[HN Gopher] Full consensus for disconnecting Russia from SWIFT a...
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       Full consensus for disconnecting Russia from SWIFT achieved,
       process has begun
        
       Author : grecy
       Score  : 78 points
       Date   : 2022-02-26 22:24 UTC (35 minutes ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.uawire.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.uawire.org)
        
       | worik wrote:
       | About time.
       | 
       | Now stop buying Russian oil.
       | 
       | If they are serious. Are they?
        
         | gedy wrote:
         | Given they've had 8 years warning, no, probably not
        
         | ukraineally wrote:
         | >Now stop buying Russian oil.
         | 
         | This is precisely what will happen. How do you buy russian oil
         | if you cannot transfer money to Russia?
         | 
         | That's what SWIFT removal does. Effectively means Russia cannot
         | import or export anything. China has made 1 exception, they
         | will still import russian wheat and that's it.
        
       | quenix wrote:
       | Russia has previously stated that they would take this as an act
       | of war [0]. Troubling.
       | 
       | [0]: https://russiabusinesstoday.com/economy/russia-would-
       | conside...
        
         | Gatsky wrote:
         | Invading Europe is unlikely to restore SWIFT access.
        
         | endymi0n wrote:
         | Which they are entitled to -- but effectively their alternative
         | here would be retaliating against half the world. Which in a
         | non-military way is effectively what the world wants, as it
         | will hurt Russia just a bit more than everyone else on their
         | own. And if they wage war on half the world, good luck to them.
        
           | toyg wrote:
           | Good luck to all of us.
        
           | nxmnxm99 wrote:
           | The west isn't half the world. It's an increasingly/rapidly
           | less geopolitically formidable corner of the world. The US is
           | far less frightening than it's been at any point since WW2.
           | 
           | Americans think the entire world is against Russia. It's only
           | Europe and the US. South America, Africa, Asia and the Middle
           | East don't really care and aren't going to "#PrayForUkraine".
           | 
           | Hell even marginalized people don't really care. The typical
           | American Muslim is on Russia's side in all this after seeing
           | sanctimonious Europeans and Americans invade their countries
           | for decades with rationale weaker than the Kremlin's.
           | 
           | This is decades of pseudo-colonial Western foreign policy
           | coming home to roost, and a few sanctions aren't going to
           | stop it.
        
         | redisman wrote:
         | Russia had said a lot of things. If you take everything at face
         | value you'll simply be conquered.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | yalogin wrote:
       | Can someone with knowledge explain what this means for European
       | countries that buy gas, oil and other goods from Russia. I am
       | guessing they still want the essentials. Are those purchases not
       | done through swift? That bring up another question, are purchases
       | from one country to another done through the regular banking
       | system?
        
         | mytailorisrich wrote:
         | They've only blocked some Russian banks from SWIFT.
         | 
         | They probably want to still be able to pay for gas and be paid
         | for exports...
        
       | omosubi wrote:
       | The articles I've seen about this say it's a significant move,
       | but what exactly will it mean for Russia and its economy? Will it
       | also impose costs on western economies? What exactly are those?
        
         | jlduan wrote:
         | It is a cross-border banking system, widely used to do
         | international transactions.
        
         | endymi0n wrote:
         | It's gonna be tough. Germany was opposed to the measure for a
         | long time not just because they wanted to play softball, but
         | because it effectively meant saying good bye to up to 55
         | billion dollars of credit.
        
         | rwaksmunski wrote:
         | West will pay more for energy, Russia's economy will get rekt.
        
           | pruski wrote:
           | I'm more than happy to pay more for energy if that's the
           | price of peace
        
         | neilwilson wrote:
         | It will have next to no effect on Russia because they have
         | their own currency and, unlike Iran, are not dependent upon
         | imports.
         | 
         | The fantasy of the dollar hegemony is a western myth. They are
         | about to find out that they are completely irrelevant.
         | 
         | If nobody is selling anything to you then you don't need to
         | settle in foreign currencies.
         | 
         | However Russia could demand roubles in payment for its gas and
         | then ban foreigners from holding them. Which would mean the EU
         | couldn't settle its gas bill.
         | 
         | And we all know what happens when you fail to pay the gas bill.
        
       | the_duke wrote:
       | Can someone familiar with the banking system chime in here?
       | 
       | The announcements say that only selected banks are targeted.
       | Won't they just funnel transactions through other banks that are
       | not banned?
       | 
       | I also read that the previously announced sanctions on banks have
       | lots of loopholes. Is that accurate?
       | 
       | The central bank restrictions seem more impactful. Will they
       | actually prevent Russia from liquidating their foreign currency
       | reserves? Or can they also circumvent this by going through other
       | countries like China?
        
         | rwaksmunski wrote:
         | SWIFT disconnection is the WMD in the finance world. If you are
         | American, imagine not being able to use ACH or checks anymore.
        
         | RWejlgaard wrote:
        
       | pavlov wrote:
       | The US and EU are also placing sanctions on the Russian central
       | bank. Experts quoted by the Financial Times seem to believe that
       | this is more impactful than the SWIFT disconnect:
       | 
       |  _'Josh Lipsky, a former IMF adviser now at the Atlantic Council
       | think-tank, said earlier the US imposing sanctions on the Russian
       | central bank would be an "extraordinarily significant and
       | damaging move to the Russian economy"._
       | 
       |  _'"A G20 central bank has never been sanctioned before. This is
       | not Iran. This is not Venezuela. So to shut off their central
       | bank from the international financial system, or at least the
       | dollar and euro economy, is a massively destabilising move
       | potentially," said Lipsky._
       | 
       |  _'Edward Fishman, a former US official now at the Center for a
       | New American Security, said it would present a "devastating blow"
       | to the Russian economy that would eclipse the significance of a
       | ban on Swift.'_
        
       | ukraineally wrote:
       | https://twitter.com/zelenskyyua/status/1497340787280920581?s...
       | 
       | Macron had the wonderful pleasure of being the one to tell hero
       | president zelensky.
        
         | rad_gruchalski wrote:
         | I find it really distasteful from Twitter that they still put
         | up this screen nagging to sign in, and preventing reaching this
         | important information.
         | 
         | Twitter - you end up like Facebook. Blocked on the router. Bye.
        
           | aprdm wrote:
           | Yet is where the information is. Twitter and Reddit have been
           | very valuable in this war, annoying patterns aside.
        
       | [deleted]
        
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       (page generated 2022-02-26 23:00 UTC)