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Ukraine: Wet Noodle Sanctions And Pressure For Constitutional Reform
As documented yesterday the "leaked" Russian non-paper which demanded constitutional reform in the Ukraine and more autonomy for its regions was at least partially accepted by Secretary of State Kerry:
In a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, their second since unsuccessful face-to-face talks on Friday in London, Kerry urged Russia "to support efforts by Ukrainians across the spectrum to address power sharing and decentralization through a constitutional reform process that is broadly inclusive and protects the rights of minorities," the State Department said.
That Kerry "urged Russia" is just a silly diversion. The idea of such changes in the Ukrainian constitution clearly came from the Russian side and were already part of the February 21 agreement which the U.S. supported coup government broke.
The Kerry call with Lavrov was followed by one between Putin and Obama. The White House readout of that call also mentions the constitution issue.
[President Obama] noted that the Ukrainian government continues to take concrete steps that would allow for the de-escalation of the crisis, particularly as it prepares for elections this Spring and undertakes constitutional reform, …
Using that acknowledgement of the Russian plan the Kremlin increased the pressure and went public with its demands:
Moscow, meanwhile, called on Ukraine to become a federal state as a way of resolving the polarization between Ukraine's western regions — which favor closer ties with the 28-nation EU — and its eastern areas, which have long ties to Russia.
In a statement Monday, Russia's Foreign Ministry urged Ukraine's parliament to call a constitutional assembly that could draft a new constitution to make the country federal, handing more power to its regions. It also said country should adopt a "neutral political and military status," a demand reflecting Moscow's concern about the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO.
Russia is also pushing for Russian to become Ukraine's state language.
In Kiev, Ukraine's new government dismissed Russia's proposal Monday as unacceptable, saying it "looks like an ultimatum."
The Ukrainian puppet government still has to learn the business. As Kerry and Obama already conceded "constitutional reform" in the Ukraine there will be no way for the puppet government to get around this. It urgently needs money and those who could possibly pay, the IMF, the U.S. and EU, will make their demands heard.
Russia could also easily escalate and help the eastern and southern regions of the Ukraine to create their own state independent of Kiev or the seek, like the Crimea, incorporation into the Russian Federation. The Ukrainian government is right to call the Russian demand an ultimatum. It is exactly that and it will have to submit to it.
But that is not yet understood. The Ukrainian parliament, those now 300+ left from 450 original lawmakers after the others fled under threats of violence, decided to mobilize the Ukrainian military and moved a whooping 12% of its total budget into reestablishing some military force. But the Ukrainian military has been neglected for over 20 years:
“It is absolutely not a combat ready force. It’s sharply underfunded, and they don’t have any real air or surface to air or capacity compared to what Russia can deploy — even though Russia is no paragon of military readiness either,” Anthony Cordesman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told FoxNews.com.
The Ukrainian troops are still mostly conscripts and the professionals are paid only half of the average Ukrainian wage. How loyal this military will be to the coup-government is yet to be seen. I do not expect it to play any significant role.
Meanwhile the U.S. as well as the EU introduced some sanctions on some Russian and Ukrainian individuals though the White House "Fact Sheet" does not even say what those sanctions are:
In response to the Russian government’s actions contributing to the crisis in Ukraine, this new E.O. lists seven Russian government officials who are being designated for sanctions. These individuals are Vladislav Surkov, Sergey Glazyev, Leonid Slutsky, Andrei Klishas, Valentina Matviyenko, Dmitry Rogozin, and Yelena Mizulina.
There seems to be no real idea why (and with what) these individuals would be sanctioned. Does it make sense to sanction people because of their "status"?
- Valentina Matviyenko: Matviyenko is being sanctioned for her status as Head of the Federation Council
- Dmitry Rogozin: Rogozin is being sanctioned for his status as the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
- Yelena Mizulina: Mizulina is being sanctioned for her status as a State Duma Deputy.
The sanctioned Russian people are all officials who are not even allowed to hold foreign assets. What is the U.S. going to do about them?
One paragraph in the "Fact Sheet" is a threat to Russian businessman and oligarchs:
The United States also will seek to hold accountable individuals who use their resources or influence to support or act on behalf of senior Russian government officials. We recognize that the Russian leadership derives significant support from, and takes action through, individuals who do not themselves serve in any official capacity. Our current focus is to identify these individuals and target their personal assets, but not companies that they may manage on behalf of the Russian state.
Whatever. Putin has some 70% of the Russians in favor of him. He does not have to be considerate of this or that oligarch. The Russians are laughing off this wet noodle assault. None of these sanctions will influence their decision making. They will publish a retaliatory list and equally meaningless sanction some U.S. and EU officials and that will be it.
The U.S. now has the unpleasant task to silence the blowhards and fascists in the Ukrainian puppet government and to push them to accept some meaningful constitution creating process. The Russian government will keep all options open in eastern and southern Ukraine until a new acceptable Ukrainian constitution is done and in place. It can for now sit back and amuse itself about the empty blustering coming out of Brussels and Washington DC.
@88
Charlie Manson ALSO didn’t do as many drugs as the doped up minions that HE encouraged just a hop skip and slaughter away from Zappa’s Laurel Canyon in Topanga Canyon. And it was all at the same exact time. Serial killers and the beginnings of the hippie movement, satanists, LSD, and people from families in US intelligence agencies all in a few square miles of one another, yeah, good ole uncle Frank was pure as the driven snow. GMAFB
And as a matter of fact, a Southern secessionist movement would be most valuable
in reducing the power of the Zio-capitalist Empire, but even if you can’t see that, no excuse for anti-Southern bigotry here.
I get it so we should encourage racists and those who want apartheid right? We should let them do what they want, right? Give them every bit of racist land there little hearts desire? And you’re anti-Zionist? Tell me another one.
Awwwwh, anti-Southern bigotry!!!That’s really adorable. Let’s not talk about what it’s like to be a minority – anywhere in the US, really – but especially in that part of the country, shall we? Anti-southern fucking bigotry?!!!In a place that 50 years ago they still LEGALISTICALLY thought black people were a subhuman species and today lock them up by the thousands in prisons and ghettos faster than you can say KKK, you’re gonna turn around and claim bigotry? Holy shit.
I just love how the South – after causing 4 centuries of slavery, a fucking massive and bloody civil, Jim Crow laws, the KKK, the separation of races and on and on to this day – thinks that since they NOMINALLY – nudge, wink – stopped doing that terrible shit like DECADES AGO they can still carry on their virulent aboveboard racism, still cling to secessionist symbols that celebrate and honor said slavery and racist practices and the rest of us just have to play f*cking stupid and blind and pretend there’s nothing wrong with it because why it was just AGES AGO!
And again we’re supposed to believe that you’re an anti-Zionist when you use the same victimhood tactics to talk about a group of states that proudly waves their traitorous flags all over the country, huh? Why, I bet you get REAL pissed about dual citizenship Israeli/Americans, huh? I bet it just burns your griddlecakes something good when you see a Star of David flag, huh? Well, what about the Star and Bars? Think that we should encourage that? What’s the difference between the South and Israel, huh?
One is a group of racists that wants to overtly practice discrimination and apartheid while ethnically cleansing “their” land of undesirables, the other is a group of racists that wants to overtly practice discrimination and apartheid while ethnically cleansing “their” land of undesirables.
Man, you’re right! It’s like night and f*cking day!!Note: I didn’t want to say black and white to further offend any other lurking southerners.
Well, you see, JBigotine, an apartheid genocidal state in the southern US would be good because well erm uh derp it would stop the apartheid genocidal state of Israel and its bitch the US or something like that because see if there were TWO (or THREE since the old US wouldn’t be going non-Zionist overnight either) nuclear-armed states that were radical insane Zionists then it would sort of cancel or something…wait a second…this idea sucks!
Umm, doya think that maybe the crazy Zionist southern f*ckers in their new apartheid state – oh I don’t know – would just start attacking the States – on Israel’s orders – they just seceded from or do you think that the have a brake on their crazy train?
I shouldn’t bring up problems in the South – and I know they’re everywhere in the US, believe me but thomas was gloating about AL – because if we just let the racist minority that rules it do what it wants the world would probably end up being a better place in the end. And, again, you’re anti-Zionist.
All we are saying is give racism a chance.
(Psssst. Here’s a little secret. If you think Zionist propaganda is rampant in the US, then what is one to make of the pro-Southern propaganda – Duck Dynasty, NASCAR et al ad nauseum – that’s been ruling the American airwaves for at least as long? Could it be connected? Could it be that we’re been brainwashed to not only emulate Zionists but southern living as well? Why would TPTB want that? I know and it’s YOUR homework.Back to our regularly scheduled program.)
Posted by: JSorrentine | Mar 18 2014 2:18 utc | 110
Kremlin: If the U.S. Tries to Hurt Russia’s Economy, Russia Will Target the Dollar
The Daily Sheeple
http://www.TheDailySheeple.com
March 17th, 2014
Reader Views: 1,871
124 17 170
chess game currencies
Editors Note: It has been announced this morning that the US government is stepping up sanctions against Russia in light of the Crimea vote. Obama is on record as saying that the vote:
‘Will never be recognized by Washington” (source)
By introducing visa bans and freezing Russian assets Washington is raising the bar into dangerous tit-for-tat territory, and the outcome is anything but settled on where that will lead. This makes the following article from Testosterone Pit even more pertinent.
From Testosterone Pit:
Another warning shot was fired before an all-out assault on the dollar system begins. This time, an official shot: Alexey Ulyukaev, Russia’s Minister of Economic Development and former Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank, fired it. It was a major escalation, Valentin Mândrăşescu, editor of The Voice of Russia’s Reality Check, told me from Moscow.
Last time, it was Sergei Glazyev, an advisor to Vladimir Putin who’d fired the shot. But he wasn’t a government official. “Anonymous sources” at the Kremlin claimed he wasn’t speaking for the government. As Mândrăşescu reported in his excellent article, From Now On, No Compromises Are Possible For Russia:
From the economic point of view, everyone should get ready for tough actions from Moscow. Sergei Glazyev, the most hardline of Putin’s advisors, sketched the retaliation strategy: Drop the dollar, sell US Treasuries, encourage Russian companies to default on their dollar-denominated debts, and create an alternative currency system (reference currency) with the BRICS and hydrocarbon producers like Venezuela and Iran.
Unlike radical-sounding Glazyev, Ulyukaev is part of Dmitry Medvedev’s Cabinet. And as former Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia, he doesn’t take currencies lightly. He told Rossia-24 news channel about possible retaliatory measures if Washington adds economic sanctions to the political sanctions. Moscow wouldn’t worry too much about political sanctions, he said, but if Washington tries to hurt Russia’s economy, Moscow would retaliate by targeting the US dollar.
Some of it is already happening
Washington’s decision to release a minuscule 5 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve caused the price of oil to tank – a direct attack on the main revenue source of the Russian government, and a sign that Washington is willing to hit where it hurts the most [read a trader’s lament…. Commodity Markets Will Be Used As A Weapon Against The Putin Regime, Starting Now].
Russia instantly retaliated, it seems. Suddenly, there was a mysterious mega-plunge of $104.5 billion in US Treasuries held in custody by the Federal Reserve during the reporting week ended March 12. It brought the balance down to $2.86 trillion. These securities are owned by foreign countries. As of the US Treasury’s December statement, the most recent available, the Fed held $138.6 billion in Treasuries that belonged to Russia – down by $22.9 billion from a year earlier. The mega-plunge of $104.5 billion? No data is available yet to confirm these securities belonged to Russia. And if they did, it’s unlikely that Russia dumped them on the market, but it could have transferred them to another banking center, such as Luxemburg, to get them out of reach of the US government, and be able to dump them at an opportune moment.
Getting out from under the dollar
Russia has been palavering with other countries about initiating alternatives to the dollar. Formal plans emerged from the Kremlin last May on how Russia wanted the BRICS to dismantle the dollar system. So now it was Ulyukaev, an official heavy-weight, who said that Russia would work on increasing the volume of international trade denominated in national currencies, thus bypassing the dollar (translation by Mândrăşescu):
“Why should we have dollar contracts with China, India, Turkey?” he said. “Why do we need this? We must have contracts in national currencies. And this applies to energy and other spheres.” The focus would be on Russian oil and gas companies. “They must be braver in signing contracts in rubles and the currencies of partner-countries,” he said. “I think now there is an additional impetus to finally finish this job.”
And the “currency reserve policy” would need some adjustment with maximum focus on “local currencies”; it was the normal way, he said. In Mândrăşescu’s analysis, Ulyukaev was outlining an attack on the petrodollar system and the enormous advantages it confers on the US, with the goal of creating parallel petro-currencies.
Media blackout in the US
The warning, issued officially and publicly by a Cabinet member, to target the dollar, has been vigorously ignored by the mainstream media in the US. It’s a touchy subject here. The dollar reigns supreme. Its status as the sole world reserve currency, which has provided the US with enormous economic advantages, remains unquestionable forevermore. Or so wishes the Fed, which has done such a wonderful job of managing the dollar for the last 100 years that it has lost most of its value, though it’s still a heck of a lot better than the ruble.
“I have a suspicion the Western media don’t want to report on this,” Mândrăşescu said. “It could be a bit unpleasant for the S&P 500 and the nanobots trading the US stock market.” Better keep them in the dark.
It took a while. But it had to come, the public warning shot – after some ferocious lobbying behind closed doors. No one in Germany is allowed to get in the way of the sacrosanct exporters. Read…. German Exporters Fire Warning Shot About Russia “Sanction-Spiral,” Banks At Risk
– See more at: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/kremlin-if-the-u-s-tries-to-hurt-russias-economy-russia-will-target-the-dollar_032014#sthash.oPsCBM6V.dpuf
Posted by: brian | Mar 18 2014 8:44 utc | 145
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