Putin Doubleplusungood

[David Morris]

http://m.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/04/invading-crimea-may-have-cost-russia-200-billion-so-far

<http://m.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/04/invading-crimea-may-have-cost-russia-200-billion-so-far>Russia's
annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region last month and the instability it
created in Russian financial markets were cited by government officials for
record capital flight and sharply downgraded growth forecasts for the
country.*Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that instead of projected
2.5% growth this year, Russia's economy might show no growth at all.*

....Russian stocks fell 10% last month, wiping out further billions in
capital. The ruble has lost 9% of its value since the start of the year,
boosting prices for the imported food and manufactured goods on which the
Russian consumer market is heavily dependent. "The acute international
situation of the past two months" was the cause, Ulyukayev said, referring
to the Ukraine unrest.

That's a helluva big drop in economic growth. Just by itself, it represents
a cost of $50 billion. Add in the flight of cash and the stock market
decline, and you're somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 billion.

Is that enough to make Russia blink? Maybe not. But it hurts, and the
prospect of losing even more has got be enough to give even Vladimir Putin
a few second thoughts.

On Thursday, April 17, 2014, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/03/25/in-latest-wiretapping-leak-yulia-tymoshenko-appears-to-say-nuclear-weapons-should-be-used-to-kill-russians/
>
> On Monday night, a leaked recording purporting to be of former Ukrainian
> Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko appeared on the video sharing Web site
> YouTube.
>
> According to the Moscow Times<http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/leaked-call-shows-tymoshenko-urging-violence-against-russians-report-says/496802.html>,
> the recording, apparently made March 8, details a conversation between
> Tymoshenko and Nestor Shufrych from Ukraine's National Security Council,
> and has Tymoshenko suggesting that Ukrainians should kill Russians, and, in
> particular, Russian President Vladimir Putin. The recording, which may have
> been altered, also apparently features Tymoshenko suggesting that the 8
> million Russians living in Ukraine should be killed with "nuclear weapons."
>
> The video containing the recording was initially uploaded to a YouTube
> account under the name Sergiy Vechirko<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiRecDOsKq8SFjG9-Nlr8PQ>,
> and has since been widely shared on pro-Kremlin media outlets, with Russia
> Today producing its own version with translation<http://rt.com/news/tymoshenko-calls-destroy-russia-917/>
> .
>
> While the Moscow Times reports that Shufrych has denied the recording is
> real, a tweet from Tymoshenko appears to suggest she believes at least part
> of it is:
> In the above tweet, Tymoshenko says that the recording has been edited,
> and that she in fact said that the Russians in Ukraine "were Ukrainian."
> She also added "Hello FSB :)" in reference to Russia's security agency.
> Tymoshenko, widely considered a potential candidate for the Ukrainian
> presidential election in May, does not have a reputation for being
> anti-Russia, which has struck some as strange, and had enjoyed a working
> relationship with Putin in the past.
>
> On Thursday, April 17, 2014, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','brook7 at sover.net');>>
> wrote:
>
>>          Glanced at article; saw this statement:
>> "Why? History left ethnic Russians ready to accept the fiction that the
>> Ukrainian marchers in central Kiev were against them. "
>>   Which might reasonably be contrasted with this statement by Tymoshenko
>> Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko  called on compatriots
>> to "take up arms and kill the fucking Russians along with their leader
>> [Vladimir Putin]" in a leaked call widely shared online.
>>    Is the the author?: a- a full of shit liar with an agenda that does
>> not suffer contrasting evidence
>>                                  b- making the intelligence fit the plan
>>                                  c- perfecting the art of recruiting
>> Orwell into an Orwellian enterprise
>>                                  d- paid by the CIA
>>                                  e-all of the above
>> On Apr 15, 2014, at 6:47 AM, alice malice wrote:
>>
>> > http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/doubleplusungood/
>> > -
>> > Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>>
>
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