Implode-Explode Heavy Industries news feed

Russia Media Allege Flight MH17 Shot Down by Ukraine Missile Unit. Political Disarray Following Collapse of Kiev Government

Sun, 27 Jul 2014 13:56:13 GMT

``The Malaysian passenger plane MH17 may have been shot down July 17 by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft unit during an exercise, according to Russia's Ria Novosti, which cited an anonymous source in the Ukrainian security apparatus. The new and detailed allegations in the Russian media come amid mounting US and European Union charges that Russia is responsible for the shooting down of the jetliner. According to the report, the chief of the 156th Air Defence Rocket Regiment was ordered on July 17 to provide cover for ground troops near Donetsk. The unit was tasked with monitoring and destroying targets "with a rocket of type Buk-M1 in training mode.''

Europe Unveils Preliminary Sanctions Against Russia

Sat, 26 Jul 2014 19:06:16 GMT

``While the preliminary terms of Europe's Russian sanctions were leaked yesterday, moments ago it was reported that EU ambassadors have reached an agreement on what the "hard-hitting" economic sanctions against Russia would look like even as details remain to still be ironed out ahead of a formal announcement of the final terms next week. According to Reuters, key measures suggested by the Commission include...''

EU sanctions on Russian finance could cripple London

Sat, 26 Jul 2014 15:30:38 GMT

``If agreed, EU sanctions would apply to all Russian banks that are more than 50 percent state-owned. Sberbank, VTB, the country's two largest lenders, are both listed on the London Stock Exchange and have offices there. If Russian banks get hit the ripples will be felt across the English Channel and in the heart of the world's financial center- the City of London... London has more than 50 companies that have operations in Russia on its $3.6 billion Stock Exchange. Russian companies often choose London for their initial public offerings, and borrow debt from London-based banks.''

$200 per barrel oil if Russia sanctions escalate

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 13:47:22 GMT

``If the standoff with Russia and the West reaches a point where the EU has to completely cut trade with Russia, oil prices could soar above $200 per barrel, sparking a global economic crisis, says Adam Slater, senior economist at Oxford Economics.''

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Government Collapses, PM Yatsenyuk Resigns

Fri, 25 Jul 2014 13:46:24 GMT

``As if Ukraine was not struggling through enough turmoil currently, Bloomberg reports that the fragile coalition government has collapsed after two parties quit. The UDAR and Svoboda parties said they'd leave the government and seek a snap parliamentary ballot. Tempers have been fraying recently as numerous brawls have broken out in parliament ahead of President Poroshenko's pledge to call elections this year. All we have to do now is find out who Washington would like to see in power? The end result: Prime Minister Yatsenyuk just resigned. The big question now is what will the IMF do about the remaining tranches of its loans? ''

Putin's Ukraine Woes Compounded by $103 Billion Yukos Claim

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 18:59:54 GMT

Russia will discover next week how much it may be asked to pay for the confiscation a decade ago of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Yukos Oil Co., then the country's biggest oil producer.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague will rule on July 28 on a $103 billion damages claim the company's former owners filed against Russia in 2007. There's "very limited room" for appeal and Russia will resist paying, so any amount awarded would trigger a global legal battle to seize state property, including assets of OAO Rosneft (ROSN), which acquired most of Yukos in a series of forced auctions, Van Harten said.''

Venezuela admits its ever growing dependency with China

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 15:05:11 GMT

``The "honorable formula" has put 45 billion from China into a joint fund to finance projects in Venezuela, a sum that with Venezuela's contribution totals 56 billion in available money.''

Saudi Stocks Soar as Kingdom Opens to Foreigners Next Year

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 14:42:01 GMT

``Saudi Arabia, the oil-producing kingdom whose stock market has been off-limits to outsiders, will allow foreign investors to buy and sell shares next year as it seeks to lure capital to the $745 billion economy.''

Deadly game of human chess | David McWilliams

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 01:02:11 GMT

``Maybe it's because I am in the Balkans 100 years after Gavrilo Princip killed Franz Ferdinand and kicked off a global conflict, but the unstable alliances of 2014 look equally as fragile as they did in 1914. ''

Ukraine crash: Separatists reportedly turning over bodies, black boxes

Mon, 21 Jul 2014 18:08:45 GMT

``The bodies of all 298 victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 are aboard two trains in eastern Ukraine and set to be moved to Kharkhiv, a city controlled by the country's central government, officials in Kiev said Monday... The Netherlands, which lost 193 people aboard the plane, will be taking over the investigation of the downed jet in conjunction with international air safety organizations, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said.'' -- Obviously the separatists did it, and have something to hide...

Mish: Video of MH17 Missile Hit (?); Evidence Round-Up

Sun, 20 Jul 2014 22:29:23 GMT

``Yesterday, The BBC reported at 15:29: "Ukraine's SBU security service has confiscated recordings of conversations between Ukrainian air traffic control officers and the crew of the doomed airliner, a source in Kiev has told Interfax news agency." ... Don't you think Ukraine ought to release those tapes? Regardless, the recordings should be in the black boxes.''

Putin, it's your payback time - M K Bhadrakumar

Sun, 20 Jul 2014 22:03:47 GMT

The point is, history has not ended and Russia can never be part of the Western world. It is too big and too different and too powerful and unmanageable. Russia's presence in the European tent challenges the US' trans-Atlantic leadership and questions the very raison d'etre of the NATO, and indeed Euro-Atlanticism as the leitmotif of the US global strategies ceases to be.
It is about time the ‘westernists' among the Moscow elites realize that all they have is a pipe dream. There is no precedent of the US ever having treated another country -- including Britain -- on an equal footing. Therefore, Russia's destiny is dictated by the need to consolidate its standing as an independent global player. It has the capacity to do it, but, alas, often enough not the will and interest in discerning who is a potential ally and who is not.

Sanctions and Airliners -- Paul Craig Roberts

Sat, 19 Jul 2014 17:07:40 GMT

``No one on the program wondered what the separatists had to gain by shooting down an airliner. Instead, the discussion was whether once Russian responsibility was established, would this force the EU to endorse tougher US sanctions against Russia. The BBC was following Washington's script and heading the story where Washington wanted it to go.''

Was Flight MH-17 Diverted Over Restricted Airspace?

Fri, 18 Jul 2014 13:53:29 GMT

``while all ten most recent paths pass safely well south of the Donetsk region, and cross the zone above the Sea of Azov, it was only today's tragic flight that passed straight overhead Donetsk.''

Malaysia Airlines Passenger Jet Crashes in Ukraine (MORE IMAGES AND INFO)

Thu, 17 Jul 2014 19:51:24 GMT

The separatists were quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax as saying that they had found the "black box" flight recorder.
Andrey Tarasenko, a miner who was walking home from work with a friend, said that he saw a white trail go up from the ground, then heard an explosion two seconds later, then saw smoke risking from the ground 10 seconds after that. He said he was about 10 miles away.

"You know how you see a trail from a plane -- it was the same, but it was a missile launched from the ground," he said.

Russian Reliance on Chinese Loans May Blunt Sanctions' Impact

Thu, 17 Jul 2014 19:22:25 GMT

``The isolation, though, does not extend to the companies' growing reliance on Chinese lending, a trend in the Russian natural resources industry that will blunt the effect of sanctions aimed at the finances of Russian oil companies... "We absolutely don't expect any impact on the operations or finances of Rosneft or Novatek," another Russian energy company hit with sanctions on Wednesday, said Pavel Kushnir, an oil and gas analyst at Deutsche Bank in Russia.''

Malaysia Airlines plane disappears over Ukraine, feared shot down, as sides blame each other

Thu, 17 Jul 2014 17:52:43 GMT

"The plane was shot down by the Ukrainian side," said Serhiy Kavtaradze, a member of the rebels' security council, according to the Russia's Interfax news agency. "We simply do not have such air defense systems." He said rebels' shoulder-launched antiaircraft missiles "have a firing range of only 3,000 to 4,000 meters" and that passenger jets fly at much higher altitudes.
...
Andrei Purgin, the first deputy prime minister of the Donetsk People's Republic, said the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 could have been brought down by Ukrainian forces... He denied that the rebels possess the SA-17 Buk air-defense as Kiev alleges.

However, the Associated Press reported that a similar launcher was seen by the agency's journalists near the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne earlier Thursday. The Buk missile system can fire missiles up to an altitude of 22,000 meters (72,000 feet), AP said.

Update: See President Putin's plane might have been the target for Ukrainian missile.

The significance of a BRICS development bank - Jim Rickards

Thu, 17 Jul 2014 17:14:00 GMT

Video interview segment.

Raising Stakes on Russia, U.S. Adds Sanctions

Thu, 17 Jul 2014 15:25:53 GMT

``The new actions will, among other things, restrict access to American capital markets for Russian giants like the Rosneft oil company and Gazprombank that operate worldwide. While the latest moves did not cut off entire sectors of the Russian economy, they went significantly further than the financial and travel limits imposed previously on several dozen individuals and their businesses.''

Sanction Spiral Hits London, Plays Out Putin's Master Plan

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 16:03:59 GMT

``Putin has been pushing Russian companies to cut back on doing business with overseas banks and bring some of that business home.. London has suffered collateral damage. Takeovers involving Russian companies plunged 39% to $16.6 billion in the first half of 2014, Bloomberg reported. London being the "undisputed" center for Russian finance took much of the hit... The sanction spiral is having its effects. London is paying a price. Other cities too. Russia's economy, short term, has been hit and may be slithering into a recession. Some companies are squealing.''