Russia’s National Card Payment System is Alternative to Western Counterparts – Medvedev

GORKI (Moscow Region), June 18 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s national card payment system is not being created to counteract foreign counterparts, but as a reasonable alternative to them, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday.

“The national card payment system should give consumers more opportunities to choose, and in fact, most importantly, the idea is not to struggle against foreign systems, this is wrong and in fact a violation of competitive principles. This is a kind of a reasonable alternative to foreign systems, including the famous and most popular ones like Visa and MasterCard,” Medvedev said at a meeting on establishing the national card payment system.

France Is Heading For The Biggest Economic Train Wreck In Europe

“The emotional side of me tends to imagine France, like the princess in the fairy stories or the Madonna in the frescoes, as dedicated to an exalted and exceptional destiny. Instinctively I have the feeling that Providence has created her either for complete successes or for exemplary misfortunes. Our country, as it is, surrounded by the others as they are, must aim high and hold itself straight, on pain of mortal danger. In short, to my mind, France cannot be France without greatness.

– Charles de Gaulle, from his memoirs

Recently there have been a spate of horrific train wrecks in the news. Almost inevitably we find out there was human error involved. Almost four years ago I began writing about the coming train wreck that was Europe and specifically Greece. It was clear from the numbers that Greece would have to default, and I thought at the time that Portugal would not be too far behind. Spain and Italy clearly needed massive restructuring. Part of the problem I highlighted was the significant imbalance between exports and imports in all of the above countries.