Posted on 02/27/2022 9:47:11 PM PST by SeekAndFind
As we reported earlier, Vladimir Putin has been pushed up against the wall by Ukraine’s resistance, the likes of which he did not expect. On Saturday, the U.S. and the EU agreed to block “selected” Russian banks from the SWIFT system. Now, Putin is being pushed even further with a variety of sanctions and actions being taken against him in Europe.
I reported on Saturday that European countries – even Germany, which had been hesitant – are all providing lethal aid: weapons, ammunition, and fuel. But now, they’re going to be providing fighter jets for the Ukrainians, according to EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell.
On top of that, they’re also doing something else that may be significant: cutting off Russia from EU airspace and they’re banning “pro-Kremlin” media.
Meanwhile, the European Union plans to close its airspace to Russian airlines, fund a weapons purchase to assist Ukraine and ban some pro-Kremlin media outlets in its latest response to Russia’s invasion, European Commission officials said Sunday. It marks the first time the block would finance military equipment for a country under attack.
That news prompted the U.S. to tell any Americans in Russia to get out immediately before it shuts down.
Another hammer that may be dropping is important for a couple of reasons.
Also Monday, neutral Switzerland will consider joining other Western nations in sanctioning Russi. Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said Sunday it was “very probable” the Swiss would follow the EU’s lead and sanction Russia and freeze Russian assets in the country, Reuters reported.
Taking that step is a big statement from traditionally neutral Switzerland. It’s also true that Switzerland has a lot of Russian money squirreled away in bank accounts there. Freezing that is going to make all the money people very unhappy with Putin.
This is a huge, huge deal. Switzerland is basically Scrooge McDuck’s coin vault for Russian state/oligarch cash. https://t.co/1oQbx8cXJx
— Scott Bixby (@scottbix) February 27, 2022
That may explain why two Russian billionaires – Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Deripaska – are calling for an end to the fighting.
⚡️Russian oligarch Deripaska: 'We need peace."
In his Telegram channel, industrial tycoon Oleg Deripaska wrote that peace talks between Russia and Ukraine must begin “as soon as possible!”
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) February 27, 2022
One of Fridman’s long-term partners, Pyotr Aven, attended a meeting at the Kremlin with Putin and 36 other major Russian businessmen last week, the Kremlin said.
Another Moscow billionaire told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the war was going to be a catastrophe.
“It is going to be catastrophic in all senses: for the economy, for relations with the rest of the world, for the political situation,” the billionaire said.
The billionaires who gathered for a meeting with Putin in the Kremlin on Thursday were silent, he said.
“Businessmen understand very well the consequences. But who is asking the opinion of business about this?”
They’re not sounding very happy. As we previously reported, Deripaska has been sanctioned before because of his relationship with Putin. Now, you may recall that Christopher Steele previously worked for Deripaska, the guy with the close Putin ties, while also providing information to the operatives engaged by the Clinton campaign. One would hope that this direct line is getting a lot of attention from Special Counsel John Durham. But in terms of this situation, one has to imagine this ups the pressure on Putin all the more.
Expect a run on the banks in Russia tomorrow.
Now, the ball is in Putin’s court.
https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/monster-thread-looming-crisis-for-global-stock-markets/
The run has started on the banks.
BP is leaving Russia.
Stocks are cratering.
Napoleon once famously said and personally came to experience that in war the morale of the soldiers is 10 times more important than logistics. Right now Russian troops including the officers are demoralized and the Russian people do not support this war. Unless Putin pulls back it will devolve into a quagmire worst than Afghanistan for the Russians. The Russian political infrastructure is also losing faith in Putin. IMHO he will be deposed within a few months. All you get as an autocrat is one opportunity to make a catastrophic,bad decision that costs your political base a great price and then your days are numbered.
If you're an autocrat who has control of nuclear weapons, everyone's days are numbered.
Maybe we’ll get back to the days when the Russian Navy wasn’t welcome anywhere in the world to replenish.
Trump’s economic advisor Larry Kudlow has said numerous times that the world should sanction Russian Central banks. Petroleum is traded in DOLARS. America can paralyze Russia in days if Biden had a clue.
[If you’re an autocrat who has control of nuclear weapons, everyone’s days are numbered. ]
Besides, it’s not a given that he’d be deposed. Maduro has presided over a complete collapse in the Venezuelan economy, and he’s still standing. Mugabe’s regime has been one disaster after another, and he survived in office until age 90, and no one dared to off him, despite his long history of killing his opponents.
I think all of the people speculating on the fragility of Putin’s regime don’t seem to understand that no one put Putin where he is. He clawed his way to the top. He understands a thing or two about what it takes to stay in power.
I worry about him being cornered and what he will do. He is too proud to be rational I’m afraid. I also think he is like most people in that position a sociopath of some sort and certainly self-centered.
I wonder how long the oligarchs will tolerate having their style cramped over a war that doesn’t make much sense in the first place to them or anyone else?
If there is an irradiated Russia there will be lots of places just the same. Not much at all matters if it comes to that. His threats are that of a cornered and angry man out to kill a fly with a howitzer.
I’m thinking the legacy he seeks is a return of the USSR and doesn’t understand he is the only one who wants that. Not even the Russians want that. Maybe the wack job in Belarus and Putin are the only ones.
As Genghis erects a white tent outside of Kyiv...
When Putin gets frustrated enough and stops caring about the optics of western reporters and civilian casualties the tide will turn.
All you get as an autocrat is one opportunity to make a catastrophic, bad decision that costs your political base a great price and then your days are numbered.
—
unless your name is Biden ...
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