Posted on 08/24/2015 3:32:11 AM PDT by elhombrelibre
Moscow (AFP) - Russia's battered ruble dropped Monday to its lowest point this year as Asian and European stock markets nose-dived over concerns about the Chinese economy.
Russia's dollar-denominated RTS index fell 4.21 percent at opening as the ruble tumbled to 70.92 against the dollar, its weakest against the greenback since December 2014.
The ruble-denominated Micex meanwhile dropped by 1.76 percent.
The plunge in oil prices and Western sanctions over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis have pummelled the Russian economy in recent months, with the ruble collapsing in value. Russia's recession worsened in the second quarter as the gross domestic product contracted by 4.6 percent compared with the same
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
It looks like the damage to Russia’s economy is not contained and the economic collapse is going global. The countries that will be left standing are the ones that can be self-sufficient. And no one is going to be saving Kiev is they have to worry about saving themselves.
Years ago I heard the legendary Gerald Celente remark that when the economy goes and the printing presses no longer do the job, the government will take us to war as a last resort.
I know McCain and those like him have been pushing for war for some time now. My bet is the market crash will somehow be used as an excuse to make their move.
I pity those who have to serve under this CIC.
The market correction due to China’s slowing growth is not exactly an “economic collapse.” If you’re worried about Kiev, then you’ll no doubt support the end of Putin’s undeclared war on that peaceful neighbor.
Grania! You are forgetting that the whole Russian economy is SMALLER than Mexico’s. It is not “big and mighty Russia”. It is pitiful losers ridiculing themselves by acting tough.
Mexican economy crashing would not bring on global collapse. Neither does Russian crash. They are a petrostate and a price of oil just went down.
It's the Butterfly Effect. Little changes, over a period of time, lead to huge outcomes.
I instinctively know that you are wrong, but I lack the education so I can’t say exactly how.
I pinged SampleMan, as he knows about these things, and if he is not too busy he might write it out.
Way better than Yeltsinism or Gorbachevism. Russia isn't an U.S. puppet state anymore and not a failed state as it was under useless alcoholic Yeltsyn.
We have economic difficulties, that's true, but together with the rest of the world. So, it's not a Putin's policy's result. At least, minor bribers are prosecuted and some bigger fish is jailed.
Stalin collaborated with Hitler and provided NAZI Germany with the fuel and other materials it needed as Hitler waged war on Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, and France. Russia invaded peaceful Finland while Hitler fought the democracies of Europe. Stalin joined Hitler and invading Poland, too. Russia today threats all of Europe with idiotic statements about using nuclear weapons, air incursions, and the killing of Ukrainian citizens in an undeclared war. It support Iran with nuclear technology that the mad mullahs are using to build a nuclear weapon. It sell advanced weaponry to Iran and Syria assuring more war and more instability to the benefit of the Russian arms industry and no one else.
Briefly, Gorbachev and Yeltsin took Russia away from being a cruel and benighted communist nation and even worked to end its authoritarianism. But in their biggest mistake they failed to undo the elites of Russia who'd exploited the masses under communism. Russia remained controlled by the former communist elite who never gave up their ill gotten wealth. Essentially today it is this same crass but rich clique that rules Russia using phony nationalism as their ethos.
Putin returned the Russian people to their comfort zone with authoritarian rule; he reestablished their chauvinist nationalism, making the Russian people happy and proud again even as they were clearly once again a nation dedicated to poverty for the masses, philistinism, and corruption and lawlessness to the benefit of a small clique of thugs and cronies.
Putin's war on foreign food is just one example of how foolish he and his supporters are.
http://www.businessinsider.com/putins-war-on-european-food-is-facing-a-huge-backlash-in-st-petersburg-2015-8?IR=T
Putinism still seems to work ouy better for the Russians than Communism or Yeltsinism - maybe even better than Romanovism was for the Russians.
Putin’s success was largely based on the very high cost of oil. Anyone could have been successful with that price, as we see all over the world. But let’s see how much success he has now as the price drops lower and lower, especially when he’s trying to modernize his military to overtake the West’s technical advantages. The military issue matters because Putin has taken Russia back to its Imperial ambitions. It’s also matters because it’s a big waste of money, like so much of what Putin does it benefits his cronies and his constituents but not most Russians. Facing no threats from the West beyond peaceful differences, Russia has no reason to spend so much on defense. Yet having started the process, defense spending will come before social spending. If Russians were close to parity with the West for standard of living and under threat, spending so much on the military might make some sense. Putin is turning Russia into a poor country again in much the same way that Venezuela turned from easily achieved success to failure.
The U.S. ambassador to the USSR in 1987-1991 Jack F. Matlock, Jr. admitted in an interview that he had secret relationships with the former Moscow major Mr. Gavriil Popov as well as with Mr. Boris Yeltsyn (a former challenger for the Soviet presidency and the president of the RSFSR at the time) over a state coup conspiracy by some senior Soviet officials. The coup was tried in August, 1991 and failed.
The fact that Mr. Yeltsyn had secret relationships with a foreign power and the subsequent Yeltsyn’s policy as a Russian president proves that the RF was an U.S. puppet state. .
Your description of the USSR/Russia's history is one-sided but too long for me to bother arguing. Just take a note that all you have written are the things important to people outside Russia and almost none about its internal affairs. But the latter are way more important issues in choosing a country leaders, no matter where, whether in Russia, or in the U.S., or elsewhere. That’s because citizens vote, not foreigners.
You say that as it's something bad. Social spending isn't a conservative thing, while the defense one is. Check the topics on the U.S. government spending on this forum.
With all its drawbacks Putin's Russia is a functional state, and the Yeltsyn's one is chaos.
Yea, no duh Putin’s success was based on a very high price of oil. Even Ronald Reagan would not have been able to diversify an economy that was that booming based on the high price of oil because the incentive to change was not there - especially just out of the disastrous post commie Yeltsin era.
If anything, the low price of oil and commodities will incentivize Russia to diversify.
The rest of what you wrote was just filler - I never brought up military issues or geopolitics. All I write was that Putin has been the best leader of Russia ever. Less deaths and more prosperity than under the Czars and under the Commies. I know that is kind of shocking to read but the Czars had Serfs and bloody rule (that dwarfs any sort of blood letting people can accuse Putin of carrying out) and we all know how bloody commie rule was and how poverty stricken it was. Even on any sort of freedom index Putin’s rule surpasses the freedom available to people under the czars and commies.
So, yes, from the Russian perspective - Putin is the greatest leader Russia has ever known.
Exactly. I mean that just goes to show you how bad Russia was in terms of freedom and wealth distribution for her people but it is clear that as bad as Putin is under western standards - I don’t think the Russians have ever been freer or more prosperous or even less fearful than they are under Putin currently.
We do get our share of weirdoes on FReeRepuplic. If he wants to believe Russia was once a US puppet, I’m not going to waste my time trying to disabuse him of such foolishness. I think he is ample prove of why Putin can fool and dupe a lot of Russians.
Good. Don’t spend a ruble, not one, on the Russian people. See how that works out for you.
Just a minute, Putin hasn’t said that, that’s my own thoughts. And you have failed to provide a single argument against it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.