Dear Philip,

I don't know myself what is the agreement between IMF and Ukraine: if indeed the IMF forces a country to devalue its currency and that's not part of the pre-agreed conditions, then it is dishonest and that country need not repay its debt. If however they agreed to it, then they need to keep their side of the deal.

To begin with, no country should accept such harsh conditions - instead, if such demands are made, then they should go it alone, frugally but independently on their own resources, forgetting about the rest of the world and not even recognising foreign bodies as legal entities capable of ownership.

Australia too has all the natural resources it needs, so even if we don't owe the IMF any money, it would be a good idea for us to do the same, because where the world is heading is not a good place to be.

The whole thing has the smell of Hitler's Sudetenland invasion and the
seizure of parts of Georgia.
Be wary of such heads of state getting a taste for such easy solutions.

I never heard any reports of the then opposition or the now government
of the Ukraine stating that Russia would lose its rights to its Crimea bases.
I think the upshot will be that the Crimea will become part of Russia
and the Ukraine will turn west.

Yuyutsu>>Are you suggesting that Crimeans should sell their freedom for 30 pieces of silver?<<

Y, my observation is of the agenda being multi level, and none of the levels have anything to do with the betterment or prosperity of the Ukrainians. As I mentioned the Ukrainians do have a huge historic grievance with Russia.....but Stalinist Russia like Mao’s China murdered millions of their own people and Ukraine probably suffered the most during the genocide by starvation of the 1930’s.

But who do they run with...as Philips link astutely mirrors, the Ukraine will be raped by the west...used up and spat out. The Russians share a boarder and it is in Russia’s interest that Ukraine not become thy next Greece. This is not about Ukraine; it is about the IMF and NATO getting back at Russia.

I am not defending Putin or the oligarchs of the post USSR Russia, but they certainly are not going to bow to the IMF and the WTO.....they are like a great white hope.....and I also see China as the great yellow hope for the same reasons.

They have denationalized the first world.....but Russia and China are not as stupid as the west, they want to keep their gene pool and sovereignty....not give it up to a small group of world rulers who control the globe from suites in banking institutions in Europe

RawMustard>>The world will never improve until the last bankster is hung with the entrails of the last politician!<<

RM, the household I grew up in was grass roots left with a fair slice of Trotsky thrown in. So I always believed the financiers ran the lot, and that they had a new world order dream in place early in their power grab.

But I honestly never believed that they would tie up governments and populations under the shackle of generational debt before the nobody’s of the world uniformly shouted for change.....but they have. They planned to dumb down the populous and give them mindless non productive media to dull their senses, and they have.

Bloody pollies RM, useless as nipples on men, don’t matter which side you vote for you get sell outs to the IMF and WTO...we got no friends....we’re orphans.

sonofgloin - Quote "They planned to dumb down the populous and give them mindless non productive media to dull their senses, and they have."

Funny you should say that, that was how Rome controlled the population but it was termed something like give them bread and circus.

Yuyutsu - Just check on any country the IMF have given money to try to find some that have prospered because of it then check on how many have been ruined by it or are at the mercy of the International bankers.

Dear Sonofgloin,

You only confirm what I wrote, that anyone who is able should stay away from all big powers. While some are unable because they cannot withstand the military machines of the big powers, if all it takes is to tighten one's belt economically, then it's most worthwhile to do so.

Crimeans could, until last week, have opted for independence without inviting the Russians. They would still continue to host the Russian fleet and even benefit from it economically without becoming part of Russia itself. Now it is sadly, too late!

Ukraine will probably be unable to hold its eastern regions for long, but its army is strong enough to deter the Russians from invading its west - it's not that the Russians couldn't take over by force, but their casualties would be too high and I don't believe they would risk using nukes at this time.

Dear Philip,

<<Yuyutsu - Just check on any country the IMF have given money to try to find some that have prospered because of it then check on how many have been ruined by it or are at the mercy of the International bankers.>>

The question is which is cause and which is effect: is it the IMF which ruined them, or were they already so ruined that they were willing to beg help even from the devil?