After the disintegration of the Soviet Union and its divorce from its East European allies, Russia believing itself European, tried its hardest to integrate itself with Europe and America. The West purchased many, key Russian technologies, assets and industries in the distressed Russian economy at a huge discount, and positioned themselves to at will exert a vice-like grip on Russia’s financial, technological, communications, media etc. sectors.
An arrogant America and Europe, the winners of the Cold War, had no place on the high table for Russia. American leader Senator John McCain disparagingly voiced the common thinking of America, that “Russia is a gas station, disguised as a nation”.
Americans and Europeans viewed Russia as an old, beleaguered empire to be merely exploited and milked for its wealth. Boris Yeltsin the first Russian president (1991 to 1999) after the fall of the USSR, much like his Soviet predecessor Gorbachov was a weak and mostly helpless president, thus a putty in the hands of the west operating through a mafia.
Since the end of World War II, the American leadership heady and arrogant with power has forgotten the principles of its founding and the lessons from its extraordinary past. America with help of her allies has brazenly and irresponsibly bullied all and sundry not so much as to make the world a better place but to enhance the wealth and power of a very small percentage of American and global elites
‘If one is like an elephant, (the largest and most powerful creature), one must tread carefully for one can intentionally or unintentionally destroy much in its path’. America controlled by a small group of elites known as the Military-industrial-financial-Media-Technology complex, also known as ‘The Deep State’ has been very much like an elephant rampaging recklessly across the world, creating very little but destroying much.
A belligerent American leadership and deep state, has at will effected regime change, dismembered and destroyed countries and civilisations that opposed the collective power of the West. With each passing year since the end of WW II the respect for America has been declining and increasingly replaced by fear.
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a men’s character, give him power” ~Abraham Lincoln.
On an average Americans are wonderful and helpful people. Unfortunately the people along with the European population have become just pawns in the hands of powerful vested interests, kept busy with trivial issues. They have witnessed a stagnation and decline in the quality of their life, and most individuals and the typical household have no savings to speak about.
While America’s quiver is not empty, its inept leadership provides little confidence to the world, it therefore lacks political support both domestically and internationally for war. America has however been able to extract international support by arm twisting nations and abusing the mandate of global multilateral institutions, such as International Olympic Committee etc. America has thus resorted to its favourite weapon of choice, sanctions and seizing the sovereign wealth of Russia, Iran, Afghanistan. Libya, Venezuela etc. which are parked in the West.
America has been employing sanctions to seek regime change, for many decades. Unfortunately the results have been usually counter productive and insignificant at best. Sanctions impose hardship not on the elite and rich, they only harm the poor and the lower middle class of the target country.
A leader without followers is a leader only in name. Increasingly nations are refusing to toe the line of a disoriented, inept American leadership. Only time will tell if America under the leadership of Joe Biden will pull itself and the world up from the nosedive course he has set it on. I am not confident.
What are sanctions?
A sanction is a threat or a penalty for disobeying a law or rule.
Raises the questions, Which rules? Whose rules? What is it that constitutes a disobedience? Who will enforce the penalty and how?
It is used by an authority or group of countries to punish a country for breaking their mutually agreed rules. It is normally imposed by the powerful on the weak.
Sanctions can take on many forms, financial, trade, cultural, technological, etc.
So America has leaned on Europe and her allies and cronies to impose sanctions on Russia. This is all fine and dandy provided one has the ability to enforce these sanctions and the target is irreparably damaged by sanctions.
Sanctions impose a penalty on everyone the imposer, the target and in an integrated world everyone else.
Financial Sanctions
Since Feb 28, 2022, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has been issuing sanctions on Russia’s Central Bank and sovereign funds and a whole host of other institutions. This is both illegal and unprecedented and against the pleading of America’s own business and financial leadership that this would be destructively counter productive.
Russia at this moment cannot access its own sovereign funds of US$630 billion, except for very limited purposes.
America has taken another disastrous action. It has disconnected Russia from SWIFT, the global payment system except for food and energy sectors.
Russia has not yet retaliated but a Europe which depends on Russia, for 30% of its oil and gas 30% of its cereal requirements of wheat, barley and corn, is already seeing a huge demand in the cost of everything. It is not only Europe but large parts of the world depend on Russia for key commodities (50%), food (35% along with Ukraine) fertiliser (38% along with Belarus) oil and gas etc.
Using its formidable power, both hard and soft, military, economic and political, America ensured that the US$ remained the Global Reserve Currency?. This along with what is known as the Petro Dollar System, helped fuel the growth of American economy by being able to borrow money at very low interest rates.
American and European sanctions and their actions like seizure of sovereign wealth of countries and now Russia actions have destroyed the trust of the world in parking their wealth in the US$ and other European currencies.
Within a decade America and Europe will be able to borrow just a fraction of the low cost money they used to. This means that there will be very low amount of resources available to the West to maintain their present standard of living. Sending them into terminal decline.
America is the engine of global growth and now that it has begun to slow, it is inevitable that this will produce a very long period of global recession. The world’s economic centre of gravity will now irreversibly shift from the West to the East, heralding a new world order.
The trend has already begun.
The Kremlin has announced yesterday that all those countries that are unfriendly towards Russia will now have to settle their requirements of gas purchases in Roubles only and not US$. This is only the beginning, it is but natural that going forward these countries will have to make all purchases from Russia in Roubles.
Saudi Arabia the world’s largest producer of oil has expressed willingness to trade with China in the Chinese Renminbi. Russia has agreed to accept payment of Indian oil imports in Rupees. All this bypassing the US dollar.
It appears insane, but rather than take stock and deescalate, America and Europe are trying to outdo each other in sanctioning Russia, failing to realise that they are in reality sanctioning themselves and imposing a crushing burden on their own people and economies.
It appears that we are witnessing the beginning of a strange suicide of Europe. Death by a European circular firing squad.