EFFECTS ON #WORLDTRADE... WHERE WILL IT ALL END?

Although in this article we will discuss today focusing primarily on Russia, before we do a review of previous records that have a lot to do with the current reality. Also worth mentioning, that the facts could happen faster than anyone could imagine and it is therefore important to review past events. Do not forget to read the integrity of the article and leave your opinions which will surely be of great contribution...

(Read more)

EXTERNAL EXPANSION LTD., www.externalexpansion.net

#Europe: ‘No grounds’ for lifting #Russiasanctions

Sanctions in place against Russia over alleged support for pro-Moscow rebels in Ukraine 

European Union foreign ministers said on Monday there were no grounds to lift economic sanctions against Russia despite conciliatory proposals from the EU’s foreign policy chief as violence intensified in eastern Ukraine... (Read more)

EXTERNAL EXPANSION LTD., www.externalexpansion.net

#Global: #Oil heads for biggest annual decline since 2008

China stocks close up more than 2 per cent helping the stock market become the best performer among major global bourses this year

China stocks closed up more than 2 per cent on Wednesday, boosted by a late afternoon rally which helped the stock market become the best performer among major global bourses this year. (Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters)

Oil headed for the biggest annual decline since the 2008 global financial crisis as US producers and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ceded no ground in their battle for market share amid a supply glut... (Read more)

EXTERNAL EXPANSION LTD., www.externalexpansion.net

#Russia: #Roublefalls back in volatile #trade after early surge

Russian currency is being hurt by falling oil prices and Western sanctions over Ukraine

The Russian currency is down some 40 per cent against the dollar this year.An employee uses a machine while counting Russian ruble banknotes at a private company’s office in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Photograph: Ilya Naymushin/Reuters

A recovery in the rouble ran out of steam on Tuesday as oil prices slid, wiping out early gains driven by modest foreign-currency sales on the final day of trading before the New Year holidays... (Read more)

EXTERNAL EXPANSION LTD., www.externalexpansion.net

#Russianeconomy suffers first contraction since #globalcrisis

Rouble falls again as official report shows economy declined by 0.5% in November

An employee counts Russian rouble banknotes at a small private shop selling home appliances in Krasnoyarsk. Photograph: Ilya Naymushin/Reuters

Russia’s economy shrank sharply in November and the rouble resumed its slide as Western sanctions and a slump in oil prices combined to inflict the first contraction in GDP since the global financial crisis... (Read more)

EXTERNAL EXPANSION LTD., www.externalexpansion.net

#Russia: #Roublerecovers as authorities step up support

Currency climbs in value as threat to country’s financial stability eases

An employee counts Russian ruble banknotes at a private company’s office in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Photograph: Ilya Naymushin/Reuters

Russia’s rouble strengthened on Friday after finance minister Anton Siluanov confirmed his ministry had sold foreign currency and on expectations that exporters will step up dollar sales... (Read more)

External Expansion Ltd. (www.externalexpansion.net)

#Russia: #Russianeconomy falters in face of #westernsanctions

Kremlin flags tit-for-tat food import restrictions as boost for domestic agriculture and chance for Russians to eat home-grown produce

The lives of many Russians are beginning to change, as a combination of western sanctions over Ukraine, a ban on some food imports and falling oil prices weigh on an already weakened economy. More Russians are putting off expensive purchases, adapting travel plans and changing grocery stores. Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

Trade is not usually brisk at Ala Smirnova’s corner shop sitting among apartment blocks in a suburb of north Moscow. It is mainly seen as a late-night, last resort for locals who have run out of essentials such as soap, beer or bread. That changed this week as word went round that the thinly stocked little store contained a trove of some of the last affordable grechka, or buckwheat, left in town... 

(Read more)

External Expansion, www.externalexpansion.net,

#Russia Threatened by #OilPrice Slump Till 2015

• 
  Firms will continue building sites like the Arctic Prirazlomnoye oil platform only if the oil price goes up.
  Photo: Gazprom

In a blow to the financing of the state budget and Russian oil majors alike, global crude prices will likely remain low until 2015, according to the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Oil Market Report for November, released late last week... (Read more)

External Expansion, www.externalexpansion.net,

#Ireland: Talking #Turkey as a market to replace #Russia

Ireland is not currently looking to Turkey as a replacement market for Russia. But should we be?

Eastern promise: Istanbul – Enterprise Ireland opened an office in the city in January

Stephen Starr

Irish food exporters are up against it. The Russian ban on EU and others’ foodstuffs over the conflict in Ukraine has had another negative consequence: a scramble with EU neighbours for access to replacement markets... (Read more).

External Expansion, www.externalexpansion.net,

#Russia: #ForeignMinister Voices Bleak Forecast for Russia-U.S. Relations

• 
  Lavrov, left, pictured here with then Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in 2010, spoke at length on Monday about Russia’s relations with the U.S., which have been blighted by a series of unresolved issues between the two nations.
  Photo: Polishmfa / flickr

The prospect of assuaging the rift in U.S.-Russia relations appeared dimmer Monday after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov predicted that the dire state of bilateral ties would persist for a long time... (Read more)

External Expansion, www.externalexpansion.net,

#Italia: #Petrolio e #Russia spine di Descalzi l’Eni prova a smarcarsi da Mosca

IL BARILE È SCESO A 80 DOLLARI. LO SCENARIO GEOPOLITICO INCERTO. LE INCHIESTE GIUDIZIARIE NON SI FERMANO. PER L’AD DELL’ENI UN COMPITO DIFFICILE, E IL PIANO STRATEGICO È CONDIZIONATO DALLE LITI TRA PUTIN E IL MONDO

N essuno aveva detto a Claudio Descalzi, il 9 maggio, che l’amministratore delegato dell’Eni fosse un mestiere semplice. Ma pochi si aspettavano un debutto così duro. Primo, il prezzo del petrolio, su cui l’azienda fonda la sua unica attività profittevole, è crollato di un quinto, da oltre 100 a poco sopra 80 dollari a barile, e getta ombre malevole sulla tenuta dei fondamentali e la sostenibilità del noto dividendo... (Leggete tutta la storia qui)

External Expansion, www.externalexpansion.net,

#Russia: One-Fifth of Russia's #OilProduction Is at Risk Due to #Sanctions

• 
  
  Gazprom Neft's Prirazhlomnaya oil rig last year became the first to begin pumping oil from Russia's Arctic shelf.
  Photo: Gazprom

Some 100 million tons of annual oil production — or about 20 percent Russia's total oil output — is at risk because of sanctions related to the supply of Western technology and expertise to Russia, Vagit Alekperov, the head of Russia's No. 2 oil company, said Friday... (Read more)

External Expansion, www.externalexpansion.net,

#Iran to Capitalize on #Russia-West Standoff Over #Ukraine

• 
  
  President Vladimir Putin meeting with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on September 13, 2013.
  Photo: Presidential Press Service / Wikimedia Commons

When President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani meet on Friday against the backdrop of Russia's slide into the abyss of Western sanctions, the two countries may find one another to be increasingly suitable economic allies... (Read more)

External Expansion, www.externalexpansion.net,

#Russia: Ruble Plummets as #EU Ends Uncertainty Over #Sanctions

• 
  
  Mariano Rajoy Brey, Spanish Prime Minister,right, and José Manuel Barroso, center, in the presence of Pedro Passos Coelho, Portuguese Prime Minister, at a special meeting of the European Council last month.
  Photo: Ec.europa.eu

The Russian currency plunged to historic lows against the dollar Thursday as the European Union appeared to end more than a week of vacillation by opting to impose a new round of sanctions against Russia over its backing of separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine... (Read more)

External Expansion, www.externalexpansion.net,

#Russia: in vigore #nuovesanzioniUe, in lista 9 società e 24 personalità

Oggi la pubblicazione in gazzetta ufficiale. Mosca furiosa, annuncia reazioni e dice: "Colpiti anche i contribuenti europei". Tra petrolifere blocchi per Rosfnet, Transneft, Gazprom neft

MILANO - Le nuove sanzioni Ue contro la Russia sono entrate in vigore oggi con la pubblicazione sulla gazzetta ufficiale dell'Unione europea: tra le misure punitive per Mosca, in seguito alla crisi Ucraina il blocco prestiti per cinque grandi banche statali e significativi ostacoli alle imprese petrolifere e di difesa russe. La notizia è stata subito riportata, sia dalla Bbc sia dalle tv russe, come Ntv e Russia today con grande enfasi. Il Cremlino è furioso per le nuove sanzioni: "Colpiscono  anche i contribuenti europei", si sottolinea. E Mosca promette che le nuove restrizioni non rimarranno senza risposta... (Leggete tutta la storia qui)

External Expansion, www.externalexpansion.net,

#Russia Tightens Screws on #Ukraine With Candy #ImportBan

• 
  
  The latest decision is likely to hit the Ukrainian sweet industry hard at a time when the country’s economy is in free fall.
  Photo: Pixabay

Russia’s consumer rights agency on Friday banned all imports of Ukrainian confectionery, signaling that the country has no plans to stop using trade as a weapon against countries that align themselves against the country.(Read more)

Ukraine fears Russia plans "frozen conflict" for troubled east

Putin insists Kiev must negotiate with rebels in east, not with Russia

A burnt trolley bus lies on a square near a railway station in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine yesterday. Reuters/Maxim Shemetov

(Read more)

External Expansion, www.externalexpansion.net,

#Russia: #International #Carmakers Confident of Market Revival

• 
  
  The Ford Focus sedan was the bestseller in its segment in Russia between January and August 2013, but has not sold even half that number during the same period this year.
  Photo: Vladimir Filonov / SPT

International carmakers are hopeful that Russia can become Europe's biggest market and vindicate their decision to spend more on localizing production in the country, company executives said on the sidelines of the Moscow International Automobile Salon on Thursday... (Read more)

External Expansion, www.externalexpansion.net,

#Russia calls tune in crisis #Europe hoped to wish away

Months of weakness and disunity among Ukraine’s allies have left it exposed to Kremlin aggression

Pro-Russian separatists walk towards a destroyed war memorial at Savur-Mohyla, a hill east of the city of Donetsk yesterday. Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

(Read more)

External Expansion, www.externalexpansion.net,

As #Russia and #US Struggle, #China Rejoices

• 
  
  President Vladimir Putin,standing, alongside Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, standing center-right, in Shanghai in May, when Russia and China signed a much-anticipated gas deal.
  Photo: Kremlin.ru

With multi-billion dollar energy deals between Moscow and Beijing recently being pushed through, China, the world's second-biggest economy, is benefiting the most from the spiraling tension between Russia and the West over the violence in Ukraine... (read more)

External Expansion, www.externalexpansion.net,