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Authorizing transactions involving certain blocked entities owned by Usmanov

37 points by java-man 5y ago

dang 5y ago
It's against the site guidelines to editorialize titles like this. (Edit: submitted title was "Why is the U.S. lifting sanctions on one specific oligarch?") If you want to say what you think is important about an article, that's fine, but do it by adding a comment to the thread. Then your view will be on a level playing field with everyone else's: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=%22level%20playing%20field%22%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... Another option is to find (or write) an article on the specific point you think is important, and post that instead. Then you can link to the more general article (the one you submitted here) from the comments, for extra background. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- babelfish 5y ago
  (Not OP) I'd be interested in discourse on this memo - rather than flagging it, would it be possible to change the title to "Authorizing Transactions Involving Certain Blocked Entities Owned by Alisher Burhanovich Usmanov" and keeping it up for discussion?
  - dang 5y ago
    The submitter did that, module HN's 80 char limit, so yes, I've unflagged the post now.
    - java-man 5y ago
      thank you.
- Overtonwindow 5y ago
  So maybe the title should be “treasury lift sanctions on Russian oligarch“ ? It’s a pretty difficult document to try to summarize in the limited characters of hacker news.
- java-man 5y ago
  sorry. can I fix the title and resubmit? edit: title updated.
  - dang 5y ago
    Ok, that's close enough, given that it's a subtitle of the OP. I've unflagged the post.
    - java-man 5y ago
      thank you.
java-man 5y ago
Original title: Why is the U.S. lifting sanctions on one specific Russian oligarch? [pdf] (treasury.gov) Changing the title to that of the original document.
notananthem 5y ago
Usmanov is a crook who has evaded sanctions for quite a while. Curious why this administration is letting him off the hook.
- java-man 5y ago
  Especially now. Did he made a deal? Or is he being set up?
- vkou 5y ago
  Probably the same reason that not all Russian banks have been cut off from SWIFT. Because this lets the West pick and choose to only enforce sanctions that hurt Russia, without enforcing sanctions that would hurt itself.
  - rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago
    Russia's government gets half of its revenues from oil and gas exports, and the West can't afford not to buy it. The West can't speed the transition to renewables, because it's too costly (but all expenses for war and defense will be paid at all cost, that goes without saying).
    - thanatos519 5y ago
      The "leadership" of the West can't afford not to buy it for political reasons, but the people can deal with the consequences. I hope that all of those pipelines are destroyed. That will force us to take the transition to renewables seriously. Lots of people will die ... but cold turkey means fewer people will die in the long run.
      - 999900000999 5y ago
        Quadruple gas prices tomorrow and see how liberal people are. Renewables are great, but still out of reach. While it would be great to have a nation of Teslas ran off solar power, that won't happen for decades if ever. What we really need are smaller cities，and better public transit
dragonwriter 5y ago
(In response to original headline questioning why the US was removing a single oligarch from sanctions.) It isn't. The license applies to majority Usmanov-owned entities that aren't otherwise explicitly sanctioned; Usmanov himself is still sanctioned, as are other entities tied to him. It’s still weird, though; I suspect to really understand it (absent a public explanation) would require going through a list of Usmanov-owned entities and the specific sanctions list to find which of the former aren't on the latter and thus are unblocked, and reasoning from there.
- octo_t 5y ago
  This has more context in: https://intellinews.com/us-oligarch-sanctions-list-exempts-usmanov-s-companies-236976/ https://intellinews.com/us-oligarch-sanctions-list-exempts-u... > A few other oligarchs, and their companies, have been exempted because of their importance to the global commodities market, most notably Oleg Deripaska and his aluminium producer Rusal. > When very harsh sanctions were imposed on Deripaska in 2018 that effectively banned doing any business with the company, prices for aluminium on the London Metals Exchange (LME) soared by 40% overnight potentially causing a price shock for the consumers of the metal. The implementation of those sanctions were at first delayed and eventually withdrawn completely
vmception 5y ago
That's amazing, I wish to have that much power and leverage within nation states. No explanation exemptions just rubber/digitally stamped. What kind of shareholdings do you think gave this leverage? Assuming it was the ownership or value of something critical and not some other externality.
- octoberfranklin 5y ago
  > What kind of shareholdings do you think gave this leverage? A copy of Jeffrey Epstein's DVD collection.
- HWR_14 5y ago
  > What kind of shareholdings do you think gave this leverage? One of his holdings is a giant mining company. In the past, they've had exemptions to sanctions to deal with vast natural resources, as otherwise the price of some commodities can jump by 50%. Note that the oligarch himself still has sanctions on him and his personal yacht/jet are being confiscated if in EU/UK/US jurisdiction.

37 points by java-man 5y ago

dang 5y ago

It's against the site guidelines to editorialize titles like this. (Edit: submitted title was "Why is the U.S. lifting sanctions on one specific oligarch?") If you want to say what you think is important about an article, that's fine, but do it by adding a comment to the thread. Then your view will be on a level playing field with everyone else's: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=%22level%20playing%20field%22%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so... Another option is to find (or write) an article on the specific point you think is important, and post that instead. Then you can link to the more general article (the one you submitted here) from the comments, for extra background. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

babelfish 5y ago
(Not OP) I'd be interested in discourse on this memo - rather than flagging it, would it be possible to change the title to "Authorizing Transactions Involving Certain Blocked Entities Owned by Alisher Burhanovich Usmanov" and keeping it up for discussion?
- dang 5y ago
  The submitter did that, module HN's 80 char limit, so yes, I've unflagged the post now.
  - java-man 5y ago
    thank you.
Overtonwindow 5y ago
So maybe the title should be “treasury lift sanctions on Russian oligarch“ ? It’s a pretty difficult document to try to summarize in the limited characters of hacker news.
java-man 5y ago
sorry. can I fix the title and resubmit? edit: title updated.
- dang 5y ago
  Ok, that's close enough, given that it's a subtitle of the OP. I've unflagged the post.
  - java-man 5y ago
    thank you.

java-man 5y ago

Original title: Why is the U.S. lifting sanctions on one specific Russian oligarch? [pdf] (treasury.gov) Changing the title to that of the original document.

notananthem 5y ago

Usmanov is a crook who has evaded sanctions for quite a while. Curious why this administration is letting him off the hook.

java-man 5y ago
Especially now. Did he made a deal? Or is he being set up?
vkou 5y ago
Probably the same reason that not all Russian banks have been cut off from SWIFT. Because this lets the West pick and choose to only enforce sanctions that hurt Russia, without enforcing sanctions that would hurt itself.
- rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago
  Russia's government gets half of its revenues from oil and gas exports, and the West can't afford not to buy it. The West can't speed the transition to renewables, because it's too costly (but all expenses for war and defense will be paid at all cost, that goes without saying).
  - thanatos519 5y ago
    The "leadership" of the West can't afford not to buy it for political reasons, but the people can deal with the consequences. I hope that all of those pipelines are destroyed. That will force us to take the transition to renewables seriously. Lots of people will die ... but cold turkey means fewer people will die in the long run.
    - 999900000999 5y ago
      Quadruple gas prices tomorrow and see how liberal people are. Renewables are great, but still out of reach. While it would be great to have a nation of Teslas ran off solar power, that won't happen for decades if ever. What we really need are smaller cities，and better public transit

dragonwriter 5y ago

(In response to original headline questioning why the US was removing a single oligarch from sanctions.) It isn't. The license applies to majority Usmanov-owned entities that aren't otherwise explicitly sanctioned; Usmanov himself is still sanctioned, as are other entities tied to him. It’s still weird, though; I suspect to really understand it (absent a public explanation) would require going through a list of Usmanov-owned entities and the specific sanctions list to find which of the former aren't on the latter and thus are unblocked, and reasoning from there.

octo_t 5y ago
This has more context in: https://intellinews.com/us-oligarch-sanctions-list-exempts-usmanov-s-companies-236976/ https://intellinews.com/us-oligarch-sanctions-list-exempts-u... > A few other oligarchs, and their companies, have been exempted because of their importance to the global commodities market, most notably Oleg Deripaska and his aluminium producer Rusal. > When very harsh sanctions were imposed on Deripaska in 2018 that effectively banned doing any business with the company, prices for aluminium on the London Metals Exchange (LME) soared by 40% overnight potentially causing a price shock for the consumers of the metal. The implementation of those sanctions were at first delayed and eventually withdrawn completely

vmception 5y ago

That's amazing, I wish to have that much power and leverage within nation states. No explanation exemptions just rubber/digitally stamped. What kind of shareholdings do you think gave this leverage? Assuming it was the ownership or value of something critical and not some other externality.

octoberfranklin 5y ago
> What kind of shareholdings do you think gave this leverage? A copy of Jeffrey Epstein's DVD collection.
HWR_14 5y ago
> What kind of shareholdings do you think gave this leverage? One of his holdings is a giant mining company. In the past, they've had exemptions to sanctions to deal with vast natural resources, as otherwise the price of some commodities can jump by 50%. Note that the oligarch himself still has sanctions on him and his personal yacht/jet are being confiscated if in EU/UK/US jurisdiction.