RUSSIAN DENIAL

[Lafayette]

SACTIONS FOR RUSSIA

From here: Russian economy feels consequences of sanctions despite Kremlin's denial

Excerpt:

Nearly two months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has taken extraordinary steps to blunt an economic counteroffensive from the West.

While Russia can claim some symbolic victories, the full impact of Western sanctions is starting to be felt in very real ways.

As the West moved to cut off Russia's access to its foreign reserves, limit imports of key technologies and take other restrictive actions, the Kremlin launched drastic measures to protect the economy.

These included hiking interest rates to as high as 20%, instituting capital controls and forcing Russian businesses to convert their profits into rubles.

As a result, the ruble's value has recovered after an initial plunge, and last week the central bank reversed part of its interest rate increase.

Putin has to go. Russia cannot advance for as long as Putin implements a Russian refusal to see the world in its truest sense. As one where only the people - for better or worse - decide their Political Leadership.

But, also, for that to happen the Russian people must wake up to the fact that it is their voting power that decides who runs the country. And not Putin ...

 

[dex4974]

Sounds like you're just pissed our efforts to cripple them aren't working as well as you hoped.

 

[Evilroddy]

Lafayette:

While I agree with your sentiments about the direction which a post-Putin Russia should go, I also know that that transition is very unlikely to happen even if Vladimir Putin is toppled by Russians. Then there are the matters of China, North Korea, Myanmar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Brazil, etc. to consider. There are many illiberal states which want no part of democracy and will fight any attempt to impose it. We both share a Western Chauvinism which doesn't hold much attraction for much of the world. We must remember that and understand our own limitations to change the world in our own image. We are not gods on Earth.

Cheers and be well.
Evilroddy

 

[Lafayette]

THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL ABOUT RUSSIAN DEBT

From the Economist: A Russian debt default looks almost inevitable

A month ago, as Russia faced unprecedented economic sanctions in response to its invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign default seemed likely. America and its Western allies had frozen roughly half of the country’s $630bn foreign-exchange reserves. Firms such as JPMorgan Chase and MSCI had removed Russian debt from widely tracked bond indices. Investors had begun writing down the value of their assets, which were trading at distressed levels. And the spreads on credit-default swaps (CDSs)—insurance-like derivatives that pay out in the event of a default—had reached record highs. “We no longer think of Russian default as improbable,” Kristalina Georgieva, the head of the IMF, said on March 13th.

Now a default—which would be its first foreign-currency default since 1917—seems all but inevitable. Although Russia’s finance ministry has continued to make payments on its foreign-currency debt, it has only done so thanks to an exemption granted by America’s Treasury Department allowing investors to receive debt payments through American banks until May 25th. On April 4th, in the wake of reported atrocities against civilians in Ukraine, the Treasury said it would start blocking such payments.

Anyone holding Russian-debt should think twice about keeping it.

The handwriting regarding its future is not only on the wall, it's all over the internet ...

 

[Lafayette]

While I agree with your sentiments about the direction which a post-Putin Russia should go, I also know that that transition is very unlikely to happen even if Vladimir Putin is toppled by Russians.

The Russians have a great deal to learn about "democracy" and its absolute rule: The vote of the people is the only determinate of a duly elected representative of the people.

They have had that responsibility in the election of the past presidencies of the country. I suspect the first one was the only one that was without manipulation, because those thereafter were certainly manipulated by Putin.

There have been only four elections since 1991 when "democracy" was installed in Russia:

Boris Yeltsin	1991–99
Vladimir Putin	1999–2008
Dmitry Medvedev	2008–12
Vladimir Putin	2012–

Putin has been in office for almost 18 years of the total. It's time Russia was rid of him as Chief Executive ...