My take is that Russia deliberately got itself cut off from SWIFT and effectively detached its entire economy from the western world, in order to dodge yet another global financial crisis. Oh, and to eliminate the dollar as the global reserve currency, but that's more of a bonus.
Respectively, the current freefall of the ruble is also anticipated - at present, it would cost the Russian government no more than a pittance to buy up all the rubles available on the money market, so that when the EU demands that the gas and wheat shipments are resumed, it will have to buy rubles first, likely using its precious metal reserves rather than the dollar.
And of course, since China and India have their own banking systems using their own national currencies, they have so far been more than happy to voice neutrality or even tacit support for Russia, since they have a lot more to gain than lose from these developments.
Ultimately, we're due for an artificial Cold War, with the main purpose of keeping the major national economies separate and immune to further global financial crises. The side effect will be that the western economies, which are faster-paced but more unstable, may have to endure some controlled demolition, particularly in the banking and resource imports sectors. And globally, the WEF. Which, in turn, is a good reason why the heads of those entities, and their subservient media, are now waiving the Putin=Bad flag, since they have the most to lose from the situation.
holy SHIT can you imagine if russia saw the epic crash coming, and did this before shit hit the fan here? so they would be not nearly as effected as if they were connected? :o
Come now, what would be the odds of that? It's not like the country is run by a KGB spymaster with ties to global economic institutions, whose tenure as head of state was noted for his shrewd economic policies... oh, wait.
If anything, I'm more puzzled by the lower-scale operations of the conflict. To put it simply, nobody wages war like that. Nobody just dumps a bunch of equipment and vehicles, all of them evidently old and poorly maintained. My best guess is that they're trying to create a new Somalia in west Ukraine, that would serve as a buffer state between Russia and the EU/NATO, a veritable no-man's-land where anything goes.
And in turn, the EU is playing right into it (or secretly supporting it) by sending more weapons, specifically to be distributed to civilians. Again, nobody does that - nobody sends RPGs to conscripts and irregulars, since they're more likely to end up hurting themselves than the enemy. It's even more suspicious that a lot of these weapons have themselves turned out to be obsolete or barely functional models, adding more credence to the weapon dump theory above.
My take is that Russia deliberately got itself cut off from SWIFT and effectively detached its entire economy from the western world, in order to dodge yet another global financial crisis. Oh, and to eliminate the dollar as the global reserve currency, but that's more of a bonus.
Respectively, the current freefall of the ruble is also anticipated - at present, it would cost the Russian government no more than a pittance to buy up all the rubles available on the money market, so that when the EU demands that the gas and wheat shipments are resumed, it will have to buy rubles first, likely using its precious metal reserves rather than the dollar.
And of course, since China and India have their own banking systems using their own national currencies, they have so far been more than happy to voice neutrality or even tacit support for Russia, since they have a lot more to gain than lose from these developments.
Ultimately, we're due for an artificial Cold War, with the main purpose of keeping the major national economies separate and immune to further global financial crises. The side effect will be that the western economies, which are faster-paced but more unstable, may have to endure some controlled demolition, particularly in the banking and resource imports sectors. And globally, the WEF. Which, in turn, is a good reason why the heads of those entities, and their subservient media, are now waiving the Putin=Bad flag, since they have the most to lose from the situation.
holy SHIT can you imagine if russia saw the epic crash coming, and did this before shit hit the fan here? so they would be not nearly as effected as if they were connected? :o
Come now, what would be the odds of that? It's not like the country is run by a KGB spymaster with ties to global economic institutions, whose tenure as head of state was noted for his shrewd economic policies... oh, wait.
If anything, I'm more puzzled by the lower-scale operations of the conflict. To put it simply, nobody wages war like that. Nobody just dumps a bunch of equipment and vehicles, all of them evidently old and poorly maintained. My best guess is that they're trying to create a new Somalia in west Ukraine, that would serve as a buffer state between Russia and the EU/NATO, a veritable no-man's-land where anything goes.
And in turn, the EU is playing right into it (or secretly supporting it) by sending more weapons, specifically to be distributed to civilians. Again, nobody does that - nobody sends RPGs to conscripts and irregulars, since they're more likely to end up hurting themselves than the enemy. It's even more suspicious that a lot of these weapons have themselves turned out to be obsolete or barely functional models, adding more credence to the weapon dump theory above.