Thread: Economic sanctions

The Multipolar World Order is not my theorem at all, and has been written about for at least 20 years. It was common parlance for us guys selling 'emerging market' investment.

All that has really changed is that the pace of change has been surprising. Ukraine is the last nail in the coffin of unipolarity- we now live in a MWO.

Originally Posted by Switch

Multipolar or Bipolar? Please decide which disinformation from RT you prefer to use.

He can't make his mind up. Like the rest of the wanketeers, he's just parroting shit he found on sympathetic websites.

Originally Posted by sabang

The Multipolar World Order is not my theorem at all, and has been written about for at least 20 years. It was common parlance for us guys selling 'emerging market' investment.

All that has really changed is that the pace of change has been surprising. Ukraine is the last nail in the coffin of unipolarity- we now live in a MWO.

Non-Alliance Movements have been around for some time with little or no influence on the real evil power.
This time around will certainly be different and challenging.
The combination of a growing and terribly influential BRICS and the coming collapse of Uncle Sugar will be interesting to observe in the immediate future.

It will hit them, and their delusional character, like a tonne of bricks.

Originally Posted by sabang

I also challenged you to find one, single gweilo bank teller in HK

And I did. I told you and you responded with silence. That's on you.

Originally Posted by Norton

Just in case it has gone unnoticed, Russia is no longer economically or militarily to be considered a big player in the world power discussion. Vlad knows it and doesn't like it a bit so he has decided to bring back the glory of the old Soviet Union. Big, big miscalculation!

Amen

More propaganda nonsense from a youtube wanker who seems to like the paedophile that the wanketeers all coo over.

26 Feb, 2023 05:28


HomeBusiness News


Switzerland confirms stance on frozen Russian assets

The country will not confiscate blocked funds despite pressure from Western allies, an official said.

"Swiss banks have no legal right to use Russian money frozen in the country under sanctions for their own purposes, a spokesperson for the country’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Fabian Maienfisch, told the RIA Novosti news agency this week.

Any action that allows the management or use of frozen assets is prohibited except for routine administrative actions performed by financial institutions such as accounting for interest rates or banking charges on the account, he noted.

“The management of actual portfolio of frozen assets such as attracting new investments, selling assets or changing revenue is not allowed,” Maienfisch added.

He also pointed out that all the costs associated with the Russian property blocked in Switzerland should be defrayed by the owners.

Earlier, the Swiss government ruled out the seizure of funds frozen in the country, saying that the confiscation of private Russian assets would undermine the Swiss constitution and the prevailing legal order. Swiss banks have opposed the appropriation.

“There is no legal basis for confiscation today,” the Swiss Bankers Association said last month.

READ MORE: Switzerland warned against seizing Russian assets
Switzerland has been facing increasing US and EU pressure to release the frozen funds for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Western countries have been discussing the idea for some time but have come up against legal hurdles.

Former head of Deutsche Bank Josef Ackermann recently warned that such a step by Switzerland in particular would jeopardize investor confidence in the Swiss banking system and result in the country losing its status as a global financial center.

Switzerland currently holds 7.5 billion Swiss francs ($8 billion) worth of frozen financial assets belonging to Russian citizens, SECO revealed last month."

US Hegemony and Its Perils

No surprise from the execrable Swiss - they've been profiting off war criminals since at least WWII.

The oligarch Oleg Deripaska has said Russia could run out of money by next year unless the country secures investment from “friendly” countries as western sanctions bite.

Deripaska, an energy and metals tycoon who was once Russia’s richest person, told an investment conference in Siberia on Thursday: “There will be no money already next year. We will need foreign investors.”

Deripaska, who is subject to UK, US and EU sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said funds are running low and “that’s why they’ve [the Russian government] already begun to shake us down”, according to a Bloomberg report.

He said that Russia was suffering from “serious” pressure from western sanctions, and that the country and its businesses would have to look to other countries with “serious resources” to invest.

“We thought we were a European country,” said Deripaska, who is founder of Rusal, the biggest aluminium producer outside China. “Now, for the next 25 years, we will think more about our Asian past.”

It comes as the European ratings agency Scope warned that Russia’s budget deficit may rise to 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), compared with the government’s forecast of 2% of GDP. In 2022, the official shortfall came in at 2.3%.

Scope said this was due to lower revenues from oil and gas exports, as the west weaned itself off Russian energy. “Sanctions and the war are constraining Russia’s fiscal flexibility … due to lower energy export revenues, higher war-related spending and a steady decline in GDP,” it said, according to a Reuters report. “For now, Russia can finance its deficit relatively easily by drawing down the national wealth fund, set to amount to only 3.7% of GDP by end-2024 from 10.4% of GDP at end-2021.”

The ratings agency said Russia’s huge spending on the war would harm its economy in the long term, because it was at the expense of investments in infrastructure, digitalisation, housing and environmental protection.

Russia could run out of money next year, says oligarch Oleg Deripaska | Russia | The Guardian

Originally Posted by OhOh

26 Feb, 2023 05:28


HomeBusiness News


Switzerland confirms stance on frozen Russian assets

The country will not confiscate blocked funds despite pressure from Western allies, an official said.

"Swiss banks have no legal right to use Russian money frozen in the country under sanctions for their own purposes, a spokesperson for the country’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), Fabian Maienfisch, told the RIA Novosti news agency this week.

Any action that allows the management or use of frozen assets is prohibited except for routine administrative actions performed by financial institutions such as accounting for interest rates or banking charges on the account, he noted.

“The management of actual portfolio of frozen assets such as attracting new investments, selling assets or changing revenue is not allowed,” Maienfisch added.

He also pointed out that all the costs associated with the Russian property blocked in Switzerland should be defrayed by the owners.

Earlier, the Swiss government ruled out the seizure of funds frozen in the country, saying that the confiscation of private Russian assets would undermine the Swiss constitution and the prevailing legal order. Swiss banks have opposed the appropriation.

“There is no legal basis for confiscation today,” the Swiss Bankers Association said last month.

READ MORE: Switzerland warned against seizing Russian assets
Switzerland has been facing increasing US and EU pressure to release the frozen funds for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Western countries have been discussing the idea for some time but have come up against legal hurdles.

Former head of Deutsche Bank Josef Ackermann recently warned that such a step by Switzerland in particular would jeopardize investor confidence in the Swiss banking system and result in the country losing its status as a global financial center.

Switzerland currently holds 7.5 billion Swiss francs ($8 billion) worth of frozen financial assets belonging to Russian citizens, SECO revealed last month."

US Hegemony and Its Perils

Assetts remain frozen ($8bn) and cost are incurred, payable by Russian account holders.

Im sure any reparations can still be met, after Russia loses the war.

Originally Posted by Switch

Assetts remain frozen ($8bn) and cost are incurred, payable by Russian account holders.

Im sure any reparations can still be met, after Russia loses the war.

Do you remember how long it took them to admit they had billions hidden in accounts owned by jews that had been murdered by the Nazis?

12 Mar, 2023 08:14

HomeBusiness News

Swiss bankers fear exodus of Chinese wealth – FT

Investors are reportedly worried about the safety of their assets after Switzerland froze billions in Russian funds

"Executives at major banks in Switzerland have warned that the country’s decision to support Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia is having a negative impact on their business, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

The unnamed banking officials told the media outlet that rich clientele from China are seriously worried about depositing their money in Swiss banks, after Bern ditched its policy of neutrality by freezing billions in Russian assets as part of sanctions.

In February, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs reported that some $8.1 billion of Russian money was frozen by sanctions. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second-largest bank, reportedly blocked over $19 billion in Russian assets.

“We were not just surprised but shocked that Switzerland abandoned its neutral status,” a board director who oversees Asian operations at his bank told the FT. “I have statistical evidence that literally hundreds of clients that were looking to open accounts are now not.”

The media outlet reportedly spoke with executives from six of Switzerland’s 10 largest lenders about their experience with private clients.

“The question of sanctions has come up with clients,” another senior official said. “It was definitely a topic of concern with clients late last year. They were asking whether their money would be safe with us.”

The Swiss banking sector is the world’s biggest destination for offshore wealth, boasting a quarter of the global total, and accounts for 10% of the country’s gross domestic product, Anke Reingen, an analyst at RBC, told the newspaper.

Switzerland moved against Russian clients too quickly, according to another bank executive, who called for a line to be drawn on what the government should and shouldn’t get involved in."

Swiss bankers fear exodus of Chinese wealth – FT — RT Business News

Originally Posted by OhOh

The unnamed banking officials told the media outlet that rich clientele from China are seriously worried about depositing their money in Swiss banks

I wonder if OhWoe understands SWiss banking rules and why many wealthy people entrust their assets to/with(?) them . . .

Why would good communist party members take money out of the motherland? Would interesting names be found among the depositors . . . like Xi?

Does OhWoe know the difference between China and Russia?

SCOTT RITTER: G7 vs BRICS — Off to the Races


March 22, 2023

An economist digging below the surface of an IMF report has found something that should shock the Western bloc out of any false confidence in its unsurpassed global economic clout.

"Last summer, the Group of 7 (G7), a self-anointed forum of nations that view themselves as the most influential economies in the world, gathered at Schloss Elmau, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, to hold their annual meeting. Their focus was punishing Russia through additional sanctions, further arming of Ukraine and the containment of China.

At the same time, China hosted, through video conference, a gathering of the BRICS economic forum. Comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, this collection of nations relegated to the status of so-called developing economies focused on strengthening economic bonds, international economic development and how to address what they collectively deemed the counter-productive policies of the G7.

In early 2020, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov had predicted that, based upon purchasing power parity, or PPP, calculations projected by the International Monetary Fund, BRICS would overtake the G7 sometime later that year in terms of percentage of the global total.

(A nation’s gross domestic product at purchasing power parity, or PPP, exchange rates is the sum value of all goods and services produced in the country valued at prices prevailing in the United States and is a more accurate reflection of comparative economic strength than simple GDP calculations.)

Then the pandemic hit and the global economic reset that followed made the IMF projections moot. The world became singularly focused on recovering from the pandemic and, later, managing the fallout from the West’s massive sanctioning of Russia following that nation’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The G7 failed to heed the economic challenge from BRICS, and instead focused on solidifying its defense of the “rules based international order” that had become the mantra of the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.

Miscalculation

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an ideological divide that has gripped the world, with one side (led by the G7) condemning the invasion and seeking to punish Russia economically, and the other (led by BRICS) taking a more nuanced stance by neither supporting the Russian action nor joining in on the sanctions. This has created a intellectual vacuum when it comes to assessing the true state of play in global economic affairs.

It is now widely accepted that the U.S. and its G7 partners miscalculated both the impact sanctions would have on the Russian economy, as well as the blowback that would hit the West.

Angus King, the Independent senator from Maine, recently observed that he remembers

“when this started a year ago, all the talk was the sanctions are going to cripple Russia. They’re going to be just out of business and riots in the street absolutely hasn’t worked …[w]ere they the wrong sanctions? Were they not applied well? Did we underestimate the Russian capacity to circumvent them? Why have the sanctions regime not played a bigger part in this conflict?”

It should be noted that the IMF calculated that the Russian economy, as a result of these sanctions, would contract by at least 8 percent. The real number was 2 percent and the Russian economy — despite sanctions — is expected to grow in 2023 and beyond.

This kind of miscalculation has permeated Western thinking about the global economy and the respective roles played by the G7 and BRICS. In October 2022, the IMF published its annual World Economic Outlook (WEO), with a focus on traditional GDP calculations. Mainstream economic analysts, accordingly, were comforted that — despite the political challenge put forward by BRICS in the summer of 2022 — the IMF was calculating that the G7 still held strong as the leading global economic bloc.

In January 2023 the IMF published an update to the October 2022 WEO, reinforcing the strong position of the G7. According to Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF’s chief economist, the “balance of risks to the outlook remains tilted to the downside but is less skewed toward adverse outcomes than in the October WEO.”

This positive hint prevented mainstream Western economic analysts from digging deeper into the data contained in the update. I can personally attest to the reluctance of conservative editors trying to draw current relevance from “old data.”

Fortunately, there are other economic analysts, such as Richard Dias of Acorn Macro Consulting, [ https://acornmc.co.uk/ ] self-described “boutique macroeconomic research firm employing a top-down approach to the analysis of the global economy and financial markets.” Rather than accept the IMF’s rosy outlook as gospel, Dias did what analysts are supposed to do — dig through the data and extract relevant conclusions.

After rooting through the IMF’s World Economic Outlook Data Base, Dias conducted a comparative analysis of the percentage of global GDP adjusted for PPP between the G7 and BRICS, and made a surprising discovery: BRICS had surpassed the G7.

This was not a projection, but rather a statement of accomplished fact: BRICS was responsible for 31.5 percent of the PPP-adjusted global GDP, while the G7 provided 30.7 percent. Making matters worse for the G7, the trends projected showed that the gap between the two economic blocs would only widen going forward.

The reasons for this accelerated accumulation of global economic clout on the part of BRICS can be linked to three primary factors:

1. residual fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic,
2. blowback from the sanctioning of Russia by the G7 nations in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and
3. growing resentment among the developing economies of the world to G7 economic policies
4.priorities which are perceived as being rooted more in post-colonial arrogance than a genuine desire to assist in helping nations grow their own economic potential.

Growth Disparities

It is true that BRICS and G7 economic clout is heavily influenced by the economies of China and the U.S., respectively. But one cannot discount the relative economic trajectories of the other member states of these economic forums. While the economic outlook for most of the BRICS countries points to strong growth in the coming years, the G7 nations, in a large part because of the self-inflicted wound that is the current sanctioning of Russia, are seeing slow growth or, in the case of the U.K., negative growth, with little prospect of reversing this trend.

Moreover, while G7 membership remains static, BRICS is growing, with Argentina and Iran having submitted applications, and other major regional economic powers, such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, expressing an interest in joining. Making this potential expansion even more explosive is the recent Chinese diplomatic achievement in normalizing relations between Iran and Saudia Arabia.

Diminishing prospects for the continued global domination by the U.S. dollar, combined with the economic potential of the trans-Eurasian economic union being promoted by Russia and China, put the G7 and BRICS on opposing trajectories. BRICS should overtake the G7 in terms of actual GDP, and not just PPP, in the coming years.

But don’t hold your breath waiting for mainstream economic analysts to reach this conclusion. Thankfully, there are outliers such as Richard Dias and Acorn Macro Consulting who seek to find new meaning from old data."

SCOTT RITTER: G7 vs BRICS — Off to the Races

Originally Posted by OhOh

SCOTT RITTER: blah blah blah

Could you summarise what the paedophile said that interested you so much?

Originally Posted by OhOh

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa

vs USA, Japan, Germany, France, Canada


Is 7-0 the score if there were a comparison?

27 Mar, 2023 20:18


HomeWorld News


‘Mega strike’ hits Germany


Hundreds of thousands of public transport workers walked off the job on Monday, bringing the country to a halt

"Airports, bus stops, and train stations were at a standstill across Germany on Monday, as more than 400,000 public transportation employees took part in a 24-hour strike. The workers are demanding pay rises to compensate for inflation, which has soared in Germany since last year.

The strike began at midnight and is set to end at midnight on Tuesday. Eight major German airports were affected, with the German Airports Association estimating that around 380,000 travelers were left stranded. Munich Airport shut down entirely from Sunday onwards, with all flights canceled and its terminal deserted.

Deutsche Bahn said on Monday that all long-distance services were canceled, while regional services were only restarting in some areas by Monday evening. Trams, buses, and metro lines were also affected throughout the country.

Freight trains were halted too, as was shipping traffic in and out of Hamburg, Germany’s largest port and Europe’s third-busiest.

The strike is the result of demands for wage hikes issued by several major trade unions. Verdi, a public services union representing some 2.5 million employees, seeks a pay rise of 10.5%, but no less than €500. EVG, which represents around 230,000 employees at Deutsche Bahn and some other bus companies, demands a 12% wage increase but no less than €650.

Germany now addicted to US LNG – German MP
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told Reuters on Monday that an agreement between the government and the unions will likely be reached this week.

Roughly 400,000 workers took part in the strike, Verdi chief Frank Werneke told German media. Newspapers in Germany described the walkout as a “mega strike,” calling it the largest such disruption in decades.

Werneke told the German newspaper Bild that securing a pay rise is “a matter of survival for many thousands of employees” struggling to cope with the rising cost of living.

Once Europe’s economic powerhouse, Germany has seen its industrial output shrink and inflation rise to 8.7% in February, up from a steady rate of 0-2% between the mid-1990s and the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine last year.

Germany was heavily dependent on Russian gas and oil imports before the conflict, which all but ceased following the EU’s imposition of sanctions and the allegedly US-orchestrated destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Although the German government announced in January that the country would narrowly avoid a recession this year, credit ratings agency Fitch predicted earlier this month that the German economy will enter recession by late 2023."

‘Mega strike’ hits Germany — RT World News

They'll be fine, it's the high heeled war criminal who's having to dip into his savings account.

Kenya to Buy Oil Using Local Currency Instead of US Dollars

13:54 GMT 24.03.2023

"While Kenya is experiencing an economic crisis alongside a plummeting local currency, petroleum cartels are socking away greenbacks, raising the ire of the African nation’s head of state.
Kenyan President William Ruto signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia to buy oil for Kenyan shillings instead of US dollars.

As the US currency exchange rate hit 145.5 shillings due to increased demand by importers, President Ruto accused oil cartels of stockpiling American dollars in response to the crisis, sparking fuel shortages throughout Kenya.

"I'll give you free advice, those of you who are hoarding dollars, you certainly might go into losses, you better do what you need to do, because this market is going to be different in a couple of weeks," said Ruto.
Demand for the US greenback is expected to drop once the deal is signed to import fuel on credit by the Kenyan and Saudi governments. According to Ruto, this step should "ensure dollar availability."


"In the next couple of weeks, dollar availability is going to be very different, because our fuel companies will now be paying for fuel in Kenyan shillings," the president said at the Nairobi Stock Exchange on March 22, as reported by media.

Kenya imports the vast majority of its fuel from countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, among others, and pays in dollars."

Kenya to Buy Oil for Local Currency Instead of US Dollars

Jeffrey Sachs scratches around economics mysteries.

End of unipolarity ?
w/ Jeffrey Sachs, Alexander Mercouris and Glenn Diesen.

The link to a 25 minute video:

https://rumble.com/v2f1phe-end-of-unipolarity-w-jeffrey-sachs-alexander-mercouris-and-glenn-diesen.html

Originally Posted by OhOh

Kenya to Buy Oil Using Local Currency Instead of US Dollars

Saudis squeezing the last fucking drop out of them.

Originally Posted by OhOh

Jeffrey Sachs scratches around economics mysteries.

End of unipolarity ?
w/ Jeffrey Sachs, Alexander Mercouris and Glenn Diesen.

The link to a 25 minute video:

https://rumble.com/v2f1phe-end-of-unipolarity-w-jeffrey-sachs-alexander-mercouris-and-glenn-diesen.html

This is speakers corner, not the funny videos thread. I deduce from the fact you've only posted the link that there's fuck all worth commenting on in 25 minutes of shite.