Russia Tentatively Approves Ban on Dollar, Euro.

The Associated Press (via the Yahoo News link provided) is reporting today that Russia's State Duma voted 375 to 2 with 1 abstention to ban stores, restaurant and other businesses from pricing goods and services in dollars or euros. They also voted unanimously to remove any mention of the dollar or the euro in offical Government discourse and information. Measures have also been put in place to make the Ruble fully convertible by July 1st.



This move comes on the heals of Russia's announcement to establish a Ruble denomiated oil exchange. They have recently announced that the exchange will begin trading on June 8th and will trade not just oil and oil products but gold also! (interesting in itself)

All of these measures are part of Putin's "Innovation Economy" agenda announced during his May 10 State of the Nation address.

Putin pushes for convertible ruble, innovation economy

MOSCOW, May 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin called Wednesday for work on making the national currency convertible to be completed, oil and gas to be traded in rubles on a domestic exchange, and an innovation-based economy.

In his annual state of the nation address before both houses of parliament, ministers and reporters, the president also said human rights and freedoms had to be upheld to ensure economic growth and corruption had to be eradicated for the good of the nation.

Putin said work on making the national currency fully convertible should be completed by July 1, almost six months ahead of the original January 1, 2007 deadline.

In an effort to promote the national currency, the president called for the establishment of a ruble-denominated oil and natural gas stock exchange in Russia.

"The ruble must become a more widespread means of international transactions. To this end, we need to open a stock exchange in Russia to trade in oil, gas, and other goods to be paid for in rubles," he said.

This move today to establish a "Ruble Only Society" is designed to prepare people to accept a stronger ruble and to help make it a strong currency. Remember, a currency's value is based on nothing more than people's faith in it (applies to all fiat currencies).

After all the dithering by Iran in establishing it's Euro based oil exchange, Norway's call for such a bourse in Europe and Venezuela's recent musings about setting one up, it looks like they will all be beaten to the punch by Russia.

The attacks on the dollar are coming from all sides. How much inflation can the US economy take to prop up the dollar? When the housing bubble pops it's going to get ugly. Helicopter Ben has two choices right now, keep raising interest rates to support the dollar and risk imploding the national economy, with repercussions around the world, or let the dollar slide, with repercussions around the world. Neither scenario is rosy.

Is seems that Petrodollar Warfare is breaking out everywhere you look. I bet the Plunge Protection Team is working hard these days.
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Related News Links:
RTS Bourse to Start Trading Oil, Oil Products, Gold on June 8
Norwegian Bourse Director Wants Oil Bourse - Priced in Euros
Venezuela Considers Selling Oil in Euros

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Russia to trade oil in rubles - a new threat to the dollar

edit: link fix & title tweak

[edit on 5/24/2006 by Gools]

One more angle.

The fact that they are ensuring the convertibility of the ruble might mean that Russian people will soon be "encouraged" to trade in their dollars and euros for rubles. Keep an eye out for this as a next step.

Another recent development against the dollar are the moves by China, Japan and South Korea towards an Asian Common Currency:

Asian Finance Ministers Seek Common Currency

The New York Times
May 5, 2006

HYDERABAD, India, May 4 — Finance ministers from China, Japan and South Korea announced tentative steps on Thursday to coordinate their currencies in ways that could ultimately produce a common regional currency like the euro.

South Korea, Japan and China will "immediately launch discussions on the road map for the system to coordinate foreign exchange policy," the ministers said in a joint statement. "We agreed on further study of related issues, including the usefulness of regional currency units."

Although an Asian monetary union is a distant goal, the Asian Development Bank has been pushing the idea of an Asian currency unit, or A.C.U., over the past year. The unit's value would be set by an index of participating currencies.

The idea has gained popularity among several Asian finance ministers as a step toward harmonizing regional monetary policies.

Some people believe the supremacy of the US dollar is forever... see you in the soup line.
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Well, hopefully, it will help bolster the Russian economy. Its about time Russia started seeing some improvement in their situation. they have the resources to do it. An independant, strong Russia, free of U.S. or E.U. influence can be a good healthy balancing thing for the world, and, believe it or not, if we work it right, a benefit for the U.S. Competition during the cold war was good for the U.S. on many fronts, but the problem was it was a dangerous game played with WMDs and impending war.

If Russia could become an economic superpower in its own right, such a thing might help bring some semblance of order and direction to the U.S. economic community, and spur us into an economic challenge with Russia that the goal isn't destruction of either power, but to improve, create, strive, and out do each other in more peaceful theaters.

Think I'll skip the soup line--you can have it all to yourself.

There is no question the dollar is coming under increasing pressure worldwide and primarily because of two factors. One, U.S. deficit spending puts a constant and significant downward pressure on the dollar. It doesn't help that our trade balances are skewed in the wrong direction, or that the rate of savings by Americans is amongst the lowest in the world, but those factors would mean little if we were running surpluses instead of deficits. Two, The Chinese Yuan is so undervalued (about 35%) and we do such an enormous volume of business with the Chinese that relative exchange rates weaken the dollar. If the value of the two currencies were allowed to float, a balance would be reached that would strengthen the dollar (relatively).

The probability of the U.S. ceasing deficit spending in the short term is negligible; therefore, the dollar will grow weaker and weaker over time. There is a stronger probability of the Yuan increasing in value, but not to it's true market rate--if it did so, China's economic growth would be slowed significantly and the Chinese leadership is not inclined to let that happen.

If the U.S. can substantially disengage from Iraq this year (and not get involved in another significant military adventure), the dollar can begin to heal fairly rapidly. Whether or not it can come all the way back to it's former glory is doubtful though. We import far too much high priced oil for that to happen.

Well what about Iran opening its oil bourse?
This is suppose to happen in the next few weeks.
If it does the dollar is going to plunge hard.
The USD has had a rally in the last 2 weeks, but its still under its 200 and 50 day MA, and just breaking thru its 20 day. The market has been so unstable the last couple of weeks any sort of news will cause the dollar to fall, we are in a fragile state, tread carefully.


Link to Story
Link to USD Index Chart

[edit on 24-5-2006 by redbrotherqing]

I think I threw up a little bit in my mouth.

This is just the start... coming soon: The Long Depression! America will tear itself apart, as planned, and the world will begin a new age of Peace and shared power. I didn't think it would happen, I didn't see this coming, Russia is going to win the
cold war after all...Because of GWB! We would never have gotten into this mess if Al Gore, who rightfully won the election, was the president the past 6 years! This
just stinks of nWo set-up. Lowering Taxes while a pro-longed period of Record low Interest Rates...there was going to be inflation anyway, now that all of these foreign countries are going to dump their forex reserves that money is going to hit the american economy and cause hyper inflation overnight! How could they have been so STUPID? They wouldn't have...its a set-up!

The destruction of America was planned long ago...I think I am going to be sick.


Seperate Issue: I am not mad at Vladamir Putin for doing this...infact he should be Times Man of the Year for restoring Russia's Economy...he's doing the right thing for Russia...but this is going to hit America "where it hurts" the bottom line!

If Iran starts trading in Euro's or some other basket of currencies rather than the dollar, the dollar will not plunge and drive the U.S. into a depression. I don't know where that particular bit of wisdom came from, but it is incorrect. The value of the dollar will undoubtedly fall somewhat, but it needs to do that anyway as it is over valued right now thanks to the Japanese, Chinese, et al buying massive quantities of T-Bills. The Chinese have already ceased their huge purchases so as not to get caught short down the road. Deficit spending is weakening the dollar just as surely as if the government was simply printing more & more money--which it is not doing. Tax reductions, housing, and defense spending have served to keep the economy robust & fairly strong, but it cannot continue to absorb the cost of the war in Iraq on credit indefinitely. At some point the piper must be paid.

[edit on 25-5-2006 by Astronomer70]

Excellent contribution.

The people that are out there crying IMMINENT DOOM OH NOEZS!!! need to get back in touch with reality and go outside- take a deep breath.

This isn't the end of the world in the U.S. We aren't all going to be in soup lines next week. This is a much slower, more involved process than just experiencing the dollar hyper-inflate because investors get scared.

With that said - without any intelligent correction measures in fiscal policy by our government, we are going to see a slide into depression and our economy is going to be hurt -

Know your enemy:
www.mercantilechina.com...
Venezuela and China target the dollar
Iran bourse
www.pekingduck.org...
Global Economy and energizing new war
www.atimes.com...
Showdown: Why China wants war with the United States

It is not going to be any single action, by any single nation, that will bring down the U.S. position of global supremacy. But its foolish, and irresponsible to believe that the combined factors of large parts of the world turning away from America in banking and fiscal policy would not seriously affect our way of life.

We're not in the best of shape, and trade deficits, a declining manufacturing base combined with foreign ownership of T-bills and infrastructure put us on precarious grounds.

The amnesty program being fast-tracked through Congress?

Ignore the "mexican" spin on it - think about what it would do to YOUR salary if companies are able to LEGALLY bring in "guest" workers from India, China - anywhere and pay them HALF your salary for the same work. Then when their visa expires, they are replaced with the same level of person.

It's not a "Mexican" thing - this amnesty program could undermine the wage structure of the United States work force. Add that in with a dollar that can buy less and less, fewer jobs and economic collapse of sections of the economy, and foreign countries dumping their dollar reserves and you get a pretty ugly picture being painted.

Originally posted by Astronomer70
If Iran starts trading in Euro's or some other basket of currencies rather than the dollar, the dollar will not plunge and drive the U.S. into a depression. I don't know where that particular bit of wisdom came from, but it is incorrect.

The value of the dollar will undoubtedly fall somewhat, but it needs to do that anyway as it is over valued right now thanks to the Japanese, Chinese, et al buying massive quantities of T-Bills. The Chinese have already ceased their huge purchases so as not to get caught short down the road. Deficit spending is weakening the dollar just as surely as if the government was simply printing more & more money--which it is not doing. Tax reductions, housing, and defense spending have served to keep the economy robust & fairly strong, but it cannot continue to absorb the cost of the war in Iraq on credit indefinitely. At some point the piper must be paid.

It isn't just Iran, it's that many other nations that supply oil are starting to trade in currencies other than the dollar. Together, they are already weakening the dollar, it's been falling more since the announcement of the Iranian oil bourse. Forbes is predicting some tough times ahead for America.

As to not printing more money, they actually are. They've been printing more and more money for quite awhile now, so much so that now they don't print the M3 any more. This is what causes inflation, printing too much currency with nothing to back it.

America has made many enemies around the world with our imperialist actions. Now they want to see us fall, or at least fall from our superpower status. I think they are afraid of us, they feel we're too erratic. What better way to take down a country than ensuring that their currency becomes close to worthless? No war, no bloodshed and no one has to pay for any expensive wars.

The United States is not at fault because of this, nor is this move "just to strenghten the economy of some countries".

For a while now myself and at least one other member have been talking about this alliance between Russia and other Asian countries, and if any of you would have been listening to what other nations have been saying, you would realize that this has been the plan for a long time, to weaken the image of the United States, weaken our economy and create a new superpower, or a coalition of powers, since most of these countries couldn't do it by themselves.

Iraq was one of those ways in which the United States was going to be dragged down this road, and there was no way to stop it, because those same countries made it possible for Iraq to be a threat, and some of them themselves, such as Russia, were providing a lot of the evidence which would make the leaders of the free world see the threat that Saddam and his regime was.

Now the new threat is Iran, and if you listen to some of the rhetoric given by the Iranian president, even he seems to know what the ultimate goal is, the weakening of the United States economy, and the destruction of the image of the United States.

But of course, there is only one "evil empire" right?...

If there ever was a "New World Order" and a "one World Government" this is the way it will come.

But as some of us in here can see, most of you have been lured in without your knowledge, or maybe some of you knew, but didn't care. You were too busy trying to blame everything on the United States, Israel and the few allies the U.S. really has.

[edit on 25-5-2006 by Muaddib]

I read Russian sources on this and I assure you that this is just another meaningless peace of legislation that the criminal circus known as the Duma passed in their usual manner of trying to look patriotic and busy. The word "patriotic" was used expressely in some interviews with the "lawmakers".

If someone tells me that that Russians will use roubles instead of a mix of dollars and euro, as their de-facto reserve currency, I'll be loughing out loud.

A couple of short observations here.

Recently, a news site had a photo of a basket being used to collect cash donations from Palestinians in the Gaza strip. I was interested to see that the majority of the paper bills appeared to be American greenbacks. Hmmm.

How 'bout the less than legal fortunes that have been created or stolen and are now socked away in American dollars? What kind of influence could the holders of that money bring to bear? Anything significant?

Originally posted by Muaddib
For a while now myself and at least one other member have been talking about this alliance between Russia and other Asian countries, and if any of you would have been listening to what other nations have been saying, you would realize that this has been the plan for a long time, to weaken the image of the United States, weaken our economy and create a new superpower, or a coalition of powers, since most of these countries couldn't do it by themselves.

The US demopublican leadership is complicit in this effort to weaken the US and to create a new super power. The patriot act is all about creating a US society that is more regulated in manner similar to EU countries and the point of a new super power is to create an external bogeyman to play on the fears of americans. Im greatly amused at the ignorance that is displayed by the "faux patriots" that are constantly critical of the EU governments while being supporters of the "patriot act" legislation that is being used to bring about the EU styled society that they purport to despise.


[edit on 25-5-2006 by df1]

Originally posted by df1
The US demopublican leadership is complicit in this effort to weaken the US and to create a new super power. The patriot act is all about creating a US society that is more regulated in manner similar to EU countries and the point of a new super power is to create an external bogeyman to play on the fears of americans. Im greatly amused at the ignorance that is displayed by the "faux patriots" that are constantly critical of the EU governments while being supporters of the "patriot act" legislation that is being used to bring about the EU styled society that they purport to despise.

Wrong!!!

The United States has not been the country which has threatened to get rid of US$... It has been countries like Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, etc, etc...

If you are going to tell us that the United States is complicit with those countries, you are obviously out of your mind...

The moneyed class have no allegiance other than to themselves.

The US FED, other central banks and the BIS (the central bank of central banks) are not government institutions. They are private and look out for the moneyed interest.

What makes you think they are all Americans?

There's an economic war raging being fuled by the need to assert power and control over energy supplies in case you haven't noticed.
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Maudibb do you ever stop to question why more then a quarter of the world is systematically working together to target and either destroy, or severely weaken our economy? Do you honestly believe that the US is the one and only ray of light on the globe (along with Istrael and some of Europe)? Do you think that all of these nations are evil and attacking us because they are jealous? Perhaps it is they who are deciding to take over the world perhaps?

Seriously, why do you believe these nations are attacking our economy?

No doubt this has been a goal for a long time. I'm not sure about planning it all along, just waiting for the right conditions to present themselves and wait for age-old fundamentals to kick in.

It takes time for a strategy to come together. Russia was bankrupted to lose the cold war by lowering oil and gold prices (Russia's two main sources of fiscal security). Chalk one up for the 'good guys" I guess.

Out of chaos ...order.

I don't look at China and Russia an a mortal enemies, they're just two more big dogs playing in the yard to this Canadian. I don't recall China calling itself an "enemy" of the United States and the Russians played cold war as well as we did.

The rallying point for the bipolar world now emerging is energy security.

It's always fundamentally about resources but they use ideology to pull us along. The world production of oil has been relatively stagnant at 85 Mbd since the beginning of the year with demand growing. China's economy grew by double digits this past quarter alone. If only 20% of Chinese society were to live the consumer way of life then we have another European or US sized economy establishing itself in the world.

The Russians are strategic energy suppliers to both Europe and China. Sitting on top of all that oil and gas with two hungry world class customers needing what you have is a good motivator for making allies and flexing some muscle in the face of it's long time nemesis.

I have noticed who is buying gold, who is dumping or threatening to dump dollars, and who is making noise around energy issues. Did you notice who is selling the gold? There is a major wealth transfer of historic proportions underway. You have England (not a Euro country) and the US on one side, and you have China and Russia leading Asia (minus Japan) on the other, and both have their eyes on Iran.

China and Russia have negotiated deals with the Iranians. The US has chosen to rattle nuclear sabres.

I've been saying for over a year that Iran and the Middle East are not the end game. China is, and Russia is just playing a supporting role.

May you live in interesting times.
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OutFront
A Word From A Dollar Bear
Robert Lenzner and Daniel Kruger , 01.10.05

Warren Buffett's vote of no confidence in U.S. fiscal policies is up to $20 billion.
The dollar has fallen savagely against the euro for the past three years, and the trade deficit is running $55 billion a month. Is the currency rout over? Can the trade deficit be fixed with a rise in interest rates or an upward revaluation of the Chinese currency? Warren Buffett, the world's most visible dollar bear, says the answer to both these questions is no. His bet against the dollar, reported at $12 billion in his last annual report (for Dec. 31, 2003), has gotten all the bigger. Now his Berkshire Hathaway has a $20 billion bet in favor of the euro, the pound and six other foreign currencies.

Link to article

My point is that Warren Buffet knows his stuff. This article is over a year old and look what has happened to the dollar since then....

Money's allegiance is to those that will increase it's wealth. I have been investing mostly in China, seeing my money double this year alone.

[edit on 27-5-2006 by redbrotherqing]

Go Russia!!!!!! Deny Dollars and Euros. Keep the tradition of the ruble. Don't get Americanized or Europenized. Go Russia!!!!!!!!!

Whether right, wrong, or indifferent, capitalism is not-so-slowly beginning to dominate the world. Greed is such a fundamental human trait that one should really expect nothing else. Capitalism however breeds individualism which seems to fare better under democratic governments than elsewhere. So, to complete the thought, as Russia, India, China, Indonesia, etc. become more successful economically, they also become more democratic. Countries like China which seem to let the democratic process get a foothold for economic reasons and then try to contain & control it are in for a hard time. Perhaps China can pull this delicate balancing act off successfully, but if so, they will be the first to do so.

The prospect of China and India becoming the dominant economic powerhouses of the world does not therefore, frighten me very much, for by the time they reach that level they won't be very different from Europe or the U.S./Canada or any of the other major players in the world.