As always, please go to the links for the full articles/op eds.
The value of the Russian ruble has crashed, as Western sanctions have started to bite:
Russia was scrambling to prevent financial meltdown Monday as its economy was slammed by a broadside of crushing Western sanctions imposed over the weekend in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin was due to hold crisis talks with his top advisers after the ruble crashed to a record low against the US dollar, the Russian central bank more than doubled interest rates to 20%, and the Moscow stock exchange was shuttered for the day.
The European subsidiary of Russia's biggest bank was on the brink of collapse as savers rushed to withdraw their deposits. Economists warned that the Russian economy could shrink by 5%.
The ruble lost about 20% of its value to trade at 100 to the dollar at 6 a.m. ET after earlier plummeting as much as 40%. The start of trading on the Russian stock market was delayed, and then canceled entirely, according to a statement from the country's central bank.
The latest barrage of sanctions came Saturday, when the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada said they would expel some Russian banks from SWIFT, a global financial messaging service, and "paralyze" the assets of Russia's central bank.
"The ratcheting up of Western sanctions over the weekend has left Russian banks on the edge of crisis," wrote Liam Peach, an emerging market economist at Capital Economics, in a note on Monday.
The Russian stock market closed today following the ruble's crash. The sight of Russians waiting in line at banks to close accounts and carting their rubles away in wheelbarrows won't make thug Putin any more popular in a nation whose anti- war sentiment is spreading from the streets to the oligarchs' dachas. Tell us again how sanctions don't work.
Following BP's lead, Norwegian oil giant Equinor ASA is divesting its Russian oil and gas investments:
Norwegian oil giant Equinor ASA says it has decided to stop new investments into Russia and divest from its joint ventures in Russia after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Norway-based energy group has been in Russia for over 30 years and made a cooperation agreement with state-controlled Russian oil and gas company Rosneft in 2012.
CEO Anders Opedal said the company was “deeply troubled by the invasion of Ukraine, which represents a terrible setback for the world, and we are thinking of all those who are suffering because of the military action.”
He added that “we regard our position as untenable” and added that the company was exiting “in a manner that is consistent with our values.”
On the battlefront in Ukraine, events are taking a decidedly negative turn for Russian thug Putin:
OBOZREVATEL is reporting that 5,000 contract servicemen -not conscripts, professional soldiers- rioted in the Belgorod region of Russia, which is right across the border from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
About 5,000 contract soldiers, who were hastily collected to be sent to Ukraine, refused to go to fight for Putin on the territory of our state.
Formally, the rebellious contractors argue their refusal to participate in hostilities in Ukraine by the fact that this is not provided for in their contracts.
The incompetence of the Russian invasion is startling to Western observers. They're demonstrating logistical and tactical malfeasance unworthy of a military of Russia's relative sophistication.
It's also reported that troops from Putin puppet Alexander Lukashenko's Belarus and Putin's Chechen fiefdom are engaging in battle, with at least one Chechen motorized regiment (56 tanks) destroyed and this fascist leader killed:
Magomed Tushayev, one of Ramzan Kadyrov’s top warlords, has been killed in action in Hostomel.
— Illia Ponomarenko (@IAPonomarenko) February 26, 2022
🇺🇦Ukraine’s elite Alpha Group is reportedly fighting Chechens in the airfield. pic.twitter.com/bPHgBPK8sL
More updates at the link above, and an excellent summary of the situation in Ukraine and Moscow at Infidel 753's blog.
Leonard Pitts, Jr., reminds us how we got here, and where it might lead us:
Like Putin, much of the right bears allegiance not to truth, much less to democracy, but rather, to the brutish power of the strongman to do as he pleases, unfettered by such niceties. That’s what they very nearly imposed in 2016. It is what they promise in 2024. And if you’re not frightened, you’re not paying attention.
This moment has been a long time coming. A little more than a quarter century ago, a House speaker named Newt Gingrich declared politics war and an upstart cable network called Fox declared facts optional. It was called a conservative resurgence, but it was actually the foundation stone for the kingdom of lies our country has become.
No wonder Trump likes Putin and claims the feeling is mutual. Each recognizes himself in the other.
What they recognize, what they have in common, is that transactional disdain for the truth and, more to the point, for anyone naive enough to expect it. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented her Russian counterpart a red “reset” button, Russia accepted it, but kept right on being a thugocracy. TV pundits kept assuring us Trump was going to “become presidential” any second now, but to his last day, he remained a willful child. Now families seek refuge in Ukrainian subways, while Trump cheers their tormentor on.
Let no one be surprised.
What begins in lies tends to end in carnage.
Last but not least, it's highly recommended that you make a visit to Infidel 753's link round-up to posts of interest from around the Internet. As noted above, he also has an excellent round-up of the military and political situation in the Russia/Ukraine war.
