The ruble is collapsing

[Simfan34]

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/15/us-russia-cbank-rates-idUSKBN0JT2II20141215

[Negusa Nagast 🚀]

Sanctions + falling price of oil taking its toll.

[Knives]

Can't say this saddens me.

[Tender Branson]

In general I wouldn't mind it, but this is a problem for our local tourism economy:

In recent years (the last 10 or so), the better-off Russian middle-class increasingly went to Austrian ski areas during winter and they spend a lot, unlike the regular German or Dutch guests. Russian guests often like luxury, buy lots of bling-bling and check in at expensive hotels such as the Kempinski in Kitzbühel.

Now with the sanctions from the EU and the falling ruble, the Russian middle-class gets squeezed and bookings for this winter are down by about 50-70% among Russians.

Together with the fact that we still have virtually no snow on the mountains for skiing, this winter season is going to be crappy. The only thing that can still save it would be a massive snow dump in the next weeks and more traditional German/Dutch guests than usual, to offset the Russian loss in guests.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Sanctions + falling price of oil taking its toll.

Remember when some people bitched the west is doing "nothing"?

Well, you don't have to blow things up if you have such economic weapons.

[Lief 🗽]

Yet another Obama foreign policy success!

[Simfan34]

Yes, Obummer ruining the economy... of Russia.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The key thing here is the collapse of the price of oil (i.e. not just in itself but also because it compounds damage caused by sanctions). Though, of course, said collapse of oil price is not entirely accidental.

[Beet]

Is there any actual evidence that "the West" orchestrated the drop in oil prices, much less that there was a political motive against Putin specifically?

[Landslide Lyndon]

Yet another Obama foreign policy success!

he should be allowed to win the Nobel Peace Prize, again.

[Beezer]

It's all about the timeframe. Putin can point out that the rouble has gained over 12% against the USD since this morning. Sanctions have kickstarted Russia's economy. 

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Yet another Obama foreign policy success!

Yes, his conquest of Ukraine has been a roaring success. From the $5 billion spent to destabilize an elected government, whose opposition then removed an elected (albeit a rather awful) president in a manner illegal under Ukraine's constitution, to securing a job for Joe Biden's son on the board of Ukraine's biggest gas company.

Remember, imperialism is okay as long as it's led by the Washington-Brussels axis!

[Illuminati Blood Drinker]

snowstalker pls

[Simfan34]

It's all about the timeframe. Putin can point out that the rouble has gained over 12% against the USD since this morning. Sanctions have kickstarted Russia's economy. 

It fell 19% today. The economy is going to contract even more sharply now. He can make no such claim unless he is to blatantly lie. But they can not mention it on the media, which is what they have been doing.

[Simfan34]

Yet another Obama foreign policy success!

Yes, his conquest of Ukraine has been a roaring success. From the $5 billion spent to destabilize an elected government, whose opposition then removed an elected (albeit a rather awful) president in a manner illegal under Ukraine's constitution, to securing a job for Joe Biden's son on the board of Ukraine's biggest gas company.

Remember, imperialism is okay as long as it's led by the Washington-Brussels axis!

Indeed, which is why we need revolutionary socialism, which will unfailingly follow laws and abide by consitituons!

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Yet another Obama foreign policy success!

Yes, his conquest of Ukraine has been a roaring success. From the $5 billion spent to destabilize an elected government, whose opposition then removed an elected (albeit a rather awful) president in a manner illegal under Ukraine's constitution, to securing a job for Joe Biden's son on the board of Ukraine's biggest gas company.

Remember, imperialism is okay as long as it's led by the Washington-Brussels axis!

Indeed, which is why we need revolutionary socialism, which will unfailingly follow laws and abide by consitituons!

Revolutionary socialists can and should use bourgeois laws to our advantage when they either constrain the actions of the ruling class or can otherwise be used to further our cause. I don't care about the U.S. Constitution per se, but it can be a useful tool.

[Panda Express]

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Further proof communism doesn't work

[ag]

This is not simply the sanctions - this is the interaction of the sanctions with the nature of the Russian state.

What did the sanctions do? They selected a few major Russian companies - CONTROLLED BY PUTIN´S CLOSE FRIENDS - and blocked their debt refinancing. Well, it is December, and some of that debt is coming due, so, as it cannot be refinanced, it has to be retired. What were the options? It could be argued that those companies have to deal with it themselves: these are major energy companies - they have cash; push comes to shove, they could sell off assets. Of course, that would hurt the FRIENDS, so it was out of question. Alternatively, the government could refinance from its reserves - there are enough reserves available. But, of course, that would make the reserves smaller, making further big government projects hard to pay for. In any case, these were the reasonable options.

Instead, the Russian government did something else. It decided to refinance those companies - but in rubles, not in dollars. So the companies would have to go to the market, get their dollars to retire their dollar debt. Great idea: the government can create as many rubles as it likes - and, well, yeah, there will be a devaluation and inflation, but that is just a redistribution from the suckers (i.e., the population at large) to the real people (the FRIENDS).

Well, guess what. On Sunday (?) the first of these companies (Rosneft) got its rubles, and on Monday it all collapsed. I am not even sure Rosneft had the time to go buy its dollars - but these days the suckers also know how to count, and they tried to get rid of their rubles ASAP.

There is no way any US government could have done so much damage to Russia with sanctions, as long as the Russian government were anything but a gang of dumb thieves.

[Simfan34]

Yet another Obama foreign policy success!

Yes, his conquest of Ukraine has been a roaring success. From the $5 billion spent to destabilize an elected government, whose opposition then removed an elected (albeit a rather awful) president in a manner illegal under Ukraine's constitution, to securing a job for Joe Biden's son on the board of Ukraine's biggest gas company.

Remember, imperialism is okay as long as it's led by the Washington-Brussels axis!

Indeed, which is why we need revolutionary socialism, which will unfailingly follow laws and abide by consitituons!

Revolutionary socialists can and should use bourgeois laws to our advantage when they either constrain the actions of the ruling class or can otherwise be used to further our cause. I don't care about the U.S. Constitution per se, but it can be a useful tool.

So are they the only ones who are allowed to break laws as they please?

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Yet another Obama foreign policy success!

Yes, his conquest of Ukraine has been a roaring success. From the $5 billion spent to destabilize an elected government, whose opposition then removed an elected (albeit a rather awful) president in a manner illegal under Ukraine's constitution, to securing a job for Joe Biden's son on the board of Ukraine's biggest gas company.

Remember, imperialism is okay as long as it's led by the Washington-Brussels axis!

Indeed, which is why we need revolutionary socialism, which will unfailingly follow laws and abide by consitituons!

Revolutionary socialists can and should use bourgeois laws to our advantage when they either constrain the actions of the ruling class or can otherwise be used to further our cause. I don't care about the U.S. Constitution per se, but it can be a useful tool.

So are they the only ones who are allowed to break laws as they please?

What matters is not what is law, but what is right.

[Simfan34]

Yet another Obama foreign policy success!

Yes, his conquest of Ukraine has been a roaring success. From the $5 billion spent to destabilize an elected government, whose opposition then removed an elected (albeit a rather awful) president in a manner illegal under Ukraine's constitution, to securing a job for Joe Biden's son on the board of Ukraine's biggest gas company.

Remember, imperialism is okay as long as it's led by the Washington-Brussels axis!

Indeed, which is why we need revolutionary socialism, which will unfailingly follow laws and abide by consitituons!

Revolutionary socialists can and should use bourgeois laws to our advantage when they either constrain the actions of the ruling class or can otherwise be used to further our cause. I don't care about the U.S. Constitution per se, but it can be a useful tool.

So are they the only ones who are allowed to break laws as they please?

What matters is not what is law, but what is right.

Then why did you bring laws up in the first place?

[ag]

Yet another Obama foreign policy success!

 From the $5 billion spent to destabilize an elected government ...

You know, because the US also tried to spend $75 trillion to try to buy your used underwear, but you, proudly, resisted

[Illuminati Blood Drinker]

Yet another Obama foreign policy success!

Yes, his conquest of Ukraine has been a roaring success. From the $5 billion spent to destabilize an elected government, whose opposition then removed an elected (albeit a rather awful) president in a manner illegal under Ukraine's constitution, to securing a job for Joe Biden's son on the board of Ukraine's biggest gas company.

Remember, imperialism is okay as long as it's led by the Washington-Brussels axis!

Indeed, which is why we need revolutionary socialism, which will unfailingly follow laws and abide by consitituons!

Revolutionary socialists can and should use bourgeois laws to our advantage when they either constrain the actions of the ruling class or can otherwise be used to further our cause. I don't care about the U.S. Constitution per se, but it can be a useful tool.

So are they the only ones who are allowed to break laws as they please?

What matters is not what is law, but what is right.

Then why did you bring laws up in the first place?

The only moral law-breaking is my law-breaking.

[Mordecai]

Excellent play by Obama with the sanctions.

If Reagan or Bush had done this the Republicans would be carving their face into Mt Rushmore and declaring them President of the century.

Sadly they are so cowardly they would rather side with their man-crush, the blood-soaked KGB dictator who destroyed his country's economy, than the smart black guy who carries a massive stick and speaks softly.

[Beezer]

It's all about the timeframe. Putin can point out that the rouble has gained over 12% against the USD since this morning. Sanctions have kickstarted Russia's economy. 

It fell 19% today. The economy is going to contract even more sharply now. He can make no such claim unless he is to blatantly lie. But they can not mention it on the media, which is what they have been doing.

Hasn't he been doing this for quite a while ("no Russian soldiers in UA" and so forth). I was just making the point that it would be quite appropriate for Putin to frame the issue in such a manner ("What ruble collapse? The dollar has lost 12% since this morning.").