From: Senators Call On Treasury Secretary To Sanction Russian Banks That Are Helping Syrian Regime
Here is the full text of the letters of four US Senators:
Dear Secretary Lew:
We write to urge the Department of the Treasury to designate those Russian banks that have helped enable Syria to avoid the effects of sanctions. In our view, these institutions are complicit in prolonging the brutal conflict in Syria and should be barred from the U.S. financial system.
According to numerous reports, banks such as VTB, Vneshekonombank, and Gazprombank are carrying on “business as usual” with Syria, and have repeatedly undermined American, European Union, and United Nations sanctions. Such activities have reportedly included Venesekonombank’s facilitating Syrian payments for S-300 missile batteries, VTB’s holding President Assad’s personal funds, and Gazprombank’s making payments for crude oil.
Russian bank support violates international sanctions by enabling Syria to pay for imports and receive funds for exports. This assistance eases much of the financial burden on the Assad regime, allowing it to continue military purchases and pay the soldiers that sustain the war in Syria.
Most of the international community has banded together in the face of Assad’s cruel war to isolate his regime. The financial lifeline offered by Russia’s state-owned banks undermines Executive Orders 13582, 13573, and 13608. We urge the Office of Foreign Assets Control to vigorously pursue all violations of the U.S. sanctions regime, designating any and all Russian individuals and entities found to be in non-compliance.
We write to you mindful that there is clear and compelling evidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons to brutally murder over 1000 Syrians, including hundreds of children. It is now more critical than ever that you swiftly designate those financial institutions that have profited from violating sanctions to prop up the Syrian regime.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent issue.
Sincerely,
Kelly Ayotte, United States Senator
Richard Blumenthal, United States Senator
John Cornyn, United States Senator
Jeanne Shaheen, United States Senator
This issue is complicated by the reserve currency status of the US dollar. Any large bank needs a US operation because so many transactions are carried out in USD. This is why large foreign banks cannot reject FATCA. The US is abusing its status as holder of the world’s reserve currency by using this power to pursue its own selfish ends. It may end up losing this status if it goes too far – this is already happening.
But if these banks are breaking UN sanctions, I think that’s a different matter and the US has much stronger grounds to ban these banks.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13573
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13608
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13582
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@Johnson, I agree completely. Abusing the world’s reserve currency to say the least. A Canadian billionaire also agrees with you: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-17/canadian-billionaire-predicts-end-dollar-reserve-currency-warns-its-likely-get-ugly
The reserve currency status holder, if I recall another Zero Hedge piece accurately, goes to the country that can militarily defend that right. So until the US loses its top dog spot, the march towards working around the USD is going to be slow going and checked by the US military at every available possibility. Look what happened to Libya when they wanted gold only for oil and Iran is threatening that same route.
China is making small inroads with trade in its own currency. I believe that Australia has an agreement with them that all trade is conducted in the Chinese currency now but I don’t know how many other deals they have. I wonder when Canada will do that?
Nothing lasts forever. The sun will even set on the American empire someday.
confirm the Australia-China direct deal. I posted the link. An Australian told me it was connected to the dominance factor connected with FATCA.
And here is the story with the War on Currencies That Are Not The Dollar (WCTANTD). Libya, preceded by Iraq.
https://rt.com/news/economy-oil-gold-libya/
And Amoco was doing Seismic mapping of Vietnamese subsea oilfields during Kennedy’s empire, and the excitation charges were covered up by the gunboats of LBJ. BP bought Amoco, and Went fullblow into business with drilling during the 1980’s.
The only question left is what currency were they planning to implement in Grenada?
It doesn’t look like Russia will be signing an IGA anytime soon. It will be interesting to see what happens after the first non-US bank takes a hit for 30% of its US payments. My guess is that it will scare the heck out of everyone and non-US banks will begin to reduce their risk of US holdings. It won’t happen all at once, but rather like a slow leak from nail punctured tire.
Eyes turn to Russia on record drop in U.S. bond holdings
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/03/14/usa-fed-russia-idINL2N0MB0XR20140314
Markets fear Russia has cut US treasury bill holding over Ukraine crisis
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/mar/14/russia-us-treasury-bill-bonds-ukraine-sanctions