VOA: Russia’s Ruble Rebound Raises Questions of Sanctions’ Impact; GFP: West is making no headway in isolating Russia. India expands trade with Russia, Turkey absorbs Russian oligarchs. Expert accuses the West of neocolonial “hypocrisy”.
#Russia #RTS is climbing back – still a long way to go#Ruble is also still rising pic.twitter.com/nZsiC3s2jf
— — GEROMAN — ? – (@GeromanAT) March 31, 2022
Notice the following:
March 31, 2022
Contrary to expectations that Vladimir Putin was bluffing about collecting rubles in exchange for Russian energy exports, moments ago a decree signed by the Russian president confirmed that that was not the case.
According to Bloomberg, Putin said he had signed a decree demanding payment in rubles for Russian gas supplies, which is set to begin April 1 as previously reported. According to the decree, while Russia will continue to supply gas at set volumes and prices, it will demand that buyers of gas open accounts in Russian banks, and warned that Moscow can halt gas contracts if buyers don’t pay in rubles; additionally, new proceedings in EUR or USD could be blocked. Pushing what many viewed as a bluff to the edge, Putin said that active contracts will be halted if demands are not met, and explained that the move is meant to increase settlements in national currencies.
Putin’s decree follows an earlier report in the Russian press that Gazprom was studying options of halting gas supplies to Europe amid RUB payment issues. It also follows comments from the Kremlin which suggested that it would look into the idea from lawmakers to ask other nations to pay for a wider range of Russia exports in rubles. https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/putin-signs-decree-ordering-gas-exports-be-halted-if-buyers-dont-pay-rubles
As far as sanctions destroying Russia’s currency, Voice of America reported the following:
Russia’s Ruble Rebound Raises Questions of Sanctions’ Impact
March 31, 2022
The ruble is no longer rubble.
The Russian ruble by Wednesday had bounced back from the fall it took after the U.S. and European allies moved to bury the Russian economy under thousands of new sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has resorted to extreme financial measures to blunt the West’s penalties and inflate his currency.
While the West has imposed unprecedented levels of sanctions against the Russian economy, Russia’s Central Bank has jacked up interest rates to 20% and the Kremlin has imposed strict capital controls on those wishing to exchange their rubles for dollars or euros.
It’s a monetary defense Putin may not be able to sustain as long-term sanctions weigh down the Russian economy. But the ruble’s recovery could be a sign that the sanctions in their current form are not working as powerfully as Ukraine’s allies counted on when it comes to pressuring Putin to pull his troops from Ukraine. It also could be a sign that Russia’s efforts to artificially prop up its currency are working by leveraging its oil and gas sector.
The ruble was trading at roughly 85 to the U.S. dollar, roughly where it was before Russia started its invasion a month ago. The ruble had fallen as low as roughly 150 to the dollar on March 7, when news emerged that the Biden administration would ban U.S. imports of Russian oil and gas. …
Increasingly, European nations’ purchases of Russian oil and natural gas are coming under scrutiny as a loophole and lifeline for the Russian economy.
“For Russia, everything is about their energy revenues. It’s half their federal budget. It’s the thing that props up Putin’s regime and the war,” said Tania Babina, an economist at Columbia University who was born in Ukraine. …
President Joe Biden promoted the success of the sanctions — some of the toughest ever imposed on a nation — while he was in Poland last week. “The ruble almost is immediately reduced to rubble,” Biden said.
Sanctions on Russian financial institutions and companies, on trade and on Putin’s power brokers were crushing the country’s economic growth and prompting hundreds of international companies to stop doing business there, Biden noted.
Russian efforts to counter those sanctions by propping up the ruble can only go so far.
Russia’s Central Bank cannot keep raising interest rates because doing so will eventually choke off credit to businesses and borrowers. At some point, individuals and businesses will develop ways to go around Russia’s capital controls by moving money in smaller amounts. As the penalties depress the Russian economy, economists say that will eventually weigh down the ruble. Without these efforts, Russia’s currency would almost certainly be weaker.
But Russia’s oil and gas exports have continued to Europe as well as to China and India. Those exports have acted as an economic floor for the Russian economy, which is dominated by the energy sector. In the European Union, a dependence on Russian gas for electricity and heating has made it significantly more difficult to turn off the spigot, which the Biden administration did when it banned the relatively small amount of petroleum that the U.S. imports from Russia. https://www.voanews.com/a/russia-s-ruble-rebound-raises-questions-of-sanctions-impact-/6509012.html
While sanctions do impact the Russian economy, there are costs to those who impose sanctions. US President Joe Biden’s statemeent of the ruble’s (also spelled rouble) demise to rubble are premature at best.
Here is something today from German-Foreign-Policy.com, https://www.german-foreign-policy.com/news/detail/8886, machine-translated into English by me:
West is making no headway in isolating Russia. India expands trade with Russia, Turkey absorbs Russian oligarchs. Expert accuses the West of neocolonial “hypocrisy”.
31 March 2022
BERLIN/MOSCOW/NEW DELHI(Own report) – Five weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, Western powers have still failed to isolate Russia internationally. During a visit to India yesterday, Jens Plötner, foreign policy adviser to Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, tried to persuade New Delhi to abandon its cooperation with Moscow. Other representatives of Western countries had previously traveled to the Indian capital with the same goal, but were unsuccessful. India is getting more and more oil from Russia and is continuing to work on a payment system that is independent of the US dollar and SWIFT. Only 48 countries are still participating in the western Russia sanctions; three-quarters of the UN member states are refusing them, despite in some cases considerable pressure. The Saudi foreign policy expert Mansour Almarzoqi confirms that he could see “absolutely no difference” between the wars against Iraq (USA, 2003) and against Ukraine (Russia, 2022); He accuses the West of “hypocrisy”: “The bare “colonial heritage of the West” lies “hidden under the thin facade of the discourse on human rights and democracy”.
Profitable cooperation
India, a cooperation partner of Russia for many years, continues to attach great importance to not damaging its relations with Moscow despite Moscow’s attack on Ukraine. …
Meanwhile, mounting pressure from the West is prompting unexpected reactions in New Delhi. On March 22, the Indian ambassador in Moscow attended a meeting with his counterparts from Brazil, China and South Africa and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov – an indication that the BRICS format was in place despite the Russian incursion into Ukraine and despite high tensions between India and China is not abandoned. …
Only 48 out of 193
Not only India is trying to maintain its economic relations with Russia despite Western sanctions. In South Africa, Gazprom is in talks for a multi-billion dollar natural gas deal.[7] Turkey operates as a transfer or transhipment point for passenger transport and trade with Russia. In addition, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has confirmed that Russian oligarchs are free to do business in Turkey.[8] The same applies to the United Arab Emirates. The Emirates and Saudi Arabia also continue to refuse to give in to Western pressure to increase oil production more than planned to facilitate a global oil embargo on Russia. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud reiterated on Wednesday that OPEC+ countries are committed to not to include political considerations in their decisions about production volumes.[9] To date, the number of countries participating in the western Russia sanctions has not exceeded 48 – most of Europe and North America and six of their closest partners in the Asia-Pacific region. This is less than a quarter of the 193 UN member states.
As far as Europe buying fuels from Russia goes, notice the following:
German industry: Gas rationing plan would cripple economy
Germany’s industrial sector has sounded the alarm over a new emergency warning system to manage the country’s energy security in case Russia cuts supplies of natural gas.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck on Wednesday announced a three-stage alert system that would ultimately give households and hospitals priority over industrial firms if gas usage had to be rationed.
The Kremlin upped the stakes in its standoff with Europe last week, by saying that “unfriendly” states would have to pay for their gas in rubles instead of euros or dollars.
G7 nations rejected the demand but the uncertainty has sparked fears that Moscow may turn off the taps in retaliation for sanctions imposed by the West over the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has since said that ruble payments will be phased in. …
Business leaders and unions have warned that any disruption to gas supplies would be devastating for Europe’s largest economy, as it has not yet fully recovered from the post-COVID supply chain crisis.
One worst-case scenario involves the world’s largest chemical firm BASF, whose main chemical production site in the western city of Ludwigshafen would have to be partially or fully shut down. …
Natural gas is also used both as a source of energy and as a raw material by chemical producers. No other sector utilizes more of Germany’s gas supply than the chemical sector, at about 15%.
Two years needed to cut reliance on Russia
Despite promises to cut its reliance on Russian gas — the share stood at more than 50% before the invasion and has since fallen to roughly 40% — Habeck claimed that Germany is unlikely to find enough alternative sources until mid-2024. 03/30/22 https://www.dw.com/en/german-industry-gas-rationing-plan-would-cripple-economy/a-61302394
German industry is used to relatively cheap energy from Russia.
It appears that is will want to continue to get that beyond 2024.
Alternatives look to be from the Middle East and the USA.
Yet, one reason that Germany has not gone the USA route is that costs from the USA are higher.
It looks like energy matters will be related to the coming trade dispute between Europe and the USA.
The situation is Ukraine looks to be a factor setting this up.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Trade Disputes: CCOG Warnings Are Coming to Pass Trade tensions and talks of trade wars have escalated. US President Donald Trump has put Europe, China, Mexico, and other lands on notice that he wants to change how international trade with the USA has been going. Tariffs, retaliatory tariffs, and even more tariffs are being implemented. Is this all just happenstance? Are we yet in a trade war? What will Europe do? Has the Church of God been warning about trade disputes and a coming trade war for decades? What about the Continuing Church of God (CCOG)? What has been warned, what has been happening, and what will happen? Will trade disputes be a factor in World War III (WW3)? Dr. Thiel explains what has been taught and what to expect.
Trade Wars: Are COG warnings coming to pass? Trade issues, tariffs, and talk of trade wars are in the news. Can trade wars lead to World War III like they did to World War II? Are the events going on with the USA, UK, Asia, and Europe consistent with warnings published by the true Church of God (COG) over the past several years and decades? Do Germany and China hope to take advantage of trade frictions involving the Trump Administration and the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement? What about Mexico and South America? Does the Bible teach that Europe will become a major trading power? Will the final European Babylonian trading power be destroyed? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more in this video.
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European? See also EU’s Global Gateway, Trade, and War?
European Technology and the Beast of Revelation Will the coming European Beast power would use and develop technology that will result in the taking over of the USA and its Anglo-Saxon allies? Is this possible? What does the Bible teach? Here is a related YouTube video: Military Technology and the Beast of Revelation.
The Large Hadron Collider has Military Potential Some say this European project is only peaceful. So why is it working on capturing antimatter? Here is a link to a related video: Could the Large Hadron Collider lead to destruction?
Must the Ten Kings of Revelation 17:12 Rule over Ten Currently Existing Nations? Some claim that these passages refer to a gathering of 10 currently existing nations together, while one group teaches that this is referring to 11 nations getting together. Is that what Revelation 17:12-13 refers to? The ramifications of misunderstanding this are enormous. A related sermon is titled Ten Kings of Revelation and the Great Tribulation.
Might German Baron Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg become the King of the North? Is the former German Defense Minister (who is also the former German Minister for Economics and Technology) one to watch? What do Roman Catholic, Byzantine, and biblical prophecies suggest? A video of related interest would be: Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and Europe’s Future.
Germany’s Assyrian Roots Throughout History Are the Germanic peoples descended from Asshur of the Bible? Have there been real Christians in Germanic history? What about the “Holy Roman Empire”? There is also a You-Tube video sermon on this titled Germany’s Biblical Origins.
Germany in Biblical and Roman Catholic Prophecy Does Assyria in the Bible equate to an end time power inhabiting the area of the old Roman Empire? What does prophecy say Germany will do and what does it say will happen to most of the German people? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: Alemania en la profecía bíblic. Here are links to two English language sermon videos Germany in Bible Prophecy and The Rise of the Germanic Beast Power of Prophecy.
USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses Can you point to scriptures, like Daniel 11:39, that point to the USA in the 21st century? This article does. Two related sermon are available: Identifying the USA and its Destruction in Prophecy and Do these 7 prophesies point to the end of the USA?
Who is the King of the West? Why is there no Final End-Time King of the West in Bible Prophecy? Is the United States the King of the West? Here is a version in the Spanish language: ¿Quién es el Rey del Occidente? ¿Por qué no hay un Rey del Occidente en la profecía del tiempo del fin? A related sermon is also available: The Bible, the USA, and the King of the West.
The Eurasian Union, the Kings of the East, and Bible Prophecy Is there a Eurasian union that will be formed? Is one being formed right now? Are any leaders working on that in the 21st century? Does the Bible teach that there will be a Eurasian union? If some type of Eurasian union is formed, who might it benefit and who will it destroy? A related video would be Is The Eurasian Union Rising?
Russia and Ukraine: Their Origins and Prophesied Future Russia in prophecy. Where do the Russians come from? What about those in the Ukraine? What is prophesied for Russia and its allies? What will they do to the Europeans that supported the Beast in the end? There is also a video sermon available: Russia in the Bible and in Prophecy as are two video sermonettes Russia, Ukraine, Babylonian Europe, and Prophecy and Ukraine in Prophecy?
Is Russia the King of the North? Some claim it is. But what does the Bible teach? Here is a link to a video, also titled Is Russia the King of the North?
Ezekiel 38: For Russia & Iran in Our Day? Is Ezekiel 38 about to be fulfilled? Are we close to the battle with Gog and Magog? Four related videos are available: Ezekiel 38 Gog and Magog War: Is it Soon?, Ezekiel 38: For Russia, Ukraine, & Iran Now?, Russia, Iran, Syria, & the Bible (Code), and Gog, Magog, Vladimir Putin, and Ezekiel 38?
Asia in Prophecy What is Ahead for Asia? Who are the “Kings of the East”? What will happen to nearly all the Chinese, Russians, Indians, and others of Asia? China in prophecy, where? Who has the 200,000,000 man army related to Armageddon? Here is a link to a related sermon: Asia in Prophecy. Two YouTube video are Is China THE Threat to the United States of America? and China: A King of the East.
The Times of the Gentiles Has there been more than one time of the Gentiles? Are we in it now or in the time of Anglo-America? What will the final time of the Gentiles be like? A related sermon is available and is titled: The Times of the Gentiles.
Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction Can the USA survive two full presidential terms? In what ways are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris apocalyptic? This book has hundreds of prophecies and scriptures to provide details. A Kindle version is also available and you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to your free Kindle reader app (or if you already have one or a Kindle), you can go to: Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction (Kindle) to get the book in seconds.
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