Motherland Rises: Putin's Grip

Lleauaric

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Araysar can laugh, but its the SEC that has spearheaded the financial assault on terrorism since 9/11 and has been the point agency with very effective sanctions on Iran. They have the experience and the tools to cause Russia massive pain, especially considering how fragile and one dimensional their economy is.

Also, Araysar laughed when I said the West was going to impose harsh financial sanctions and seizure of assets from all the illegal activities and then said Russia would consider it an act of war.

Do you ever get tired of being wrong?
 

Loser Araysar

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Also, Araysar laughed when I said the West was going to impose harsh financial sanctions and seizure of assets from all the illegal activities and then said Russia would consider it an act of war.

Do you ever get tired of being wrong?
Do you get tired of constantly misrepresenting my position?
 

TheBeagle

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The SEC does have power to wield, the problem was always getting them to actually use it. If you don't think the combined efforts of all the West's financial arms bearing down on Russia has the potential to fuck their economy then you need to lay off the potato vodka comrade. The question is will EU and Obama do anything more than make a few blustery speeches. Indications are they will this time, but who the fuck knows.
 

Lleauaric

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Russia Facing Escalating Sanctions as EU Foreign Ministers Meet - Bloomberg

"The U.S. president has broad authority" to implement crushing sanctions even without additional authority from Congress, "but the question is how to implement it in a measured way to get Putin to back off without leading to a clashing of both economic powers," Stuart Eizenstat,
Under U.S. laws including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the president has sweeping powers to freeze another country's U.S. dollar reserves, cut off foreign financial institutions, including state-owned banks, from the U.S. financial system and bar access to U.S. credit card networks. Any of these measures could force transactions into banknotes, robbing banks of liquidity and killing commerce, analysts say.

Under the U.S. Patriot Act, the president can declare a foreign bank a primary money-laundering concern, turning it into an international pariah.

Russia is the 11th-largest foreign holder of Treasuries, with U.S. bills, notes and bonds totaling $138.6 billion at the end of last year, according to Treasury data. A drop in U.S. government securities held in custody at the Federal Reserve last week fueled speculation that Russia may be shifting its holdings out of the U.S. in preparation for sanctions.
While Western sanctions could target export controls and financial institutions, that's "something they will hold in reserve until and if the crisis escalates," said William Pomeranz, Deputy Director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

The Russian president may not have calculated the financial risks of his actions in Ukraine, Pomeranz said in an interview. "I don't think Putin really talked to any of his economic advisers," he said.
 

Loser Araysar

Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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The SEC does have power to wield, the problem was always getting them to actually use it. If you don't think the combined efforts of all the West's financial arms bearing down on Russia has the potential to fuck their economy then you need to lay off the potato vodka comrade. The question is will EU and Obama do anything more than make a few blustery speeches. Indications are they will this time, but who the fuck knows.
And thats the point. While SEC may have those powers they never seriously used them because its a bunch of foxes guarding the chicken coop
 

Lleauaric

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What the hell are you even talking about? They aren't being asked to investigate anything. This isn't oversight, (which the SEC does suck at). They will be ordered by the President to perform specific actions. The opinions of wannabe/former Goldman Sachs employees who work there are entirely inconsequential.
 

Running Dog_sl

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Russia Facing Escalating Sanctions as EU Foreign Ministers Meet - Bloomberg

The Russian president may not have calculated the financial risks of his actions in Ukraine, Pomeranz said in an interview. ?I don?t think Putin really talked to any of his economic advisers,? he said.
There was a piece about how Putin made his decisions on Crimea in the New York Times:

Log In - The New York Times

The group, the officials and analysts said, included Sergei B. Ivanov, Mr. Putin?s chief of staff; Nikolai P. Patrushev, the secretary of the security council; and Aleksandr V. Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service. All are veterans of the K.G.B., specifically colleagues of Mr. Putin?s when he served in the organization in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, during the 1970s and ?80s.
Putin is now listening to a very small circle of advisers who all view things the same way he does, he isn't getting any dissenting views because he no longer trusts anyone who has a more positive view of the West.
 

TheBeagle

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But will Obummer actually follow through with executive orders that will have meaningful impact or will this be another "red line" moment? I'm betting they will do a few superficial things to make it look like they did something, maybe a few oligarchs lose a few billion, but in the end, it will be business as usual.