Two weeks ago today, on Friday, August 8, the “market” seemingly desperate for any excuse to soar, did just that when Russia, tongue-in-cheek, announced that a Russian military drill, which everyone knew in advance would end that day, and which “worried the US department of state” finished. So by that logic the announcement of a new, and even more massive, military drill by Russia should send stocks crashing, right? We are joking of course: there is no news in this world that could possibly send stocks lower as good news is great but bad news only means even more intervention of various central banks, however Russia did indeed announce that it will take part in counter- terrorism exercise called Peace Mission in China with other members of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, RIA Novosti reports, citing unidentified Defense Ministry official.
The main part of drill is set to run from August 24 until the 29, so next Friday when the market soars on “news” that the drill has ended you know that algos once again failed to read anything beside the headline.
According to Bloomberg, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan to deploy total of 7,000 military personnel, the largest ever for SCO.
And just in case stocks need more catalysts to soar (if not drop), Russia announced it would hold another exercise, called East-2014, some time in mid-September, which would involves multiple branches of armed forces. The scenario for that particular exercise is not yet disclosed.
Finally, all this is happening as Russia is currently taking part in a third exercise, called Interaction-2014, located in Kazakhstan with members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The purpose of this particular drill: “seek to contain armed conflict in imaginary state.”
Yes… imaginary.
Below is a just released clip from this drill as well as RT’s description: joint military drills of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) were conducted in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan, Friday. About 3,000 soldiers, 200 vehicles and about 30 planes took part in the drills. Military units from the Air Assault Brigade of the Russian Airborne Troops, the Air Forces of Kazakhstan, the mobile team from the Special Operations Forces of Belarus, the Special Forces of the Armed Forces of Kyrgyz Republic and a commando squadron from Tajikistan participated in the exercises.
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1zdMGXD Tyler Durden