“You Will Never Defeat Us” – Russia Downplays New Sanctions Package, as Moscow Expected to See Bigger Economic Growth Than US or the EU

On Sunday, Moscow downplayed the importance of a ‘sweeping’ new round of more than 100 sanctions imposed by the U.S. over the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin is saying Washington ‘shouldn’t hold its breath’ in pressuring the Kremlin to stop the offensive, further adding that ‘they will never defeat us.’

The IMF projections suggest it may indeed be the case, as Russia is expected to post bigger economic growth than its US and EU foes.

The sanctions target ‘Russian energy production and revenue, the metals and mining sectors, defense procurement, and those involved in supporting Moscow’s war effort’, according to a statement by the U.S. Treasury Department.

“’Today’s actions demonstrate our further resolve in continuing to disrupt every link of [the] Russian military supply chain, and target outside actors who would seek to support Russia’s war effort’, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in the statement.”

The measures also target ‘seven Russia-based banks, an executive of one of those banks, and one Russia-based financial infrastructure entity’, it said.

“Russia’s Foreign Ministry called the U.S. measures a continuation of an effort aimed at ‘inflicting a strategic defeat on Moscow’. But the Biden administration ‘shouldn’t hold its breath’, ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, according to the Russian news agency TASS.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the local media ‘sanctions create additional problems. But we have adjusted to the sanctions. We have learned to hedge against sanctions risks’.”

The U.S. Treasury intends to work with international partners ‘to prevent sanctions evasion and export-control violations’.

“Western leaders and Ukraine have repeatedly said they seek to defeat Russia on the battlefield, though some Western leaders have denied what President Vladimir Putin says is a Western plot to carve up Russia and steal its natural resources.

Putin is girding the $2.1 trillion economy for a long war and Western hopes of stoking a swift Russian economic crisis with some of the toughest sanctions ever imposed have not been realised. The International Monetary Fund forecasts Russian growth of 2.2% this year – faster than either the United States or the Euro area.”

The so-called Zeepers never comment much on the rapidly rising debt, but a "speedy" one did respond by citing Paul Krugman's notion that Americans need only "service" the debt -- that being essentially a "perpetual bond, aka perpetual servitude."

The official national debt was about $ 5 trillion 23 years ago, and today has raced past $ 33.7 trillion, with only a certain few Americans and multinationals reaping the rewards.

US median per capita $65K -- Less than $50k -- 60.96% of population

This has become a fiscal rape of the nation.

Debt Clock
Federal Budget Deficit Grew to $2 Trillion in FY 2023 Tax Foundation, 12 October 2023

Let’s end this war tomorrow. This is what Biden needs to say: “tomorrow I am reopening the Keystone project, granting exemptions to all fossil fuel powered vehicles working our nations supply chain as well as all port of entries for our shipping practices. Our goal over the next 3-6 months is to lower the costs for food and fuel for all Americans and the cheapest oil on the global market so other states can get their own houses in order.”

If that’s all Biden says, tomorrow the Russians, Iran, China will come running with hat in hand.

I’m going to do you a favor.

Here is a link for you of the broadest and generally most important information you will ever download. It is the annual spreadsheet of the World Energy Statistical Report, produced each year for 72 yrs by BP and now spun off to a proxy.

https://www.energyinst.org/statistical-review/resources-and-data-downloads

The third selection . . . the .XSLX file, is what you want. The spreadsheet is tabbed for Reserves, Production AND Consumption oil, natgas (separate tabs for LNG and total), coal, nuclear and other items for each country of the world. It will open in whatever you use for Spreadsheets, and if you don’t use anything, go download the free Open Office suite. It has an Excel (spreadsheet) reader.

Global consumption of natural gas last year was 3.9 Trillion cubic meters. It was a northern hemisphere warm winter, and the world was still emerging from effects of the virus. Over longer periods (2012-2022) the increase in consumption has been about 2% / year.

This is the period of shale. Reserves have grown by that much. The shale bonanza is on its way out — and note that in the world of Reserves, an elevation of price leads to a declaration of more, whether there is any exploration or discovery at all.

Global consumption as noted is 3.9 trillion cubic meters/year. The US produces about 1, and consumes 0.88 TCM of that each year. The US is not going to replace Russia gas.

There is not going to be any new source of gas for consumers to replace Russia. It’s not choice. It doesn’t exist. There is no choice. It’s air. You breathe or you die.

As for prices, they are a substance created from nothingness by the Fed and Central Banks around the world. Ask yourself where money comes from. That’s where. Nothingness. And unlike in Soviet times, during which the Soviet central bank was constrained in money creation to the 5 year Interior Ministry plan, the current Russian Central Bank has no such restriction. They can QE just as the Fed has QE’ed.

They have the gas and oil. There is nothing anyone can do about that. God did not favor them. The US had lots of it, too. And burned it. All you have to have is a world that does not need gas and oil and you can undercut the inevitable dominance of Russia. That’s all you need. But we don’t have that. Likely never will.

We chose the wrong enemy. We ignore Saudi Arabia cutting people’s heads off. We could have ignored Russia governing Ukraine.

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