Russian Central Bank Preparing for SWIFT ‘Nuclear Option’

(Photo Credit: Ludvig12 via Creative Commons 4.0)

 

Smaller banks have been encouraged to establish secondary arrangements for processing bank card transactions.

Preparing for new U.S. sanctions “early next year” that will likely target Russia’s access to the SWIFT international banking system—something that was just described as a “nuclear option” against Moscow just earlier this week—the Bank of Russia has urged the country’s smaller banks to prepare for a “worst-case scenario.”

Prepare for a Chinese Maxi-devaluation

(Shutterstock)

 

The news is being dominated by breathless headlines about the new trade war between the U.S. and China. But this trade war has been brewing for years and came as no surprise to readers of my newsletter, Project Prophesy. In fact, the new trade war is simply a continuation of the currency wars that began in 2010.

I’ve warned for over a year that President Trump’s threats of tariffs should be taken seriously, while most of Wall Street discounted Trump’s talk as mere bluster. Now the trade wars are here as we expected, and they will get much worse before they are resolved.

Currency wars arise in a condition of too much debt and too little growth. Economic powers try to steal growth from their trading partners by devaluing their currencies to promote exports and import inflation.

Report: China has Stopped Buying U.S. Treasuries

 

While It’s Not Selling Them, Yet, It Reportedly Stopped Buying Them ‘Several Weeks Ago.’

Despite positive signs that Chinese President Xi Jinping may make a wink-and-nod concession to the U.S. overnight at the Boao Forum, a new report suggests China has already engaged its so-called “nuclear option.”

Report: China’s U.S. Treasuries are ‘Nuclear Option’

 

China’s State-Run Global Times Newspaper Declares Victory In The Trade War.

…

Reuters reports any effort to reduce its U.S. Treasury portfolio would “inflict significant harm on U.S. finances and global investors, driving bond yields higher and making it more costly to finance the federal government.” But, the report notes, China’s leverage with treasuries is only good for as long as it holds them—suggesting any threat it poses may be empty.

Italy Threatens EU With “Nuclear Option”: Give 200,000 Migrants EU Visas, Sending Them North

 

Two weeks after Italy reacted with anger to Austria’s deployment of troops and armored vehicles to the border between the two nations, while reactivating border controls at the Brenner Pass over concerns that Italy will be unable to handle the roughly 85,000 migrants and refugees who have entered the country so far in 2017, the Italian government has threatened to retaliate in way that assures an imminent migrant crisis as well as an escalation of tensions between the two EU nations.

According to The Times, an Italian minister and a senator have threatened to issue temporary EU visas to thousands of migrants in an effort to “resolve” Italy’s escalating migrant and refugee crisis, which would then allow the refugees to travel north. The move, which has been described as a ‘nuclear option,’ would allow the nearly 200,000 migrants currently stranded in Italy, to travel across Europe using a Brussels directive loophole.

EU prepares to unleash ‘NUCLEAR OPTION’ on Hungary: Brussels loses patience with Orban

The EU is considering removing Hungary’s voting rights [GETTY]

 

THE EUROPEAN UNION is considering the extraordinary step of stripping Hungary of its voting rights in Brussels following a “serious deterioration” in the country’s stance with the bloc.

MEPs last night voted heavily in favour of taking sanctions against the state for a “serious and persistent” breach in EU values including accepting migration quotas.

These sanctions could involve reducing voting rights for EU diplomats, known around Brussels as the “nuclear option”. 

Why Did Schauble Almost Use The “Nuclear Option” – Tim Geithner Explains

While a Greek (pre) deal in some format was largely expected this weekend (especially following the unprecedented humiliation of Greece that would allow the Troika to repay… the Troika) the biggest stunner from the past 48 hours was Schauble’s insistence (which as we subsequently learned had been coordinated with Merkel) that either Greece accepts draconian terms which will strip the country of its sovereignty, or it will suffer a 5 year “time out” from the Eurozone.

“The Collateral Has Run Out” – JPM Warns ECB Will Use Greek “Nuclear Option” If No Monday Deal

In Athens on Friday, the ATM lines began to form in earnest.

Although estimates vary, Kathimerini, citing Greek banking officials, puts Friday’s deposit outflow at €1.7 billion. If true, that would mark a serious step up from the estimated €1.2 billion that left the banking system on Thursday and serves to underscore just how critical the ECB’s emergency decision to lift the ELA cap by €1.8 billion truly was. “Banks expressed relief following Frankfurt’s reaction, acknowledging that Friday could have ended very differently without a new cash injection,” the Greek daily said, adding that the ECB’s expectation of “a positive outcome in Monday’s meeting”, suggests ELA could be frozen if the stalemate remains after leaders convene the ad hoc summit. Bloomberg has more on the summit:

Dorothea Lambros stood outside an HSBC branch in central Athens on Friday afternoon, an envelope stuffed with cash in one hand and a 38,000 euro ($43,000) cashier’s check in the other.

She was a few minutes too late to make her deposit at the London-based bank. She was too scared to take her life-savings back to her Greek bank. She worried it wouldn’t survive the weekend.

“I don’t know what happens on Monday,” said Lambros, a 58-year-old government employee.

Tokyo, Seoul hold ‘ugly’ nuclear option

Should Japan choose to go nuclear, it would only be a matter of months before an ICBM can be deployed. The technology, delivery systems and the material are all there. South Korea would likely have some roadblocks going nuclear, but shouldn’t be too far behind with help from neighbors who have the same security needs.

North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is undermining regional stability in Northeast Asia, with the present crisis on the Korean Peninsula again prompting the neighboring states into seriously reconsidering their national security policies. This is particularly the case for Japan, against which North Korea has deployed, or so it is widely believed, approximately 200 Nodong missiles.