All Things Russia & Ukraine

[MDlaxfan76]

GOP Sen. John Kennedy on why he voted to keep sanctions on Oleg Deripaska: "This guy is bad news. He's a tyrant, a pirate, a gangster and he's hurting the Russian people every day and he's trying to hurt America. We've got him down. I say let's choke him."

Big difference from Trump and Manafort who want to “get whole.”

The sanctions still hammer Deripaska. From the WSJ :

Deripaska must reduce his stake in EN+ to 44.95%, down from 70%. It also limits his voting share to 35%, severing his ability to control the company. EN+ has to appoint a new board of directors, and the U.S. will get to read quarterly earnings reports and the minutes of board meetings. And Mr. Deripaska can’t any collect future dividends.

EN+ is “the linchpin” underlying the sanctions designations on all three companies, according to the U.S., because Mr. Deripaska has virtually no direct ownership in Rusal and none at all in EuroSibEnergo.

Congress, under a 2017 sanctions law, had 30 days to block the deal by passing disapproval resolutions. The failed vote in the Senate all but doomed the effort, however, and the sanctions on the companies are expected to be removed Friday. Mr. Deripaska will remain on the sanctions list.

Checks and balances are important, but Congress shouldn’t be overturning the technical decisions made by the Treasury, said Douglas Jacobson, a partner at the law firm Jacobson Burton Kelley PLLC. “These decisions aren’t made upon presidential whims,” he said.

You mean Rupert Murdoch....the editorials have gone down hill...try FT

“These decisions aren’t made upon presidential whims,”

Really????

Who is going to testify under oath that this did not come from Trump, but rather was entirely derived and signed off on by non-partisan staff? Was there anyone who disputed it at Treasury? Who and what was their view?

The House should ask the question even if the Senate won't.

[dislaxxic]

Russia has an economy the size of New York State's. One in four Russians do not have an indoor toilet in their home.

Then again, they DO have a few nukes.

Just sayin'


..

[holmes435]

Russia has an economy the size of New York State's. One in four Russians do not have an indoor toilet in their home.

Then again, they DO have a few nukes.

Just sayin'


..

This is a huge issue that is getting virtually no attention. Russia's economy is getting worse and worse and next year doesn't look like it will get any better.

They are becoming a cornered bear, and we need to be at full attention.

[CU77]

We are at full attention. Our President is ready willing and able to do whatever Master Putin tells him to do.

[MDlaxfan76]

Russia has an economy the size of New York State's. One in four Russians do not have an indoor toilet in their home.

Then again, they DO have a few nukes.

Just sayin'


..

This is a huge issue that is getting virtually no attention. Russia's economy is getting worse and worse and next year doesn't look like it will get any better.

They are becoming a cornered bear, and we need to be at full attention.

It should indeed be a concern and we're quite likely to see them making moves in the Baltic states. It's all about their domestic politics.
And this appears to be virtually green lit from our Oval Office.

According our friend Salty we'd already be at war with Russia had HRC been elected.
I think that's a bunch of baloney, as I think Putin would have felt far more constrained with a unified NATO.

[old salt]

Russia has an economy the size of New York State's. One in four Russians do not have an indoor toilet in their home.

Then again, they DO have a few nukes.

Just sayin'


..

This is a huge issue that is getting virtually no attention. Russia's economy is getting worse and worse and next year doesn't look like it will get any better.

They are becoming a cornered bear, and we need to be at full attention.

It should indeed be a concern and we're quite likely to see them making moves in the Baltic states. It's all about their domestic politics.
And this appears to be virtually green lit from our Oval Office.

According our friend Salty we'd already be at war with Russia had HRC been elected.
I think that's a bunch of baloney, as I think Putin would have felt far more constrained with a unified NATO.

Green light from the Oval Office ? We just rotated fresh Armored & Aviation Brigades into Poland.
The US & the rest of NATO still maintain a multi-national battalion in each of NATO's Baltic nations.
NATO is stronger & more united than anytime since the Cold War. Even the Germans have pulled 100 tanks out of mothballs.
NATO just finished our largest joint exercise since the Cold War.
All you pay attention to is recycled, outdated rhetoric, & then only selectively TDS filtered content.

[ggait]

2017 Senate -- sanction Russian companies (98-2 vote)
2017 House -- sanction Russian companies (419-3 vote)
Trump grudgingly signs sanctions bill (rather than having his veto overridden) while calling it flawed and unconstitutional.
Trump administration drags feet implementing sanctions, missing several legal deadlines.
After belatedly imposing sanctions, Trump decides to roll back sanctions on several Deripaska Russian companies.
2019 Senate says keep sanctions on (57-43 vote).
2019 House says keep sanctions on (362-53 vote).

I guess my TDS is keeping me from perceiving just how brutally tough Trump is being on the Ruskies.

[old salt]

GOP Sen. John Kennedy on why he voted to keep sanctions on Oleg Deripaska: "This guy is bad news. He's a tyrant, a pirate, a gangster and he's hurting the Russian people every day and he's trying to hurt America. We've got him down. I say let's choke him."

Big difference from Trump and Manafort who want to “get whole.”

The sanctions still hammer Deripaska. From the WSJ :

Deripaska must reduce his stake in EN+ to 44.95%, down from 70%. It also limits his voting share to 35%, severing his ability to control the company. EN+ has to appoint a new board of directors, and the U.S. will get to read quarterly earnings reports and the minutes of board meetings. And Mr. Deripaska can’t any collect future dividends.

EN+ is “the linchpin” underlying the sanctions designations on all three companies, according to the U.S., because Mr. Deripaska has virtually no direct ownership in Rusal and none at all in EuroSibEnergo.

Congress, under a 2017 sanctions law, had 30 days to block the deal by passing disapproval resolutions. The failed vote in the Senate all but doomed the effort, however, and the sanctions on the companies are expected to be removed Friday. Mr. Deripaska will remain on the sanctions list.

Checks and balances are important, but Congress shouldn’t be overturning the technical decisions made by the Treasury, said Douglas Jacobson, a partner at the law firm Jacobson Burton Kelley PLLC. “These decisions aren’t made upon presidential whims,” he said.

You mean Rupert Murdoch....the editorials have gone down hill...try FT

“These decisions aren’t made upon presidential whims,”

Really????

Who is going to testify under oath that this did not come from Trump, but rather was entirely derived and signed off on by non-partisan staff? Was there anyone who disputed it at Treasury? Who and what was their view?

The House should ask the question even if the Senate won't.

How did Mitt vote ? Maybe the EU Ambassadors got to him. You know Trump didn't.

How 'bout Burr ? The head of the Senate Intel Comm ?

Rob Portman voted to lift the sanctions because of the effect of rising Al prices on his Ohio manufacturers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... 468f7fd11e
August 26, 2018

When the Treasury Department imposed tough sanctions on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and his companies in April, the fallout for the Putin ally was fast and fierce.

Western customers stopped buying from the aluminum company he controls, sinking its share price and shaving Deripaska’s fortune from $6.7 billion to $3.4 billion, according to Forbes estimates.

The sanctions also caused havoc far beyond Russia. Global aluminum prices spiked, battering U.S. and European companies that use the metal. After an outcry from manufacturers and foreign governments, Treasury softened its stance, giving companies more time to end dealings with the aluminum producer, Rusal, and suggesting it could lift sanctions on the company if Deripaska cedes control.

The episode is a cautionary tale as the United States readies more sanctions against Russia, including some beginning Monday that will affect U.S. technology exports, and some under consideration in Congress that could prove painful for European oil and gas companies.

Compared with other countries that have been under U.S. sanctions, including Iran, Cuba, Myanmar and North Korea, Russia plays a bigger role in global commerce, giving the sanctions more potential to sting — both their intended targets and unintended bystanders in the United States and Europe, economists and trade experts say.

Russia “is part of the world economy,” said Richard Sawaya, a sanctions expert at the National Foreign Trade Council, an industry-financed organization that advocates free trade. “It’s a member of the World Trade Organization,” he said. “Its banks are connected throughout Europe and the U.S.”

The sanctions beginning this week are the administration’s response to what the United States and Britain say was Russia’s use of a nerve agent to try to assassinate a British citizen and former Russian intelligence officer.

After an initial ban on some U.S. technology exports to Russia, a second stage of the sanctions could follow later this year with penalties including a ban on Russian airlines landing in the United States.

Russian lawmakers say the measures could prompt Moscow to halt exports of its RD-180 rocket engines, which the United States uses to launch government satellites. Russian state television said Moscow could also retaliate by charging U.S. airlines more to traverse Russian airspace en route to Asia.

Congress, meanwhile, is considering additional sanctions to punish Russian “aggression,” including its interference in U.S. elections. The bipartisan legislation would ban U.S. investors from buying new shares of Russian government debt. It would also cut some Russian banks’ access to U.S. dollars, a step that would “very, very seriously hit the Russian financial system,” said Vladimir Milov, economic adviser to Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, a foe of President Vladi­mir Putin.

The bill’s energy-related sanctions could prove particularly harmful to European companies, said Jacob Kirkegaard, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. Those measures would ban companies from investing in crude-oil infrastructure inside Russia, or in large energy projects outside Russia if they involve a Russian state-controlled company. Kirkegaard said that would probably complicate investments by German companies and Royal Dutch Shell in Nord Stream 2, a planned pipeline that would ship Russian natural gas to Germany.

Deripaska’s camp is dangling the threat of even worse outcomes for the United States if Washington doesn’t lift the Rusal sanctions. Failure to reach a deal could lead the holding company through which Deripaska controls the aluminum producer to seek “other avenues to resolve the current impasse, including a potential acquisition by Chinese interests or the potential nationalization of the company by Russia,” according to Justice Department filings made by a U.S. lobbying firm representing the holding company’s chairman.

One former Treasury official said the tumultuous rollout of the Rusal sanctions showed a lack of coordination with U.S. allies and ignorance about the global metals market.

“One lesson we should draw from this is that while folks at Treasury have a pretty good sense of how their sanctions on financial products will play out, they don’t have the same expertise and knowledge of nonfinancial commercial sectors,” said Liz Rosenberg, who handled sanctions policy during the Obama administration and is now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

The London Metal Exchange, a global clearinghouse for aluminum, announced it would no longer allow Rusal ingots in its warehouses. Share prices for Rusal and En+ collapsed on the Hong Kong and London stock exchanges, and many of their Western board members resigned.

Rusal is a major supplier of alumina, a raw material used to produce aluminum, so global prices for alumina also shot up. Roy Harvey, chief executive of Pittsburgh-based Alcoa, said that the price spikes were “throwing a lot of the market into an uproar.”

U.S. allies, including Germany, Ireland, France and Britain, warned the State Department that the move was disrupting global markets and hurting European factories that relied on Rusal, diplomats said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations. Ireland expressed concerns about a Rusal-owned alumina plant in rural Ireland that employs 470 people in a region “where there isn’t alternative sources of employment,” Daniel Mulhall, the Irish ambassador to the United States, said in an interview.

In an apparent nod to those concerns, Treasury softened its stance 17 days later, giving banks and companies more time to wind down dealings with Rusal and saying it might consider lifting the Rusal sanctions under certain conditions.

[CU77]

Rob Portman voted to lift the sanctions because of the effect of rising Al prices on his Ohio manufacturers.

Maybe he should talk to Trump about those tariffs.

As for Mitt, he's shown repeatedly that when it comes to Trump, he's all talk and no action. I expect nothing from him.

[MDlaxfan76]

Russia has an economy the size of New York State's. One in four Russians do not have an indoor toilet in their home.

Then again, they DO have a few nukes.

Just sayin'


..

This is a huge issue that is getting virtually no attention. Russia's economy is getting worse and worse and next year doesn't look like it will get any better.

They are becoming a cornered bear, and we need to be at full attention.

It should indeed be a concern and we're quite likely to see them making moves in the Baltic states. It's all about their domestic politics.
And this appears to be virtually green lit from our Oval Office.

According our friend Salty we'd already be at war with Russia had HRC been elected.
I think that's a bunch of baloney, as I think Putin would have felt far more constrained with a unified NATO.

Green light from the Oval Office ? We just rotated fresh Armored & Aviation Brigades into Poland.
The US & the rest of NATO still maintain a multi-national battalion in each of NATO's Baltic nations.
NATO is stronger & more united than anytime since the Cold War. Even the Germans have pulled 100 tanks out of mothballs.
NATO just finished our largest joint exercise since the Cold War.
All you pay attention to is recycled, outdated rhetoric, & then only selectively TDS filtered content.

So, what do you think the Trump Oval Office will do if Putin takes some sea lanes or territory?

[Typical Lax Dad]

Ohio: https://www.nam.org/Data-and-Reports/St ... ts---Ohio/

Drug problem worse than rising aluminum prices. Dems did a bad job getting message out in Ohio during the last presidential election. Gave Trump a chance. Not next time

[old salt]

Russia has an economy the size of New York State's. One in four Russians do not have an indoor toilet in their home.

Then again, they DO have a few nukes.

Just sayin'


..

This is a huge issue that is getting virtually no attention. Russia's economy is getting worse and worse and next year doesn't look like it will get any better.

They are becoming a cornered bear, and we need to be at full attention.

It should indeed be a concern and we're quite likely to see them making moves in the Baltic states. It's all about their domestic politics.
And this appears to be virtually green lit from our Oval Office.

According our friend Salty we'd already be at war with Russia had HRC been elected.
I think that's a bunch of baloney, as I think Putin would have felt far more constrained with a unified NATO.

Green light from the Oval Office ? We just rotated fresh Armored & Aviation Brigades into Poland.
The US & the rest of NATO still maintain a multi-national battalion in each of NATO's Baltic nations.
NATO is stronger & more united than anytime since the Cold War. Even the Germans have pulled 100 tanks out of mothballs.
NATO just finished our largest joint exercise since the Cold War.
All you pay attention to is recycled, outdated rhetoric, & then only selectively TDS filtered content.

So, what do you think the Trump Oval Office will do if Putin takes some sea lanes or territory?

Too nonspecific, open ended, hypothetical. It depends on who, what, where & treaty obligations.

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp ... 7fkuGU37eE

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp ... flaOD0U7U4

One example :

https://warontherocks.com/2018/08/deali ... -security/

...the Article 5 debate. U.S. President Donald Trump came to power partly on a campaign of questioning NATO’s Article 5. Months later at the 2017 NATO summit in Brussels, the president still refused to commit to the alliance’s collective defense clause. It was not until Romanian President Klaus Iohannis managed to secure a meeting at the White House that a Romanian journalist finally wrested a reassuring answer from Trump: The United States would come to its allies’ defense. The journalist quickly became a national hero in Romania.

[MDlaxfan76]

Russia has an economy the size of New York State's. One in four Russians do not have an indoor toilet in their home.

Then again, they DO have a few nukes.

Just sayin'


..

This is a huge issue that is getting virtually no attention. Russia's economy is getting worse and worse and next year doesn't look like it will get any better.

They are becoming a cornered bear, and we need to be at full attention.

It should indeed be a concern and we're quite likely to see them making moves in the Baltic states. It's all about their domestic politics.
And this appears to be virtually green lit from our Oval Office.

According our friend Salty we'd already be at war with Russia had HRC been elected.
I think that's a bunch of baloney, as I think Putin would have felt far more constrained with a unified NATO.

Green light from the Oval Office ? We just rotated fresh Armored & Aviation Brigades into Poland.
The US & the rest of NATO still maintain a multi-national battalion in each of NATO's Baltic nations.
NATO is stronger & more united than anytime since the Cold War. Even the Germans have pulled 100 tanks out of mothballs.
NATO just finished our largest joint exercise since the Cold War.
All you pay attention to is recycled, outdated rhetoric, & then only selectively TDS filtered content.

So, what do you think the Trump Oval Office will do if Putin takes some sea lanes or territory?

Too nonspecific, open ended, hypothetical. It depends on who, what, where & treaty obligations.

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp ... 7fkuGU37eE

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp ... flaOD0U7U4

One example :

https://warontherocks.com/2018/08/deali ... -security/

...the Article 5 debate. U.S. President Donald Trump came to power partly on a campaign of questioning NATO’s Article 5. Months later at the 2017 NATO summit in Brussels, the president still refused to commit to the alliance’s collective defense clause. It was not until Romanian President Klaus Iohannis managed to secure a meeting at the White House that a Romanian journalist finally wrested a reassuring answer from Trump: The United States would come to its allies’ defense. The journalist quickly became a national hero in Romania.

As I said, the current Oval Office inhabitant appears to have green-lit pretty much anything Vlad wants to do, adopting Putin's talking points at each turn. He's been doing so since at least 2013 and still doing so.

We can argue that the institutionalists have relatively quietly succeeded in various military moves that run counter to Russian interests, but it's hard to make the argument that these have been consistent with Trump's general views.

[old salt]

You ask about sea lanes & territory seized, then pivot to non-specific grousing.

Where has Putin gained within the past 2 years, thanks to Trump ?

We're still bolstering NATO, more so than before. We're still ahead of our allies in supporting Ukraine & in sanctioning Russia.

Trump's just not naming & shaming with empty rhetoric, as his predecessor did.

[MDlaxfan76]

You ask about sea lanes & territory seized, then pivot to non-specific grousing.

Where has Putin gained within the past 2 years, thanks to Trump ?

We're still bolstering NATO, more so than before. We're still ahead of our allies in supporting Ukraine & in sanctioning Russia.

Trump's just not naming & shaming with empty rhetoric, as his predecessor did.

Ohh, you'll get no argument from me re Obama, though no one had to drag him kicking and screaming to do sanctions in response to Crimea.

Trump on the other hand is signaling loud and clear that he'll back whatever Vlad says and does.
Maybe the institutionalists will resist, but who is left?
You are the one who assured us not to worry, given all those military types in the Administration. Pretty much all gone...

[old salt]

Trump on the other hand is signaling loud and clear that he'll back whatever Vlad says and does.
Maybe the institutionalists will resist, but who is left?
You are the one who assured us not to worry, given all those military types in the Administration. Pretty much all gone...

What has Vlad done that Trump has gone along with ?
What has Putin done to take advantage of Trump being in the WH ?

Look who just sailed into the Black Sea
http://www.c6f.navy.mil/tags/black-sea

[youthathletics]

Now we know the real and true connection between Russia and this latest campaign....dating back to 1988 and Bernie. It makes perfect sense why Bernie and Hillary joined forces...she paid Bernie to resurrect his old vodka drinking pals.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtMMxgfBaVg ... hare_sheet

[dislaxxic]

These are Mitch McConnell’s links to Putin, Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and Russian companies

Is it any wonder why Turkey Waddle has been so absent lately?

..

[dislaxxic]

Mueller Witness’ Team Gamed Out Russian Meddling … in 2015

Don the Con's extensive business and financial ties to Russia were pretty well know to people paying attention going back a decade or more...

"Days after Donald Trump rode down an escalator at Trump Tower and announced he’d run for president, a little-known consulting firm with links to Israeli intelligence started gaming out how a foreign government could meddle in the U.S. political process. Internal communications, which The Daily Beast reviewed, show that the firm conducted an analysis of how illicit efforts might shape American politics. Months later, the Trump campaign reviewed a pitch from a company owned by that firm’s founder—a pitch to carry out similar efforts.

The founder of the firm, called Wikistrat, has been questioned by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team as they investigate efforts by foreign governments to shape American politics during the 2016 presidential campaign. Joel Zamel, a low-profile Israeli-Australian who started the firm, has deep contacts in Middle Eastern intelligence circles. There are no known publicly available pictures of him. But he met people in the upper echelons of the Trump campaign."

..

[dislaxxic]

NYT’S TRUMP INTERVIEW: MONEY FOR NOTHING AND CLICKS FOR FREE

From Marcy...Salty's Pepper.

..