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    Russia and economic war by the west #2

    Broski
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    Post  Broski Tue Mar 07, 2023 3:16 pm

    West has only one way left to hit the Russian economy, 03.07.2023.
    I was gonna let it slide but this piece came across to me as unbelievably condescending and not only towards Russia either, but I'd expect nothing less from 'Yahoo News Japan'.

    Despite sanctions from developed countries, Russia imported goods worth $12.4 billion between March and November last year, according to the independent think tank Bruegel, based on customs data from 31 countries. As for China, it is economically supporting Moscow through increased trade - it became its most important trading partner.

    In addition, Russia increased its imports of semiconductors and chips by about 34% last year and China is its main supplier. Although developed countries imposed sanctions on exports of such products to Russia, trade with other partners recovered, Yahoo said.
    Implying that China and other countries that didn't cut off trade with Russia aren't "developed".

    Although China is the main exporter of goods to Russia, Moscow also acquires products subject to the export controls of developed countries through states such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
    Yeah, I could only wonder why Turkey and UAE aren't so willing to comply with unilateral sanctions imposed by "developed countries" on Russia, seeing as neither of them are developed I guess?

    "The developed countries have only one resource left: to exert diplomatic pressure on them," the edition concluded.
    Sactions and embargoes isn't diplomacy, also good luck forcing 140+ countries to cut trade ties with Russia.

    Sanctions have also failed to turn Russia into a global pariah.
    Yeah, guess the rest of the "undeveloped" world has more in common with Russia than their former colonial masters and occupiers. If the West had any Diplomats left they would've known that beforehand.

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    franco
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    Post  franco Tue Mar 07, 2023 5:05 pm

    The Ukrainian version of Forbes published an estimate of how much the Western world would lose if Russia did manage to control Ukraine.

    The rating economic magazine estimates the Ukrainian territory for a total of 14,8 trillion US dollars in resources.

    The richest regions are:

    1.Donetsk 3,8 trillion $
    2.Dnepropetrovsk 3,5 trillion $
    3.Lugansk 3,2 trillion $
    4.Poltava 700 billion $
    5.Kharkov 685 billion $
    6.Zaporozhye 605 billion $
    7.Zhitomir 555 billion $
    8.Lvov 521 billion $
    9.Kirovograd 270 billion $
    10.Crimea 206 billion $

    https://twitter.com/Trollstoy88/status/1633116410535718916?cxt=HHwWiMC97aCu_6ktAAAA

    NOTE: the Ukrainians trying to motive their western masters in a language they will understand Very Happy

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    Post  ALAMO Tue Mar 07, 2023 5:43 pm

    NOTE: the Ukrainians trying to motive their western masters in a language they will understand Very Happy

    Note something different.
    The numbers delta.
    Russian territories constitute most of the Ukrainian wealth.
    Without them, 404 is a rural shithole full of morons being sure about their supremacy.
    And jerking while watching Bandera statues.

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    Post  GarryB Tue Mar 07, 2023 7:11 pm

    I was gonna let it slide but this piece came across to me as unbelievably condescending and not only towards Russia either, but I'd expect nothing less from 'Yahoo News Japan'.

    Would very much agree... the arrogance of colonial japan is amusing, but to be expected from a minion of the US... we are developed and no one else is...

    But the irony is delicious too... have they not realised the threat they created to get Russia to invade the Ukraine is significant enough to ignore economic hardship for a few years, when the alternative is US missiles under the control of actual Russia hating nazis on their border, I think most Russians would think that is worth destroying.

    They seem to be coping with no new Apple I phones and perhaps an opportunity for other phone makers to step up and fill that gap with a better product.

    The countries they will be asking to not buy from Russia are currently buying all they can from Russia the stuff the west is no longer buying from Russia so they can sell it to the west... if the west leans on them too much they might get their wish and these countries might stop buying Russian energy and not have that energy to sell to the west who have cut off most of their supplies of Russian energy.

    Careful what you wish for...

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    Post  Hole Tue Mar 07, 2023 9:38 pm

    Russian territories constitute most of the Ukrainian wealth.
    The proposed Chinese "peace plan" would give Russia control of the area east of the Dnjepr, which would add Dnjepropetrovsk and Kharkov
    to the tally. No surprise that the west is against the plan, the rest of 404 would be close to worthless.

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    Post  Firebird Wed Mar 08, 2023 9:23 am

    Ukrainian Forbes illustrates what the Washington demons are all about. No mention of what the PEOPLE in those areas want.

    BTW, this of course only refers to natural resources.
    Crimea is very valuable to Russia. As would be Odessa. For different reasons I would say Kiev.

    Dnipropetrovsk has natural resoruces and a mass of industry. But that industry would not be compatible with the West and would even need lots of work by Russia to modernise it.

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    Post  franco Thu Mar 09, 2023 11:31 pm


    Bloomberg: EU still cannot find and freeze 136 billion euros of Russian assets

    EU authorities still cannot find most of the frozen Russian assets. According to Bloomberg, at the moment, official Brussels has frozen Moscow's assets in the amount of about €21 billion.

    In addition, not all countries in the community freeze them equally. Earlier, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation said that the return of blocked funds is extremely unlikely . Despite this, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov expects to start contacts with the West on the topic of mutual unfreezing of assets.

    Official Moscow has repeatedly stated that the freezing of Russian assets by the European Union is a robbery. ■

    https://tvzvezda-ru.translate.goog/news/2023310048-yQNHc.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB&_x_tr_pto=nui

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    Post  JohninMK Fri Mar 10, 2023 10:19 am

    The economic war is starting to bite hard. This is Europe starting to lose its economic base, heading towards a very uncertain future.

    At least in this case the EU cancelled sanctions on Russian aluminium Very Happy

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fq0TNhaXwAECNBm?format=jpg&name=small

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    Post  Kiko Fri Mar 10, 2023 1:04 pm

    Year of "hellish sanctions": Russia began to live better than Britain, by Victoria Nikiforova for RIANOVOSTI. 03.10.2023.

    The British press marks the anniversary of the economic anti-Russian blitzkrieg with mournful articles. "Hellish sanctions" brought a paradoxical result. Russia opened up new development opportunities for itself, but Britain, which for a long time positioned itself as one of the richest countries in the world, did not survive the sanctions regime.

    According to IMF forecasts , in the next two years the Russian economy will grow faster than the British one. In England, last year they recognized the beginning of a recession, that is, an economic downturn. This year it will only get stronger.

    Behind beautiful formulations such as "negative growth" (this is how British experts call the fall in GDP) and "crisis in the cost of living" lies a dull everyday reality. The British began to eat less, dress worse, wash less and heat their homes. This is not yet post-war Britain with food cards and a black market, but it is no longer the glamorous financial paradise that Margaret Thatcher tried to build.

    The popular tabloid Daily Mail, responding to inquiries from the masses of readers, issued a "report" from Russia, stating the obvious: vaunted Western sanctions designed to punish President Putin have failed. Russians still eat well, dress well, drive private cars, and don't suffer from the cold in unheated rooms.

    Supermarkets in Perm (English journalists collected material by communicating with Perm residents on social networks) are bursting with the freshest local and imported products. At this very time, British supermarkets are limiting the sale of cucumbers, tomatoes and sweet peppers in the classic "two pieces in one hand" style. Another deficiency is eggs and chicken. The fact is that poultry and greenhouse vegetables require increased energy costs, and its cost has increased significantly in Britain over the year.

    To give greater credibility, the authors of the Daily Mail quote a certain John and his Russian wife Elena from Perm. John is a researcher, Elena is a university teacher. Here's what they allegedly told the paper: "The average Russian only cares about having a warm home, food on the table, a glass of vodka and safety on the streets. We have it all. The conflict (in Ukraine) hasn't changed anything".

    "A glass of vodka" sounds good, the only thing missing is a bear with a balalaika. But there is another cranberry in the material. John and Elena claim that they pay 11,500 rubles a month for a "communal apartment" in their "kopeck piece". This figure is obviously false: in fact, Permians pay two or even three times less for a "kopeck piece". But where did she even come from? And it was English journalists who took the official size of the minimum "communal" in England (excluding London , of course) and converted it into rubles - so that British readers would not be upset at all.

    However, the overall picture, despite these machinations, is conveyed correctly. The Daily Mail also notes a 13% income tax (as opposed to 45% in Britain), and free medicine, and low transport costs for Russians. And it turns out the obvious: in terms of the "price - quality of life" ratio, Russia, moreover, provincial, is far ahead of Britain.

    Owners of agencies and financial institutions may push the UK into the top ranks of the international rankings, but the truth of life is that the results of the economic blitzkrieg are that the Russians are faring better than the British and the vast majority of Europeans. It only remains for us to overtake America, as Nikita Sergeevich bequeathed.

    There is nothing surprising in this: our country is rich in resources, we have a luxurious agricultural industry, an educated population, a rich range of high technologies and a mobile, enterprising business that can instantly find new counterparties and establish mutually beneficial cooperation. Our only problem was that the international financial institutions rated us with obvious bias. For decades, we were underestimated, the same Britain was overestimated. But today it became clear that the English king is naked.

    The decline of the British economy is perfectly logical. Back in the 1970s, the population of the island lived very poorly. Since Thatcher's time, they have managed to inflate financial institutions, build a "service economy", and collect loans. This created the appearance of well-being. But at the very first crisis - and it began back in 2020 - all these Potemkin villages began to collapse. Anti-Russian sanctions ruined them completely.

    Today, the average salary of a Londoner in the field, for example, IT, is from three to four thousand pounds per month. The bus driver - the legendary red double decker - receives about two thousand. And the average rent of an apartment in London has already crept up to 2.5 thousand pounds - two hundred and fifty thousand rubles for our money. Add hundreds of pounds for transport, hundreds of pounds for food, hundreds of pounds for "communal". Even if you have your own apartment, you won’t run away for an average salary. What if you pay by the hour?

    The popular masses in Britain are asking a natural question: why are we, as a result of these sanctions, living worse than in Russia? This is the question that the Daily Mail carefully tries to formulate in its publication. How is that, really? We were going to punish Putin and "make Russians suffer", but as a result, for some reason, we suffer ourselves.

    Russian runners-foreign agents offer to be patient for this. “You don’t have to look at your watch every five minutes, waiting for the sanctions to work,” Vladimir Milov consoles the British *. “Exercise strategic patience.”

    The British can't stand it. They arrange large-scale strikes, go to demonstrations, try to somehow fight. But the authorities of the country continue to stubbornly starve them with cold, just not to lose to Russia in Ukraine. Although, in fact, they have already lost everything, including their own people.

    * Mass media acting as a foreign agent

    https://ria.ru/20230310/sanktsii-1856868402.html

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    lancelot
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    Post  lancelot Fri Mar 10, 2023 1:14 pm

    Nah. The UK's economic boom that is commonly attributed to Thatcher had nothing to do with her and everything to do with North Sea oil & gas being discovered shortly before she came into power. Both resources are now pretty much depleted.

    If anything she was one of the main drivers of British economic collapse. For example the UK used to be a major automobile manufacturer and now they aren't.

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    Post  flamming_python Sun Mar 12, 2023 12:51 am

    Yup. Back in the 70s the British were still among the world's top shipbuilders as well, were producing rolling stock on a large scale and other items of heavy industry. Thatcher traded the industries away for the 'service economy', and the North Sea gas fields certainly provided a windfall.

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    Post  franco Sun Mar 12, 2023 2:33 pm

    Comparison of EU states trade with Russia in 2022 compared to 2021... not sure if Russia can continue like this No

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fq9DFoHXgAISOaz?format=jpg&name=small

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    Post  kvs Sun Mar 12, 2023 3:30 pm

    Any sanctions roll back by EU-tardia needs a Russian response as a counter-sanction to maintain the trade cutoff. These f*ckers need
    to feel the pain. No accommodation should be tolerated for a minimum of 10 years.

    There has been a lot of smugness in the NATzO west as to how "well" the EU has handled the gas supply crisis. This is delusional nonsense
    since there has been a warm winter (certainly in Canada according to my heating bill) and EU managed to get a lot of gas stored in 2022.
    This storage cannot be refilled sufficiently in 2023. Putin is making a mistake when he talks about supplying gas via the final Nord Stream
    pipe. You don't trade with the enemy during war.

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    Post  Scorpius Sun Mar 12, 2023 6:15 pm

    "A glass of vodka" sounds good, the only thing missing is a bear with a balalaika. But there is another cranberry in the material. John and Elena claim that they pay 11,500 rubles a month for a "communal apartment" in their "kopeck piece". This figure is obviously false: in fact, Permians pay two or even three times less for a "kopeck piece". But where did she even come from? And it was English journalists who took the official size of the minimum "communal" in England (excluding London , of course) and converted it into rubles - so that British readers would not be upset at all.

    1. The kvartplata in Omsk can reach 11,500 rubles per month. If you live in a three-room apartment with an area of 90 square meters. Definitely not housing for the poor. Personally, I live in the Moscow region and my kvartplata reaches about 5-5.5 thousand rubles for a one-room apartment. And this includes everything, including electricity and Internet. For the Voronezh region, for example, the rent for a one-room apartment is 2-3 thousand rubles per month

    2. Insinuations about the "glass of vodka" show how stupid those who wrote this article are. The average Russian has not been making his bar card of two types of vodka and moonshine for 15 or 20 years. Currently, if you pour something into a glass, it is more likely to be wine, but if you like strong drinks, then it will be rum or gin, or whiskey, or cognac. Vodka has not been particularly popular for a long time. As well as the stories that supposedly Russians should have alcohol on the table every day - this has never even been true.
    Currently, the demand for alcohol has returned to the level of about the 70s after a sharp surge in the 90s. And in 2018, Russia was on the 16th place in terms of alcohol consumption, behind such countries as Germany, France, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, Portugal, Belgium.


    Last edited by Scorpius on Sun Mar 12, 2023 8:17 pm; edited 1 time in total

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    Post  ALAMO Sun Mar 12, 2023 6:54 pm

    The cost of having a 50-60 m2 apartment in Poland is about PLN400 (RUB7500) if you FUKIN' OWN IT.
    One needs to add immobility tax and land tax to that, paid yearly.
    And all the media like gas, electricity and water/sewage supply and garbage treatment.

    We talk about only administrative fees and provisions, plus some repair fund.
    Has nothing to do with rent, you need to OWN that flat.

    Oh yeah, bring me more how the municipal rent for an app you don't own in RUB12k is robbery. Please please do mode, Daily Mail lol1

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    Post  Scorpius Sun Mar 12, 2023 8:15 pm

    Oh yeah, bring me more how the municipal rent for an app you don't own in RUB12k is robbery. Please please do mode, Daily Mail lol1

    In Omsk, you can rent (arenda) a one-room apartment for 12,000 rubles. It is the arenda. The rent (lol, google can't handle the translation of the term kvartplata) is monthly payments for utilities, and it is not equal to the rent.
    By the way, my annual payment of real estate tax is about 300 rubles.
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    Post  flamming_python Sun Mar 12, 2023 8:28 pm

    1. The rent in Omsk can reach 11,500 rubles per month. If you live in a three-room apartment with an area of 90 square meters. Definitely not housing for the poor. Personally, I live in the Moscow region and my rent reaches about 5-5.5 thousand rubles for a one-room apartment. And this includes everything, including electricity and Internet. For the Voronezh region, for example, the rent for a one-room apartment is 2-3 thousand rubles per month

    Wat?

    Granted I don't live in any of these places, but a 1-room apartment will cost you 25k per month upwards in St. Petersburg. And St. Petersburg is not that much higher in average salary levels than Omsk, or Perm for that matter.

    Looking at the advertisements here, https://www.avito.ru/perm/kvartiry/sdam-ASgBAgICAUSSA8gQ
    It appears that 1-bedroom apartment rentals start at about 10-13k rub per month in Perm. So in fact the original BBC article and their information sounds perfectly plausible.
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    Post  ALAMO Sun Mar 12, 2023 8:35 pm

    RUR25k a month in a 5mln metropolis?
    As a rent?!?
    It is a fukin bargain offer.

    I think we are mixing things here folks.

    As I have told you, residual costs for an OWNER is some $2-3 per square meter a month.
    Can be higher if we talk about an app located in a building with a pool, gym, security, etc.
    It is not rent to be paid, to the landlord or municipality, or whoever owns the substance there.
    Just a regular tariff for administrating your apartment and repair found.

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    Post  ludovicense Mon Mar 13, 2023 7:57 pm

    Make Peace Now; alternative news
    @AlternatNews
    Russia’s trade surplus hits record high. Russia wants to thank the EU for accepting real hardship (in all EU countries) for the final purpose of making Russia richer. Russia hopes for more sanctions (that is weird!).

    According to the agency, total exports in 2022 reached $591.4 billion, up 19.9% from 2021. Imports, meanwhile, slid 11.7% against the previous year to $259.1 billion.

    This brought the country’s trade surplus to a record of $332.38 billion, up 67% from $199.5 billion in 2021.v

    ................................


    I find it difficult for Russia to achieve this performance in 2023... the macroeconomic conditions are bad and oil has dropped a lot.

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    Post  Broski Mon Mar 13, 2023 10:51 pm

    I find it difficult for Russia to achieve this performance in 2023... the macroeconomic conditions are bad and oil has dropped a lot.
    OPEC+ already announced production cuts last year to deal with any drop in oil demand this year, these countries aren't going to do a repeat of 2020 when the price fell to negative $-30.

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    Post  Kiko Tue Mar 14, 2023 12:06 am

    NYP: US will no longer be able to print dollars indefinitely because of Russia, 03.13.2023.

    NYP: anti-Russian sanctions put the dollar at risk and lead the US to a debt crisis.

    MOSCOW, March 14 - RIA Novosti. Anti-Russian sanctions lead to the abandonment of many countries from the dollar, because of which Washington loses the ability to project its power on the international stage, writes New York Post columnist Jay Newman.

    "Abandoning the dollar would deal a powerful blow to America's position in the international arena. The era when it was possible to print an unlimited number of dollars may come to an end, and with it our ability to buy foreign goods cheaply will remain in the past," the author writes.

    As the observer noted, more than a hundred countries did not support anti-Russian measures from the West, which is why economic coalitions arise that use other currencies to sell goods. The journalist also noted that the absence of an alternative to the dollar, which Western analysts spoke about, turned out to be illusory.

    Trade relations between countries using national currencies lead to a decrease in demand for the dollar and, as a result, its value. As a result, Newman explained, a gradual increase in prices would follow.

    Due to the fall of the dollar, the journalist concluded, the United States will lose its weight in the international arena, and also run the risk of being in a "debt hole". To avoid this, Washington can reduce the number of strategic adversaries and "put its own economy in order once and for all."

    Western countries are faced with rising energy prices and a surge in inflation due to the imposition of sanctions against Moscow and the policy of abandoning Russian fuel. Against the backdrop of a rise in the price of fuel, primarily gas, the industry in Europe has largely lost its competitive advantages, which also affected other sectors of the economy. Also, the United States and European countries are facing record inflation in decades.

    https://ria.ru/20230314/sanktsii-1857676980.html

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    Post  Kiko Tue Mar 14, 2023 12:57 am

    Full article:

    Why the dollar is under threat, by Jay Newman for the NYPost. 03.13.2023.

    The dollar was under threat, writes the New York Post. Coalitions are being formed around the world that will help defend against US sanctions. As a result, the dollar will become a regular currency, and the US will lose the ability to project its power.

    Everywhere you turn, you hear talk of economic sanctions that the United States has imposed on Russia. The Central Bank of Russia, Russian banks, Russian companies, Russian oligarchs - and all those who were caught helping Moscow - have found their assets and fortunes trapped in sanctions since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.

    From Davos to Aspen, US Treasury officials are touting the unprecedented scale and reach of their powerful economic weapon.

    Why not? The sanctions imposed on Russia have been truly impressive. U.S. government officials have beached scores of expensive yachts, landed private jets, frozen hundreds of millions of dollars of Russian central bank assets, and cut off Russian financial institutions from the global SWIFT financial system.

    Sanctions as a measure of influence arose even in ancient times: in 432 BC, Athens crushed its rival, the city of Megara, by removing its merchants from the Athenian markets.

    For the US government in the 21st century, economic sanctions have become not just second nature, they have become a central tool of foreign policy. More than ten thousand people and dozens of countries around the world fell under the sanctions.

    However, more than a hundred countries did not support these anti-Russian measures. That is why Urals oil continues to arrive in Asia, Turkey and many African countries, and Ukrainian grain goes through the Black Sea to Russia.

    Meanwhile, the proceeds from this illicit trade are piling up in places like Dubai, which is now swarming with sanctioned Russians looking to buy property there.

    I do not mean at all that we should stop supporting Ukraine. We must support her. However, while there is indeed some merit in the idea of ​​inflicting financial damage on our sworn enemies Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, we are currently seeing coalitions being formed that allow them to circumvent existing sanctions and defend against the risks of sanctions in the future.

    Much of this effort is focused on creating an alternative to the dollar as the world's main reserve currency. If you have the ability to hold savings in another currency or convert them into some physical asset such as gold or commodities, you are considered to be halfway to safety.

    Take China, for example, for which the ousting and discrediting of the dollar has become a key component of the "win without a fight" strategy detailed in the book Unlimited War. While the sanctions regime was indeed necessary, it spurred Beijing on its quest to crush the dollar, and many other countries have taken note.

    Although many experts continue to insist that there is no alternative to the dollar, this is not true. The dollar will dominate as long as it serves the interests of those who use it. As soon as the dollar begins to put assets at risk, alternative trading instruments will certainly appear. And they already are.

    Rejection of the dollar will deal a powerful blow to America's position in the international arena. The era of unlimited dollar printing may be over, and with it our ability to buy foreign goods cheaply will be a thing of the past.

    Clear evidence that a new game is beginning before our very eyes appeared in Davos in February. Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan made a stunning announcement that for the first time in 48 years, the world's largest oil producer is ready to trade not only in US dollars, but also in other currencies.

    This is in sharp contrast to a deal decades ago by President Richard Nixon with King Faisal that would require Saudi Arabia to accept payment for oil exclusively in dollars. (In exchange for this, Nixon promised to defend the kingdom from the aggression of the Soviet Union, Iran and Iraq.) That agreement became the basis of a strong dollar, because oil money flowed through the Federal Reserve.

    Today, China imports 1.4 million barrels of oil per day from Saudi Arabia, up 39% from last year, making it the kingdom's biggest buyer. That is why both sides are trying to find cheaper alternatives to the US currency. As the Saudi company Aramco invests in a major new refinery in China, relations between the countries will only deepen in the future.

    Saudi Arabia's changing position is only part of the picture. At the 2022 BRICS summit in Beijing, Vladimir Putin announced plans to expand the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and develop an alternative to international payments in dollars using a basket of currencies consisting of the Chinese yuan, Russian rubles, Indian rupees, the Brazilian real and the South African rand. For reference: The SCO is the world's largest regional organization, which represents 40% of the world's population and accounts for 30% of world GDP.

    The new currency is also only part of the overall picture. China is opening up new exchanges to lure commodity trading from Western institutions such as the troubled London Bullion Exchange and the New York Energy Mercantile Exchange.

    Even the Europeans have entered the game by creating their own special purpose vehicle - INSTEX - to facilitate humanitarian transactions with Iran without being tied to dollars and the SWIFT system. Of course, Russia has already declared its interest in participating in this mechanism. In March 2020, the first transaction for the sale of medical supplies to Iran to combat the spread of coronavirus took place.

    Meanwhile, Russia and Iran are developing a gold-backed stablecoin, traders are already using the UAE dirham to settle oil transactions, and the Indian rupee is finally positioning itself as an international currency.

    And this trend is getting worse. At the moment, the national Chinese bank transfer system CIPS (Cross-border Interbank Payment System) processes only 15,000 transactions per day - the American CHIPS system, which is preferred by Western players, processes 250,000 transactions daily, but their number is steadily growing. Russia offers its own Financial Messaging System which allows users to bypass SWIFT.

    Even the Swiss-based Bank for International Settlements — Hitler's banker — is slowly getting into the game as well, creating a yuan-based liquidity facility to support central banks in times of crisis. At the moment, the central banks of Chile, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have already subscribed to it.

    In the 21st century, the rate of any national currency, including the dollar, will increasingly be determined by the mechanisms of competition. If the demand for the dollar decreases, its value will decrease along with it. Everything will rise in price. Not immediately, but gradually, which will make deficit spending more costly or even impossible.

    It is not a big exaggeration to imagine that the United States will at some point be faced with a debt crisis, because no one else will come to buy US bonds. And the American dollar will turn into the most ordinary currency - one of the many. Ultimately, if the dollar loses its luster, the United States will lose its ability to project its power.

    To prevent this, some difficult decisions must be made today, such as reducing the number of our strategic adversaries while continuing to support allies such as Ukraine. More importantly—and more difficultly—the United States needs to clean up its own economy once and for all, finally finding a way to live within its means.

    Jay Newman is a former senior portfolio manager at Elliott Management and the author of Undermoney, a thriller about illegal money circulating in the global economy.

    https://inosmi.ru/20230314/dollar-261331940.html

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    GarryB
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    Post  GarryB Tue Mar 14, 2023 2:05 am

    I find it difficult for Russia to achieve this performance in 2023... the macroeconomic conditions are bad and oil has dropped a lot.

    Without Russian fertiliser and low energy imports, or should I say expensive energy imports, the winter of 23-24 might be much harder than the winter that just passed, so Europe might be needing to import extra energy supplies and perhaps also food...

    Due to the fall of the dollar, the journalist concluded, the United States will lose its weight in the international arena, and also run the risk of being in a "debt hole". To avoid this, Washington can reduce the number of strategic adversaries and "put its own economy in order once and for all."

    And that is at the shocking core of all this that the world needs to read over and over... the US could fix its own problems and regain a good economy if it decided that the fringe interests of the small groups making the US see Russia and China and Cuba and North Korea and Iran as enemies should be ignored and it should treat every country with some respect and try to allow other countries to benefit from trade with the US instead of trying to ass rape everyone... including allies like Germany they just cut cheap energy infrastructure from to force them to join their war in the Ukraine.

    This writer states we keep going on with the war in Ukraine so one presumes when he says reduce strategic adversaries he is talking about China but not Russia or Iran or North Korea etc... but really.

    During the Cold War the US claims a real victory when it decided to have good relations with communist China to weaken the communist Soviet Union because the Soviets were the greater threat... but no one ever asked why they made friends and were allies with the Chinese when they could have made friends with and been allies with the Soviets... like they did to fight Hitler... it could have solved most of their problems.

    But don't ask questions right... reduce strategic adversaries... but don't eliminate them because we need them... I mean arab states that support ISIS and dismember journalists in their own embassies can be buddies but a country like Iran that has never really been any threat to the US except not wanting to be operated like a puppet by the CIA has to be the bad guy... hilarious.

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    Scorpius
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    Post  Scorpius Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:39 am

    Despite the serious difficulties caused by external pressure, the Russian industry in 2022 not only refrained from the decline (the overall production index was 99.4% by 2021), but also established a number of interesting achievements, including historical ones. Let's consider some of the most notable ones concerning quantitative indicators. At the same time, it should be understood that the number of indicators suitable for large retrospective comparisons varies by industry: in some cases, changes in the accounting system have a strong effect, and in some cases quantitative indicators are not too representative.


    Fuel and energy complex

    Coal production amounted to 437 million tons, which is slightly lower than the historical record of 2019 (439.5 million tons), but more than the peak of the Soviet period (425 million tons in 1988). At the same time, a historical record was set for coking coal: 105 million tons were produced (+5 million tons to the peak of 2021).

    The output of diesel fuel amounted to 84.7 million tons — this is a new historical record, +4.3 million tons to the peak of 2021.

    The output of motor gasoline amounted to 42.3 million tons — this is the best result since at least 1990 (40.9 million tons were produced then). The maximum level of gasoline production, oddly enough, falls on the border of the 70s and 80s (for example, in 1980 the output was 46.7 million tons).

    It is noteworthy that the record output of the two main oil products was achieved against the background of a decrease in total oil refining volumes (-9 million tons by 2021).

    Electricity generation amounted to 1167 billion kWh, which became a new historical maximum (+8 billion kWh by the peak of 2021). Including record figures achieved at nuclear power plants — 224 billion kWh, growth for the ninth year in a row; production at thermal power plants was the highest in recent history (737 billion kWhh).


    Chemical industry

    Sulfuric acid production reached 15.2 million tons, updating the historical maximum for the fifth year in a row (+0.7 million tons by 2021); the peak of the RSFSR was 12.9 million tons in 1988.

    Soda ash production amounted to 3.5 million tons, which was a new maximum for the period since 1990; the peak of the RSFSR was 3.79 million tons in 1986.

    The production of nitrogen fertilizers reached 11.8 million tons of active substance - this is another update of the historical maximum (+0.4 million tons by 2021), growth for the eighth year in a row; the peak of the RSFSR was 8.64 million tons in 1988.

    The production of phosphorus fertilizers amounted to 4.36 million tons of active substance - this is the best result since 1991, growth for the ninth year in a row; the record of the RSFSR was 5.07 million tons in 1988.

    The production of paint and varnish materials amounted to 1964 thousand tons — this is the best result since 1991, growth for the seventh year in a row.


    Building materials

    Cement production amounted to 60.7 million tons — this is the best result in the last 7 years; the record of the RSFSR was 84.5 million tons in 1989.

    The production of precast reinforced concrete structures and products amounted to 26.5 million cubic meters — since 2009, only the output in 2013-14 was higher .

    The production of ceramic floor tiles has reached 111 million square meters. m is a new historical maximum (+3 million sq. m. m to the peak of 2021).


    Mechanical engineering

    The production of bearings amounted to 48.3 million units — this is the best result after 2014.

    The production of metal—cutting machines amounted to 7.2 thousand pieces - this is the best result since 2002 (note that operational data is usually significantly lower than the final ones).

    The production of forging and pressing machines amounted to 9.8 thousand pieces (+63% by 2021!) - this is the best result since 1993.

    The production of tractors amounted to 9.7 thousand units — this is the best result since 2013.


    Light industry

    The production of fabrics from chemical fibers amounted to 546 million square meters. is the best result since 1994 .


    Food industry

    Butter production amounted to 314 thousand tons, which is slightly below the level of 1996; the RSFSR record was 832.5 thousand tons in 1990.

    Cheese production (without cheese products) reached 669 thousand tons — this is another historical maximum, growth for the ninth year in a row; the peak of the RSFSR was 460 thousand tons in 1989.

    The production of vegetable oils reached 7.88 million tons — this is another historical maximum (+430 thousand tons to the previous record in 2020); the peak of the RSFSR was 1.35 million tons in 1968.

    The production of cereals amounted to 1.768 million tons — this is the best result since 1994; in 1986, production reached 3.1 million tons.

    The production of pasta and similar products reached 1,553 thousand tons (+7% by 2021) — this is definitely the best result in the last 6 years; it is difficult to make an accurate comparison with earlier indicators due to the significantly expanded composition of the grouping, but it is likely to be a long-term (if not even absolute) record.

    The production of compound feeds amounted to 34.2 million tons — this is the best result since 1992, continuous growth has been going on since 2001; in 1990, production was 41 million tons.

    The indicators are based on Rosstat publications ("Socio-economic situation of Russia", "Russian Statistical Yearbook"), the EMISS database (operational, updated) and archival statistical collections (many can be found here).
    https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/150414/#cut

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    flamming_python
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    Post  flamming_python Tue Mar 14, 2023 11:48 am

    3 problems with the data:

    1). it seems only to mention the production which improved, not all of it
    2). it mostly only mentions fungible goods, the value-added production while lesser in quantity and non-fungible, might be more telling of trends
    3). a lot of the increase will be driven by inertia. What would be more interesting is data for this year

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