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Russia Is Taking Full Advantage Of Greek Crisis
Submitted by Nick Cunningham via OilPrice.com,
With Greece’s debt situation spiraling downwards, the European project is showing some cracks. The July 5 referendum could amount to a vote on whether or not Greece stays in the euro.
In the meantime, the turmoil offers an opportunity for Russia to advance its interests. Of course, the EU is an absolutely critical trading partner for Russia, so if the bloc starts to fray at the seams, that presents financial risks to an already struggling Russian economy. Russia’s central bank governor Elvira Nabiulllina warned in June of the brewing threat that a Greek default would have on Russia. “We do consider that scenario as one of possible risks which would increase turbulence in the financial markets in the European market, bearing in mind the fact the European Union is one of major trading partners, and we are definitely worried by it,” she said in an interview with CNBC.
With the economic fallout in mind, Russia does see strategic opportunities in growing discord within Europe. First, Russia is pushing its Turkish Stream Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline that it has proposed that would run from Russia through Turkey and link up in Greece. From there, Russian gas would travel on to the rest of Europe. Russia is vying against a separate pipeline project that would send natural gas from the Caspian Sea through Turkey and on to Europe.
In mid-June, Alexis Tsipras met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Russia and Greece signed a memorandum following the meeting to push the project forward. Russia’s energy minister Alexander Novak emphasized that Gazprom would not own the section of the pipeline on Greek territory, a crucial fact that avoids heavy antitrust scrutiny from EU regulators.
With an eye on the looming default, Russia agreed to finance the project, and Greek officials portrayed the project as economic assistance amidst its ongoing debt crisis.
The pipeline remains in limbo. Despite Russian insistence that construction could begin in 2016 and be completed by 2019, the 2 billion euro project does not have firm commitments from Turkey, and it also still faces opposition within Europe, which is trying to wean itself off of Russian gas.
But with Greece’s debt crisis hitting new lows, there remains the possibility that Russia could come to Greece’s aid if the latter starts to pull away from Europe. And Greece has tried to use a potential turn towards Russia as leverage in talks with Europe.
To be sure, a Russian bailout for Greece is probably not in the cards, given Russia’s own financial troubles. And both Russian and Greek officials stressed that they did not discuss direct financial assistance when they met in June. Still, there are mutual benefits for both Russia and Greece in highlighting their relationship.
Another way that Russia may be benefitting from the unravelling of Greece is the fact that the attention of European officials and the media have been diverted away from Gazprom’s latest maneuver in Ukraine. The Russian company cut off gas supplies to Ukraine, citing a pricing dispute. Gazprom slashed the discount that it provided to Ukraine for importing its gas, and without prepayment upfront from Ukraine, the Russian company has stated it will not supply gas.
That is not the first instance in which Russia has turned off the taps, having done so in 2006 and 2008 as well. Russia cited pricing disputes in those cases as well. But those prior events also took place during a brutally cold winter, leaving parts of Eastern Europe to freeze. The message was clear: fall in line, or we will cut off your energy supplies.
Of course, that sparked outrage in European capitals, leading to calls for greater European energy security. But after years of little progress, the conflict in Ukraine in 2014 kicked of a new era of icy relations between Russia and Europe, and renewed calls for energy independence from Russia.
One would think that Russia once again cutting of gas flows to Ukraine would certainly raise howls across Europe, but the Greek crisis is sucking all of the air out of the room and crowding out media attention. The fact that the latest incident took place during summer and not winter helped damp down a European reaction, and Russia was careful to insist that Europe would not be affected. But the incident has passed with much less of a reaction than one might have thought.
There are huge financial risks to Russia from chaos in the Eurozone, and the longer the crisis drags out the more likely there could be economic fallout for Russia. But Putin no doubt sees a silver lining in collapsing European unity.
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Russia the savior of Europe.
Like the joke about the Chinese monk.....
We'll see.....
"Hey, Greece: How about a toke from this gas pipe?"
According to Sputnik, Greece wants to join the BRICS bank: http://sputniknews.com/business/20150707/1024307785.html
"But after years of little progress, the conflict in Ukraine in 2014 kicked of a new era of icy relations between Russia and Europe, and renewed calls for energy independence from Russia."
And all of it so unnecessary. US neocons - what a bunch of asshats.
USA is the bully of Earth.
Israel = world's foremost sponsor of terrorism.
Russia the saviour of the world you mean
Russia cut off gas to Ukraine after Ukraine cut off gas to Donbass and Crimea, as well as water to Crimea. Poro the zino chocolate clown was gloating about Donbas children shivering in basements, unable to go to school for fear of being blown up.
Russia has not cut off gas to Ukraine. The contact requires Ukraine to pay up front. Ukraine has not paid for any gas, so none has been supplied.
"But Putin no doubt sees a silver lining in collapsing European unity."
Other than the EU elite and a handful of bankers and globalists, who doesn't see a silver lining in the collapse of the EU?
me, but maybe you could count me as a globalist. ( not sure what that means )
I did not downvote you. However, in my mind, a globalist is someone who believes that national sovereignty is so 1900s and the world would be better off ruled by global bureaucrats controlled by bankers and transnational companies, much like the EU now and that proposed by the TPP and TTIP. (Other definitions welcome)
You may not like it, but your grandchildren likely will.
ok, no am not really a globalist.
I was only thinking about the formation of a confederation of USA and EU, headquartered in London, you see.
Question is, do we need a Brexit in such a scenario or not ? Maybe better to keep Britain as a seperate entity ?
So, you're a TTIP guy, huh?
To be sure, you can get the American elite to go along with this idea but I don't believe the majority of Americans will put up with it and for sure not if the capital is in London. You might get something like that, however, if the US makes its puppet Europe the 51st state. Would that make you happy?
oh, so the negotiations have begun ? Cool !
51 st state ?! I will call a referendum !
No, seriously, a confederation of equals is my generous offer to America.
London as headquarters. Further details to be worked out.
Can we agree on this little ?
"Can we agree on this little ? "
I will call a referendum!
On second thought....no. But, again, I'm sure there are many in America who would love the idea. It will not be pleasant to accomplish.
You are blowing hot and cold. Like a real politician.
Not pleasant to accomplish ? It is about creating a certain international order, sorely lacking as we speak : Greece, Ukraine, Syria, Nigeria, Iraq, Yemen,Libya, Israel-Palestine,USA ;-) etc.
Anyhow, give the idea a rest. (for now)
Not blowing at all...just having a pleasant conversation about a ludicrous idea. The world doesn't need an international order, it needs the former (and present) colonists to show respect for other nations and cultures.
The rest of the world might resist the former colonists banning together and forcing its version of an international "order." And well they should.
Maybe you can understand order as peace. "The world doesn 't need an international order" becomes more dubious then.
Of course there is a self-interest here, too.
I will be happy to hear your alternative.
Will the nations who are not willing to join this confederation be allowed to coexist outside of it? ...peacefully?
Will I be free to voice dissenting views and protest actions that I feel are not in my best interest without recourse?
If I am Japanese and want to restrict immigration, will that be allowed?
There are thousands of questions like this that you can not answer because answering them truthfully would stifle any serious discussions on the topic.
Someone may well achieve this in the future but it will not be without the heavy use of force and tremendous loss of life. Are you willing to live in your world of "peace" knowing that you advocated killing millions - perhaps billions - to achieve it? Would you feel snug, secure, and righteous in such a world?
The only way to peace is through peace. America and Europe can begin the process by leading by example. Stop the wars. Stop the economic terrorism. Stop the diplomatic strong-arming. Stop taking away people's freedoms. Allow each nation to abide by their own laws, use their natural resources for their own benefit, and trade freely - or not - with whomever they wish. And the same for each individual. Start there, then we'll see what happens.
thank you for your thoughts.
Are you Japanese ? Sorry I thought you were American.
I was thinking about a political confederation between EU and USA, on the basis of a voluntary agreement.
You are an ideologue, starting from an ideal that doesn 't look bad on paper. But is it not impossible for everything to all of a sudden conform to that ? Maybe it is good to be more pragmatic, i.e. what is a next possible step ? And then, based on the effects, decide what the next step could be.
Reconsidering the problems I mentioned above and the role of the confederation : not sure the confederation could or should solve all these problems, but it could change a lot.
Very tired now. Will have to order my own thoughts again, later. It seems I have to scale down my "ambitions" a bit :-)
sorry, no confederation of USA and EU for me!!! No way. We are already fed up here with our stupid tyrannical centre in Brussels. And many of us are already sick of the USA ambassador commanding us. We must go back to the old ways: each nation state for its own. Otherwise, we will only get a lot of bloodshed and revolutions. The blood is already boiling here in EU against the USA tyranny. Germans are also already shouting: Ami go home. Ami go home. We need to break the Anglo-Saxon hegemony, it is stiffling all creativity, all development, everything. We had such great traditions, culture - all gone for the sake of the Anglo-Saxon. The Western world has become a very uniform, stupid and bleak "Americanised" image, where the most important thing are department stores, money and money again. This is not enough for survival of the Western civilisation. I would rather move to Russia, poor or not, at least they have kept their own identity, their own traditions, they remained themselves - unconquered. I prefer that to all the riches of the world. There is no real freedom in being enslaved by money and uniform globalist culture. No freedom at all. I would rather have the poverty, like in Russian villages, but freedom - not much rules for anything, no nany state to take care of you, you can grow your own food and be quite happy. A little bit like the life in the old Wild West - it was hard but oh so sweet and free. Here, the happy Russians: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1L6arKU8_4
thank you for your comments.
Are you German ?
Note that I am in favor of the removal of all US troops from European territory.
A confederation is a voluntary agreement between equals that either side can decide to step out of. We would have to think about a way to make it a bit stable though.
We have to think about a way to integrate Russia as well.
I have sympathy for people who want to live a calm life in a village. But I think you will always be part of some form of hierarchy. I take it you would not live in a completely self-sufficient way without having to buy anything from the outside world ?
"I was only thinking about the formation of a confederation of USA and EU, headquartered in London, you see."
Cool! We'll call it, oh, I dunno - how about Oceana*?
I think that we have always been at war with Eurasia though. Or is it Eastasia? In my waning years I find it so hard to keep up.
Oh, wait - time for my two minutes. I'll be right back.
* with some tweaking, of course.
How about Atlantis ?
Your grandchildren will like it because they'll be told to like it.
Victors write the History books = Bankers will write the history books.
The rest will be burned, as hate speech of course.
So...you've thrown in the towel? All hope is lost?
If globalization will get us off this rock and out into the galaxy where we belong, instead of wasting our limited resources on endlessly fighting over who is going to ride our species into oblivion as king, then you can shove your shitty patriotic flag and your pathetic xenophobic "sovereignty" right up your imaginary-god fearing poop chute.
.
I cannot think of a single country in the EU and its satellites that is doing things for the good of its own nation
They actually harming themselves for some grand plan.
Not much of a conspiracy theory is needed to deduce that the national politicians are either bribed or blackmailed across the continent.
How can every country be doing something equivalent to a slow suicide????
The one bright spot for Europe was trade with Russia before the USSA/EU/ZATO coup and junta.
Europe was buy Russian oil and gas while Russia was buying finished products from Europe plus food. There was also massive investment from Europe into Russian factories. It was very much Adam Smith comparative advantage economics that was benefitting both sides. Now that is all F'ed.
The USSA/ZWO would not allow it.
I think the only role of Russia and China must be to provide Greece with a credible threat against the TROIKA. If their help is not unconditional then this will become a classic case of why outsiders should not be allowed in a family feud.
Zerohedge, The Plan B has been in progress and now you are all over the place. So, Let me ask you again, what is your responsibility?
http://just-a-thought-from-thinair.blogspot.com/
A little premature with that link, huh, thin air?
those evil russians exploiting the
failures of ponzi finance, jeez.
they must be of the terrorist inclination
to oppose western monetary ponzi schemata.
.
there must be a song about it?
.
THE BEATLES BACK IN THE U.S.S.R
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHD5nd3QLTg
.
oh .....
Something's always going on 'behind the scenes'
That's the fucking problem!
A lot of stories about russia are written by zionists. beware
Yeah they're cunning, but I don't think that ham is allowed.
Don't forget the movies. Tatooed Christian symbol Russian gangsters are very dangerous to goyim sheeple. Denzil Washington just had to put down Vladimir Puskin on the Equalizer for selling baby meat or something.
1946 thru 1948 saw the Greek civil war between the Communists and the former Allied. Greece lost almost 10% of the population during that period. Stalin didn't have his heart in it and the Communists lost. U.S. support and the Marshall Plan turned the tide. Now we start all over again?
No, evidentally we love communist now (China and Vietnam [despite 55,000 dead soldiers we got a trade agreement after we lost]). We just don't want to be "communist" ourselves despite our liberties being destroyed by our two party system.
Your countrymen died for the profits of defense contractors.
More recently your younger countrymen died on behalf of Eretz Israel.
http://www.abeldanger.net/2014/04/crown-crime-family-of-chicago.html
http://www.abeldanger.net/2014/05/the-zionist-criminal-network-of-chicag...
Krinsky/Crown crime family - huge supporrters of LBJ, Obama, AIPAC and owners of General Dynamics (formerly called Convair) and the Empire State Building at one time. Possibly connected to JFK and RFK being "eliminated."
See LBJ, JFK, F-111/TFX, Vietnam War, Bobby Baker.
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6250
http://www.wnd.com/2013/11/did-jfk-seal-his-fate-with-plan-to-dump-lbj/
Oligarchial-Socialist cat fight, I could give a damn.
I have cub-scout popcorn, we can share!
Russia has just to wait and see. The europeans are going to do all the work: Greece today, tomorrow Italy,then Spain and Portugal. The natural trading direction is eastward for these countries and their economic situation will not be resolved by a recession prone USA. It's a matter of time, not much, before the West Ponzi scheme is going to blowup and the upcoming depression will force the above nations to get whatever is left of economic trade.
If I were in government in one of those PIGS countries, there is no way I would want to trade with Western countries to be controlled by their bankers. Who the fuck needs it? England and the US are some of the worst currency manipulators right now. They are so "lucky" to be able to print pounds and dollars and not have to suffer currency devaluation.
Putin is just checking how many billions that French banks have tied up in Greek loans, and how willing the French are to lose everything - or maybe lose nothing if Russia helps out the Greeks and France helps out the Russians...
Needing the work BADLY, France still twittled its thumbs at building Russia 5 superships at a Billion per....
Off topic but this question is burning a hole in my head, and I never do this...please oblige.. So, I have this canadian maple .9999 silver coin...it says "5 dollars" on it....but I can sell it to a coin dealer for about 17 dollars, and probably get 20 dollars for it on ebay...I am so confused...
it has face value, official money. can never go below $5 CDN. this is how the mint is trying to get people to buy silver as Cdns have zero gold reserves
That is for damn sure!
Depending on what country you are in, use it at "face value" to secure items that would normally cost 12 times as much if the transaction needs to be reported to the government. Those dumb bastards made it legal currency afterall.
Hang on to it for a week or so longer and you could probably get $40 for it.
"...I am so confused"
I'm so sorry to hear that! I'll help you get through this, no problem.
I'll send you US$5 for that nasty coin. Since it is face-valued in CAN$, you'll be getting about a 15% premium. I'm only doing this because I want to be your friend.
Do you have any more coins causing confusion?
Socialism, as currently practiced, cannot work for any significant period of time...that old Thatcher thing about running out of other peoples money to spend. It is built on the idea that votes can be bought today with the money savers were counting on for tommorrow. Eventually the savers get screwed when they find themselves on fixed incomes just as the currency is collapsing. Saving in gold eliminates that problem. Here in the USA it works even with the tax system.
prepare folks...
Putin not gonna' give a crisis an even break, don't cha' know!
the author forgets the china pipeline which reduces russia's need for euro gas sales. china is three times the market the eurozone is. putin plays chess, not checkers and is obviously wise to the zionut nazis. once china is online(soon) russia has the eurozone under the bus.
Yes. I agree but Putin will still leave the door open. He will not need Europe. However, Gazprom's pipeline network is the great prize. The book about oil being the great prize but their pipelines are just as great. If you get a chance, take a look at Gazprom's pipeline network. It is staggering.
He can bring on supplies from all the neighboring "stans' that have gas and oil. He tells them - "we have a pipeline to help move your oil and gas." "Let's be friends and do business."
So he will still sell to Europe but he does not need them.
I would think the great deal for Russia and China is - Russia has it's pipelines and China will build the Silk Road with rail from Europe to Western Asia. A great partnership which will also make the US Navy a much smaller issue. The pipelines and rail lines make sea traffic less important.
The only issues there is Australian minerals and Aust has done a trade deal with China and is onboard with Chinese Development Bank. Then there is products being shipped to America from Asia. the US Navy is not going to sink those.
Russia's Central Bank is under question by many inside Russia. They suspect the Central Bank is an agent of western finance, and a 5th column of western interests. Central Bank insider politics is not something I am too familiar with. So I don't know how far these charges go. But Russia's Central Bank is held suspect by large parts of the Russian political class. The belief being that the central bank is more concerned with Western Finance in general, and not nearly so focused on what polices are best for the Russian economy.
How many are leftover Bolshevik crypto jews?
and how many of their grandfathers and cousins committed mass murder and theft
in other words Jack, they have figured out that they are Banksters
Find the Soros/Red Shield moles who are at every major central bank. Well the Red Shield runs them all.
Greece's elites---ND, PASOK, SYRIZA---they're dreaming in technicolor. Putin's not coming to their rescue. Why the hell should he?
Putin will be willing to invest in Greece after the banks shut up shop, the food runs out, and hunger and desperation finally make the Greek people ready to do what they should have done years ago---start culling all the people who make it impossible for Greece to live within its means: banksters, Bolsheviks, parasites who retire at 50 planning to take 40 years to die.
We need to see perp walks. We needs banksters and Bolsheviks to get fair trials. And then we need to see the tree of liberty watered with their blood, along with their whores and their pups. Let's hear them scream for the mercy they never bothered showing a living soul.
Golden dawn
Crimea is still dependent on Ukraine electricity for another five months. Things will change after that, bigger energy squeeze - no coal for a start.
Way to go Nick, my boy. You have got it right: It's not that the Ukrainian Nazis are playing dirty games and refusing to pay old debts to Russia. It's not that Russia decided to charge Ukraine market prices for the gas it is selling it. Oh no, Nick, you are so right, and so nicely following the line I set for my various media conglomerates:
"Another way that Russia may be benefitting from the unravelling of Greece is the fact that the attention of European officials and the media have been diverted away from Gazprom’s latest maneuver in Ukraine. The Russian company cut off gas supplies to Ukraine, citing a pricing dispute. Gazprom slashed the discount that it provided to Ukraine for importing its gas, and without prepayment upfront from Ukraine, the Russian company has stated it will not supply gas. . . . The message was clear: fall in line, or we will cut off your energy supplies."
Don't worry Nick, this nice bit of "journalism" will be rewarded. I plan to have my janitor up there at the Rockefellers Brothers Fund call your boss and arrange a little promotion.
Mr. Rockefeller, when will Satan call you home? Your time must be close. How long can you keep going on that babies blood?
The author also fails to mention that the Ukrainians can always buy gas from their EU supporters. I am sure the EU neighbors will be more than happy to take over supporting the Ukrainian spongers.
Dear Putin, please save us from Yellen, Dimon, Blankfein, Obama and the NWO (including George Soros). We need all the help we can get.
And if you have some time left over Draghi, Juncker, Verhofstad, Dijsselbloem etc. also please.
I vote Putin !!
This article is twisted in favor off Washington, much like the main stream media.
You got it wrong., Nick.
The Gazprom contract ended June 30 and Gazprom refused to renew the discount it had given Ukraine in the past.
Do you have a problem with a supplier excercising its right to give a discount or charge a premium? Isn't Kiev thwarting Donbass now and breaking the Minsk Accord?
When Poroshenko learned there would be no discount from Gazprom, and it being summer, he publically stated that he would not buy gas from Gazprom.
So, Nick, where did you get the idea that Russia cut off gas supplies?
If Kiev were willing to buy Russian gas without a discount, Russia would sell them enough to float all of Ukraine to the moon. (And good riddance.)
Either do better research or be more exact in your use of words.
Don't confuse the poor stenographer with facts.
haha ... Russia ... always the sucker for backing a bankrupt corrupt state, that would change sides in a heartbeat, if the bribe's big enough. And how many times has Russia done that in the past 50 years? I've lost count. Every time they do it the client runs up a huge debt and also 'buys' a stack of weapons that they can not and won't be paying for, and then they fall apart and switch sides. And default on all obligations and loans to Russia. So clearly Moscow still are not interested in making a return on investment. They only seem to enjoy shooting themselves in the foot. Which all looks pretty desperate guys, but good on you. :D
This time is different! :D
We have reached a period when the oppressed peoples of the western world have started to realise that they have been screwed by the ruling elite for decades. This realisation is turning into action. Now, political groups once considered fringe, whose manifesto is essentially "power to the people", are starting to gain traction across a broad spectrum of society. This is causing great consternation amongst the elite, and the banking cabal, who have been able to put cooperative governments in power, who do exactly as they have been told. This paradigm is now under threat. We are seeing the beginning of the "fall of Rome". It cannot happen soon enough.
This is bad/incomplete information from someone who should know better.
As said in a couple of earlier posts, the gas supply has been cut off because Ukraine are not willing to pay the same price as others in Eastern Europe. OK perhaps a small discount for up front payment (due to an appalling credit payment history) and shorter transit distance. They are used to getting the special price that they got as Russia subsidised their economy. For some reason they think they will still get this deal even though they are in the midst of a proxy war with Russia.
They are still buying Russian gas, via reverse flow from other EE countries. Their big problem, which was not mentioned, is that they can't buy enough volume to fill their storage tanks, only 60% full, in preparation for next winter. They also still have the ability to 'steal' gas destined for the EU as they apparently did in the past.
Also their consumption has dropped due to the collapse of industry plus 40% price rises with more to come in the Autumn (part of the IMF deal) so they don't need as much, reducing any volume related discounts.
Then there was the omission of mention of the new NordStream deal agreed a couple of weeks ago with Germany , doubling the capacity of that pipe system meaning that virtually the whole of Europe can be supplied with just one supply (subject to the EU local pipe capacity). This puts pressure on Turkey and Greece.
Then there is this use of unused capacity in NordStream bypassing UKraine
Russia’s Gazprom has increased its natural gas supplies to Germany as Europeans are stocking up on fuel ahead of the winter season.
The average daily supply of Russian gas to Germany in July was 13 higher than in June and 29.7 percent more compared to the same period of last year, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said on Monday.He also said that the company was no longer pumping gas to Ukraine and would resume supplies on a pre-paid basis only. Ukraine's Naftogaz said in June that it would stop buying gas from Russia's Gazprom from July 1 pending agreement on new terms of supply, but said it would ensure continued transit of Russian gas to Europe.
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150707/1024309585.html#ixzz3fCKWIeFxCapitalist Russia/Putin: "we'll trade with you tariff and tax free, do whateverthefuckyouwant in your country"
EU: "€ slavery, trade tariffs 70% taxes, carbon taxes.............Muslim immigration, Syria...Ukraine."
Greece: hmm
tough choice, freedom, sovereignty, independence prosperity or slavery.
Pollsters were shocked by the vote, not Greeks.
The "€U" just got dumped and doesn't know it yet, Greece is like the ex that still controls your bank account car, and credit cards, the €U is clueless like those hedge funds that loaned $$$$ to Puerto Rico, their best fix is to cut losses and end the partnership, divorce is going to be expensive for the €U but worth it , Greece is a high maintenance ex, grown accustomed to her standard of living.
The other Pigs will protest paying off Germany's ex until Germany points out they raped Greece too.
Then there's theUSSA losses, we funded this shitstain.