ed note–make no mistake about this–what has been done to Russia by the political/financial powers of the West was nothing short–economically speaking–of a nuclear weapon being detonated on Russia soil. The Russians may be playing it cool at the moment, but there is no way, repeat–NO WAY–that something like this is going to take place and that serious repercussions will not be forthcoming.
But then, what we must remember is that a war between the US and Russia was exactly what Israel wanted on June 8, 1967 and which she almost got. As the old saying goes, a leopard does not change its spots’, and therefore if she was willing to see it done then, she is certainly willing to do so now.
0 thoughts on “Russia downgraded to junk status for first time in decade”
Need breeds innovation.
Credit is usury. Municipal corporations collect taxes in the form of a Levy. Levy….Levy..Oh, tax collectors were Levis.
This is good news! Russians are resourceful and the rating forces Russia to create a separate financial system (BRICS is one part) or tow the status quo. Remember, Alexander II kept the central banks out of Russia — beware of the saboteurs.
A new chapter in economics and finance can be written, if Russia rises to this occasion.
This is an attack by the ultra-corrupt rating agencies. I say corrupt because the rating agencies accepted bribes from the big banks and financial houses (e.g. Goldman Sachs) during the housing bubble to rate worthless mortgage-backed securities as “AAA” so that the bankers could keep their scam going.
On 13 Jan 2015 the agencies attacked Venezuela’s government. On 16 Jan 2014 they attacked Russia’s government. Now they have attacked Russia’s three largest banks, which is an additional form of attack on the Russian government.
To explain what this means, we must distinguish between Russia’s “sovereign debt” and Russia’s banks. The two are separate but linked.
SOVEREIGN DEBT
The Russian government can create infinite roubles out of thin air, just like the US government can create infinite dollars out of thin air. However roubles are only good inside of Russia. Dollars are good worldwide.
Russia exports oil and gas, but Russia also needs to buy imports like every other nation. In 2013 Russia purchased about USD $317.8 billion worth of imports. That’s up 86% since 2009. Wood pulp, fertilizer, explosives, vehicles, rubber, clothing, dairy products – you name it.
People who sell goods and services to Russia do not want to be paid in roubles, since roubles are only good in Russia. People want to be paid in US dollars, or in euros, or some other currency that they can spend or invest outside Russia.
Russia gets foreign currency by selling (i.e. exporting) its own goods and services, 58% of which are oil and gas. But when the price of oil and gas is down (way down), Russia cannot get enough foreign currency to pay for the imports that Russia needs. Russia starts moving from a trade surplus to a trade deficit.
If this deficit becomes bad enough, then the prices of imports start to rise inside Russia. Then the price of everything else starts to rise, since all goods and services are interconnected. Businesses fail. Industry slows down. Bank loans go bad. Everyone suffers. Average Russians blame their own government, not the US sanctions. The Russian government has already predicted that the economy will drop by more than 4 percent this year if oil prices remain at their current level. Four percent may not seem like much, but for a country the size of Russia, that’s a borderline depression.
To make up for shortfalls in foreign currency, Russia borrows foreign currency by selling sovereign bonds. If Russia needs $100 billion in US dollars (so that Russia can buy imports), then Russia can sell USD $100 billion worth of Russian bonds. When those bonds mature, the Russian treasury must pay the principle and interest to bondholders in US dollars, not Russian roubles.
But when then the corrupt ratings agencies downgrade Russia’s sovereign bonds (i.e. downgrade “Russian credit”), the agencies make it much more difficult for the Russian government to get foreign currency by selling bonds. Russia must offer a much higher interest rate on the bonds it sells. This puts the squeeze on Russia. Now the corrupt ratings agencies (specifically Moody’s) have lowered Russia’s credit rating to one click above junk status. In the coming days, Fitch and Standard and Poore’s will do likewise. It’s all part of the attack.
The combination of low oil and gas prices (because of manipulation by the USA and the Saudis) plus the attacks by the corrupt ratings agencies means that Russia is being progressively starved of the foreign currency that Russia needs in order to buy imports. The same attack is being waged on Venezuela. In 2014 the Western sanctions caused Russia to drain its foreign currwency reserves by $125 billion. Now comes this latest attack.
(None of this applies to the USA, since the dollar is accepted worldwide. When the corrupt ratings agencies threaten to downgrade US treasury securities for silly political reasons, it is a JOKE , and the markets ignore it. However some people don’t want you to know this, such as charlatans who sell shares in their bogus “gold exchanges.” They want you to think the US government is as vulnerable as the Russia government. It is absurd.)
BANK RATINGS
This latest attack by the corrupt ratings agencies is aimed at Russia’s three largest banks: Sberbank (which is huge, the size of Deutschebank), Vnesheconombank and the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending. The US and EU have already had Sberbank under sanctions since July 2014, shutting the bank out of long term financing markets in the West. This was done to hurt Sberbank’s profits and liquidity, which has ripple effects the Russian economy and beyond. (Sberbank owns Troika, a mutual fund company with offices in Manhattan.)
It was also done to further hurt Russia’s government since the Russian government sells its sovereign (i.e. public) bonds through these private banks.
Russia will retaliate one way or the other.
Meanwhile on 21 Jan 2015 the USA announced that it will be sending troops and weapons to Russia’s doorstep in Ukraine. The game is afoot, ladies and germs.
This is very alarming. As I posted earlier; sanctions; deliberately imposed to provoke Japan,forced Pearl Harbor,in 1941. (HUMAN SMOKE Nichalson Baker: THE NEW DEALERS WAR :Fleming,INFAMY John Toland),so FDR,and his Jews could get into WW2,and make out as innocent,victims of ;”an unprovoked,and dasterdly attack”. Some;stuck in the Matrix,who refuse to see the Jewish hand ,in this real war,on Russia,think that Putin,can pull something off,because of Russias resources. Maybe,but he will have to put the nation,on a true nationalist/independent setting. Total Nationization of Russias money,and pulling from the dollar. Is this possible,short of world war? Does all of Russia ,have the mindset,and capabilty? His press spiting old Soviet/Slavic lines against non-existent ‘Nazis”,and ignoring the actual enemy: Jews,does not,make me optimistic.
An additional factor is involved.
Russia’s oligarchs are not like US oligarchs. Most have their billions tied up in actual industries, whereas US oligarchs don’t care about actual industries. US oligarchs make their money from money, i.e. from gambling in the rigged casino that is Wall Street.
The point is that the US sanctions are hurting the Russian oligarchs as well as the Russian masses. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index claims that Russian oligarchs collectively lost $60 billion in 2014. I don’t know if that’s true, but profits are certainly down.
The US / EU strategy is to hurt the oligarchs so badly that they turn against Putin, and start asking him to let NATO have Ukraine.
(This strategy does not apply to Venezuela, since rich people in Venezuela already oppose the government.)
If the oligarchs start to turn against Putin, then Putin will have to submit to them (and thus submit to the US / EU) or else he will have to declare a kind of martial law, in which Russia is put on a war footing, such that the economy becomes what is called a “command economy.” That’s a condition in which the central government has the last word in the disposition of all industries in the nation.
In other words the US / EU is squeezing Putin so hard that eventually he will lose power, or be forced to go to war in one form or another. This will be an interesting year. Already Russia is flying its long-range bombers closer than ever to British airspace, forcing the British to repeatedly scramble fighters, and re-route civilian jetliners. Russia has been doing that for a couple of months now.
By the way, the new Syriza government in Greece announced today that it would abide by the sanctions against Russia. So much for the “pivot to Putin.” Greek ministers agreed to extend until September travel bans and asset freezes imposed last year that had been due to expire.
Furthermore the new foreign minister Nikos Kotzias signed up to a sharply worded statement that declared Moscow responsible for the US-caused violence in eastern Ukraine, and demanded that Russia halt its backing for the separatists.
So, like I said before, nothing has changed in Greece, nor can anything change until Greece dumps the euro, which the new government will not do.
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss…
Gotta love Putin’s cryptic look. No one can decrypt the man. People spend time, money, and sleepless nights trying to decode his body language, speech patterns, how many times he blinks. They attribute it to secret kgb powers. LOL! He’s a unified man who really wants to serve God & his people. The Jews can’t handle it. It gives them fits.
Putin needs to expel ALL of his Neo-Liberal trained economist. China must do the same. These are all Western educated Ideologues, and conventionally trained so called economist that seek to keep them and us under “Zionist Western Rule”, for the sake of our own Neo-Fascist indoctrination. Neo-liberalism is not a real freedom, or an education. Nor is it a progression. It is an indoctrination for us only. A communities succession from the will of self rule to the ordained ministers of organized lawlessness is social and political dementia. It is political, and in our case, and a constitutional and a whole communities suicidal and saddening venture.
I am going to ask a very real and very serious question, one to which I would like an answer:
How is this not an act-of-war against Russia–all that is actively being done against Russia–, by the nations comprising the cabal-controlled/taken-over “The West”?
Lindsey
Ukrainian Oligarchs wanted by Interpol, pay bribes for Israeli citizenship.
@ Lindsey: Sanctions, blockades are generally accepted to be as close one can get to declaring war without actual bombs dropping. (I know you probably know this.) The problem is, the American public has been so lulled into a state of fake superiority (bombing third-rate armies, if that) they have no idea of the fire their govt is playing with by continuously antagonizing nuclear Russia. It really is a form of mindcontrol. Americans are just blissfully ignorant. They care more about deflated footballs. It’s terrifying.
Yes, it IS terrifying, and shows how utterly brain-washed the masses have become.
Lindsey
Lindsey : Our present world order/ scene and its frequent execution of [economic] sanctions are rooted mostly in supranational conventions and charters of (ironically) ‘Humanitarian Agency’. (One may insist that it’s only been a ‘formal[ized]’ phenomenon since after WWII).
If you have the patience/ time for the wishy-washy language and vagary of the UN/ Development Business/ Policy, I may suggest the following resource as an example, from the supranational perspective. … Please remember, though, that most of such documentation are riddled (conveniently for powerbrokers) with an unmistakable evasiveness. (I personally call it the signature of the Pharisees!)
This evasiveness is due to several reasons. To mention a few : — any UN document is ultimately from [one or more] consultants who would only advance, and never question, their Agenda (the UN is covert and ruthless with those who question or bring specificity!) … and also, vagary leaves room for ultimate monopoly in interpretation/ implementation dynamics. It’s no different in N. American Legal language, e.g., wherein a regulation specifies “Concerned party must make a ‘reasonable’ effort to ensure compliance with …” … and several entire Law Firms have made cushy careers out of professionally interpreting what “reasonable” means (and rarely so in favor of the citizens)!
“Economic Sanctions: Legal and Policy Constraints” (by Anna Segall)
[EXCERPT:]
“Legal framework — Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter
The Security Council can call for collective economic sanctions under Article 41 of the UN Charter if it has first determined, under Article 39, the existence of a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, and if the sanctions are imposed to maintain or restore international peace and security.
If the Security Council determines the existence of a THREAT TO PEACE, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, it shall make recommendations or decide on measures to maintain or restore international peace and security. These may be measures under Article 41 “not involving the use of armed force”, such as economic sanctions, or measures under Article 42 involving “such [military] action (…) as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security”. (THIS part reflects what NLG said.)
Limitations on sanctions
Under the UN Charter and international law
There is an argument that the Security Council is NOT OBLIGED to give effect to human rights law or international humanitarian law when it imposes collective economic sanctions under Article 41 of the UN Charter. This argument is based on the wording of Article 41, which appears to give the Security Council UNFETTERED POWER in relation to the imposition of economic sanctions (provided the threshold requirement of a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression is satisfied and the purpose of the sanctions is to maintain or restore international peace and security), and on Articles 1.1, 25 and 103 of the Charter. This INTERPRETATION suggests not only that collective enforcement measures taken by the Security Council can OVERRIDE the separate TREATY OBLIGATIONS of Member States under international human rights and humanitarian law, but also that the Council is not bound by principles of justice and international law in its application of collective economic sanctions under Article 41.
To determine legal limitations on the imposition of economic sanctions “in times of ARMED CONFLICT”, it is necessary to look at the provisions of INTERNATIONAL humanitarian law and the NON-DEROGABLE provisions of human rights law. To determine legal limitations on the imposition of economic sanctions in peacetime, it is necessary to look at human rights law.
On the basis of human rights law and international humanitarian law, and of elementary considerations of humanity, many authors have argued that a sanctions regime should NOT bring the standard of living of a significant segment of the population below SUBSISTENCE level. Along the same lines, others have argued that sanctions may not deprive people of the basic human right to life and survival.”
—————————————————————————————————————-
My thoughts (with respect to the highlighted words):
To answer your question first — yes, sanctions ARE warfare, but passive-aggressive (Antichrist-style) in form. And they hit more than the existential aspect of humanity — they even hit the human Soul and its core Beliefs. I’ll rationalize …
The UNSC has “Unfettered Power”, and is [thus] “not obliged” to comply with its own charters/ conventions! This implies (according to no more than the abovementioned) that they are not obliged to ensure basic sustenance/ subsistence of their target population. [None of us here would believe that sanctions EVER ensured subsistence/ survival of their Targets — which implies MURDER, but in Slow-Kill/ CRUCIFIXION style!]
Moreover, this ‘unfettered power’ of the UNSC effectively “implies” that the UNSC is the Ultimate Sovereignty/ Authority — viz., GOD! That’s exactly why UN-member-states are NOT “Believers”, be they Christian or Muslim. … And the recent wicked mischief in Texas (wherein Muslims were called to pledge allegiance to the State) was actually intended to be an assault on “True Faith”. Any Muslim who does will not remain a Muslim! … And those Texans don’t have the logic to realize this — they’re NOT Christians! 🙂
I end this with a suggestion on an extraordinary classic that everyone today should read …
A comprehensive and controversial study of the 60-billion-dollar-a-year world foreign-aid business, Lords of Poverty was a bestseller in hardcover and earned the 1990 H.L. Mencken Award honorable mention for an outstanding book of journalism. Hancock investigates why huge aid projects often fail and demands a response from those in the industry.
Lords of Poverty is a case study in betrayals of a public trust. The shortcomings of aid are numerous, and serious enough to raise questions about the viability of the practice at its most fundamental levels. Hancock’s report is thorough, deeply shocking, and certain to cause critical re-evaluation—of the government’s motives in giving foreign aid, and of the true needs of our intended beneficiaries.
I also wanted to bring your attention to how the UNSC is the ultimate definer and determiner of [what is] “Peace” and “Human Rights”. No straightforward mortal with intellect and integrity can accept their deliberations/ policies, nor work with such a ‘system’ — unless the mortal (and his/her ‘interpretation’) is disconnected from God, Faith and Justice!
Consequently, and for hope’s sake … I agree with Editor MG’s prediction, once again … that there is no way that current sanctions against Russia will go unanswered. [This is esp. because tables have turned a lot since WWII, in that : the US/NATO is today’s Soviet/Red Army, and Putin’s Russia is quite the Germany of today!] Russia’s firepower is backed by far more morality than the Imperial Zionist Western Alliance can imagine. And history shows that God always favors — miraculously, if necessary — the party that has the moral upper hand.
I sure hope and pray that Mr. Putin is the David Banner we need today… and that he does get angry soon, and subdues the Imperialist Pharaohs and God-wannabe’s. I speak on behalf of [esp.] oppressed Muslim civilians : we’ve had enough. May Mr. Putin wipe out the scum governments, corrupt civil-society, corrupt clergy and corrupt Western/ Masonic/ Rothschild’s-representative-industrialists of all Muslim nations too!
Need breeds innovation.
Credit is usury. Municipal corporations collect taxes in the form of a Levy. Levy….Levy..Oh, tax collectors were Levis.
This is good news! Russians are resourceful and the rating forces Russia to create a separate financial system (BRICS is one part) or tow the status quo. Remember, Alexander II kept the central banks out of Russia — beware of the saboteurs.
A new chapter in economics and finance can be written, if Russia rises to this occasion.
This is an attack by the ultra-corrupt rating agencies. I say corrupt because the rating agencies accepted bribes from the big banks and financial houses (e.g. Goldman Sachs) during the housing bubble to rate worthless mortgage-backed securities as “AAA” so that the bankers could keep their scam going.
On 13 Jan 2015 the agencies attacked Venezuela’s government. On 16 Jan 2014 they attacked Russia’s government. Now they have attacked Russia’s three largest banks, which is an additional form of attack on the Russian government.
To explain what this means, we must distinguish between Russia’s “sovereign debt” and Russia’s banks. The two are separate but linked.
SOVEREIGN DEBT
The Russian government can create infinite roubles out of thin air, just like the US government can create infinite dollars out of thin air. However roubles are only good inside of Russia. Dollars are good worldwide.
Russia exports oil and gas, but Russia also needs to buy imports like every other nation. In 2013 Russia purchased about USD $317.8 billion worth of imports. That’s up 86% since 2009. Wood pulp, fertilizer, explosives, vehicles, rubber, clothing, dairy products – you name it.
People who sell goods and services to Russia do not want to be paid in roubles, since roubles are only good in Russia. People want to be paid in US dollars, or in euros, or some other currency that they can spend or invest outside Russia.
Russia gets foreign currency by selling (i.e. exporting) its own goods and services, 58% of which are oil and gas. But when the price of oil and gas is down (way down), Russia cannot get enough foreign currency to pay for the imports that Russia needs. Russia starts moving from a trade surplus to a trade deficit.
If this deficit becomes bad enough, then the prices of imports start to rise inside Russia. Then the price of everything else starts to rise, since all goods and services are interconnected. Businesses fail. Industry slows down. Bank loans go bad. Everyone suffers. Average Russians blame their own government, not the US sanctions. The Russian government has already predicted that the economy will drop by more than 4 percent this year if oil prices remain at their current level. Four percent may not seem like much, but for a country the size of Russia, that’s a borderline depression.
To make up for shortfalls in foreign currency, Russia borrows foreign currency by selling sovereign bonds. If Russia needs $100 billion in US dollars (so that Russia can buy imports), then Russia can sell USD $100 billion worth of Russian bonds. When those bonds mature, the Russian treasury must pay the principle and interest to bondholders in US dollars, not Russian roubles.
But when then the corrupt ratings agencies downgrade Russia’s sovereign bonds (i.e. downgrade “Russian credit”), the agencies make it much more difficult for the Russian government to get foreign currency by selling bonds. Russia must offer a much higher interest rate on the bonds it sells. This puts the squeeze on Russia. Now the corrupt ratings agencies (specifically Moody’s) have lowered Russia’s credit rating to one click above junk status. In the coming days, Fitch and Standard and Poore’s will do likewise. It’s all part of the attack.
The combination of low oil and gas prices (because of manipulation by the USA and the Saudis) plus the attacks by the corrupt ratings agencies means that Russia is being progressively starved of the foreign currency that Russia needs in order to buy imports. The same attack is being waged on Venezuela. In 2014 the Western sanctions caused Russia to drain its foreign currwency reserves by $125 billion. Now comes this latest attack.
(None of this applies to the USA, since the dollar is accepted worldwide. When the corrupt ratings agencies threaten to downgrade US treasury securities for silly political reasons, it is a JOKE , and the markets ignore it. However some people don’t want you to know this, such as charlatans who sell shares in their bogus “gold exchanges.” They want you to think the US government is as vulnerable as the Russia government. It is absurd.)
BANK RATINGS
This latest attack by the corrupt ratings agencies is aimed at Russia’s three largest banks: Sberbank (which is huge, the size of Deutschebank), Vnesheconombank and the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending. The US and EU have already had Sberbank under sanctions since July 2014, shutting the bank out of long term financing markets in the West. This was done to hurt Sberbank’s profits and liquidity, which has ripple effects the Russian economy and beyond. (Sberbank owns Troika, a mutual fund company with offices in Manhattan.)
It was also done to further hurt Russia’s government since the Russian government sells its sovereign (i.e. public) bonds through these private banks.
Russia will retaliate one way or the other.
Meanwhile on 21 Jan 2015 the USA announced that it will be sending troops and weapons to Russia’s doorstep in Ukraine. The game is afoot, ladies and germs.
https://quatloosx.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/to_ukraine_01.jpg
This is very alarming. As I posted earlier; sanctions; deliberately imposed to provoke Japan,forced Pearl Harbor,in 1941. (HUMAN SMOKE Nichalson Baker: THE NEW DEALERS WAR :Fleming,INFAMY John Toland),so FDR,and his Jews could get into WW2,and make out as innocent,victims of ;”an unprovoked,and dasterdly attack”. Some;stuck in the Matrix,who refuse to see the Jewish hand ,in this real war,on Russia,think that Putin,can pull something off,because of Russias resources. Maybe,but he will have to put the nation,on a true nationalist/independent setting. Total Nationization of Russias money,and pulling from the dollar. Is this possible,short of world war? Does all of Russia ,have the mindset,and capabilty? His press spiting old Soviet/Slavic lines against non-existent ‘Nazis”,and ignoring the actual enemy: Jews,does not,make me optimistic.
An additional factor is involved.
Russia’s oligarchs are not like US oligarchs. Most have their billions tied up in actual industries, whereas US oligarchs don’t care about actual industries. US oligarchs make their money from money, i.e. from gambling in the rigged casino that is Wall Street.
The point is that the US sanctions are hurting the Russian oligarchs as well as the Russian masses. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index claims that Russian oligarchs collectively lost $60 billion in 2014. I don’t know if that’s true, but profits are certainly down.
The US / EU strategy is to hurt the oligarchs so badly that they turn against Putin, and start asking him to let NATO have Ukraine.
(This strategy does not apply to Venezuela, since rich people in Venezuela already oppose the government.)
If the oligarchs start to turn against Putin, then Putin will have to submit to them (and thus submit to the US / EU) or else he will have to declare a kind of martial law, in which Russia is put on a war footing, such that the economy becomes what is called a “command economy.” That’s a condition in which the central government has the last word in the disposition of all industries in the nation.
In other words the US / EU is squeezing Putin so hard that eventually he will lose power, or be forced to go to war in one form or another. This will be an interesting year. Already Russia is flying its long-range bombers closer than ever to British airspace, forcing the British to repeatedly scramble fighters, and re-route civilian jetliners. Russia has been doing that for a couple of months now.
By the way, the new Syriza government in Greece announced today that it would abide by the sanctions against Russia. So much for the “pivot to Putin.” Greek ministers agreed to extend until September travel bans and asset freezes imposed last year that had been due to expire.
Furthermore the new foreign minister Nikos Kotzias signed up to a sharply worded statement that declared Moscow responsible for the US-caused violence in eastern Ukraine, and demanded that Russia halt its backing for the separatists.
So, like I said before, nothing has changed in Greece, nor can anything change until Greece dumps the euro, which the new government will not do.
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss…
Gotta love Putin’s cryptic look. No one can decrypt the man. People spend time, money, and sleepless nights trying to decode his body language, speech patterns, how many times he blinks. They attribute it to secret kgb powers. LOL! He’s a unified man who really wants to serve God & his people. The Jews can’t handle it. It gives them fits.
Putin needs to expel ALL of his Neo-Liberal trained economist. China must do the same. These are all Western educated Ideologues, and conventionally trained so called economist that seek to keep them and us under “Zionist Western Rule”, for the sake of our own Neo-Fascist indoctrination. Neo-liberalism is not a real freedom, or an education. Nor is it a progression. It is an indoctrination for us only. A communities succession from the will of self rule to the ordained ministers of organized lawlessness is social and political dementia. It is political, and in our case, and a constitutional and a whole communities suicidal and saddening venture.
I am going to ask a very real and very serious question, one to which I would like an answer:
How is this not an act-of-war against Russia–all that is actively being done against Russia–, by the nations comprising the cabal-controlled/taken-over “The West”?
Lindsey
Ukrainian Oligarchs wanted by Interpol, pay bribes for Israeli citizenship.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2015/01/27/ukrainian-oligarch-fugitives-wanted-by-interpol-pay-bribes-for-israeli-citizenship/
@ Lindsey: Sanctions, blockades are generally accepted to be as close one can get to declaring war without actual bombs dropping. (I know you probably know this.) The problem is, the American public has been so lulled into a state of fake superiority (bombing third-rate armies, if that) they have no idea of the fire their govt is playing with by continuously antagonizing nuclear Russia. It really is a form of mindcontrol. Americans are just blissfully ignorant. They care more about deflated footballs. It’s terrifying.
Yes, it IS terrifying, and shows how utterly brain-washed the masses have become.
Lindsey
Lindsey : Our present world order/ scene and its frequent execution of [economic] sanctions are rooted mostly in supranational conventions and charters of (ironically) ‘Humanitarian Agency’. (One may insist that it’s only been a ‘formal[ized]’ phenomenon since after WWII).
If you have the patience/ time for the wishy-washy language and vagary of the UN/ Development Business/ Policy, I may suggest the following resource as an example, from the supranational perspective. … Please remember, though, that most of such documentation are riddled (conveniently for powerbrokers) with an unmistakable evasiveness. (I personally call it the signature of the Pharisees!)
This evasiveness is due to several reasons. To mention a few : — any UN document is ultimately from [one or more] consultants who would only advance, and never question, their Agenda (the UN is covert and ruthless with those who question or bring specificity!) … and also, vagary leaves room for ultimate monopoly in interpretation/ implementation dynamics. It’s no different in N. American Legal language, e.g., wherein a regulation specifies “Concerned party must make a ‘reasonable’ effort to ensure compliance with …” … and several entire Law Firms have made cushy careers out of professionally interpreting what “reasonable” means (and rarely so in favor of the citizens)!
Here is the resource (from ICRC) :
https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jq73.htm
“Economic Sanctions: Legal and Policy Constraints” (by Anna Segall)
[EXCERPT:]
“Legal framework — Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter
The Security Council can call for collective economic sanctions under Article 41 of the UN Charter if it has first determined, under Article 39, the existence of a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, and if the sanctions are imposed to maintain or restore international peace and security.
If the Security Council determines the existence of a THREAT TO PEACE, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, it shall make recommendations or decide on measures to maintain or restore international peace and security. These may be measures under Article 41 “not involving the use of armed force”, such as economic sanctions, or measures under Article 42 involving “such [military] action (…) as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security”. (THIS part reflects what NLG said.)
Limitations on sanctions
Under the UN Charter and international law
There is an argument that the Security Council is NOT OBLIGED to give effect to human rights law or international humanitarian law when it imposes collective economic sanctions under Article 41 of the UN Charter. This argument is based on the wording of Article 41, which appears to give the Security Council UNFETTERED POWER in relation to the imposition of economic sanctions (provided the threshold requirement of a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression is satisfied and the purpose of the sanctions is to maintain or restore international peace and security), and on Articles 1.1, 25 and 103 of the Charter. This INTERPRETATION suggests not only that collective enforcement measures taken by the Security Council can OVERRIDE the separate TREATY OBLIGATIONS of Member States under international human rights and humanitarian law, but also that the Council is not bound by principles of justice and international law in its application of collective economic sanctions under Article 41.
To determine legal limitations on the imposition of economic sanctions “in times of ARMED CONFLICT”, it is necessary to look at the provisions of INTERNATIONAL humanitarian law and the NON-DEROGABLE provisions of human rights law. To determine legal limitations on the imposition of economic sanctions in peacetime, it is necessary to look at human rights law.
On the basis of human rights law and international humanitarian law, and of elementary considerations of humanity, many authors have argued that a sanctions regime should NOT bring the standard of living of a significant segment of the population below SUBSISTENCE level. Along the same lines, others have argued that sanctions may not deprive people of the basic human right to life and survival.”
—————————————————————————————————————-
My thoughts (with respect to the highlighted words):
To answer your question first — yes, sanctions ARE warfare, but passive-aggressive (Antichrist-style) in form. And they hit more than the existential aspect of humanity — they even hit the human Soul and its core Beliefs. I’ll rationalize …
The UNSC has “Unfettered Power”, and is [thus] “not obliged” to comply with its own charters/ conventions! This implies (according to no more than the abovementioned) that they are not obliged to ensure basic sustenance/ subsistence of their target population. [None of us here would believe that sanctions EVER ensured subsistence/ survival of their Targets — which implies MURDER, but in Slow-Kill/ CRUCIFIXION style!]
Moreover, this ‘unfettered power’ of the UNSC effectively “implies” that the UNSC is the Ultimate Sovereignty/ Authority — viz., GOD! That’s exactly why UN-member-states are NOT “Believers”, be they Christian or Muslim. … And the recent wicked mischief in Texas (wherein Muslims were called to pledge allegiance to the State) was actually intended to be an assault on “True Faith”. Any Muslim who does will not remain a Muslim! … And those Texans don’t have the logic to realize this — they’re NOT Christians! 🙂
I end this with a suggestion on an extraordinary classic that everyone today should read …
https://i0.wp.com/www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/x1/x5763.jpg
A comprehensive and controversial study of the 60-billion-dollar-a-year world foreign-aid business, Lords of Poverty was a bestseller in hardcover and earned the 1990 H.L. Mencken Award honorable mention for an outstanding book of journalism. Hancock investigates why huge aid projects often fail and demands a response from those in the industry.
Lords of Poverty is a case study in betrayals of a public trust. The shortcomings of aid are numerous, and serious enough to raise questions about the viability of the practice at its most fundamental levels. Hancock’s report is thorough, deeply shocking, and certain to cause critical re-evaluation—of the government’s motives in giving foreign aid, and of the true needs of our intended beneficiaries.
I also wanted to bring your attention to how the UNSC is the ultimate definer and determiner of [what is] “Peace” and “Human Rights”. No straightforward mortal with intellect and integrity can accept their deliberations/ policies, nor work with such a ‘system’ — unless the mortal (and his/her ‘interpretation’) is disconnected from God, Faith and Justice!
Consequently, and for hope’s sake … I agree with Editor MG’s prediction, once again … that there is no way that current sanctions against Russia will go unanswered. [This is esp. because tables have turned a lot since WWII, in that : the US/NATO is today’s Soviet/Red Army, and Putin’s Russia is quite the Germany of today!] Russia’s firepower is backed by far more morality than the Imperial Zionist Western Alliance can imagine. And history shows that God always favors — miraculously, if necessary — the party that has the moral upper hand.
I sure hope and pray that Mr. Putin is the David Banner we need today… and that he does get angry soon, and subdues the Imperialist Pharaohs and God-wannabe’s. I speak on behalf of [esp.] oppressed Muslim civilians : we’ve had enough. May Mr. Putin wipe out the scum governments, corrupt civil-society, corrupt clergy and corrupt Western/ Masonic/ Rothschild’s-representative-industrialists of all Muslim nations too!