Dear friends,
Today I am posting a video of what I think is an extremely important interview of Andrei Kostin, the resident and Chairman of the Management Board of powerful Russian VTB Bank (who basically speaks for Russian banking). At a recent meeting of Russian banker Kostin made the official proposal for Russia to switch from the US Dollar to the Russian Ruble as payment currency for Russian exports. This proposal has received the backing of the CEO of Gazprom, Igor Sechin, CEO of Rosneft and Sergei Chemezov, CEO of Rostec (for those of you unfamiliar with the names Gazprom, Rosneft and Rostec, I urge you to click on the links to the Wikipedia article about them but basically this is Russian Gas, Oil and Industry – including the powerful Oboronprom – Defense). This proposal has even received the support of Alexei Kudrin. In other words, this proposal has the backing of basically all of the Russian “Big Money”.
The interview I am posting below has Andrei Kostin explaining in details why this is a good idea, how it could be done, and what that would mean for Russia.
I honestly do not have the time to translate this video or to provide subtitles. I would be most grateful if any Russian speaker reading this could either provide a script of a translation into English or, even better, a subtitled video. Друзья – если можете, помогите!
In the meantime – here is the video in Russian.
Cheers,
The Saker
Saker Message:
Interesting. I presume this is the interview RT referred to in its article of 3 April 2014, http://rt.com/politics/russian-dollar-abandon-parliament-085/
The article has this to say:
“However, industry experts have warned against hasty moves saying that sometimes the transition to a different currency was simply impossible. The head of the Trade and Industry Chamber’s committee for financial markets, Yakov Mirkin, said that at present the international practice was to calculate oil and gas prices in US dollars as the international reserve currency. “We cannot swim against the current. This is how the whole thing works. Maybe such a thing will be possible in 10 or 15 years, but not today,” Mirkin noted.
“Head of the PR department of the Russian state oil corporation Rosneft, Mikhail Leontyev, said that his company was bound by contract obligations and the fast switch to a different currency was simply impossible.”
Here’s RT reporting about Kostin’s remarks at the banking conference, http://rt.com/business/russia-payments-rubles-trade-977/
In an earlier comment, I wrote contracts can be broken/renegotiated. The history of the US Empire using its dollar as a weapon is getting close to 100 years old. It’s well past the time it was used against it.
From Jim Sinclair’s Mineset
http://www.jsmineset.com/
Russia prepares to attack the petrodollar
4 April 2014, 14:34
The US dollar’s position as the base currency for global energy trading gives the US a number of unfair advantages. It seems that Moscow is ready to take those advantages away.
The existence of “petrodollars” is one of the pillars of America’s economic might because it creates a significant external demand for American currency, allowing the US to accumulate enormous debts without defaulting. If a Japanese buyer want to buy a barrel of Saudi oil, he has to pay in dollars even if no American oil company ever touches the said barrel. Dollar has held a dominant position in global trading for such a long time that even Gazprom’s natural gas contracts for Europe are priced and paid for in US dollars. Until recently, a significant part of EU-China trade had been priced in dollars.
Lately, China has led the BRICS efforts to dislodge the dollar from its position as the main global currency, but the “sanctions war” between Washington and Moscow gave an impetus to the long-awaited scheme to launch the petroruble and switch all Russian energy exports away from the US currency .
The main supporters of this plan are Sergey Glaziev, the economic aide of the Russian President and Igor Sechin, the CEO of Rosneft, the biggest Russian oil company and a close ally of Vladimir Putin. Both have been very vocal in their quest to replace the dollar with the Russian ruble. Now, several top Russian officials are pushing the plan forward.
First, it was the Minister of Economy, Alexei Ulyukaev who told Russia 24 news channel that the Russian energy companies must should ditch the dollar. “ They must be braver in signing contracts in rubles and the currencies of partner-countries, ” he said.
Robert Snefjella said…
So China has also been more active than I thought. Круто. Thanks.
Yakov (“10 or 15 years”) Mirkin needs to be monitored closely.
His comments are nonsense and smack of western financial propoganda.
Contracts can be, and are regularly, repudiated.
On what basis does Mirkin claim that Russia, or any nation for that matter, should allow their soveriegn interests to be damaged or destroyed because it would “swim against the current”.
The man is likely a shill for the secret world government who has been promised a sweet deal by the western elite.
Quite the contrary to what clowns like Yakov Mirkin (probably a puppet of US banking interests) might have to say, it is quite easy for Russia (and China) to leave the dollar behind today (notin 10 to 15 years time).
All that needs to happen is oil/gas and other Russian commodity exports need be priced with reference to an ounce of gold.
Simple! And no reference to the US dollar required.
A new system will then fall into place leaving the dollar behind.
Who is this guy Mirkin anyway? 10 to 15 years…idiot.
May 1, 2014!
Labor Day holiday very dear by Russians and Chinese.
This is the date to warn the world that “fuck” the banksters.
:-)
Greetings from Singapore:
Any US Dollar transaction has to go through New York. If you use EURO, it goes via Frankfurt only. Dropping the US Dollar, means in practice, that the transfer cannot be stopped, since it does not go via New York. As simple as this.
The journalist is with the ass in hand!
Notice as well the expression of Kostin, in his mouth to speak.
Just saw this expression on the face of my grandmother Bronislava Bochnie Teledzinski when I corrected!
She always said, “I never play with a Slav.”
hehe.
USAwatchdog posted a very interesting interview today with Jim Willie of the goldenjackass:
http://usawatchdog.com/whole-eastern-world-rebelling-against-the-dollar-jim-willie/
Я
From:
http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/comment/396034
“Putin also commented on the latest sanction of the US authorities that concerned Russia’s Rossiya Bank, to which international payment systems Visa and MasterCard stopped serving clients on Friday.
The Russian president said he will get his salary via the sanctioned bank.
“I’ve already said that I was going to open an account in this bank, more than that I asked for my salary to be transferred to this account,” he said.
Putin added that Russian authorities should provide any possible support for the clients of the blocked Rossiya Bank, as this “finance establishment has nothing to do with Ukraine crisis.”
“The clients of the bank must be taken under our protection. We also should make sure that neither clients nor the bank will sustain any negative outcome from this situation,” he added.
So, in light of this, what did Vlad do next? He has allowed Bank Roosiya to issue bank notes that are fully convertible into any foreign currency, including gold.
From the Tass link of Sunday, note this section:
“The Golden Symbol of Russian Rouble installation in front of the bank’s office in Perevedensky pereulok in Moscow will symbolize the rouble’s stability and its backing by the country’s gold reserves, the action’s organizers explained to Itar-Tass.”
And then note that the article continues:
“The bank Rossiya’s decision to give up foreign currency and start working exclusively with the Russian rouble is a step forward towards converting the Russian economy and banking sector to national currency, Andrei Kostin, the VTB bank president, said in an interview with the Russia 24 TV news channel commenting the decision of bank Rossiya to operate only in the domestic market and exclusively with the Russian rouble.”
The article concludes with this:
“We have been moving towards wider use of the Russian rouble as the currency of settlement for a long time…said Andrei Kostin, the VTB bank president…The VTB chief said that Russia should sell domestic products – from weapons to gas and oil – abroad for roubles and buy foreign goods also for roubles…“Only then are we going to use the advantages of the rouble being a foreign currency in full measure,” Kostin said, adding that AB Rossiya would form a vital part of the Russian banking system and would closely cooperate with other Russian banks, which would also expand the rouble’s use in settlements…“A new imperative motive has appeared for that now,” the VTB chief stressed.”
Greetings from Singapore:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/04/ukraine-a-fascist-coup/
==> A Photo Essay
Ukraine, a Fascist Coup?
by ANDRE VLTCHEK
Ukraine is burning, it is going to the dogs; it has been taken over by an illegitimate government engorged with fascists, neo-Nazis and simple pro-Western opportunists, as well as countless EU and US-sponsored members of various NGO’s.
The West has destabilized an entire nation, supporting right-wingers and fascists. Then it began spreading anti-Russian propaganda, even before Crimea had voted to join its historic homeland………..more on there/click above link.
“Off-topic” do Brasil:
Recomendações do Brasil.
Você é um cara legal.
Aqui vai uma letra de música para velhos como nós.
Sentir-se Jovem
Juca Chaves
Sentir-se jovem é sentir o gosto
De envelhecer ao lado da mulher
Curtir ruga por ruga de seu rosto
Que a idade sem vaidade lhe trouxer
O corpo transformar-se em escultura
O Tempo apaixonado é um escultor
E a fêmea oculta na mulher madura
Explode em sensuais formas de amor
E a fêmea, esta escultura,
Já mulher madura
Explode em sensuais formas de amor
Ser jovem cinqüentão não é preciso
Provar que emagrecer rejuvenesce
Pois a melhor ginástica é o sorriso
E quem sorri de amor nunca envelhece
Amar ou desamar sem sentir culpa
Desafiando as leis do coração
Não faça da velhice uma desculpa
E nem da juventude profissão
Idade não é culpa
Velhice não é desculpa
Nem mesmo a juventude é profissão
Fica mais velho quem tem medo de ser velho
Roubando sonhos de alguma adolescente
Dizer que ele “dá duas”, que é potente
Mentir para si próprio e para o espelho
A idade é uma verdade, não ilude
Quem dividiu a vida com prazer
Velho é se drogar de juventude
Ser jovem é saber envelhecer
Velho é quem se ilude
Que a idade é juventude
Ser jovem é saber envelhecer
Link para a música:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw7DbjNMEcQ
:-)
@Proftel: speak for yourself – I still feel young :-P
Well, to be honest, it depends on the day…
Obrigado,
The Saker
@The end of the Petro-dollars
A good overview of the problem at:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-global-financial-tsunami-end-game-the-petro-dollar-regime-is-finished/5376779
by Matthias Chang, Global Research, April 06, 2014
Some excerpts:
“Rosneft has recently signed a series of big contracts for oil exports to China and is close to signing a “jumbo deal” with Indian companies. In both deals, there are no US dollars involved. Reuters reports, that Russia is close to entering a goods-for-oil swap transaction with Iran that will give Rosneft around 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil per day to sell in the global market. The White House and the russophobes in the Senate are livid and are trying to block the transaction because it opens up some very serious and nasty scenarios for the petrodollar. If Sechin decides to sell this Iranian oil for rubles, through a Russian exchange, such move will boost the chances of the “petroruble” and will hurt the petrodollar.
It can be said that the US sanctions have opened a Pandora’s box of troubles for the American currency. The Russian retaliation will surely be unpleasant for Washington, but what happens if other oil producers and consumers decide to follow the example set by Russia? During the last month, China opened two centers to process yuan-denominated trade flows, one in London and one in Frankfurt. Are the Chinese preparing a similar move against the greenback? We’ll soon find out…
God indeed works in mysterious ways. The Petro-Dollar Global Fiat Money System is teetering at the precipice!”
WizOz
Moving away from the US dollar in oil trading was a very important factor in the elimination of Saddam and Gaddafi, and the utter destruction of their countries. Without the ‘exorbitant privilege’ of US dollar de facto global reserve currency status, the USA is finished. Its fracking boom is daily more exposed as a fraud. Its infrastructure is crumbling. Its society is poisonous with unprecedented inequality, median wages stagnant for decades, education a shambles, record incarceration, unaffordable or personally ruinous medical expenses and 50% of the populace in or precariously near poverty. A pitiless, ‘winner takes all’ society, ripe for collapse. Unfortunately a rabid dog in its final hydrophobic death throes, is deadly dangerous, maddened with the virus destroying its brain, and liable to lash out a savage everything in sight.
Just so everyone knows, Amara is a really good website that allows people to make collaborative subtitles for any online video (from Youtube and other sites).
The Russian-Chinese MO has been to shift things gradually so as not cause an economic crisis. They wont drop the dollar all at once, but a little bit at a time, to avoid sending the world economy into a tailspin. What Mirkin said should be taken with this knowledge.
( I posted 06 April, 2014 21:19 also)
вот так
Gazprom Neft CEO says ditch dollar, look east if sanctions escalate
http://rt.com/business/gazprom-neft-looks-eastward-805/
вот так
Putin Sends the West a Golden Message: Central Bank of Russia Changes Logo to Golden Ruble
: Golden Badge of the Russian national currency, officially adopted by the Central Bank of Russia, will symbolize a sign of stability and security of the ruble gold reserves of the country.
http://www.silverdoctors.com/putin-sends-the-west-a-golden-message-central-bank-of-russia-changes-logo-to-golden-ruble/
T1