A new financial order will be negotiated in the world, and the West won’t have the main say in it anymore as the “hellish” sanctions imposed on Russia by the US, EU, and their allies over the conflict in Ukraine have failed to cripple the country, but are instead “returning to the West like a boomerang,” ex-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said.
While the West continues its “fruitless efforts” to restrict Russia, “the world is gradually moving towards a new logic of global economic relations; towards upgrading the financial system,” he said.
The US and EU have “tarnished their reputation” by blocking the reserves of the Russian central bank. “It is impossible to trust those who freeze the accounts of other states; steal other people’s business assets and personal possessions, compromising the principles of sanctity of private property,” Medvedev said .
A targeted demonetisation of the world’s most globalised currencies has big implications. The weaponisation of those currencies and of the financial systems that handle them undermines those properties for any holder who fears being targeted. Sanctions on Russia’s central bank are a shock. Who, governments ask, is next? What does it mean for our sovereignty?
Confidence in reserve currencies is now “fading like the morning mist,” and the prospect of abandoning the dollar and euro in this role does not seem like such an unrealistic prospect anymore, Medvedev said. “The era of regional currencies is coming.”
Russia said that from March 31, it will only accept payments for gas in rubles from “unfriendly countries,” which include the US and EU, while China and Saudi Arabia have been discussing switching to the yuan in their oil trade.
Meanwhile, the German government has taken the first formal step towards gas rationing as it braces itself for a potential halt in deliveries from Russia because as the West refuses to comply with Moscow’s demand for gas imports in rubles.
Russian officials said on Tuesday that Moscow would not “supply gas for free” to Europe, a day after G7 countries unanimously rejected President Vladimir Putin’s directive requiring ruble payments.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the country should consider selling a wider range of exports in rubles, such as grain, fertilisers, metals, wood and oil. "There are many countries that are showing an interest in mutual settlements in national currencies,” he said.
The world is now rushing to find ways of transacting and storing value that circumvent the currencies and financial markets of the US and its allies.
A recent pamphlet by Harvard’s Graham Allison and colleagues on The Great Economic Rivalry concludes that China is already a formidable peer competitor of the US. History suggests that the currency of an economy of its size, sophistication and integration would become a global money.
Also in Digital Currencies, a pamphlet from the Hoover Institution, it states that a credible alternative to the dollar system is China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (Cips — an alternative to the Swift system) and digital currency (the e-CNY). Both might become a dominant payment system and vehicle currency, respectively, for trade between China and its many trading partners. In the long run, the e-CNY might also become a significant reserve currency. Moreover, argues the pamphlet, that would give the Chinese state detailed knowledge of the transactions of every entity within its system. That would be an additional source of power.-
7 comments:
Singapore is not choosing sides but standing up for the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty, said PM Lee, stressing that Singapore has consistently taken this stance over the years, the ST reports.
"We voted against them at the UN," said PM Lee of the US invasion of Grenada in 1983, which involved a military occupation and regime change. "(It) does not mean we are the enemy of the US , but we cannot approve of what they did; we cannot endorse or condone such violation of the sovereignty of another country."
But hey, the elephant in the room is the imposition of sanctions.
Back then in 1983, Singapore never impose sanctions on the US. Our leader then was LKY.
We solely miss the wisdom of our dear leader LKY.
Unfortunately, this eunuch has a hidden fetish for the white!
NYT archive: July 17, 1988 - Singapore Releases Ex-Aide It Detained In Dispute With U.S.
Singapore today freed a former solicitor general who was arrested in May during a diplomatic dispute that led to the expulsion of a United States official.
The lawyer, Francis T. Seow, 59 years old, was arrested May 6 on charges that he had colluded with an American official said to be interfering in Singapore's internal affairs. He was detained under a law that allows indefinite detention without trial, The day after Mr. Seow was arrested, E. Mason Hendrickson, a United States diplomat, was ordered out of the country after being accused of trying to cultivate potential opposition politicians and getting them to run for office against the Government, a charge denied by Washington.
Mr. Seow was detained on an accusation of collusion with Mr. Hendrickson, the United States Embassy First Secretary, and two other State Department officials. Financing of Election Campaign.
The Government said Mr. Hendrickson, apart from urging candidates to run against the ruling People's Action Party, suggested that financing for election campaigns would not be a problem.
Fast forward to 31 March 2022:
Pakistani PM Imran Khan named the United States as the culprit in the “foreign-backed conspiracy” behind the move to oust him, noting that it was being financially backed by millions of dollars in foreign money and “our people are being used.” The PM suggested it was his refusal to join the US and NATO in condemning Russia’s military operation in Ukraine that had triggered the conspiracy.
Barter is the Best Way to trade.
Currency should only be used when Barter is not possible.
A Ruble/Gold Fixed Exchange Rate after June 30
March 25 (Reuters) - The Russian central bank will restart buying gold from banks and will pay a fixed price of 5,000 rubles per gramme between March 28 and June 30, the bank said on Friday.
Before the Ukraine war started on Feb 24, Russia official reserves has $140 billion in gold.
The U.S. and allies were clamping down on Russia’s ability to sell its gold reserves and restrict its capacity to raise money, in their effort to cripple the country’s war chest. But with these sanctions, they were actually making it easier and cheaper for Russia to buy gold to build its gold reserves. Domestic Russian banks who can't sell their gold internationally due to sanctions plowed their discounted gold flows into the Russian central bank.
Russia is now accumulating more gold domestically to form gold reserves to back the ruble, ie to make the ruble become a fully backed gold substitute. After June 30, Russia may declare the ruble fully convertible to gold.
By that time, the ruble may already be much stronger internationally as Russian President Putin may insist on selling all Russian commodities in rubles after initially targeting only the sale of Russian gas. Russia doesn't need the US dollar, but the world needs Russia's commodities.
So after the June 30 window, the Bank of Russia may officially put the ruble on a gold standard with a fixed exchange of one gram of gold for less than 5,000 rubles, defeating the West's scheme to weaken the ruble, and using the gold-backed ruble to completely bypass the hegemonic dollar-based trade payment system.
Iran oil for China investments. Already one good example.
US$ is backed by air.
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