Changes

At the beginning of 2014, oil was pricing steadily in the ~$100-130 per barrel range. Then a major geopolitical crisis developed. The U.S. and the [[CIA]] staged the Ukrainian '[[Euromaidan]]' coup which overthrew the legitimate [[democracy|democratically elected]] Ukrainian government in the opening months of that year. In March, [[Crimea]] held a democratic referendum to once more rejoin Russia.  This was a massive blow to the United States geopolitical ambitions to secure the Sevastopol naval base for itself as a NATO base. For this, Russia had to be punished, as it had now grown too strong, regaining its major warm water port in [[Sevastopol]] that could be used to challenge the Western Atlanticist designs in the [[Middle East]] by way of the Black Sea fleet's access to the [[Mediterranean]].

At the beginning of 2014, oil was pricing steadily in the ~$100-130 per barrel range. Then a major geopolitical crisis developed. The U.S. and the [[CIA]] staged the Ukrainian '[[Euromaidan]]' coup which overthrew the legitimate [[democracy|democratically elected]] Ukrainian government in the opening months of that year. In March, [[Crimea]] held a democratic referendum to once more rejoin Russia.  This was a massive blow to the United States geopolitical ambitions to secure the Sevastopol naval base for itself as a NATO base. For this, Russia had to be punished, as it had now grown too strong, regaining its major warm water port in [[Sevastopol]] that could be used to challenge the Western Atlanticist designs in the [[Middle East]] by way of the Black Sea fleet's access to the [[Mediterranean]].

[[File:City garden Kolpino Autumn, 2009.JPG|thumb|City garden, Kolpino.]]

[[File:City garden Kolpino Autumn, 2009.JPG|thumb|City garden, Kolpino.]]

The Atlanticists took action, and with their [[Saudi Arabia]]n partners carried out a plan to crash the price per barrel of oil by flooding the world market with cheap oil in order to hurt Russia as much as possible, since—by conventional thinking—the Russian economy was more tied to fossil fuel production than most other countries.  They crashed the oil market with a large concerted campaign that was multipart: the U.S. vastly jacked up its fracking for shale oil while OPEC was strong-armed by [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] into increasing production as well. At the same time, the entire Atlanticist West hit Russia with huge sanctions based on the [[Crimean Annexation]] and Flight [[MH17]] [[false flag]] shoot down. And lastly, the U.S. orchestrated many Russian currency/bond holders to sell everything by encouraging ‘panic’, spreading false info about Russia’s collapse—basically spooking investors. This caused large sell-offs of the Ruble.

The [[Atlanticist]]s took action, and with their [[Saudi Arabia]]n partners carried out a plan to crash the price per barrel of oil by flooding the world market with cheap oil in order to hurt Russia as much as possible, since—by conventional thinking—the Russian economy was more tied to fossil fuel production than most other countries.  They crashed the oil market with a large concerted campaign that was multipart: the U.S. vastly jacked up its fracking for shale oil while OPEC was strong-armed by [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] into increasing production as well. At the same time, the entire Atlanticist West hit Russia with huge sanctions based on the [[Crimean Annexation]] and Flight [[MH17]] [[false flag]] shoot down. And lastly, the U.S. orchestrated many Russian currency/bond holders to sell everything by encouraging ‘panic’, spreading false info about Russia’s collapse—basically spooking investors. This caused large sell-offs of the Ruble.

By 2015-2016 the price of oil crashed from the ~$100-115 per barrel range to the ~$40-50 per barrel range, becoming roughly ~50% of its original price, the price of $96 in 2014 being halved to $40-49 in 2015-2016.  The Ruble to Dollar conversion rate went from a low of roughly ~37 Rubles to 1 Dollar in 2014, soaring to the range of ~60-75 Rubles to 1 Dollar in 2015 to exactly coincide with the oil price crash. The Ruble also devalued by ‘half’, as it went from ~35 to ~70 against the Dollar by 2015-2016. However, because Russia has a huge [[trade surplus]] and does not need foreign currency earnings, the devaluation in exchange rates had little impact on the Russian economy. Per capita GDP continued to rise.

By 2015-2016 the price of oil crashed from the ~$100-115 per barrel range to the ~$40-50 per barrel range, becoming roughly ~50% of its original price, the price of $96 in 2014 being halved to $40-49 in 2015-2016.  The Ruble to Dollar conversion rate went from a low of roughly ~37 Rubles to 1 Dollar in 2014, soaring to the range of ~60-75 Rubles to 1 Dollar in 2015 to exactly coincide with the oil price crash. The Ruble also devalued by ‘half’, as it went from ~35 to ~70 against the Dollar by 2015-2016. However, because Russia has a huge [[trade surplus]] and does not need foreign currency earnings, the devaluation in exchange rates had little impact on the Russian economy. Per capita GDP continued to rise.