CURRENCY WAR GETS
WORSE IN APRIL
FURIOUS RUSSIA WILL RETALIATE OVER "ILLEGAL AND
ABSURD" PAYMENT
Wed, Apr 2,
2014
Yesterday afternoon we reported what was by far the most
important news of the day, one which was lost on virtually everyone if only
until this morning, when we reported that "Monetary Blockade Of Russia Begins: JPMorgan Blocks Russian Money
Transfer "Under Pretext" Of Sanctions." This morning the
story has finally blown up to front page status, which it deserves, where it
currently graces the FT with "Russian threat to retaliate over JPMorgan block." And
unlike previous responses to Russian sanctions by the West, which were largely
taken as a joke by the Russian establishment, this time Russia is furious:
according to Bloomberg, the Russian foreign ministry described the JPM decision
as "illegal and absurd." And as Ukraine found out last month,
you don't want Russia angry.
More:
The
biggest U.S. bank thwarted a remittance from the Russian embassy in Astana,
Kazakhstan, to Sogaz Insurance Group “under the pretext of anti-Russian
sanctions imposed by the United States,” the ministry said yesterday in a
statement on its website. Sogaz lists OAO Bank Rossiya, a St. Petersburg-based
lender facing U.S. sanctions over the Ukrainian crisis, as a strategic partner
on its website.
Interfering
with the transaction was an “absolutely unacceptable, illegal and absurd
decision,” Alexander Lukashevich, a ministry spokesman, said in the statement.
U.S.
President Barack Obama announced the action against Bank Rossiya last month as
part of a broadening of sanctions that targeted government officials and allies
of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose associates own Rossiya. The
embassy’s transaction was for less than $5,000 dollars, a person with knowledge
of the dispute said, asking not to be identified because such transfers aren’t
public.
Did JPMorgan just move the second Cold War into
semi-hot status? Very possibly:
“Any
hostile actions against the Russian diplomatic mission are not only a grossest
violation of international law, but are also fraught with countermeasures that
unavoidably will affect activities of the embassy and consulates of the U.S. in
Russia,” Lukashevich said.
As we reported yesterday, for now the JPM party
line is to plead ignorance, as it does not want to incur the wrath of the US
government, because apparently lying to Congress is less of an issue than
transacting with Russian oligarchs.
JPMorgan
could still process the embassy payment if U.S. regulators approve, the person
familiar with that dispute said.
“As with
all U.S. financial institutions that operate globally, we are subject to
specific regulatory requirements,” New York-based JPMorgan said in a statement.
“We will continue to seek guidance from the U.S. government on implementing
their recent sanctions.”
Russia’s
Finance Ministry has done business with JPMorgan. It picked the lender to
improve the country’s standing among U.S. credit-rating firms. Putin said in
2011 the rankings given to Russia were an “outrage” that increased borrowing
costs for domestic companies and the government. JPMorgan also was among banks
selected to advise Russia on a 1 trillion ruble ($28.5 billion) privatization
program
There's that. And then there's this, which we
also said yesterday:
Wait, did JPM just take a
unilateral action, not mandated by the state department (because nowhere in the
Russian sanction list does it say putting a freeze on Russian bank transfers),
and refuse to process a simple money transfer? Why? And if indeed JPM is doing
this, how long until all other US banks, most of which are just as allegedly
criminal in dealing with offshore sources of illegal money, follow suit and
leave Russia entirely in the world when it comes to USD-backed transactions.
Because what JPM may have
just done is launch a preemptive strike which would have the equivalent
culmination of a SWIFT blockade of Russia, the same way Iran was neutralized
from the Petrodollar and was promptly forced to begin transacting in Rubles,
Yuan and, of course, gold in exchange for goods and services either imported or
exported.
One wonders: is JPM truly
that intent in preserving its "pristine" reputation of not
transacting with "evil Russians", that it will gladly light the fuse
that takes away Russia's choice whether or not to depart the petrodollar
voluntarily, and makes it a compulsory outcome, which incidentally will merely
accelerate the formalization of the Eurasian axis of China, Russia and India?
Once again: watch this
space carefully - should more western commercial banks (here's looking at you
Citigroup, Bank of America, and Citi, and of course "money launderer to
criminals everywhere" extraordinaire HSBC) just say no to more Russian hot
money, things get really interesting.... if for nothing else, then certainly
the ultra-luxury end of the Manhattan real estate market.
Finally, we certainly can
not be the only ones looking forward to the epic battle prospect that is Vlad
"Shootin" Putin vs JP "Fail Whale" Morgan. Especially if it
involves more such sudden moves in gold as what just happened.
Image URL : http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2014/03/Gold%20spot_0.jpg
----------
IRAN, RUSSIA SAID TO SEAL
$20B OIL-FOR-GOODS DEAL: REUTERS
Wed, Apr 2, 2014. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-04-02/whither-petrodollar-russia-iran-announce-20-billion-oil-goods-deal :
Spot what is missing in the just blasted
headline from Bloomberg:
If you said the complete absence of
US Dollars anywhere in the funds flow you are correct. Which is precisely what
we have been warning would happen the more the West and/or JPMorgan pushed
Russia into a USD-free corner.
Once again, from our yesterday comment on the JPM Russian blockade: "what
JPM may have just done is launch a preemptive strike which would have
the equivalent culmination of a SWIFT blockade of Russia, the same way Iran was
neutralized from the Petrodollar and was promptly forced to begin transacting
in Rubles, Yuan and, of course, gold in exchange for goods and services either
imported or exported. One wonders: is JPM truly that intent in preserving
its "pristine" reputation of not transacting with "evil
Russians", that it will gladly light the fuse that takes away
Russia's choice whether or not to depart the petrodollar voluntarily, and makes
it a compulsory outcome, which incidentally will merely accelerate the
formalization of the Eurasian axis of China, Russia and India?"
----------
THE RUSSIAN REACTION WAS EXPECTED, according to John Rubino, March 26, 2014
Welcome to the Currency War, Part
14: Russia, China, India Bypass the Petrodollar
As it tries to punish Russia for the latter’s
dismemberment of Ukraine, the West is discovering that the balance of power
isn’t what it used to be. Russia is a huge supplier of oil and gas — traded in
US dollars — which gives it both leverage over near-term energy flows and, far
more ominous for the US, the ability to threaten the dollar’s reign as the
world’s reserve currency. And it’s taking some big, active steps towards that
goal. As Zero Hedge noted on Tuesday:
I if
Russia, China and India decide to start trading oil in their own currencies —
or, as Zero Hedge speculates, in gold — then the petrodollar becomes just one
of several major currencies. Central banks and trading firms that now hold 60%
of their reserves in dollar-denominated bonds would have to rebalance by
converting dollars to those other currencies. Trillions of dollars would be
dumped on the global market in a very short time, which would lower the
dollar’s foreign exchange value in a disruptive rather than advantageous way,
raise domestic US interest rates and make it vastly harder for us to bully the
rest of the world economically or militarily.
For
Russia, China and India this looks like a win/win. Their own currencies gain
prestige, giving their governments more political and military muscle. The US,
their nemesis in the Great Game, is diminished. And the gold and silver they’ve
vacuumed up in recent years rise in value more than enough to offset their
depreciating Treasury bonds.
The
West seems not to have grasped just how vulnerable it was when it got involved
in this latest backyard squabble. But it may be about to find out.
======
SILVER DOCTORS WENT FURTHER: DEVALUATION AT NATIONAL LEVEL AND DOLLAR COLLAPSE
AT WORLD LEVEL
GERMANS JOIN CHINA, the US is becoming isolated
April 2, 2014
That said, this deal between the
People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and Germany’s Bundesbank seems quite
significant given the importance of Germany within the global economy generally
and the E.U. specifically.
IN THE US STATE vs NATION SEPARATION IS ABOUT TO START
BECAUSE OF DEVALUATION
Dollar
Devaluation: Hard Evidence At Your Local Grocery Store April 2, 14 The United States paper currency has
been very slowly devalued for over a century now. The images in this article tell the
difficult truth for all to see, and the numbers don’t lie.
THE FED WILL BECOME THE TARGET
Federal
Reserve Gold Market Intervention And Government Corruption April 2-114
Remember, the purpose of Quantitative Easing is to support
the balance sheets of a few over-sized banks and to finance the federal budget
deficit at an artificially low rate of interest. In other words, QE supports failed
banks and federal fiscal irresponsibility. In order to successfully carry off
this blatant misuse of public policy, the price of gold, a measure of the
dollar’s value, must be suppressed. The Federal Reserve’s lack of
integrity speaks volumes about the corruption of the US government
THE DOLLAR WILL
COLLAPSE
1.
The desperation of the
Anglo-American leadership, guided by the steady corrupt banker hands, has never
been more acutely high, nor obvious in full view.
The entire Ukraine situation is a travesty. It
includes Langley agents killing police and street demonstrators from rooftops,
the confirmation coming from the Estonian Embassy (translation of
scripts). It includes thefts of official Ukrainian Govt funds, again sent to
the Swiss hill sanctuary. It includes sanctions
delivered by a US Paper Tiger, sure to cause horrific backlash. It
involves the last gasp attempt to obstruct the Gazprom energy pipelines, which
will inevitably corner the European market in monopoly. It involves subterfuge
with the NATO card (aka Narcotics And Treachery Outlaws) with missiles placed
on the Russian borders. Look for NATO members to find a back door to exit the
spurious treaty. It involves playing with nitro-glycerine in the Petro-Dollar
room. It involves putting tremendous risk for much more clear isolation of the
United States. The more the USGovt pushes, the more the US will be isolated.
Remember that Nazis steal from their enemy states, de-fraud from their allied
states, and force themselves into an isolated state.
In Ukraine, the United States has over-played its weak hand. Already, a secret
document was leaked in London that the UKGovt would not support the US-led
sanctions against Russia.
Ukraine is the Waterloo event for the USDollar. [Read more...]
Ukraine is the Waterloo event for the USDollar. [Read more...]
2.
ANTAL FEKETE: THE
US IS THE NEW FALLING ROMAN EMPIRE
April 1, 2014.
The Roman Empire represented the height of scientific knowledge of
its time, yet it succumbed to the temptation of monetary debasement that was
the paramount cause of its downfall.
Likewise, the U.S. represents the height of scientific knowledge of our age, but this did not protect it against the quackery of Keynesianism and Friedman-style monetarism. If we escape disaster this time, it will be by the skin of our teeth. [Read more...]
Likewise, the U.S. represents the height of scientific knowledge of our age, but this did not protect it against the quackery of Keynesianism and Friedman-style monetarism. If we escape disaster this time, it will be by the skin of our teeth. [Read more...]
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