Something is going-on in Russia

[PeoViejo]

I've been watching the value of the Russian Rouble's value decreasing in value ever since the Russians annexed Crimea. I used the price of Gold as a benchmark reference to determine if something else was going-on, like Russian Citizens trying to convert the Rouble into Gold, which would increase demand for the metal, thus increasing the cost. Then, about 2AM NY Time there was a sudden jump in activity. It went from relatively stable to crazy within Minutes and hasn't stopped. Something is making them panic. You can see the trend here:

http://www.kitco.com/gold_currency/index.html?currency=rub&timePeriod=d&flag=gold&otherChart=no

If you compare it to other currencies, it appears the issue is a Russian one, and not a general trend.

[blm]

1. Investigation opened up on Putin billionaire pal for money laundering.

.

[PeoViejo]

2. I hope it's that simple.

Money Laundering in Russia is a given.

[blm]

3. This is a very close friend of Putin and one of his advisors.

http://www.globaladvisors.biz/inc-feed/20141106/the-wall-street-journal-money-laundering-probe-touches-putins-inner-circle/

[mylye2222]

8. And Putin has tight links to the French far risht "fachosphere"

[CK_John]

4. Putin is not the brightest bulb, he may be going to openly move into Ukraine or

the new money capitalist are planning a coup.

They have to act before our new Congress takes over in Jan and we return to a cold war footing.

IMO.

[CK_John]

11. Yup.

[karynnj]

5. Gold is a commodity - thus its value is set worldwide, not per country

What you are seeing in that chart is that the price of gold in dollars is pretty constant while the price in rubles is going way up.

All this means is that value of the ruble vs either gold or US dollars is drastically falling. If the euro or another stable currency were plotted against the ruble - you would likely see the same thing - the ruble declining relative to it.

THE RUBLE IS WHAT IS CHANGING VALUE.

(Here is a chart of US dollar vs Ruble today - http://www.x-rates.com/graph/?from=RUB

Something is going on and no matter what it is, it is not good for Russia. It could be that the rest of the world may increase sanctions if Russia does not get out of Ukraine. Alternatively, there is a probe of the three oil companies in Russia and the BBC points out that the ruble is impacted by energy sector health - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29932399

[AngryAmish]

12. Keystone us a go.

Libya is coming online more.

US is frackong like crazy and US exports of crude is gonna happen (I would prefer export of refined products only).

Saudis opened the taps.

Anything else?

Bet against the ruble. But long Russian crude (like buying exxon in 1990).

[msongs]

6. so putin says the soviet/nazi non aggression pact was a good thing then the ruble craters. hmmm nt

[Nuclear Unicorn]

7. Oil prices falling as US production comes on line also cuts out the lynchpin of his

economic planning. All the more so since he has been threatening to decouple from the dollar.

He was recently declared the World's Most Powerful Man. Apparently, that's not synonymous with smartest.

[karynnj]

13. I would argue that the people who designated him the most powerful are not that smart either

What is clear is that the quieter Obama with a quiet tool of economic sanctions -- nowhere near as much fun for the world's media as shock and awe -- has been the stronger of the two.

The same goes for those who argue that Netanyahu is a strong leader, while Obama is weak. (In fact, Ari Shavit (a formerly sane Israeli journalist) wrote that Obama measures himself against Netanyahu! in his post election article, where he seems to have proven that while he might be right in his past statements that we do not understand Israeli politics, that he has very little understanding of American politics. He also misses the fact that Netanyahu has clearly hurt Israel's standing in the world when he has even Sweden against his policies. Obama, on the other hand, has better standing internationally than Bush ever did.)

I do think Obama will have a very difficult time on any domestic issue, but on foreign policy, I don't think he is in a very different situation than he was before the election.

[hunter]

9. Oil and gas coupled currencies...

...bad idea for the U.S. or Russia.

I'm guessing the GOP will fuck up too.

[Odin2005]

10. Putin is to Russia what Justinian was to Rome.

Then last delusional hurrah before the bottom falls out and everything implodes.