Lxxx Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Admittedly for Russia to threaten the US financially is akin to a mouse threatening an elephant at the moment. However with these ill thought out sanctions the US are putting on Russia one option is for Russia is to decree all foreign debts to be suspended, which would cost US banks about $500bn, which would hit Wall Street hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lxxx Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 I was pleased by the interview with Sara Firth on CNN yesterday evening, in which she explained her decision to resign from RT. Flicking between CNN, AJ, BBC and RT in the hour or so after the news of the crash broke, it was glaringly obvious how biased RT's coverage was. Within minutes, they were blaming Ukraine, before anything at all was known, even the location of the crash site. Firth said in her own terms that they are handed down standing instructions on how to handle any breaking news, and rule number one is 'blame Ukraine'. http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/18/mh17-russia-today-reporter-resigns-sara-firth-kremlin-malaysia So pretty much the same as the channel she was giving the interview to, which is a pretty western standard, 'Blame Russia.' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarne Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 (edited) Admittedly for Russia to threaten the US financially is akin to a mouse threatening an elephant at the moment. However with these ill thought out sanctions the US are putting on Russia one option is for Russia is to decree all foreign debts to be suspended, which would cost US banks about $500bn, which would hit Wall Street hard. That would hit Russia just as, if not even harder, as their not many would loan to them As for the evidence, the reason the West jumped on blaming Russia so quickly was the evidence states that the Russian backed seperatists fired the missile. Edited July 19, 2014 by Tarne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guzzi Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Well, CNN, BBC and AJ were all pretty much even handed, although one or two of the 'experts ' they drag out on these occasions were vituperative about Putin and Russia. I tend to go with Sara Firth, as she obviously has the inside view, and she is by no means the only journalist to leave RT in recent times, The point is, their editorial content is governed by their 'style rules' not by journalistic input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Putin plays the international situation like a game of chess. There is now an obvious move for him to make - if he dares. The crash site is not secured and reports say that it is being interfered with by the rebels who are destroying evidence and removing bodies. Putin could say that this is an outrage and since Ukraine is incapable of controlling its own territory, Russian forces will step in to bring the situation under control and allow the investigation to proceed to international standards. De facto he then has boots on the ground in Ukraine. This incursion could then be extended over time and territory under the pretext of bringing order to a lawless area and protecting those of Russian ethnicity. So slowly, slowly, catchy monkey. The next step would be to take stock and see how forceful or, more likely, how weak is the Western reaction. If there is no meaningful response, where next? Baltics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Putin plays the international situation like a game of chess. No he doesn't. Or certainly no more so than anyone else. I think that the daft chess trope gets repeated because people still think of the chess masters of the soviet era. So they make the association. But actually you might just as we'll say that he plays the international situation like a game of ice hockey. Or old maid. Or blind man's bluff. The daft chess cliché is meaningless anyhow. Putin is not some master strategist. Mostly, like all other govts, he is responding to events and public opinion at home. Russia needs Europe to carry on buying their gas. The perception that Russia is a difficult partner has the potential to undermine the Russian economy. And the sense that Russia is again a dangerous place to do business. And over the next decade the Leviathan gas field is going to be coming on stream bringing Israeli / Egyptian gas into Europe via Greece. (Clearly the routes of the pipelines will be extremely strategic and Russian companies will be trying to buy into it). Israel set to become major gas exporter (FT) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donald Trumps Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 I'm sure he'll have people hunting down bits of the missile but I can't see Russia do anything but ask its intelligence officers with the rebels to keep their heads down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Putin plays the international situation like a game of chess. No he doesn't. Oh Yes He Does! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 And the sense that Russia is again a dangerous place to do business. I think that many who have tried would testify that it is dangerous and not just a "sense". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 And the sense that Russia is again a dangerous place to do business.I think that many who have tried would testify that it is dangerous and not just a "sense". It's quite clearly the same either way in terms of the perception. And what I am saying is that the perception potentially undermines confidence in the economy - and therefore the idea that Putin is necessarily a good strategist. Since ultimately the economy is everything. As the Tsars and the Soviets learned already. What did you specifically find actually dangerous ? It felt quite threatening to me and there was a cheerful recklessness which was quite scary in some ways. But it did not feel particularly more nasty than many British suburbs and estates at night. Which cities were you in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lxxx Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Putin does need to let his people free so they can actually build an economy instead of it just being based around commodities. He's of the old mindset that land mass equals might whereas Japan proved that is rubbish. A small country of no natural resources but the tremendous productivity of it's people rose to No2 economy in the world. The oligarchy rules Russia which holds them back but combined with their strategic bedfellows China and Iran collectively they are an obstacle to western hegemony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 their strategic bedfellows China Not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lxxx Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 their strategic bedfellows China Not. How so? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 their strategic bedfellows China Not.How so?There has been some thawing of relations. Very tentative. Some joint military exercises and hand shaking. But it's all to China's advantage. And China holds all of the cards economically. As above - from the Russian perspective it's just about gas. Russia depends upon selling gas. Britain and the US are "bedfellows". Even France and the US. Even the US and Germany - despite everything. China and Russia by contrast simply no longer distrust and hate each other quite so much - or are choosing to be polite with each other. Chinese companies are gradually improving the rail routes from China into Europe via Russia and Belarus. They are investing in railways in order to speed up freight routes into European markets. The last thing that China wants is better relations with Russia at the expense of good trade relations with Europe and the US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lxxx Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 It's like sanction tennis. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/07/russia-bans-western-food-imports-retaliation-ukraine-sanctions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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