Implode-Explode Heavy Industries news feed

Ukraine agrees tough austerity package to gain $17.5bn IMF bailout

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 18:07:07 GMT

``The Ukrainian parliament has approved amendments the 2015 budget that sees drastic pension cuts and energy bills tripling. The changes are needed to comply with the terms of the agreed $17.5 billion IMF bailout package.''

US Savings Rate Surges To Highest Since 2012 As Consumers Save "Gas Tax Cut" Instead Of Spending

Tue, 03 Mar 2015 14:16:17 GMT

``US personal spending dropped 0.2% in January - twice as bad as the 0.1% drop expected and the 3rd miss in a row.''

HOW'S THAT DEFLATION WORKING OUT FOR YOU?

Tue, 03 Mar 2015 01:11:26 GMT

The BLS put out their monthly CPI lie last week. They issued the proclamation that inflation is dead. Did you know your costs are 0.1% lower than they were one year ago. They then used these deflation numbers to proclaim your real wages soared last month. It's all good. The American consumer is so flush with cash, they decided to spend less money for the second month in a row.
...
And now for the BIGGEST LIE in the entire report. The have the balls to tell you that health insurance only makes up 0.753% of your entire annual budget and it has FALLEN by 0.5% in the last year. This must be some cruel Obamacare joke perpetrated by these government apparatchiks. I haven't met anyone who has seen their health insurance costs go down in the last year. My premiums went up by 20% and my annual family deductible went from $0 to $2,000. How the BLS can get away with issuing this drivel is beyond my comprehension. It's pure and utter bullshit.

India's Tata strikes a deal with Russia's biggest coal producer (+OLIGARCH BUYS GERMAN NORTH SEA ASSETS)

Mon, 02 Mar 2015 22:32:05 GMT

``Tata Power, the energy arm of Tata Group and India's largest integrated power company by its own estimate, announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russia's biggest coal producer Siberian Coal Energy Co (SUEK), aimed at "identifying and developing opportunities across the energy chain." '' -- Also of interest: Russian oligarch buys North Sea oil and gas assets.

Europe's largest gas field, Dutch, In Peril Due To Quakes

Mon, 02 Mar 2015 14:39:22 GMT

``"Until the Huizinge earthquake, we had 1,100 damage claims in 20 years," said NAM spokesman Sander van Rootselaar. "After the quake we had more than 30,000." ''

Forget all our other troubles -- the Russians are coming!

Sun, 01 Mar 2015 21:14:43 GMT

The establishment anti-Russia/anti-Putin campaign went into overdrive last week because of anger that a peace deal was reached in Minsk. The Russophobes want the conflict in Ukraine to continue to justify the sanctions on Russia. They want the Russian economy seriously weakened, regardless of the cost to the Russian people - believing this will eventually lead to ‘regime change' in Moscow and someone like Garry Kasparov or Mikhail Khodorkovsky taking over in the Kremlin.
They've never forgiven Putin and Lavrov for blocking war against Syria in 2013 and for having the temerity to stand up and defend legitimate Russian national interests. Don't these damn ‘Ruskies' know their place!

Kerry Warns of More Russia Sanctions as Ukraine Simmers

Sun, 22 Feb 2015 14:50:31 GMT

``"Some additional steps will be taken in response to the breaches of this cease-fire," Kerry told reporters at the U.S. Embassy in London after talks Saturday with U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. "There are some yet very serious sanctions that can be taken which have a profound, increased negative impact on the Russian economy."''

Merkel in Moscow and Minsk: Der Spiegel Says Putin Has Won

Sun, 22 Feb 2015 00:45:51 GMT

``The first thing we learn from the text is that what triggered the Minsk process is the disintegration of the Ukrainian economy and especially of the Ukrainian military. ''

A Bloody Retreat From Debaltsevo as Ukrainian Forces Suddenly Withdraw

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 20:33:26 GMT

The political fallout was as uncertain as the military situation. Mr. Poroshenko sought to cast the retreat in a positive light, saying in a televised statement that he had ordered the troops out of Debaltseve, a strategic transportation hub where intense fighting raged in recent days despite a cease-fire agreement signed last week in Minsk, Belarus.
Yet, his decision to fight for several days before retreating, and his earlier refusal to hand over the town during the cease-fire talks even when a Ukrainian defeat seemed inevitable, could prove contentious in Ukraine as the scale of the potential slaughter comes into focus.

"It was clear they couldn't get a deal on Debaltseve," Samuel Charap, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said of the Minsk talks. "The question then becomes: What the hell was Poroshenko thinking?"

Note: at top was the original title of this article, before the censors got it. We only know about this brief increased candor because of the crack work of The Saker in this post.

Expert: Oil Price Wars Fatally Wounded the Petrodollar

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 20:15:07 GMT

``The US claims jurisdiction over any dollar-denominated transaction that takes place anywhere in the world. And most business and trading transactions in the world are denominated in dollars. This essentially constitutes the financialization of the global order: The International Order depends more on control by the US Treasury and Federal Reserve than on the UN as before.''

EU places new sanctions on Ukrainians, Russians

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 02:08:31 GMT

``The European Union placed more Ukrainians and Russians under sanctions on Monday, accusing them of "undermining or threatening" Ukraine's independence. The new list - published on the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC) at 8.30 a.m. GMT - places "restrictive measures" on 28 people or organizations, including Russia's First Deputy Minister of Defense, Arkady Bakhin.''

Putin calls West's bluff over Ukraine peace deal

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 20:51:16 GMT

The rebels announced hours after the ceasefire took effect that they did not believe it applied to the town of Debaltseve, their main military objective. Now that the town appears to have fallen, they might begin observing the truce.
The West appears to be giving Putin the benefit of the doubt - hoping he will wind down fighting after the town is taken. The town, on a railway and road junction, links the two Russian-speaking regions of east Ukraine that the rebels hold and makes it far easier to defend their territory.

You have to love the language in this, typical of the U.S. State Department-approved propaganda that is almost universal in the Western media: everything that happens that is against what this establishment wants is ascribed to Putin personally, as if he has identical interests with the rebels, endorses and favors whatever they do, and has full control over them (indeed, some sources seem to want us to believe that there are no "rebels" -- it's all just Russian troops). It's just beyond the pale ridiculous.

We won't even quote the Economist editorial that came out in the last day or two, which was little more than bile. That one went so far as criticizing Putin for intervening in the "self determination of the Maidan"; but totally ignored the much more obvert self-determination of the Crimean and Donbass independence referenda.

Rebels Claim Control of Crucial Ukraine Town as Truce Imperiled

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 21:20:05 GMT

``Rebels in eastern Ukraine said they took over the strategic crossroad town Debaltseve and hundreds of government troops surrendered in fighting that's undermining a fragile truce.''

Russian oil executive sneaks gold market rigging into the Financial Times

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:12:30 GMT

``In today's distorted oil markets, prices do not reflect reality. They are driven instead by financial speculation, which outweighs the real-life factors of supply and demand. Financial markets tend to produce economic bubbles, and those bubbles tend to burst. Remember the dotcom bust and the subprime mortgage crisis? Furthermore, prices are prone to manipulation. We have not forgotten the rigging of the Libor interest rate benchmark and the gold price.''

China's One Trillion Reasons to Prevent Yuan Tumbling

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:10:04 GMT

``Sustained weakness in the yuan would make it more expensive to repay the $1.1 trillion of debt the Bank for International Settlements estimates is owed by Chinese companies. As a result, China has to offset interest-rate cuts and other easing measures with steps to curb the yuan's 3 percent slide from its peak about a year ago.''

Oil rises on Libya violence, Kuwait sees prices supported

Mon, 16 Feb 2015 17:28:53 GMT

`` Oil rose to near $62 a barrel on Monday, supported by concerns over escalating conflict with Islamic State militants in Libya and predictions of lower supply in the second half of the year. Egypt bombed Islamic State targets inside Libya on Monday and Cairo renewed calls for a U.S.-led coalition to confront militants there, a day after the group released a video appearing to show the beheading of 21 Egyptians''

Libya Warns of Oil Shutdown as Attacks Escalates

Sun, 15 Feb 2015 16:16:44 GMT

``Libya's state-run oil company warned that it would shut production at all fields if authorities in the divided nation fail to contain an escalation of attacks on facilities that cut crude output to a year-low.''

Ukraine ultranationalist leader rejects Minsk peace deal, vows 'to continue war'

Sat, 14 Feb 2015 15:49:28 GMT

``Ukraine's Right Sector leader Dmitry Yarosh said his radical movement rejects the Minsk peace deal and that their paramilitary units in eastern Ukraine will continue "active fighting" according to their "own plans."''

IMF announces new $17.5bn bailout package for Ukraine

Fri, 13 Feb 2015 22:22:47 GMT

``The International Monetary Fund announced a new $17.5 billion lifeline for Ukraine, which would bring the total bailout package to $40 billion. The new sum would be a four-year program...In return Ukraine will have to present a "program of deep economic reforms," which includes the whole economy and a plan to transform Naftogaz, Ukraine's state oil and gas company. ''

Minsk Talks Cannot Result in Ukraine Federalization

Fri, 13 Feb 2015 22:20:32 GMT

``Depending on what the parties agree between them, the negotiations could in theory result in decentralisation, federalisation, a confederation or even outright independence for the Donbass (the Russians floated that idea as a serious possibility in the summer).''