Mutually Assured Destruction. The Pyrrhic victories of Putin and the West By Michael Hammerschlag | EuroMaidanPress / Jan 6, 2015 KYIV — The sanctions against Russia and oil price cuts have finally worked. They are destroying the Russian economy: the value of the Ruble has collapsed, losing 60% of its value since the PutInvasions of Ukraine started (80R/$ on Dec 16. When I lived there last, in 2007, it was 26). But that’s little solace for Ukraine, whose economy has collapsed faster, the hryvnia also losing 60% of it’s value since Putin’s war started (their embargoes started with the Maidan Protests a year ago). The difference was Russia had an enormous cash reserve of $550 billion, now supposedly ~ $400 billion, to weather shocks that allowed them to cruise through the 2008 crisis, whereas Ukraine had a $40 billion deficit, incidentally the same amount kleptocrat mis-ruler Yanukovych is alleged to have stolen in 4 years ($27 million/day). The Western decision to assess sanctions on Russia after Crimea rather than give direct military aid to Ukraine consigned it to losing the Donbas*, since economic sanctions would take 8 months to a year to have any significant effect. Every cautious step of Putin’s escalation went unopposed, despite the ’94 Budapest Memorandum pledging US, England, and Russia to defend Ukraine’s borders in exchange for giving up their nukes, no spine was shown by America or NATO: Obama considered it a peripheral issue in Russia’s sphere of influence. A much firmer initial response could have probably backed Putin away from the Eastern insurgency/Invasion; Russia already had Crimea to digest. Ukraine could endure the loss of Crimea, but losing the industrial heart of Donbas likely would be fatal to the economy (letter/response with Obama), no matter how much Western money was thrown at them.… Read the original post on EuroMaidan Press:
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 21:14:31 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015