Free Republic

Just something funny for a Saturday... Putin dies and goes to hell, but after a while, he is given a day off for good behavior. So he goes to Moscow, enters a bar, orders a drink, and asks the bartender: -Is Crimea ours? -Yes, it is. -And the Donbas? -Also ours. -And Kyiv? -We got that too. Satisfied, Putin drinks, and asks: -Thanks, how much do I owe you? -5 euros.

TOKYO – The Japanese yen’s sharp decline may be producing an unexpected loser: the US Treasury Department. One of the most intriguing mysteries of the last three months is this: Why is Japan, the biggest foreign holder of US Treasury securities, placing so many “sell” orders? In three months, Japanese institutional managers have dumped a cool $60 billion of US paper. Granted, that is a drop in the proverbial bucket considering Tokyo holds a $1.3 trillion stack of Washington’s IOUs. But the magnitude of the selling is getting increasingly hard to ignore. The most plausible explanation is the yen’s 13%...

The unprecedented U.S.-led Western sanctions against Russia have been likened to economic weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) that would ultimately destroy the Russian economy. In reality, the sanctions are like a double-edged sword — they inflict pain on Russia but also impose costs on their imposers. The West, in fact, is caught in a trap: The sanctions and the deepening conflict, by helping to raise global commodity and energy prices, translate into higher revenues for Moscow in spite of a significant decrease in its exports. And the higher international prices, by fueling inflation, mean political trouble at home for those...