Chinese yuan becomes Russia's main foreign currency, replacing dollar and euro
1–10 of 131 posts
Re: Chinese yuan becomes Russia's main foreign currency, replacing dollar and euro
#2As a US taxpayer I don’t particularly like this. We rely on being the world’s reserve currency, and many things get more expensive, e.g., serving government debt. In 2000-2001 we were able to effectively bully three countries that were talking about moving away from the US dollar, but I am not sure if that works now.
I have a lot of personal theories how my country can best cope with future geopolitical adjustments. If I were in charge, the first thing I would do would be to close most foreign military bases. We can have the strongest military in the world and have them largely based in the US. I think the US Navy continues to be a good investment, but I would cut back a small amount on intel and other military branches.
Re: Chinese yuan becomes Russia's main foreign currency, replacing dollar and euro
#3As a US taxpayer I don’t particularly like this. We rely on being the world’s reserve currency, and many things get more expensive, e.g., serving government debt. In 2000-2001 we were able to effectively bully three countries that were talking about moving away from the US dollar, but I am not sure if that works now. I have a lot of personal theories how my country can best cope with future geopolitical adjustments.…
> We rely on being the world’s reserve currency
And that won't change any time soon. The Euro is a decent currency but we're too disjoint to back something supposed to be a reserve currency, and China's Yuan is too much controlled by the government (and exchange limited) to be viable.
Re: Chinese yuan becomes Russia's main foreign currency, replacing dollar and euro
#4It's mentioned in the article, but the reaction to the sanctions seem fairly severe?
Russian banks went down en masse, the spread of foreign currencies was larger than the official numbers, and people were queuing outside the banks to withdraw money.
Of course, the Russian narrative is that this will hurt the west more than it will hurt Russia...
Re: Chinese yuan becomes Russia's main foreign currency, replacing dollar and euro
#5As a US taxpayer I don’t particularly like this. We rely on being the world’s reserve currency, and many things get more expensive, e.g., serving government debt. In 2000-2001 we were able to effectively bully three countries that were talking about moving away from the US dollar, but I am not sure if that works now. I have a lot of personal theories how my country can best cope with future geopolitical adjustments.…
> If I were in charge, the first thing I would do would be to close most foreign military bases. We can have the strongest military in the world and have them largely based in the US.
The strategy behind the foreign military bases isn't just about having the strongest military in the world. They serve two purposes:
First, we want to preserve the credible threat of boots on the ground anywhere in the world within just a few hours of a conflict beginning. Think edge computing, but for military operations.
Second, we want to reassure our allies that they have more than just our word for it that we'll come to their aid in a crisis. Having US soldiers in your country 24/7 functions as a guarantee that if the country falls to an invader the US will have to respond, because our soldiers were captured or killed.
The concern is that without the bases, a hostile power (like, say, the one TFA is about) could invade an ally (like, say, the Baltic states) with overwhelming force and present NATO with a fait accompli before we have time to react. Pulling away from those bases would be correctly seen by many of our allied states as relaxing our commitment to them.
Re: Chinese yuan becomes Russia's main foreign currency, replacing dollar and euro
#6As a US taxpayer I don’t particularly like this. We rely on being the world’s reserve currency, and many things get more expensive, e.g., serving government debt. In 2000-2001 we were able to effectively bully three countries that were talking about moving away from the US dollar, but I am not sure if that works now. I have a lot of personal theories how my country can best cope with future geopolitical adjustments.…
> We rely on being the world’s reserve currency
During petrodollar era, the 1970s and 80s, the dollar was used less than it is today. (Certainly within the USSR and even the Russian SSR.)
We de facto banned Russia from using the dollar in 2022 [1]. That it took Moscow over two years just get down to 50% speaks volumes to the dollar’s strength.
Re: Chinese yuan becomes Russia's main foreign currency, replacing dollar and euro
#7As a US taxpayer I don’t particularly like this. We rely on being the world’s reserve currency, and many things get more expensive, e.g., serving government debt. In 2000-2001 we were able to effectively bully three countries that were talking about moving away from the US dollar, but I am not sure if that works now. I have a lot of personal theories how my country can best cope with future geopolitical adjustments.…
Russia's GDP (nominal and especially per capita) aren't very significant. I understand your concern but Russia departed less by choice and more because they had to.
Re: Chinese yuan becomes Russia's main foreign currency, replacing dollar and euro
#8How isn't "the West" shooting themselves in the feet with these sanctions when Russia is able to get the war stuff through Turkey/Kyrgyzstan etc when not able to buy and sell civilians stuff?
Also, the Dollar and Euro can have effect on the Russian economy and tracked for intelligence only if they are used.
I wonder if this will be considered a great blunder, looking back in few years.
Forcing worlds most energy and minerals rich country doing business with most industry rich country, what could go wrong?
Re: Chinese yuan becomes Russia's main foreign currency, replacing dollar and euro
#9How isn't "the West" shooting themselves in the feet with these sanctions when Russia is able to get the war stuff through Turkey/Kyrgyzstan etc when not able to buy and sell civilians stuff? Also, the Dollar and Euro can have effect on the Russian economy and tracked for intelligence only if they are used. I wonder if this will be considered a great blunder, looking back in few years. Forcing worlds most energy and…
> How isn't "the west" shooting themselves in the feet with these sanctions
Same way Britain wasn’t shooting itself in the foot blockading Nazi Germany, or the West by refusing to trade with the USSR.
> Forcing worlds most energy and minerals rich country doing business with most industry rich country, what could go wrong?
Post-Soviet Russia as an independent power has been an unmitigated disaster. China is America’s geopolitical rival, but at least it’s rational. Moscow as a Chinese suzerainty is likely a better configuration than it as a sovereign power.
(Also, it’s clear China isn’t willing to let its financial system be sanctioned simply to trade with the likes of Russia.)
Re: Chinese yuan becomes Russia's main foreign currency, replacing dollar and euro
#10How isn't "the West" shooting themselves in the feet with these sanctions when Russia is able to get the war stuff through Turkey/Kyrgyzstan etc when not able to buy and sell civilians stuff? Also, the Dollar and Euro can have effect on the Russian economy and tracked for intelligence only if they are used. I wonder if this will be considered a great blunder, looking back in few years. Forcing worlds most energy and…
> How isn't "the west" shooting themselves in the feet with these sanctions Same way Britain wasn’t shooting itself in the foot blockading Nazi Germany, or the West by refusing to trade with the USSR. > Forcing worlds most energy and minerals rich country doing business with most industry rich country, what could go wrong? Post-Soviet Russia as an independent power has been an unmitigated disaster. China is America’s…
See, they don't actually block anybody but themselves. The Russians simply get their stuff from others.