Mike Norman Economics

"It's a big club — and you ain't in it." (George Carlin.)Zero HedgeRussian Palladium And Platinum – Too Important To Sanction Ronan Manly, BullionStar.com

The upshot of this widely misunderstood maneuver of demanding payment in RUB is that payment is made to a Russian bank (Gazprom's bank) that is exempt from sanctions, so that when the payment clears, payment has been made to a bank that Russia controls instead of to a bank that Russia doesn't control. If the payment were made it into a non-Russian bank, it would arguably fulfill the contract but prevent Russia from being able to access the funds owing to sanctions. Thus, Russia would be...

End of quarter rotation so stocks went down bonds went up. Bull trend still intact. 

[embedded content]Not A Fool's Day in the New WorldAndrei Maranov, former USSR naval officer and expert on Russian military and naval issues

Sun Tzu, The Art of War:I-18. All warfare is based on deception.III-18. Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.On point one, from what I can see from where I sit, US and Western strategists were sucked in by Russian deception, failing to see what...

MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/. If gas buyers from unfriendly states refuse to pay for gas in rubles, Russia will view it as breach of contract, President Vladimir Putin said at the meeting on the situation in the aviation sector."If such [ruble] payments are not made, we will consider this to be the buyers’ failure to perform commitments with all ensuing implications," Putin said....TASS (Russian state media)Russia will view refusal of paying for gas in rubles as breach of contract —...

U.S.: India buying more crude from Russia could expose it to a "great risk" in light of more sanctions against Moscow.Kpler data: Indian purchases of Russian oil had jumped to an average daily of 360,000 barrels.Moscow and New Delhi finalized an alternative payments platformWhen national interest collides with geopolitics....OilpriceU.S. Warns India Against Buying More Russian OilIrina Slavhttps://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/US-Warns-India-Against-Buying-More-Russian-Oil.htmlSee alsoTASS...

Some signs of demand slowdown in oil. Is fiscal slowing, too. And, there's no such thing as QE and QT.

The Vineyard of the SakerRussian SMO in the Ukraine – Day 34http://thesaker.is/russian-smo-in-the-ukraine-day-34/Sitrep: That ‘bumbling’ presidential aide Medinsky …. amarynthhttp://thesaker.is/sitrep-that-bumbling-presidential-aide-medinsky/Ramzan Kadyrov speaking about the negotiations with Ukraine(closed captions available)http://thesaker.is/ramzan-kadyrov-speaking-about-the-negotiations-with-ukraine/A Son of the New American RevolutionRussia Mythology Dominates the U.S. MediaLarry C....

MOSCOW, March 30. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin informed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz regarding the decision to switch to payments for Russian gas in rubles, the Kremlin press service reported. The two leaders had a phone conversation on Wednesday."Vladimir Putin informed the Federal Chancellor on the subject of switching to payments for gas supplies in Russian rubles, in particular, for Germany. The change in the payment procedure is being introduced due to the fact that, in...