The Briefing Room
General Category => World News => Topic started by: Gazoo on March 20, 2014, 02:49:43 pm
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Live Stream || Obama Statement on Ukraine
by KEITH KOFFLER on MARCH 20, 2014, 10:35 AM
Expected to speak at 11AM
http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2014/03/20/live-stream-obama-statement-ukraine-2/ (http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2014/03/20/live-stream-obama-statement-ukraine-2/)
Not that anybody wants to watch the usurper; but more as a warning that the MSM will go ga-ga reporting what stupid thing their Comrade said.
Maybe -just listening- will be bearable?
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I bet he's frozen Putin's Netflix and eBay accounts now.
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You know it will be a brief statement, he has a Miami fundraiser.
I am crossing my fingers hoping one reporter pipes in and asks what the admin will do about Putin calling Obama a prankster comrade? Or why he is not having security briefings, or why the FLOTUS is going to a communist country for vacay?
I can day-dream...
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He is late what a shocker.
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He is late what a shocker.
Has he ever been on time for anything?
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I had the speakers turned up to LISTEN and it is over and I heard nothing.
Did he speak?
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Has he ever been on time for anything?
Classic passive-aggressive behavior.
He's always late because whatever he has to say is so damned important that you absolutely be made to wait for him.
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Obama expands sanctions against Russia
By: Jennifer Epstein
March 20, 2014 11:19 AM EDT
President Barack Obama has chosen to “impose additional costs” on Russia, expanding sanctions to more senior Russian officials, individuals and a bank, he announced Thursday.
The president has also signed a new executive order that “gives us the authority to impose sanctions not just on individuals but on key sectors of the Russian economy,” he said.
Further action against Russia “is not our preferred outcome” but the United States and its European partners will do more if Russia does not back down. But a diplomatic resolution is still possible. “We’ve emphasized that Russia still has a different path available.”
He also called on Congress to pass legislation related to Ukraine. “Expressions of support are not enough. We need action.”
Obama spoke from the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One for a trip to Florida that includes an economic speech and a fundraiser.
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Empty words on his way to another vacation.
Bet he golfs while he's in FL.
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The president has also signed a new executive order that “gives us the authority to impose sanctions not just on individuals but on key sectors of the Russian economy,” he said.
Is this another, another E.O.? Or are they still talking about the one from the other day?
You really can't make this crap up if you tried.
It is getting beyond frightening.
A sitting President campaigning and doing propaganda for failed domestic policies and writes an Executive Order for foreign policy. HOW could this not ALARM the MSM?
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There is a law I would like to see enacted by the House. It is one line.
"The President and Vice President, during their terms in office, are banned from fundraising, paid speaking engagements and paid dinners with supporters, on penalty of immediate removal from office."
If you are President - be so.
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http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/economy/201275-obama-orders-new-russian-sanctions (http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/economy/201275-obama-orders-new-russian-sanctions)
March 20, 2014, 11:28 am
Obama orders new sanctions targeting Russia, Putin's bank
By Justin Sink
President Obama announced new sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, and warned that more were on the way if Moscow escalated the crisis in Ukraine.
The new sanctions target senior Russian officials, influential businessmen in the country and a bank that provides “material support” to key allies of Russian president Vladimir Putin. [Read the updated list of sanctions' targets.]
Obama also said he had signed a new executive order that would allow him to impose sanctions on “key sectors of the Russian economy.”
He warned that this step, if taken, would have repercussions to the global economy.
The president did not detail those possible penalties, but his comments suggested the new executive order could also hurt U.S. businesses, which have been wary of tougher actions against Russia.
Obama said the tougher steps were necessary given Russia’s annexation of the breakaway Ukrainian territory of Crimea earlier this week.
"Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community,” Obama told reporters in comments on the White House’s South Lawn.
Those sanctioned on Thursday include a longtime Putin aide who has worked for the Russian leader since 1993, the chairman of the state-owned Russian Railways and the founder of a large commodity trading company. According to senior administration officials, the 20 targets will see their assets frozen and be barred from doing business with American companies or financial institutions.
The sanctions will also affect Bank Rossiya, which the administration said was Russia's 17th largest bank and Putin's personal financial institution.
One administration official said that despite "bluster" from Russian officials who had dismissed the U.S. steps earlier this week, sanctioned individuals and institutions were going to find it "difficult to transact in the dollar."
Under the new executive order, further aggression by Moscow could be met by sanctions against the financial services, energy, metals and mining, defense, and engineering sectors in Russia.
"If Russia further escalates this situation, they will be met with severe consequences," a senior administration official said.
The president has come under mounting pressure to take tougher actions against Moscow amid reports of violence as pro-Moscow forces moved to secure Ukrainian military bases in Crimea.
Most foreign policy experts say there is little chance that Crimea, which has a majority Russian-ethnic population, will revert back to Ukraine, but Russian troop movements near Eastern Ukraine have raised worry that the Kremlin could also make a play for additional Ukrainian territory.
The president has come under fire from critics on Capitol Hill, who have charged that his initial round of sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials have done nothing to deter Russia.
Obama insisted that “diplomacy between the U.S. and Russia continues” and he urged Putin to reengage with the global community.
“Russia still has a different path available — one that deescalates the situation,” Obama said.
The president reiterated his call on Congress to pass an aid package that would help stabilize the interim government in Kiev.
“Do it right away,” Obama said. “Expressions of support are not enough. We need action.”
German chancellor Angela Merkel indicated Thursday that Europe would be expanding its response to the Kremlin's actions, adding around a dozen names to the 21 Russian and Crimean officials already targeted by the E.U. for travel and financial penalties.
“We are ready at any time to introduce phase-three measures if there is a worsening of the situation,” Merkel told the German parliament, according to Reuters.
Administration officials also said that they were providing non-lethal support to the Ukrainian government and military, and would “consider on an ongoing basis” requests for assistance from the Ukrainian military.
At the same time, officials cautioned that “nobody wants the outcome here to be a full-bore military conflict” and downplayed the likelihood of military aid.
“As a general matter, it’s our view that the best course here is to lay down strong costs through the sanctions,” one official said.
In local television interviews on Thursday, Obama said the U.S. would not engage militarily in Ukraine.
“We are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine,” Obama said.
Officials also said they were unconcerned by Moscow’s threats to respond to the sanctions.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Interfax that it may “raise the stakes” in response to additional moves by the U.S. and Europe, hinting they could pull out of agreements over Syria's chemical weapons cache or Iran's nuclear weapons program.
The Obama officials said Russia benefited from their involvement in those processes, and would only be hurting themselves.
“Any reduction in cooperation would only further isolate Russia,” one official said.
This story was updated at 11:54 a.m.
video at link
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Empty words on his way to another vacation.
Bet he golfs while he's in FL.
I am shocked the media reported this in this way. I had not read this part...
Obama spoke from the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One for a trip to Florida that includes an economic speech and a fundraiser.
Maybe even the media, speaking out today of Obama's control of the press and MO's China trip. Are even perplexed?
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Those sanctioned on Thursday include a longtime Putin aide who has worked for the Russian leader since 1993, the chairman of the state-owned Russian Railways and the founder of a large commodity trading company. According to senior administration officials, the 20 targets will see their assets frozen and be barred from doing business with American companies or financial institutions.
The sanctions will also affect Bank Rossiya, which the administration said was Russia's 17th largest bank and Putin's personal financial institution.
Ok, this is more in line with what people have been suggesting, so now we get to see if they really work. This is my guess: it's too late and Putin will simply never leave Crimea - that is a done deal, that ship has sailed - however, these sanctions should start to have bite, and might have some deterrent effect and keep Putin from going after more of Ukraine or some of the other ex-SSRs.
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Ok, this is more in line with what people have been suggesting, so now we get to see if they really work. This is my guess: it's too late and Putin will simply never leave Crimea - that is a done deal, that ship has sailed - however, these sanctions should start to have bite, and might have some deterrent effect and keep Putin from going after more of Ukraine or some of the other ex-SSRs.
The sanctions will also affect Bank Rossiya
Obama's pen screws with Russia's economy...Putin's next move will be this
http://www.altheadlines.com/russia-threatens-to-abandon-the-us-dollar-and-start-dumping-us-debt-13254571/ (http://www.altheadlines.com/russia-threatens-to-abandon-the-us-dollar-and-start-dumping-us-debt-13254571/)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-04/putin-advisor-threatens-dumping-us-treasurys-abandoning-dollar-if-us-proceeds-sancti (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-04/putin-advisor-threatens-dumping-us-treasurys-abandoning-dollar-if-us-proceeds-sancti)
Can we cut to the chase? Our economy crashing.
Insanity.
It is like a cold war of economical chess playing. Who can crash the world economy first?
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Obama's pen screws with Russia's economy...Putin's next move will be this
http://www.altheadlines.com/russia-threatens-to-abandon-the-us-dollar-and-start-dumping-us-debt-13254571/ (http://www.altheadlines.com/russia-threatens-to-abandon-the-us-dollar-and-start-dumping-us-debt-13254571/)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-04/putin-advisor-threatens-dumping-us-treasurys-abandoning-dollar-if-us-proceeds-sancti (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-04/putin-advisor-threatens-dumping-us-treasurys-abandoning-dollar-if-us-proceeds-sancti)
Can we cut to the chase? Our economy crashing.
Insanity.
It is like a cold war of economical chess playing. Who can crash the world economy first?
That is more bluff and bluster than real bite. The amount of treasuries Russia holds is small compared to, for example, the amount of treasuries the federal reserve holds, which is somewhere around $2.3 trillion. Japan holds around $1 trillion as well. Heck, Luxembourg holds $135 billion, which is apparently slightly more than Russia's holdings. If Russia dumped every penny of treasuries it holds in one day, it would cause a bit of a dip in the price, but that dip would most likely be smoothed out within a few days.
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That is more bluff and bluster than real bite. The amount of treasuries Russia holds is small compared to, for example, the amount of treasuries the federal reserve holds, which is somewhere around $2.3 trillion. Japan holds around $1 trillion as well. Heck, Luxembourg holds $135 billion, which is apparently slightly more than Russia's holdings. If Russia dumped every penny of treasuries it holds in one day, it would cause a bit of a dip in the price, but that dip would most likely be smoothed out within a few days.
No smooth over in a few days; if Russia's BFF-China gets involved. And something tells me Putin has other means of punishing us economically he is not stupid enough to show his commie hand.
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http://news.yahoo.com/russia-hits-back-own-sanctions-u-hostile-thrust-160038686.html;_ylt=AwrBJR.1FStT0i0AfvrQtDMD (http://news.yahoo.com/russia-hits-back-own-sanctions-u-hostile-thrust-160038686.html;_ylt=AwrBJR.1FStT0i0AfvrQtDMD)
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No smooth over in a few days; if Russia's BFF-China gets involved. And something tells me Putin has other means of punishing us economically he is not stupid enough to show his commie hand.
China isn't Russia's BFF - the Chinese and the Russians have a relationship of convenience and I've no doubt that China would be perfectly happy egging Russia on with promises that it would also sell off treasuries, and then reneg at the last minute, after Russia had already sold.
Also, the Chinese reputedly hold about $1 trillion US treasuries, which is about the same as Japan's holdings. Don't forget that the size of the US debt represents US treasuries held by someone; the debt is about $16 trillion, and the Fed holds about $2.3 Trillion right now, so that leaves about $13.7 trillion in someone else's hands.
There's a list of all major foreign holders of US treasuries here: http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/mfh.txt
MAJOR FOREIGN HOLDERS OF TREASURY SECURITIES
(in billions of dollars)
HOLDINGS 1/ AT END OF PERIOD
Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan
Country 2014 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
China, Mainland 1273.5 1270.0 1316.7 1304.5 1293.8 1268.1 1279.3 1275.8 1297.3 1290.7 1270.3 1251.9 1214.2
Japan 1201.4 1182.5 1186.4 1174.4 1178.1 1149.1 1135.4 1083.3 1103.7 1112.7 1114.3 1105.5 1103.9
Belgium 310.3 256.8 200.6 180.3 172.5 166.8 167.7 176.2 175.2 185.5 188.4 187.3 185.6
Carib Bkg Ctrs 4/ 293.3 294.3 290.9 292.0 300.9 301.9 286.6 286.3 281.3 285.0 286.9 284.2 274.5
Oil Exporters 3/ 246.4 238.3 236.2 236.8 245.7 246.5 257.7 256.9 264.5 271.7 265.1 256.8 261.7
Brazil 246.0 245.4 246.9 246.7 249.2 252.9 256.4 253.7 255.2 253.1 257.9 256.5 254.1
Taiwan 179.1 182.2 183.7 184.5 185.9 183.6 185.8 186.1 188.8 185.7 188.9 190.0 192.7
Switzerland 173.7 176.7 176.6 174.3 177.2 181.2 178.2 180.3 182.6 185.8 183.6 186.9 190.0
United Kingdom 2/ 162.9 163.7 161.5 158.5 158.3 159.2 157.0 162.6 155.8 160.2 159.1 138.6 139.4
Hong Kong 160.3 158.8 141.7 137.3 126.5 126.5 120.0 124.2 136.4 141.2 146.6 144.7 142.9
Luxembourg 135.3 134.4 130.4 133.3 141.1 143.8 146.8 150.5 143.2 149.7 154.5 151.2 147.6
Russia 131.8 138.6 139.9 149.9 140.5 136.0 131.6 138.0 143.4 149.4 153.0 164.9 164.4
Ireland 108.8 125.4 116.9 110.9 111.3 120.0 117.9 121.2 120.5 120.5 113.5 109.6 108.5
Norway 88.2 97.2 82.3 78.4 72.2 71.7 74.6 75.7 73.7 74.9 76.4 77.0 76.5
Singapore 85.9 86.2 87.2 86.3 80.3 79.4 81.5 85.4 85.8 92.3 98.0 109.5 103.7
India 68.1 68.5 63.9 59.9 56.8 57.0 58.9 61.2 59.9 55.8 55.0 56.8 58.5
Mexico 67.2 65.1 59.5 61.8 63.8 60.4 63.3 61.8 58.4 57.0 57.1 64.3 62.6
Germany 63.9 67.3 64.3 60.7 61.9 58.7 56.3 58.9 61.9 62.2 64.2 65.1 60.5
France 57.5 53.8 51.6 57.7 54.5 51.9 49.8 51.8 60.2 50.6 56.4 53.1 52.2
Korea 55.6 54.0 46.4 50.6 55.5 50.0 51.4 51.2 52.9 53.1 53.1 50.6 48.1
Canada 55.3 55.8 57.0 58.0 62.4 60.4 65.6 65.0 60.7 66.2 64.4 65.5 61.7
Turkey 48.9 52.2 53.4 51.5 54.3 58.4 55.0 59.1 60.2 60.4 56.7 55.9 57.7
Thailand 47.8 51.7 49.8 44.5 38.9 40.1 43.7 50.2 54.4 59.3 68.4 65.3 61.6
Philippines 38.7 40.2 40.0 39.2 38.1 38.6 38.9 37.1 39.0 39.3 39.7 39.6 39.6
Sweden 34.9 33.9 33.6 32.6 32.6 33.4 32.5 32.7 32.4 32.1 32.8 30.2 28.6
Colombia 32.9 33.0 34.0 32.9 33.4 33.0 33.1 32.7 32.0 30.9 31.2 29.5 30.3
Netherlands 32.3 37.0 29.9 30.4 32.2 31.0 30.4 31.4 30.0 27.3 30.4 30.3 31.7
Poland 31.2 30.9 31.4 31.2 30.8 32.0 32.1 31.4 31.4 31.6 31.2 31.2 31.8
Australia 31.0 33.8 33.7 34.1 34.2 32.9 33.1 35.4 34.6 35.8 29.4 28.9 28.6
Italy 30.4 30.3 30.2 29.4 28.8 28.8 27.5 28.5 27.2 28.1 28.5 28.8 28.4
Kazakhstan 29.8 29.2 29.1 28.2 27.0 27.8 27.6 25.1 24.9 23.1 23.7 30.0 29.5
Chile 27.1 26.1 25.9 26.2 26.7 28.0 29.2 29.6 31.1 32.1 31.9 33.6 32.8
Israel 24.2 23.7 20.0 21.6 21.9 23.1 21.2 24.4 26.6 24.5 23.7 23.1 23.1
Spain 23.2 23.0 22.8 22.6 21.5 22.1 21.9 22.1 23.0 23.0 23.5 24.5 25.1
Denmark 14.1 14.5 12.6 11.5 11.6 13.3 13.0 13.5 13.3 13.7 14.0 13.9 14.1
Peru 13.8 14.8 14.2 14.1 14.5 15.0 15.4 16.2 16.1 15.9 16.0 15.7 15.6
South Africa 11.5 11.3 11.7 10.6 13.8 13.2 13.8 13.7 13.6 13.6 13.4 13.3 13.1
Malaysia 10.8 11.8 11.8 11.8 12.4 13.9 15.9 16.8 17.6 17.6 18.6 18.8 19.3
Vietnam 10.6 10.2 9.8 9.5 9.4 9.6 9.7 9.7 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9 9.9
All Other 174.9 179.4 182.2 176.2 182.3 176.4 176.9 179.4 179.9 188.4 195.4 198.5 198.1
Grand Total 5832.7 5802.0 5716.9 5655.2 5652.9 5595.8 5592.8 5595.0 5658.1 5709.7 5725.0 5691.1 5622.1
Of which:
For. Official 4067.9 4054.5 4074.2 4052.3 4015.2 3974.5 3996.1 4012.2 4075.9 4080.0 4093.8 4100.4 4048.9
Treasury Bills 393.9 398.3 384.1 378.6 370.5 373.2 363.0 362.7 379.8 399.2 404.0 385.6 377.1
T-Bonds & Notes 3674.0 3656.2 3690.1 3673.7 3644.8 3601.3 3633.2 3649.5 3696.1 3680.8 3689.7 3714.9 3671.8
Department of the Treasury/Federal Reserve Board
March 17, 2014
* Includes holdings of Treasury bonds and notes as reported on TIC Form SLT, "Aggregate Holdings of Long-Term Securities by U.S.
and Foreign Residents"
1/ The data in this table are collected primarily from U.S.-based custodians and broker-dealers. Since U.S. securities held in
overseas custody accounts may not be attributed to the actual owners, the data may not provide a precise accounting of
individual country ownership of Treasury securities
(see TIC FAQ #7 at: http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Pages/ticfaq1.aspx).
Estimated foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury marketable and non-marketable bills, bonds, and notes reported under the Treasury
International Capital (TIC) reporting system are based on annual Surveys of Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities and on
monthly data.
2/ United Kingdom includes Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
3/ Oil exporters include Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Gabon, Libya, and Nigeria.
4/ Caribbean Banking Centers include Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, former Netherlands Antilles and Panama.
Beginning with new series for June 2006, also includes British Virgin Islands.
All told, foreign holdings account for about $5.8 trillion in treasuries; that would imply that US holders own about $7.5 trillion in US debt.
I'm not saying that it wouldn't have some short term hurt, but it wouldn't crash the US financial system. The Federal reserve, on its current course, could buy up treasuries equal to the Russian holdings in about 2 or 3 months.
And even though the Europeans are a bunch of cowards when it comes to actually imposing sanctions themselves, the more shamed ones amongst them may be willing to buy extra treasuries to further dampen any negative effect from a Russian sell-off.
This is part and parcel of the game of chicken Russia and Putin are playing with the West - so far it's worked perfectly, so they have every chance of bluffing the weak Europeans into pressuring the US to leave off sanctioning Russia.
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The bigger question is if indeed, as some have suggested, China were to ally with Russia, and proceed to follow Russia in its reciprocal isolation of the US, by expanding trade with Russia on non-USD based terms, and also continue selling bonds as it did in December, when as we reported previously it dumped the second largest amount of US paper in history.
(http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2014/02/China%20TSY%20Holdings%20DEC_0.jpg)
... especially when one considers the latest news released by the Kremlin:
PUTIN, XI DISCUSSED UKRAINE BY PHONE, KREMLIN SAYS
RUSSIA, CHINA SHARE SIMILAR POSITIONS ON UKRAINE, KREMLIN SAYS
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-04/putin-advisor-threatens-dumping-us-treasurys-abandoning-dollar-if-us-proceeds-sancti (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-04/putin-advisor-threatens-dumping-us-treasurys-abandoning-dollar-if-us-proceeds-sancti)
Putin, China's Xi hold close views on Ukraine, Kremlin says | Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/04/ukraine-crisis-russia-china-idUSL6N0M13JF20140304 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/04/ukraine-crisis-russia-china-idUSL6N0M13JF20140304)
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There is a law I would like to see enacted by the House. It is one line.
"The President and Vice President, during their terms in office, are banned from fundraising, paid speaking engagements and paid dinners with supporters, on penalty of immediate removal from office."
If you are President - be so.
:da man: