RUSSIAN ECONOMY ON BRINK OF COLLAPSE: MEANWHILE, RUSSIA MOVES TO MILITARILY SECURE ARCTIC OIL RESOURCES AND PELOSI PLAYS GAMES WITH AMERICA'S FUTURE

The Russian economy appears on the brink of collapse.

Russia's two leading stock markets suspended trading on Wednesday as stocks continued to fall sharply amid global market turmoil.

Trading was halted on the dollar-denominated RTS on the orders of a government agency after falling 6.39 percent in the first two hours. The index has lost 57 percent since hitting an all-time high in May.

"Trading was stopped at 12:10 pm (0810 GMT) on the orders of the Federal Service for the Financial Markets," an RTS spokesman said. "We do not know when trading will resume, this is not our decision."

The financial sector was the worst hit, led by state-controlled retail banking giant Sberbank which plummeted 17.33 percent on the RTS.

And as much as some Obama types would like to blame it on America's economic woes, that's simply not the case. Russia is finding out real quick that it can no more afford to play bully than it could when Ronald Reagan was in office.

Russia's incursion into Georgia last month has accelerated a financial downturn, creating a credit crisis that could impact Moscow's increasingly muscular foreign policy.

The downturn began several months before the Aug. 8 escalation in the Caucasus and has as much to do with global trends and other political and economic developments as it does with Russia's actions in Georgia, specialists here say.

Meanwhile...back at the Kremlin...while the Democrat Legion of Doom plays games with America's ability to supply itself with oil, the Russians have moved to secure even more oil resources that don't belong to them...Note the nationalistic reasoning behind their move to militarily secure oil resources in the Arctic.

Russia's long-term development and its competitiveness in global markets depends on developing Arctic resources, President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday, demanding that Russia mark its Arctic territory so it can claim a large share of the region's mineral resources.

Telling his Security Council that the Arctic is "strategically important," Medvedev urged a speedy passage of a law to determine Russia's southern Arctic zone and added that "marking of the external border of the continental shelf is a long-term goal."

"The use of these energy reserves is a safeguard for Russia's energy security," Medvedev said. "It is our duty to our descendants, we have to ensure the long-term national interests of Russia in the Arctic."

Already, some 20 percent of Russia's GDP and 22 percent of its exports are produced in the Arctic.

And this is what the Democrats in the house have come up with:

The House approved a package of energy initiatives yesterday, including measures that would allow oil drilling as close as 50 miles off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and finance the long-term development of alternative energy sources.

Wow! We can has sum oil now? As long as it's not within 50 miles of our shores? First, wasn't it just a few weeks ago that Nancy Pelosi was calling the Republicans plans to drill a hoax? Yes, it was, here's proof:



Madame Speaker, there is a small problem with your bill.

The House moved toward a vote Tuesday on whether to allow oil drilling off the nation's Atlantic and Pacific coastlines — but only 50 or more miles out, well beyond where most of the estimated 18 billion barrels of recoverable oil is believed to be located.

Pelosi and the Democrats' behavior is nothing short of treasonous. These people are willing to leverage the future of our country to not to appear to conceded on this very important issue and to protect their radical environmental agenda. Democrats = Evil.