I continue to wonder who Bank of Russia President Elvira Nabuillina works for. Seriously. On Friday, in response to solid growth in Russian economic statistics over the past few months, Nabuillina again raised interest rates 0.25%. She still adheres to idiotic IMF-style 'inflation targeting' dogma. Price inflation in Russia finally got off the roughly 2.5% … Continue reading Inflation Targeting Madness: Russia Raises Rates Again
Russia
OPEC Cuts Deep to Save Cartel
With oil prices in free fall and the dawning realization that Great Reflation trade of 2017 is over, OPEC needed to do something drastic to remind everyone how important they are. Moreover, with Qatar quitting the cartel last week it was then doubly necessary for OPEC to make the markets stand up and remember them. … Continue reading OPEC Cuts Deep to Save Cartel
Forget Nordstream 2, Turkstream is the Prize
While the Trump Administration still thinks it can play enough games to derail the Nordstream 2 pipeline via sanctions and threats, the impotence of its position geopolitically was on display the other day as the final pipe of the first train of the Turkstream pipeline entered the waters of the Black Sea. The pipe was … Continue reading Forget Nordstream 2, Turkstream is the Prize
Add This to Bill Browder’s Resume — Criminal Mastermind
Look who's back in the news this week. None other than Mr. Anti-Putin himself, Bill Browder. But Browder isn't happy at all as to why he's in the news this time. A number of things have happened in the past few days which pushed Mr. Browder's future into uncertainty. The first occurred on September 30th … Continue reading Add This to Bill Browder’s Resume — Criminal Mastermind
For Russia Change Comes SWIFT
During the ruble crisis of 2014/15 Russia announced in the wake of U.S. and European sanctions over reunifying with Crimea that it would begin building a domestic electronic financial transfer system, an alternative to SWIFT. That system, System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), is not only now functioning in Russia, according to a report from … Continue reading For Russia Change Comes SWIFT
Germany Admits it Needs More from Russia than Nordstream 2
During the years the U.S. and its satraps in Poland and the Baltics fought the Nordstream 2 pipeline it was always apparent Germany was in the driver's seat. It was also apparent that this would be the wedge issue that would ultimately force Germany to pursue independent policy from the U.S. Nordstream 2 is and … Continue reading Germany Admits it Needs More from Russia than Nordstream 2
More Peace Dividends as Merkel and Macron Join Syria Summit in Sochi
Over the summer Russian President Vladimir Putin went on a charm tour across Europe. In a whirlwind weekend he danced and dined his way through two important meetings, first at the Austrian Foreign Minister's wedding and then a garden party summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. I wasn't the only one to note the importance … Continue reading More Peace Dividends as Merkel and Macron Join Syria Summit in Sochi
Putin Lays Down the Law at Valdai
Every year Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the Valdai Economic Forum. And each year his talk is important. Putin isn't one to mince words on important issues. With tensions between Russia and the West reaching Cold War levels, Valdai represented the first time we've heard Putin speak in a long-form discussion since Helsinki and … Continue reading Putin Lays Down the Law at Valdai