[BartSimpson]

On the radio down here right now they're talking about how the Russian ruble hit the skids today. A number of investment houses suspended trading in the ruble and required investments that had been started in rubles to be completed in Euros or dollars. Currency exchanges have implemented extremely high margins to help stave off losses - if they're taking rubles at all.

https://fortune.com/2014/12/16/russian- ... -collapse/

Fortune is calling this a 'classic currency collapse'.



The question now is will Putin withdraw from Ukraine (and Crimea) in order to end the sanctions or will he double down and escalate even further?

Whatever he decides to do, the clock is ticking on Russia as their economic ability to wage war literally erodes with every passing minute.

[Delwin]

Well if you were looking for a bright side to the drop in the price of oil, other than the obvious savings at the pump, I think we found a pretty good one.

[BartSimpson]

Delwin Delwin:

Well if you were looking for a bright side to the drop in the price of oil, other than the obvious savings at the pump, I think we found a pretty good one.

Concur. Seeing the Russians take it in the shorts just as they were feeling all Soviet again makes me feel all warm and tingly inside!

[DanSC]

I think Russia is about to go on a peacekeeping mission to protect the Russian-speaking minorities in Saudi Arabia and other OPEC states.

[ShepherdsDog]

I'm not optimistic. If Tsar Vlad is experiencing economic woes, military adventures may occur to keep the peasants distracted. That's how history works. Estonia, latvia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine should be prepared for something, as should NATO

[peck420]

I honestly don't know how much Vlad cares...

Him and his buddies are making a mint off of this. It's not like they get paid in rubles, they get paid in Euro's, USD, and Yuan.

[ShepherdsDog]

He should be worried about pissed off peasants. People will put up with a lot of BS in their lives as long as they have financial stability, something that makes fascism even more dangerous than communism. If the proletariat and middle class see their savings disappear and inflation go through the roof, they tend to lock onto and take their frustration out on those in charge of the banks and government. He'll need to distract them. War usually works, especially if you can find someone(the West) suspected of undermining(economic sanctions and propping up the governments of former territories) Russian society.....nationalism is a great rally cry. Reunite the rodina....Holy Mother Russia. Putin can(and will) tap into this.

[xerxes]

It's worth pointing out to all the hand-wringing worry warts who were going crazy when Russia annexed Crimea about how Putin was going to get away with it. Here's the proof that he hasn't. He may have used his army to get what he wants but now his country is paying the price.

He better hope Crimea was worth it.

[BartSimpson]

xerxes xerxes:

It's worth pointing out to all the hand-wringing worry warts who were going crazy when Russia annexed Crimea about how Putin was going to get away with it. Here's the proof that he hasn't. He may have used his army to get what he wants but now his country is paying the price.

He better hope Crimea was worth it.

He might go for letting Eastern Ukraine go back to Ukraine (for now) but I think this guy is going to play it to the end for Crimea.

Crimea is to the Russians what Gibraltar is to the British. It's a talisman of glories past and it's important to them even if no one else can really see why.

No offense to my British friends.

The days of Gibraltar being all so strategic are over. What British holdings in the Med are secured by keeping Gibraltar? Anymore it's a base that guards nothing at all.

Likewise, what do the Russians really accomplish by holding on to Crimea?

Nothing.

But the Russians think Crimea is important to Russian power so they lust after it and Putin plays to the masses by seizing it.

[DanSC]

Importantly, the citizens of Gibraltar want to stay British, even when they don't have guns pointed at them.

[martin14]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

I'm not optimistic. If Tsar Vlad is experiencing economic woes, military adventures may occur to keep the peasants distracted. That's how history works. Estonia, latvia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine should be prepared for something, as should NATO

Concur, this isn't a good thing. Angry wounded bears are dangerous.

However, the Russians have a far better mindset for coping with catastrophe
than, say, we are.

There was a big move in Russia to replace foreign products with local ones back
over the summer. So the currency drop isn't what it would be for example in the US or Canada,
where everything is imported.

The interest rate hike won't help anyone.

[Jabberwalker]

Bolshoi, can you spare a dime?

[Yogi]

Delwin Delwin:

Well if you were looking for a bright side to the drop in the price of oil, other than the obvious savings at the pump, I think we found a pretty good one.

I'm not so sure that Bama & the Ol Boys from Opec didn't plan this out from the get-go!

[Regina]

Yogi Yogi:

Delwin Delwin:

Well if you were looking for a bright side to the drop in the price of oil, other than the obvious savings at the pump, I think we found a pretty good one.

I'm not so sure that Bama & the Ol Boys from Opec didn't plan this out from the get-go!

Have been thinking the same thing. And not one soldier needed.

[Jabberwalker]

... and the coincidence of kissing and making up with Cuba, thus denying the Russians one of the very few friends that they have in the World.

If it's a grand plot, count me in!