Tag: sanctions

The US-Led World Order Is Faltering… Here’s Why It’s Bad News for Europe

Guest Post by Chris MacIntosh

US-Led World Order

The sanctions against Russia have accelerated the fragmentation of systems while backfiring spectacularly. Consider that India is now buying Russian oil, then exporting it to Europe – at a premium. China is buying Russian crude, refining it in China, and selling it to Europe – at a premium. And the head-choppers (Saudi’s) are buying Russian oil, swapping it out for their own and selling theirs to Europe – at a premium.

Europe is the loser in all situations. They still get Russian energy, they just pay far more for it, eroding their own manufacturing competitiveness, while sending Europeans’ capital to Riyadh, Beijing, Delhi and Moscow for the privilege. Swaps on oil within OPEC are already taking place and will continue.

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GOT RUBLES?

Submitted by Hardscrabble Farmer

WHEN IS A SANCTION NOT A SANCTION?
REDEFINING WORDS ONE LANGUAGE AT A TIME.

Reuters

​EU says pay for Russian gas in euros to avoid breaching sanctions

European Union flags fly outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels

BRUSSELS, April 22 (Reuters) – EU companies may be able to work around Russia’s demand to receive gas payments in roubles without breaching sanctions if they pay in euros or dollars which are then converted into the Russian currency, the European Commission said on Friday.

The companies would also need to seek additional conditions on the transactions, such as a statement that they consider their contractual obligations complete once they have deposited the non-Russian currencies.

Moscow has warned Europe it risks having gas supplies cut unless it pays in roubles. In March it issued a decree proposing that energy buyers open accounts at Gazprombank to make payments in euros or dollars, which would then be converted to roubles.

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Is Russia the REAL target of Western sanctions?

Guest Post by Kit Knightly

The first tweet I saw when I checked my timeline this morning was from foreign policy analyst Clint Ehlirch, pointing out that the Russian ruble has already started recovering from the dip created by Western sanctions, and is almost at pre-war levels:

Ehrlich states, “sanctions were designed to collapse the value of the Ruble, they have failed”.

…to which I can only respond, well “were they?”

…and perhaps more importantly, “have they?”

Because it doesn’t really look like it, does it?

If anything, the sanctions seem to be at best rather impotent, and at worst amazingly counterproductive.

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The Unintended Consequences of the West’s Response to Russia’s Invasion

Via Daily Sceptic

The West has responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in three main ways: pouring arms into Ukraine to buttress the country’s defence; imposing heavy sanctions on Russia to cripple its economy; and essentially ‘cancelling’ Russia by shutting down its foreign media, censoring its cultural exports, and banning its athletes from international competitions.

The hope seems to be that either one of three things will happen: the Russians will be defeated or forced to withdraw; Putin will be overthrown in a palace coup or popular uprising; or he’ll be brought to the negotiating table and made to accept terms highly unfavourable to Russia. While this strategy may work, I’ve yet to read a cogent defence of it.

In fact, the strategy could have a number of negative second-order effects – i.e., unintended consequences – that haven’t been properly thought through.

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Trump Tells the Truth: Sanctions Cause People to Suffer

Guest Post by Ron Paul

This week President Trump admitted what the Washington policy establishment of both parties would rather be kept quiet. Asked why he intervened to block a new round of sanctions on North Korea, he told the media that he believes the people of North Korea have suffered enough. “They are suffering greatly in North Korea…And I just didn’t think additional sanctions at this time were necessary,” he said.

The foreign policy establishment in Washington, whether they are neocons, “humanitarian interventionists,” so-called “realists,” or even progressives have long embraced sanctions as a way to pressure governments into doing what Washington wants without having to resort to war.

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The case for US government sanctions on Israel

Palestinian demonstrators take part during a protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Gaza City December 20, 2017. (Photo: Mohammed Dahman/APA Images)

US Sanctions Against Venezuela Will Hurt Americans

Guest Post by Ryan McMaken
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After fifty years of imposing embargoes and other sanctions, the United States never managed to topple Cuba’s communist regime. After forty years of the same in Iran, the US met with similar amounts of success. Ongoing sanctions against North Korea have not toppled to regime there.

But, some people in Washington won’t let decades of failure dissuade them.

Last week, Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) introduced new legislation to bar Americans from importing oil products from Venezuela. The Washington Examiner reports:

[T]he Protecting Against Tyranny and Responsible Imports Act, or the PATRIA Act … would target Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after he stripped the country’s democratically elected national assembly of its power and authority. According to the bill, the proposed ban on imports would last until the assembly’s power is fully restored.

‘The goal is to change the conduct, the character of the Venezuelan government under Maduro. I think the window is closing,’ Coffman told the Washington Examiner. ‘They are dependent upon the export of oil really to fund their government, and without that, they can’t pay their security forces.’

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If America Was Trying to Start a World War, This Is How It Would Happen

Guest Post by Darius Shahtahmasebi
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Last Wednesday, US President Donald Trump signed new sanctions into law against Russia, Iran, and North Korea. The legislation was supported so overwhelmingly in Congress that President Trump’s ability to veto the legislation was rendered completely ineffective.

Even anti-interventionist Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard voted in favor of the bill, once again proving that Republicans and Democrats always find common ground when it comes to beating the drums of war against sovereign nations who have taken very little unwarranted hostile action — if any — towards the United States.

But these are just sanctions, not acts of war, right? There’s nothing wrong with economically bullying other countries into submission over non-compliance with the current global order, right?

Not quite.

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What Is The Obama Regime Up To?

Guest Post by Paul Craig Roberts

Obama has announced new sanctions on Russia based on unsubstantiated charges by the CIA that the Russian government influenced the outcome of the US presidential election with “malicious cyber-enabled activities.”

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a report “related to the declaration of 35 Russian officials persona non grata for malicious cyber activity and harassment.”

The report is a description of “tools and infrastructure used by Russian intelligence services to compromise and exploit networks and infrastructure associated with the recent U.S. election, as well as a range of U.S. government, political and private sector entities.”

The report does not provide any evidence that the tools and infrastructure were used to influence the outcome of the US presidential election. The report is simply a description of what is said to be Russian capabilities. https://diplopundit.net/2016/12/29/dhsfbi-issues-joint-analysis-report-grizzly-steppe-russian-malicious-cyber-activity-read-report/

Moreover, the report begins with this disclaimer: “DISCLAIMER: This report is provided ‘as is’ for informational purposes only. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not provide any warranties of any kind regarding any information contained within.” https://diplopundit.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/jar_16-20296.pdf

In other words, the report not only provides no evidence of the use of the Russian tools and infrastructure in order to influence the US presidential election, the report will not even warrant the correctness of its description of Russian capabilities.

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Russia Warns Of “Proportional Response” To Obama’s “Paranoia”

Tyler Durden's picture
by Tyler Durden
Dec 29, 2016 2:54 PM

Having already made it clear that any sanctions would be met with retaliation, IFX reports that Russian Commissioner Foreign Ministry on human rights, democracy and the rule of law, Konstantin Dolgov exclaimed that “any anti-Russian sanctions are futile and counter-productive.”  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added that Russia has no alternative than to make a proportional response, adding in a call with reporters that Moscow “doubted the effectiveness of the measures as the current U.S. presidential administration was stepping down in three weeks” while Duma Foreign Affairs head Slutsky slammed U.S. sanctions as “signs of real paranoia.”

Slutsky added that “without any grounds for it another round of extremely aggressive steps towards our country are being made basing only on mere assertions.”

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The GOP’s Iran Dilemma

Guest Post by Patrick J. Buchanan

The GOP’s Iran Dilemma

From first reactions, it appears that Hill Republicans will be near unanimous in voting a resolution of rejection of the Iran nuclear deal.

They will then vote to override President Obama’s veto of their resolution. And if the GOP fails there, Gov. Scott Walker says his first act as president would be to kill the deal.

But before the party commits to abrogating the Iran deal in 2017, the GOP should consider whether it would be committing suicide in 2016.

For even if Congress votes to deny Obama authority to lift U.S. sanctions on Iran, the U.S. will vote to lift sanctions in the U.N. Security Council. And Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, all parties to the deal, will also lift sanctions.

A Congressional vote to kill the Iran deal would thus leave the U.S. isolated, its government humiliated, unable to comply with the pledges its own secretary of state negotiated. Would Americans cheer the GOP for leaving the United States with egg all over its face?

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Western sanctions and Russian perceptions

Via Vineyard of the Saker

I parse the Russian media (corporate and social) on a daily basis and I am always amazed at the completely different way the issue of western sanctions is discussed.  I think that it is important and useful for me to share this with those of you who do not speak Russian.First, nobody in Russia believes that the sanctions will be lifted.  Nobody.  Of course, all the Russian politicians say that sanctions are wrong and not conducive to progress, but these are statements for external consumption.  In interviews for the Russian media or on talk shows, there is a consensus that sanctions will never be lifted no matter what Russia does.Second, nobody in Russia believes that sanctions are a reaction to Crimea or to the Russian involvement in the Donbass.  Nobody.  There is a consensus that the Russian policy towards Crimea and the Donbass are not a cause, but a pretext for the sanctions.  The real cause of the sanctions is unanimously identified as what the Russians called the “process of sovereignization”, i.e. the fact that Russia is back, powerful and rich, and that she dares openly defy and disobey the “Axis of Kindness”.

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Confusion about AngloZionist sanctions against Russia

Via Vineyard of the Saker

 

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the effectiveness of sanctions against Russia and I think that this is a good time to clarify a few things about my take on them.

 First, the original sanctions were a total joke.  However, the latest sanctions (including the denial of credit) are definitely hurting Russia.

 Second, next to the official sanctions, there are unofficial ones, such as the carefully orchestrated drop in the prices of oil which itself triggers a fall in the value of the Ruble against the Dollar and the Euro.

 Third, there is also a great deal of speculation against the Ruble which itself does also contribute to the problem.

 Fourth and last, but not least, the three factors above contribute to a nervousness and lack of trust into the Russian currency and economy which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 However, the thing which those who stick to a simplistic assessment of the sanctions are missing are the following:

 1) Whom are these sanctions hurting more, Russia or the West?
2) What is the Russian staying power to put up with these sanctions?
3) Will time make these sanctions harder or easier for Russia to put up with?

 I would argue that these sanctions are much more damaging to the the US European colonies (known as the “EU”) than for Russia.  I would argue that the Russian people have a formidable resistance to hardship and that western societies are, in comparison, soft, hedonistic, lazy, spoiled and generally weak.  Russians have a staying power which is simply unimaginable for a west European person (the horrible siege of Leningrad lasted 900 days!!!).  Lastly, I believe that time will allow Russia to take adaptive measures to basically render these sanctions irrelevant.

 Furthermore, the Russian staying power under AngloZionist sanctions needs to be compared with the staying power of the Ukrainian Nazi junta to keep control of the situation.  It is one thing to put up with hardship and quite another to sit on a sinking ship.

 Still, all of the above is predicated on the notion that Russia under Putin will finally address some of her most debilitating internal structural problems.  Should that not happen, Russia will end up in the situation of an immune-suppressed person who is a serious risk even from a comparatively weak and normally benign virus or bacteria.

 In conclusion, and just for your information, there are some interesting ideas floating around about what Russia might be doing.  Check out this one for example: http://futurefastforward.com/images/stories/financial/GrandmasterPutinG%C3%87%C3%96sGoldenTrap.pdf.

 I hope that this clarifies that.

 Cheers,

 The Saker