"Whoever has the gold makes the rules".

but the question is: Who really DOES HAVE the gold?

.

Great...keep lowering the boom.....

That might have to go on hold for a couple of years.

former KGB agent amass that kind of wealth, in such a short period of time?

...like we've been doing for ages.

- Since the Chinese won't be lending to us much longer once the dollar crashes and burns.

...cornered animals can be very unpredictable...

How about that, achieve total world dominance without so much as firing a shot...

old school bullets and drones method. Move war funding from the military-industrial complex to the financial sector. Now there's a shock.

it's all good!

The 21st Century is badass.

Didn't he?

Putin is driving Russia into a giant ditch.
The worse the conditions and news = more crackdowns on gays, progressives, free press, and more warmaking on Ukraine to get his polls up.

So maybe it'll take being in the ditch for them to wake up.

Yes, in the long-term it might help get rid of Putin, but then Russia will still be a basket case economically and in terms of human rights.

I'm just saying that though it's good in some ways for Putin to reap what he sows like this, it's sad for the Russian people, for gays and progressives and journalists in Russia.

For the Russians, that is. By the time the deed is done, it'll be too late as their modern civilization collapses.

But some want a return to the days prior to the USSR itself, to theocratic feudalism, the real story behind the headlines. Just as the Koch/ GOP wants to return the USA, not to the era of the Constitution as first written, which is egregrious enough without the Amendments, but to the Articles of the Confederation.

Or better yet, a Mussolini style regime, with Stalinesque means. They're getting it by piecemeal.

rating.

Like they're some neutral agent.

Why is what they say deserving of attention anymore anyway?

Mr Zhou also advocated a more active Chinese participation in the setting of international rules. He said the existing playbook had been made by developed Western countries and developing nations had no choice but to follow these rules.

However, China's population and economic size now demanded it be heard on the international stage.

The report also took a snipe at the big three agencies' role in the global financial crisis, criticising their triple-A rating of subprime mortgage products as "modern financial magic".

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/china-takes-on-the-big-three-ratings-agencies-20120124-1qexw.html

It really is hard to argue that investing in Russia is a good idea, so it was inevitable that a downgrade would happen.

Now a lot of funds that are not allowed to invest in junk must divest. Snowball effects coming.

with a slap for their own fraud.

...fuckers....

Yours is a creative allegation based on little more than post hoc ergo prompter hoc...

declared

Economic Sanctions are declarations of war
Japan took it that way in WWII

Was the ruble taking a shit or just a hit? I guess either way works...

I left it partly out of laziness and partly because it is also sensible!

it last April to one notch above junk. I can't think of any economy that's in good shape. Russia and China have formed a joint credit rating agency soon to be functional. This rating by S&P is a political move from a less than credible agency in the first place.

http://defence.pk/threads/china-and-russia-to-launch-new-credit-rating-agency-in-2015.353559/

Credit ratings are only relevant to the people who listen to them (large mutual funds, hedge funds, etc.). Just because China and Russia form a ratings agency, doesn't mean anyone cares. If for instance a pension fund is required to hold investment grade bonds as rated by Moody's, S&P, Lippor, etc., a Chinese ratings agency rating them investment grade won't mean anything to investors outside China.

That being said, I could see such an agency, over time and assuming no political interference, being very useful in rating debts originating in those countries, such as debt for a road, sewage and water improvements, local corporations, etc. S&P et al don't rate most of those issues, and it could be a very good thing overall for price transparency and risk management.

Sovereign debt will still be rated by the big boys, and the only difference a Chinese / Russian rating agency can make is if they get someone to listen to them.

going to be very interesting to watch how the economic alliances pan out. (I also wonder if lost little lamb Greece will be lured by the BRICS to jump the EU ship.)

...who rated subprime deriviatives as a ''buy'', so anyone who listens and decides where to invest based on what these assholes say, must be an idiot or as crooked as they are.

- Fuck 'em.