... and this insulation is supported by enormous military and economic might of Russia and China.
Many people still cannot grasp a direct connection between military might and economics. The US has lost the war, the likes it could never have imaged and is not equipped to fight. It took Russia to start SMO and the trust in Dollar system began to decline. Today it is shattered. The best proxy the US ever had, in fact with better soldiers than the US Army, has been pulverized. But you know, almost 9 years ago I wrote a book on this issue. One year later--the other one.
On everything, Dollar included. And yes, countries are leaving BRICS.
I have news for this guy, though--gold grows in price and this is just one of many economic indicators of decomposition of the Dollar system, not to mention the fact that MOST of actual manufacturing is concentrated today in Eurasia minus Europe, with the exception of few still important technologies there. The trend continues.
Yes, about "wonderful economy". If it gets any more wonderfuler, we may slide into the great depression, and somebody has to explain to DJT that the only reason this hasn't happened yet is because big players do not want the whole of global economy going bananas once the US drowns. The foundation of which US Dollar's "exorbitant privilege" rested is not there anymore, least of all its main pillar--the mythology of US military power. India is a soft target, but in the end she a huge Peninsula in the Eurasian landmass southern belly and she has a lot of business within this mass. A lot. But in the end--these are R and C in BRICS who set the example. In the end, currencies are but the derivatives of tangibles which make the world go around.
In the humiliation of epic proportions the US sanctions on Russia failed miserably and the score of failures continues to grow. The US will now try to, indeed, steal Russia's $300 billion and that will be it for Dollar as the reserve currency. The main pillar of Dollar's status was always the myth of the "finest fighting force in history". Remarkably, this force cannot win a single war and even it allegedly advanced netcentric and comms capabilities it tries to run in Ukraine are being dealt with great efficiency. The latest issue of Military Thought describes what the US tries to accomplish there. Meanwhile:
Hm, how 'bout that. Where are the US Armed Forces to enforce the sanctity of the US Dollar. They should march to Russia and beat the crap out of those Russkies for disregarding USD and doing whatever those nasty Slavic untermenschen do. Damn, even in "defense agreement" with 404 US made sure to have the clause of the US troops not being in 404. Well, we all know the name of the game, don't we? Meanwhile the slaughter of VSU and its "advisers" continues unabated. Somebody will get really rich when he shoots down first F-16. R 15 million is a lot of money. People may say I exhibit all signs of schadenfreude. Wrong! I exhibit signs of a gigantic, uber-delightful schadenfreude.
What rock did he sleep under? Now he just woke up, good God. Well, I have news for this guy--it is already over for US Dollar and if he doesn't know this, then he should find himself some actual job like a janitor in his very own Yale or nursing home administrator. Just one example out of very many from three days ago:
Translation:Russia will be able to lend to other countries regardless of their credit rating according to international rating agenciesMOSCOW, December 22./TASS/.Russia has changed the conditions for providing government loans to foreign countries.A resolution correcting the rules for issuing such loans was approved by the Government of the Russian Federation.Thus, now Russia will be able to lend to other countries regardless of their credit rating according to international rating agencies.Previously, in order to receive a loan from Moscow, foreign countries did not have to belong to the sixth or lower credit risk group according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Also, countries with a long-term credit rating below the level of "B-" according to the classification of Fitch, Standard & Poor's or below the level of "B3" according to Moody's could not take out a loan. Countries for which the average for the previous three months were not allowed to receive loans from the Russian Federationthe cost of sovereign credit default swaps in US dollars for a period of 10 years exceeds 800 basis points (according to the Bloomberg information system when relevant quotes are available).Now these points of the rules have been declared invalid. In addition, in the future Moscow will not be guided by the recommendations of international financial institutions when issuing government loans.
Most Western "economists", with the exception of such titans of economics like Michael Hudson, have no clue what real economy is and why what Russia does in SMO collapses US Dollar. Right, because US Dollar is based on the mythology of American military power which allegedly can enforce the use of the said Dollar. US cannot enforce the use of the US Dollar when it comes to Russia, because Russia in her turn can enforce the use of Ruble in the US. And so, those fake "Nobel" prize in economics (there is NO Nobel Prize in economics--it is a misnomer) winners begin to deal with reality of US (and Western) financial system, based primarily on coercion and legerdemain, being dismantled.
This is what real military power and massive industrial economy give you--independence. As "rumor" has it, China also reorienting her economy away from the US and EU and now it seems these two markets stopped being critical for China. Asia is by far more important. Meanwhile Russia raises flags today on three ships and one of those ships is Admiral Golovko frigate--the carrier of those nasty 3M22 Zircons. Well, you already heard also how Russia simply kicked Western insurance companies to the curb, she insures things herself now and thus stopped economic espionage by all those Western insurance and audit companies. It hurts, I know, but that is what real economy and military superpowerdom gives you--you can tell anyone to go and pound sand. And this is exactly what Russia does. This is Mr. Volodin--Speaker of the Duma.
Hey, Biden wants to run again. Can you imagine how many wonderful things he can do to this country in his second term? Boy, that will be the show to behold.
... when the US Dollar was supported by America's massive industrial might. Today, the only thing "supporting" it are Wall Street and a bunch of code writers who pass for "tech companies".
Lavrov is absolutely correct--accounting fraud becomes a feature, not a bug of the US economy. But in real world only tangible things matter. The warfare delusion that the Gulf War produced is easily paralleled by money making out of a thin air by Wall Street shysters. Indeed, the US is doing a swell job herself discrediting and annihilating the US Dollar--Lavrov is spot on here. Now consider the removal of the PR myth about US military power and you get a perfect storm of factors coming together in undermining the USD.
Yep, the times of the American mighty industries which seemed to have no limits in their output are long gone. I touch upon this issue a little bit in my latest video which I will post shortly (in 30 minutes or so). Tucker definitely stirred the pot with his prediction of the hot war between Russia and the US but one has to ask the question if the US has the capacity to build armor (hint: she doesn't) and if many of those military experts read Svechin and know about strategy of exhausting the enemy? Valery Gerasimov is an avid reader of Svechin, wink, wink.
...that I am interested in writing about US Banks, including the fate of hapless SVB "invested" into the fashionable fields (hint: it provides good big words at PPP such as "leveraging", "future technologies", "climate sustainability" and other tinsel verbiage) such as IT, medicine and "climate tech"--I am not. I, together with many others, many of them are way better economists than I ever will be, wrote about this whole debacle for years. And what many of us have been talking and writing about for years is happening, and SVB is not even the start of it. But Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Drobinin who bluntly summarized today what people with IQ above room temperature were talking about at least since 2008, in reality--even earlier.
Translate:The short-sighted actions of the United States and its partners have accelerated the process of demonopolizing the dollar as the main means of international settlements and investments, the dollar is nothing more than a "trust-based paper," said Alexei Drobinin, director of the foreign policy planning department of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
There you go. He said it. As to how to deconstruct this trust--it is the job of professionals from all kinds of fields of real statecraft which ranges from diplomacy, economy to military. Precisely the fields in which the United States is not competitive anymore. Drobinin also stated the obvious fact that "The US government will never pay off its galloping debt which exceeds now $31 Trillion." Anyone has doubts in veracity of this statement? I don't, people with the basic abilities and knowledge of a compound interest and calculator with x^y button (function) knew it all along.
So, under these circumstances, the US has nothing better than...
The idiots, evidently, cannot even grasp a simple fact that doing so they, actually, work FOR Russia and overwhelming majority of Russians applaud them for nailing down the remnants of once mighty Russian "oligarchy" thus accelerating already massive return of stolen assets under Russian state's control. Yes, they are that dumb.
Calmly, without grandiose gestures and PR. Just like that. It is also known that China was dumping treasuries since 2022 and, looks like, the arrangements are being made to completely remove any remnants of "credibility" from moribund US Dollar and Euro, whose fate is pretty clear now because of upcoming (when, don't ask me, I don't know) collapse of the EU and, finally, NATO. How will this develop is very difficult to predict but it is now the matter of WHEN, not IF. SMO is designed to address this issue.
For doubters, here is my friend Colonel Vladimir Trukhan (in Russian) explains on fingers what is going on and what aims Russia pursues--very successfully--in former 404.
Use Google translate, Volodya explains it in simplest terms and reserves more emotional responses, LOL, for upcoming Friday when three of us: Vera, Volodya and me will meet yet again (I lost count already) on podcast and will discuss--and you have guessed it--SMO from operational and strategic POV. In related news, pay attention to Alexandr Rogers excellent columns. And if you followed even intermittently Russian info-space, you may have noticed a dramatic reduction of "noise" from all those military "reporters" in Russia, who, such as Sladkov, Pegov, Kotz et all. completely discredited the profession. As with the US Dollar, you know, reputations are built for a long time, but are destroyed in an instance.
In related news CNN asked Evgenii Prigozhin (Wagner's leader) the next question: Good afternoon,
Can you please explain why recruitment in the Russian prison system has ended for Wagner? What is the reason behind this?
... that Western "economists" do not know what economy is, the only thing they know is speculation with currencies, period. Russia introduces de facto resources-based currency.
What a bunch of cretins. Wake the fvck up, imbeciles--it is not just about Ruble, it is about those proverbial counter-sanction from Russia everybody were so longing for. It is a death blow to US Dollar and EU. Here it is in Russian from Ria. In related news, Brent crude hit today $120.99, and rising. Well, no comments are needed, really...
You see how it is done? Now, the monumental task is to connect the dots for morons from Wall Street and State Department in explaining to them how military power works and how it shapes geopolitical reality. I can guarantee you that the rest of the world waited until the West and, especially, the US would be shown its proper place and this moment has arrived, and operation in Ukraine has everything to do with it. I mean 100% because as I am on record for years THE ONLY pillar on which the reign of the US Dollar is based was a perception of the US military power. Hysteria in the US media and a bunch of the US Army generals making buffoons of themselves "analyzing" operation in 404 are first signs of a dawning realization of what is in the making.
I recall this term being used often when describing Ronald Reagan. I am not sure he had a "vision", but he certainly understood that the world was becoming a very dangerous place for the United States. Lucky for him, he had a total narcissist and fool to deal with and we all know the result. But here is an interesting nexus. Here, Vladimir Putin (just in case CNBC alters or omits important parts) talks to CNBC's own Hadley Gamble (in Russian with English being heard). At around 6 minutes into interview he asks if the United States understand that by imposing sanctions, they kill US dollar? This issue has been discussed on this blog not for once and it seems that US powers that be do not grasp this simple fact. Recall "Russia's economy is in tatters" by Obama. And it becomes quite clear that it is impossible to communicate to the US "economic elites" how real economy works. Then, of course, one has to deal with US policy makers, and at this point we have to accept the fact that they lack this "vision thing".
Here is an interesting insight which Andrey Raevsky (The Saker) published on his site and I think it gives a good feel why those people in D.C. do not understand what vision is. The piece is by Thorsten J. Pattberg.
It is a concise but extremely focused piece. It is about America's political culture which completely precludes any morality and a "vision thing" which is drowned in quibbling--the only way to to get one to the political top, into the safe confines of the US Congress which exists today for only one reason--to dissipate any kind of personal responsibility for ruining the country, both domestically and on the international arena. US Dollar being the victim of the US insane foreign policy is one such example. US political elites do not discuss anything truly strategic and to the benefit of the United States, no. They quibble about how to better "stop China", how to better sanction Russia, how to better parade their own country as a psychiatric ward (granted, EU takes the lead here)--no visionaries nor "vision things" can emerge under these conditions. And we observed it today everywhere in the US, from media circus, to legislature, to executive branch. They do not know how to do it differently, they do not know how to do "vision thing", because, as Pattberg points out:
Unsurprisingly, quibbling in western Christian denomination has always
been associated with ‘the devil’, and the quibblers in literature were
‘the devil’s advocates’. A nation of quibblers, on the other hand,
cannot be deterred by ethics or morality. Hence the Americans’
relentless digging the ‘the rule of law’ from under the rest of the
world: At one point, the freest people in the world employed 2/3 of
lawyers on this planet.
US Congress is run by lawyers, they are everywhere, US Supreme Court long ago stopped being a Court, it increasingly becomes a political organization with the agenda. Recall also that a good share of US journos are, actually, lawyers. Be that foreign policy and international relations ignoramus Jeannine Pirro, or well known to all Megyn Kelly, or Geraldo Riviera, not to forget Jerry Springer. Jeffrey Toobin, despite his urges to masturbate publicly, is a lawyer. They are everywhere, and that is why nothing works anymore in the US. Those quibblers are not into saving the US Dollar or encouraging broad discussion of the life and death issues for the country. They are there to preclude that, even though most of them do not recognize the fruits of their labor. And that is why they cannot recognize that the more they don't have a vision, the more the United States, which lives off the world where it exports its inflation through the US Dollar's "reserve" status, is sinking. Guess who present National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is--you already guessed it--he is a lawyer by education. So is the President of the United States. See the pattern?
One may argue that Vladimir Putin is a lawyer himself, yes, he is by his initial higher education but then again, people who go through KGB schools, especially famed KAI (former Red Banner Andropov Institute), they are not really lawyers anymore. And as the last 20 years have shown, these guys, do have vision and it is a powerful one. Many of them don't quibble, they just do things and they achieve on such a scale that we will be able to fully judge it in the future.
I am by far not the only one who saw this fate for US Dollar and, frankly, it wasn't that difficult to predict. Now there are some tangibles on this matter.
Pretty much self-explanatory. Russia can afford to sell whatever she wants for whatever currency she wants. She can pump oil to China and get payments in Yans or Euros if she decides to do so. The answer is simple--Russia is a superpower and she behaves as such.
Movement away from the dollar can also be seen in Russia's trade with
other parts of the world, such as the European Union. Since 2016, trade
between Moscow and the bloc has been mainly in Euros, with its current
share sitting at 46 percent.
That brings us to this point Michael Hudson made recently when speaking on Western economic "science". Remember?
Indeed, they don't. It is nearly impossible to explain to Wall Street banker what military-economic power balance is and how it influences prices and currencies. For some dude with degree in "economics" from Western university, who is getting ready to plunge into the world of financial speculation, trading in figments of imagination and intangible myths that is, and who is brought up, in the words of General Latiff, on a steady diet of Hollywood portrayal of a war, connection between hyper-sonic missile technology and economic implosion of the United States is beyond his (her) sensory grasp. But the connection is there and it is very direct. The US can bomb Iraq into the stone age for Iraq's desire, same as Libya's Qaddafi, to sell their oil for currencies other than US Dollar, but Russia cannot be bombed. Well, she can be bombed, but the United States will also cease to exist--so here is a direct connection. Russia unloaded all of her US Treasuries and trades with anybody she wants in whatever currency she desires.
Many people from "elites" still cannot recognize a simple fact that the MAIN pillar of US Dollar system, apart from "trust", is not even US manufacturing capacity, which is largely gone, but US military power on which US Dollar's primacy was based. Not anymore. US military is turning into a hollow force with an astonishing speed. It is somewhat reminiscent of the process of a decline of the former Soviet Armed Forces in 1990s Russia. While not at that level of decay yet, there is nothing realistically which can prevent US Armed Forces from hitting such a level. This is yet to be seen if it goes there but the United States is in no position anymore to enforce anything militarily even against regional power such as Iran without sustaining huge losses, both material and reputational. Against China? Hm. Not within First Island Chain. Now consider the fact that Europe has Euro, Russia has Ruble, China has Yan and China and Russia begin to trade in mutual currencies, while US-China trade war accelerates and there you go--the "after-dollar" global picture emerges and... well, just look at this picture:
Isn't that cute how gold "suddenly" (within a year) decided to grow, despite all attempts to suppress its "price". And I am not even talking about the oil price. Somebody is laughing all the way to the bank. In related news, one of the reasons for the US to feel somewhat uneasy--here is a video of Russian Navy's incessant combat drills, this time with Frigate Admiral Essen facing off with two supersonic P-35 anti-shipping missiles fired from famous "sotka" (100), aka Utes, site at the Crimean shore.
I have to admit--I love this new ship uniform. Seems elegant and easy on your skin. But the thing which conveyed profoundly what Russians think about current historic moment was this simple comment by some Russian person under this video by Russia's Defense Ministry:
Translation:It used to be that in Soviet times I didn't watch program "Vremya" (Time, main Soviet and Russian official news broadcast), because everything was good... the harvest was great, housing construction proceeded apace, we had atomic and hydrogen bombs, the army was strong... but after the collapse of the USSR, before Putin, it became a nightmare. Then Putin came, the life started to return to normalcy... and now my calmness returned to me as if back in the USSR... the harvest is great, the construction of housing goes ahead, the rearmament of our armed forces proceeds in all directions... this is bliss. Most important, not to allow anyone to rob our Russia as was happening in condemned 1990s... no any maidans in Russia. It is so peaceful to live now... it is a bliss.
This is a profoundly Russian observation. It is shared by majority of Russians and that is what, in the end, decides the issue. Russia can exist only as superpower or none at all. This lesson was learned well.
From where it really matters. As was totally expected, Russian national currency Ruble lowered itself somewhat, from ₽67 for $1, to 72, or by about 7%. But this is not what really matters: yesterday someone started to preach the gospel of upcoming panic in Russia and even lines forming at currency exchange outlets. Well, as first business day after the holiday has shown--no panic and no buying of US Dollar or Euro out. Business as usual (in Russian). This is not to mention, of course, the fact that nobody in Russia really gives a damn about what is happening on Moscow Stock Exchange. Russia is wired differently. This, however, is not without some drawbacks: Russia is seriously dependent on imports of pharmaceutical products (from EU mostly) and this is one of those sectors which may see a growth of consumer prices. This problem is not new and that was true in USSR as well. Steps to address this situation, including developing own pharmaceutical industry, have been undertaken but as it is the case with any large national project--it takes time. I recall early 2000s demonstrations of diabetes patients because of the shortages of insulin and other diabetic care items. Not anymore, Russia produces a number of own insulin types and covers diabetic necessities well.
In general, modern Russian economy is increasingly flexible and people on the streets of Russia do trust own economy and finances, well, with the exception, of course, of urban office plankton, who due to limited education and intellect, consider themselves all-knowing. But that is expected from this type. So, where are going from here, then? What these few last days are about? I think they are about what is known as tour' de force, commonly known as demonstration of force, by Russia who, as is the case since Putin's 2007 Munich Speech, wanted to remind everyone that present World (Dis)Order lived out its usefulness. Here is how it works:
This is exactly what is happening. While I am not pushing here the point that the United States or US Dollar are about to collapse, this opinion cannot be ignored:
In other words, as Michael Hudson and many others warned--the crisis of 2008 hasn't been resolved, it was painted over. Banks were saved instead of saving US industries and labor. Recall what happened 24 years ago:
Remarkably accurate, Alan Greenspan is not a stupid man. But in 2008, as was the case even earlier--it was real economy which was sold to financial "industry", not the other way around, and we know the story after that. Thus, the current belch of the "market" is not just about Coronavirus, the "Oil War" initiated by Saudis and having their bluff called by Russia, or, for that matter anything else in particular, it is the whole thing--it is a systemic crisis of the global financial oligarchic capitalism which DID escalate asset values and did even more to enrich a relatively small group of fat cats from Wall Street. We all live with the unfolding consequences of this global fraud, driven by petrodollar and perception of the American military might which served as the pillars of this increasingly unstable system. We all can see today how, quoting Greenspan, it not only threatens but already impaired "real economy, its production, jobs, and price stability".
Methods to overcome this chaos, if someone in the West would decide to overcome it for real, will not be yet another mindless'shock and awe' spending to avert global recession. These people calling for that, and that is most of Western "financial elite", are morons, since think that pouring gasoline on fire will extinguish it. You cannot expect anything else from them. The measures which really can avoid a complete collapse down the road, even when all current problems with virus and oil will fade away, cannot be and will not be coming from this "elite", they can come only from the State. And that's what makes those needed measures virtually impossible, at least in the United States, albeit, Trump announced measures to deal with this situation remind me something, something which is on the tip of my tongue, ah, yes, state capitalism, also know as "socialism" (it is not really) among most ignorant parts of population:
Funny how things work out, even if to consider that US Congress may sabotage this plan. As Dmitry Orlov once succinctly and sarcastically observed in a piece symptomatically titled Resurrecting the American Economy:
I want to forestall any speculations from the start--US Dollar-based system IS IN the state of collapse. We are just within this process which has some less acute or more acute phases, but it is ongoing. I will repeat myself--the main pillar on which US Dollar based system rests, US military might, turned out to be made from rotten wood, not hardest granite. Latest events with Iran merely marked yet another key point in this pillar's slow collapse. Once "power element" behind US Dollar is completely discredited, the more acute phase will start with world as a whole dropping US Dollar as a currency of choice. So, RT's report on that caught my eye today in terms of the time frame for such a collapse. Judge for yourself:
I write about it non-stop: Russian intelligence and analytical institutions are arguably the best in the world, and Putin's (as head of Russia), and Xi's, I may add, actions and words can be better understood when one considers to what degree Putin is aware of the global processes. I think he has arguably the best picture of the shifting geopolitical balance in the world. I have all reasons to believe so and he is extremely well aware on the future fate of the US political, financial and military institutions. To a very large degree an insane tempo of Russia's political, economic and military re-institutionalizing ( I hate this tired stale term "reform") varies directly with the tempo of US internal political, economic and military degradation.
There is very little doubt about the fact Iran's response to the murder of General Soleimani sent a shock to the system and, undeniably, changed the mood on the streets of Middle East. Another factor, which testifies to a rather poor situation is the fact that some reports talk about severe lack of the American resources to deal with China and concentrating those limited resources back on the Middle East. In the end, it is not just the lack of the resources, increasingly visible with the passage of time, it is gross ineffectiveness of those since, as recent Conference on Libya in Berlin demonstrated, it used to be that if one wanted something done in the Middle East, one called Washington, today one must call Moscow. Something to this effect. This is not an environment which is conducive to maintaining the reputation of main reserve currency, when the main pillar of military might (from which all other "mights" derive) on which this reputation rested is not exactly what it was thought before, politely speaking. The question is not even in financial institutions that the United States maintains still around the globe, as Phil Giraldi noted today, it is the fact that even smaller regional players, such as Iran, not to speak of superpowers such as China or Russia, can play around the system without the danger of the American "rules-based order" being forcefully imposed on them.
I warned about this for years. Now, it seems, US Dollar's departure is not even a subject for discussion, it is a cold hard fact of life, fait accompli, but merely a subject for speculation on WHEN this departure will be finally formalized, be that through the internal economic collapse in the United States, the event similar to Suez Crisis (and Moment), or through combination of both. Difficult to say. Remarkably, nobody (I underscore it) wants US economic and financial collapse--in the end, everyone gets hurt one way or another, it is just the matter of economic strength--but current American political class is completely incapable to right the ship of the American statehood, not to mention stopping avalanche processes within American economy, so we are all treated to a mad circus of Impeachment which will finish US statehood off for good, unless, in the last moment (yeah, good luck with that) AG Barr decides to indict a bunch of treasonous lowlifes thus giving us at least some hope. So far, doesn't look like it is going to happen. But, I guess, as long as the stock market is doing great, we all should be fine, right?
No way! Actual things are "real assets". How could this be? I always thought that commercial and combat aircraft were growing on the trees, and that gas, oil, nuclear and other types of energy were appearing out of nothing due to quantum instability of the vacuum not as the result of human labor, creativity, education and, often, sacrifice. Wait a minute, Wall Street is on-line with me... what do you say? Ahh, phew, now I can sleep calmly--it is all BS, real assets are papers produced on the Wall Street and TV, Radio and Internet entertainment. Facebook, too, with Twitter and other social networks being a real deal. Virtual economy, you know, like the insurance or real estate speculation and their "paper" derivatives--that is the real deal. Not mining, computing, processing, manufacturing technologies. Nah, indeed, cannot be right. Facebook stock, on the other hand... You get me being sardonic here, I hope.
In related news, about US Dollar: everything what made US Dollar at some point of time a desired (and reserve) currency--America's immense manufacturing capacity and an illusion of global military power--are all gone. Long time ago. Since 2000s it was a mythology of US military power which served as a foundation of US Dollars' reserve currency status, meaning that anyone without nuclear weapons, who would decide to use anything but USD in its trade would get thrashed by US military might. Like Libya. Remove military power aura from USD and suddenly things begin to look rather shaky. As I continue to say ad nauseam (I know, I sound as a parrot)--Eurasia, which is a main, by a gigantic margin, global production and consumer market, increasingly understands that she will be protected. Militarily. It is not one day process, of course, but it is fully in motion and once Eurasia is protected, the need for US Dollar will evaporate, in fact, it is already evaporating. Iran's strikes on US bases in Iraq is yet another tick in the last minutes of US Dollar's existence as a reserve currency. Indeed, what is a currency if it is not defended or, as is the case of Pax Americana, cannot be forcefully imposed? Not much really. Facebook's "capitalization" may be in hundreds of billions of US Dollars, but it takes merely a couple salvos of cruise missiles to make it zero.
Gazprom's capitalization maybe down (due to mostly PR manipulations), but its real WORTH is orders of magnitude more than that of the few buildings with computers and routers of Facebook. People WILL survive without Facebook, in fact another iteration of a platform for exhibitionism and reports on bowel movements and Botox injections will emerge immediately, but without gas and heating, production will stop and people will begin to die from cold. Obviously, Gazprom, as is Rosatom, among many, are defended by actual military power, which CAN and WILL defend them in particular, and Russia in general. I can go on forever with those analogies, but, I guess, you got my drift. Five years ago, yes, I repeat it again, and, no, not for self-praise, I stated that American criminal coup in Ukraine was the start of the count-down to US demise. I based my, as it turned out correct, conclusion only on things which "are the real assets", ranging from real economy and manufacturing capacity, real resources and real military power, not some ethereal BS of electronic transactions in imagination and air. So, I have a bit of disagreement with Mr. Feierstein--we are down to few years (less than decade) before the whole thing becomes irrelevant and, as much as I hate all those silly predictions, the amount of time left for US Dollar as premier global currency depends not even on successful completion of China's massive BRI project, with China's economy already dwarfing that of the US. No, this will depend on a progress of National Projects of Russia of which we will see first results by 2024. Why? Because of Russian culture and its ability to generate civilization models from which anyone can draw most attractive features. But here we are entering the issue of metaphysics, granted supported by Russia's massive "commodities", increasing manufacturing capacity and state-of-the-art military machine.
Many in the US still cannot come to grips with a simple historic fact that Monroe Doctrine was not just about Western Hemisphere being US sphere of vital interests. Here is a short reminder:
As you can see, the whole doctrine was predicated on a quid-pro-quo principle of not screwing with Europe and her possessions. Of course this whole thing was not worth the paper it was printed on once the United States solidified and started to grow in the postbellum years and suddenly recognized herself a colonial power with pompous rhetoric about democracy and liberty serving as a fig leaf for full blown imperial conquests. Donald J. Trump is not known to be well endowed with historic knowledge so, naturally he, and many of his warmongering "advisers" concluded that:
So, when Donald J. Trump, and the whole choir of America-based Monroists, tries to convince Russia to "get out" of Venezuela they should really read attentively what Monroe Doctrine is actually about, you know pp. 1 and 2. Last time I checked the United States has more than 800 military bases around the world and, surprise, surprise, is involved in fomenting troubles, humanitarian catastrophes, support of terrorism and other activities which null and void any idea embedded in the Monroe Doctrine. After all, it was the United States which unleashed a bloody coup in Ukraine (together with her lapdogs from EU) and any referrals to Monroe Doctrine and its principles are just for PR. United States through its incessant aggression around the world since 1999 lost any moral and judicial grounds to demand anything from anybody. The ongoing coup in Venezuela, with all my huge reservations about "lefty" Latin American regimes, is a blatant violation of Venezuela's sovereignty and having a convicted crook and neocon such as Abrams (supported by draft-dodger and coward Bolton) as a handler of Venezuela pretty much answers all questions who is behind events in Venezuela. I omit now a criminal role of propaganda and disinformation US media play in all this affair--by now no one should be surprised with that.
So when chicken hawk Bolton proclaims with pathos that:
The United States will not tolerate hostile foreign military powers
meddling with the Western Hemisphere’s shared goals of democracy,
security, and the rule of law. The Venezuelan military must stand with
the people of Venezuela.
And Trump threatens with "all options" being opened, they should really consider some few cost-benefits factors in case (and it may happen) of US attacking Venezuela with Russian advisers in it. Never mind the fact that militarily a hundred or so military personnel, primarily IT people to help Venezuela fight off those "strange" electricity blackouts, are not really there to set up a base or anything of like. Even Bloomberg gets it. Russia knows that the US now is in full blown attack on Nord Stream-2 and that new (what round? Number 100?) sanctions are coming, but Russia doesn't care. Why Russia doesn't care? Few factors:
2. Economic, and here are two really stunning graphs.
Russia's Gold Reserves:
China's Gold Reserves:
And I mean physical gold, not those funny papers which pass for gold on all those speculation platforms such as Wall Street and other so called "exchanges".
What you see is the death of a US Dollar in progress. The US simply ran out of her military luck and ability to "color revolutionize" serious players. It also ran out of ability to bomb those--how can US bomb China or Russia, or India? Did anyone even calculate the consequences for the US? Once the United States stops being able to overthrow or bomb into submission nations which prefer to trade in own currencies and in gold, you already guessed what is going to happen with grossly overvalued US economy and US Dollar. Remove US military "power" from equation and then just dismantle present US-based global financial system one country at a time. As per Venezuela, will see where it all goes. In my mind the best way to do things would have been US and Russia secretly negotiating some kind of settlement but I doubt today, seriously doubt it, that there is much time left for that or that US has competent people on its very political top to negotiate anything at all. Russia and China seem also settling something really huge which both dramatic growth of Chinese gold reserves and Russia's incessant growth of the same support.
Well, this, plus a dismantling of Russia's "liberal" economic block together with massive purges of inept and corrupt administrative elite--leftovers from Yeltsin's criminal years. Paradoxically, Russian-American trade continues to grow despite all sanctions and other monkey wrenches morons in Congress continue to throw at it. Well, of course, this trade is small relative to Russia's or US' trade, but still--in few billions. I think it is too late for the US but who knows, now she has to think how US can block China, if the US even have any resources for that. I doubt she has but US still has some aces to play but are required skills there? This I don't know but something tells me--not anymore. It could have been great, it could have been new prosperous century--too bad self-proclaimed hegemon turned out to be the main reason for everything going down the drain. Time of reckoning is upon us.
Somehow, in the midst of all this FUBAR with US bureaucrats threatening Russia to start the war for whatever reasons, and the ongoing mass hysteria around new SCJ nomination, with new rape victims which Kavanaugh may have heard about once or saw on TV, "stepping out", one piece of real news got lost. It is huge:
See dynamics here. It doesn't stop there and it goes even further:
He also said the trade dispute was forcing China to seek soybeans from
suppliers other than the United States, adding that China now bought
most its soybeans from South America.
Make no mistake, I get it, MAGA, Trump's "tactics" (capable to impress only sophomores from business schools) in "negotiating" the deals. But my question here, granted, now adjusted for Trump's foreign policy "accomplishments", such as allowing, in fact, initiating, infestation of his own administration with lowest of the low neocons, is this: are they out of their freaking mind? Again, I get it, Trump thinks that he can convince China to "do better" in economic relations with US. Sure, but here is a very interesting dynamics from the other economic "front", this one is Russian.
Even morons from US Treasury begin to suspect that this whole "trade war" and, especially, sanctions not only do not work--in fact, they hurt the US more and more. While giving its due to "evil, aggressive Russia" about to take over the world, US Treasury suddenly "discovered" for itself why US sanctions do not work on Russia.
Obviously US Treasury must pander to such neocons as Menendez and Corker, but behind this fluffy rhetoric is nothing more than admission of a failure and fear. In what sense, you may ask? Well, consider this: President Putin today is in India. After immense pressure on India the US applied in the last months the deal on S-400 is on and it is massive--worth $5 billion. Turkish intentions to buy the same system and even SU-35s in themselves could be a PR disaster for both US and NATO. Russia continues to press hard on immensely lucrative hi tech arms market with cheaper and better, sometimes much better, weapon systems than the US can offer.
And then, of course, there is Russian energy--pipe gas, LNG, oil and nuclear--and here is the deal: the US is simply not competitive in this market. It is not even a debatable point, it is a hard fact of life and, like a victim caught in the quicksand, instead of limiting one's moves in order to slow down sinking, the US, it seems, is hell bent on destroying own economy and sinking the country with it.
It is a known fact today that US elites, with few exceptions, do not understand what IS US economy today, nor do they have understanding of its real size and capability. Russia, through the words of its high ranking representatives not for once expressed openly an intention to remove the US as number one on the arms market, now, China is not worried too much about energy issues with the US (to the US loss, of course) since massive energy infrastructure between Russia and China is nearing its completion. So, instead of finding compromises, Trump Administration thinks that it has wherewithal to be aggressive. Even if to adjust our train of though for alleged Trump's desire to extricate the US from "bad deals", one has to ask this question:
What about US Dollar?
Well, even Bloomberg sensed something. As an example, Russia made dedollarization its official economic policy. And the issue is not anymore good ol' dilemma between weak or strong dollar which, supposedly, will make, in case of being weak, US products stronger while simultaneously providing for the US re-industrialization--this is not the case anymore because the world does not operate like this anymore. And while the bunch of ignorant US foreign policy "experts" pass the gas on how to preserve this "liberal world order", they should pay attention to the fact of real competitiveness of the nations US declares trade wars and slaps sanctions on and why those nations are not enthused about this mythical "liberal world order", which is as liberal as I am Chinese. I have my very serious doubts that adequate assessment of reality by US elites is possible anymore and that is very bad news for America. I will make a review of commercial aerospace outlook soon--it is a wowser.
