The Russia Ukraine war is still raging on as the conflicting parties refuse to abandon it unless victorious; the parties are Russia and China on one hand, and the US and its European allies on the other. Do not be surprised that I did not mention Ukraine; it has become eminently obvious that this war between the US and Russia aims at deciding who the world’s superpower will be. Ukraine accepted to play this proxy war on behalf of America and its European allies, despite the loss and ruin inflicted on it.
Today, three scenes come into focus among the fallout of the war. First, the war is undermining the hegemony of the US dollar over global economy. Second, the US has sidelined the Chinese initiative for peace and reconciliation in Ukraine. Third and no less serious, is the eruption of public uprisings in France, threatening to spread to the rest of Europe, and exposing the people’s rejection of continued support to Ukraine without a glimmer of hope for military or political victory.
In the first scene, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia decided to use the Chinese yuan instead of the US dollar for international payments. This decision has very serious strategic connotations; a few months ago, Russia announced its rebellion over the US dollar and the euro for international payments, and replaced them with the Russian ruble. Coincidentally, China decided to use the yuan instead of the dollar to settle payments. So why would Russia today decide to substitute the yuan for the ruble as a currency for international payments? The decision reveals Russia’s alliance with China to form one strong bloc in the face of western sanctions. The move indicates a turn away from the dominance of the US dollar and the euro, and an answer to any doubts that may yet lurk concerning the deep Russian Chinese ties amid this global conflict.
In this regard, I will cite what Monica Crowley, former Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for the US Department of the Treasury told FOX News. Ms Crowley said: “It’s really hard to overstate exactly how catastrophic the abandonment of the US dollar would be as the world’s Global Reserve currency. Since the end of WWII, the dollar has been the safe place to go and it’s been backed up by a couple of things; originally it was backed up by gold, but President Nixon took us off the gold standard, so there’s no hard asset backing up the dollar anymore for the last 50 years. But also, it’s been backed by the strength and economic power of the United States, and the fact that oil has always been traded in dollars. If that were to end it would mean the end of the US dollar. There’s a perfect storm happening right now; the world’s reserve currency having that status has been a real privilege, but we’ve abused the privilege by holy reckless monetary and fiscal policies, which has really devalued the dollar. On top of that, now you do have this perfect storm of Biden’s weakness: his war on American domestic energy production, the Ukraine war. And because of all this, we’ve got America’s enemies led by China forming a new economic bloc, and all it would take at this point now is for Saudi Arabia who has indicated that they’re open to this to say we’re going to be open to considering other currencies to trade in oil. If that were to happen, there would be a complete implosion of the global economic system but certainly the American economic system, and if that were to happen, you’d be looking at sky high inflation, but more importantly, we would lose our economic dominance, and we would lose our superpower status.”
The second scene was presented by the British politician, broadcaster, writer, and former MP, George Galloway at the “No 2 Nato, No 2 War” rally in London last February. He commented on the US stance vis-à-vis the Chinese Russian closeness, saying that the Pentagon issued a warning to China before the Chinese President presented his peace proposal to put an end to the Russian Ukrainian conflict. According to the warning, there will be consequences for China should it decide to deepen its relations with Russia. “Think of the arrogance,” Mr Galloway said, “we’ll come to the stupidity, but think of the arrogance of one superpower [the US] threatening a second superpower [China] with consequences were it to decide to have more friendly relations with a third party [Russia]. The sense of exceptionalism you must feel to think you’re entitled to do that!” Mr Galloway reminded that, starting the era of former US Presidents Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, it was the policy of the US to keep Russia and China as far apart as possible. “In the last few years,” Mr Galloway said, “the policy of the United States and NATO has made Russia and China virtually one country, certainly militarily and economically one country … And now they think China is going to obey orders from US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken!” he excalimed. “The days when China could be ordered around by foreigners is over over over over.” He said that many countries other than China have refused to go along with the US arrogance. These include South Africa, India, Iran and many in Latin America and Asia, on top of which is Saudi Arabia. “The world is not against Russia and China … Hasn’t the US realised that from now on it won’t be the sole superpower that imposes its will over the world? Even the western world which is still creating alliances with countries that do not belong to the West such as Australia and New Zealand, even if they call themselves the West, Mr Galloway said, their people represent 13 per cent of the world population. Even in the West there are millions and millions of people who reject US domination and wars, he concluded.
This leads us to the third scene which reveals the rejection and protest of European people against the fate they are being pushed into by the policies adopted by their governments. France, to begin with, is swept by protests, demonstrations, violence, road blocking and all sort of civil disobedience, in rejection of local and foreign situations, with demands for President Macron to step down. There are serious concerns that this demonstration fever would move to other European countries; it is a matter of time as long as the Ukraine war rages on, fuelled by European economic and military aid. Let alone the Russian threat that if matters get out of hand and European governments insist on supporting Ukraine, the war could very possibly move into a new phase where Russia fights countries in Europe.
Watani International
7 April 2023
