Obama Sanctions Banks of Russian Oligarchs. This could escalate quickly.

These kind of things hit hard. Especially between fellow superpowers. This isn't like Obama sanctioning The Iranian Bank during their feud. This goes beyond flexing muscles. It's the difference between your girl cheating on you, and her cheating on you with your biggest nemesis.

It's on a grand scale. A global one. Everyone is staring at them for a response.

Russia is hurting for money. They have in the last two days warned Russian Billionaire to pay taxes at home, and also assumed a debt of Crimea's to the tune of 16 billion for Ukraine to pay ASAP.

Say what you want about Obama being a pacifist or smoke-blower. But this swipe of the pen will have a ripple effect that will force Putins hand. Those Russian billionaires will start pushing for Putins head soon. First he demands they move their companies to Russian land and start paying the motherland taxes, and now this.

He may not take shirtless horseback rides across the steppes, or have a black belt in judo, but on Thursday, President Obama sent a message to Russian president Vladimir Putin about strength. Specifically, economic strength.

The message was this: Whenever I decide to, I can pick up a pen, and kill a significant financial institution in your country.

Related: Does Putin Want to Carve Up Ukraine and Take the Spoils?

Obama’s victim was the St. Petersburg-based Bank Rossiya.

In response to Russia’s takeover of the Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, Obama yesterday authorized the Treasury Department to add 20 members of Putin’s inner circle, as well as Bank Rossiya, to the Office of Foreign Asset Control’s list of “specially designated nationals.”

The designation makes the individuals named ineligible to do business with U.S. financial institutions, which is likely a major personal inconvenience. But for Bank Rossiya, the designation is something like the kiss of death.


Bank Rossiya is not the largest bank in Russia by a long shot, but its significance lies in its clientele rather than its size. In announcing the sanctions, the Treasury Department noted that Bank Rossiya “is the personal bank for senior officials of the Russian Federation” including members of the Ozero Dacha Cooperative, an exclusive community where members of Putin’s inner circle live. In addition, it provides financial services to the single largest segment of the Russian economy – the oil, gas, and energy sector.

Essentially, this is a credit union for oligarchs, with a side business in financing the Russian energy industry. Its customers include many more high-profile Russians than just those named in the Treasury statement. As of Thursday it is, for all intents and purposes, out of business.

Related: How Vladimir Putin Is remaking a New World Order

If account holders want to do any kind of business at all short of paying their utility bills and using Russian ATMs, they are going to need to go elsewhere, said experts.

“They’ve got to go to another bank,” said Lester M. Joseph, former principal deputy chief of the Department of Justice’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering section. “That bank is pretty much a pariah.”

Currently the international investigations manager at Wells Fargo Bank, Joseph said when heard about the sanctions on Bank Rossiya, the first thing he did was check to see if it was a customer of his institution. “It is not, thankfully,” he said.

The impact doesn’t stop there, Joseph explained. His next step, which is ongoing, is to see if any banks that Wells Fargo has relationships with are also doing business with Bank Rossiya, and to make sure that none of those banks are routing transactions from the Russian bank through Wells Fargo’s system. “If a transaction from that bank is coming from another bank, we would have to block it,” he said.

If this is a chess game. I believe we just put Putin in check.

He is going to HAVE to appease the motherland billionaires somehow. How?

I know there are those that will see it otherwise.

Nonetheless, it's open for discussion.

Link

AAC

Oh. Wow.

I don't quite know how to take this.

Do you think Putin will take military action because of this? What would be to gain?

Thanks for posting :-)

Obama is gonna get us all killed over something we should have stayed out of .
We cannot keep telling the rest of the world what to do , we already have enough problems that our government can't or wont fix or attempt to fix, we are loosening our place at the top , we don't have the respect that we once had .
What is to become of the people that actually make this country and for what...because our leaders can't mind their business and can't be bothered with what people want or need at home . Things are getting way out of hand and when do we cross the point of no return if we haven't already .

reply to post by JHumm


I couldn't agree more. This is uncalled for. What is he hoping to accomplish? Either there is more than we know going on here, or Obama is seriously overstepping bounds.

obama has to get germany some payback gold from somewhere...
or
when in total recession: start war
maybe its both
and remember Putin tosses the zionist oligarchs out and when they say jump
Obama doesn't even ask how high...he just starts jumping as high as he can

btw thats american soldiers and the civvie population he is leveraging on this play
ultimately for the benefit of some banker fraudsters

JHumm
Obama is gonna get us all killed over something we should have stayed out of .
We cannot keep telling the rest of the world what to do , we already have enough problems that our government can't or wont fix or attempt to fix, we are loosening our place at the top , we don't have the respect that we once had .
What is to become of the people that actually make this country and for what...because our leaders can't mind their business and can't be bothered with what people want or need at home . Things are getting way out of hand and when do we cross the point of no return if we haven't already .

so this is financial war and not a conventional war as such...yet

I just hope Russia doesn't find an ally in China soon and they both start chopping away at the Dollar.

I really don't know where they could go from here. It's too aggressive IMHO.

Sure, if Russia started moving west through Ukraine, maybe. But not like this.

AAC

hopenotfeariswhatweneed

JHumm
Obama is gonna get us all killed over something we should have stayed out of .
We cannot keep telling the rest of the world what to do , we already have enough problems that our government can't or wont fix or attempt to fix, we are loosening our place at the top , we don't have the respect that we once had .
What is to become of the people that actually make this country and for what...because our leaders can't mind their business and can't be bothered with what people want or need at home . Things are getting way out of hand and when do we cross the point of no return if we haven't already .

so this is financial war and not a conventional war as such...yet

I would think the targeted oligarchs are arms or related manufacturers, or business competition for obamas backers, so this probably strikes a little deeper then might be obvious

Danbones

hopenotfeariswhatweneed

JHumm
Obama is gonna get us all killed over something we should have stayed out of .
We cannot keep telling the rest of the world what to do , we already have enough problems that our government can't or wont fix or attempt to fix, we are loosening our place at the top , we don't have the respect that we once had .
What is to become of the people that actually make this country and for what...because our leaders can't mind their business and can't be bothered with what people want or need at home . Things are getting way out of hand and when do we cross the point of no return if we haven't already .

so this is financial war and not a conventional war as such...yet

I would think the targeted oligarchs are arms or related manufacturers, or business competition for obamas backers, so this probably strikes a little deeper then might be obvious

i have no doubt you are correct...this will escalate quickly

reply to post by AnAbsoluteCreation


Russia and China are well on their way to ending the dollar as the world currency, so pretty much all they have to work out is will it be replaced with Russia or Chinese currency. Either way the Dollar is soon to be dead as the default .
What that means for us is unclear but I don't see sunshine and rainbows in our future .
They don't need the USA and it is showing that they can and will thrive without the west and if Obama keeps stirring the pot it doesn't end well .

Another note...

Obama stands behind the people of Ukraine to have their rights and at the same time steps all over his own people's rights anytime he sees fit to do so .

WTF??

Actually, having just given up my cable TV, the whole USELESS exchange between the U.S. and russia over a FORMER WARSAW PACT member is pretty entertaining all by itself! I mean, watching the commies in the white house and senate and congress moaning and groaning about the commies in the kremlin and the ukraine? It's more riveting than oh, I don't know, real housewives of Kiev? All I know is, this little "incident" in Europe will just be another shining star in his lord and majesty Oh-boo-boos STELLAR legacy as POTUS ! Best way to respond to the ukraine and russia? SILENCE. Works on spolied brats acting up every time. Better yet? Let the Europeans handle it. Last time I looked, the places that are in turmoil are mostly near or around Europe. The U.S., not so much! Instead of "Escalate" try thinking of the word "Fester", it is so much more appropriate in this regard. An infection filled with pus, guess government is the same everywhere after all.

reply to post by tencap77


The truth is that subsurface special interest are pushing this agenda. Any president would be caught in this mess. The potus is taking orders from a collective group, that much I'm sure.

Come on, what does Obama care about Ukraine?

AAC.

reply to post by AnAbsoluteCreation

Has everyone forgotten Cyprus already? We were pacified on that one when it came out that it was Russian mobster's money that got stolen. No big deal right?
Folks better wake up and realize that all inhabitants of this earth have a common enemy known as the IMF/World Bank, and if even one more revolution takes place, it needs to be worldwide and against these people that are corrupting our governments rather than our governments themselves.
Russia seems to get it, when are the rest of us going to?

Our current set of politicians are bent on lowering our life expectancy by decades..

It looks like those globalist bankers are becoming bolder and bolder, and greedier (if greedier is even possible). Exercising power is probably what it is about, more than money..

It's not chess.

It's Chinese Checkers.

In more ways than one.

AnAbsoluteCreation
I just hope Russia doesn't find an ally in China soon and they both start chopping away at the Dollar.

They will, believe you me, they will.

In fact, they are planing it for a while now, not that US government doesn't deserve it.

Too bad people always suffer. It is always the peasant, poor peasant that gets flogged.

Gosh, I sure do hope the US government is bringing in plenty of tax revenues to fund yet another long drawn out pissing contest...

Because I suspect Putin wouldn't think twice to put his own country into full blown bankruptcy right down to their last ruble, if it meant showing Obama where his dinner hangs.

ZincMag

AnAbsoluteCreation
I just hope Russia doesn't find an ally in China soon and they both start chopping away at the Dollar.

They will, believe you me, they will.

In fact, they are planing it for a while now, not that US government doesn't deserve it.

Too bad people always suffer. It is always the peasant, poor peasant that gets flogged.

It's going to be a tough ride even if not even one suitcase goes off, now. The stage has been set for the fiat rug to be pulled out from under the IMF, and they're going to lose a lot of the action between the BRICs as a direct near-field result.
That and with the US being fresh out of friends the last fifteen or so years, Russia and China calling up the IOU's is going to be our rock crusher.
If anything is a wake up call waking up hungry should get us Americans awake...

The UK has gone the opposite way and has done all it can to protect Russian investors in the UK.

Russians own a significant part of London and have been investing heavily....London wont be doing the same as Barry.

Soon the US will find its isolating itself..

You dont have to look for problems..they come without being called.