LOL my signature on this site has long stated my position. Lets just say, the history of manipulating communications is as old as the art of lying. Little lies, big lies, "accidental" lies, blatant lies, "erroneous" information repeated lies etc LOL Often it's not black and white lying or "fake". When you sell your engineless car, just conveniently advertise that it has 4 good tires and a good paintjob with a great photo to boot but conveniently leave out the fact that it has no engine under the bonnet.
The ruble has surged all the way back to where it was before Putin invaded Ukraine, closing at 79.7 in Moscow on Wednesday. What’s become clear is that despite an incredibly wide-ranging package of sanctions on the Russian government and its oligarchs, and an exodus of foreign businesses, the actions are largely toothless if foreigners keep guzzling Russian oil and natural gas -- supporting the ruble by stocking Putin’s coffers. Even as Russia remains mostly cut off otherwise from the global economy, Bloomberg Economics expects the country will earn nearly $321 billion from energy exports this year, up more than a third from 2021. The rapid ruble recovery gives Putin a major victory back in Russia, where many people fixate on the currency’s ups and downs, even as his military gets bogged down in Ukraine and outrage mounts across the globe over atrocities it’s committed. “For the politicians, it is a good PR tool by saying that sanctions don’t have any impact. And it will help to limit the inflation impact,” said Guillaume Tresca, a senior emerging-market strategist at Generali Insurance Asset Management. -- Still, it’s hard to ignore the lifeline other nations are tossing Putin by purchasing his country’s oil and gas. Doing so gives Russia a current-account surplus -- economics jargon for exporting more than you import, which tends to lift a the country’s currency -- and undermines the attempt to pummel Russia with sanctions. “A current-account surplus should actually be another source of stability for the ruble,” said Brendan McKenna, a strategist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC. “If energy prices remain high and major importers of Russian energy and commodities continue to purchase, the current account should stay in surplus.” He says the ruble could hit 78 per dollar, partly because of Putin’s counter-sanctions. https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/mocked-as-rubble-by-biden-russia-s-ruble-comes-roaring-back
And the strongest appreciating world currency against the US Dollar today is....? No, it's not the Australian $Banana.... ....It is the Russian Rouble! Up another 4% and testing the important 80 to the dollar key figure. It's amazing what a currency can do when it's got more than politicians and bankers' hot air backing it!
That "worthless" Rouble still powering along now at 77 to the US Dollar! If (when) it gets to the 70 levels, that will equate to US $2200 gold. Am I the only one cheering this on, have the rest of you been brainwashed by the deepstate globalists that everything Russia does is bad?
Well, that didn't last long! If anybody is wondering why the Russian Rouble is back above 80 to the US petrodollar, it is because the Russian banks are no longer buying gold @5000 Roubles to the gram of gold. It would have bankrupted them, as the Rouble got to about 75 to the dollar yesterday, so they would have been paying the equivalent of over US $2070 for an ounce of gold! Now it is buying according to sources on a case-by-case negotiated basis. Damn! (Too much of a good thing can be bad.)
It's a good vid. He talks about the 'guns and butter' days in USA and explains what Russia did. @15:40 Not redeemable, but as collateral.
^^^ Yes, I was wondering why they don't do that myself as the Yankee Doodle Dandies do, and open the printing presses to oblivion. But, I guess they are more principled and don't wish to follow the US example. Maybe they wish their currency to be taken seriously by their trading parners in the long run and not have it backed by lead only but also by the trust of economic management.
Russia paying foreign denominated debt in Rubles. As far as I understand Russia tried to pay bond holders in USD but the transfer was rejected because of sanctions so the funds are being held in a Ruble denominated account on behalf of the bondholders. That's an interesting situation. snip And this is the likely crux of the matter: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/russia-pay-bonds-rubles-default-83914808 Naturally Russia would be unwilling to let its FX assets be depleted beyond what its CB intentionally does in supporting its currency and the economy.
Anyone's brokers still allow buying Russian stocks? I want to buy some Gazprom, Nornickel and select agricultural shares. Sanctions are temporary, i think back and wish I bought a property or two during the last USA property crash and had more free cash to buy stocks the last covid crash.
Some are suggesting that Russia is attempting to create a "hard Rouble" with some sort of gold backing, while also conditioning the purchase of metals, oil and gas with Roubles. So far, they've only done it with gas. But I think they might do it with EVERYTHING. At this time, the Rouble is closer to the Thai Baht or Brazilian Real. It's peanuts in global trade, but... the demand for Euros is LOWER now that they are not selling gas in Euros AND, now that Russia was excluded from Swift, the amount of Euros traded will go down, AND, add the trade & tourism impact (remember the importance of trade, tourism, transportation between the EU and Russia... now, they cut Russia off). The Euro is losing ground vs the dollar. Now the dollar is king. Perhaps it will even reach the Euro's level. Right now the Swiss Franc has already surpassed the Euro. I think the dollar is next to surpass the Euro. So, the Euro is weakening (together with the European economy) - this is worrying. The Euro will weaken significantly due to forex issues (lower demand for highly inflated Euros), but also due to the accelerating economic crisis. The Eurozone is going to go through a devastating scenario, let's just wait until this summer. Of course, let's hope for the best. PEACE!
12 Polish towns have no gas flowing to kitchens. In a country where 99% of kitchens are gas. Within 2 weeks I see Poland buying Russian Gas and its major cities run out of gas, not for power but for its people kitchens
Quote Estonian PM Kaja Kallas: "Gas might be expensive, but freedom is priceless." https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/...eedom-is-priceless-estonian-pm-tells-euronews The Poles already commandeered Novatek Green Energy's (Russian affiliated gas company) pipeline infrastructure. The way it reads on Reuters suggests they now use Novatek's infra but not Novatek's gas. https://www.reuters.com/business/en...novatek-customers-cut-off-earlier-2022-04-30/
^ Some ccountries depend more on gas than others and, some have alternative gas geographically close, others simply ONLY have one option: Russian dependency. And alternative could be gas from the Caspian Sea, but as far as I know, there is no infrastructure connecting it to Europe. Northern Europe has access to the (expensive) gas in the North Sea: Germany, UK, the Scandinavian countries, Poland can get their gas from there. Balkan countries and Central Europe (Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia etc.) pretty much depend on Russian gas. Perhaps Croatia can receive Qatari liquid gas via ships, but the quantity is low, price sky high and the delivery takes time (ships actually have to travel back and forth). It is inevitable that we can say goodbye to cheap gas in Europe. All other sources are more expensive and/or, there is no infrastructure to exploit it. The biggest problem is that it's not so much the "kitchen gas" and gas used for heating - but the industry. The industry uses up tremendous quantities. EVERYTHING will be more expensive. Just watch the prices after summer: food, cars, electronics, heating, electricity...
The rouble is artificially supported right now because European countries are forced to open accounts with Russian banks to buy roubles in order to satisfy Putin’s demand for all energy purchases to be made in that currency. Putin is able to pull this off for a while because the rouble is a relatively tiny currency and it can therefore be manipulated heavily because it has so little mass and inertia. It’s a balloon that is easy to inflate temporarily by manipulation. How long he can do it will be the question to answer.
