[FPSPACE] A bit off topic, but the rammifications are relevant...

[Peter Pesavento]

Unlike JimO, I am a great deal less sanguine about how solid the connections
are between the USA and the Russian Federation in regards to dependability
of having astronauts "hitch a ride" on Soyuz spacecraft in post-Shuttle, the
post-2010 environment.

 

I say this in part, due to the following news reportage, as derived from
former US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's new book that had pre-release
excerpts come out this past week.

 

It appears that Putin attempted, before and during the height of the late
2008 economic crisis, to severely damage the USA economically (beyond what
was happening already) by dumping Russia's entire shareload of Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac stock, and concurrently attempted to get the PRC to do the
same, at the same time.  The PRC demurred.

 

And Putin isn't going away anytime soon.  If he gets back in the Russian
Presidency slot, we may have even more rocky relations to look forward to,
in many more spheres.

 

You can read more here:

 

http://rawstory.com/2010/01/paulson-russia-exacerbate-financial-crisis/

 

I have cut-and-pased an excerpted version below.

 

 


Paulson: Russia tried to exacerbate US financial crisis


By Stephen C. Webster

 

Saturday, January 30th, 2010 -- 1:55 pm

 

Russian interests attempted to force the U.S. government bailout of Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac by selling off its holdings in the two entities in 2008,
then urging China to do the same, according to former U.S. Treasury
Secretary Henry Paulson.

Paulson's claim is carried by his forthcoming memoir, "On The Brink." An
early copy was obtained by Bloomberg News.

"The Russians made a 'top-level approach' to the Chinese 'that together they
might sell big chunks of their GSE holdings to force the U.S. to use its
emergency authorities to prop up these companies,' Paulson said, referring
to the acronym for government sponsored entities," Bloomberg reported. "The
Chinese declined, he said."

He reportedly added that he waited until returning to the U.S. before
informing former President George W. Bush of what he called a "disruptive
plan."

The New York Post called it flirting with "financial war."

Indeed, Bloomberg adds that during the opening ceremonies of the Beijing
Olympics, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned Bush that "war has
started," according to Putin's spokesman. The Kremlin has since denied that
it urged the Chinese to sell bonds in Fannie and Freddie amid the height of
the mortgage crisis.

[paragraph snipped]

Russia held some $65.6 billion in Fannie and Freddie bonds at the beginning
of 2008, according to Bloomberg. They have since been sold off. U.S.
regulators seized the banks in Sept. 2008.

[paragraph snipped]

Peter Wallison, a former general counsel to the U.S. Treasury, estimated at
the end of 2009 that taxpayers would lose in upwards of $400 billion for its
support of Fannie and Freddie.

 

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