Washington Post: Europe says it has a ‘financial nuclear weapon’ against Russia. But it’s uncertain if it wants to use it.
PARIS — As U.S. and European leaders ponder how far to go in sanctioning Russia for its attack on Ukraine, their attention has shifted to the most divisive — and potentially most severe — weapon at their disposal.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire called it a “financial nuclear weapon” on Friday. He was talking about SWIFT — short for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication — a messaging network connecting banks around the world. The Belgian-based consortium links more than 11,000 financial institutions operating in more than 200 countries and territories, acting as a critical hub enabling international payments. Last year, the system averaged 42 million messages a day.
Whether to cut Russia off from SWIFT has become one of the first points of serious Western division in this crisis, after the European Union, a block of 27 nations, had for weeks demonstrated unity.
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WNU Editor: The U.S. Dollar is the world's reserve currency because 56% of all international transactions between countries is in US dollars. This reserve status is one of the cornerstones on why the U.S. is a superpower, and why it can finance its military and its huge budget deficits. Swift, to put it bluntly, is the critical financial tool that makes this all possible.
By banning the world's 11th largest economy and major exporter of energy and commodities from this financial platform will set into motion the U.S. dollar losing its dominance in Swift, and more importantly, its position as the world's reserve currency. The consequences of such an action cannot be underestimated, and it is the reason why the U.S. has delayed the imposition of these measures (so far).
10 comments:
62% of Americans think Putin WOULDN'T have invaded Ukraine if Trump were president, poll claims - and 59% say Biden's weakness made Russia decide to declare war
Anon 1:46
That is my next post
As tragic events unfold in Ukraine, take a moment to consider that the foreign policy goals of defeated former president Donald Trump and his MAGA movement bear a striking resemblance to those of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
What does Putin want? His aims go well beyond Ukraine. As the Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum summarizes: He “wants to put so much strain on Western and democratic institutions, especially the European Union and NATO, that they break up. He wants to keep dictators in power wherever he can, in Syria, Venezuela, and Iran. He wants to undermine America, to shrink American influence, to remove the power of the democracy rhetoric that so many people in his part of the world still associate with America. He wants America itself to fail.”
Trump’s foreign policy sought to do much of what Putin wants to achieve, including intimidating Ukraine by withholding vital defensive weapons. Trump, like his role model in Moscow, favored weakening NATO, elevating dictators (from China to Turkey to North Korea to Hungary to Russia), undermining democratic elections, demonizing the media (the best check against power-hungry politicians) and finding common ground with kleptocratic-style governments.
None of this was based on America’s interest, but it was in the interest of wannabe authoritarians and illiberal regimes. As Fiona Hill, a former Trump adviser and brave witness in the former president’s first impeachment hearings, put it: "There’s no Team America for Trump. Not once did I see him do anything to put America first. Not once. Not for a single second
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Another copy and paste by girlie boy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/21/maga-foreign-policy-putin-trump-common-goals/
"Can you do nothing but sneer ...?" I post many comments here that have absolutely nothing to do with you.
Your comments are noted for your TDS mimeograph and your full throated roar of support for kleptocrats.
If things get worse due to the effort of "the adults in the room", I will have by very own doll of Hunter in underpants, tie, and ho stamp.
https://themarketbeats.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/FEFD1D30-4854-42E4-A925-AAF03FA3BEB2-scaled-lhjq4z-1170x779.jpeg
Lapides is a liar.
POLL: Only 4% of Military Believe Biden Did Enough to Prevent Russia from Invading Ukraine
Biden and EU use 'financial nuclear option' and REMOVES Russian banks from SWIFT network: Task force will target oligarchs and their 'yachts, luxury apartments and ability to send their kids to fancy colleges in the West'
WNU said Russia being kicked off of SWFT would lead to war with USA.
It likely would. If the US has real allies who are willing and capable of backing us up, maybe this is a viable option. Frankly I'm skeptical of either, especially the willingness to back us up.
Frankly the end of the US dollar as world reserve currency with or without the Ukraine situation and sooner rather than later is likely an inevitable event. With this is mind the goal needs to be engineering a "soft landing" rather than a "hard landing." Kicking Russia off of SWIFT without full European support and backing would be counterproductive with regards to the goal of a soft landing.
At this point, I do not trust them. They will need to earn it. Trust once lost is hard to be regained. We cannot be left to fight Russia alone.
The end of reserve currency status is the end of deficit spending is the end of illegal immigration as a political tool to power is the end of Moscow.
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