Another Big Win For Putin!!!

[TMNT4000]

Just you wait....I am going to totally get all of the lsa in on Higher Learning.........They had an awsome discussion on gender on the forum.....................

Oh, and no nudes for you...........

and no derailment from conversation....................

If you gonna bring some LSA in here, at least bring the ones that be posting at the LSA Africa forum.

I would like some of them to post in The Africa the Media doesn't tell you about thread.

 

[ADevilYouKhow]

If you gonna bring some LSA in here, at least bring the ones that be posting at the LSA Africa forum.

I would like some of them to post in The Africa the Media doesn't tell you about thread.

why limit ourselves, this forum needs a lpt of help

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Oct 27, 10:29 AM EDT

APNewsBreak: Poland to move thousands of troops east in historic shift due to Ukraine conflict

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA
Associated Press


AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Poland will move thousands of troops toward its eastern borders in a historic realignment of a military structure built in the Cold War, the country's defense minister told The Associated Press on Monday.

Tomasz Siemoniak said the troops are needed in the east because of the conflict in neighboring Ukraine.

"The geopolitical situation has changed, we have the biggest crisis of security since the Cold War and we must draw conclusions from that," Siemoniak said.

He said that at least three military bases in the east will see their populations increase from the current 30 percent of capacity to almost 90 percent by 2017, and that more military hardware will be moved to those bases as well.

He said it was not some "nervous or radical move" but that because of this "situation of threat we would like those units in the east of Poland to be more efficient."

Although Poland joined NATO in 1999, most of Poland's 120,000-member army is based along the country's western border, as a relic of its former status as a Soviet Bloc member.

The units in the east, like the air defense unit in Siedlce, have only 30 percent of jobs filled in line with a plan that calls for 100 percent of troops "only in the case of war."

© 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

 

[Ghost_In_A_Shell]

This can not be happening...really it can't....

 

[Domingo Halliburton]

Ruble Weakens to Record on Concern Russia to Expedite Free Float


The ruble weakened to a record for the fifth day on concern Russia will quicken its move to a free float after more than $20 billion of interventions this month failed to halt the depreciation.

The currency slid 0.4 percent to 47.6089 against the central bank’s target dollar-euro basket by 3:37 p.m. in Moscow, bringing this year’s decline to 19 percent. Ten-year government bond yields approached five-year highs as the Finance Ministry said it was scrapping its third straight debt auction.

The Bank of Russia boosted foreign-currency sales this month, with the most recent data showing it sold $2.44 billion on Oct. 24, as it sought to slow the ruble’s decline. Sanctions over the Ukraine conflict and dropping oil prices have exacerbated a dollar shortage. The ruble’s decline is stoking speculation that the central bank will decide to abandon interventions as early as Oct. 31, when policy makers meet to decide on interest rates, according to Sberbank CIB.

“Price action is being increasingly driven by the fear that the central bank could scrap entirely its defense of the ruble, allowing it to freely float and find a natural level,” Tom Levinson, the chief foreign-exchange and interest-rates strategist at Sberbank CIB in Moscow, said in an e-mailed note. The intervention policy “is failing to halt the ruble’s decline, but is also feeding currency weakness by raising concern over the pace at which foreign-currency reserves are being eroded.”

Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said the central bank should adopt a free float now, news website Fontanka cited him as saying today. Periodic interventions would help “throw speculators off course,” he was quoted as saying.

Currency Interventions
Russia is moving toward adopting a free float by 2015. The central bank press office declined to comment on free-float speculation, saying in an e-mail to Bloomberg News today that it’s in a black-out period before the interest-rate decision on Oct. 31.

The country’s foreign-currency reserves declined $68 billion this year to $443.8 billion on Oct. 17, the lowest since 2010. One-month implied volatility for the ruble climbed to 16.3 percent, the highest level since June 2012.

After yesterday’s 1 percent depreciation against the basket, the central bank lowered the floor on its trading band by 35 kopeks to 47.40, according to a statement on its website today. The ruble has weakened by more than 30 kopeks from this level today.

When the ruble falls past the boundary, the Bank of Russia spends $350 million to defend it before shifting the band by 5 kopeks, according to its guidelines. It repeats the process each time the currency falls by 5 kopeks.

Investors wary that the central bank will abandon interventions “prefer to stack up foreign currency before the central bank leaves the currency market completely,” Alexei Egorov, an analyst at Promsvyazbank in Moscow, said in an e-mailed note.

The yield on Russia’s 10-year bonds climbed six basis points to 9.94 percent today, three basis points away from a five-year high reached on Oct. 14. The Finance Ministry said it was pulling tomorrow’s sale due to “unfavorable market conditions.”

Russia going to let the ruble free float?

 

[88m3]

Overshadowed by the Ukraine conflict next door, President Vladimir Putin's repressive policies are casting another shadow over freedoms in Russia. Urge Secretary of State Kerry to show solidarity with Russia's human rights community and take concrete action against the Kremlin's sweeping crackdown on human rights.

Sign the petition and demand Secretary Kerry to work with the European Union to call for the repeal of Russia's repressive legislation and to support Russia's independent human rights activists.

Petition to Secretary John Kerry
Secretary Kerry,

Acknowledging the staggering challenges of the Ukraine conflict, we cannot afford to ignore the increasingly repressive domestic policies that have restricted the basic human rights of Russia's citizens.

Leading up to the Olympics in February, President Vladimir Putin attempted to improve Russia's human rights profile on the global stage by releasing a few high-profile prisoners and lessening pressure on rights groups. But since the closing ceremony, he has spearheaded the most repressive anti-rights campaign since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Independent rights organizations have found themselves under attack. The Russian government has strengthened a 2012 law requiring all advocacy groups with any funding from abroad to register as "foreign agents." New legislation under consideration would ban these organizations—demonized as spies and traitors—from any contact with government officials.

The Cold War-era "those who aren't with us are against us" message is only amplified by the Kremlin's manipulation of modern tools of communication. Bloggers with large followings are forced to register with the government and abide by the same restrictions as the press, without any of its protections. Social networks will have to store data on their users for six months, and hand it over to the government upon request. The prosecutor's office now has the authority to block any website without judicial review under pretext of extremist content, content harmful to children, or calls for unauthorized protests.

Three major opposition media outlets were shut down in March for allegedly calling for "unauthorized gatherings." The editor-in-chief of Lenta.ru—one of the last remaining independent news sites—was dismissed shortly thereafter, and the majority of the outlet's leading journalists resigned in protest. Informal news through Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks now comes with the threat of prison—up to five years for making or re-tweeting "extremist" calls.

These are not the acts of a government concerned with the human rights of its citizens.

We must take a stand now.

Secretary Kerry, we urge you to work in conjunction with the European Union to call for the repeal of Russia's repressive legislation and to support Russia's independent activists. The Kremlin's escalating crackdown on civil society must end.

Sincerely,

https://secure.hrw.org/site/c.nlIWI.../apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?msource=SES201410fc

 

[Domingo Halliburton]

10Y Russian bond yields have broken above 10%, trading at the highest yields since 2009 as the Ruble plunges once again to fresh record lows against the dollar. These significant moves come on the heels of two notable headlines overnight. First, German exports to Russia slumped 26.3% YoY in August (down a stunning 16.6% year-to-date with vehicle exports plunging 27.7%) as sanctions batter bilateral trade. Secondly, Rosneft has proposed what is being described as "radical" reactions to the West's sanctions, which the Kremlin has (for now) denied.

Bonds and Ruble are tumbling...


As German exports to Russia collapsed (via Xinhua)

German exports to Russia dropped significantly in August as the Ukraine crisis hit their bilateral trade, official data showed on Wednesday.



In August, German exporters delivered goods worth 2.3 billion euros (about 2.9 billion U.S. dollars) to Russia, the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said. Compared to the same month of previous year, the exports slumped by 26.3 percent.



From January to August, German exports to Russia fell by 16.6 percent year on year. Vehicles and motor vehicle products was hit the worst, suffering a decline of 27.3 percent.



The drops showed a deteriorating bilateral trade between the two countries. From 2010 to 2012, German exports to Russia enjoyed high growth every year. In 2011, the exports rose by 30.8 percent.

And Rosneft unveils new "radical" sanctions (via Interfax)...

Russian presidential aide Andrei Belousov said he had received proposals from Rosneft on how to react to Western sanctions, and these proposals are being reviewed.



"I would say that the radicalism of the proposals for now exceeds the sharpness of today's situation," Belousov told journalists on Wednesday.



"We are in the process of studying [the proposals]," he said.



Commenting on Rosneft's proposals, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said: "It's a very complex document, complexly formulated. I don't think it is grounds for making any decisions."

The Kremlin has denied the rumor...

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied on Wednesday reports that Russian oil major Rosneft allegedly prepared proposals on new retaliatory sanctions.



“This absolutely does not correspond to reality, this information that Rosneft allegedly prepared proposals of anti-sanctions nature,” Peskov said.



“Preparations of any proposals are out of the question,” Peskov said. “This is not true that there are some proposals from Rosneft.”

* * *

It seems someone is really upset as Sechin news just reported: Rosneft to file lawsuit against Kommersant daily - the entity that broke the story.​

 

[Futuristic Eskimo]

Shorting Russian bonds has basically been free money. Havent they cancelled a couple debt offerings recently?

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

There It Goes Again — Russian Ruble Falls To New Record Lows

• TOMAS HIRST
  

• OCT. 29, 2014, 9:45 AM
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The ruble fell to a record low against the dollar and euro in early trading Wednesday despite a $2.5 billion intervention from the Russian central bank to prop up the currency.

BloombergRuble vs the dollar.



The Russian central bank has been forced to intervene once more in currency markets by using foreign exchange reserves to purchase rubles as the currency continued its slide. The ruble has fallen about 20% since January. Elvira Nabiullina, head of the bank, acknowledged earlier this month that if markets turned against the ruble it would not "be able to restrain them" but is nevertheless compelled to act to protect Russian businesses from the impact of sharp falls.

Sharp falls hurt firms with foreign suppliers or foreign currency debt obligations and could further undermine already weak economic growth in the country. The Russian central bank has tried to smooth the transition to a weaker exchange rate through its interventions, but it is paying a high price.

Russia's international reserve stockpile has fallen from $464.2 billion at the start of September to $443.8 billion as of Oct. 17, and it will have dropped even lower because of further intervention in recent days.

As a signal of how big a problem the ruble's collapse has become for policymakers, the central bank announced plans to pump an additional $50 billion into the country's banking system through currency repo auctions (whereby the central bank exchanges rubles for dollars at a fixed rate). The first auction is scheduled to be held Wednesday.

SEE ALSO: Russian Ruble Hits An All-Time Low Against The Euro



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/russian-ruble-falls-to-new-record-lows-2014-10#ixzz3HYMtMfxQ

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

10Y Russian bond yields have broken above 10%, trading at the highest yields since 2009 as the Ruble plunges once again to fresh record lows against the dollar. These significant moves come on the heels of two notable headlines overnight. First, German exports to Russia slumped 26.3% YoY in August (down a stunning 16.6% year-to-date with vehicle exports plunging 27.7%) as sanctions batter bilateral trade. Secondly, Rosneft has proposed what is being described as "radical" reactions to the West's sanctions, which the Kremlin has (for now) denied.

Bonds and Ruble are tumbling...


As German exports to Russia collapsed (via Xinhua)





And Rosneft unveils new "radical" sanctions (via Interfax)...





The Kremlin has denied the rumor...

* * *

It seems someone is really upset as Sechin news just reported: Rosneft to file lawsuit against Kommersant daily - the entity that broke the story.​

 

[88m3]

kinda comical, sad at the same time because the citizens are going to suffer

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

kinda comical, sad at the same time because the citizens are going to suffer

as if they've cared since 1917

 

[Spidey Man]

Russia was busy today.

Well Russia's just had a busy day. In just 24 hours, the country run by Local Strongman Vladimir Putin sent 19 planes to probe NATO borders, and if that enormous blip on international radar screens wasn't enough, they just test-fired a nuclear-capable inter-continental ballistic missile. Joy.

For close students of NATO-Russia relations, planes of the Russian Air Force probing Western airspace isn't anything new. In fact, it's been happening a lot lately. But what is unusual is the scale of the probing. The list of planes involved in the four separate incidents, according to theAtlantic Council, included six Tu-95 strategic bombers, four MiG-31 interceptors, four Su-34 Fullback attack jets, a smattering of Su-27 Flanker fighter jets, a handful of Su-24 Fencer attack jets, and a dollop of Il-78 tankers, just to make sure everyone's got plenty of fuel for the trip home.

The planes were tracked by NATO radar and intercepted by respective local air forces, including Portugal, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Denmark, as well as the non-NATO air forces of Finland and Sweden.

But the cherry on top, of course, was the Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile test, sending it flying from one of Russia's Borei-class subs in the icy Barents Sea towards the Kamchatka peninsula. Missile tests aren't out of the ordinary, especially for the unreliableBulava, and this one was announced a few days in advance.

Yet coupling it with a relative onslaught of prodding from the Russian Air Force doesn't exactly send a friendly message.

It's unclear what pissed off Putin so much as to have him start flexing what little (as compared to NATO) muscle he has, but we should remember it's not anything new. As the Atlantic Council notes, these four intercepts bring the total number of incidents with Russia so far in 2014 up to over 100, which is three times more than in all of 2013.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/russia-just-threw-19-planes-at-nato-and-launched-an-icb-1652509087

In other news, the Navy just launched a new Sub

After five years of construction, the newest submarine in the US fleet is ready to set sail. But thisVirginia-class sub is not like the others—it's far more deadly and way less expensive to operate.

The USS North Dakota, which was officially commissioned on October 25th at Naval Submarine Base New London, is the first of eight Block III Virginia-class subs. That is, this is the third design iteration of the Virginia-class submarine platform. The North Dakotamaintains the same dimensions as earlier iterations—it's 377 feet long with a 37 foot beam and 32 foot draft—and like other Virginias, it can dive to more than 800 feet at 25 knots. What's more, it won't need to refuel until 2047 thanks to its nuclear reactor.

The North Dakota differs from its predecessors in both its sensory and armament payloads. The spherical sonar array that the Navy's used in pretty much every one of its subs since the 1960s has been replaced with a modern, horse-shoe-shaped Large Aperture Bow (LAB) sonar array. The new sub also incorporates a pair of Vertical Launch System (VLS) tubes, each packing six missiles; technology borrowed from our Ohio-class subs.

These design changes are meant to improve the submarine's performance and keep the US Navy one stroke ahead of other submersible superpowers. The USS North Dakota is equally well-suited for littoral and deep water operations, regardless of the mission. In fact, the new sub has been cleared for seven core mission types: hunting other subs, hunting surface ships, delivering special ops troops, both strike and irregular warfare, ISR collection, and de-mining operations.

"From the Arabian Sea to the Polar Ice cap, North Dakota will operate undetected in the harshest environments on the planet as her crew protects the freedom of the seas and the interests of the United States," Vice Adm. Michael Connor, Commander, Submarine Forces said during the commissioning ceremony. "Leaders around the world around the world continue to ask for more American submarine presence, because they realize that there are some very important things that must be done that only submarines can do."

The North Dakota and its 134-sailor compliment are expected to be hiding under the high seas by year's end.

http://gizmodo.com/say-hello-to-the-uss-north-dakota-americas-newest-atta-1651740568

 

[88m3]

#FIFA2018: Let the memes begin

The next World Cup is four years away, but the memes have already started. On Tuesday, Russian cosmonauts unveiled(link is external) the event's official emblem via a live stream from the International Space Station. FIFA added(link is external) that the logo draws from "Russia’s rich artistic tradition and its history of achievement and innovation". Many online, however, would beg to differ.

The internet was quick to respond with a series of images mocking the design. Here are a few examples from Twitter:
Follow
GorseFires Collectif‏@GorseFires
FIFA World Cup #Russia2018 sponsored by the Russian Air Force. Motto: "Levelling the Playing Field"

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• 

6:04 AM - 30 Oct 2014


http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201410301159-0024304

Didn't realize it was being held in Russia.


(not sure how to embed tweets)

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]