Shit is happening behind the scenes on cutting off Russians from Swift and halting gas purchases.....first Lavrov and then now EU parliament made statements on those lines. Someone is getting desperate...
That would be ideal.
it insists that in such circumstances the import of oil and gas from Russia to the EU should be immediately stopped, and Russia should be excluded from the SWIFT payment system, and all assets in the EU of oligarchs close to the Russian authorities and their families in the EU should be frozen, and their visas canceled," the document says.
Wow... they make a tempting offer... kicking Russia out of SWIFT will cost SWIFT lots of transaction money... and of course when the US can't supply enough gas and they need to buy the odd tankers worth from Russia it means they will have to join whatever alternative system Russia uses instead of SWIFT for payments... and Russia can charge way more than it is charging for piped gas because it will still be cheaper than American gas of which there wont be any.
Freezing the assets of rich Russians living in Europe, or rich Russians with money and assets in Europe... that would be hilarious because that would punish all the Russian rich keeping their money and assets hidden in Europe and make them bring it all back to Russia...
Last time Theresa May threatened Putin with that, he said go ahead... we can help you identify who and where if you like...
NS2 will be completed in less than two months and that in itself will mean that the German and to a lesser extent the French economy will get even more dependent on Russia
Bullshit... connecting a pipe to supply cheap energy to Germany does not create any dependency... they are not obligated to use it.... they can buy as much freedom gas from the US as they like and not buy any gas from Russia at all if they wanted, but they want cheap energy.
Hard to imagine they would stop buying gas totally all of a sudden, so it is just to try and get leverage in negotiations.....Aren't central euro and baltics always disappointed?
Russia gets rather more money from gas sales to Asia... if the EU does not want cheap energy I am sure Russia can start liquification and shipping to countries who do want cheaper alternatives to what they are using now.
While the alternative home built system may prevent crippling of domestic financial transactions, it will still be a big deal for foreign trade and will be impactful atleast short to medium term. Long term will make them more independent, west may be going for economic impact and internal destabilization
Countries wanting to buy Russian weapons and products and energy... including rocket engines and titanium... will likely need to join the system to access their market... the EU kicking Russia out of SWIFT will essentially create an alternative to SWIFT... I doubt they will kick out members of SWIFT who join this new system, because if the US and EU want titanium for aircraft and of course energy and raw materials and other things they are going to have to pay for it somehow... and they wont be able to use SWIFT.
The reality is we know pretty much most backed out even with legally binding and paid for contracts in NS2 from insurance to pipe laying and all in between and same with south stream just on the threat and they range from Swiss to German to Dutch companies and so on.
That is not loyalty to the US, it is mathematics... complete this job for a fraction of the 11+ billion dollar project... say 200 million or something and cut yourself out of the US market that needs infrastructure work real bad for the next 20 years at least... obviously they are going to drop this job in hope of future jobs.
It wont impact Russians that much in terms of being independent nor would it be same as sanctions on Iran as Russia is pretty self sufficient in all areas but they do have trade and the impact will certainly disrupt some things like nissans, fords, gms, ikea and toyota and so on doing business in Russia....its not just about net credit or debit on import or export balance.
Every European company that left the job had to be replaced by a Russian company that wasn't going to operate in the US anyway so sanctions are meaningless to them.... but I bet they are getting paid top dollar for this job.
Western companies don't make western products in Russia to benefit Russia. They do it to bypass import restrictions on foreign goods, but also cheap energy and manufacturing in Russia means exports to other markets can make them more profit too.
Their aviation industry has its limitations, but for the size they have, and the sanctions they need to endure, they could do worse.
Would like to see them work with Russia and India and improve their ability to make medicine, particularly generic, but also other medicines they need...
Indeed, a panic that includes Kiev who now have no idea how to de-conflict without political chaos.
ATLASCLUB mentioned the cost of mobilising all those Russian troops and how it is costing Russia... imagine what it is doing to the Ukraine...
Reality is whoever is in a position to control or some sort of monopoly on something will cause some pain as the systems depend on them.
The threat is often worse than the punishment... the US dollar was a powerful weapon... till they started using it as a weapon against Russia and so they got rid of the US Debt they held and are working to eliminate US dollars from all their international transactions... so it was a power, but it was used and now it has actually weakened the US more than Russia... Russia was talking about dropping the dollar for years but didn't until the US used it against them.
Where is that cartoon of Trump shooting himself in the foot?
.so now they control home and abroad except for a few countries but its exhausting for those countries to keep playing it.
If they think that is control then they are delusional...
If Russia is cut-off from SWIFT then good riddance, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot and will Jump-start alternative channels bypassing it making more countries join in and the west would lose all of it's leverage, or whatever leverage they think they had .
Russia has an alternative to SWIFT but no good reason to start using it... the EU giving them that reason is the push Russia needs.
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lyle6
I know Ukrainians look and smell like gypsies, but they are not related.