[SevenofNine]

OH BOy the Russians are hitting the Vodka hard after seeing this report LOL!

[Star Traveler]

It’s sabotage ... :-) ...

Saudi Arabia’s oil war against Iran and Russia
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3237849/posts

[tcrlaf]

The Interest Rate hike worked exactly as intended.

The Dollar-based naked Ruble shorts got squeezed out, and the Norwegians got blasted by the collateral damage.

Without an MFGlobal-style market intervention, by cutting off the USD-RUB trade, a LOT of US Traders would have been screwed.

Instead, they sold Krone for Rubles, to cover the shorts.
Note the Ruble “recovery” after the trading halt:
http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/USDRUB:CUR

[Berlin_Freeper]

there were reports on Tuesday of Russians scrambling to buy expensive goods like cars and withdrawing their cash from banks to exchange it for dollars.

"The damage has been short-term so far, meaning it hasn't translated into political unrest since people still have jobs, food, electricity," said Matthew Rojansky, a Russia expert at the director of the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute.

But if the economic mess continues for another year, it could translate into large-scale protests. And at that point all bets are off, Rojansky said.

"At that point, Putin will have the same stark choice eventually faced by most authoritarian leaders," he said. "Make major concessions, even step down, or use massive violence against his own people."

[Boogieman]

Hmm, can I get that 17% interest rate without converting my dollars to rubles? Cuz that would be an appealing prospect.