CrossTalk and the USA Media Incident…

On this edition of Peter Lavelle’s CrossTalk, he asks his guests – including RT journalist Kaelyn Forde – how US authorities are attacking freedom of assembly, speech and journalists’ rights…

Kaelyn Forde an RT journalist was told that she was banned from going to Georgia for 18 months. This and many other issues about the incident is exposed on this segment of CrossTalk…

You should really find the time to watch this video because you will be astonded at some of the things that really happened…

Dollar Breaks Psychological Mark

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News To Ruin A Cup Of Coffee: Lets revisit the past…

At the opening of the special dollar trading session for same-day transactions this morning, the very first contract was concluded at 23.90 RUB/USD, RUB 0.22, or almost 1 percent below the official rate set by the Bank of Russia for February 29. Consequently, the dollar dropped well below the psychological level of 24 RUB/USD on MICEX today. An hour and a half into the session, the exchange rate recovered to 24.0 RUB/USD.

Combined with a RUB 0.43 drop over the previous five days, the dollar has lost RUB 0.55, or 2.3 percent against the ruble in six trading sessions. The ruble’s continued steep climb against the dollar on the domestic market can be linked to the euro’s considerable advance against the US currency on international exchanges. The euro hit a new all-time high of 1.5238 USD/EUR against the dollar today, up from a previous peak of 1.5229 USD/EUR.

The dollar is sliding against other currencies, as well, tumbling to a three-year low of 104.28 JPY/USD against the yen, below the psychological mark of 105 JPY/USD. Meanwhile, most experts note that the US currency is not expected to correct upwards in the meanwhile, amid looming economic recession concerns in the US, suggesting that the Federal Reserve will revise its interest rate further down. “In all the years that I have been dealing with the foreign exchange market, I have never seen so much pessimism about the dollar,” Gartman Letter’s Editor-in-Chief Dennis Gartman pointed out, adding that there were clear signs of a “market mania,” in which everyone was currently trying to dispose of dollars.

US Fed chief Ben Bernanke’s latest report offered no consolation for the dollar, either, as he warned that the economic situation could actually be more complex than during previous recessions. Analysts say the Federal Reserve chairman’s exceeding candor has had an extremely negative impact on the US currency. The probability of a dollar crisis has surged, buoyed also by decisions of foreign central banks to cut back on accumulating dollars and converting their existing dollar reserves into other currencies. Furthermore, another factor that can weigh on the dollar is if Middle-Eastern oil exporters decide to revalue their currencies in relation to the US dollar, prompted by fears of increasing inflation pressures on their economies amid a weak dollar and record-high oil prices, experts say.

http://kylekeeton.com/2008/01/cost-of-believing-in-america.html
http://kylekeeton.com/2008/01/does-world-have-faith-in-america.html
http://kylekeeton.com/2007/11/russia-dollar-is-hurting-overseas.html
http://kylekeeton.com/2007/11/russian-rubles-dollar-is-unstable.html
http://kylekeeton.com/2007/11/russians-do-not-give-us-dollars.html
http://kylekeeton.com/2007/08/russian-ruble.html
http://kylekeeton.com/2007/08/american-dollar.html

Will The Dollar Collapse?

Kyle & Svet

Putin and Medvedev and Coffee and by the way – Sobyanin…

I have mentioned numerous times about how Putin has stayed back and allowed Medvedev to steer his own ship. Awhile back I had stated that Putin gave the equivalent  to Medvedev to go ahead and try to create a relationship with America. This was in my eyes a change of heart by Putin to allow Medvedev to try to do what he (Putin) saw as problematic…

According to Nikolai Zlobin, director of the Russia and Eurasia Project at the World Security Institute in Washington. “Putin never believed it would work, and now he has a convincing argument to say, ‘Look, they still don’t respect us.’ And of course it doesn’t help that Medvedev is personally offended by all of this. Hell, I would be offended too.”   Who is Nikolai Zlobin? Read Here >>>

But that all pro American stuff ended the other day when Medvedev announced out of the blue, “In the next 10 years, the following alternatives await us – either we reach agreement on missile defense and create a full joint co-operation mechanism, or, if we don’t go into a constructive agreement, a new phase of the arms race will begin. And we will have to make a decision on deploying new means of attack.”

Putin then swung into the picture a day later and said,

“Larry, please listen to me,” Putin said.

“I want you and all of the American people to know this…It’s not us who are moving our missiles forward towards your territory; it’s you who are planning to mount missiles on the vicinity of our borders.

“We’ve been told that you will proceed with these plans in order to secure you against, let’s say, the Iranian nuclear threat. But such a threat as of now does not exist.”

Putin then stressed that in the case a missile defense would be employed close to Russia’s borders, Russia would be forced to act.

“Now, if the anti-missile system is employed in the year 2015 near our borders, they will work against our nuclear potential, our nuclear arsenal. And certainly that worries us and we are obliged to take some actions in response.

“We are talking about actions in response,” Putin repeated, “not about taking the first initiative there.”

Putin has stepped back into the picture and looks to be helping guide the helm again. I am not sure how far he will go with this, but the gossip all over is that Putin has had enough of the games and has seen the folly in a relationship with America. Which he had doubts about in the first place…

I have no doubt that Putin and Medvedev have agreed on all this together and it will be interesting to see what develops from this point on.  It is always fun to watch how they tag team on things…

Now the press from the East to the West is having a heyday on trying to decide who is in charge and who will run for president next time. I could care less because they work together so well. The one thing I do know is that another potential president candidate has been brought into the picture and I do not hear anyone spouting about this. The new Moscow Mayor (Sergei Sobyanin) who is Putin’s right hand man (Putin’s former chief of staff) is being groomed for a future possible presidency. It has been stated several times by Medvedev and Putin that someone else could be in line for president and time will tell…

So now you have facts and gossip all mixed together and that makes the best news that there is… 🙂