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Russia Sanctions Blowback: Finland's Largest Dairy Lays Off 800, Spain Seeks EU Aid, Poland Complains To WTO
Well that didn't take long. Mere day after Russia announced its ban on Western nation food imports, European countries are scrambling (as we explained why here). Greece has already expressed dismay, but now Spanish officials will meet with EU leaders to discuss offsetting the country’s estimated up to $800 million in food and agriculture losses due to sanctions. Poland is pissed and has complained to the WTO claiming "Russia has broken international law in both its embargo;" and Finland's largest dairy producer has announced 800 layoffs due to the sanctions. When does Europe tell Washington - enough!
Spain demands aid... (despite Rajoy's support for anti-Russia sanctions)
Spanish Agriculture Minister Isabel Garcia Tejerina said the restrictions have prompted her ministry to convene a meeting with the European Commission in Brussels on Thursday.
...
The Spanish government has estimated that agricultural losses will amount to €337 million, or about 1.8 percent of Spanish exports. Other groups, like Spain’s opposition Socialist Party, have estimated the losses to be higher- €581 million.
Last year, 37,000 tons of tomatoes, 35,000 tons of peaches, and 33,000 tons of mandarin oranges were exported from Spain to Russia, according to Spain’s Small Farmer’s Association (UPA).
“The decision that was adopted involves many political issues that exist between Russia and the European Union, and not just the EU. As a result, it may be necessary to compensate us for these political decisions - the producers who work all year and want to at least be paid enough at least to cover production costs,” Lorenzo Ramos, Secretary General of UPA, told RT.
The largest Finnish dairy producer Valio send a forced leave of the staff with factories working for export to Russia. This is stated in the message of concern.
Restructuring will affect Finnish enterprises' Valio: Plant in Haapavesi ( cheese Oltermanni), Seinäjoki ( oil Valio), Vantaa ( cream cheese Viola) and warehouse in Lappeenranta. Concern revise employment contracts of all the employees of these companies. " Some of the staff ( according to preliminary estimates, 800 people) can go on forced leave to fully clarify the situation, with a portion of employees will not be renewed temporary employment contracts, "- said in a statement.
Poland's agriculture minister went on television to announce the country was taking action against Russia's new import ban. "We believe Russia has broken international law in both its embargo against Poland and its embargo against the EU," Marek Sawicki said.
Russia banned the import of Polish fruit and vegetables in early August - a move Sawicki said would cost Poland 0.6 percent of GDP.
...
"If a WTO member state believes another WTO member state has taken a measure that is not in conformity with WTO rules, the affected WTO member state may request mediation," attorney and WTO expert Eric Pickett said.
And the Czechs are in for some EU assistance...
- *ZEMAN BACKS EU AID TO CZECH AGRICULTURAL COS. AFTER SANCTIONS
* * *
S&P 500 nears all-time highs as US companies do not seem to suffer at all... We are sure Merkel is watching carefully.
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EU are a bunch of morons! How can you let those criminals in DC/London tell you to jump into a hell hole and you do it.
EU deserves the blowback!
I think it's sink or swim for both EU and US bankers and politicians. But they don't realize there's one hell of a water fall just down stream.
Where do these retards think that these wonderful "compensation" handouts are going to come from?
Last time I check there wasn't a magic money tree in either Brussels or Berlin.
Where's the EU central bank?
no you are wrong, Belgium has a UST tree
http://www.valio.com/valio-commences-co-operation-negotiations-to-adapt-...
A little bit better source for you. "The negotiations concern all staff at those sites, a total of some 800 people." not yet laid off, usually negotiations means half of the people are laid off.
@villageidiot777
That's what I have read in Finnish newspapers also. They are all giddy that milk prices might drop 10%. That is until milk producers decrease production to meet demand. Still pales in comparison to MicroSoft laying off 1,100 employees about a month ago.
"That is until milk producers decrease production..."
Try to find a cow who can do that.
MS laid off 18k, not 1100.
http://www.latinopost.com/articles/7161/20140728/microsoft-layoff-2014-1...
1100 in Finland. And again could you fix your news ZH. Now you might as well use CNN source for Russian news.
Looks like all the mail order Russian cows will be gettin' an extra milkin'!
All Politics is Local.
The West is too fat, this will be good for them.
Ecuador's response to the EU was short and to the point.
13.08.2014
Ecuador is not going to ask permission from the EU to deliver products in the Russian Federation
Ecuador is not going to ask permission from the EU to deliver products in the Russian Federation. This was announced on Tuesday, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa. Latin America is not part of the European Union.
As said Correa, "let's wait for the official complaints (from the EU), and we will give her the answer."
Earlier it was reported that EU countries are dissatisfied with the intention of Latin America to organize deliveries in the Russian Federation of goods, which Moscow has banned import from Europe, writes "arguments of the week".
It's summer in Ecuador and Brasil when it's winter in Russia and Poland.
It makes sense to import fresh apples and bananas from Latin America instead of old fruit from Poland.
Good point, Vincenne!!
Does the EU really think their permission is needed? It must be true they are really all inbred retards.
They began transporting frozen meat from South America to Europe on Sailinng Schooners in the late 1800's. Worked out even then.
Bob: What did they uase as a refrigerant? Sawdust?
The new refrigerating technology first met with widespread industrial use as a means to freeze meat supplies for transport by sea from the British Dominions and other countries to the British Isles. The first to achieve this breakthrough was an entrepreneur who had emigrated to New Zealand. William Soltau Davidson thought that Britain's rising population and meat demand could mitigate the slump in world wool markets that was heavily affecting New Zealand. After extensive research, he commissioned the Dunedin to be refitted with a compression refrigeration unit for meat shipment in 1881. On February 15, 1882, the Dunedin sailed for London with what was to be the first commercially successful refrigerated shipping voyage, and the foundation of the refrigerated meat industry.[17]
From Wiki. And mechanical production of ice was around for some time before this.
I don't think Britain's attitude toward Assange helped the EU cause.
But I could be wrong.
However, many Latin American countries have a free trade agreement with the U.S. or a preferential tariff treatment with the E.U. This is where it may get really tricky for countries like Chile, Peru, Colombia and some Central American countries.
...that's where the Union of South American Nations (USAN) comes into play.
They used to call them 'tariffs' , now they are called 'sanctions' in a moral political vein.
Just like the 30's.
And , Putin, love him or hate him, is using economic sense. Any proper military planning has to start with your own manufactures and domestic food production is a major component. Sure the Russia domestic and new BRIC food suppliers will cost more for the consumer but money will be kept more in the'family' so to speak.
The US consumer has had the joy of cheaper and cheaper goods from China, India yadda , yadda; but the consumer is making less, less...
Domestic production is paramount for economic,military dominance; especially when energy is expensive.
If Poland can't sell its nuts, fruits and vegetables to Russia, they will be welcome in California.
Else they can do what they love to do: get stuffed on Kielbasas, or keep chowing down on America's.
I predict Poland will continue to suck on Obama's brown summer sausage.
The most staggering thing is that the countries whining about Russia's sanctions against them are themselves supporting sanctions against Russia. In some cases they're spewing abuse at Putin and demanding even more sanctions.
What is it with these political slimeballs?
Have we reached "peak hypocrisy"?
"have we reached 'peak hypocrisy?
smacker, you ain't seen nothing yet.
The worst is yet to come.
Well when man has to stand up against another Hitler like Putin, than he has to do it, no matter what blow he hast to recieve.
Putin is breaking international law and he must be stopped. This is a small price to pay in order to stop such criminals as Putin & it's terorists.
No points
Who did you stand up against to get your blow?
Was it Columbian blow or same sex?
Who did you stand up against to get your blow?
Was it Columbian blow or same sex?
Don't small subordinate countries take orders from the German dictator?
She decides if Greece will live or not. She gives money and guns.
vie,
Would anyone be wrong guessing that you do NOT
support sanctions against the US, UK, and Israel,
or condemning or arresting Bush, Cheney, and Cameron for Iraq war crimes,
or Obama for drone assassinations and torture,
or Netanyahu for crimes against humanity?
(And just asking, do you have any suspicions re: why Kiev, the US, and the UK are withholding MH17 data?)
Wait, are you saying this problem has been going on for a long time now?
oops, meant to write Blair, not Cameron,
although Cameron could easily be added to the list.
He should be slapped around on general principle.
If you could stop countries from breaking international law, the United States would be frozen in its tracks.
The Golden Rule may have been forgotten, and replaced with the petrodollar, but it will soon be remembered. When it does the ones with the gold will make the rules. The US need not apply for that spot.
I was under impression that monkeys were supposed to bang on keyboard in order to write works of Shakespeare.
Turns out they're posting on ZH instead.
viedolklis_lv, you need to immediately stop feeding on government propaganda from CNN, FOx, NY Times and Washington POSt etc.
It's bad for your brain.
The biggest rogue state and international law breaker right now is the US government (at the behest of the Money Trust).
Im impressed. Russia's "sanctions" not only took an immediate toll on the Eu, it appears that it somehow went back in time and hobbled their economies years ago.
I can arrange for a Chinese buyer to take all the milk they can supply but Finland will have to accept payment in RMB only.
and free shipping. or else forget about it.
The NWO is only good for a very few.
A lot of the comments ignore the fact that most of the countries of West Europe have a year or two of gas supply in reserve.
Putin doesn't ignore that fact, which is why he hasn't turned it off yet.
If you want to know what Putin is going to do next, but you can't transpose chess moves into realpolitikal one, stay tuned like everybody else.
bid the soldier,
what you say is right and wrong.
I am in Germany and we might have 6 to 9 months in reserve, Enough to survive the winter (except if EU demands to help the PIGS who haven't build up a reserve)
Anyway, there is a technical problem that makes the gas reserve pretty useless. The extraction rate from the underground tanks is only half of what is needed during the winter. Technically impossible to increase, like in the pub they can fill only a certain amout of beer glasses in 10 minutes.
To deliver enough gas to consumers and industry half of the gas has to come from underground tanks and the other half from pipelines from Russia.
may I add that you cannot draw down below 50% as that is required to maintain pressure, so maybe 3 months useable storage, say...mid winter?
How does one store a years worth of nat gas? Honest question, wouldn't that take huge pressurized tanks?
http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/35817.html
When does Europe tell Washington - enough!
When the US central bank does not control all of western europe's central banks. Who pulls the strings?
"When the US central bank does not control all of western europe's central banks."
Which is never.
The US has bribed most of the politicians in the EU and NATO. If they try to break free of the US or act independently, well remember what happened to Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Oh yeah...we forgot about him, didn't we?
Well, I haven't seen his name in these esteemed pages for at least a couple of weeks.
But I've been cranky of late (Ukrainkinoia) and probably missed a whole article devoted to the anniversary of his fondle.
If you ever run a country, BO, you must admit he is the perfect lesson on how to get rid of a Managing Director of the IMF who wants to do things his way?
Is there a single adult voice left in the American (my) political system?..hmmm? speak up!!
Putins "humatarian aid":
https://twitter.com/EastOfBrussels/status/499151445925822464
https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/499621920565121024
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPR/status/499559491571294208
https://twitter.com/AndreGoLow/status/499626058837393408
https://twitter.com/trollgnet/status/499234401444974592
https://twitter.com/StudMedia/status/499589074848849920
Wow. Twitter. Real rock solid evidence you got there. No hand-drawn crayon diagrams? At least they were smart this time and cropped out the Ukranian signs from Kiev fascist held areas.
Nice try, slugger.
Dear Sherlock,
Please contact Interpol at your convenience.
Thank you.
vidoki: You could work as a fact checker for CNN and get American dollars for wages.
Well, if Euromaiden, trollgnet, and StudMedia say so, then I guess I have no choice but to believe...
(sarc) As if I had to say so...
viedoklis_lv, see if you can find some info about getting a new brain for yourself on twitter
As was pointed out here a few days ago...
http://www.globaldeflationnews.com/blowback-eu-upset-that-russia-would-d...
Crap
What are those 800 cows going to do now for work /sarc
I am guessing that Sawicki hopes for WTO outcome similar to the Yukos one in the Hague a couple of weeks ago.
Just as long as it doesn't take 10 years or so.
Poland is not waiting for the WTO to decide on its crybaby complaint.
The Polish Ambassador has gone on the offensive.
He is promoting Freedom Apples!
Now shut up, do your patriotic duty, and buy polish apples...
NATO is about to go bye bye......All these EU countries are going to break rank and deal with Russia. They will do anything they have to to save their asses.
America will become isolated, not Russia,
Blowback is a mutherfucker.
They are already breaking rank. In reality America has few military options in Russia's backyard unless it has the backing of a full and enthusiastic NATO and that is very unlikely. Europe has reason to be unexcited about a possible long and expensive conflict.
While still trying to recover from a recession Europe would face fuel shortages and a massive spike in the price of natural gas. Currently Russia supplies much of the gas used in Europe, this gives Putin a great deal of leverage. If an actual ground attack were to occur few see the Russians as likely to rollover as other armies have when America approaches. More on this subject in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/07/putin-holds-all-cards.html
What you say only applies to intelligent people with common-sense; it does not apply to politicians.
If you look back on history, you'll see that most politicians, when none of their plans work, will resort to war as a means to boost the economy (it actually doesn't) or as a means to distract the media and public from the truth of those same politicians' incompetance.
Expect some kind of an altercation as European "leaders" get desperate.
And what happens when store shlelves in Russia go empty? They will come screaming hat in hand for food at any price. Russian winter is just a few monts away. Last time I checked not much grows in four feet of snow and subfreezing temps.
This site is just like mish mash brain's. you let your anti USA bias cloud your economic analysis.
Russia has plenty of options for getting the food that they don't grow and has already secured deals with several countries.
Incorrect. Food is only available in Western countries.
Because food loves freedom, of course.
They hate us for our Fritos.
Russia's problem is that they don't "know" how to grow GMO crops. We here in the West have already a proven process from fields to our dinner table. We are the best in the world - the real leaders of the human race. We have now a perfect holocaust with no pollution nor guards and not even hard labor!
I have to admit that your economic analysis is a work of genius.
We're not anti-USA, we're anti-authoritarian, unless the foreign authoritarian is much more super macho than our US authoritarian. It gets kinda sexual at this point so it's best not to think too much on why some are and aren't (uh) loved.
No empty shelves. They are lining up everywhere to export to Russia, which knows how to import. Its just a matter of calling Exporter B instead of Exporter A.
Or are you poroposing that Putin, et al., didn't think it through?
Hey LOST MONEY.
are you fucking serious, look at the SIZE of Russia, they have more arable land then ALL of north america.
FUCK SPAIN
FUCK POLAND
FUCK FINLAND
.
.
.
FUCK THE EU
VOTE UKIP.
You'd be taken a lot more seriously if you dropped the infantile profanity.
These so-called political leaders act like big babies. They were presented with the choice of sanctioning Russia or not santioning Russia. Their hand was not forced (to my knowledge) and Putin warned them several times that sanctions will have a boomerang effect, which they did. On top of that Russia responded with their own sanctions.
If you spit in the face of your trading partner you must live with the consequences of your actions. Instead they start crying and asking for handouts. What the hell are they thinking and what reality do they live in anyway?
Its not really the US
Its London. - the UK needs Spanish fruit and veg baby.
Its a very densely populated island that has been unable to feed itself for hundreds of years.
Its population (unlike Spain) continues to rise because that is where the money is.
They want all of the Spanish food surplus.
they can now buy it at a lower price.
http://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/fruit-veg-feeds-eurotunnel-record-growth-8462569.html
UK
Fastest population growth in Europe (because that is where the money is as the banking system has scaled up )
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pop-estimate/population-estimates-for-uk--england-and-wales--scotland-and-northern-ireland/2013/sty-population-estimates.html
The UK is in chronic real goods deficit - it must wage financial war and indeed use the threat of war to redirect surplus goods into its black hole.
Its not much different then the battle of the Atlantic in this respect.
Very good story. Just today I have read several new stories about Finlands economic troubles. These Russian sanctions simply pile onto an already serious recession. And, as some inside Finland say, "This is not a cyclical recession it is structural in nature". Now with Finnish agriculture under the gun, more Finns will walk the unemplyment lines so that Obama and Poland can wage their war on Russia.
I love the Finns, I was married to one, my daughter is 1/2 Finn and 1/2 Swede. I feel for Finns, they suffer for cunts like Obama and his neocon gang of warmongers. Finalnd and Russia have had a very bad history, but they have worked to make peace and to trade, that is how peace is maintained, now the USA wants to drag Finland into another war on Russia. It is Finland who suffers not the fucks in Washington. Were I a Finland voter I would vote to throw the necons out of parliament, the Washington ass kissers must go! Finland and Russia have NO reason for conflict now, the past needs to be the past and never happen again!
" Were I a Finland voter I would vote to throw the necons out of parliament, the Washington ass kissers must go!"
I totally agree - unfortunately Obama's neocons are oiling their political life. They have also full control over the Finnish news media and different messages don't get printed nor do they get any TV time! A sad case as also the foreign minister has recently started singing the same neocon song!
President still at least tries to be diplomatic!
I'm not sure I follow - how can any country sue another one for not wanting to buy their stuff anymore? I mean - are countries not free to choose where they buy from? What is all this WTO protection crap? There can be many reasons why one country offers a better deal - price, quality, volume etc., isn't this how the market works? So Poland and others should just shut the fk up and look for other markets to sell their stuff.
It would depend on what 'Trade Agreements' (read contracts) countries have in place and their respective T&Cs... simply put, Russia would also have legal grounds in some instances I imagine, so it would go both ways.
"I'll put my money on Russia."
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/12/my-moneys-on-putin/
"Washington [add NATO] thinks 'modern warfare' involves covert support for proxy armies comprised of Neo Nazis and Islamic extremists. Moscow thinks modern warfare means undermining the enemy's ability to wage war through sustained attacks on it's currency, its institutions, its bond market, and its ability to convince its allies that it is a responsible steward of the global economic system."
...just about says it all, really.
In an integrated globalised economy, sanctions do not work. Putin knows it. US arguably knows it.. just testing the markets and should there be a pushback, they have just experimented with Europe peripherals.
What may have surprised US is the speed and the well thought responses with many more arsenals in Putin's economic war chest.
What surprise those CNN types is that the markets are shrugging off any major impact on Russia economy and they are still desperately trying to spin declines based on dubious prognosis. The theme is that no other major economies (China, Japan, Russia, etc) must be seen to be on a less perilous road than US. Europe at the center of this global decline is still delusional in that it is likely to go down first with all these "we feel your pains" from US.
this just gives everyone an excuse, whos economies are already in the toilet. Spain? Please, they have been falling apart for decades. Look at the unemployment rate since 2005. Nothing to do with the Russian sanctions. Nada.