I have just been watching the news and, frankly, I ended up laughing.
First, I saw the Eurobureaucrats adding another 12 or so names to a list of 20 or so (sorry, I was not paying attention) names which are going to be on the sanctions list. The US did something similar yesterday. Looking at that circus, I was wondering: does these imbeciles really believe that these puny sanctions of 30-40 individuals will make Russia suddenly change course, apologize and leave Crimea? Have they forgotten that during WWII Leningrad was blockaded by German forces for nine hundred (900! Not 33 like Hezbollah or 78 like the Serbs – 900) days and that it was pounded by the German Air Force and artillery during each one of these 900 days, that most men died and that the city at the end was defended by mostly women, that hunger was so bad that people were making “soup” from glue used to put up posters, that medicine had run out and that the winter colds were brutal and yet that the Russian people did not surrender?! Don’t they understand that for Russians Crimea is at least as important as Stalingrad was? Do they seriously think that their stupid little sanctions will affect a country which was – and still is – willing to go to war over Crimea?
Amazing. Just amazing…
Then, I saw that western credit rating agencies were about to lower the credit rating of Russia (which up to now had been BBB, iirr). Russia with a debt of 12% would be lowered, while the USA with a debt over 100% maintained a AAA. Who is going to take that seriously. But even better, the net result of that will be that it is going to be more expensive for Russians to get financing from western banks. Again, I wonder in total awe. Do these western financiers really not know that the issues of the high interest rates inside Russia (in comparison to the interest rates enjoyed by Russian companies with their corporate headquarters in the EU and US) was a major political issues which constantly opposed the “Eurasian sovereignists” to the “Atlantic integrationists”? (for an explanation of these terms see here, here and here). Think of it – what does Putin want? He was a) a bigger share of investment in Russia coming from Russian banks, b) more companies incorporated in Russia c) a way to prevent Russian officials from having any assets abroad.
Frankly, Russia and Putin owe the western financiers and bureaucrats a big “thank you!!” for helping the Eurasian sovereignists in their struggle against the Atlantic integrationists…
Then, I saw the EU singing the political part of the Association Agreement with the Ukraine. Amazing!! Here are all these pompous “democrats” signing a document with representatives of an armed revolutionary regime which has exactly zero legitimacy. They could have waited until May when “elections” organized under the “auspices” of the Right Sector and the Freedom Party would clearly yield the “correct” result and thereby give a micron-thin layer of legitimacy to the revolutionary regime. But no! They must be so afraid that even Nazi-run elections might not yield the “correct” result that they sign these documents now. Which is stupid for two reasons: first, it shows that these western plutocrats don’t care at all about “democracy” or “democratic legitimacy”, but that they are apparently unaware that any document signed by this revolutionary regime is very easy to overturn on the grounds the folks signing it had no right to do so.
What in the world are these folks in the EU smoking?! Bath salts?!
And then, to really make me laugh, I saw a hilarious interview of Putin. He was asked by an already laughing reporter why, in his opinions, did the folks which ended up on the sanctions list deserve such a distinction – were they his personal friends (mostly no) or did they have anything to do with Crimea (mostly no). Putin replied with laughter in his eyes, but with an otherwise serious face “I have to be honest and make the following confession (he bows his head): yes, these guys were the “polite armed men in green” that were seen in Crimea! And their last names are kinda weird – Kovalchuk, Rotenberg, Timchenko – typical Moskals!“. Putin can be very funny when he wants and this topic clearly makes him laugh.
To be serious, I really am amazed by what is going on. Western politicians seem to be stuck in total “lala land” or “bizarro world” (pick your expression). There is such an absolute disconnect between what is actually happening in Banderastan (north and west), the rump-Ukraine (east and south), Crimea and Russia on one hand, and the mental representation which people in the West seem to have about it that I often wonder, yet again, whether the world has not gone completely mad. I almost feel sorry for western politicians when I hear them speak. They sound like a flat-earth society meeting and yet they try so hard to look dignified and important it’s almost sad. I say almost, because I realize that these want-to-look-dignified politicians are also the prime culprits for the hell which the (now ex-) Ukraine is going through.
Lastly, I am amazed to see that the White House does not realize a basic dilemma it is facing: either the sanctions against Russia are ridiculously ineffective or, in theory, they could really hurt Russia (booting Russia out of the SWIFT system, revoking overflight and landing rights for Russian airlines, etc.). Then what would happen? Does the White House not know that Russia holds US$164 billion in US Treasury Securities? That Russia could simply shut down the northern evacuation route for US forces in Afghanistan? The millions of dollars in US and EU investment in Russia ( US$300,1 billion) could also be seized? That Russia can shut down the “northern route” to US ships or stop cooperating on security and terrorism issues? Fundamentally – does it do any good for the US to really hurt Russia (assuming that it could)?
The US and EU remind me of a toddler playing with a hand grenade: either it is a very boring toy and nothing happens, or it works, but then you are dead.
Western international diplomacy as a dead baby joke – how pathetic….
The Saker
Saker Message:
Cartalucci also has an interesting piece piggybacks well onto the Shamir piece I posted earlier.
West’s antiquated unipolar world collides with the East’s vision of a mulipolar future.
http://journal-neo.org/2014/03/21/west-s-antiquated-unipolar-world-collides-with-the-east-s-vision-of-a-mulipolar-future/
вот так
Try this for Russian replto USa sanctions
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2014-03-21/forget-russia-dumping-us-treasuries-%E2%80%A6-here%E2%80%99s-real-economic-threat
Israeli psychopath Soros up to his old tricks:
Ukraine crisis oddities: Tycoon George Soros wants US to crash oil market http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_03_22/Ukraine-crisis-oddities-Tycoon-George-Soros-wants-US-to-crash-oil-market-1957/
“The infamous speculator, oligarch and political activist George Soros published a plan designed to “punish” Russia for its actions in Crimea and Ukraine. According to Soros’ plan, Washington has to crash the oil market in order to hurt the Russian economy…”
In the mythology of the Jewish zionist influenced liberals, progressives and even “leftists”, it’s currently in vogue to consider this guy as a liberal thinker and a rational leader among the western oligarchs. The choice for westerners, it seems, has been reduced to be between foamers and frothers.
вот так
Saker:
Most of my friends are fairly traditional conservatives. They are reflexively anti-Russian, in part as a result of the Cold War and opposition to the Soviet Union. In general, they show no sympathy to Russia’s legitimate concerns about being enveloped by NATO.
On social media I recently posted the extract from Putin’s 2013 address to the Federal Assembly—-without attribution. I edited it slightly, by inserting two paragraph breaks.
They loved it. “There are still some who do not bow down to Baal,” one anti-Russian said. Two people, former career military men, reposted it with “worth considering” and “thumbs up” comments.
In other words, they hate out of ignorance, not out of malice. If they can listen to what the Russians are actually saying, they can prove receptive.
I still haven’t told them it was Putin, though.
@ вот так
Only when reading this blog, with a few others, I became aware of the more sinister aspects of Soros, although I always found it suspicious that he was an olicharch.
You have no idea how low the level of being informed (with truth) is in W Europe; the US is even many times worse, as the only information about Ukraine are tiny snippets between endless boring coverage of the lost airplane.
The problem with being misinformed is: you only become aware of it when serious doubts arise due to conflicting information. Example:
From the Sakers article:
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.nl/2014/03/today-every-free-person-in-world-has-won.html
´Those parts of the planet which have been “liberated” (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Iran, etc.)…´
I did not bring it up in the comments -issue of minor importance given the phenomenal developments-, but until now I get associations of ´the only remaining dictator, people being boiled alive. Most compatriots would also add standard propaganda about Iran and China´
Iwas a little shocked, and have to do some research about Kazachstan and Belarus, because obviously I never thought about it and just swallowed the propaganda!
Similarly, in one of the comments: 19 March, 2014 18:13
´But why would Russia side with any of those Latin American countries who themselves do not follow law and freedom? ´
Probably same situation, but in this case I DID do my research: these countries are the most democratic on Earth! So again, I was a little shocked.
So please don think we´re all crazy, we´re just stupid (misinformed).
Nora:
Here in Brazil there is only federal income tax, there is the State, the tax burden is spread in the products, a Brazilian who lives abroad do not need to declare income tax on the income received outside.
Many Americans living abroad are changing cidanania only because of taxation.
Alexandre.
:-)
If the US so-called leaders aren’t careful, many alert and watching US citizens might ask to join the Russian Federation too. Wouldn’t that be fun.
Saker,
I think you are making the mistake of assuming the stated goal of the these sanctions is the same as the actual one, and because of this you can’t make sense of the disproportionate strength of the sanctions.
Putin and Obama have at times been working together quietly to foil the neocons deeply entrenched in the US government, particularly in their quests to get wars started in Iran and Syria.
Ukraine, some Washington insiders believe, is revenge for previous humiliations, but, most importantly, meant to make it impossible for Obama and Putin to work together, however quiet it may be.
http://consortiumnews.com/2014/03/19/neocons-ukraine-syria-iran-gambit/
Steven C
Dmitry Orlov: Ukraine-Crimea Update, U.S. Will Self-Destruct in Near Future Update & More
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCO5nZgvtbY
An interesting interview with Orlov http://cluborlov.com/, who makes some interesting predictions about what will happen in Ukraine, and also the inevitable (but no date set) collapse of the U.S.
Interviewer’s website: http://usawatchdog.com/
And now, Venezuela.
Death toll climbs as protests still rage in Venezuela
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/20/world/americas/venezuela-protests/index.html?hpt=wo_c2
(CNN) — At least 31 people have died in Venezuela and 461 have been injured in violent clashes between opposition demonstrators and government forces that began last month, an official said Thursday.
Another 1,854 people have been detained during the unrest, according to Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres.
The weeks of protests across Venezuela mark the biggest threat President Nicolas Maduro has faced since his election last year. Demonstrators say they have taken to the streets to protest shortages of goods, high inflation and high crime.
Protesters and government officials trade blame for the violence.
Venezuela blames one woman for protests
“Nicolas threw gas on the fire. He and he alone will be responsible for how the situation develops,” opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski said in a Twitter post Thursday.
“It’s clear you want more confrontation and to promote violence,” he tweeted earlier.
In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour this month week, Maduro was unapologetic about his government’s response to opposition protesters.
Think about what the U.S. government would do if a political group laid out a road map for overthrowing President Barack Obama, Maduro said.
“What would happen in the United States if a group said they were going to start something in the United States so that President Obama leaves, resigns, to change the constitutional government of the United States?” Maduro said. “Surely, the state would react, would use all the force that the law gives it to re-establish order and to put those who are against the Constitution where they belong.”
@BOT TAK
Any ideas on who will guard the poppy fields in Afganistan should the US pull out? Surely there are plans in place.
T1