besides, he hasn't been paid lately for deliveries of oil and gas.
Why do nations always go to war? Because the King needs money. Putin asked IMF to bail out Russia via Ukraine and IMF said "Fuck you Putin". Now Putin goes to war. End of story.
They would have to be stupid to deposit in western banks in te usa. That will be like taking candy from a baby... Are you sure about that ?
Anywhere but IN Russia.
Considering gold has been rising all year - annualized 60% - probably that. I am sure the KGB knew Nuland was planning a coup months ago.
The world got bored,
First the ZIO-s destroyed PALESTINE,
Then they destroyed the middle-east
Then they destroyed the USA,
Then they came for EUROPE, and PUTIN said "NO"
Then the ZIO CON imploded.
Game Over, trouble is ZIO's have nukes, and they have a history is hiring rotten skin-head nazi's to do their dirty work, .. we live in dangerous times.
Too bad nobody has the balls to go to TEL-AVIV and knock some sense into the Trillionaires hell bent on destorying the earth.
bbbbut Putin said it was the Nazis, not the Jews, taking over Ukraine.
ZIO's are the folks who brought HITLER to power.
Neo-Con's (right wing nazi thugs) rob the LEFT.
The Zio's robbed their HEBREW brothers&sisters for their gold teeth. Sure there was a holocaust and yes +5M died, but it was gypsy's, and left-wing hebrews, and homosexuals, .. and catholics, ... But the ZIO's safely orchestrated WW1&WW2 from the USA.
*
Putin is a politician he can't use the Z- word, the J- word, ... he can only say "NAZI", but everybody knows that NETANYAHU is a LIKUD-RIGHT-WING-NAZI and that he run's Tel-Aviv and WASH-DC.
When ADL/JDL/AZC first took Palestine back in the 1940's they used NAZI terrorists ( armed Hebrew warriors using guns and money from the USA Hebrew Mafia, MEYER-LANSKY/Cohen ), funny the same way ZIO's stole Palestine ( by sniper ) is the same way the ZIO's stole UKRAINE.
*
Once the ZIO's took over Kiev ( UKRAINE) they put their own in POWER, yes they have Hebrew names, but they are NOT JEWISH. The people now in control of UKRAINE are MOSSADA.
The CIA is not christian,
The MOSSAD is NOT jewish.
In the US, the elite are funded via deficits and QE, while in Russia the elite are funded by having Putin force banks (where resides the people's actual savings) to make whatever loans the oligarchs want. In the US, it sits in the form of future obligations, while in Russia it is in the form of current assets. Once that shakes out and the people realize what they don't have, Putin's approval rating will, along with Obama's and Congress', asymptotically approach zero.
Chindit, IMHO the Federal Reserve has created 100's of trillions of secret off the books USD's that it has flooded the earth to keep the USD flexible, and reserve.
They will KEEP printing to INFINITE, but once the USD is SOLD by all it will be worthless.
I agree come MONDAY I expect to see GOLD skyrocket.
On the other hand, JPY/EUR is nicely rising. Just like GOLD,
Also who needs to wait until monday, here in ASIA we walk outside our homes and can buy gold on the street 7 days a week.
Chindit,
Pre 1970's US corporations and individuals had real wealth assets, and corporations had billions in PENSION cash.
Today its all gone,...
I assert your premise on PUTIN, and that eventually he can no longer loot real wealth, but lets be honest and admit that the Russian decline is still going to lag the USA by 50+ years.
Also Russia had their RESET where STALIN purged 10Million assholes, the USA hasn't had a reset since the civil-war, and thus the assholes are still running the game.
*
Putin is like +90% popular, OBAMA is -15%
Obama will probably die of HIV of the anus, from Reggie, Putin like Gay Edgar Hoover will die in office.
They have to be renamed as Funeral Reserve, from now on...
They pulled it from Western banks and placed it in Eastern banks and come monday convert it to GOLD BITCHES!!!!
All the free ASIAN country's let you have your money in CHF, SGD, CNY, or EURO, or JPY ... whereever in HK, Malay, Singapore, ... and you can move your money in nano-seconds.
People are selling USD and buying EURO's.
CHF/SGD are NOT controlled by the USA, and have not a fucking thing to do with the COLLAPSE of the USA.
*
Exactly ONLY a fucking IDIOT would keep a nickel of fonstar's BTC in a western-bank,
Nobody said anybody is stupid enough to use a western bank anywhere on earth,
Hell even the JPY is sky-rocketing like GOLD.
This is absolutely spot-on correct. Euro or Swissie, makes no difference as walkure stated, it is all about dollar hegemony.
The 'king' needs more money. End of story.
There will be war. Question is ... who fires the first shot ?
you'd be the dumbest fuck on here if it weren't for a few other dumb fucks.
I would like your reply on this one 'johnny' here we have real ZH bot with a life of 4+ years, which is immortal here on ZH, this means he is certainly the calibre of fonestar of 'tyler-ness',
Yet this drip's post's non-timely comments that diss Russia that entirely miss the point of the OP,
Clearly this bitch is here only to antagonize,... I ask why? YOU got any idea why Tyler would want to incite a riot?
*
The OP, of is about 99% missed by all comments here, but essentially all its about is that Russians are pulling the US-Treasury debt out of western custodial accounts and moving the debt to custodial accounts in anonymous names held in jurisdictions NOT friendly to the IRS kleptocrats.
Sure this is smart, the Russians with MONEY, don't want to see their CASH 'CY-PRESSED"
*
Yes, the faux european 'walkure' is dumb, but he is an immortal,why must immortals resort to heresy?
well I guess its time to press print for Yellen
Sounds like an excuse to untaper the taper and ratchet QEn up to 150 Billion/month.
Sounds like a "Mission Accomplished" moment
I think I have an issue with this article ...
"So the bottom line is that Russia, thinking a few steps ahead, already has withdrawn the bulk of its assets from the West, and why not. "
Bulk? Really, where is this quantified? I think the word "some" should have been used instead.
You had better write a letter to the editor.
This type of transgression will not be tolerated.
That a boy, Saul.
This aggression will not stand, man ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyLdtG7KZvw
they are putting money where they can still get it after the West takes away SWIFT.
I don't think the west is so stupid (although you never know) to place any meaningful, i.e. hard sanctions on Putin.
American politicians conveniently forget that the nasty sanctions they placed upon Iran, although they caused suffering in the beginning, ultimately forced the Iranians to toughen up, increase their own manufacturing industries and make new ties with "the rest of the world." They are a stronger nation as a result.
There is some good news for ordinary Americans, however. Once the US and EU politicos place sanctions against everyone else, Americans will be forced to look to their own domestic manufacturing base (the little that has not been offshored), since no other decent nation will want to trade with their Fascist rulers.
You don't think the west is so stupid?! You ain't seen nothing yet!