Posted on 03/03/2014 9:51:21 AM PST by DaveMSmith
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is reported to have become “really annoyed” about Russian President Vladimir Putin and has questioned whether he “was still in touch with reality.”
The German mass circulation Bild newspaper wrote on Monday that during a telephone conversation she held with US President Barack Obama to discuss the growing crisis in Ukraine she complained that Mr Putin was “living in another world.”
“She appears to have become really annoyed,” Bild remarked. The paper said it had gained inside information on the telephone exchange between the US and German leaders from American sources.
The two leaders roundly criticised Mr Putin in their conversation and agreed that Russia’s military intervention in Crimea was in violation of international law. A German government spokesman said that both stressed that it was important for the international community to respond to the crisis in unison.
Both were said to be in favour of sending an immediate fact finding mission to Ukraine and backed the idea of setting up of a contact group, possibly overseen by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, with the aim of ending the crisis through political dialogue.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
March 4, 2014, 9:23 A.M. ET
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Ukraine Trouble? Not Today, So Mr. Market Bounces Back
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By Brendan Conway
Chalk it up to Vladimir Putin’s calm and probably mendacious press conference, or the lack of overt hostilities in Ukraine. Assets with a reputation for risk are rising again Tuesday while reputedly “safe” ones are on the decline, readying to reverse some or all of Monday’s “risk off” trading.
Trackers of the U.S. stock market like SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) look ready for gains of 1% or higher, while Treasury-bond prices are headed lower. SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) is set to follow gold prices lower by more than 1%.
Monday’s sharpest decliners spent premarket trading readying for a rebound: Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX) and iShares Russia MSCI Capped ETF (ERUS) gained 3.8% and 5.1%, ahead of the open.
From the Lindsay Group’s Peter Boockvar:
Repeating what I said yesterday that most geopolitical events are usually fleeting in its market impact, mattering just one day is pretty impressive and this Friday’s 4pm close will be most influenced by the US payroll number than anything else.
Guggenheim’s Chris Krueger lays out one reason financial markets don’t care — they’ve judged the odds of Western military involvement as slim to none:
[O]ther than relatively cosmetic reactions (possible exception of an economic aid package), we do not foresee significant American responses in the near term to the Crimean occupation. For now, the U.S. and NATO have tamped down any expectations of armed intervention. The situation on the ground and the regional geography favor Russia, and there are no military advantages for the West.
Fast traders’ bets on market volatility are slumping, with Barclays iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX), ProShares Ultra VIX Short- Term Futures exchange-traded fund (UVXY) and VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX Short Term ETN (TVIX) looking ready for drops of 5%-10% or more.
I’m sure Mr. Putin will allow panty-waist Euroweenies like Merkel to continue to cry and moan about the lack of homosexual tolerance in Russia, while Russia demonstrates skillful buggering of neighboring nations well into the foreseeable future.
Putin was always going to make this move. He’s not going to allow anything to endanger his naval port on the Black Sea. The population of the Crimea is mostly ethnically Russian, speak Russian and want to stay with Russia. I have no problem with it. As for the rest of the Ukraine they are Ukrainian and they mostly speak Ukrainian. They are Catholics in leaue with Rome and they hate the Russians.
So Putin will end up with the Crimea or at least nominal control over Crimea and the rest of Ukrainia will align with the EU.
Too bad we have a commie stooge in the Whitehouse becuase this would be a great time to put the missile defense sheild in Poland and Chechoslovakia. I don’t worry that much about Russia but I do worry about Iran.
It’s like Hitler taking back the Rhineland, back then who really could have argued against it?
But of course, Hitler didn’t stop there.
Annoyed to the point of chewing on the carpet? (and for those so inclined - it’s an historical reference and not a sexual one)
Well people in the US especially have this grand distorted view of what Russia is like. Russia is basically a third world country.
If you get 50 miles outside Moscow its horses and ox carts. Half the roads are impassable in the rainy season. They have no infrastructure and a modest economy. Russia has not built a new product since 1975. Their main exports are wheat, oil and gas and some weapons. In 2012 the wheat crop failed so they didn’t export any.
Rusia cannot compete at all with our military or our economy. Most of their nukes are so antiquated the UN inspectors won’t climb in the silos. They had to enlist our people to dismantle a lot of their stuff because they were afraid of it.
There is a reason why Russia is not at war with anybody. They can’t afford it. This incursion into the Ukraine will strain their purse strings. The worst thing that will happen is that Crimea will go back to being a separate country from Ukraine like it was before WWI when they were originally cobbled together. I doubt that will even happen. In a couple of mos this will all get ironed out and we won’t even be talking about it anymore.
So don’t be worried about Putin pulling a Hitler. HItler he ain’t.
Insightful post in some ways but not in others. I’m sure your characterization of the country is spot on as far as the roads and the oxcarts go.
But on the other hand, the Germans thought and said exactly the same thing about the Russians in 1941 and for that matter Napoleon might have done the same way back when. In each case, Russia had the last laugh.
We live in a different world from 1941. It cannot be equated. Ask yourself this question. Why hasn’t Putin already invaded the Ukraine and rolled into Kiev? Why isn’t he already standing in the square in Kiev with a shot of vodka and surveying his new territory?
Your question is a non-sequiter. Putin probably doesn’t want Kiev and even if he did he’s moving slowly and deliberately, not quickly without having his ducks in a row. Putin will keep and hold the Crimea and I’m betting a good chunk of Eastern Ukraine. And obamakerrymerkel may jump up and down and holler and scream but it’s not going to change the facts on the ground. And don’t forget the muddy roads that you’re so dismissive of, worked in Russia’s favor in WWII and during Napoleon’s invasion.
Well you are partially correct. Putin wants the Crimea. He’s probably not willing to fight the protracted war of attrition the Ukranians will put up if it comes to that.
The other reason is the same reason Putin settled for South Ossetia and did not take all of Georgia. He wants to be a player in the West. Its the only way forward for Russia. Sarkozy flew over to Moscow and put it to him during the Georgia incident. Putin wanted to march through Georgia and hang Saakashvili. Sarkozy talked him out of it. He told Putey he would be a paraiah to the western world and be shunned. If he tries to take all of the Ukraine he will be shunned by the West. Money from Western banks which he desparately needs will dry up. etc. etc. etc.
How upset are you that Russia controls S Ossetia and Georgia is still Georgia? Just watch this will all shake out. Its just embarrassing that we have a complete fool in the Whitehouse and he doesn’t know how to play international politics.
The way I see it - Crimea is to Russia as Pearl Harbor is to the U.S. They are no more likely to give up Crimea then we would be to give up Pearl Harbor. So that part is a done deal in my mind.
What’s more I think there will be an additional chunk of Eastern Ukraine that will fall into Russia’s tender embraces. And if the west can live with these two basic premises and money can continue to flow east and gas can continue to flow west, then the world will be the better for it.
But angrier heads may prevail and it may, in fact, turn out far worse than that.
Why hasn’t Putin already invaded the Ukraine and rolled into Kiev? Why isn’t he already standing in the square in Kiev with a shot of vodka and surveying his new territory?
Putin doesn’t have to. Half the country is pro-Moscow Russian. Putin can call out his goons in Kharkiv and Donetsk and throw Ukraine into chaos any time he wants. In fact, Putin wants a destabilized Ukraine while he solidifies his Crimean games.
Sad to say your historical review of Crimea is naive. You seem unaware of the mass deportations, ethnic cleansings and murders in the former USSR. History shows nothing good happens when Russians are on the march. Where they go, misery follows.
What’s more I think there will be an additional chunk of Eastern Ukraine that will fall into Russia’s tender embraces. And if the west can live with these two basic premises and money can continue to flow east and gas can continue to flow west, then the world will be the better for it.
Who asked Russia to give up Crimean bases? You have a link? It’s a fantasy to think Putler is going to stop with the Ukraine. I am sure he’d love to be the Russian leader who took down NATO.
What happens when Putin pulls this crap with a NATO/EU country like Estonia? The bill will eventually come due for this weakness. Putin is now much more likely to start more trouble knowing the EU (Germans) and Americans won’t engage him in a serious way over eastern europe.
Like I said to someone else. “How upset are you that S Ossetia is with Russia now and Georgia is still Georgia?
Thats how upset you will be if Crimea goes with Russia and the Ukraine is still the Ukraine.
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"Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again"
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With Obama in office, we are likely to get fooled HARD.
So, pray HARD, that 'we don't get fooled again' HARD!
“...we are likely to get fooled HARD....”
It pretty much already happened, gunner. This jackass fooled at least half of the people twice.
And I’m beyond praying now.
Sorry.... meant “hummingbird”, not “gunner” in my last post.
Hillary was right. Putin is using the same excuse, ‘protecting ethnic Russians’, to invade and chop out the best parts of Georgia and Ukraine for himself as Hitler did.
It’s funny, because Merkel asked a question, and could probably answer it herself: “Yes, he’s living in a new, better run, petroleum bankrolled Soviet Union.”
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Right! Be prepared, in case someone wants "to bring it" to America.
Hang loose now re: Crimea.
But, just for an example, what if Putin decided to annex Alaska. (Remember, this is just an example - for sake of argument). What could we do? Just sit here and take it? With gutted military, what else could we do?
Obama is rendering US toothless, in gutting the military and dispiriting citizens with IRS, NSA, ObamaCare, high unemployment, etc.
And, the rest of the world sees this and calculates...where does US stand in other countries WarGames?
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Yes. That is how professionals do it.
And, really, he is telling the rest of the world to just 'suck it.'
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