About US Dollar and Sanctions, Yet Again.

The Cold War (2.0, 3.5, whatever) is heating up and a new salvo of "sanctions from hell" (Bob Menendez and Lindsey Graham--both hellish creatures should know best) against Russia will most likely pass.  

The bill introduced by Senators Lindsey Graham and Bob Menendez is the second attempt to push through the sanctions they favor after the previous version was defeated last year. The measures they suggest vary from declaring the country a state-sponsor of terrorism to torpedoing Russia-involved energy projects (which incidentally compete with American ones) to punishing whoever dares to invest in Russian sovereign debt.

At this stage there should be no surprise with American legislators being completely situationally unaware, but as the saying goes--if they want to shoot themselves (and their, allegedly, own country) in the foot, let them. It is clear that once dominance of the US Dollar and the system which sustains it is removed, consequences for the United States could be catastrophic. The question is NOT about IF US Dollar will survive as world's reserve currency--this is not even up for a debate--it is WHEN and HOW the departure will happen. 

The United States certainly will try to, yet again, leave Russian economy "in tatters", but, something tells me that the result will be the same as it was the last time. Yet again we all will have to endure economic "analysis" from Wall Street "economists" and Russia's political fringes on how Russia will, yet again (I lost count already) be on the brink of collapse, any minute now, in their desperate attempts to obfuscate a simple strategic reality--Russia is a completely economically self-sustainable entity. If one discounts those morons from "economic block" in Russian government (euphemism for useless people), one can sense nowadays some really big shifts happening in Russia's power Olympus. Mikhail Hazin altogether declared that Putin is getting ready for war. I don't know, I though Putin was getting ready for way since, well, let's say 2007 Munich Speech. Of course Russia is getting ready for war, including economic one. 

Recent (two days ago) excellent piece by Vladislav Surkov on the fate of Russia and his superb hyperbole about "deep people" of Russia and of Putin's "long state", and especially enjoyable squealing from butt-hurt of all kinds of Russia's liberal and (so called) "nationalist" nobodies as a reaction to this piece, gives a good insight into Kremlin's mode of thinking. Especially when it comes from Kremlin's very notable insider who, actually, does speak for this very "deep" people. So, in the end, one has to ask a question what these deep people of Russia really want and how this new "sanctions from hell" will affect country. I have an answer, I wrote about this answer long time ago. Remember, War and Peace? 

"But all the general and soldiers of [Napoleon’s] army…experienced a similar feeling of terror before an enemy who, after losing half his men, stood as threateningly at the end as at the beginning of the battle. The moral force of the attacking French army was exhausted. Not that sort of victory which is defined by the capture of pieces of material fastened to sticks, called standards, and of the ground on which the troops had stood and were standing, but a moral victory that convinces the enemy of the moral superiority of his opponent and of his own impotence was gained by the Russians at Borodino…The direct consequence of the battle of Borodino was Napoleon’s senseless flight from Moscow… and the downfall of Napoleonic France, on which at Borodino for the first time the hand of an opponent of stronger spirit had been laid"(c)

A geopolitical Borodino, which was sometimes also compared to the Great Patriotic War's most important battles, from  the Battle of Moscow to Stalingrad and Kursk battles, escaped the attention of US "elites" who will now enter the final stages of desperation trying to save the only thing they know--US Dollar financial system--by means of greatly accelerated destruction of it. Once that is gone or greatly degraded (in progress, as I type this)--an inevitable consequence of the US fighting Russia's sovereign debt or, as was expected, switching Russia off from SWIFT--watch out, the main driving force of real economy and military might will reveal itself fully. As well as a true state of American economy which is not capable anymore, bar some few exceptions such as microchip and commercial aerospace (bells are ringing) industries, to produce anything competitive, will be revealed. Energy? Well, even here everything is not what it looks like, hence Germans suddenly exhibiting some signs of rudimentary spine. As per US military, well, I will abstain for now. So, let the party begin...         

The Loneliness of a Half-Blooded Nation

Yesterday, Vladislav Surkov, a person of a profound influence on Russian political discourse (he is the author of famous and, as life proved, profoundly meaningful term for Russia as Sovereign Democracy) wrote a piece of vast geopolitical importance, which signifies and summarizes many things geopolitical and cultural for Russia today. The piece (in Russian) is called The Loneliness of a Half-Blooded Nation. Surkov, who also plays a great role in preventing an all-out war in Donbas by doggedly keeping EU and US State Department's "representatives" at bay, said nothing new per se in his piece—Vyacheslav Nikonov (Molotov's grandson, if anyone wonders, and a prominent Russia's politician), speaking couple of years ago at Vladimir Solovyov's Show was explicit when stating that it was enough for Russia with having any kind of "allied" relations with anyone and that it was when Russia was not involved in any kind of alliances that she prospered. Surkov supports this thesis and, justifiably, uses an enormously popular quote by Tsar Alexander III that: "Russia has only two allies—her Army and her Navy". 

Surkov makes many good points. One of them, where he uses computer analogy, is:

При внешнем подобии русской и европейской культурных моделей, у них несхожие софты и неодинаковые разъемы. Составиться в общую систему им не дано. Сегодня, когда это старинное подозрение превратилось в очевидный факт, зазвучали предложения, а не шарахнуться ли нам в другую сторону, в Азию, на Восток. Не нужно. И вот почему: потому что Россия там уже была. 

Translation: Despite outward appearance of a similarity between Russian and European cultural models, they have different software and ports. These models cannot constitute a common system. Today, when this ancient suspicion turned into the obvious fact, new suggestions are beginning to be heard—why don't we rush to the other side, to Asia, to Orient. No, this is not necessary and here is why—Russia has been there already.     

He introduces a half-blooded thesis. 

Наша культурная и геополитическая принадлежность напоминает блуждающую идентичность человека, рожденного в смешанном браке. Он везде родственник и нигде не родной. Свой среди чужих, чужой среди своих. Всех понимающий, никем не понятый. Полукровка, метис, странный какой-то. Россия это западно-восточная страна-полукровка. С ее двуглавой государственностью, гибридной ментальностью, межконтинентальной территорией, биполярной историей она, как положено полукровке, харизматична, талантлива, красива и одинока. 

Translation: Our cultural and geopolitical affiliation is reminiscent of a wandering identity of a human born into the mixed wedlock. This human is a relative to everyone but is not dear to anyone either. He is his own among strangers, a stranger among his own. He understands everyone but is not understood by anyone. Half-blooded, metis, a very strange one. Russia is a Western-Eastern half-blooded country. With her two-headed statehood, hybrid mentality, intercontinental territory, bi-polar history, she, as it is predetermined for half-blooded, is charismatic, talented, beautiful and lonely.  

Yes, Russia is a third way. She is her own civilization (no, not in Huntington's sense) and one can observe today a crystallization of this vision on a daily basis. It is everywhere, in young, old, active, passive, it is in dawning understanding and, actually, desire to be self-sufficient, not to depend on anyone. I never experienced anything like this. Considering Surkov's unique position in Russia's power structure and him being very close to Vladimir Putin one can see this final and so needed healthy detachment from the illusions of the past. Yes, there will be trade, some Western people will have positive attitude towards Russia but Russia's move to the West is over and it is all good. Let the combined West deal with its own demons—and there are plenty of those and they are coming out from all holes.  

News of Surkov's piece even made it to Associated Press. So we are already in the new geopolitical reality and, if we live through this Syria insanity without major damage to human civilization, I, personally, see no reason for Russia having any serious relations with Europe and US. MAD, some trade—that's about it. I agree with Surkov entirely—it is over. Fact is, I warned about combined West committing cultural suicide in Russia from the inception of this blog and that was in 2014. There could be no meaningful relations with the corpse.