Loud word "Sanctions"

[Figaro]

There is an ongoing madness over sanctions. United States uses an infinite number of sanctions against Russia. US government puts pressure on EU about sanctions against Russia. Russia is under the pressure from all sides. As I can see, Obama tries to put pressure on EU. He wants to make EU to tighten sanctions. But it’s clear that Europe is not ready for the full ignore and embargo. Europe is too dependent on Russian exports and imports. Obama can’t understand it. Russia may impose retaliatory sanctions and then Europe will be in the pit. In the energy pit. Obama is on the sidelines, trying to incite neighbors against each other. Such a a sort of bully who then hides in the bushes and watching the fight. Or, he has a cunning plan how to pick up Europe at his hook?

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Very loud indeed considering 300,000+ died in Iraq under US sanctions.

 

[waltky]

Russia got more than sanctions to worry about...

Russia Vows to Counter New US Sanctions
September 02, 2015: Russia said on Wednesday it would respond in kind to new U.S. sanctions imposed on the country over the Ukraine crisis.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website that Moscow will take "countermeasures" that will not necessarily "mirror” the U.S. sanctions. The ministry said “the U.S. should have no illusions that it can continue this course without negative consequences for itself.” The U.S. government said in a statement on its Federal Register website Wednesday that it is adding 29 people to the sanctions list to tighten restrictions previously imposed on Russia.

It said the 29 individuals are acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. Wednesday's statement said the U.S. is taking this action to ensure the efficacy of existing sanctions on Russia for violating international law and fueling the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The European Union is expected to extend for another six months its sanctions against Ukrainian and Russian elements accused of backing pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine. Without an extension, those sanctions will expire on September 15.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly dismissed the EU sanctions against its defense, financial and energy sectors, in addition to targeted individual sanctions, as ineffective and counterproductive to peace efforts, despite their impact on Russian economy.

Russia Vows to Counter New US Sanctions

See also:

Russia, Venezuela Seek to Combat Oil Price Woes
September 03, 2015 — Russia and Venezuela need to combine efforts to lift oil prices, President Vladimir Putin told his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro on Thursday, but refused to spell out any specific action, including output cuts.

Maduro, who met Putin in Beijing after attending a Chinese military parade to mark 70 years since the end of World War II in Asia, spoke of some "initiatives" agreed between the pair, but did not specify what those might be. The economies of both Russia and Venezuela, two major producers, are highly dependent on proceeds from the sale of oil, the price of which has roughly halved since last year due to oversupply and a decision by the OPEC cartel not to cut production.

"Both parties noted during the meeting that such unstable oil prices are not in the interests of the two countries and, of course, the countries should integrate their efforts in terms of coordination to facilitate a boost in oil prices," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "However, President Putin drew attention to the fact that there could be no direct actions, this is a market process… There are lots of factors which are having an impact and that should be taken into consideration very carefully."

An oil pump is seen in Lagunillas, Ciudad Ojeda, in the state of Zulia, Venezuela

Maduro, who often puts a positive spin on the results of Venezuelan lobbying of OPEC, said he and Putin had made some progress. "The initiatives will be known once they are in full swing," state news agency AVN quoted Maduro as saying to Russian television network RT, without providing further details. Venezuela is a member of OPEC, but Russia is not. Moscow has so far been unwilling to deliberately cut its crude oil output to support prices, and the meeting of Putin and Maduro had not been expected to yield any concrete results, a senior Russian source told Reuters on Wednesday.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) relatively wealthy members in the Gulf drove the group's strategy shift last year to allow prices to fall to defend market share. But a severe recession and shortages of consumer goods in cash-strapped Venezuela have whetted the government's appetite for higher oil prices. It has been pushing for a new deal between OPEC and non-member producers to stabilize prices. Russia has been ramping up output this year, extracting it at a post-Soviet record high of around 10.7 million barrels per day. Moscow wants to keep production high to defend its market share, and if it cut output it would, in the short term at least, lose revenue that it relies on heavily for its budget.

Russia, Venezuela Seek to Combat Oil Price Woes

 

[waltky]

Imagine Russia defaulting on all its foreign debt – over $700 billion – on which Western sanctions have raised extra, punitive costs in terms of repayment...

Russia’s ultimate lethal weapon
September 20, 2015 - Let’s start with some classic Russian politics. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov is drawing up Russia’s economic strategy for 2016, including the government budget. Siluanov – essentially a liberal, in favor of foreign investment – will present his proposals to the Kremlin by the end of this month.

So far, nothing spectacular. But then, a few days ago, Kommersant leaked that Russia’s Security Council asked presidential aide Sergei Glazyev to come up with a separate economic strategy, to be presented to the council this week. This is not exactly a novelty, as the Russian Security Council in the past has asked small strategy groups for their economic assessment. The Security Council is led by Nikolai Patrushev, the former head of the Federal Security Service. He and Siluanov are not exactly on the same wavelength. And here’s where the plot thickens. Glazyev, a brilliant economist, is a Russian nationalist – sanctioned personally by the US.

Glazyev is arguably going no holds barred. He is in favor of barring Russian companies from using foreign currency (which makes sense); taxing the conversion of rubles to foreign currencies (same); banning foreign loans to Russian firms (depending if they are not in US dollars or euro); and – the smoking gun – requiring Russian companies that have Western loans to default.

Predictably, some sectors of US ‘Think Tankland’ went bonkers, stating with utmost certainty that “the Russian energy sector would not be able to find much financing without connections to the West.” Nonsense. Russian firms would easily find financing from Chinese, Japanese or South Korean sources.

Whatever measure of attention Glazyev will get inside the Kremlin, the whole episode already means that Moscow harbors no illusions in the near future regarding the exceptionalists (one just has to look at the presidential candidates, from ‘El Trumpissimo’ to ‘The Hillarator’); as Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov recently put it, “[we] should expect toughening of the sanctions pressure.” Once thing though is absolutely certain; Moscow won’t bend over backwards to “pacify” Washington.

Neo-Tsarism, anyone?