My reading of the tea leaves w/r to <<shouting from the windows in Shanghai>> is more tinfoil-esque, that per never let a crisis go to waste, the authorities are testing gear works and tweaking protocols, to better safeguard national security, etc etc, in the afternoon session at my toil desk
In the morning sessions I figure, nothing is by accident, and am agnostic as to what might be going on with the goings-on's
I shouted from the pool deck of abode in Cape Town not long ago, joining in the fun w/ my neighbours who shouted from their gardens and balconies whilst swishing drinks in hand. Anything to pass the time should be encouraged as long as the times keep passing.
Speaking go time, in the meantime, Japan chooses to ship LNG from far far away, and cede the nearby natural gas to China China China enabled by Power of Siberia en.wikipedia.org until whenever China manages to do whatever w/r atomic this, solar that, and who can know, including fusion and such
The upside of sanctioning Russia is that as far as PGM (Pd & Pt) are concerned, Japan can turn to S Africa, and the downside is that inflation of PGM baked-in.
Putting on my tinfoil hat and this time, garb, on, I suspect that perhaps, just maybe, folks are looking for an excuse to do mass jubilee of debt accumulated since forever. Would be interesting.
bloomberg.com
Japan Formally Revokes Russia's 'Most Favored Nation' Status
20 April 2022, 13:53 GMT+8
Moscow’s International Business Center.
Source: Bloomberg
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (MARI YAMAGUCHI)Tokyo (AP) -- Japan formally revoked Russia's “most favored nation” trade status Wednesday over its invasion of Ukraine, as Tokyo steps up sanctions amid revelations of the Russian military's widespread atrocities against civilians.
The stripping of Russia’s trade status is Japan's latest move against Moscow and was part of a list of sanctions measures Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced last month that also included a decision to expel eight Russian diplomats and trade officials.
The revocation of Russia’s trade status by Japan's Parliament, combined with other sanctions collectively imposed by other countries, is expected to intensify pressure on Russia, but the moves could also prompt reprisals from Moscow. The revocation of the trade status applies to tariffs on all Russian imports.
Wednesday's parliamentary decision also included a revision to a foreign exchange law to prevent the transfer of virtual currency held by those subject to asset freezing.
Japan is taking a greater role in the international effort against Russia because of concerns about the impact of the invasion in East Asia, where China’s military has grown increasingly assertive.
Japan has also frozen the assets of hundreds of Russian individuals and groups and banned new investment and trade, including the export of goods that could be used for military purposes. Japan also announced plans to phase out imports of Russian coal.
On Wednesday, the eight Russian diplomats subject to expulsion were seen leaving the Russian embassy in Tokyo on a bus to the Haneda international airport, where they took a Russian government plane back to their country.
Japan has already faced reprisals from Russia. Moscow recently announced the suspension of talks on a peace treaty with Tokyo that included negotiations over Russian-held islands that the former Soviet Union seized from Japan at the end of World War II. |
