3 March 2014 - Ukraine mobilizes after Putin's 'declaration of war' |
- 3 March 2014 - Ukraine mobilizes after Putin's 'declaration of war'
- 3 March 2014 - Ukraine mobilizes troops after Russia's 'declaration of war'
- 3 March 2014 - Gold Fix Study Shows Signs of Decade of Bank Manipulation
| 3 March 2014 - Ukraine mobilizes after Putin's 'declaration of war' Posted: 03 Mar 2014 03:08 AM PST From:http://www.cnbc.com/id/101458868 Ukraine mobilized for war on Sunday and Washington threatened to isolate Russia economically after President Vladimir Putin declared he had the right to invade his neighbor in Moscow's biggest confrontation with the West since the Cold War. "This is not a threat: this is actually the declaration of war to my country," Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said in English. Yatseniuk heads a pro-Western government that took power in the former Soviet republic when its Moscow-backed president, Viktor Yanukovich, was ousted last week. Putin secured permission from his parliament on Saturday to use military force to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine and told U.S. President Barack Obama he had the right to defend Russian interests and nationals, spurning Western pleas not to intervene. (Live blog: Ukraine crisis: Latest news and market reaction) Financial markets reacted to the escalating tensions when trading opened in Asia on Monday, with oil and wheat futures jumping and stock indexes falling. Russian forces have already bloodlessly seized Crimea, an isolated Black Sea peninsula where Moscow has a naval base. On Sunday, they surrounded several small Ukrainian military outposts there and demanded the Ukrainian troops disarm. Some refused, leading to standoffs, although no shots were fired. As Western countries considered how to respond to the crisis, the United States said it was focused on economic, diplomatic and political measures, and made clear it was not seriously considering military action. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Kiev on Tuesday to show "strong support for Ukrainian sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and the right of the Ukrainian people to determine their own future, without outside interference or provocation", the State Department said in a statement. The Group of Seven major industrialized nations, condemning the Russian intrusion into Ukraine, suspended preparations for the G8 summit that includes Russia and had been scheduled to take place in June in Sochi, site of the recent Winter Olympics. Finance ministers from the G7 said they were ready to offer "strong financial backing" to Ukraine, provided the new government in Kiev agreed to pursue economic reforms sought by the International Monetary Fund. Analysts said U.S. economic sanctions would likely have little impact on Russia unless they were paired with strong measures by major European nations, which have deeper trade ties with Moscow and are dependent on Russian gas. But EU officials said the European Union was unlikely to match the United States in threatening sanctions against Russia when its foreign ministers meet to discuss Ukraine on Monday, instead pushing for mediation between Moscow and Kiev. Wheat futures spiked more than 4 percent on Monday on fears of disruption to shipments from one of the world's key exporting regions. Oil rose as much as 2 percent, while U.S. stocks futures fell 1 percent. More demonstrations in Eastern Ukraine With Russian forces in control of majority ethnic Russian Crimea, the focus is shifting to eastern swaths of Ukraine, where most ethnic Ukrainians speak Russian as a native language. Heavily-armed troops displaying no identifying insignia and who were mingling with local pro-Russian militants stand guard outside a local government building on March 2, 2014 in Simferopol, Ukraine. Those areas saw more demonstrations on Sunday after violent protests on Saturday, and pro-Moscow activists hoisted flags for a second day at government buildings and called for Russia to defend them. Russia has staged war games with 150,000 troops along the land border, but they have so far not crossed. Kiev said Russia had sent hundreds of its citizens across the border to stage the protests. Ukraine's security council ordered the general staff to immediately put all armed forces on highest alert. But Kiev's small and under-equipped military is seen as no match for Russia's superpower might. The Defence Ministry was ordered to stage a call-up of reserves, meaning theoretically all men up to 40 in a country with universal male conscription, although Ukraine would struggle to find extra guns or uniforms for many of them. Kerry condemned Russia for what he called an "incredible act of aggression" and brandished the threat of economic sanctions. "You just don't, in the 21st century, behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on a completely trumped-up pretext," Kerry told the CBS programme "Face the Nation". He said Moscow still had a "right set of choices" to defuse the crisis. Otherwise, G8 countries and other nations were prepared to "to go to the hilt to isolate Russia". "They are prepared to isolate Russia economically. The rouble is already going down. Russia has major economic challenges," he said. Kerry mentioned visa bans, asset freezes and trade isolation as possible steps. Obama held calls with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski. The leaders expressed "grave concern" over Russia's action and stressed that "dialogue between Ukraine and Russia should start immediately, with international facilitation as appropriate", the White House said. Ukraine's envoy to the United Nations said Kiev would ask for international military support if Russia expanded its military action in his country. At Kiev's Independence Square, where anti-Yanukovich protesters had camped out for months, thousands demonstrated against Russian military action. Speakers delivered rousing orations and placards read: "Putin, hands off Ukraine!" "If there is a need to protect the nation, we will go and defend the nation," said Oleh, an advertising executive cooking over an open fire at the square where he has been camped for three months. "If Putin wants to take Ukraine for himself, he will fail. We want to live freely and we will live freely." The new government announced it had fired the head of the navy and launched a treason case against him for surrendering Ukraine's naval headquarters to Russian forces in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, where Moscow has a major naval base. Reaction from the West Obama spoke to Putin for 90 minutes by telephone on Saturday after the Russian leader declared he had the right to intervene and quickly secured unanimous approval from his parliament. The Kremlin said Putin told Obama that Russian speakers were under threat from Ukraine's new leaders, who took over after Yanukovich fled huge protests against his repression and rejection of a trade deal with the European Union. Putin reiterated that stance in a telephone call with Merkel on Sunday, the Kremlin said, adding he and Merkel agreed that Russia and Germany would continue consultations to seek the "normalization" of the situation. But in a sign of concern among Russian liberals, members of Putin's own human rights council urged him on Sunday not to invade Ukraine, saying threats faced by Russians there were not severe enough to justify sending in troops. Ukraine, which says it has no intention of threatening Russian speakers, has appealed for help to NATO, as well as to Britain and the United States as co-signatories with Russia to a 1994 accord guaranteeing Ukraine's security. After an emergency meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels, the alliance called on Russia to bring its forces back to bases and refrain from interfering in Ukraine. Despite expressing "grave concern", NATO did not agree on any significant measures to apply pressure on Russia, with the West struggling to come up with a forthright response that does not risk pushing the region closer to military conflict. "We urge both parties to immediately seek a peaceful solution through bilateral dialogue, with international facilitation ... and through the dispatch of international observers under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council or the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe," NATO said in a statement. So far, the Western response has been largely symbolic. Some countries recalled ambassadors. Britain said its ministers would stay away from the Paralympics, which begin in Sochi on Friday. "Right now, I think we are focused on political, diplomatic and economic options," a senior U.S. official told reporters. "Frankly our goal is to uphold the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, not to have a military escalation," he said. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged world leaders on Sunday to work to calm the crisis and defended Russia's membership of the G8, saying it enabled the West to talk directly with Moscow. Russians in Crimea Ukraine's military is ill-matched against its neighbour. Britain's International Institute of Strategic Studies estimates Kiev has fewer than 130,000 troops under arms, with planes barely ready to fly and few spare parts for a single submarine. Russia, by contrast, has spent billions under Putin to upgrade and modernise the capabilities of forces that were dilapidated after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Moscow's special units are now seen as equal to the best in the world. In Crimea, Ukraine's tiny contingent made no attempt to oppose the Russians, who bore no insignia on their uniforms but drove vehicles with Russian plates and seized government buildings, airports and other locations in the past three days. Kiev said its troops were encircled in at least three places and pulled its coast guard vessels out of Crimean ports. Ukraine said its naval fleet's 10 ships were still in Sevastopol and remained loyal to Kiev. Scores of Russian troops were camped outside a base of Ukrainian troops at Perevalnoye, on a road from Crimea's capital, Simferopol, towards the coast. A representative of the base commander said troops on both sides had reached agreement so no blood would be shed. "We are ready to protect the grounds and our military equipment," Valery Boiko told Reuters television. "We hope for a compromise to be reached, a decision, and as the commander has said, there will be no war." Igor Mamchev, a Ukrainian navy colonel at another small base outside Simferopol, said a truckload of Russian troops had arrived at his checkpoint and told his forces to lay down their arms. "I replied that, as I am a member of the armed forces of Ukraine, under orders of the Ukrainian navy, there could be no discussion of disarmament. In case of any attempt to enter the military base, we will use all means, up to lethal force," Mamchev told Ukraine's Channel 5 TV. A unit of Ukrainian marines was also holed up in a base in the Crimean port of Feodosia, where they refused to disarm. Elsewhere on the occupied peninsula, the Russian troops assumed a lower profile on Sunday after the pro-Moscow Crimean leader said overnight the situation was now "normalized". Putin's justification citing the need to protect Russian citizens was the same as he used to launch a 2008 invasion of Georgia, where Russian forces seized two breakaway regions. In Russia, state-controlled media portray Yanukovich's removal as a coup by dangerous extremists funded by the West and there has been little sign of dissent. |
| 3 March 2014 - Ukraine mobilizes troops after Russia's 'declaration of war' Posted: 03 Mar 2014 02:45 AM PST From:http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/02/world/europe/ukraine-politics/index.html By Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Ben Wedeman and Ian Lee, CNN March 3, 2014 Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- As Ukraine's new leaders accused Russia of declaring war, Russia's Prime Minister warned Sunday that blood could be spilled amid growing instability in the neighboring nation. Kiev mobilized troops and called up military reservists in a rapidly escalating crisis that has raised fears of a conflict. And world leaders pushed for a diplomatic solution. In a post on his official Facebook page, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called the recent ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych a "seizure of power." "Such a state of order will be extremely unstable," Medvedev said. "It will end with the new revolution. With new blood." Officials said signs of Russian military intervention in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula were clear. Russian generals led their troops to three bases in the region Sunday, demanding Ukrainian forces surrender and hand over their weapons, Vladislav Seleznyov, spokesman for the Crimean Media Center of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, told CNN. By late Sunday, Russian forces had "complete operational control of the Crimean Peninsula," a senior U.S. administration official said. The United States estimates there are 6,000 Russian ground and naval forces in the region, the official said. "There is no question that they are in an occupation position -- flying in reinforcements and settling in," another senior administration official said. Speaking by phone, Seleznyov said Russian troops had blocked access to bases but added, "There is no open confrontation between Russian and Ukrainian military forces in Crimea" and said Ukrainian troops continue to protect and serve Ukraine. "This is a red alert. This is not a threat. This is actually a declaration of war to my country," Ukrainian interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said. Speaking in a televised address from the parliament building in the capital, Kiev, he called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to "pull back his military and stick to the international obligations." "We are on the brink of the disaster." A strange scene, somewhat polite standoff in Crimea Kerry heading to Kiev Ukraine PM: 'This is a red alert' On GPS: How will Ukraine respond? Ukraine opposition leader speaks out A sense of escalating crisis in Crimea -- an autonomous region of eastern Ukraine with strong loyalty to neighboring Russia -- swirled, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemning what he called Russia's "incredible act of aggression." Speaking on the CBS program "Face The Nation," Kerry -- who is set to arrive in Kiev on Tuesday -- said several foreign powers are looking at economic consequences if Russia does not withdraw its forces. "All of them, every single one of them are prepared to go to the hilt in order to isolate Russia with respect to this invasion," he said. "They're prepared to put sanctions in place, they're prepared to isolate Russia economically." Kerry rebukes Russia's 'incredible act of aggression' But Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations said his country needs more than diplomatic assistance. "We are to demonstrate that we have our own capacity to protect ourselves ... and we are preparing to defend ourselves," Yuriy Sergeyev said on CNN's "State of the Union." "And nationally, if aggravation is going in that way, when the Russian troops ... are enlarging their quantity with every coming hour ... we will ask for military support and other kinds of support." Pushing diplomatic possibilities In Brussels, Belgium, NATO ambassadors held an emergency meeting on Ukraine. "What Russia is doing now in Ukraine violates the principles of the U.N. charter," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters. He later added that Russia's actions constituted a violation of international law. He called upon Russia to honor its international commitments, to send it military forces back to Russian bases, and to refrain from any further interference in Ukraine. Rasmussen also urged both sides to reach a peaceful resolution through diplomatic talks and suggested that international observers from the United Nations should be sent to Ukraine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office said Putin had accepted a proposal to establish a "fact-finding mission" to Ukraine, possibly under the leadership of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and to start a political dialogue. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dispatched a special envoy to Ukraine Sunday evening, a spokesman for his office said. 20 questions: What is Russia's interest in Ukraine? Lean to the West, or to Russia? Ukraine, a nation of 45 million people sandwiched between Europe and Russia's southwestern border, has been plunged into chaos since the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych on February 22 following bloody street protests that left dozens dead and hundreds wounded. Russia OKs military force in Ukraine Kiev: Russia's move is direct aggression Anti-government protests started in late November when Yanukovych spurned a deal with the EU, favoring closer ties with Moscow instead. Ukraine has faced a deepening split, with those in the west generally supporting the interim government and its European Union tilt, while many in the east prefer a Ukraine where Russia casts a long shadow. Nowhere is that feeling more intense than in Crimea, the last big bastion of opposition to the new political leadership. Ukraine suspects Russia of fomenting tension in the autonomous region that might escalate into a bid for separation by its Russian majority. Ukrainian leaders and commentators have compared events in Crimea to what happened in Georgia in 2008. Then, cross-border tensions with Russia exploded into a five-day conflict that saw Russian tanks and troops pour into the breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as Georgian cities. Russia and Georgia each blamed the other for starting the conflict. By Sunday night, electricity had been cut off at the headquarters of the Ukrainian Navy in Crimea, and officials feared there could soon be an attack, Seleznyov said. CNN has not independently verified that claim, and Russian officials could not be immediately reached to respond. Cold War-style conflict hits Crimea: 3 things to know Military maneuvering Word of the power outage came hours after the newly named head of Ukraine's navy disavowed Ukraine's new leaders and declared his loyalty to the pro-Russian, autonomous Crimea government. Rear Adm. Denis Berezovsky, who was appointed Saturday by interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov, said from Sevastopol on the Black Sea that he will not submit to any orders from Kiev. He was quickly suspended and replaced by another rear admiral, the Defense Ministry in Kiev said in a written statement. These scenes come one day after Putin obtained permission from his parliament to use military force to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine, spurning Western pleas not to intervene. Putin cited in his request a threat posed to Russian citizens and military personnel based in southern Crimea. Ukrainian officials have vehemently denied Putin's claim. Opinion: Putin's move could be costly to U.S., Middle East Western governments worried The crisis set off alarm bells in the West and fueled a stern rebuke from the leaders of the G7 nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. In a statement Sunday, they condemned Russia's "clear violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," saying they were temporarily suspending activities related to preparation for June's G8 Summit in Sochi, Russia. Canada recalled its ambassador to Moscow. Senior Obama administration officials Sunday portrayed Russia's intervention in Ukraine as weak, describing it in a conference call with reporters as a kind of desperate measure from a man who realizes he has lost support of the international community. When asked what concrete measures the administration has taken to signal its strong opposition to Russian involvement in Ukraine, the officials noted that planning meetings about the upcoming G8 summit in Sochi had been canceled. In the long term, economic sanctions could be employed, they said. The officials declined to be more specific about what those sanctions might involve. In discussions over the weekend with Putin, Obama "made clear that Russia's continued violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would negatively impact Russia's standing in the international community," according to a statement released by the White House. During that call, one administration official said, Putin did not "slam the door" to the idea that international monitors could travel to Ukraine to make sure violence doesn't flare up, one official said. According to the Kremlin, Putin told Obama that Russia reserves the right to defend its interests in the Crimea region and the Russian-speaking people who live there. Obama met Sunday with his national security team and called U.S. allies afterward, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. British Prime Minister David Cameron said he and Obama were of the same mind when they spoke on Sunday. "We agreed Russia's actions are unacceptable and there must be significant costs if they don't change course," Cameron posted on his verified Twitter account. Cameron also planned to talk with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Britain's Foreign Minister William Hague arrived Sunday in Kiev, where he will meet with Ukraine leaders. Diplomatic language on Ukraine is short on specifics Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/02/world/europe/ukraine-politics/index.html |
| 3 March 2014 - Gold Fix Study Shows Signs of Decade of Bank Manipulation Posted: 03 Mar 2014 02:31 AM PST By Liam Vaughan Mar 1, 2014 The London gold fix, the benchmark used by miners, jewelers and central banks to value the metal, may have been manipulated for a decade by the banks setting it, researchers say. Unusual trading patterns around 3 p.m. in London, when the so-called afternoon fix is set on a private conference call between five of the biggest gold dealers, are a sign of collusive behavior and should be investigated, New York University's Stern School of Business Professor Rosa Abrantes-Metz and Albert Metz, a managing director at Moody's Investors Service, wrote in a draft research paper. "The structure of the benchmark is certainly conducive to collusion and manipulation, and the empirical data are consistent with price artificiality," they say in the report, which hasn't yet been submitted for publication. "It is likely that co-operation between participants may be occurring." The paper is the first to raise the possibility that the five banks overseeing the century-old rate -- Barclays Plc, Deutsche Bank AG (DBK), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) and Societe Generale SA (GLE) -- may have been actively working together to manipulate the benchmark. It also adds to pressure on the firms to overhaul the way the rate is calculated. Authorities around the world, already investigating the manipulation of benchmarks from interest rates to foreign exchange, are examining the $20 trillion gold market for signs of wrongdoing. Union Jacks The paper "is not a Moody's research report," Michael Adler, a spokesman for the firm, said in an e-mail. "The co-author of the paper was writing independent of his position at Moody's and was representing his own research findings and viewpoint." Officials at London Gold Market Fixing Ltd., the company owned by the banks that administer the rate, referred requests for comment to Societe Generale, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the group. Officials at Barclays, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Societe Generale declined to comment on the report and the future of the benchmark. Joe Konecny, a spokesman for Bank of Nova Scotia, didn't respond to requests for comment. The Libor Scandal Sets Off a Wave of Probes Abrantes-Metz advises the European Union and the International Organization of Securities Commissions on financial benchmarks. Her 2008 paper "Libor Manipulation?" helped uncover the rigging of the London interbank offered rate, which has led financial firms including Barclays Plc (BARC) and UBS AG to be fined about $6 billion in total. She is a paid expert witness to lawyers, providing economic analysis for litigation. Metz heads credit policy research at ratings company Moody's. Unregulated Process The rate-setting ritual dates back to 1919. Dealers in the early years met in a wood-paneled room in Rothschild's office in the City of London and raised little Union Jacks to indicate interest. Now the fix is calculated twice a day on telephone conferences at 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. London time. The calls usually last 10 minutes, though they can run more than an hour. Firms declare how many bars of gold they want to buy or sell at the current spot price, based on orders from clients and themselves. The price is increased or reduced until the buy and sell amounts are within 50 bars, or about 620 kilograms, of each other, at which point the fix is set. Traders relay shifts in supply and demand to clients during the call and take fresh orders to buy or sell as the price changes, according to the website of London Gold Market Fixing, where the results are published. At 3 p.m. yesterday, the price was $1,332.25 an ounce. The process is unregulated and the five banks can trade gold and its derivatives throughout the call. All Down Bloomberg News reported in November concerns among traders and economists that the fixing banks and their clients had an unfair advantage because information gleaned from the calls provided an insight into the future direction of prices and banks can bet on spot and derivatives markets during the call. Abrantes-Metz and Metz screened intraday trading in the spot gold market from 2001 to 2013 for sudden, unexplained moves that may indicate illegal behavior. From 2004, they observed frequent spikes in spot gold prices during the afternoon call. The moves weren't replicated during the morning call and hadn't happened before 2004, they found. Large price moves during the afternoon call were also overwhelmingly in the same direction: down. On days when the authors identified large price moves during the fix, they were downwards at least two-thirds of the time in six different years between 2004 and 2013. In 2010, large moves during the fix were negative 92 percent of the time, the authors found. There's no obvious explanation as to why the patterns began in 2004, why they were more prevalent in the afternoon fixing, and why price moves tended to be downwards, Abrantes-Metz said in a telephone interview this week. Bafin, FCA "This is a first attempt to uncover potentially manipulative behavior and the results are concerning," she said. "It's down to regulators to establish why there are such striking patterns but banks have the means, motive and opportunity to manipulate the fixing. The results are consistent with the possibility of collusion." Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest lender, said in January that it will withdraw from the panels setting the gold and silver fixings. German financial markets regulator Bafin interviewed the Frankfurt-based bank's employees as part of a probe into the potential manipulation of gold and silver prices. "In general, research that finds certain price patterns does not as such constitute evidence of manipulation," said Thorsten Polleit, chief economist at Frankfurt-based precious-metals broker Degussa Goldhandel GmbH and a former Barclays economist. "However, it might encourage interest in finding out more about the sources of these price patterns." 'Appropriate Oversight' The five banks that oversee the fixing set up a steering committee and will appoint external advisers to consider reforms before EU legislation on financial benchmarks' regulation and oversight comes into force, Bloomberg reported last month. Britain's Financial Conduct Authority is also scrutinizing how prices are calculated. The regulator published a report this week outlining its remit for regulating commodities including gold, saying that while it's responsible for commodities derivatives, it doesn't regulate physical commodities. "Abusive behavior can occur in the physical commodity markets which in turn can have an impact on, or be directly linked with, financial market activity and prices," the FCA said in the report. "The regulatory regime -- both in the U.K. and internationally -- needs to be adapted to ensure robust and appropriate oversight." |
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