Ex-USSR leader Gorbachev: World on brink of new Cold War

[Lite Beer]

Ex-USSR leader Gorbachev: World on brink of new Cold War

The world is on the brink of a new Cold War, and trust should be restored by dialogue with Russia, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has said.

At an event to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Sunday, Mr Gorbachev said the West had "succumbed to triumphalism".

He expressed alarm about recent Middle Eastern and European conflicts.

Tensions have been raised between the West and Russia over Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union.

More than 4,000 people have died in fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists, who seized control in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in April.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place since September, but elections in rebel-held areas last weekend have prompted fears of a return to full-scale conflict.

Read More: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29966852

-- BBC 2014-11-08

[NeverSure]

Howdy, Doooood. There already is a cold war. Your pal Putin is being shunned for his actions. Oil prices have fallen off a cliff to punish him and the Russian economy. How low do you want to go before Russia is broke? Why fight Putin in The Ukraine or Syria when he can be whipped economically? Does he have enough money to put gas in his car?

Tell your beotch to stop his expansionist plans or you'll go hungry.

Now, go get me a sammich.

[Publicus]

If Reagan were here he'd give Gorby a smiling pat on the back, some bricks from the torn down wall and a swift knee to where the sun don't shine.

Gorbachev was near death not long ago and he came back to us for this?!?

Triumphalism my arse.

The Russian economy is going down, Putin is on the ropes, and Gorbachev wants the West to go kiss Putin's arse.

Gorbachev and Putin = two peas in a still rotten pod.

[robblok]

Howdy, Doooood. There already is a cold war. Your pal Putin is being shunned for his actions. Oil prices have fallen off a cliff to punish him and the Russian economy. How low do you want to go before Russia is broke? Why fight Putin in The Ukraine or Syria when he can be whipped economically? Does he have enough money to put gas in his car?

Tell your beotch to stop his expansionist plans or you'll go hungry.

Now, go get me a sammich.

Actually his points were quite clear.. the rocket shield (US breaking agreements) and expansion of the Navo. Its not just Russia, its the US and NAVO too. Acting like Russia is only to blame is crazy.

You can say a lot about Gorbachev but his points are solid.

[RustBucket]

Howdy, Doooood. There already is a cold war. Your pal Putin is being shunned for his actions. Oil prices have fallen off a cliff to punish him and the Russian economy. How low do you want to go before Russia is broke? Why fight Putin in The Ukraine or Syria when he can be whipped economically? Does he have enough money to put gas in his car?

Tell your beotch to stop his expansionist plans or you'll go hungry.

Now, go get me a sammich.

I don't agree with any of your post.

Have you any idea how much USD Russia holds in reserves?

They have the power to seriously harm the US economy by merely dumping all their Dollars and switching to other currencies or gold as their reserves. When (not if) Russia gets fully into bed with China and they both attack the USD, the USA will be bankrupt overnight. They have zero mechanisms in place to stop it. OPEC are also on the verge of dumping the Dollar as the global oil trading currency.

These three alone will destroy the US. Russia have already threatened to completely dump the USD if the US puts more sanctions on them. It is Russia who actually has the US by the gonads. Not the other way around.

Why do you think the likes of Warren Buffet is moving all his wealth into hard assets?.... He knows it is coming.

This has nothing to do with Ukraine. There cold war will spiral into economic warfare and the US debt will make sure that they have no weapons to fight back with.

Let me remind you the Russian national debt is only about $235 Bn.

The US national debt is just shy of $18 Trillion.

The US gold reserves only total about $347 Bn. Well short of backing up their currency. They have been borrowing and printing money far too long, and hoping that the USD being the reserve currency of the world gives the Dollar strength, but that is going to end very soon.

If anything, it is Putin that is going to sit back and watch the US go down the tubes. They will be far too preoccupied by a massive backlash on the streets of America with the total collapse of society. They won't have time to even think about Russia or the Ukraine.

Russia and China are playing this game like experts, and despite the US administration trying to convince their people that all is OK..... It is anything but OK.

[keith101]

the USSR is no more put up a wall around Russia

[NeverSure]

Howdy, Doooood. There already is a cold war. Your pal Putin is being shunned for his actions. Oil prices have fallen off a cliff to punish him and the Russian economy. How low do you want to go before Russia is broke? Why fight Putin in The Ukraine or Syria when he can be whipped economically? Does he have enough money to put gas in his car?

Tell your beotch to stop his expansionist plans or you'll go hungry.

Now, go get me a sammich.

I don't agree with any of your post.

Have you any idea how much USD Russia holds in reserves?

They have the power to seriously harm the US economy by merely dumping all their Dollars and switching to other currencies or gold as their reserves. When (not if) Russia gets fully into bed with China and they both attack the USD, the USA will be bankrupt overnight. They have zero mechanisms in place to stop it. OPEC are also on the verge of dumping the Dollar as the global oil trading currency.

These three alone will destroy the US. Russia have already threatened to completely dump the USD if the US puts more sanctions on them. It is Russia who actually has the US by the gonads. Not the other way around.

Why do you think the likes of Warren Buffet is moving all his wealth into hard assets?.... He knows it is coming.

This has nothing to do with Ukraine. There cold war will spiral into economic warfare and the US debt will make sure that they have no weapons to fight back with.

Let me remind you the Russian national debt is only about $235 Bn.

The US national debt is just shy of $18 Trillion.

The US gold reserves only total about $347 Bn. Well short of backing up their currency. They have been borrowing and printing money far too long, and hoping that the USD being the reserve currency of the world gives the Dollar strength, but that is going to end very soon.

If anything, it is Putin that is going to sit back and watch the US go down the tubes. They will be far too preoccupied by a massive backlash on the streets of America with the total collapse of society. They won't have time to even think about Russia or the Ukraine.

Russia and China are playing this game like experts, and despite the US administration trying to convince their people that all is OK..... It is anything but OK.

Where do you get this junk? Countries such a Russia and China hold Us dollars because they need them for international trade. The USD is the international trade currency and also called the petro dollar and Russia couldn't do any trade without those dollars. The same for China. Some people who don't understand think the US is in debt to China when China hold US bonds ONLY so it can engage in foreign trade. Thailand and most other countries do the same.

Russia's economy is a non starter. Dump their dollars and they can't buy anything. They are finished.

"While Russia’s economy has, by its own standards, performed quite well over the past thirteen years, the country’s overall level of development remains very far behind the level of an advanced Western country. In looking around for some data to try and prove this point I came across a very interesting historical dataset of per capita GDP from The Conference Board. I put a chart together that gives a pretty clear indication of just how underdeveloped Russia remains in comparison to the United States. This chart shows US GDP per capita from 1948-58 and Russian GDP per capita from 1998-2008 (the last year available in the dataset)."

Read more and see charts, Forbes. Russia compares very well in GDP per capita to the US from 1948 - 1958. It's that weak and that far backward.

[Lissos]

It never ended (the cold war), and that is evident to anyone who visited Russia, post Soviet era.

[rickirs]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Howdy, Doooood. There already is a cold war. Your pal Putin is being shunned for his actions. Oil prices have fallen off a cliff to punish him and the Russian economy. How low do you want to go before Russia is broke? Why fight Putin in The Ukraine or Syria when he can be whipped economically? Does he have enough money to put gas in his car?

Tell your beotch to stop his expansionist plans or you'll go hungry.

Now, go get me a sammich.

I don't agree with any of your post.

Have you any idea how much USD Russia holds in reserves?

They have the power to seriously harm the US economy by merely dumping all their Dollars and switching to other currencies or gold as their reserves. When (not if) Russia gets fully into bed with China and they both attack the USD, the USA will be bankrupt overnight. They have zero mechanisms in place to stop it. OPEC are also on the verge of dumping the Dollar as the global oil trading currency.

These three alone will destroy the US. Russia have already threatened to completely dump the USD if the US puts more sanctions on them. It is Russia who actually has the US by the gonads. Not the other way around.

Why do you think the likes of Warren Buffet is moving all his wealth into hard assets?.... He knows it is coming.

This has nothing to do with Ukraine. There cold war will spiral into economic warfare and the US debt will make sure that they have no weapons to fight back with.

Let me remind you the Russian national debt is only about $235 Bn.

The US national debt is just shy of $18 Trillion.

The US gold reserves only total about $347 Bn. Well short of backing up their currency. They have been borrowing and printing money far too long, and hoping that the USD being the reserve currency of the world gives the Dollar strength, but that is going to end very soon.

If anything, it is Putin that is going to sit back and watch the US go down the tubes. They will be far too preoccupied by a massive backlash on the streets of America with the total collapse of society. They won't have time to even think about Russia or the Ukraine.

Russia and China are playing this game like experts, and despite the US administration trying to convince their people that all is OK..... It is anything but OK.

Russia holds more USD and gold in its reserve than it does the rubble. How's that for confidence in the Russia's own economy? The Russian oligarchy is too smart to put their future in the Russian rubble.

[MRDave]

Putin has the biggest ego of any leader Ive ever seen. I watched him walking the red carpet at sochi its one of the funniest things Ive ever seen. It went on forever and he was walking as if he was the bees knees. I will welcome another cold war that way the NSA and other spy agencies can go back to spying on Russia and leave their own citizens alone.

[Robby nz]

the USSR is no more put up a wall around Russia

Yep and stop the gas to the EU, a cold winter ahead.

[NanLaew]

Based on what I have read, current Russian reserves would last about 2 years at the current rate of attrition, 3 years tops. However, there are a whole lot of dynamics at play with the price of oil, the middle east turmoil and a fractious European Community being the most prevalent for now.

The possibility that Russia will dump dollars and/or get into bed with the Chinese is a fanciful stretch of the anti- US lobby's rather vivid imagination.

You can rest assured that US Inc. has enough people working the night-shift to make sure that the mighty dollar doesn't get blind-sided.

[RickBradford]

I don't see how a Cold War of the old type can arise while the Russian economy is so coupled with that of the West (in energy, in particular).

Previously, we didn't want Russia's Ladas and Moskvitches and they couldn't buy the goods we were producing, plus there was the feeling that ideological World Domination was at stake. That's no longer so; Communism lost.

Both sides would lose if serious trade restrictions were put in place now, but I think the West is in a much stronger position economically to ride out any downturn than is Russia, given that its total GDP is 20% less than even the UK's and only marginally bigger than Italy's. Plus, energy makes up almost 60% of Russia's exports.

Putin is a strutting, meddling clown with the ability to make a nuisance of himself in many ways, but I don't think he or his country are anything like as strong as is generally portrayed.

[konying]

Howdy, Doooood. There already is a cold war. Your pal Putin is being shunned for his actions. Oil prices have fallen off a cliff to punish him and the Russian economy. How low do you want to go before Russia is broke? Why fight Putin in The Ukraine or Syria when he can be whipped economically? Does he have enough money to put gas in his car?

Tell your beotch to stop his expansionist plans or you'll go hungry.

Now, go get me a sammich.

What makes you think Russia is broke?

Exchange rate to usd is hardly an indication of going broke.

If you want to talk about broke, let's look at debt.

U.S. debt , zero's will not fit on 1 line.

And what happens if debts are called in?

China and Russia already dealing in own currency , what's to stop China to stop dealing in USD with other countries?

[smedly]

It never ended (the cold war), and that is evident to anyone who visited Russia, post Soviet era.

what ended the cold war and the dismantling of the USSR was the realisation after several well observed conficts in the middle east involving USA and its allies was that the war machine they had accumulated over the years at huge expense was largely ineffective junk and the realisation that the western military and its technology was so vastly superior that it made the USSR war machine redundant over night - their up to then perceived military might was not might at all - it was years of huge wasted spending for nothing

[muffy]

The US can just say the bonds are now junk , then they can use them for toilet paper .

[craigt3365]

A post with a reference to a conspiracy theory website has been removed from view. Plenty of forums out there that "thrive" on this sort of stuff. Ours is not one of them.

[Benmart]

Howdy, Doooood. There already is a cold war. Your pal Putin is being shunned for his actions. Oil prices have fallen off a cliff to punish him and the Russian economy. How low do you want to go before Russia is broke? Why fight Putin in The Ukraine or Syria when he can be whipped economically? Does he have enough money to put gas in his car?

Tell your beotch to stop his expansionist plans or you'll go hungry.

Now, go get me a sammich.

I don't agree with any of your post.

Have you any idea how much USD Russia holds in reserves?

They have the power to seriously harm the US economy by merely dumping all their Dollars and switching to other currencies or gold as their reserves. When (not if) Russia gets fully into bed with China and they both attack the USD, the USA will be bankrupt overnight. They have zero mechanisms in place to stop it. OPEC are also on the verge of dumping the Dollar as the global oil trading currency.

These three alone will destroy the US. Russia have already threatened to completely dump the USD if the US puts more sanctions on them. It is Russia who actually has the US by the gonads. Not the other way around.

Why do you think the likes of Warren Buffet is moving all his wealth into hard assets?.... He knows it is coming.

This has nothing to do with Ukraine. There cold war will spiral into economic warfare and the US debt will make sure that they have no weapons to fight back with.

Let me remind you the Russian national debt is only about $235 Bn.

The US national debt is just shy of $18 Trillion.

The US gold reserves only total about $347 Bn. Well short of backing up their currency. They have been borrowing and printing money far too long, and hoping that the USD being the reserve currency of the world gives the Dollar strength, but that is going to end very soon.

If anything, it is Putin that is going to sit back and watch the US go down the tubes. They will be far too preoccupied by a massive backlash on the streets of America with the total collapse of society. They won't have time to even think about Russia or the Ukraine.

Russia and China are playing this game like experts, and despite the US administration trying to convince their people that all is OK..... It is anything but OK.

While your post may have some validly, so do the opposing views. The missing factors include significant support of US fiscal and foreign policy by various nations, as well as a distrust of Russian expansionist intentions.

China, while seemingly preparing a cozy bed with Russia as a partner, is well aware of the dangers of choosing sides.

Economics seem to be the Achilles Heel of past totalitarian societies. While the US is not immune, it's democratic principles, while not perfect, may be an advantage in this new era of "One Upmanship".

I, for one, hope that a peaceful co-existence will prevail.

In the end, I don't know more than anyone else.

[Benmart]

Putin has the biggest ego of any leader Ive ever seen. I watched him walking the red carpet at sochi its one of the funniest things Ive ever seen. It went on forever and he was walking as if he was the bees knees. I will welcome another cold war that way the NSA and other spy agencies can go back to spying on Russia and leave their own citizens alone.

I love your reference of "bees knees". Takes me back to the old days of Cat's Pajamas, Golly Gee, Bread and Butter, Far Out, Tubular, etc.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

[Benmart]

It never ended (the cold war), and that is evident to anyone who visited Russia, post Soviet era.

what ended the cold war and the dismantling of the USSR was the realisation after several well observed conficts in the middle east involving USA and its allies was that the war machine they had accumulated over the years at huge expense was largely ineffective junk and the realisation that the western military and its technology was so vastly superior that it made the USSR war machine redundant over night - their up to then perceived military might was not might at all - it was years of huge wasted spending for nothing

Aside fom the run-along sentence, I agree with some of the post.

Thanks and keep 'em coming.

[Publicus]

the USSR is no more put up a wall around Russia

Yep and stop the gas to the EU, a cold winter ahead.

It's winter there now or did some people miss the fact....

It could sound like some people want Russian nuclear bombers flying over Europe on Christmas Eve.

The Russian economy is going down so we'll see how Russia is doing around then.

Let's meet back here again then to find out.....

[F430murci]

Howdy, Doooood. There already is a cold war. Your pal Putin is being shunned for his actions. Oil prices have fallen off a cliff to punish him and the Russian economy. How low do you want to go before Russia is broke? Why fight Putin in The Ukraine or Syria when he can be whipped economically? Does he have enough money to put gas in his car?

Tell your beotch to stop his expansionist plans or you'll go hungry.

Now, go get me a sammich.

I don't agree with any of your post.

Have you any idea how much USD Russia holds in reserves?

They have the power to seriously harm the US economy by merely dumping all their Dollars and switching to other currencies or gold as their reserves. When (not if) Russia gets fully into bed with China and they both attack the USD, the USA will be bankrupt overnight. They have zero mechanisms in place to stop it. OPEC are also on the verge of dumping the Dollar as the global oil trading currency.

These three alone will destroy the US. Russia have already threatened to completely dump the USD if the US puts more sanctions on them. It is Russia who actually has the US by the gonads. Not the other way around.

Why do you think the likes of Warren Buffet is moving all his wealth into hard assets?.... He knows it is coming.

This has nothing to do with Ukraine. There cold war will spiral into economic warfare and the US debt will make sure that they have no weapons to fight back with.

Let me remind you the Russian national debt is only about $235 Bn.

The US national debt is just shy of $18 Trillion.

The US gold reserves only total about $347 Bn. Well short of backing up their currency. They have been borrowing and printing money far too long, and hoping that the USD being the reserve currency of the world gives the Dollar strength, but that is going to end very soon.

If anything, it is Putin that is going to sit back and watch the US go down the tubes. They will be far too preoccupied by a massive backlash on the streets of America with the total collapse of society. They won't have time to even think about Russia or the Ukraine.

Russia and China are playing this game like experts, and despite the US administration trying to convince their people that all is OK..... It is anything but OK.

Russia would seriously love to raise capital, but no one in the right minds would buy Russia bonds with their history of prior default and their current financial health. The rates Russia would have to pay . . .

Below is my August 1 post dealing with this dumping dollar nonsense.

--------

Pfft, let him go on and on. His statements reflect he knows exactly zilch about finance, debt structure or Russia and China economies.

Russia brought a lot of money back into Russia to protect against sanctions. No surprise there.

Russias holdings in U.S. government debt is a foreign exchange reserve built up by Russia to protect against financial crises, stabilize its own currency, and to enable banks and other businesses to function during financially stressful times. Russia's holdings in U.S. debt isnt a benevolent action to help their pals in the US pay their bills. Russia's holdings permits its fragile economy function in a world that trades primarily in U.S. dollars.

Dumping US bonds raises interest rates in the U.S., but it also drastically lowers the price of the same bonds Russia would being trying to sell thereby causing massive losses in Russia's foreign-exchange fund. Russia could try and sell assets slowly, but that would have no impact on the US. The Fed is currently buying $35 billion of debt a month, and it could buy up Russias entire stockpile of debt in less than six months just by maintaining its current policy.

Now if US wanted to screw Russia, release oil reserves and drive gas prices down and Russian economy implodes virtually overnight, but alas we are still playing nice. This is why the MICEX continued to remain somewhat stable.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/747283-us-and-eu-expand-sanctions-on-russia/page-2

Edited November 9, 2014 by F430murci

[F430murci]

Howdy, Doooood. There already is a cold war. Your pal Putin is being shunned for his actions. Oil prices have fallen off a cliff to punish him and the Russian economy. How low do you want to go before Russia is broke? Why fight Putin in The Ukraine or Syria when he can be whipped economically? Does he have enough money to put gas in his car?

Tell your beotch to stop his expansionist plans or you'll go hungry.

Now, go get me a sammich.

I don't agree with any of your post.

Have you any idea how much USD Russia holds in reserves?

They have the power to seriously harm the US economy by merely dumping all their Dollars and switching to other currencies or gold as their reserves. When (not if) Russia gets fully into bed with China and they both attack the USD, the USA will be bankrupt overnight. They have zero mechanisms in place to stop it. OPEC are also on the verge of dumping the Dollar as the global oil trading currency.

These three alone will destroy the US. Russia have already threatened to completely dump the USD if the US puts more sanctions on them. It is Russia who actually has the US by the gonads. Not the other way around.

Why do you think the likes of Warren Buffet is moving all his wealth into hard assets?.... He knows it is coming.

This has nothing to do with Ukraine. There cold war will spiral into economic warfare and the US debt will make sure that they have no weapons to fight back with.

Let me remind you the Russian national debt is only about $235 Bn.

The US national debt is just shy of $18 Trillion.

The US gold reserves only total about $347 Bn. Well short of backing up their currency. They have been borrowing and printing money far too long, and hoping that the USD being the reserve currency of the world gives the Dollar strength, but that is going to end very soon.

If anything, it is Putin that is going to sit back and watch the US go down the tubes. They will be far too preoccupied by a massive backlash on the streets of America with the total collapse of society. They won't have time to even think about Russia or the Ukraine.

Russia and China are playing this game like experts, and despite the US administration trying to convince their people that all is OK..... It is anything but OK.

Actually my below post from that same August thread addresses the dumping dollar nonsense even better. Much easier to cut and paste than re type.

Russia pulled $45 bn out of US in March to protect it from being frozen by US sanctions or could have had more to do with seeking a higher yield from somewhere like Belgium. Russia, however, pulled $ 63 bn out in 2013 and Russia only held about 1% of the total US Treasuries in December of 2013 so any move by Russia can be absorbed. China is limited in its ability to move money out of concern for currency appreciation which would all put cripple their already lagging GDP/economy if their cheap products are no longer affordable on the world market.

Russian economy has an extremely tight correlation between oil prices and GDP. US could release 500,000 barrels per day and push down prices by $ 10 to $ 12 a barrel. US could also easily cause in increase in oil production to drive prices down to $ 85 ish a barrel. A mere $ 10 reduction in current per barrel price would result in a reduction of about $ 40 bn in Russian expert income and lower Russian GDP by as much as 4%. Saudi can tolerate the lower prices because budgets are premised on lower prices. Russia cannot.

US and banks already hedge against effects of Russian sanctions and only had about $ 10bn invested and at risk in Russia in February of this year. US exports to Russia account for less than .1% of US GDP. The recent sell-off of Russian securities has caused its currency to fall 8% against the dollar. Russia's cost to protect $ 10m of debt through credit swap has nearly doubled to about $ 300,000 in just a year. Russia raised rates to 8% in an effort to curb inflation and some are forecasting the rate to go as high as double digits.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/747283-us-and-eu-expand-sanctions-on-russia/page-2

Edited November 9, 2014 by F430murci

[F430murci]

Howdy, Doooood. There already is a cold war. Your pal Putin is being shunned for his actions. Oil prices have fallen off a cliff to punish him and the Russian economy. How low do you want to go before Russia is broke? Why fight Putin in The Ukraine or Syria when he can be whipped economically? Does he have enough money to put gas in his car?

Tell your beotch to stop his expansionist plans or you'll go hungry.

Now, go get me a sammich.

What makes you think Russia is broke?

Exchange rate to usd is hardly an indication of going broke.

If you want to talk about broke, let's look at debt.

U.S. debt , zero's will not fit on 1 line.

And what happens if debts are called in?

China and Russia already dealing in own currency , what's to stop China to stop dealing in USD with other countries?

You ask:

"what's to stop China to stop dealing in USD with other countries?"

China products and exports will no longer be competitive or even desireable if China severed ties to US dollar. Interesting anyone professing knowledge in such issues would ask such a basic question.

To take it one step further, China is derailed if currency appreciates and exports are no longer competitive because China's current economic structure cannot survive as a donestic consumption economy.

Edited November 9, 2014 by F430murci

[Publicus]

Howdy, Doooood. There already is a cold war. Your pal Putin is being shunned for his actions. Oil prices have fallen off a cliff to punish him and the Russian economy. How low do you want to go before Russia is broke? Why fight Putin in The Ukraine or Syria when he can be whipped economically? Does he have enough money to put gas in his car?

Tell your beotch to stop his expansionist plans or you'll go hungry.

Now, go get me a sammich.

I don't agree with any of your post.

Have you any idea how much USD Russia holds in reserves?

They have the power to seriously harm the US economy by merely dumping all their Dollars and switching to other currencies or gold as their reserves. When (not if) Russia gets fully into bed with China and they both attack the USD, the USA will be bankrupt overnight. They have zero mechanisms in place to stop it. OPEC are also on the verge of dumping the Dollar as the global oil trading currency.

These three alone will destroy the US. Russia have already threatened to completely dump the USD if the US puts more sanctions on them. It is Russia who actually has the US by the gonads. Not the other way around.

Why do you think the likes of Warren Buffet is moving all his wealth into hard assets?.... He knows it is coming.

This has nothing to do with Ukraine. There cold war will spiral into economic warfare and the US debt will make sure that they have no weapons to fight back with.

Let me remind you the Russian national debt is only about $235 Bn.

The US national debt is just shy of $18 Trillion.

The US gold reserves only total about $347 Bn. Well short of backing up their currency. They have been borrowing and printing money far too long, and hoping that the USD being the reserve currency of the world gives the Dollar strength, but that is going to end very soon.

If anything, it is Putin that is going to sit back and watch the US go down the tubes. They will be far too preoccupied by a massive backlash on the streets of America with the total collapse of society. They won't have time to even think about Russia or the Ukraine.

Russia and China are playing this game like experts, and despite the US administration trying to convince their people that all is OK..... It is anything but OK.

Just to add some more information to your post.

Russian is about to sign second major gas deal with China, where China would be Russia's biggest gas customer.

All deals are NOT in USD

US has not made this public, but just recently Russia has forgiven Cuba 200 or so million in debt, to bring Russian Ballistic missile base back to Cuba.

The base is already up and operational , now that is a real threat, which Western media is keeping quite.

The Russians aren't about to do any deals with anyone as their economy goes down. This is true of the pipeline and it's true of the former Cold War intelligence listening post in Cuba that Moscow closed in 2001 because it was too expensive to maintain.

The pipeline project began in 2006 and is still on the table. In June Putin and Xi Jinping couldn't agree on pricing in the $400b total package so they agreed to meet again sometime next year. The "deal" has yet to be signed and construction has yet to begin.

Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, (L) and China's President, Xi Jinping, attend a signing ceremony in Shanghai on May 11, 2014 and look like the top of a gay wedding cake.

http://www.ibtimes.com/russia-touts-prospects-second-major-natural-gas-deal-china-1595444

The base in Cuba was evacuated of its missiles due to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 when the US discovered secret Soviet Union missiles in Cuba and after 16 days at the brink of nuclear war forced Moscow to yank the missiles out, to include the US Navy turning around Soviet ships at sea in the mid Atlantic bearing additional missiles and headed for Cuba.

After the crisis Moscow used the base near Havana for intelligence gathering until the 2001 closure.

The Havana-Moscow agreement was signed in July and there is no evidence the base has reopened. "One needs to remember that Russia's technical intelligence abilities are very weak. This will help," said Ivan Konovalov, head of the Moscow-based Center for Strategic Trends Studies.

When they closed the base, the Russians said it was a "goodwill gesture” toward Washington, although many U.S. officials at the time believed Moscow was really concerned about costs.

One U.S. official who asked not to be named called Russian statements and news reports about the project "propaganda."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/16/us-russia-cuba-base-idUSKBN0FL1LZ20140716

[F430murci]

I suppose I give a crap because I hate seeing my wife's family and friends stuck in Russia suffer. It also upsets my wife.

Russia's economy expanded and they actually got a taste of the good life by participating in the world markets. Money and business flowed in as Russia became a desirable emerging market economy. The 90s defaults and the current shake up, however, will cause investors and businesses to steer clear from Russia for a long time. A horrible and cruel tease to the common Russian, yet this will have very little long term impact on US who will just invest in other emerging markets and countries.

[konying]

The Russians aren't about to do any deals with anyone as their economy goes down. This is true of the pipeline and it's true of the former Cold War intelligence listening post in Cuba that Moscow closed in 2001 because it was too expensive to maintain.

The pipeline project began in 2006 and is still on the table. In June Putin and Xi Jinping couldn't agree on pricing in the $400b total package so they agreed to meet again sometime next year. The "deal" has yet to be signed and construction has yet to begin.

Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, (L) and China's President, Xi Jinping, attend a signing ceremony in Shanghai on May 11, 2014 and look like the top of a gay wedding cake.

http://www.ibtimes.com/russia-touts-prospects-second-major-natural-gas-deal-china-1595444

The base in Cuba was evacuated of its missiles due to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 when the US discovered secret Soviet Union missiles in Cuba and after 16 days at the brink of nuclear war forced Moscow to yank the missiles out, to include the US Navy turning around Soviet ships at sea in the mid Atlantic bearing additional missiles and headed for Cuba.

After the crisis Moscow used the base near Havana for intelligence gathering until the 2001 closure.

The Havana-Moscow agreement was signed in July and there is no evidence the base has reopened. "One needs to remember that Russia's technical intelligence abilities are very weak. This will help," said Ivan Konovalov, head of the Moscow-based Center for Strategic Trends Studies.[/size]

When they closed the base, the Russians said it was a "goodwill gesture” toward Washington, although many U.S. officials at the time believed Moscow was really concerned about costs.

One U.S. official who asked not to be named called Russian statements and news reports about the project "propaganda."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/16/us-russia-cuba-base-idUSKBN0FL1LZ20140716

I am glad your US sources have confirmed all for you, now try reading Russian and see if the base is up and running and what deals are being signed.

[konying]

I suppose I give a crap because I hate seeing my wife's family and friends stuck in Russia suffer. It also upsets my wife.

Russia's economy expanded and they actually got a taste of the good life by participating in the world markets. Money and business flowed in as Russia became a desirable emerging market economy. The 90s defaults and the current shake up, however, will cause investors and businesses to steer clear from Russia for a long time. A horrible and cruel tease to the common Russian, yet this will have very little long term impact on US who will just invest in other emerging markets and countries.

Russia is making deals with other emerging markets such as India and BRICS.

US and EU despite of what media likes you to believe are not the icing on the cake and Russians internally are not suffering, if anything Russian manufactures enjoying the demand and ripping the rewards.

and NO US will not release any reserves, because in the process, not only it will hurt itself but also upset Saudi's and other oil producing countries.

But shooting itself in the foot is not exactly new for US.

Yes for Russians who do business with West or overseas it is painful because of the rates, but hardly a killer.

Edited November 9, 2014 by konying

[Publicus]

The Russians aren't about to do any deals with anyone as their economy goes down. This is true of the pipeline and it's true of the former Cold War intelligence listening post in Cuba that Moscow closed in 2001 because it was too expensive to maintain.

The pipeline project began in 2006 and is still on the table. In June Putin and Xi Jinping couldn't agree on pricing in the $400b total package so they agreed to meet again sometime next year. The "deal" has yet to be signed and construction has yet to begin.

Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, (L) and China's President, Xi Jinping, attend a signing ceremony in Shanghai on May 11, 2014 and look like the top of a gay wedding cake.

http://www.ibtimes.com/russia-touts-prospects-second-major-natural-gas-deal-china-1595444

The base in Cuba was evacuated of its missiles due to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 when the US discovered secret Soviet Union missiles in Cuba and after 16 days at the brink of nuclear war forced Moscow to yank the missiles out, to include the US Navy turning around Soviet ships at sea in the mid Atlantic bearing additional missiles and headed for Cuba.

After the crisis Moscow used the base near Havana for intelligence gathering until the 2001 closure.

The Havana-Moscow agreement was signed in July and there is no evidence the base has reopened. "One needs to remember that Russia's technical intelligence abilities are very weak. This will help," said Ivan Konovalov, head of the Moscow-based Center for Strategic Trends Studies.[/size]

When they closed the base, the Russians said it was a "goodwill gesture” toward Washington, although many U.S. officials at the time believed Moscow was really concerned about costs.

One U.S. official who asked not to be named called Russian statements and news reports about the project "propaganda."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/16/us-russia-cuba-base-idUSKBN0FL1LZ20140716

I am glad your US sources have confirmed all for you, now try reading Russian and see if the base is up and running and what deals are being signed.

English is not your native tongue but you're going to have to make your own case as I am not going to do it for you, nor will I set out on what very well could be a wild goose chase to correct another of a Putin acolyte's posts.

Unless and until you yourself unmake my case, my case stands. The default position on your side that everything the Western MSM says is propaganda and that everything the pro-dictatorship media present from Moscow or Beijing is fact, is bogus.

If Putin or Xi Jinping can't afford a translator of stuff in their respective media, then you might consider taking up a collection with your fellow pro-dictatorship posters here.

Who here believes that without Western pressures Putin himself on his own would tolerate any kind of democracy in Russia. The detestation the CCP Boyz in Beijing have of democracy is also clear and unmistakable.

[F430murci]

I suppose I give a crap because I hate seeing my wife's family and friends stuck in Russia suffer. It also upsets my wife.

Russia's economy expanded and they actually got a taste of the good life by participating in the world markets. Money and business flowed in as Russia became a desirable emerging market economy. The 90s defaults and the current shake up, however, will cause investors and businesses to steer clear from Russia for a long time. A horrible and cruel tease to the common Russian, yet this will have very little long term impact on US who will just invest in other emerging markets and countries.

Russia is making deals with other emerging markets such as India and BRICS.

US and EU despite of what media likes you to believe are not the icing on the cake and Russians internally are not suffering, if anything Russian manufactures enjoying the demand and ripping the rewards.

and NO US will not release any reserves, because in the process, not only it will hurt itself but also upset Saudi's and other oil producing countries.

But shooting itself in the foot is not exactly new for US.

Yes for Russians who do business with West or overseas it is painful because of the rates, but hardly a killer.

Look, I wish no harm on Russia. I married one. You, however, are wrong about Russians internally not suffering. The common Russian, especially outside if Moscow and St. Petersburg are very worried.

I addressed months ago why increase in production and decrease in oil price does not hurt OPEC or Saudi. Does mess up US short term shale, but it is still there and ready to be extracted when prices go back up.

Like it or not, US is going to hybrid and electric technology that is actually pretty cool. Oil will be more and more meaningless as time goes by. What is important are the people, and I hate to see anyone suffering regardless if they are Russian or US.