[h=1]First deaths in Ukraine; Putin admits Crimea invaded[/h]
http://www.militarytimes.com/articl...st-deaths-Ukraine-Putin-admits-Crimea-invaded
Good thing Putin withdrawing troops like a little bitch because he knows Obama will end him!!
[h=1]First deaths in Ukraine; Putin admits Crimea invaded[/h]
http://www.militarytimes.com/articl...st-deaths-Ukraine-Putin-admits-Crimea-invaded
Good thing Putin withdrawing troops like a little bitch because he knows Obama will end him!!
Uh, yeah, not so much
How's that working out for you, dumb fuck?
Oh, how about this one, dummy?
NBA commissioner: Donald Sterling might still own Clippers at start of next season
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba-co...ippers-at-start-of-next-season-050059719.html
Back to the claim in the thread title, it's pretty obvious Putin is not intimidated by Obama and so far this bully doesn't seem to care about what anyone thinks. We're not going to war over this. So unless we can align with allies and make it hurt for Russia to continue this evil, they will continue this evil. "International isolationism" doesn't mean anything to them unless it hits them militarily or in the pocketbook. And since we already see that Obama is floating adrift in an increasingly maddening world I wouldn't count on his drive or ability to get anything accomplished here. Yet I'll still hope that he proves me wrong.
Not true, most of what I was talking about was Sterling against the NBA based on the NBA Constitution. This is a family Trust issue that has nothing to do with the NBA. If the probate judge agrees that the wife could sell the team, almost everything I said about Sterling vs the NBA is still correct.
as the smartest man on the forum correctly predicted Obama has Putin shaking in his boots. Who's your daddy, Vlad?
Putin's popularity in Russia is at its highest level in years, with 83 percent of Russians saying they approve of the job he's doing. That ties his previous high rating that came in 2008 — and currently is nearly twice the approval rating of President Barack Obama in the U.S. (44 percent).
The Russians' confidence in the honesty of elections, the military and national government also has seen a significant uptick in the last year.
From Gallup:
Russians' positivity also colors other aspects of their lives. While Americans have become less satisfied with their freedom to choose what they do with their lives, Russians became more satisfied in 2014. A record-high 65% of Russians are satisfied with their freedom. Some of this may be attributable to improving economic perceptions. Despite U.S. and European sanctions earlier this year over Moscow's intervention in Ukraine, more Russians see their economy getting better now than has been the case since 2008.
And while the Russians approve of their own leadership, they overwhelmingly disapprove of the leadership of the United States and European Union — while increasingly siding with China.
GALLUP POLL BARACK OBAMA VLADIMIR PUTIN
Putin's popularity in Russia is at its highest level in years, with 83 percent of Russians saying they approve of the job he's doing. That ties his previous high rating that came in 2008 — and currently is nearly twice the approval rating of President Barack Obama in the U.S. (44 percent).
The Russians' confidence in the honesty of elections, the military and national government also has seen a significant uptick in the last year.
From Gallup:
Russians' positivity also colors other aspects of their lives. While Americans have become less satisfied with their freedom to choose what they do with their lives, Russians became more satisfied in 2014. A record-high 65% of Russians are satisfied with their freedom. Some of this may be attributable to improving economic perceptions. Despite U.S. and European sanctions earlier this year over Moscow's intervention in Ukraine, more Russians see their economy getting better now than has been the case since 2008.
And while the Russians approve of their own leadership, they overwhelmingly disapprove of the leadership of the United States and European Union — while increasingly siding with China.
GALLUP POLL BARACK OBAMA VLADIMIR PUTIN
Uh, except for the fact there is an outstanding federal lawsuit filed by Sterling which you're pretending doesn't exist.
[h=1]Why Putin Is Not Impressed[/h][h=2]by Moscow Trader • July 21, 2014[/h]By Moscow Trader, a Russian commodity trader, financial pundit, avid cricket fan, and jazz aficionado.
The effects of the first round of US sanctions enacted in the aftermath of Crimean referendum have been somewhat, let’s say, surprising for Western mainstream media. Besides the obvious fact that the sanctions haven’t had a visible impact on Russian foreign policy, they marked the local bottom of the Russian stock market, which has since outperformed the US stock market.
This chart, comparing the Market Vector Russia ETF (RSX) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), is an illustration of the effectiveness of the Obama Administration’s Russian policy. Not even the plunge of the RSX following the tragedy of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 pushed the RSX down to the level of the SPY:
Let’s take a look at the companies targeted by the new round of sanctions and see whether their existence is threatened by the Washington’s decision to cut them off from the US debt markets.
Obviously, the impact of these measures on companies in the Russian defense sector is nil. They don’t care one way or the other; neither their markets nor their financing sources are in US. The only people who should be upset about the sanctions on those companies are the US citizens who have ordered Kalashnikov rifles and will have to settle for an inferior product.
This leaves us with two banks, VEB and Gazprombank, and two energy companies, Rosneft and Novatek.
Gazprombank is the “pocket bank” of Gazprom, the Russian energy giant. Being completely locked out of US-based or even dollar-denominated financing will not affect the bank’s business model. According to the most recent accounting data,cited by RBK, the amount of Gazprombank’s outstanding foreign debts is equivalent to roughly $16 billion, and that’s around 16% of the bank’s debts. In 2014, only $2 billion come due. Peanuts compared to the bank’s deposit base of $57 billion.
VEB, the Russian state-owned development bank, is in a similar situation. It has some outstanding eurobonds worth $10.2 billion but, according to the same report cited by RBK, the closest significant payments ($11.4 million) are due in 2016. So, at least for the next two years, there is no reason to believe that VEB operations will be significantly affected.
Fitch, in a recent research note dedicated to the two banks, cited a similar logic as a reason for maintaining the current ratings. Moreover, the Central Bank of Russia stepped in to support Gazprombank and VEB. “If needed, adequate measures will be taken to ensure that the interests of the clients, depositors and creditors are protected,” it explained in a press release. The CBR can provide ample dollar liquidity; one of the obvious sources for financing the affected banks is Russia’s $111.4 billion portfolio of US Treasuries.
As for the energy companies, the situation is even simpler. Neither of the two sanctioned entities needs external financing in order to operate. Both companies have positive cash flow and have no need to refinance their debts. Novatek, the biggest private gas producer in Russia, has only one project that needs external financing: Yamal LNG but given that the project is backed by Total and CNPC, most market observers believe that either of those partners will be able to find financing at affordable rates, even if Novatek is completely shut out from debt markets.
At first glance, the situation for Rosneft is more complicated. Despite having positive cash flow, the company has to service a hefty debt load, a legacy of the acquisition of TNK-BP. However, it seems that Rosneft’s CEO Igor Sechin foresaw this development, and his strategy of focusing on China and obtaining massive prepayments from Chinese customers is the perfect financing option for a sanctioned entity. Raiffeisenbank’s energy specialist in Moscow, Andrey Polishchuk,summed it up this way: “According to my estimates, in 2014-2018, Rosneft will get $63 billion in advance payments. In such a case, the company will not have any problems to pay its debts and dividends until 2019.”
All in all, the sanctions are toothless, and the White House must have known that they are. So why did it refrain from using stronger options? One possibility is that Washington doesn’t really want to enter into a full-fledged economic war with Russia and is surely unwilling to do it alone. It is obvious that the European Union doesn’t want to cut its energy, financial, and industrial ties with Russia. But without European support, the only thing achievable by the White House would be a retaliatory economic strike from Moscow.
However, by using these watered-down sanctions, the Obama Administration killed two birds with one stone: the headlines about the sanctions and the list of targeted entities looked really scary for the uninitiated; at the same time, nothing important happened. Trying to look tough without taking tough actions is an art in itself, and most American politicians are very adept at it.
The effects of the first round of US sanctions enacted in the aftermath of Crimean referendum have been somewhat, let’s say, surprising for Western mainstream media. Besides the obvious fact that the sanctions haven’t had a visible impact on Russian foreign policy, they marked the local bottom of the Russian stock market, which has since outperformed the US stock market.
This chart, comparing the Market Vector Russia ETF (RSX) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), is an illustration of the effectiveness of the Obama Administration’s Russian policy. Not even the plunge of the RSX following the tragedy of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 pushed the RSX down to the level of the SPY:
Let’s take a look at the companies targeted by the new round of sanctions and see whether their existence is threatened by the Washington’s decision to cut them off from the US debt markets.
Obviously, the impact of these measures on companies in the Russian defense sector is nil. They don’t care one way or the other; neither their markets nor their financing sources are in US. The only people who should be upset about the sanctions on those companies are the US citizens who have ordered Kalashnikov rifles and will have to settle for an inferior product.
This leaves us with two banks, VEB and Gazprombank, and two energy companies, Rosneft and Novatek.
Gazprombank is the “pocket bank” of Gazprom, the Russian energy giant. Being completely locked out of US-based or even dollar-denominated financing will not affect the bank’s business model. According to the most recent accounting data,cited by RBK, the amount of Gazprombank’s outstanding foreign debts is equivalent to roughly $16 billion, and that’s around 16% of the bank’s debts. In 2014, only $2 billion come due. Peanuts compared to the bank’s deposit base of $57 billion.
VEB, the Russian state-owned development bank, is in a similar situation. It has some outstanding eurobonds worth $10.2 billion but, according to the same report cited by RBK, the closest significant payments ($11.4 million) are due in 2016. So, at least for the next two years, there is no reason to believe that VEB operations will be significantly affected.
Fitch, in a recent research note dedicated to the two banks, cited a similar logic as a reason for maintaining the current ratings. Moreover, the Central Bank of Russia stepped in to support Gazprombank and VEB. “If needed, adequate measures will be taken to ensure that the interests of the clients, depositors and creditors are protected,” it explained in a press release. The CBR can provide ample dollar liquidity; one of the obvious sources for financing the affected banks is Russia’s $111.4 billion portfolio of US Treasuries.
As for the energy companies, the situation is even simpler. Neither of the two sanctioned entities needs external financing in order to operate. Both companies have positive cash flow and have no need to refinance their debts. Novatek, the biggest private gas producer in Russia, has only one project that needs external financing: Yamal LNG but given that the project is backed by Total and CNPC, most market observers believe that either of those partners will be able to find financing at affordable rates, even if Novatek is completely shut out from debt markets.
At first glance, the situation for Rosneft is more complicated. Despite having positive cash flow, the company has to service a hefty debt load, a legacy of the acquisition of TNK-BP. However, it seems that Rosneft’s CEO Igor Sechin foresaw this development, and his strategy of focusing on China and obtaining massive prepayments from Chinese customers is the perfect financing option for a sanctioned entity. Raiffeisenbank’s energy specialist in Moscow, Andrey Polishchuk,summed it up this way: “According to my estimates, in 2014-2018, Rosneft will get $63 billion in advance payments. In such a case, the company will not have any problems to pay its debts and dividends until 2019.”
All in all, the sanctions are toothless, and the White House must have known that they are. So why did it refrain from using stronger options? One possibility is that Washington doesn’t really want to enter into a full-fledged economic war with Russia and is surely unwilling to do it alone. It is obvious that the European Union doesn’t want to cut its energy, financial, and industrial ties with Russia. But without European support, the only thing achievable by the White House would be a retaliatory economic strike from Moscow.
However, by using these watered-down sanctions, the Obama Administration killed two birds with one stone: the headlines about the sanctions and the list of targeted entities looked really scary for the uninitiated; at the same time, nothing important happened. Trying to look tough without taking tough actions is an art in itself, and most American politicians are very adept at it.
Already a week after the M17 tragedy the Separatists have shot down 2 more Ukranian Jets & the Ukranians are whining Russian about
Russian weaponry shooting them down. Of course the Separatists are using Russian know-how only a year ago they were working in the wheat fields & mines. They voted for the Russian leaning candidates 80% in the last election 2010, they speak Russian their culture is Russian and Putin as the leader of Russia is not going to see them being slaughtered from the sky.
McCain and his ilk are campaigning for the US to arm Ukraine a terrible idea, Putin has so far showed retraint but if the US arms Ukraine
Putin would have to march the Russian army into the battle & within a month would send Ukrainian soldiers back across the Dneiper.
The US knows that. No need for a WWIII over Ukraine.
Russian weaponry shooting them down. Of course the Separatists are using Russian know-how only a year ago they were working in the wheat fields & mines. They voted for the Russian leaning candidates 80% in the last election 2010, they speak Russian their culture is Russian and Putin as the leader of Russia is not going to see them being slaughtered from the sky.
McCain and his ilk are campaigning for the US to arm Ukraine a terrible idea, Putin has so far showed retraint but if the US arms Ukraine
Putin would have to march the Russian army into the battle & within a month would send Ukrainian soldiers back across the Dneiper.
The US knows that. No need for a WWIII over Ukraine.
