Letters to the Editor – 19/03 – Baffling economics, Ukraine crisis, Best of Twitter March 18, 2014 Baffling economics [Re: Economics baffles half the population, Monday] So 48 per cent of UK adults say they understand how the economy works. This seems high, given the management of the economy in the run-up to the Great Recession. Surely, the Treasury and the FSA would have done a better job if even 48 per [...]
Putin’s calculations make Ukraine escalation all too likely March 17, 2014 GETTING inside the thinking of Vladimir Putin is a daunting prospect at the best of times; and these aren’t the best of times. Yet doing so shows why a worst-case outcome just a few days ago suddenly seems entirely plausible. After the Crimean referendum, the thoughts ringing around Putin’s head go something like this: “I [...]
The sanction spiral: Russia and Europe may fall into recession July 21, 2014 A trade “tit-for-tat” would hit both sides extremely hard EVEN before the tragic Malaysia Airlines plane crash in Ukraine last Thursday (allegedly the work of Moscow-backed separatists), Russia was already reeling from the US’s tightening of the screws. The country’s Micex stock index tumbled 2.3 per cent to 1,440.63 last week after news that financial [...]
What you need to know before the open April 16, 2014 European bourses are expected to open higher today. After a very choppy day yesterday, US markets closed up, despite Russian claims that Ukraine’s “close to civil war”. Weak GDP data from China – growth slowed to 7.4 per cent in the first quarter – could add jitters to markets, though, but there's also UK unemployment [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 30 May 2014 May 29, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES John Mack steps down from Rosneft John Mack, the former chief executive of Morgan Stanley, is to step down from the board of Russia’s state-controlled oil group Rosneft. His move comes after the US Treasury department last month sanctioned Igor Sechin, Rosneft’s president, in connection with Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Mack dismissed the [...]
Referendum for Crimea spurned by G7 countries March 12, 2014 THE G7 nations will not accept the results of any referendum in Crimea, and has told the Russian government to halt its work on the vote, which is set to take place in three days. In a communique yesterday, the leaders from advanced economies said: “Any such referendum would have no legal effect. Given the [...]
There’s a cost to doing nothing in Ukraine March 3, 2014 IN RESPONSE to Russian forces entering the Crimea, the interim Ukrainian government called for UK and US intervention, invoking the undertakings we (and the French, and latterly Nato) gave to protect Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Yesterday, William Hague went to Kiev to tell the Ukrainians to their faces that we’re not coming – “no military options [...]
Why Western weakness stems from a failure to grasp Putin’s motives March 24, 2014 VLADIMIR Putin is having an easy time of it, precisely because the West is so at sea as to who he is and what he is trying to accomplish. The Russian President has painfully exposed our foreign policy elite’s schizophrenic tendencies, veering wildly between hysterical alarmism and useless gestures, both of which make the West [...]
Blame Europe’s 70 year holiday from history for the West’s terrible decline May 5, 2014 THE US public has had it with being the world’s policeman. An April 2014 NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that only 19 per cent wanted America to engage in a more activist foreign policy. Fully 47 per cent wished the US to conduct a less activist policy, a camp that has quadrupled in size over [...]
CNBC Comment: How to invest amid fresh market highs March 10, 2014 IF THERE’S a full-blown war, we sell. If there’s a semi-war or ongoing tensions, we keep buying.” Most of the discussions I’m currently having with my guests sound a lot like this. While war is no good for anyone, fears about Ukraine and Russia are perceived by most investors as isolated, and many simply aren’t [...]