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Western Banks Cut Off Liquidity To Russian Entities
As Zero Hedge first reported today, shortly before noon one (and subsequently more) FX brokers advised clients that any existing Ruble positions would be forcibly closed out because "western banks have stopped pricing USDRUB", over concerns of Russian capital controls. Ironically, it was this forced liquidation of mostly short RUB positions that pushed the RUB higher, which in turn had a briefly favorably impact on energy commodities and risk assets, as the market had by then perceived the Ruble selloff as excessive. Of course, since nothing had actually changed aside from a temporary market technical, the selloff promptly resumed into the close of trading once the market finally understood what we had explained hours previously.
And unfortunately for the bulls, various falling knife-catchers, and those who hope the Russian situation will stabilize imminently with or without capital controls, it appears things in Russia are about to get a whole lot worse because as the WSJ reports, the next driver of the Russian crisis is likely to come from within the banking system itself because "global banks are curtailing the flow of cash to Russian entities, a response to the ruble’s sharpest selloff since the 1998 financial crisis."
Presenting Russia's banks: now cut off from the outside world as the second cold war goes nuclear, at least when it comes to the financial system:
Such banks as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. this week started rejecting requests from institutional clients to engage in certain ruble-denominated repurchase agreements and other transactions designed to raise cash, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bankers and traders say the moves to restrict some ruble transactions have become increasingly widespread among major Western financial institutions this week, even as the same institutions continue to try to profit from the ruble’s wild swings. The moves, which the banks are deploying to protect themselves against further swings in the currency, have the potential to add to the strain on Russia’s financial system.
Goldman in recent days largely stopped doing longer-term ruble-denominated repurchase agreements, or repos, in which securities or other assets are swapped in exchange for cash, said a person familiar with the matter. The Wall Street bank is still doing short-duration ruble repos, those that mature in less than a year, this person said.
And where Goldman goes, everyone else follows, even though according to the WSJ this has not happened, yet:
Other banks, including Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc., haven’t changed their trading with Russia or in rubles, according to people familiar with those banks.
They will, it is only a matter of time. Meanwhile, the entire Russian capital market, and not just its currency, is becoming isolated from the rest of the Western world:
In one sign of the banking industry’s hasty retreat, the London-based manager of an emerging-markets hedge fund said Tuesday that he couldn’t get any banks to trade Russian government bonds with him.
Of course, anyone who read our article in early November explaining "How The Petrodollar Quietly Died, And Nobody Noticed", predicting the crunch in global intermarket liquidity as a result of the collapse in crude, would know this is coming. As for the death of the Petrodollar we warned about, a death which has resulted in the disintegration of market volume just as warned, suddenly everyone is noticing.
Regardless, what all of the above means is that Russia now has at best a few weeks in which to find an alternative source of short-term funding. One coming from the East.
The question is will Putin swallow his pride and proceed with the next logical step as the Eurasian axis realizes the time to abandon the dollar has long past, that now only actions matter and not words, and joins forces with China in a new monetary union, one which combines the Ruble and the Yuan, and is backed by China's gold and Russia's natural resources, as cheap as they may be for the time being... until one or more of the largest middle-east oil exporters experiences a major and "unexpected" geopoolitical incident, one which sends the price of oil soaring right back up.
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This guy promoted Mr Reagan first, and always had his back.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Helms
You Libertarians check out this guy, and tell me what disagrees with you?
Jesse did not like bankers, jews, socialists, commies, fags, etc etc etc
And especially hated big government.
They fought him tooth and nail.
He kicked their asses til the end.
(make that WE)
ummm, how about the whole hating blacks because of the color of their skin thing, you are kidding right? and two adults can do whatever they want to, that's a libertarian thing....so you are either joking or stupid, i think it's the latter, i'm not trying to insult, never mind, i am
And they always wanted taxpayer money.
That IS a libertarian thing.
And, did you ever talk to a black person that personally knew him?
I didn't think so.
The welfare state sure hated him.
But don't project their faults onto a great conservative.
We're fucked
Ukraine has been a mess since Stalin starved the population into submission. The problems are not of US origin.
The kleptocrat former leader was operating as if he could plunder the country in the same way Putin plunders Russia. The man was unworthy of being in charge of a sewage hauling service.
The russian oligarchs have now plundered eastern Ukraine and confiscated anything of value.
The Putin worshipers only wish for one ride on that white horse with the shirtless Putin. They are over the pommel with Putin behind giving them that thrilling bouncing ride.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection
useless talkings
Useful to someone, just not most of the world.
'Useless talkings' is Volkodav Slavic code for 'I don't like the facts you're giving me and wish you'd stop talking about them'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIvRljAaNgg
"…Putin plunders Russia…"
For sure!
For those less informed than Augustus, this infographic shows the results of 15 years of Putin's plunder.
Again....
15 Years of Putin:
http://ozziesaffa.blogspot.com/2014/06/15-years-of-putin-rule-in-one-infograph.html
There are no nation state good guys, only villians. I thought most understood the conundrum.
NeoNazis do not run Ukraine
That is ignorant to say
Those running Ukraine at Kyiv and Regions are "Red" Oligarchs..double and triple citizens
Not NeoNazis
those are a few threateners and much cannon fodder
they don't have the riches and not doing th stealings
breadonwaters
Calm down. No one is going to attack Russia.
"There are far too many serious signs of impending crisis. Most recently, the fall of oil oil prices, and they fall of the Ruble.
The oil price fall should be good, but the big banks had bets out that oil would not fall, and certainly not a fall of 50%. These bets are in the hundreds of TRILLIONS, and they used borrowed money to make the bets. This is now crashing the system, and all hell will break loose.
Bank Accounts will be taken by the gov to support the banks. The gov has outright came out and said it last spring.
The banks will have to close while they do their dirty work.....you will not be able to get your money out during this time...because the Gov / bank minions have to figure out how much of your money to take.
This is a warning to protect your hard work and birthright. protect your assets from the gov.
The US / oligarchy are hell bent on demonizing Russia. I believe Russia is to be the scapegoat for why the world's financial system failed into a new greater depression. Nothing like the drumbeats of war,, patriotism and the American flag to get the attention of the great unwashed masses of the US Public. This is a very serious development leading the world into war.
I take little comfort that the Russians are possibly the best candidate to stand the storm of aggression against her shores. They have little debt, all the oil they need, foreign exchange customers who must have their products, gold and US treasury reserves, neighbors who will feed them, China as an ally, and worst of all for the US Neocons, Russia is the second largest high tech military manufacturer on the planet (second only to the US). They also have financial options to hasten the fall of financial system....and since we are nailing the Ruple, why shouldn't they do likewise to the US $.
Forget about the UKRAINE.....it is a mess, created by the US Neocons as a staging ground for the containment of Russia. It is bankrupt, corrupt and run by Neo Nazis, who form the bulk of the forces fighting the seperatists. This is a puppet.
So far, Russia has not been drawn into the confrontation the Neo Cons want. Why would they? Ukraine is a black hole for money, with little return. Russia already has the undying affection of the russified Eastern separatist regions....they get whatever economic benefits they can arrange (coal, steel) with this vassel independent Ukraine states, plus a buffer between it and the nazified, european Ukraine.
So what does he have to do, other than prevent NATO troops from crossing into her new buffer states? And that is the problem.
The US Neo-cons want troops on the ground, and you only have to watch the internet to see when Nato put troops into Ukraine to know the shit is going to hit the fan.
Keep money available, lots of it."
+1,000,000
All or nothing:
"The US must achieve its objectives in Central Asia or forfeit its top-spot as the world’s only superpower. This is why US policymakers have embarked on such a risky venture. There’s simply no other way to sustain the status quo which allows the US to impose its own coercive dollar system on the world, a system in which the US exchanges paper currency produced-at-will by the Central Bank for valuable raw materials, manufactured products and hard labor. Washington is prepared to defend this extortionist petrodollar recycling system to the end, even if it means nuclear war....
The Saudi-led insurgency has reversed the direction of the market, put global stocks into a nosedive and triggered a panic in the credit markets. And while the financial system edges closer to a full-blown crisis every day, policymakers in Washington have remained resolutely silent on the issue, never uttering as much as a peep of protest for a Saudi policy that can only be described as a deliberate act of financial terrorism."
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/16/the-oil-coup/
Ever meet some of these policy makers? I'll bet there ain't 10 that even know what's happening
He said policy makers, not talking sock puppets. Bankers, not politicians.
PS - I did not read his link.
Right--the puppet-masters. And for those Hedgers with unavoidable toxic bank exposure, here's a list of the supposedly "safer" ones fwiw. Maybe still a little time left to shuffle.
https://www.gfmag.com/magazine/november-2014/top-50-safest-global-banks-...
"When a financial crash does happen, you can forget about getting immediate access to your money. Brown says, “The banks will say, well, we don’t have it. All the money goes into one big pool since Glass Steagall was repealed. They are allowed to gamble with that money and that’s what they do. I think maybe Bank of America is the most vulnerable because of Merrill Lynch. Everybody is concerned, and they do very risky deals and they are on the edge. I think they have over $50 trillion in derivatives and over $1 trillion in deposits. . . The Dodd-Frank Act says we, the people, are no longer going to be responsible for the big banks when they collapse. It is not clear the FDIC will even be able to borrow from the Treasury, but even if they could, who is going to pay that money back? Let’s say they borrowed $1 trillion. Who is going to pay that $1 trillion back? It will bankrupt all the small banks that had to contribute to this premium. They will say we’re raising your premium to everything you got, basically. Little banks will go out of business, and who is going to survive–the big banks. . . . What we’re going to have left is five big banks, and everybody else is going to be bankrupt.”
http://usawatchdog.com/big-banks-will-take-depositors-money-in-next-cras...
"...The Dodd-Frank Act says we, the people, are no longer going to be responsible for the big banks when they collapse."
My understanding was that Dodd-Frank purported to end TBTF, but doesn't actually do that at all.
Yup. Clearly, the Bank folks own gov and run the show, and no law gets passed they can't stomach (or amend/repeal in due course). Depositors will be left with zero balances and the big boys will just change names, reincorporate, and pass whatever laws suit their future interests. It's always win win for big business where gains are privatised and losses socialised.
Brown believes in USURY.
A fall back per say, but not true reform. Look around, Debt "money" destroys, period.
Harry Dent gave a good talk on the watchdog, and it looks like deflation to me.
For a long time.
A perfect time for us to consider what WE would like to do.
Sustainable economics anyone?
http://www.geoeconomics.wordpress.com
http://www.monetary.org
"What we’re going to have left is five big banks"
Kinda like Canada then eh?
Today I built a faraday cage for a 10kw generator, although the best alternative may be ground zero rather than suffering.
The ZWO pathologicals are going to get us all killed.
At this point, I'm pretty sure about that.
It turns out that the gentlemen is a crank ! And we were supposed to listen to his theories about high finance, CDS and stuff... oh boy.
Fuck Obama, he has no clue what's going on. This is way over his fucking pinhead. He was probably told to go suck off Reggie while the bankster scum go to work.. They'll call him if they need his bony worthless ass
They crank up the teleprompter and haul the teleprompter reader in chief out to address the donkeys.
It works the same way in every western ZWO syndicate central bank occupied country.
Go Putin. Get those banksters jumping for the new year. I'll be in NYC with my camera on new years eve.
you couldn't pay me in gold to go to Times Square on New Years.. prime terrorist/false flag number one.. live tv thousands of deaths. better than a cruise ship elementary school or shopping mall..
I would laugh my ass off if Putin announced tomorrow that he isn't defaulting on Russia's debt, but since so many technical obstacles have been instituted against Russia by the west's Zionist banksters, he just can't pay.
An American, not US subject.
And then instituted "gold-for-BTUs."
"Force Majeure" caused by sanctions and currency manipulations will lead to cut-off of gas. Ooopsie.
Medvedev supposedly told the Ukraine just the other day to pay your f*ing gas bill now. He did not mince words and was deadly serious.
The Ukraine is broke and after this shitshow going on - the Europeans should send the Ukies to Washington, Canada and Australia for the money.
The Z-leaders of Canada and Australia were pathetic the way they treated Putin at that conference.
Exactly. Putin should say " Russia is not defaulting but given the illegal obstacles instituted by the neo Bolsheviks in the US and Europe, Russis will be paying the coupon on out bonds and keeping the proceeds in escrow. Oh.. and those proceeds in escrow will be held in gold bars. Holders can claim their proceeds after a 1 year holding period."
"and those proceeds in escrow will be held in gold bars. Holders can claim their proceeds after a 1 year holding period."
The above scenario is not possible considering the current laws of the Russian Federation.
It would be better if he just says that all gas payments will be halt and now contracts will be sign where 50% must be payed in gold and the rest in ruble and yuan.
Deja Vu
March 24, 1933
Judea Declares War on Germany
Jews All Over the World Unite in Action
- UK Daily Express -
meet your modern day equivalent headline censored for current day political correctness and control by the "Jewish domination of the media" - Oliver Stone
December 16, 2014
Banksters Declare War on Russia
Heroes All Over the World Unite in Action
- TBD -
We all know what happened last time. The same entities that started it then are starting it again now. The world is once again being led down the primrose path as sacrificial lambs to the slaughter. Providing the blood to satiate their weak and pathetic master who is trapped in time and space and rules over nothing more than a speck of glistening sand in the universe
Stay safe MF'ers his minions are ramping this one up fast
But, but Hitler started the war...
http://iamthewitness.com/img/judea_declares_war_Large.png Hitler had only been the leader, Chancellor, of Germany since 30 January, 1933--about 6/7 weeks before Judea declared war on Germany. Hitler did not become dictator until March 23, 1933, the day before Judea declared war on Germany. Judea also launched the first acts of war, sanctions, boycotts, on that day, as seen in the subhead of the 24 March, 1933, Daily Express above. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_boycott_of_German_goods The Germans' response: The Nazi regime protested internationally and on April 1, 1933, organized a (one day) boycott of Jewish businesses in Germany, which was the first of official anti-Jewish acts by the German government. Who fired the first shot of the war? A Jew killed a German diplomat in Paris on 9 November, 1938. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_vom_Rath This murder set off Kristallnacht (Chrystal-Night) in Germany against Jews and their businesses. Not to defend the Nazis, but the whole thing is not as easy-peasy as we were taught in school, is it? An American, not US subject.the jews trying to avoid annihilation
the nerve
dsty, -- the lies.
Watch a Jew director, Billy Wilder, already up and filming the lie at Buchenwald BEFORE the war even ended.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJFvDQwDKFw
Watch as he gives direction to a starving man, pawn, on crutches.
Johnny on the spot he is.
And here is a collection of the numerous historical and modern references to the "6 million," long before and during WWII. "6 million" is actually a mystical reference in the Talmud. So basically, even if the Holocaust were real, the "6 million" number is just made up so the story mystically matches up with the Talmud. "Marketing, baby!"
* http://www.radioislam.org/islam/english/revision/six_million_myth.htm
An American, not US subject.
*"RadioIslam" just happened to have the best collection of "6 million" references I could find on the Internet. I don't know anything about them beyond that.
yes it was all staged
what a sucker
you won't be saying that when the same thing happens in the US
FEMA for the fools
I should have been clearer, they did indeed rob, enslave, and kill many Jews, and many other people and groups as well--"Theft and violence" like all governments. However, there was NO so called Holocaust.
If there were, then they wouldn't have needed, before the war had even ended, to be creating a film in a camp that they knew would soon be off-limits in the Soviet zone of occupation. A film using a Jewish Hollywood director flown in at great expense, instead of some GI that was already there.
I am pro Liberty, and therefore would never defend the crimes of the Nazis, but I do want to have and understand the facts and truth.
An American, not US subject.
I'm not a filmographer, a historian, an economist, or any kind of expert...
Didn't horror films come out near this period??
It seems US kids & Adults have a lot of fear of the unknown. We could attribute it to many things like film, stories, not having a chance to fight, not being actual soldiers (except for a few)... Propaganda about the Hun... fear of not being a man... alcohol, drug addiction or some other mental condition that was present.
Clearly today we see fear run up the flag pole and expounded by G.W. Bush run up to war & B.H. Obama run up on his Agenda.
Well and Conservative Magazines & Radio & TV Shows that like to hold the Republican or National Security Issues being the Cannon of Democracy along with Patriot Act, NDAA restrictions on Individual Rights, Drone Strikes, Torture, Rendition, and Spraying People on street corners with gun fire.
- Since 1945 the Cold War till 1989
- An interim period of decreased investment in MIC
- And then the Announcement of a New War and a New Enemy
- Then an announcement that Veterans & Fundamentalists were the new Enemy... along with Minorities, Alcoholics, Criminals, Welfare Recipients, former prisoners, drug abusers, those with mental problems, and those with a history of depression... and we are not quiet sure yet about people that attend sports arena games...
Brits and Americans killed far more inoocent Japanese and German civilians than Hitler did -even if you believe the 6 million Holohoax numbers --Dresden, hamburg, Tokyo, Horoshima, Nagasaki to name a few - firebombing and nukes - nice painful, agonizing deaths for most -of course we napalmed and murdered over 5 million civilians in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts - but of course no one knows that -because the criminal pyschopaths are in control and write history.
There is actually a opinion that one of the motivations for the rapid creation of the Holocaust myth was to deflect the Germans, and the rest of the world, from the war-crimes of the allies. Sort of hide behind a wall of shame directed at the Germans.
An American, not US subject.
bullshit -they provoked and started WW2 -they also dragged us into the war -on the wrong side.
So Putin thought he could put up with the big boys!! : ) ) !! Russia does not have industries capable of handling their internal market, they rely heavily on imports. They can't grow food enough to feed their people so they rely on imports. Their banks rely also on borrowing money from foreign markets. But Putin thought OIL would save them. Everybody needs oil....right? Yep...it is right but the price of OIL is set by America not the Saudis or anybody else. We spend billions keeping our army on strategic countries ( oil rich) because of situations like the one we are seen right now. Strategic control of oil producing countries means that you can set the price as it pleases you. Poor Putin!! The bear severely underestimated the power of the eagle.
Americans got sold out by Congress the other night. You are no better than illegal aliens and you have no redress. Your military stood by and let it happen. You are a coward.
Russia is a large grain exporter, not importer. It can more than feed itself.
If the 5mbpd of oil that Russia exports goes off line, anybody who thinks that they control the price of oil will find that they are utterly wrong.
Cut off from banksters is a good thing. The Russian people need to respond and shake the shackles of their own central bank. Because of U.S. debt the blowback is far more dangerous than anything towards Russia.
So it's a red swan.
I was under the impression that only 15% of Russia's economic output is for exports.
So tell me again why this forex is so important?
USSA all-in. EU ???
Just turn off the lights in Europe Vlad.
Then Obama shuts off the food supply to Russia. Checkmate
Then Putin cuts off the caviar supply to the West.
Putin takes your queen, dudeface.
And the EU still getting gas from Russia? As I am not a skilled chess player, I can not help but think there are still moves for Putin to make even if it at the expense of gas to the EU. But what do I know.
He can demand gas payments 50% on gold, 25% rubles and 25% on yuan.
Since it TPTB are forcing Russia to go all in, Putin may as well strike first. Take out NYC and Washington DC (nuclear launches from submarines... tick tock tick tock, you have 5 minutes, barely enough time to snort that last line of coke before you are vaporized). In the ensuing chaos, take out the EU...
Game set match, world ends not with a whimper, but multiple radioactive bangs...
Standard Disclaimer: I, for one, welcome our new tardigrade overlords.
Or simply in anything but USDs. Euros, Rubles, Yuan, it doesn't matter, so long as it's not USDs. Or, if he thinks that Russia can stick it out until the low oil prices start causing problems with US frackers, he can wait. Or he could tack a surcharge on of X% for oil and gas purchased with USDs, but waive that surcharge when purchased with something else. This particular time is financially very dangerous for both countries.
Maybe in the next contract. The current contract will have to run its course first. There is a Force Majeure clause, but it probably needs a hotter war to kick in.
You only need access to Western 'liquidity' if you intend to roll over your debt - which just happens to be held by Western banks. But if you default on the debt held by Western banks, then who is hurt more -- Russian companies or Western banks?
And whenever Goldman says they are doing something -- it usually means that they are doing the exact opposite! Do you really think that Goldman is going to NOT try to make a profit from Russian energy companies?
Default for USD and UE loans is the master stroke for Russian independence. Honoring Asian loans continues.
This is also the event that TPTB will point to as having caused the complete meltdown.
Look! The Russians did it! They reneged on their financial obligations. THEY are the cause of the collapse!
"You only need access to Western 'liquidity' if you intend to roll over your debt - which just happens to be held by Western banks. But if you default on the debt held by Western banks, then who is hurt more -- Russian companies or Western banks?"
The old adage comes to my mind. It goes something like this:
Now, how many hundreds of billions of dollars do Russians owe to the E.U./U.S./Canadian/Australian/Japanese etc. banks? Here is the answer. At the end of 2013, Russians owed 732 billion USD to foreign banks according to this article. It looks to me that the neocons are hell bent to cause a global financial meltdown...
"Gee, we'd love to pay back your USD - but as you've frozen us out of your dollar payments system, I guess that means you don't want us to.
What's that? You want some oil? Sure thing! We're selling oil at only a twentieth of an ounce of gold per barrel; yes, I'm afraid we only take physical (bitchez)"
“If prices fall any further, it would seem that most of the entire shale edifice must of necessity crumble to the ground. And that will cause an absolute earthquake in the financial world, because someone supplied the loans the whole thing leans on. An enormous amount of investors have been chasing high yield, including many institutional investors, and they’re about to get burned something bad….. if oil keeps going the way it has lately, the Fed may instead have to think about bailing out the big Wall Street banks once again."
From the Counterpunch article. linked by another poster.
So, does the west have the balls to keep this up, this oil price crash, when counter parties are lined up like at a firing squad execution. The USA is not immune here. They are 18 trillion in debt. Russia is at 16% of GDP debt level today. America still borrows 2 dollars for every one it spends. ZIRP for years! QE for years! Banks still on a knife edge!
How about this too. "
“There’s ‘no question’ that for energy companies with a riskier debt profile the high-yield debt market “is essentially shut down at this stage,”
The middle east sheikswho control the excess oil supply are now under control of the west?
Low oil prices beneft all importers. Are there more oil imports nto the west or are those western contries considered oil exporters?
So, can the west allow Russia and Saudi to battle it out with low prices in bidding low to supply fuel for their populations? Sure they can.
Counterpunch presents views from an alternative universe. Not just alternative views/
So the frackers who were selling junk bonds when oil was $100/bbl are going to stay in business at $55/bbl? Riiiiiight.
They're going to blow up the bond markets if prices don't start going back up. Since a lot of the $$ levitating stocks came from companies selling junk bonds for stock buybacks, they're going to crash the stock market and fuck up the companies that were doing this. Then there's the $230 trillion in derivatives US banks are exposed to. CDSs anybody? Interest rate derivatives anybody? I'd love to see what is being used to "hedge" what there.
The frackers aren't all over extended. Just a week ago Triangle's credit facility was expanded. As long as we see some of these getting credit lines, all,is,good. But if that dries up, look out. Willingness of banks to lend is the canary with oils, always.
Obama Official: "We're going to kill the dollar."
Bath House: "After I have more flexibility."
The Time is Now.
Banks and corps sell tbonds for liquidity?
Sovereigns sell for liquidity?
More than safety buyers?
I don't think it's about having the balls to keep this up, I think it has to do more with bankers and politicians not knowing shit from shinola when it comes to physics, the hubris of believing that they could not lose, being backed into a corner by their own dumb financial policies, some serious stupidity, and another big heaping of hubris.
"Last economy to collapse is a rotten banker!"
The German trade with Russia, an important export market in Germany's export economy, just pegged at ZERO! That is an instant loss of 100,000 high paying jobs, with many more to come as it unwinds. The knock on support and service jobs behind several hundred thousand high paying jobs will also go with in months.
300,000 direct jobs in German firms exporting to Russia.
Include indirect jobs and you're probably going to add 50,000 morre jobs on the line in addition to the 300,000 direct jobs.
It's madness that Germany appears to be sitting idly by as a major export market moves away.
6000+ german companies operating in russia!
225 Billion Euros 2013 Imports into EU from Russia
125 Billion Euros 2013 Exports by EU into Russia
100 Billion Surplus for Russia from biggest Trading Partner
FUCK THE EU!
China is very very smart and knows if the Fascista DC/Military/Financial USSA take down Mother Russia deh be NEXTEN!
Ive been watching for years, this is the beginning of the end
Not just War, Pestilence & famine.
- Currency Wars
- Embargo Wars
- Trade Wars
- Economic or Financial Wars
- Proxy Wars
- War on Drugs
- War on Terror
- War on people that use legal or illegal drugs
- War on Losers, Debtors, uneducated, unskilled, old, Fixed income, welfare recipients
Access for the Privileged, Immunity for the Wealthy & Elite, Waivers & Protection for kids of the higher class from the requirements of war, defense, and order.
when sanctions first began, XOM said they were okay because their contracts with rosneft had all been signed prior. happily champagne flowed. then sanctions were reworded and XOM as well as other companies, BP and Chevron, had to pack up and head home. i've always wondered how much XOM told putin about what was coming. because clearly someone told XOM to come home right now...and it's not really a tradition in UK or US that govt tells oil what to do. it's possible putin began to read tea leaves back in march.
This is really strange. This whole mess is not good for anyone. It is hurting
1. Big and medium sized German companies
2. American and European banks
3. American oil companies
You have to wonder what is going on in the background. Maybe big oil wants the frackers dead. Maybe the USA Congress American Serfdom law passed the other night had the $300 trillion derivatives backstop for what is happening.
Russia is now the toothless tiger since the oil card has been pulled out of its mouth. Putin is a sick moron about to choke on "tartar pies" and either give up or be taken out by his "buddies". The Chinese could care less about Russia with 150 million people with little imoort money in return for cutting off trade with the rest of the world. They know Russia will have to sell them oil and they can name their price. Later Russia will be a tasty "Tibet" style morsal to gobble pieces from and who is Russia going to call for help? Ghost Busters are busy with another remake.
@ theeseer You're still pissed from hearing my ballbags play a 'gentlemen's excuse me' on your daughter's arse cheeks.
Russia will not collapse
says so in a book
Winston is right
they are doing this to try to stop the big punch
just gonna make the punch harder
after the dust settles the border lines will be redrawn
Obama may be more sinister than u could imagine
"unexpected" geopoolitical incident
Here is what Russia has in it's insurance policy. According to a recent Swiss Bank study, the latest study as of today, that is!
"
"According to calculations (September 2014) by the BND the currency reserves of Moscow would have been approximately 22'622 billion rubles (619 billion $)."$619 Billion US Green Fiat Dollars. Using these to buy discounted rubles and bringing rubels home, is that a bad idea as the ruble falls. The discount is growing huge, and the dollar has been on a long run up. Never a better time to pick up hundreds of billions of dollars of devalued rubles and take them home. Or does Green Paper still hold it's luster. You have to believe the USA did what it did sensing a war on the dollar already underway in a small way. We are crushing our domestic oil industry in this play, would we do that on a whim? No, I think not, this is big boy time, the US is engaged in this for fear of what was coming for the Green Ass Wipe they pass off as a store of real value. Printable to infinity, yet called a reserve world currency.
The one scenario that will cause a sell off of treasuries?
JB, someone, anyone, tell me that my favorite ride may be coming to an end?
When the world stops trading together, tbond goes down?
USTs could very well see a temporary boon when shit starts to go south. People will flock to "safety," which they are conditioned to belive is USTs. If the USG starts stealing retirement accounts, this could also lower UST yields. USTs being having super low yields (even by today's standards) could, in fact, be a sign that the end is near.
Remember our Oligarchs selling stocks and moving into Gold?
Maybe someone should investigate for Racketeering and Inside Info... Big guys don't get hurt on the US side like the little guys, households, and Pension Funds.
But I know nothing about Oil Exposure. Maybe the most corrupt Oligarchs in Oil are the ones getting hurt. Russia seized their Oil in the last 15 years or so since 1989. Saudis should not be able to continue as they have a reputation for having a lot of princes with big spending habits. Iran no clue here. South America, don't think USA has any big love for them maybe Ecuador sent it's gold to USA to secure a credit line for this event. Shell, BP, Exxon, Chevron, Total... would think they are in the circle.
What was otherwise an extremely shitty day with 145 children killed in Pakistan and the attempted engineered destruction by the West of the Ruble a joyous ray of hope!
To the German people frohe Weihnachten!
Throw this EU whore out of office with a vote of confidence check, dump the EU and the Euro and throw the fucking yanks and their hardware off your land for good for 70 years of occupation!
[Enter China solus]
China
They bought and paid for his soul decades ago.
Obama has a soul?
Didn't he donate it to the Harvard School of Medicine?
Well, he wasn't using it, and it didn't fit anymore.
Time to watch "From Russia With Love" again.
I prefer Dr. Zhivago.
Keep in mind, to whom it may concern, Russians are VERY resourceful.....
There's only one course of action left for Putin: "invade Ukraine again".
Edit: obviously my humour wasn't noticed by 9 red downers :-(.
So, would I be correct to assume it is buyer's market for the Russian hotties like they show in the ads? But more importantly, is it safe to fall asleep before they do?
you can fall asleep, just don't plan on waking up!
0bama says "Mr Gorbachev, Put Back This Wall!"
Yats is working on it.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f05_1418579822
Must be interesting time over at BP, which owns(ed) a chunk of Rosneft.
Same for Exxon, Chevron, yada yada and their longer term contracts.
One way or another the Spice must flow.
I think if nothing else it tells Russia and China they must band together and issue a new SWIFT paradigm and henceforth everything by and for the BIS/EU/Fed is now permanently realitivized.
If trade war on I would not want to be a western company man hanging around Mockba in the coming weeks.
This is like the police pepper spraying themselves. Hey I want cut off from the NWO banking system too. Whatta I gotta do.
Bitcoin Last Price $331
I see how ZH crowd of contrarians are still unwilling to drop their preconceived notions about dollar dominated world, and open their eyes to new reality.
The ruble value is not collapsing vs. USD, but other way around. What we witness, is acceleration of de-dollarization process. Mighty dollar is going out of circulation as dominant trade and soon as reserve currency.
Western run FX exchange rates are responding to lack of supply of dollar trades out of multitude of currencies in Middle east, Europe, S. America, Mexico, Russia, China etc. It means that volume of conversion trades to dollar crumples either due to collapse of economic demand for global trade or introduction of direct currency swap or both.
Dollar is now harder to find at FX, since it is out the door of global trade, so one needs to pay extra to get dollars by converting its national currency. In near future dollar will be more and more scarce, but less and less needed, until it leaves circulation as a carrier of significant trade and investment volume. It is simple market failure just, speculation induced market failure at this point, limited only to FX since 17 trillions of freshly printed by Fed dollars other ocean of dollar denominated assets/instruments are frozen in N.Y. and are not going near FX exchanges. Otherwise we may have seen $60 to a ruble.
The inevitable but stable de-dollarization process should take decades, but NeoCon geopolitical madness ushering the progress, which will surely unleash collapse of dollar as world, including US allies turn away. Historically, this means war.
Well let's not forget the black market or Cons against gullible Americans in the USA as a motive in addition to the US Monopoly on Oil Trading Currency.
Even today conservative Radio host with huge market share is quoting official government statistics on Jobs. I don't listen often, but don't think he ever quotes figures for the Black market labor, black market consumption by Illegals, or looks at inflation in terms of what we all need like Trade School, University & shelter.
- US has the most easily tapped consumers in the world (richest maybe in that sense)
- US Property is a monopoly
- US Business opportunity is a kind of monopoly
- Careers in Finance, Real Estate, Insurance, Luxury Sales, Book sales, Product Sales
- Military Goods
Lots of reasons for people to want the USD.
- Large Market for Coke, Heroin, Exstacy, Pot, Hookers
- Lots of people gamble, play bingo, play Lotto
- Lots of Sales to people interested in Eastern Religions
- Many Ethnic Sales, Grocery, Trinkets, Global Market Place
- Military Sales
Clearly many pressures building, people have other options that buying USD, but today who knows the power of US Empire?
There's no precedent for this. This is an external and involuntary demonetization of a currency.
Can't wait for banks to report Russian assets. Mark it zero!
The danger here is we leave Putin only one way out. What happens when they can't buy food. I'll answer the question. War.
Yes war, I am sure they have something in mind
maybe they will use the pitbull N Korea for something really crazy
can't say it wasn't provoked
...seems like he's stockpiling gold. Would you take gold for food?
This is unprecendented. You may not like the other presidents or puppets but Reagan, Carter, Bush, Clinton, JFK or Bush 2 would never have let this spin out of control.
The media says nothing though I do not watch TV.
vlad knows 9 time zones , underground everything , superior orbital/nuke tech and element of surprise make vlad the prevailer.
Nukes leave no prevailer. Anywhere, except maybe roaches.
well, the bet on west side is they do - them. why shouldn't vlad think same?
If the US military is going to step in and check the usurper's papers - this is about the time before things get really bad.
Nice pun, wonder who else caught it.
I'm pale.
Mr. Putin knows West wants a war more than him and this is a pleasure he's not going to give it.
If Mr. Putin was loosing this war the West wouldnt been talking about more sanctions.
If your army is winning a war do they stop advancing? WTF kinda retard logic is this?
invalide id.
do you know anything about history?
did mr. napoleon stop? did mr. hitler?
but - this time it's different. we are smarter and stronger. russian bear going to shave himself.
i will put it in stupid american terms:
if your quarterback is losing and has thrown 2 interceptions, does he go for the running game, and not throw that third interception?
etc.
we think we can win everything. we attack. we do not understand diplomacy.
we are losing, real big time. we are losing, if for no other reason, it will be seen that there was NO reason for all of this, by the entire world. they already know. they already see it. but - they are too afraid still of the perverse ugly bully to say anything.
only putin has had the courage to say no to robbery.
i am ashamed at what this country is doing, at home, and abroad.
Yes, but what color would you like your shackles to be? You said it yourself that you accept the bankster shit sandwich because, "they won a long time ago". Maybe they will hit your prostate and give a modiCUM of pleasure before tossing your bitch ass aside. I won't sell my kids out as you would....
A fancy tune to watch the crash/false flag event/warmongering by:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ljy6PTbX9I
Back the Ruble with Gold.
He cannot do that right now there is not enough gold for that.
If they backed the ruble with gold, they would immediately find themselves out of gold. I think this would be a good time for Obama to back off sanctions and de-escalate things. The current situation will end badly and the Russian people will despise the west even more than they do already. Back off and go have some talks about mutual good will, economic cooperation and such. End the economic war.
Putin can back the ruble with gold -- declaring some portion of its value tied to gold -- but he does not have to make it convertible to gold nor set up any type of true gold standard. The Swiss were moving toward something along these lines where 20% of their outstanding currency would be held by the Central Bank in gold.
Ever think this was Obamas plan all along? He knew he could not cripple the USA militarily, so Obama will destroy the USA economically. Think about it, 10 trillion new debt added in 6 years. I can not even wrap my head around that number.
Nope, it would be drained...
"Russia Crisis Hits Pimco Fund, Wipes Out Options as Ruble Sinks"
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-16/russia-crisis-hits-pimco-fund-w...
"Unintended" consequences?
Funny how an article telling us about the crashing Russian economy ends us with the Russians winning and the end of the Petro Dollar. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you guys, unless the Libertarian movement in the US takes a strong hold in the next election cycle... The Petro Dollar will be in place when your grand kids are working to pay off the debt.
The worlds most powerful, richest, sociopath motherfuckers... They won a long time ago. Not Putin nor 10 Asians in nice suits can do a fucking thing to change it. You're fucked, I'm fucked, our kids are fucked. Deal with it and act accordingly.
The USA had a major election a few weeks agoi and two weeks later the US House and Senate Republicans sold out Americans.
They gave standing Zio-O's to Porky speaking in front of Congress. They voted almost 100% in unison to start a war with Russia over the Ukraine coup the US created.
"Energoblokada Europe: " Russia from January 1, introduces pay for gas and oil to Europe only in rubles "http://politobzor.net/show-39361-energoblokada-evropy-rossiya-s-1-yanvar...
no it won't
empires come and go
decadence before the fall
nothing too big to fall
wonder what N Korea is threatening to do?
Maybe it is not so silly after all
Christmas present from angry asian?
If you hit the lead dog
the pack turns on him
Financial terrorism by the Neocons and private central banks.
WTF...?
I thought Zero Hedgers didn't like mainstream media reports like the Wall Street Journal, instead preferring to rely upon cryptic websites, uncredentialed individuals, word of mouth and the like?
You are obviously enjoying yourself. Well, this is the outcome that western globalists and neocon nationalists have been working toward. So it is timeto gloat.
Putin knows no more about the way global finance workks than any other head of state. I just wonder why he didn't think -and no one made the offer- to review the Soros run on the pound, or the first oill crisis of 1973. This is a good illustration why "old men" are a precious and often overlooked resources. They were young once; and some of them were young and living through each of these crises.
In the case of the pound, attempts to defend it against Soros -with his insider trading knowledge, and the backing of the world's deepest pockets- were pointless. Freezing the exchange of the pound for other currencies, limiting exchanges only between buyers and sellers of goods for international trade, was considered an admission of defeat. But it would also have left Soros with a lot of shorts against the pound and no place to put them.
In thecase of oil, Kissinger and Witteveen convinced Saudi Arabia that investing their dollars, earned from the sale of oi,l into accounts at the central banks and major commercial banks of the West would assure that the western world could loan money back to those who had just paid those egregious prices (at the time) for the Saudi oil, and could therefore stay in business and could pass the higher costs through the world's economies (and continue to be able to buy more oil).
Since this is a currency + oil crisis, there are lessons that should have been drawn from the way these two crises were handled. Unfortunately for Russia -and certainly for other countries eventually- both the study of- and the understanding of history is not a popular avocation for politicians, nor for bankers, economists, or journalists for that matter.
USA is forcing Russia to accelerate it's new SWIFT/currency plans, not on Russia's terms.
USA is assuming this will happen, thus if an action is inevitable force it on your time frame not theirs.
Gives the USA a little bit more leverage, but if the Sino-Russo BRICS currency arises from this it may prove to be the USA's final miscalculation.
Gotta give the Yanks credit - they play for keeps and they play rough.
There are NO real YANKS involved HERE HERE AND HERE.
THE Vichy DC NeoCon slime filth with ZERO TO LOSE AS THE VAULTS ARE EMPTY BAR SOME HP Photocopiers.
This is about prolonging the PONZI and Global Slavery
This could give Putin the incentive to cut Russia out of the banking mafia's network completely. High risk for him personally I imagine but the knock on effects of the banking mafia world wide might be entertaining.
so what time is it on the doomsday clock?
2 minutes to midnight? maybe 1?
have we ever been this close?
i think we we may now be closer to the abyss than cuba in the 60`s...
i didn`t think we would come back around to this,not in my lifetime anyways.
guess i should have known better.
all bets are off now, stay safe, stay aware and watch everything from here on out, there might be much warning but paying close attention to details nationally and local might just tip you off to when it becomes imparitive to pull up stakes and get the hell out of dodge.
and if you happen to live near a naval base or any large military installation you might want to throw caution to the wind and leave now.
as always hedge accordingly
its all quite simple . think about it u.s. declares financial war on russia. uses saudi arabia to screw the oil price. now if u are russia what would u do . i know what i would do
Is Zero Hedge possibly the greatest compendium of conspiracies under a single Internet domain?
It's quite an accomplishment!
Yep, you caught us AP. Becasue here the whole time it was us setting the London spot Fix. Everyone knows it is we are the ones who sets that market. We set the forex exchange rate too and set central bank policy. We like to destroy economies and ruin peoples lives. Yeah we did all of it. We like to start wars that end blowing up wedding parties and killing children. Yeah, that was us. We like taxpayer funded bailouts too so we took all of the freshly printed money and stashed it in the Cayman Islands.
And now we have dispatched an agent to your location to make you disappear. I am sorry about that but you won't shut your mouth.
The compendium at Zero Hedge is the real Belgium buyer. Among other notable achievements that must remain a mystery to you, for obvious reasons.
Stability was always the watchword of Vladimir Putin’s presidency, and for more than a decade it rang true. Ever since he came to power in 2000, Putin presented himself as the antidote to what Russians call the “wild 90s,” the decade of economic upheaval that culminated in the crash of 1998. The high price of oil, and the fortunes it brought the Russian petrostate, has since allowed Putin to keep his promise of prosperity and economic growth. But this week the myth of Putin the Stabilizer collapsed, along with the value of the national currency.
Driven down by a six-month plunge in the price of oil, the ruble lost about a quarter of its value against the dollar in the first two days of this week, its steepest fall since the crash of 1998, when Russia defaulted on its debt. The central bank took drastic measures to avoid the risk of another default on Monday night, hiking interest rates from 10.5% to 17% in a desperate attempt to make Russians keep their rubles in the bank instead of spending them on foreign currency. But it came too late. The rate hike, also the steepest since 1998, only managed to forestall the collapse of the ruble for about 10 minutes when markets opened on Tuesday morning.
Putin, meanwhile, kept his head in the sand. Reporters who called his spokesman with questions about the ruble’s fall were told to call the prime minister or the cabinet, as though the economy was not the President’s concern. The most notable item on the Kremlin’s website on Tuesday was a presidential order to prepare a “fundamental” history of the region of Crimea, which Putin annexed from Ukraine this spring. Though it was hardly a tonic for the national economy, this decree hinted at Putin’s plan for riding out the storm.
The annexation of Crimea, which drove Putin’s approval ratings to record highs this year, is still the main pillar propping up his popularity. But that is not likely to remain the case, according to Lev Gudkov, head of Russia’s leading independent pollster, the Levada Center. “The more people are connected to the market economy, the more critical they are of the rhetoric and demagoguery of our President,” Gudkov wrote in an analysis published on Tuesday. By spring, he predicted, public discontent would reach down to the poorest and least educated segments of the population, as economic realities they see all around them stand in ever-starker contrast to the rosy picture presented on Russian state TV.
The government admitted as much on Tuesday. “We are ending the year with 15.7 million poor people nationwide,” said Olga Golodets, the deputy prime minister in charge of social affairs. “And in the context of inflation their numbers will inevitably grow, especially among families with children,” she told a meeting of officials and social workers.
That’s a startling prospect for a nation that has seen a steady decline in the poverty rate since Putin came to power. But when the cabinet held an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the ruble crisis, the ministers failed to come up with any concrete measures to prevent the economy from sinking into a deep depression next year. Already there is talk of Russia being forced to introduce capital controls, or imposing restrictions on foreign trading to make it harder to sell off rubles. That might be enough to save the economy, but it would damage domestic firms and outrage the business elites who have been among Putin’s closest supporters.
As the recession takes hold, the state’s most reliable means of deflecting public outrage will, as usual, involve blaming the West. So far pro-Kremlin news outlets have tended to avoid blaming the fall in the oil price on some kind of American conspiracy, but Putin will be tempted to offer the public such fables as the economy continues to sink. “This is the only answer,” says Kirill Petrov, chief analyst at Minchenko Consulting, a Kremlin-connected political advisory firm. “This line would be effective, at least in the short term.”
Still, the Kremlin seems to recognize that, in the longer term, it cannot continue its struggle with the West over Ukraine without piling ever more strain on the Russian economy. That much has been clear from Putin’s softer tone toward Ukraine during the recent drop in the ruble’s value. On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov even denied that Moscow has “any difficulties” in its dialogue with Ukrainian leaders, and his American counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry, said the same day that Russia has been making “constructive moves” toward resolving the Ukrainian conflict.
It’s not likely to be enough to persuade the U.S. to ease the pressure on Russia’s economy. Indeed, President Barack Obama is expected later this week to sign a bill piling more sanctions on Russian state companies and businessmen. That may provide fresh ammunition for Putin’s anti-American rhetoric, but it could worsen what is already a dire economic situation at home. And if the president continues trying to dismiss those problems as the necessary price of his foreign policy, the core promise of stability that he made to his people upon taking power will crumble along with his country’s currency. At this rate of economic decline, the “wild 90s” could wind up feeling tame in comparison with what’s to come.