Russian markets paying price for Georgia action-US

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: Reuters

Investors dumping Russian assets amid global financial turmoil combined with falling oil prices and Moscow's war with Georgia to form an especially toxic cocktail for local markets.

Democrat Sen. Chris Dodd, presiding over the Senate hearing, agreed that Russia was paying some real costs" for its behavior.

"If Russia does not reestablish a reputation as a country that abides by the rules at home and abroad, it may sacrifice ... its economic success," Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed treaties with South Ossetia and Abkhazia on Wednesday that committed Moscow to defend the breakaway regions from any Georgian attack.

Burns repeated the Bush administration's stance that there could be no "business as usual" with Russia until it keeps commitments to withdraw troops from Georgia.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/usDollarRpt/idUSN1752725820080917?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

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The Russians are not using taxpayer dollars to bail out?

[rayofreason]

1. Here are more details

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Russian markets stopped trading for a second day after emergency funding measures by the government failed to halt the biggest stock rout since the country's debt default and currency devaluation a decade ago.

The ruble-denominated Micex Stock Exchange suspended trading indefinitely at 12:10 p.m. after its index erased a 7.6 percent gain and plunged as much as 10 percent within an hour. The benchmark fell 17 percent yesterday, the biggest drop since Bloomberg started tracking the gauge in May 2001. The dollar- denominated RTS halted trading after similar declines.

The government yesterday injected $20 billion into the interbank lending market via central bank and Finance Ministry auctions in a bid to contain soaring borrowing rates as credit dried up in the wake of the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy. The one-day MosPrime overnight rate, a gauge for monitoring liquidity demand, leapt 25 basis points to a record 11.08 percent today.

The Finance Ministry attempted to stop the selloff by offering 1.13 trillion rubles ($44 billion) of budget funds to the country's three biggest banks, OAO Sberbank, VTB Group and OAO Gazprombank, for at least three months. That measure came as KIT Finance, a Russian brokerage, said it's in talks to find a buyer after failing to meet some financial obligations related to repurchase agreements.


Read the rest at - http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aIRza4.azeC4&refer=worldwide

[AlphaCentauri]

4. then the blame should fall on the international capital traffickers

[Hugin]

2. Okay, what's the excuse here guys?

You know... That other country? The one that supposedly elected you.

Forget the wag-the-dog charade and focus on the U.S.

[orwell]

5. Absolutely...

...Pardon me but this article is crap. Chris Dodd should know better. This is all about the global credit meltdown and the collapse of oil prices. The Russian financial system is also rife with crony capitalism of an even greater degree than their role model - the United States.

Ths US needs to get over itself and take care of it's own house of cards, which I would argue is at the core of the global meltdown. Most of these exotic turned toxic financial products got their start here in the wood veneered boardrooms of the likes of Lehman, Bear, Goldman, Merril, AIG, and Morgan Stanley. The godfathers of all this mess are Phil Gramm, Alan Greenspan, Ronald Reagan, and the rest of the Capitalist Taliban known as the Republican Party.

The Russians came late to the party but are drinking from the same punchbowl.

In the words of a fine American..."The chickens are coming home to roost..."

[Xipe Totec]

3. I guess that explains the 300 point drop in the DJIA today

:eyes:

[Xipe Totec]

8. Did I say 300? I meant 449. nt

[bemildred]

6. And US markets are paying the prices for electing Bush. Twice. nt

[TomClash]

7. What bullshit

This is tied directly to the global financial and economic crisis.