Mike Norman Economics

Sanctions do not have a decisive impact on economic growth in Russia, said Elvira Nabiullina. The head of the regulator spoke at a press conference with journalists today. “With regard to sanctions risks, geopolitical, we, of course, take this into account as one of the significant factors in forecasting the development of the economy. But I want to say that, in general, the economy is adapting to these sanctions, and we see that the growth rates are now close to potential. This factor...

When I first read this, I dismissed it as maybe being a bit of a conspiracy theory, but I have just come across another site which says something similar, that the CIA hasn't been happy with Macron, except it added that Israel wasn't happy with him either. I put this up for discussion, Peter Koenig is normally very good. He wonders if the powers that be wanted him removed. Come to think of it – NATO. Wasn’t it Emmanuel Macron, who called a few weeks ago for an independent European army? That...

The concept of Greater Eurasia has been discussed at the highest levels of Russian academia and policy-making for some time. This week the policy was presented at the Council of Ministers and looks set to be enshrined, without fanfare, as the main guideline of Russian foreign policy for the foreseeable future. President Putin is unconditionally engaged to make it a success. Already at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2016, Putin referred to an emerging “Eurasian...

Tom Frank aptly characterized the Bush appointees that completed the destruction of effective financial regulation as “The Wrecking Crew.” It is important, however, to understand that Bush largely adopted and intensified Clinton’s war against effective regulation. Clinton and Bush led the unremitting bipartisan assault on regulation for 16 years. That produced the criminogenic environment that produced the three largest financial fraud epidemics in history that hyper-inflated the real...

American media seems to be confused by the protests. Few seem to understand what protesters want, or even who they are. Some outlets describe protesters as Trump-like nationalists aligned with Marine Le Pen, others as antifa-style leftists aligned with Jean-Luc Melenchon. The marchers actually cut across all political lines, and if anything, both Le Pen and Melenchon are trying to attach themselves to something independent of them. Unifying factors seem to be hatred of Macron and a desire...

Building broad-based coalitions takes time, and for now, the Progressive International is just a website with some inspiring language and a video. Its membership is also very Eurocentric. But Varoufakis hopes it will blossom into a global movement that helps leftists create coherent platforms, policies, and parties to defeat the “nationalist international” masterminded by Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon.The logic is simple. Financiers have long had global networks; now,...

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Finally. Long time coming, but this is a very important development.

It seems she was not physically tortured in the strict sense of the word but her prolonged harsh and vindictive treatment waiting over five months for her repeatedly delayed trial amounted to ‘torture’. We do not know what interrogation techniques were used. We will be told one day. She was and is a political prisoner and has been treated like a terrorist. Politically aware Russians will remember this case with particular rage. No American imprisoned in Russia on whatever charge has ever...

I would be skeptical of this if I had not witnessed it in France and the United States in the past. In fact sort of behavior has a name in law enforcement and criminal justice. It's called "punitive" enforcement. On the one hand, it is mindset of some that join law enforcement, and it is also a result of a punitive culture in some departments that is at least condoned by superiors and supervisors. So, there are two factors operative. One is sadistic disposition, and the other is...