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America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

economist.com

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Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#101

Post by wavefunction »

Udik wrote: post #35
wavefunction wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US opposition to a pipeline to Russia is confined to a small group of people who are strangely very friendly to Russia on all other matters. There is no widespread or popular opposition to Germany building a pipeline to Russia in the United States. This doesn't really treat with the dollar-denominated world economy but I wanted to point this out to differentiate the current irrational foreign policy of the US governm…

> a small group of people who are strangely very friendly to Russia on all other matters. Can you give actual examples of this friendliness? I see it cited very often but I don't know any concrete example. I know Trump has imposed new sanctions on Russia last September, that is sanctioning European companies for the Russia pipeline, and that he's doing anything that he can to destabilise Iran, which is supported by R…

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/us/politics/sanctions-ole...

Maybe you should have asked for 100, or 1000. I can probably come close to 100 though.

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#102

Post by linkregister »

tehjoker wrote: post #91

This is an interesting article, but exposes the Economist's bias and lack of an honest historical accounting. While the it is new, interesting, and important that the world is becoming more skeptical of the dollar, it is kind of laughable that the only reference to Iraq and sanctions is the ones that were in the news recently. Iraq and many other countries have been subject to crippling US sanctions many times in the…

The modern instance has far less apparent rational motives. The threat of imposition of sanctions on Iraq is coming almost solely from the President of the US, framed as a retaliatory gesture. The language used implies the threat is guided primarily by emotion rather than by a sober realpolitik diplomatic move.

It appears that most of the government, even most Republicans in Congress, disagree with the idea. Though Republicans are currently in a vulnerable state with regards to political pressure from the President, I find it unlikely that a bill imposing sanctions will be enacted without a significant change after the 2020 elections.

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#103

Post by geoka9 »

baybal2 wrote: post #92
headcanon wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The United States' main geopolitical imperative is to maintain global hegemony. Part of this is ensuring regional powers are either allied (in the case of NATO countries or Saudi Arabia) or contained (in the case of Russia and Iran). It is a fundamental rule of Geopolitics that every country assert itself to the best of its abilities with the strengths they have. One of Russia's biggest strengths is natural resources…

"United States have no geopolitical strategy, but a lot of self proclaimed geopolitical strategists." I once have heard this position from US ambassador in Kazakhstan on a private reception event. The guy told people he expected a visit to a *stan country to be like a visit to a warzone. He was learning martial arts, hostage negotiation, and been mentored by multiple self proclaimed experts on "warlord politics" of t…

> For them, blackmailing Germany and other wealth nations in Europe by threatening to close the tap has no political story to it at all, just plainly a way to extort some extra bucks

As a counter-example (one of many), Russia has been for a long time losing money by subsidizing Belarusian economy with cheap oil.

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#104

Post by topmonk »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #32
mark_l_watson wrote: post #10

James Rikard (author of Currency Wars) in his newest book Aftermath predicts that the dollar's reserve currency run may soon be over, and special drawing rights (SDR) reserve currency might only be 1/3 dollars. I think he is probably correct on this prediction but maybe not on another prediction: currencies like China's and Russia's might soon be 20% backed by gold. He makes the point that there is no need for 100% b…

> currencies like China's and Russia's might soon be 20% backed by gold. He makes the point that there is no need for 100% backing from gold since a smaller percentage would still prevent a country from printing new currency out of thin air. What is the conceptual difference between a currency that is 100% backed by gold and one that is 20% backed by gold? Or rather, what is the difference between a currency that is…

The difference is, when you go to the gold standard, how much gold you acquire to support the currency.

After that, they are the same (but keep in mind, the value of a currency is dependent on a lot of factors, and not just the gold that is backing it. Otherwise currencies backed by nothing would all be worth nothing, which we know isn't true).

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#105

Post by catalogia »

headcanon wrote: post #66
sschueller wrote: post #2

For the rest of the world this is a good thing. Why would the United States be the one to decide if Germany is allowed to build a pipeline to Russia or not? Image if it was Germany that used sanctions to prevent the US from building a pipeline to Mexico. Would you be ok with that?

The United States' main geopolitical imperative is to maintain global hegemony. Part of this is ensuring regional powers are either allied (in the case of NATO countries or Saudi Arabia) or contained (in the case of Russia and Iran). It is a fundamental rule of Geopolitics that every country assert itself to the best of its abilities with the strengths they have. One of Russia's biggest strengths is natural resources…

You make it sound like it would genuinely be in Germany's interest to not have a pipeline with Russia. Americans are no more rational than Germans, so if what you say is true, where is the harm in letting Germans make their own decisions rather than having Americans make those decisions for them?

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#106

Post by dehrmann »

sschueller wrote: post #2

For the rest of the world this is a good thing. Why would the United States be the one to decide if Germany is allowed to build a pipeline to Russia or not? Image if it was Germany that used sanctions to prevent the US from building a pipeline to Mexico. Would you be ok with that?

At first glance, but it's probably better for Europe to be grudgingly aligned with the top power that it's generally aligned with than to be a more independent 3rd or 4th power. It's the same reason the UK is better off in the EU, even if they don't like it.

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#108

Post by axguscbklp »

wavefunction wrote: post #99
thrower123 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not possible because it is a bit of mass propaganda, from people who haven't yet realized the Cold War was decided thirty years ago and still see a KGB agent under their bed and in every dark closet.

That's why you post under a throwaway account.

The poster you replied to has a point, though. Trump certainly does seem to have many shady connections to powerful Russian figures, but the Trump administration's Russia policy is almost identical to the Obama administration's.

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#109

Post by baybal2 »

linkregister wrote: post #94
baybal2 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"United States have no geopolitical strategy, but a lot of self proclaimed geopolitical strategists." I once have heard this position from US ambassador in Kazakhstan on a private reception event. The guy told people he expected a visit to a *stan country to be like a visit to a warzone. He was learning martial arts, hostage negotiation, and been mentored by multiple self proclaimed experts on "warlord politics" of t…

> Ex-USSR fiefdoms, Russia included, are ran by very simple people, without any geopolitical ambitions. The people of Georgia, Crimea, and the rest of Ukraine would beg to differ.

How to say... Russians invasions are acts of war, squarely and simple, but they do so without any tinfoil "geopolitical conspiracy" in mind.

There is no bigger "grand plan" to them than to an 8th century Viking raid: more subjects, loot, and territories to use to stage further invasions.

Danes cared more for how tasty the British were, before they started to care about the British throne and court politics in the bigger Post-Roman world.

Re: America’s aggressive use of sanctions endangers the dollar’s reign

#110

Post by abacadaba »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #39
abacadaba wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as compared to dollars, of course. (alt s/dollars/bitcoin/)

I don't understand this. Can you expand on it?

whatever they come up with will still be valued in terms of dollars, as dollars are still the fundamental unit of currency inherent to the universe.
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