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The Russian Ruble Is Hereby Halted Until Further Notice

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Earlier, we reported that various currency brokers such as FXCM and FxPro, would - as a result of the soaring liquidity in the USDRUB pair - suspend trading in the Russian Ruble (while other merely hiked margins to ridiculous levels). It appears things have escalated again, and as FXCM just reported, instead of just politely advising clients not to open new USDRUB position tomorrow, it has advised anyone long, or short, the USDRUB that their positions will be forcibly shut in moments.

So for those curious why there appears to be a collapse in Ruble volatility in the past few hours which in turn has sent both stocks and crude soaring, the answer is simple: nobody is trading it!

And this is what happened following the post: as soon as all those short the RUB (long USDRUB) realized they have to take profits, the USDRUB tumbled some 500 pips (!) in the process sending stocks surging.


h/t @Paul_Courtney

 

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Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:20 | 5558541 VATICANT
VATICANT's picture

Que the new system in..

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:22 | 5558552 Publicus
Publicus's picture

One unit of oil = one Ruble. Checkmate, NWO.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:24 | 5558577 Truther
Truther's picture

Goodbye SWIFT. Watch the SHTF in 3...2....1...

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:28 | 5558599 TruthInSunshine
TruthInSunshine's picture

The new abNormal "markets."

They'll cut your cock right off. Thanks Central Banks!

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:31 | 5558610 Alhazred
Alhazred's picture

us already beat them to is

 

USD/COCK

trading has been suspended in all places except nevada.  get with the times

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:42 | 5558671 Divided States ...
Divided States of America's picture

ekm is right on this.....the entire financial system is just an effin video game

just like playing Super Mario Bros and jumping up and down until a koopah freezes Mario, and then suddenly it goes GAME OVER.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:47 | 5558717 Buckaroo Banzai
Buckaroo Banzai's picture

"Please be advised, going forward you will not be allowed to profit on any long RUB trades. All losses to date, however, will be cheerfully booked. Western banks will now take the long side of all RUB trades in anticipation of the massive adjustment the other way. Thanks for playing, we couldn't have done it without you!"

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:51 | 5558734 max2205
max2205's picture

Told ya

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:56 | 5558759 nope-1004
nope-1004's picture

No financial war going on at all.  No, nothing to see here.  These are all normal markets.

FFS.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:59 | 5558779 847328_3527
847328_3527's picture

Dear Valued Cutomer,

 

Most banks have stopped trading rubles. Time for you to disintermediate back into MFGlobal.

 

Ur Trusted banker,

The Honorable Corzine

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:11 | 5558844 Herd Redirectio...
Herd Redirection Committee's picture

"Turn those machines OFF!  I SAID, turn those machines off!"

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:18 | 5558871 SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

The pace certainly does seem to be picking up, doesn't it?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:30 | 5558929 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

If goods don't cross borders...

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:28 | 5559250 Leopold B. Scotch
Leopold B. Scotch's picture

And yet masses lap it up.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:46 | 5559564 Manthong
Manthong's picture

State and the Fed think they are real smart putting the squeeze to Russia.

They will end up with crap all over their collective faces like they did with Crimea because Putin won’t take their eastern Ukraine Nazi bait and Russia knows how to survive tough times.

 

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 16:13 | 5559709 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

Our current trajectory is consistent with pushing and pushing until we get war.  Putin is a masterful chess player, but what do you do with the guy who knocks all of the chess pieces over, grabs your collar and cocks his fist before check-mate has been called?  Putin is no angel, but we aren't living up to our supposed values here, and we can force the situation.  I fear that we may be moving onto a conflagration where there are no good guys, only those who are self interested greedy fucks who have started something that everybody wants to end, yet nobody wants to see what the end is, and those who are trying to survive. 

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 16:44 | 5559887 Lore
Lore's picture

Would be a shame to see America bombed all to hell someday, but that appears to be the desired path unless / until psychopaths are forcibly removed from power.

Jeb Bush announces his presidential run today. Conditions under the current deviant are going to seem like a Sunday picnic compared to another Shrub.  Enjoy your war, you psychopath-loving, warmongering, degenerate human garbage.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 16:53 | 5559921 Son of Loki
Son of Loki's picture

Not only Russia has funding problems:

California controller warns of $72 billion unfunded retiree benefits

http://news.yahoo.com/california-controller-warns-72-billion-unfunded-re...

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 17:07 | 5559984 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

Look at on the bright side:  The kind of bombing that we'd receive is the kind that would either destroy or make useless all of the infrastructure that the so called elite use to control everything that they can.  They still have to eat, breath and shit like the rest of us, and their paper wealth would evaporate in 30-60 minutes.

Mon, 12/22/2014 - 10:58 | 5580857 gold-is-not-dead
gold-is-not-dead's picture

when shtf they will not belive it...

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 16:13 | 5559714 James_Cole
James_Cole's picture

US&A crushing putin a little too much, who knows what he will respond with...

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:32 | 5558933 Philo Beddoe
Philo Beddoe's picture

Have at least a month's worth of cash at home just in case. 

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:51 | 5559050 Freedom In Your...
Freedom In Your Lifetime's picture

I see a time in the near future where it would be prudent for every individual to hold all assests in physical form, that includes cash. With the derivative insurance that just passed and the currency war that is on the face of it, Russia vs. US, but in reality it is probably worldwide, the last entity I would trust to hold my money would be a bank. Just some food for thought.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:39 | 5559297 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

Cash?  Currency wars have a tendency to turn into trade wars which have a tendency to turn into war wars.  Seed and a map of places likely to not get hammered by fallout may be in order here.  Should this go hot, everybody downwind of SE  MT, ND, NE is fucked.  That shit will get hit hard and probably with groundbursts, which lead to the most fallout. 

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:29 | 5558914 BlindMonkey
BlindMonkey's picture

Somewhere in Manhattan Randolph is handing over his lost dollar bet to Mortimer.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:46 | 5559027 GRDguy
GRDguy's picture

I kinda thought this was how Bush and Obama were elected.

Sort of reminds me of the Koch brothers.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:33 | 5559278 Leopold B. Scotch
Leopold B. Scotch's picture

Uhhh... If you're talking currency profiteers, look no further than Geroge Soros, who devestated Asian currencies for his own profit.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:44 | 5559602 Ahoy Polloi
Ahoy Polloi's picture

 "Somewhere in Manhattan Randolph is handing over his lost dollar bet to Mortimer"

 

Umm ~ that would be PHILADELPHIA. (Same place where Simon Black's Rouchefoucauld gets you 50 bucks)

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:11 | 5558852 BigJim
BigJim's picture

Can soomeone please explain how this Ruble collapse is being orchestrated. Don't Russia's energy customers need Rubles to buy Gas/Oil? Doesn't that put some kind of floor under the Ruble price? To crash Rubles, are current possessors selling them, or are they being shorted naked? Could Russia - the only issuer of Rubles - then engineer some kind of short squeeze if their CB has bought all the Rubles on the market?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:16 | 5558872 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

From what I've read, all oil sales are in dollars.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:27 | 5558917 CrazyCooter
CrazyCooter's picture

Russia sells oil in dollars, but produce oil in rubles. So, if you are an oil company, in Russia, you sell your product (dollars), convert to rubles, and pay your workers. If you need foreign tech, you likely pay in dollars (savings from product sales that were not converted).

Given banks lend (i.e. create money from nothing) in all currencies, and there are accounts out there with balances, one could borrow Yen at 0%, and short rubles. Lever this position and the more the ruble goes down, the more there is to make. FX is a very large market, but it doesn't mean things can't be pushed around.

Russia pulled a Volker and jacked rates, so whoever was (naked?) shorting the ruble was completely fucked if they didn't get out of their position about as fast as possible. Count the MINUTES between the rate hike announcement, the open of markets (in the US), and the shutting down of USD/RBL trades so they could cover.

Very, very connected players.

So, yes, Russia DID short squeeze and the US pulled another MF Global style save of their insider asses at everyone elses expense. But I think this is more a sign of weakness than anything else because despite their "insider-ness" they totally didn't see this coming so maybe they aren't really all that clever.

All that said, if Russia is pushed out of the dollar market (i.e. all the other nations go along with the USD/RBL suspension) they will be denied the ability to participate econnomically with many other businesses/countries.

If it gets to that poinnt, and your BRIC style countries abandon the dollar, it is pretty much a set up for WWIII. But for now, it is in a sense a "hot" financial war going on, not fully kinetic yet. But the risk is growing.

Regards,

Cooter

 

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:40 | 5558997 HobbyFarmer
HobbyFarmer's picture

thank you, cooter!

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:43 | 5559005 BigJim
BigJim's picture

Thanks for the reply, CC. Just had a look at the chart and I do believe you're right - looked like USDRBL was edging back down when they pulled the plug... ie the shorts were getting hammered.

Fuck me, the corruption really is total. I already knew that already but somehow every fresh reminder is still shocking.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:17 | 5559191 spinone
spinone's picture

If you lose, your money is gone.  If they lose, they take the ball and go home.

Sometimes the only way to win is not to play.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:22 | 5559495 graveheart
graveheart's picture

All timed perfectly with the taxpayer guaranteed bailout.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:17 | 5559192 angel_of_joy
angel_of_joy's picture

... if Russia is pushed out of the dollar market 

How do you know it wasn't the Russians themselves who pulled the plug ? Maybe they decided to stop the bleeding of their FX reserves, and stopped making good on the ongoing FX contracts. If there is no counterparty to anwer your bid, you're kind of screwed, aren't you ? Maybe they decided to stop floating their currency, and move to a Chinese style of conversion... I could see quite a few losses in the big boys trading desks right about now. Also, all western bank could kiss their Russian "assets" good bye. To me it looks like an intentional currency default from their part...

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:32 | 5559270 Charles The Ham...
Charles The Hammer Martel's picture

You are the smartest man in the room. Putin is much smarter that the western propaganda gives him credit for. Like most consequential leaders he has already told us exactly what he planned on doing, that includes doing away with the necessity to use US dollars in every possible arena. Why else would he be going around to China India Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan... signing all sorts of new economic trade agreements? I have a feeling The US, EU team is going to be very disappointed soon.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:32 | 5559271 Charles The Ham...
Charles The Hammer Martel's picture

You are the smartest man in the room. Putin is much smarter that the western propaganda gives him credit for. Like most consequential leaders he has already told us exactly what he planned on doing, that includes doing away with the necessity to use US dollars in every possible arena. Why else would he be going around to China India Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan... signing all sorts of new economic trade agreements? I have a feeling The US, EU team is going to be very disappointed soon.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 17:03 | 5559964 Anasteus
Anasteus's picture

Brilliant thought, angel!

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:49 | 5559624 sprintjump
sprintjump's picture

So, does this mean that the rubles sitting in my safe, are down the line, gonna make me giggle all the way to my favorite bank?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 16:19 | 5559747 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

This isn't just a hot currency war.  Think Southstream and a natural gas pipeline that cannot go through Syria.  This is an out and out trade war.  Barring black swans that renders one or all of the players incapable of waging war, one side is going to have to look at the other side and say "cut your shit, or we're going to start bombing things."  My hope is for the black swan to hit first.  I don't like fallout very much.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:34 | 5558949 HardlyZero
HardlyZero's picture

Sounds like a Dr. Strangelove plot.
News at 11.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:06 | 5559143 Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick's picture

You bet it is.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:04 | 5558810 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

Yeah, no fair trading Rubles unless we can get a big cut......

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 16:48 | 5559905 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't options still available on these currencies?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:06 | 5559127 zerozulu
zerozulu's picture

25 barrel of oil = 1 oz of AU

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:50 | 5558730 spankfish
spankfish's picture

"From: usmessage"

WTF is that?  This has all the smell of the three letter people playing Russian Roulette.

 

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:56 | 5559084 Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day's picture

coming to a currency near you

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:30 | 5558602 Alhazred
Alhazred's picture

http://www.bgasc.com/product/1-oz-gold-bars-sealed-new-with-assay-card-by-opm-ohio-precious-metals-9999-fine-24kt-gold-bullion-gbar_1_oz_opm

 

Hmmmm nothing like being able to pack up my assets and walk across a boarder.

 

i would hate to get stuck holding the paper

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:34 | 5558613 Arius
Arius's picture

"Nobody is trading it"

 

these fuckers dont trade like the rest of us 50-50 ... they "trade" only sure things, when they can see in their screens who is trading what and take the opposite ...

 

when it comes to uncertain things ... like what Putin is going to do next ... they dont bet a fucking dime ...

markets ... yeah right

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:07 | 5558822 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

If they can't rig it they don't want to play...

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:19 | 5559202 angel_of_joy
angel_of_joy's picture

If you are dumb enough to play your money in this fake market, you deserve to lose your shirt... That's how natural selection works.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:49 | 5559343 Arius
Arius's picture

call me dumb all you want ... i dont care. 

 

We have our problems, I know, 

However, I still believe this country is the best place in the world, and yes, I do believe in the free markets after all.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:19 | 5559476 angel_of_joy
angel_of_joy's picture

I'm not calling you anything, just stating a fact of life. You are delusional and your last statement proves it, as it contains quite a contradiction of terms. FYI, the "free market" that you believe in, died in this country sometime in 2009... enjoy !

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:22 | 5559496 Arius
Arius's picture

2009 ???

ehhh where were you before then?

Talk about being delusional ... okay whatever...

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:38 | 5559570 angel_of_joy
angel_of_joy's picture

That's the year when the Congress approved the 1st formal bailout using public money. It was like a a declaration of independence FROM the free market rules. It was also the time when the TBTF term was launched. I'm done educating you...

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 16:02 | 5559598 Arius
Arius's picture

you did not answer my question ... where were you before 2009?

 

All was fine according to you before then ... 

 

it is for arrogant bozos like you,  this country is going down

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 17:40 | 5560160 angel_of_joy
angel_of_joy's picture

Actually no, it's because morons like you, who don't understand shit from what's happening around them, go out and vote ! We live now through the consequences of cultivating idiots for the last 30 years...

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:30 | 5558616 sunnyside
sunnyside's picture

Goodbye Ukraine.  SHTF  in  3......2.......1

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:46 | 5558711 Buck Johnson
Buck Johnson's picture

He's exactly right, the market went into the green big time because the Ruble isn't being traded.  I hate to say this, but I'm scared truly scared.  I'm afraid of what Russia may do to retaliate against the US for doing this economically on them.  

 

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:59 | 5558782 SDRII
SDRII's picture

From the russian bankers mouth

 

Top Russian Banker and Putin Confidante Threatens US with ‘War’ Russia’s red line: If Russian access to SWIFT is cut off, 'the US ambassador to Moscow should leave the same day' Read more at http://observer.com/2014/12/top-russian-banker-and-putin-confidante-threatens-us-with-
Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:22 | 5558893 Freddie
Freddie's picture

Dear FXCM:

We have just retargeted an SS-18 to the FXCM HQ at 55 Water Street, NY, NY and NY Fed.  This is being done just in case.

Merry Christmas.

Your Friend,

Vlad

 

SS-18 Satan - 10 MIRV warheads. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUGxlQo8g8Y

The USA of Soros needs to stop f**king with Russia.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:08 | 5559155 Z_End
Z_End's picture

Or a single 25 megaton warhead... Say it with flowers...

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:21 | 5559491 mkkby
mkkby's picture

You vagina boys cowering about war must be little kids.  This is about 1% of the tension during the 50s/60s and no nukes fell.

Russia under 50 years of cold war was much more economically isolated.  Remember, Russian athletes going to international events came home with bags of jeans, t shirts and shoes that they couldn't get at home.  There were lines at empty grocery stores.

Every war since nukes invented have been proxy wars:  korea, viet nam, israel vs everybody around them.  Both sides were very careful not to harm each other's troops directly.  Expect more of the same and no more.  Nobody's going to commit suicide.  The subs are a few miles off shore.

Study some history for fuck's sake and grow some nads.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 16:23 | 5559789 MiTasol
MiTasol's picture

The difference is there was a degree of rationality in the American leadership in those days.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 17:08 | 5559987 BurningFuld
BurningFuld's picture

But but but Obomber was not president then.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:01 | 5559395 Overfed
Overfed's picture

The comments on that article were full-retard.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:37 | 5559469 noben
noben's picture

Per the same article... http://observer.com/2014/12/top-russian-banker-and-putin-confidante-threatens-us-with-war/

Vladimir Putin does not buy the notion that tough economic sanctions, imposed on Russia by US and its European allies, are merely a punishment for Russia’s policies toward Ukraine, its annexation of Crimea, and its support of separatist fighters in the East Ukraine. Earlier today, speaking to the representatives of the Federal Assembly in Kremlin, he claimed that “the crisis in Ukraine was just a formal pretext for sanctions.”  He was confident that “If all this had never happened, any other excuse would have been created” as a result of the “policy of containment [of Russia] which was invented not yesterday, but has been held against our country for decades, if not centuries.”

...

Yesterday, the German newspaper Handelsblatt published an interview that has yet to be printed in any English-language newspaper with the head of Russia’s second largest VTB-Bank (Foreign Trade Bank), Andrei Kostin. Mr. Kostin stated: “Of course, there is a plan B [in the case of shutting Russia off from the SWIFT bank system], but in my personal opinion it would mean war—if this type of sanction will be introduced.

America and Europe did that against Iran but with Iran at that time there were no diplomatic relations, only military containment… If Russian banks’ access to SWIFT will be prohibited, the US ambassador to Moscow should leave the same day. Diplomatic relations must be finished. Banking is the most vulnerable part of the Russian economy because the system is based so strongly on the dollar and the euro.”

Russia is running against time—in May 2015 the country’s Central Bank is planning to introduce its national analogue to SWIFT. Until then, Russia wants the entire world to know where the new war of economic sanctions stops and old-fashioned war begins. 

--- (end of article citation)

The timing of this all-out attack on the Ruble is not a coincidence. It started on Sunday, 12/14, and the global testing of Russia's system was to happen the next day, Monday, 12/15.  This is clearly the hand of the Financial War Group at the CIA, Pentagon and the Fed, as described by Jim Rickards recently.

Holy crap! This ALL OUT FINANCIAL WAR means that Russia's international deals (pipelines, food, HW, arms, etc) can NOT happen. It is a literal declaration of War -- but in a way the forces Russia to declare it, and thus makes them look like the "Bad Guy" in all Western Media outlets.

As I indicated several times since the news of Russia's analogue to SWIFT came out, and its full global testing was to have happened yesterday, 12/15, that unless Russia can have its SWIFT-equivalent system up and running in the international arena (and which I jokingly labeled 'RIFT'), they are screwed in terms of international banking and trade. The consequences and fallout to Russia and the world are incalculable at this point. ANYTHING can happen.  This could be the 'Sarajevo moment' of 1914.  Buckle up.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:04 | 5559116 Legolas
Legolas's picture

I'm not scared, probably too old for that.  Gravely concerned though.  I will also be surprised if the markets close in the green today.  They don't have control of this like they think they do.  They are the ones who are truly scared.  Probably queuing up a false flag event as we read this thread.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:31 | 5559542 mkkby
mkkby's picture

It's not even time to be worried.  See my previous comment about how tame this is in history.

The time to worry is when Germany and other Euro nations start militarizing again.  Right now they have nothing except US promises to protect them.  That will take years. 

It also possible that they see the balance of power shifting to Bric and sign alliances with China and Russia.  Then the US backs down with egg on it's face.  Maybe in a decade.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:55 | 5558763 kito
kito's picture

you guys are f-in disillusioned!!! wake up man, the u.s. still runs the show. we are pissing on russia, pissing on the brics. what part of this are you not getting? the whole world wants anything u.s.---bonds, stocks, dollars, real estate. the u.s. is the new gold. the only shtf is happening in russia right now, where putin has gotten his ass kicked. i know i know, putin will back the ruble with his vaults of gold and destroy the u.s....NOT...

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:07 | 5558820 Bay of Pigs
Bay of Pigs's picture

"the u.s. is the new gold"

lmao. fonz would love that one....

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:09 | 5558839 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Gold coated tungsten works there... ;-)

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:31 | 5558939 CrazyCooter
CrazyCooter's picture

These youngin's ... I had to go to urban dictionary to figure out what he meant ...

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gold&defid=4089373

Regards,

Cooter

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:20 | 5558891 earnyermoney
earnyermoney's picture

Pissing on Russia, Pission on the BRICS, Pissing on Libya, Syria and the whole world for that matter. Hubris beyond the pale. I find it amazing that you, like the fascists running this country believe we can piss on the world with little on no consequences.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:22 | 5559474 Bioscale
Bioscale's picture

Isn't this the opinion of dozens of millions of US folks? Honestly, if you go to the streets and ask the common folks the question if the great brave US can piss on Russia and whoever, wouldn't the answer be: FUCK YES WE CAN!?

That is in big contrast to answers that you would get asking people in Germany or Italy.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:34 | 5559546 Pumpkin
Pumpkin's picture

This makes me wonder if Putin could be planning another radioactive teaparty.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 17:16 | 5559963 Eisenhorn
Eisenhorn's picture

Possibly. This whole Putin is the smartest guy in the room theme I keep hearing is silly. He isn't. He may be the most cunning though.

We may wish he had been the smartest guy in the room though once his full counter punch reveals itself. Smartest guy in the room would avoid a war he can't win and turn the economic tables on the west.

Putin may unfortunately be the other guy, the one who doesn't see all the options and instead focuses on the one he understands best, bravado and the inexorable march to war.

Damn the central bankers of the west. They are leading us into an abyss and our sons will pay for it in blood.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:40 | 5559583 noben
noben's picture

I miss the "kito-francis" fights on Fight Club.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:27 | 5558908 Freddie
Freddie's picture

Are you an American?   Well Congress-Soros and Obama pissed on you the other night.  You have fewer rights than an illegal alien.  You have no redress for your criminal govt.  And if you are a military boy then your govt is sending you to get killed while selling you and your family out.

You are now lower than an illegal alein and have no rights so go F off.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:37 | 5558965 Bay of Pigs
Bay of Pigs's picture

They call ZH a Putin "love fest", yet jump around like Kansas City faggots cheerleading for the Wall St crime syndicate and the treasonous scum that inhabits Wash DC.

And we're delusional? I don't get it Freddie.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:59 | 5559094 HowdyDoody
HowdyDoody's picture

They are also on the hook for $300 trillion of deriviatives that will ultmately fail. That is $1 million per US citizen. Even some of the 1% will be taken down.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:30 | 5558921 Meat Hammer
Meat Hammer's picture

Normalcy Bias 101 

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:50 | 5559629 noben
noben's picture

"Normalcy Bias"... that sounds like "Normal see, buy ass!"

MH, hope you got your homestead in the middle of nowhere ready for when the fireworks start.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:09 | 5559152 SeattleBruce
SeattleBruce's picture

Please tell me you forgot your <sarc> </sarc> tags...

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:48 | 5559338 englishvinal
englishvinal's picture

TROLL much?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:48 | 5559043 HowdyDoody
HowdyDoody's picture

If I was Putin, I would call the new system TSHHTF

The Shit Has Hit The Fan.

Just for the heck of it.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:24 | 5558578 CrazyCooter
CrazyCooter's picture

So correct me if I am wrong, but isn't this about as kinetic as a financial/economic war can get?

Regards,

Cooter

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:33 | 5558623 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

Just wait until they break out the heat seeking money guns!

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:10 | 5558843 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

This is just the opening rounds, Putin could do something like forward deploy a couple of divisions to the NATO border for 'training exercises' and watch the panic.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:21 | 5558894 BigJim
BigJim's picture

I suppose they could maybe sink a few carriers if they pull a surprise attack but Russia would lose a conventional war and everybody know it. The only way Russia is a military threat to ZATO is if they start lobbing nukes around. Putin may be just another sociopath but I doubt he wants to see everything he's worked and schemed for get cremated. It's called MAD for a reason and I don't think Putin qualifies for that tag. As for their much-vaunted missile technology, it doesn't seem to be doing Assad much good - the Israelis appear to be able to mount strikes at any time they like. I suspect all this hoo-hah about Russian missile technology is just more 'we need to spend more' bullshit on the part of ZATO MICs and chest-puffing by the Russians.

However - if Russia's companies default on their USD/EUR/GBP/Yen denominated loans, I don't see why the 'ruble' crisis wouldn't quickly become world-wide, necessitating yet more CB intervention and possibly bailins.

I wouldn't want to have a lot of cash sitting around in a bank account at the moment.

And I'm beginning to wish I had a decent dugout in my yard, too... MAD may be unthinkable but it's not impossible.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:28 | 5558919 Bollixed
Bollixed's picture

"Russia would lose a conventional war and everybody know it."

Same with N. Korea back in the '50s until the Chinese stepped in.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:50 | 5559045 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

They might lose but it would be a long, bloody and painful.  expect more proxy wars like Ukraine.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:31 | 5558934 Haus-Targaryen
Haus-Targaryen's picture

I See this as the most likely return fire.

Putin will have all state owned Russian enterprise default on their debt held by Eur banks.

We'll be putting out those fires for the next few months.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:52 | 5559055 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

Yep, people think war is guns and bombs but anything will work....

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:32 | 5558943 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill's picture

Logistics wins conventional wars.

Have you ever looked at an Atlas ?

Hard to do with your head up your arse, but maybe you can find a paperback one.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:33 | 5558945 Meat Hammer
Meat Hammer's picture

You funny, round-eye!

Signed,

The North Vietnamese.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:25 | 5559246 The_Dude
The_Dude's picture

One EMP would bring EVERYONE to the negotiation table....

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:49 | 5559344 Bankster Kibble
Bankster Kibble's picture

Start digging, then.  Russian military philosophy is that the nuclear option will be used if a conventional war is lost.  They have used scorched earth tactic before.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:48 | 5559613 YHC-FTSE
YHC-FTSE's picture

I think this is as "kinetic" as it can get in finance terms. To me it's the equivalent of a giant tantrum by those smirking behind the scenes and knocking all the chess pieces down in response to the Russian rate hike.

The "I'm not playing anymore" tantrum is well known in the playground, but I didn't ever think our financial system would be playing the protagonist in this drama. What can you expect from dumb, evil bastards who are used to getting their own way?

One thing is for sure: The little boys pulling the strings of the US government and its banks are really desperate to start WWIII with Russia. The provocations I've seen have never come this close to deliberately attempting to starve the Russian populus. The response is going to be epic, if I have read Russian history correctly, then it will be another case of, "How dare they respond to our attacks?", shortly followed by all the jingoistic nonsense that accompanies a hot war - some of which is already very apparent. Even odds that I'm going to be floating around as radioactive dust sometime next year.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:28 | 5558596 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

One British barrel, one pint, one coffee cup???

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:39 | 5559304 Bangin7GramRocks
Bangin7GramRocks's picture

Putin is sooooo awesome! He is playing chess while we play checkers! Listen, every system is fucked and the U.S. will eventually feel a world of hurt, but I just needed to point out the queer smugness that many of you have displayed about this man. So, is this still part of his big plan or what?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:22 | 5558553 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

The first question is who blew up,

  or maybe who didn't?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:27 | 5558586 CrazyCooter
CrazyCooter's picture

Yup. CBR jacks rates to 17% and they have to pull the plug to avoid exploding. And since all the positions are forced to liquidate, they cover their shorts and profit.

Did I miss something?

Regards,

Cooter

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:44 | 5558698 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

Yeah.  The part where a bottle of Jim Beam pays for a weeks vacation in Russia.

I mean seriously...the Russian Army won't take Poopie Pant dollars you stupid phucks.  They'll kill HIM first.

Of course if Putin does order a full scale attack "to revive the Warsaw Pact" someone might want to point out to him exactly where Warsaw is first.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:52 | 5559065 Freddie
Freddie's picture

Are you an American?  Well the other night your Congress said you are lower than an illegal alien.   You have no rights.  And Vet?  Military vet?  The US was taken over and what did the military do? Nothing.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:30 | 5558606 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill's picture

Someone systematicaly important was on the wrong side of the trade,obviously.

I don't know how people in these corrupt 'markets' can sleep at night.

You know you're going to get shafted, just not when.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:41 | 5558677 CrazyCooter
CrazyCooter's picture

That is it precisely.

Which means, as insiders with all the juice, they didn't see it coming and were going to get ass raped. Which, if true, means they are not remotely as smart or as in control as they think.

So they take it fucking kinetic because they are more equal than the rest of us.

Regards,

Cooter

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:03 | 5558803 Tall Tom
Tall Tom's picture

First they are not going to allow another George Soros to emerge and break the Bank of England. There is only so much room at the top.

 

The Bank of Russia was the party that repeated the stupid move of the Bank of England circa 1991. The Currency Vigilantes smelled the same scent of blood and being drawn as sharks to a feed they attacked.

 

The Governments did not step in and stop the bleeding from England back then.

 

But Russia is not England and, I believe, they did so out of fear that Russia would go Hot Nuke if they had not.

 

Think about it...when contemplating an orchestrated move to destroy another Nuclear Power Economy.

 

Thank your lucky stars that you are reading this.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:17 | 5558878 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill's picture

Lots of other options before launching nukes.

This is just the first major skirmish in what could be a long war.

From observation, Putin takes his time before retaliating.

Revenge is always best served cold.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:51 | 5559051 viahj
viahj's picture

seems to me that halting KSA oil production is a win:win for the world

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:03 | 5559122 HowdyDoody
HowdyDoody's picture

And unannounced. There will be no threats from Putin and Russia.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:51 | 5559049 Big Brother
Big Brother's picture

It's just FXCM that isnt' letting you (well me) get short the Rubble.  I'm sure there are many other brokers out there still allowing this trade.

This could have been my "George Soros Moment"; should have got short on 11.27.  Oh well.  Infinite oppertunities.  There's still the TRY, HUF, NOK and MXN.  Long the CHF against any of them is money right now. 

I'm also sure George Soros right now is making (beaucoup) money on shorting the Ruble.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:23 | 5559503 angel_of_joy
angel_of_joy's picture

Not anymore.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:26 | 5558580 Eireann go Brach
Eireann go Brach's picture

Is this victory for Obama, or what is Putin's strategy?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:32 | 5558625 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Uncharted waters.

Think about ships doing U turns in the Baltic until they figure out who can pay for what.

Interesting times.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:34 | 5558634 Non Passaran
Non Passaran's picture

Time for Russia to pull the gold trick from that Rickards' book?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:46 | 5558712 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Even now, not just yet IMHO. 

Who needs television with this kind of drama going on?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:38 | 5558666 Jumbotron
Jumbotron's picture

HAHAHAHAHAH !!!!!!

 

FUCK YOU POOTY POOT !!!

 

Look at the mighty Russian economy fall.  I'd thought they were more diversified.  I thought they made shit people wanted and bought.  I thought Pooty was such a man riding his pony in the mountains wirhout his shirt showing his bitch tits.

 

Where's the new currency exchange?  Where is the might of Russia.

 

No where.  It is what it is.  A Turd World country with high hopes and a fading memory of the past.

 

 

 

 

 

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:50 | 5558725 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Sooo, you are rooting for the Lobbyiest/corporate controlled US, to win in all of this? They are better and deserve it because?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:55 | 5558758 Usurious
Usurious's picture

of course he is, Jumbo is a PNAC, neocon Zionist.....

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:17 | 5558870 Jumbotron
Jumbotron's picture

"Jane.....you ignorant slut!" Of course not. But neither will I stand for Zerotards slavishly bowimg dowm and bending over for a cock sucking evil commie like Putin.  He's KGB.  He's a corrupt politician.  He uses his connections with the corrupt Russian Orthodox Church to cement his cult of personality.

 

And you fucktards fall for it.  You can do much better in picking a "personal Jesus"....than this grandstanding throw back to Lenin.

 

 

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:24 | 5558898 malek
malek's picture

Muaahahahaha!!!

And none of those things would ever happen similarly in the US! 
Keep believing!

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:23 | 5558902 Tall Tom
Tall Tom's picture

Do you have any clue how close we were to a Thermonuclear War this morning you fucking idiot?

 

Yes I will agree that Putin is dangerous and Obama is just as dangerous if not moreso.

 

But you cannot think past your fucking nose.

 

ALL WARS are ECONOMIC...ALL OF THEM...HOT...COLD...and even NUKE.

 

FUCK YOU. It is imbeciles like you who will see their own destruction just to satisfy your desire to see the destruction of another you stupid self righteous psychopath.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:32 | 5558941 Jumbotron
Jumbotron's picture

What a little panicky pussy you are.  There will be no war....thermonuclear or otherwise.  The Russians don't have the balls to go nuclear.  Hell...they can't even adequately feed their troops.

 

Cue Putin's royal photographer to post some more shirtless pix of "Bitch Tits" in 3...2...1....

 

 

 

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 17:17 | 5560024 Quus Ant
Quus Ant's picture

"You're too much of a whipped bitch to go nuclear!" 

That's where we are.  That's basically the mindset of the US shadow govt.

Thanks for the glimpse into darkness.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:24 | 5558906 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

I think your imagination is getting the better of you, as your posts are far more emotional than those who view Putin as a possible roadblock for the NWO.

Even his greatest fanbois pale in comparison to the full-retard nature of your posts lambasting them.

Question is... why?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:27 | 5558909 BigJim
BigJim's picture

For all his oligarchic faults, Putin is less of an 'evil commie' than most of the puppets in DC.

So - once again - you demonstrate your ignorance.

Shouldn't you be out dropping Willie Pete on Arab children?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:27 | 5558913 Infinite QE
Infinite QE's picture

and you jew bolsheviks want to put in some utterly demonic corrupt israeli oligarch who will finish the job your original bolshevik ancestors started. Mass murderers are what the whole lot of you fucks are. To hell with you, and the quicker the better.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:25 | 5559247 LasVegasDave
LasVegasDave's picture

Wait, I thought the Jews were evil capitalists....

 

Oh, never mind

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:44 | 5559323 GoldSilverBitcoinBug
GoldSilverBitcoinBug's picture

They support both side. Meanwhile they watch Goyim Nation self destructing while Israel is intact and laughing at you stupid Goyim.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:58 | 5559089 Freddie
Freddie's picture

Are you an America?  Well Soros Congress voted the other night and sold you out.  You are lower than an illegal alien and you have fewer rights.  Where was the US Military when America was being sold out?  Cowards.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:20 | 5558884 JR
JR's picture

It’s the US that is ruled by oligarchs. It’s the same type of oligarchs that the Soviet Union had. Putin, who has a full plate combating U.S. financial and military aggression, has managed nonetheless to kick out some of these insider-backed oligarchs that swarmed down on Russia to take monetary advantage of the fall.

Unfortunately, the fall of Communism saw Russia's most prized assets sold off to a small circle of vultures later known as oligarchs – for a smidgeon of their value. And now it appears the same has happened and is happening in the United States, a process enabled by Jewish ownership of and open access to the currency - the Fed and the U.S. Treasury.

A Russian engineering associate of mine who left the USSR a few years back for the US says the political climate in the US is beginning to approximate that of the old USSR. He is preparing accordingly…

ZH blogger Sandmann reported recently that “> 50% US billionaires are Jewish which is a lower proportion than Jeffrey Sachs created in Yeltsin's Russia through privatisation scams. Russian Oligarchs seemed to be predominantly Jewish just like the early Bolsheviks."

The Top Ten Russian Oligarchs listed by Forbes in July 2004:

  1. Mikhail Khodorkovsky
  2. Roman Abramovich
  3. Viktor Vekselberg
  4. Mikhail Prokhorov
  5. Vladimir Potanin
  6. Mikhail Fridman
  7. Vladimir Lisin
  8. Oleg Deripaska
  9. Alexei Mordashov
  10. Vagit Alekperov

http://www.forbes.com/2004/07/21/cz_pkl_0721russianintro.html

If the American people fail to clear out the DC puppets and the oligarchs who have access to the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury, then America will suffer the same fate that befell the U.S.S.R. and, with America's capitulation, will soon befall the world.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:00 | 5559100 Freddie
Freddie's picture

Congress sold out the American people the other night. 

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 16:01 | 5559667 noben
noben's picture

Sometimes, no matter how you are emotionally vested in That Old House, it is simply time for the wrecking ball and bulldozer.

"Mr. President, tear down these walls!"  seems apt for the USSA also.  Time to start over.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 16:16 | 5559727 noben
noben's picture

This coordinated Oligarchical takeover is global in its extent, and certainly overwhelming in Central and Eastern Europe, where they have their roots.

A friend of mine recently pointed out the deep-cover and profound influence of these people, if you simply look at the first breakaway republic of old Yugoslavia:  Slovenia.  It was almost immediately recognized by the US and Germany.  Sounds fine.  Until you look really close at the emblem on their new flag: Notice the 3 stars above the 3 mountains.

I'm told that the 3 mountains represent its highest mountain (Triglav, i.e. Three Heads), and the river is their main river (Sava).  Fine.  Now look at these three stars again -- real close.  What do you see? 

Yup, the 6-star of David.  Say what?  This, in a country with >90% Catholics, going back >1000 years.  So from where do you get this sudden appearances of the Star of David in the Slovenian flag?  The Church did not use the Jewish star in its art, flags or emblems, so pretending that it was based on some Medieval nobleman is highly suspect, to say the least.

My friend smells a Bigus Ratus in the Apparatus.  As do I:  "Revisionist History" comes to mind (once again), with all the right "Scholars" and Politicians in the right places at the right time.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:54 | 5559363 englishvinal
englishvinal's picture

Is that handle "Jumbotron" in reference to the air space in the skull? Or are you well paid to write such nonsense?   

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:41 | 5558673 Mr.Sono
Mr.Sono's picture

time to sell us treasuries to support the rubble?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:27 | 5558916 BigJim
BigJim's picture

I don't think they have all that many left.

Time to start demanding physical gold for gas/oil.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:32 | 5559266 Dead Man Walking
Dead Man Walking's picture

I wonder how many made millions on the ruble last night

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 15:14 | 5559464 JLee2027
JLee2027's picture

So will this "event" trigger hyperinflation in Russia?

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 16:42 | 5559868 dot_bust
dot_bust's picture

Yeah, every dictator who ever tried to attack Russia ended up with a fatal Russian campaign.

It didn't work out well for Napoleon or Hitler.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 16:50 | 5559912 D-liverSil-ver
D-liverSil-ver's picture

We "stopped out" some folks.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:20 | 5558542 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

That's gonna leave a mark.

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:21 | 5558548 Al Capowned
Al Capowned's picture

The new system was invented 6 years ago its called Bitcoin

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:30 | 5558601 CrazyCooter
CrazyCooter's picture

Let me see if I can fix this for you:

The new system was invented thousands of years ago its called gold.

On that note, why can't they pull the plug on BitCoin, should it ever become a challenger, just like they did with the ruble?

Rigged casino and all that ...

Regards,

Cooter

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:37 | 5558648 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Doggie just ripped that helpless cat to shreds. Naughty doggie. Carry on. 

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:54 | 5558745 CrazyCooter
CrazyCooter's picture

As I have commented in the past, BitCoin is the ABG strategy of the financial elite. Sometimes I think folks post the drivel just to collect down votes.

Anyway, it will sponge some demand, just like paper gold does. Same tool, same goal, different name.

Regards,

Cooter

ABG - Anything But Gold

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 14:56 | 5559382 Ponzi Pontiff
Ponzi Pontiff's picture

I had to log in to green ya for that.

You and Cooter, always worth reading since way back in the day.

His name was Francis Sawyer.

Good times ...

Tue, 12/16/2014 - 12:21 | 5558551 Which is worse ...
Which is worse - bankers or terrorists's picture

Capital controls in THREE...TWO...ONE...

 

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