Member Info for mizman

Well Richard, spare us your drivel and come back next year!

It's all about companies that have a good relationship with Russia, as EUA have. Recent tax case wins, further cement that.

Vladimir Putin has granted American Express Co the right to "voluntarily liquidate" its Russian business, according to a decree published on the official website.

Moscow has steadily tightened restrictions on foreign assets, with banks requiring Putin's approval for any deal.

WE ARE RIGHTFULLY PROUD OF RUSSIAN-CHINESE ECONOMIC COOPERATION RESULTS -

Putin announces at Chinese-Russian Expo as he continues meetings on 2nd day of historic China visit.

Partnership between Russia and China reliably ensures energy security and raises the well-being of both peoples. We support China's commitment to localize production in Russia, ready to provide facilities to investors - Putin (speaking above).

COMMODITIES & FUTURES

Platinum Market Faces Largest Shortfall in Supply For a Decade

Primary supply of platinum, or the supply directly from producers, is expected to decline by 2% on-year to around 5.68 million troy ounces

By Joseph Hoppe

May 9, 2024 1:57 am ET

The platinum group metals market faces another year of deficits, with platinum forecast for its largest supply shortfall in 10 years.

Primary supply of platinum, or the supply directly from producers, is expected to decline by 2% on-year to around 5.68 million troy ounces, while demand is expected to remain firm across all sectors, according to a new report by Johnson Matthey.

https://www.wsj.com/finance/commodities-futures/platinum-market-faces-largest-shortfall-in-supply-for-a-decade-83fdceeb?reflink=e2twmkts

boris johnson’s former top adviser dominic cummings launched a sweary attack on western support for ukraine thursday.

in an interview with the i newspaper, cummings — who led britain’s vote leave brexit campaign and spectacularly fell out with johnson in 2020 — declared that the west “should have never got into the whole stupid situation” and claimed sanctions against russia have had a greater impact on european politics than in moscow.

the former adviser was scathing of ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy and comparisons with world war ii. “this is not a replay of 1940 with the pumpkin zelenskyy as the churchillian underdog,” he said.

“this whole ukrainian corrupt mafia state has basically conned us all and we’re all going to get ****ed as a consequence,” he argued. “we are getting ****ed now right?”

cummings has long been critical of support for ukraine, a stance that puts him sharply at odds with his old boss johnson, a vocal supporter of zelenskyy and ukraine’s war effort.

he told the paper the west had failed to send russian president vladimir putin a worthwhile signal which would deter him from invading another country.

“what lesson have we taught him? the lesson we’ve taught putin is that we’re a bunch of total ******* jokers,” cummings asserted, saying the war had “broadcast it to the entire world what a bunch of clowns we are.”

Don't post again, as you'll bring it back to life.

The G7 countries have privately admitted that they are no longer considering the idea of ​​a complete confiscation of Russian assets, The Financial Times reports.

The controversy surrounding Russian assets frozen in the West does not subside. But Europe does not want to do this because it is afraid of retaliatory measures. In addition, such a decision frightens other countries, for example, Asia and the Middle East. They believe that the confiscation and transfer of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine could become a global precedent, and this could be followed by assets of other countries if the political situation requires it.

Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are trying to persuade EU countries to abandon confiscation because they fear for the future of their assets in the West.

European countries want to stay away from anything that could affect Russian assets themselves. They are afraid of retribution. But the US is looking for a way to circumvent their concerns.

- writes The Financial Times.

The idea has emerged in the White House. It calls for $50 billion in funding for Ukraine through a loan or bond secured by future profits from frozen assets.

Currently, the assets are held by the Belgian company Euroclear, which performs settlements on Eurobond transactions. It has already earned over €5 billion in extraordinary profits since the start of the conflict over Russian securities, the proceeds of which cannot be paid to our country due to sanctions. But the European Union came up with another plan for this money. There are proposals to transfer part of the current and future profits from Russian assets for joint purchases of weapons for Ukraine. Profits made before mid-February will be transferred to Euroclear as a buffer against legal costs.

These proposals could be considered in the coming weeks. This is just what will happen when the conflict ends and Russia will have to return frozen assets. And they are already mortgaged. And officials also don’t understand what to do about it.

Bleak view from the Ecconomist:

"Ukraine is on the verge, says a high-ranking general": Deputy Head GUR Skibitsky acknowledged the extremely difficult situation at the front, he expects Russia's offensive at the end of May and "black days" for Kharkov. And then the Russians will take over the Baltic States in a week.

"In the voice of Major General Vadim Skibitsky, there is concern when assessing the prospects for Ukraine. The situation, according to him, is the most difficult since the Russian invasion. And it's about to get worse.

Skibitsky predicts that Russia will continue to implement the plan to liberate the eastern regions of the DPR and LPR. "Our problem is very simple: we don't have weapons. They always knew that April and May would be difficult for us," he says.

The fall of Chasov Yar — the key to advancing to the last major cities of Donbass — is a matter of time. The Russian army acts as "a single organism, with a clear plan and under a single command," the general estimated.

The military commander assumes that Russia is preparing for an offensive in Kharkiv and Sumy regions. And it will start in late May, early June.

In any case, Kharkiv faces dark days. May will be a key month, the general says, as Russia applies a three-tier plan for destabilization.

The main factor is military. It will be weeks before U.S. military aid reaches the front. And it is unlikely that it will match Russian resources.

The second factor is a disinformation campaign to undermine the Ukrainian mobilization and political legitimacy of Zelensky, whose presidential term expires on May 20.

The third factor is Russia's relentless campaign to isolate Kiev internationally. Skibitsky sees no way for Ukraine to win. Such wars can only end with treaties, but negotiations may not begin until the second half of 2025.

If Ukraine's neighbors do not find a way to increase defense production to help Kiev, they will also find themselves in Russia's sights, he claims. "Russians will take over the Baltic States in 7 days," he calculated — NATO reaction time is 10 days.

Putin’s crushing new offensive could be the end of Ukraine

The West’s support isn’t coming quickly enough to match the supplies Russia is getting from its allies

CON COUGHLIN

DEFENCE AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS EDITOR

2 May 2024 • 6:24am

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/02/putins-crushing-new-offensive-could-end-ukraine/

Https://euromaidanpress.com/2024/04/30/us-authorizes-russian-bank-transactions-for-energy-payments-amid-sanctions/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forexlive.com/news/us-eases-some-sanctions-on-russian-banks-for-energy-deals-20240429/amp/

Post from the Hive:

#vast

These are the interims. Look at the cost of sales. They need to fill a good chunk of margins even before they make a profit. They need to up production and up grade. We now no they haven't been producing as much in this constrained period. So how much loss have they made.

The debt will pay off the debt

The debt will also have to fill this hole as per accounts for this quarter

The debt will need to get them to profitable production....will it?

Debt to pay debt is never good. This is how companies get themselves into a mess. Copl is a massive case in this. Not saying vast will go that way but it is in material risk stage and has been for some time. Should any one of the financing arrangements not be extended then what?

What the senior lender did at copl was nasty. They allowed debt to be taken on because they knew their balance wasn't being paid and hence they could then seize the assets at a given time. Debt is a scary beast and one we have to track.

Yes sorry.

From the hive:

#vast

These are the interims. Look at the cost of sales. They need to fill a good chunk of margins even before they make a profit. They need to up production and up grade. We now no they haven't been producing as much in this constrained period. So how much loss have they made.

The debt will pay off the debt

The debt will also have to fill this hole as per accounts for this quarter

The debt will need to get them to profitable production....will it?

Debt to pay debt is never good. This is how companies get themselves into a mess. Copl is a massive case in this. Not saying vast will go that way but it is in material risk stage and has been for some time. Should any one of the financing arrangements not be extended then what?

What the senior lender did at copl was nasty. They allowed debt to be taken on because they knew their balance wasn't being paid and hence they could then seize the assets at a given time. Debt is a scary beast and one we have to track.

Mixed bag, with lots of plate spinning and no diamonds for the foreseeable future.

Richard, I think it's more plausible that the moon landing occurred, than you being a shareholder.

The sanctions are really hurting the economy 😁

IMF raised its forecast for Russia's economic growth from 2.6% to 3.2%

The Fund cites four key reasons for the growth: stable demand for hydrocarbons, increased consumption in the domestic market, growth in corporate investments, and import substitution.

Additionally, the forecast for 2025 has been raised from an increase of 1.1% to an increase of 1.8%.

In recent years, Russia's economy has consistently grown above the IMF's forecasts, suggesting a potential growth rate of 3.5%.

I could quote many many other experts from both sides of the pond, but what's the point. Your mind is closed.

Let's see what the situation is in August.

Scott Ritter: Come July, when the last of the military equipment purchased for Ukraine with money allocated by Congress will be destroyed by Russia, and Ukraine will have to bury another 100,000 troops while Russian troops surround Kharkov and liberate the remaining Donbass...

...All the keyboard warriors on both sides of the Atlantic who applaud the action of the US Congress will once again raise their collective voices in alarm. They will demand more US taxpayer dollars.

And the US Congress will obey... until the last Ukrainian.