checks USD exchange rates
Yep it's still the only currency that matters.
Checks Indian-Chinese relations
Yep they still have effective visa bans against each other.
So what is this BRICS club exactly? A dictionary club?
replies(6):
Yep it's still the only currency that matters.
Checks Indian-Chinese relations
Yep they still have effective visa bans against each other.
So what is this BRICS club exactly? A dictionary club?
That's what the US govt thought when it sanctioned Russia. It only resulted in Russia falling back to their local currency without any significant problems, while making the rest of the world wary of reliance on the US dollar
I think you're trying to spin reality into a far rosier picture.
Russia is now bounded to do international trade with any currency other than the ruble, and it is famously piling on a huge trade deficit with India while stockpiling rupees without any way of exchanging them for anything. You're talking about a scenario that not even Russia is able to use Russia's currency in direct trades with other BRICS members.
What does this tell you about "significant problems"?
> while making the rest of the world wary of reliance on the US dollar
You're commenting as if no one in the world was aware of the US dolar hegemony, and even if it was anything new. That's not what's happening in reality. Even the eurozone has been trying to leverage the euro as an alternative to the US dolar in markets like oil, and hasn't been that successful. If a trading block and economic powerhouse like the eurozone isn't able to shake that off, what tells you that Russia, whose economy barely matches Italy's, is an exception?
But .. that's nothing less than a huge opportunity for India to start building things the Russians need and want.
The same thing occurred with the Euro, which was doing fine until the energy sources feeding its growth were attacked, recently ..
How so?
> This war has already been lost by the West.
How are you defining won or lost?
> the effects will be limited and won’t act as deterrent
I don't disagree the effects would or could be limited/targeted, but it has deterred China for example in that large Chinese banks now won't do business with Russia out of fear of US sanctions.
China is taking over Russian car or consumer electronics markets, for example. The trade between two countries is soaring, Western brands are being substituted by Chinese production.
> How are you defining won or lost?
Strategic imperative of the West was that European borders cannot be changed by force and the global order based on rules and international law will ensure that. It is clear now that without direct NATO involvement the best achievable outcome will be a new iron curtain on Dnepr river. No sanctions or military supplies can change that, it is just too late. This in turn means that the old order has collapsed, USA cannot be trusted as a guarantor of security, EU is not a serious power and we already see how other nations are recalculating their alignment.
I see - yes I don't disagree with that, but wasn't entirely sure what you meant. I think on the whole the west doesn't really care outside of the oil and gas which they've managed to put Russia's infrastructure into a desired state. Exports halted, Ukraine is attacking infrastructure, Europe is doing whatever it can not to buy Russian oil (good for US and Saudi Arabia), and what oil Russia does sell is sold at a discounted rate to India last I checked.
> Strategic imperative of the West was that European borders cannot be changed by force and the global order based on rules and international law will ensure that. It is clear now that without direct NATO involvement the best achievable outcome will be a new iron curtain on Dnepr river. No sanctions or military supplies can change that, it is just too late.
Well the war isn't over yet is it? The US and EU just gave Ukraine around $100bn which is 2x the official Russian military budget. It seems that things in the east have sort of stabilized with neither side able to do much, so perhaps the west will have "lost" because Russia took over that part of Ukraine and no more? If so I mean it's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things given the cost imposed on Russia.
> This in turn means that the old order has collapsed, USA cannot be trusted as a guarantor of security, EU is not a serious power and we already see how other nations are recalculating their alignment.
This I would strongly disagree with. I don't think Russia throwing body after body into Ukraine which is much smaller in every aspect only for it to be stopped at the Dnepr River means that the entire western order has collapsed.
I would also strongly disagree with your assessment that the EU is not a serious power. The EU as a whole sure in the sense that the EU doesn't have the ability to unilaterally field an army, but both France and the UK have quite serious militaries and are able to project power at least as well if not better than Russia with or without American help. USA not being trusted doesn't make much sense to me either. Trump scares our partners (rightfully so) but almost everyone in Congress and in the military and intelligence establishment recognizes the US's need to defend allies and shore up alliances.
Frankly, if you take a look at troop deployments and training exercises, both Sweden and Finland joining NATO (and NATO troops heading to Finland), it's pretty clear the US is committed to the defense of Europe. Actions speak louder than words.