Kerry: Sanctions haven't altered Moscow stance on Ukraine but hit its economy

Reuters ^ | Dec. 2, 2014 | Lesley Wroughton

[Berlin_Freeper]

The price of feed wheat in Russia is steadily growing which may create a disruption in the country’s livestock industry, market participants say.
... Such a rapid increase in prices, in the opinion of experts, is taking place due to the falling of the exchange rate of the Russian ruble against dollar and euro.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Libreta de Abastecimiento

[Berlin_Freeper]

North Korea

[Berlin_Freeper]

"We need to wait for seven to 10 days and see if a deal will be made

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

Anyone that thinks Russia can be destroyed without also destroying pretty much everything else is a fool.

Anyone who thinks Russia won't destroy us the first chance they get, the moment they feel they have a nuclear advantage or can actually win, is the real fool.

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

Wow, thanks much for all these links. They are quite valuable.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Obama said Wednesday he thinks the situation in Ukraine “caught [Putin] by surprise,” and that he has been “improvising himself into nationalist, backward-looking approach to Russian policy that is scaring the heck out of his neighbors and is badly damaging his economy.”

“If you ask me, if I am optimistic that Putin suddenly changes his mindset, I don’t think that will happen until the politics inside of Russia catch up to what’s happening with the economy in Russia, which is part of the reason why we’re going to maintain that pressure,”

[Berlin_Freeper]

risking not only prolonged, but deep recession.

[Berlin_Freeper]

A huge drop against the dollar at the beginning of the week triggered $700 million worth of intervention, according to data released today. But the slide quickly resumed, with new all-time record lows against the dollar set both yesterday and today. A sudden rally in the ruble around midday in Moscow suggests that the central bank is at it again.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Putin's annual state of the union address on Thursday

[Berlin_Freeper]

According to Republican US Senator John McCain, the US can start delivering liquefied natural gas to Europe before 2020 or earlier. "I think we can do it before then," McCain stated when asked about US projections becoming a significant exporter nation before 2020. "We can do it a lot quicker than that," he added.

In a Tuesday press release, McCain stated that his personal efforts to urge the Bulgarian government to look toward Europe to secure its energy interests and refrain from working with Russia, "were successful" and "culminated with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's decision to forgo the pipeline project entirely."

[Berlin_Freeper]

“Considering that we still have not received a permit in Bulgaria, we believe that Russia cannot continue the implementation of this project in these circumstances,” Putin said during a visit to Turkey.

[Berlin_Freeper]

"The words of Georgi Markov spiritually liberated the Bulgarians even before the toppling of the communist regime."