The Brink of War?

[cdnmatt]

You would think Israel would be reluctant to give all those Nazi's in Ukraine free weapons.

I'm totally confused now...

Ok, so the Nazis are in the country run by a Jew.
The German Nazi dude who killed all the Jews was actually a Jew.
So if I got this right, I think that means the Israelis are South Africans.

I don't know, we'll have to ask Lavrov, as this is all very confusing to me. No idea what point he was trying to make by saying Hitler was a Jew, but it wasn't a very good one.

[Moses]

I don't know what Russia is doing, but it's pretty pathetic.

Pretty pathetic is what you are reading in Western news, dear.

Ruble is already below 65 rubles per dollar and it has 2 year strongest position (does Mr. Alzheimer still thinks what it is 200?), thanks to payment in rubles for Russian gas. Revenue from sales of fossil fuel at February-March is $68 bln, from which EU bought $44 bln and this is twice more than in F-M'21. At April only Italy bought 40% more gas than in 2021.

Poland and Bulgaria refused to pay for Russian gas in rubles and are without gas from May 1st.

Yesterday EU again wasn't able to get consensus about oil export from Russia - 4 countries vetoed ban of oil export and 3 countries vetoed ban of Russian oil transportation.

Looks like inflation here will changed to deflation soon - local prices are dramatically going down follows USD/RUR rate. UAE, India, China signed with Russia trading agreements in rubles.

2 days ago Russia again paid bonds in dollars. Did you told something about "unavoidable default"?

[Dodger]

NATO is about to get bigger.

It was just reported on Aljazeera evening news that Finland and Sweden have both reached final decisions to join NATO. Apparently this landmark decision is unanimous among members of both parliaments. Both countries have cited the reason for joining the Alliance was due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the risk this presents to Finland and Sweden going forward.

One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies warned NATO that if Finland and Sweden joined the US-led military alliance then Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in an exclave in the heart of Europe. "Time for everyone to tremble again - here comes more of those "woof tickets".

When asked how Washington views the addition of Sweden and Finland to NATO in light of Russia's warning, the U.S. State Department said there was no change in Washington's position and repeated that "NATO's open door is an open door."

Just in time for Putin’s Victory Day celebration…the irony.

[Dragonman]

Pretty pathetic is what you are reading in Western news, dear.

Ruble is already below 65 rubles per dollar and it has 2 year strongest position (does Mr. Alzheimer still thinks what it is 200?), thanks to payment in rubles for Russian gas. Revenue from sales of fossil fuel at February-March is $68 bln, from which EU bought $44 bln and this is twice more than in F-M'21. At April only Italy bought 40% more gas than in 2021.

Poland and Bulgaria refused to pay for Russian gas in rubles and are without gas from May 1st.

Yesterday EU again wasn't able to get consensus about oil export from Russia - 4 countries vetoed ban of oil export and 3 countries vetoed ban of Russian oil transportation.

Looks like inflation here will changed to deflation soon - local prices are dramatically going down follows USD/RUR rate. UAE, India, China signed with Russia trading agreements in rubles.

2 days ago Russia again paid bonds in dollars. Did you told something about "unavoidable default"?

Perhaps Russian news reports may also be pathetic as, again, this response is not factually correct in all respects.

1. Bloomberg is currently still showing the ruble at above 65 to the US dollar - 65.3764 to be precise.
2. Poland may not be receiving new supplies from Russia but is not "without gas" as they have either enough gas stored, or have alternatives to draw on. Poland said its gas stores were 76% full and it did not need to use any reserves as yet. Moreover, the Poles claim that cutting off supplies is a breach of contract and they reserve the right to use all available contractual and legal means to do so.
3. Bulgaria is also stating that it is not "without gas." It is receiving supplies from Greece and is to begin importing supplies from Azerbaijan.
4. Countries such as China and India, which are oil and gas buying from Russia, are probably getting supplies at high discounts.
5. While it is true that Russia paid two bonds in US dollars, it is probable that repayments were made using assets not already frozen, thus drawing down on its resources. Future default is still possible is such resources are depleted.
6. The EU is willing to launch legal action against EU countries that allow their energy companies to pay for Russian gas in rubles, violating EU sanctions, according to European Commission's Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis.

[Moses]

Bloomberg today: UK will meet recession and inflation up to 10%

And few words from member of EU parliament

[Moses]

One more "bad" news: Russian economy could weather impact of EU oil ban https://www.ft.com/content/82dfa0f1-...7-29c69f6938c3

[Dragonman]

Bloomberg today: UK will meet recession and inflation up to 10%

And few words from member of EU parliament

The Bloomberg headline actually is "BOE Sees Risk of U.K. Recession With Inflation Above 10%," the word "risk' meaning nothing is certain.

Clare Daly is an Irish member of the European Parliament, being elected for the Dublin constituency where she received a final total of 87,770 votes, or 11.6%, and took the third seat. She was expelled from the Irish Labor Party as a teenager when accused of being a Trotskyist. She has been accused by members of Fianna Fail as being an "embarrassment to Ireland." She chose to give this interview to CGTN and CCTV, i.e., China Global Television Network and China Central Television, both state-owned entities, rather than making these statements to a western media outlet. They are her words based on her own political beliefs, and should be judged only as such.

[Dragonman]

One more "bad" news: Russian economy could weather impact of EU oil ban https://www.ft.com/content/82dfa0f1-...7-29c69f6938c3

Again, the headline uses the modal verb "could" and the article states that Russian "Capacity to balance the budget depends on whether producers meet logistics challenge of switch to Asia." Conditional verbs are used to create conditional sentences, which express hypothetical or unlikely situations. Hardly "bad" news as a favorable outcome for the Russian economy is conditional upon events and situations over which Russia may have no control. There are numerous academic research articles on the difficulties of logistics standardization in Asia.

[RonanTheBarbarian]

The Bloomberg headline actually is "BOE Sees Risk of U.K. Recession With Inflation Above 10%," the word "risk' meaning nothing is certain.

Clare Daly is an Irish member of the European Parliament, being elected for the Dublin constituency where she received a final total of 87,770 votes, or 11.6%, and took the third seat. She was expelled from the Irish Labor Party as a teenager when accused of being a Trotskyist. She has been accused by members of Fianna Fail as being an "embarrassment to Ireland." She chose to give this interview to CGTN and CCTV, i.e., China Global Television Network and China Central Television, both state-owned entities, rather than making these statements to a western media outlet. They are her words based on her own political beliefs, and should be judged only as such.

As a person has the misfortune to live in the very constituency that Clare Daly represents In the European Parliament, it was interesting to hear her giving interview on this. She is very reluctant to talk to many journalists in Ireland these days.

She may have got 11% in the last election, but her stance on Ukraine is extremely unpopular in Ireland, to put it mildly, and I personally doubt she will even contest the next one.

I would say her best hope for a job after 2024 would be if she wrangles a sinecure from Putin, like ex-Chancellor Schroeder.

[Dragonman]

It is worth remembering the comment of the late former US Senator John McCain in 2015: ""Look, Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country. "It's kleptocracy. It's corruption. It's a nation that's really only dependent upon oil and gas for their economy, and so economic sanctions are important."