Erdogan urges Turks to dump dollar to support lira

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the country’s citizens to sell foreign currencies to support the lira which has seen a record plunge against the US dollar amid a diplomatic conflict with Washington.

"Change the euros, the dollars and the gold that you are keeping beneath your pillows into lira at our banks. This is a domestic and national struggle," Erdogan said, as quoted by  the Associated Press.

The Turkish currency dropped almost 20 percent on Friday, hitting a new low of 6.64 lira to the US dollar. The currency is currently heading for its worst week since 2001.

The latest diplomatic row between Washington and Ankara was sparked over the arrest of US evangelical pastor Andrew Brunson on terrorism charges in Turkey. Brunson was detained in connection with the failed military coup in 2016 to oust the country's president. An official visit paid by the Turkish delegation to Washington didn’t bring the parties to any apparent solution to the crisis.

Brunson, a US citizen and a Turkish resident for over two decades, was arrested in Turkey on a charge of terrorism and espionage. He is facing up to 35 years in prison if found guilty of the charges.

According to Erdogan, the United States is waging an “economic war”against Turkey and he has called on the country's citizens to respond.

“We are facing economic attacks today, and we need to defend our country,” the president said. “The economic attack against us now is the same as the coup attempt against us. I'm urging our country to increase outputs, to increase exports.”

Turkish stocks also saw a dramatic plunge on Friday, with the iShares MSCI Turkey ETF exchange declining by 11.4 percent. The ETF was already down 42.3 percent this year before Friday’s losses.

In July, US President Donald Trump pledged to impose “large sanctions”on Turkey if its authorities refused to free Brunson. Back then, the White House announced sanctions on Turkey’s justice and interior ministers, prohibiting US citizens from doing business with them.

https://www.rt.com/business/435622-erdogan-urges-turks-to-dump-dollar/

Dutch anti-immigrant politician takes own life after claiming rape by ‘Muslim gang’

https://www.rt.com/news/435609-willie-dille-muslim-rape/

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Dow down 200, emerging markets crashing on US-Turkey geopolitical concerns

Wall Street couldn’t avoid the bloodbath on Friday triggered by a collapse of the Turkish lira amid escalating diplomatic tensions between the US and Turkey. Investors are worried about political uncertainty in the world.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average index slid 245 points, or almost two percent, during early trading hours on Wall Street. Two other key US indices, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, pulled back 0.7 percent.

Wall Street couldn’t avoid the bloodbath on Friday triggered by a collapse of the Turkish lira amid escalating diplomatic tensions between the US and Turkey. Investors are worried about political uncertainty in the world.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average index slid 245 points, or almost two percent, during early trading hours on Wall Street. Two other key US indices, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, pulled back 0.7 percent.

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Dow down 200, emerging markets crashing on US-Turkey geopolitical concerns

Published time: 10 Aug, 2018 14:15Edited time: 10 Aug, 2018 14:54

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Wall Street couldn’t avoid the bloodbath on Friday triggered by a collapse of the Turkish lira amid escalating diplomatic tensions between the US and Turkey. Investors are worried about political uncertainty in the world.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average index slid 245 points, or almost two percent, during early trading hours on Wall Street. Two other key US indices, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, pulled back 0.7 percent.

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Erdogan urges Turks to dump dollar to support lira

Shares in leading US banks also plunged significantly with Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan Chase all falling over one percent.

Markets in Europe were also turbulent with Germany’s DAX falling two percent, French CAC 40 falling almost two percent, and Britain’s FTSE 100 declining 0.8 percent.

Emerging markets also collapsed on Friday. Russia’s dollar-traded RTS index plunged over three percent, Brazil Bovespa index was losing 2.3 percent, and the Turkish Borsa Istanbul index saw a 5.4 percent sell-off.

The broad market sell-off began with the collapse of the Turkish lira after a delegation from Turkey returned from Washington without apparent progress on the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson, accused by Ankara of aiding the failed military coup in Turkey in 2016.

Brunson, a US citizen and Turkish resident for over two decades, was arrested in Turkey on charges of terrorism and espionage. He is facing up to 35 years in prison if found guilty.

https://www.rt.com/business/435634-dow-down-200-emerging-markets/

>>2544402

Dow down 200, emerging markets crashing on US-Turkey geopolitical concerns

Wall Street couldn’t avoid the bloodbath on Friday triggered by a collapse of the Turkish lira amid escalating diplomatic tensions between the US and Turkey. Investors are worried about political uncertainty in the world.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average index slid 245 points, or almost two percent, during early trading hours on Wall Street. Two other key US indices, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, pulled back 0.7 percent.

Shares in leading US banks also plunged significantly with Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan Chase all falling over one percent.

Markets in Europe were also turbulent with Germany’s DAX falling two percent, French CAC 40 falling almost two percent, and Britain’s FTSE 100 declining 0.8 percent.

Emerging markets also collapsed on Friday. Russia’s dollar-traded RTS index plunged over three percent, Brazil Bovespa index was losing 2.3 percent, and the Turkish Borsa Istanbul index saw a 5.4 percent sell-off.

The broad market sell-off began with the collapse of the Turkish lira after a delegation from Turkey returned from Washington without apparent progress on the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson, accused by Ankara of aiding the failed military coup in Turkey in 2016.

Brunson, a US citizen and Turkish resident for over two decades, was arrested in Turkey on charges of terrorism and espionage. He is facing up to 35 years in prison if found guilty.

https://www.rt.com/business/435634-dow-down-200-emerging-markets/

Russia ‘can’t beat US in trade war,’ but could hurt Washington elsewhere (or team up with China)

Published time: 10 Aug, 2018 21:08

After Prime Minister Medvedev accused the US of declaring a trade war with its latest sanctions against Russia, experts weigh up how much damage each country might inflict on the other and what Moscow can do to dodge the blows.

Labeled “draconian” by both sides, the White House sanctions over Russia’s alleged involvement in the poisoning of the Skripals in the UK in March will be applied in two steps. On August 22, an initial restriction on exports of security-sensitive goods will come into force and, unless Russia assures the US that it has stopped using chemical weapons (which it denies in the first instance), more severe restrictions will be introduced 90 days later. These include a potential moratorium on national carrier flights to the United States and an almost complete import ban.

Dmitry Medvedev on Friday promised a “political and economic reaction,”but what can Russia do?

Respond in kind, or go asymmetrical?

Gilbert Doctorow, a Brussels-based Russian affairs analyst, says that the US, particularly with the second proposed round, is threatening to “go for the jugular” in a way it has not during any of the previous acts of sanction dating back to the Crimea secession in 2014. Which means that Russia’s response has to be more than symbolic.

“There are a number of measures that it can implement to hurt the US rather badly. One is a cut-off of delivery of Russian made rocket engines used in the US space program,” he told RT. “There are also such things as prohibition of export to the US of rare and strategic metals essential to all kinds of industry, or raising manyfold the charges for use of Russian airspace or, alternatively, simply prohibiting US civil aviation from using Russian airspace.”

But Doctorow and Vladimir Vasiliev, from Moscow’s Institute for US and Canadian Studies, each agree that Russia is more likely to take a wait-and-see approach than to try to get the first shot in.

“A lot will depend on the US sanctions, which have not been thought through. Politics dominates economics in this area; they’ve been announced, but Commerce Department officials are now frantically scrambling to create an actual sanctions packet in time for August 22,”Vasiliev said, adding that the impact on trade for both sides could be so severe, Russia may choose not to exacerbate the effect.

Yet the experts believe that a more practical response would be asymmetrical. Rather than punishing the US, which exported a paltry $7 billion of goods to Russia last year, economically, Moscow could exact a political revenge, in areas where Washington is much more dependent on its goodwill – not least in Syria, where both countries are entangled and Moscow has the upper hand.

“There are actions to directly counter US sanctions directed against other countries, such as Iran and North Korea. Russia can stop cooperating with the US and, indeed, go over to the other side, which would be quite destructive of US foreign policy,” suggests Doctorow.

Beijing or Brussels?

Alternatively, Moscow could simply bypass sanctions by strengthening its other relationships.

Vasiliev suggests greater cooperation with Europe, which is reliant on Russian energy exports and, due to its geographic and economic position, “offers greater opportunities” for its easternmost state.

David Kotz, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, suggests looking instead to the east.

“The US has been angering a lot of countries around the world over trade and that should make it easier for Moscow to find allies on the economic front. First of all, China. Now the two countries have even more grounds to work together,” said Kotz.

Although in geopolitical terms China and Russia, with their complementary economic strengths, have always seemed like a natural fit; the relationship between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, much warmer than that of their predecessors, could lead to a more full-hearted economic alliance.

‘No winners here’

For all the counter-strategies the Kremlin will deploy, Kotz believes Russia will not emerge unscathed from the latest tension spiral, largely as the West will continue to back Washington over their personal dislike of Donald Trump’s White House.

“Russia could try to gain the support of other countries, but unfortunately the United States has a lot of power to bully other countries into following its policies,” he said to RT.

Other experts agree that, at least in pure money terms, as the smaller economy struggling with sluggish growth and dependent on exports, Russia is more vulnerable in any sustained and intensive economic stand-off.

“Of course, Russia will be hurt, but I think that the unintended consequences for America will be just as bad. When you take a step back you realize that much of the world looks at Washington’s unilateral actions as being outside the law, outside of accountability, and a very dangerous precedent,” said Paul Goncharoff from the Independent Directors Association of Russia. “But in any case, there are no winners here.”

Controversial French report on ‘Russophiles’ funded by Twitter with profits from RT ads - NGO

A French report that labeled thousands as ‘Russophiles’ pushing anti-Macron narratives on Twitter, was partially funded by the tech giant itself, with the money it received from RT and Sputnik, the report’s author states.

The Brussels-based NGO called EU DisinfoLab made waves in France after it produced a report on how social media was affected by the scandal, involving President Emmanuel Macron’s now-notorious security aide Alexandre Benalla. The report listed thousands of Twitter accounts, which were labeled as “Russophiles” for sharing information about the scandal. Those included presidential candidates Jean-Luc Melenchon and Marine Le Pen, as well as many others, who were angered by the apparent attempt to smear them.

Ironically, the controversial report was partially funded by Russian money, the NGO states on its website. It says some of its funding was received from Twitter, which in October last year banned RT and Radio Sputnik from using its platform for advertising. The decision was justified by accusations against the two outlets by the US office of the Director of National Security, which equated our reporting to meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

As Twitter tried to distance itself from the “Russian connection”, it pledged to give away the proceeds from Russian ads.  DisinfoLab said Twitter estimated it had received $1.9 million from RT and Sputnik since 2011 and that it will donate an equal sum to “support external research into the use of Twitter in civic engagement and elections, including use of malicious automation and misinformation, with an initial focus on elections and automation”.

According to the EU DisinfoLab, in January it received $125,000 of the Twitter’s “mea culpa” money. Which it apparently used to stir anti-Russian hysteria in France.

State Dept deflects questions on US-backed Saudi strike that killed dozens of children 

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert deflected questions about a US-backed Saudi airstrike that killed dozens of children in Yemen, instead choosing to highlight “Houthi attacks” against Saudi Arabia.

The State Department has “seen the news reports” about a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 70 – most of whom were children – in northern Saada, Yemen, but “can’t confirm all the details because we are not there on the ground,” Nauert told reports during a press briefing on Thursday.

She added that the United States is “certainly concerned” about the “reports,” and “regrets any loss of civilian life.” Nauert also urged Saudi Arabia to launch a “thorough and transparent investigation into the incident.”

Insisting that she had no other details or information on the matter, Nauert then chided reporters at the briefing for ignoring the “devastation” in Yemen.

“You all rarely ask about the issue that has been unfolding, and the devastation that has taken place in Yemen, let’s look at some of things that have been happening in Yemen,” Nauert said to journalists. “You have the Houthi rebels, who continue to attack Saudi Arabia. They continue to do that with Iranian weapons, missiles and rockets. They continue to try to attack civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, for example. And that is part of the reason why these actions are being taken.”

Nauert did not clarify what she meant by her last sentence, which seems to imply that the deadly airstrike – which hit a bus full of children – was a retaliatory measure. The Saudi-led coalition has described the strikes as “legitimate,” claiming that Houthi rebels used the children as human shields. The United States has provided the Saudi-led coalition with weapons and logistical support during the three-year conflict.

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https://www.rt.com/usa/435616-nauert-us-saudi-strike-yemen/

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