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sanctions

Wednesday March 9, 2022

March 9, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 9, 2022

U.S. and U.K. ban Russian oil imports in huge escalation of sanctions

December 24, 2018

President Joe Biden said the U.S. will ban imports of Russian fossil fuels including oil, a major escalation of Western efforts to hobble Russia’s economy that will further strain global crude markets.

“The United States is targeting the main artery of Russia’s economy,” Biden said Tuesday in Washington. “We will not be part of subsidizing Putin’s war.”

The U.S. move will be matched in part by the U.K., which announced a ban on Russian oil imports on Tuesday, though it will continue to allow natural gas and coal from the country. Other European nations that rely more heavily on Russian fuels will not participate.

Russian oil made up about 3 per cent of all the crude shipments that arrived in the U.S. last year. When other petroleum products are included, such as unfinished fuel oil that can be used to produce gasoline and diesel, Russia accounted for about 8 per cent of 2021 oil imports, though those shipments have also trended lower in recent months.

Posted in: International, USA Tagged: 2022-09, Ali Khamenei, Ayatolla, blood, Boris Johnson, Iran, Joe Biden, Mohammed bin Salman, Nicolás Maduro, oil, Russia, sanctions, Saudi Arabia, UK, Ukraine, USA, venezuela, Vladimir Putin, world

Saturday February 26, 2022

February 26, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 26, 2022

Western powers have realised Russia is largely immune to sanctions

The war against Russia is one western countries want to fight with only economic sanctions, not guns.

February 20, 2014

Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, despite its long gestation and planning by Vladimir Putin and his supporters in the Kremlin, was supposed to end quickly once financial retaliation began. Yes, there would be military skirmishes on the ground, but little more than a few casualties were expected once a range of penalties began to bite.

The western powers have quickly realised that unless they are willing to fire the financial equivalent of a nuclear arsenal, Putin has made sure Russia is largely immune, at least in the short term.

Over a decade, Kremlin policy has carefully reduced domestic public and private sector debt and allowed the central bank time to build a war chest of foreign assets large enough to shore up the country’s finances for months, if not years.

This means that the sanctions put in place over the past couple of days by the EU, US, UK, Japan and Canada are unlikely to have any significant effect on the Russian economy or its financial stability.

Only the full package of measures used against Iran – shutting Russia out of the international payments system, Swift, while also banning purchases of Russian oil and gas – will do the trick.

July 18, 2018

As Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, the head of the European Centre for International Political Economy, said, Europe has allowed itself to become more integrated with Russia, while Russia has separated itself from Europe.

He said EU countries owned a combined €300bn of Russian assets that would be vulnerable to confiscation if a full-blooded financial war broke out. The UK owns billions more via firms such as BP, which has a near-20% stake in the Russian oil company Rosneft.

“Sanctions are one of the few options that European countries have in a conflict situation like this. If you disconnect North Korea or Iran from the international financial system, you do not expose yourself to that much damage.”

Speaking on BBC News, he added: “But while I don’t say it is impossible to envisage Russia being barred from the Swift system, it is a nuclear option that means you exterminate yourself along with your enemy.”

Swift (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) is the main secure messaging system that banks use to make rapid and secure cross-border payments, allowing international trade to flow smoothly.

It transmits trillions of dollars’ worth of deals every day, but is coming under pressure from a Chinese government-backed rival, Cips, which Russia could use to conduct its financial business deals supplemented by direct transactions with counterparties.

It is also possible for the G7 countries and EU to ban the purchase of Russian gas and oil, but commodities analysts agree that while there is spare capacity in oil markets to make up for the loss of Russian supplies with a price rise limited to $140 a barrel, there is no hope of boosting gas output to fill a gap created by a Russia ban.

Shortages would quickly force countries in Europe to ration gas and the price would be likely to rocket back to nine times normal levels, as seen before Christmas, stirring memories of the 1974 oil price shock. (The Guardian) 

 

Posted in: International Tagged: 2022-08, bombs, despot, dictator, invasion, Russia, sanctions, the west, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, war

Thursday August 18, 2016

August 17, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

2016-08-18Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday August 18, 2016

Elizabeth May could quit as Green Party leader this month

Elizabeth May says she could step down as Green Party leader later this month if her party doesn’t reconsider its decision to endorse a movement that calls for the boycott of Israel.

At its policy convention last weekend, Green Party members voted in favour of a resolution which, in part, said the party “supports the use of divestment, boycott and sanctions (BDS) that are targeted to those sectors of Israel’s economy and society which profit from the ongoing occupation of the OPT [occupied Palestinian Territories.]”

“I would say as of this minute I think I’d have real difficulties going not just to an election but through the next month,” May said in an interview with CBC Radio’s The House, set to air this Saturday morning on CBC Radio One.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay Ð Monday August 22, 2016

 August 22, 2016

“There are a lot of issues I want to be talking about with Canadians, and this isn’t one of them.”

May is headed to Nova Scotia for a family vacation, where she will seek their advice on her future as leader.

“I need to talk to my family and ask them what they think I should do,” May said. “You’re talking to a broken-hearted person who is trying to figure out the best way forward.”

After Green Party members endorsed the BDS movement, several prominent Jewish organizations denounced the move, with one leader saying he was “irate” with the party.

But another Jewish group was enthusiastic about the resolution brought forward by the Green Party’s justice critic, Dimitri Lascaris.

May — who opposes BDS — said she has been criticized as both a Zionist and an anti-Semite since it was adopted as official party policy.

“It’s horrible. You are caught between two very strong loud voices,” she said.

“I think it is wrong-headed for the party. It’s a very polarizing and divisive campaign.” (Source: CBC News)

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: boycott, Canada, divest, foreign, Green Party, high jump, Israel, leadership, Palestine, sanctions

Friday August 8, 2014

August 8, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Friday August 8, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday August 8, 2014

Russia retaliates after Canada imposes fresh sanctions, travel bans

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered restrictions on food imports to strike back at the U.S. and other countries that have imposed sanctions over the turmoil in Ukraine.

Saturday June 7, 2014The move came on the same day that Prime Minister Stephen Harper imposed fresh economic sanctions and travel bans on some Russian and Ukrainian individuals and groups.

The impact of Putin’s move on Canadian agricultural exports to Russia was not immediately known.

Tuesday April 29, 2014Canada exported $1.7 billion worth of goods to Russia in 2012, led by exports of food, including pork and crustaceans, according to a government of Canada report.

The Canadian Pork Council said it was monitoring the situation closely Wednesday.

Russia was expected to release a list of restricted or banned goods on Thursday.

The Canadian sanctions and bans come amid reports that Russia is massing thousands of troops along the Ukrainian border.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014The Canadian measures, aimed at some 19 people and 22 groups and banks, are similar to those imposed by the European Union and the United States a week earlier and come on top of previous sanctions by Canada.

Putin retaliated Wednesday by issuing an order that bans or restricts for a year the importation of agricultural produce, raw materials and food from countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia.

Russia was Canada’s 18th largest export destination in 2012, according to a federal government report called “Canadian Trade and Investment Activity: Canada-Russia.”

Russia is the third-largest market for Canadian pork exports, after China and the U.S.

Canadian pork producers, who have shipped $213 million worth of pork to Russia so far this year, said they’re monitoring events in Russia closely. (Source: Toronto Star)


 

This cartoon was posted to iPolitics.com.

Posted in: Uncategorized Tagged: Canada, diplomacy, Editorial Cartoon, pork, Russia, sanctions, Stephen Harper, Trade, Vladimir Putin

Tuesday April 29, 2014

April 29, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Tuesday April 29, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday April 29, 2014

Canada imposes new sanctions against Russia

Canada has imposed new economic sanctions on nine additional Russian individuals and two Russian banks.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the new sanctions in a statement released Monday. Travel bans will also be imposed on the nine Russians.

Tuesday March 25, 2014“Our Government has been very clear that any further intimidation or actions to de-stabilize the Ukrainian government will result in consequences,” the statement said.

“Until Russia clearly demonstrates its respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, Canada will continue to work with its allies and like-minded countries to apply pressure that will further isolate Russia economically and politically.”

CTV News has learned that six CF-18 fighter jets, which the Canadian government recently announced it would be contributing as part of a NATO operation in response to the crisis in Ukraine, will be stationed in Romania.

The planes, which will be leaving from CFB Bagotville on Tuesday, will be conducting Baltic air patrols.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014The new Canadian sanctions came on the same day the U.S. imposed sanctions on seven officials from the Russian government, along with 17 companies with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s associates.

The U.S. sanctions were levied in conjunction with the EU, which has frozen the assets of 15 individuals who are allegedly involved with fuelling volatility in eastern Ukraine. The EU has also imposed visa bans on the 15 individuals.

The White House said that Russia’s involvement in the recent violence in eastern Ukraine is indisputable, and the U.S. and its allies are prepared to consider deeper penalties if necessary.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014This is not the first round of sanctions Canada has imposed on Russian nationals and businesses.

In early April, Ottawa announced travel bans on Valery Medvedev, chair of the Sevastopol Electoral Commission, and the chair of the Crimean Electoral Commission Mikhail Malyshev. The government also imposed sanctions on Chornomornaftogaz, an oil and gas company in Crimea.

Tuesday June 18, 2013These sanctions follow earlier travel bans imposed on several senior Russian bureaucrats, and the expulsion of Russian diplomat Lt.-Col. Yury Bezler from the country in early April.

Russia has countered many of the Canadian sanctions with sanctions of its own. In March, Russia slapped entry bans on 13 Canadian lawmakers and officials, and last week Russia expelled a Canadian diplomat from the country.

Canada will be sending up to 500 people to Ukraine next month to help monitor the country’s presidential election. (Source: CTV News)

 

Posted in: Canada, International Tagged: bear, Canada, diplomacy, Editorial Cartoon, fish, Russia, sanctions, Stephen Harper, Ukraine
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