Weaponizing Money

Steve Cortes, "The Risks of Heeding America's Warmongers"

Ruling Class laptop war-hawks commence a dangerous new weaponization of money.

Among the cognoscenti of the Western capitals of politics and finance, the chorus screams unanimously for ever-escalating economic sanctions against Russia. Lost amidst the cacophony of those calling for a historic financial bloodletting is a dispassionate and careful analysis of the potential peril of such unprecedented collective actions.

Specifically, for the first time ever, the powers of the Western World align to purposefully and willfully destroy the currency of a major power – and not just any power, but the most armed nuclear force on earth. The decision to essentially de-bank the entire country of Russia, save very key carve-outs (more on those elements in a moment), represents a brash entry into a heretofore uncharted path of the weaponization of money.

After all, even the despicable Nazi regime during WWII did not face this level of monetary attack. In fact, the Germans transacted internationally via the Bank of International Settlements, which remained neutral in a Switzerland which was then committed to that over-arching principle.

Today, the Russians find no such financial harbor, resulting in the recent absolute plunge in Russia’s currency. See this chart on the US Dollar vs. the Ruble:

Even a columnist for the Washington Post recognized the potential massive and dangerous unknowable ramifications of such actions. When the committed globalists of Jeff Bezos’s own leftist paper can recognize the dangers, everyone better start paying attention.

Here’s the main problem with this weaponization of money: it specifically and immediately targets the Russian people, rather than Putin, the Oligarchs, or their war machine. Regular Russian citizens now find themselves suddenly forced to deal with massive, runaway inflation. Their hard-earned wages become more and more worthless by the hour as their currency collapses as a direct consequence of the concerted efforts of ruling class elites in Washington, New York, London, and Brussels. What will be the fallout of cornering a proud nation of 145 million people in this manner?

Putin and his fabulously wealthy connected cronies can handle, at least in the near-term, such historic volatility -- but the masses of Russia cannot.

Biden, as usual, has this policy approach exactly backwards. If the main goal is to punish the leadership and starve Moscow’s war machine, then a cessation of purchases of Russian energy would be the actual, brutal, and effective prescription. Under Biden, even energy-blessed America welcomed in a surge of Russian energy imports in 2021, an 11 year high of Russian imports to the US. These products include over 200,000 barrels of Crude per day and over 700,000 total barrels per day of all fuel products from Putin’s Moscow, according to S&P Global.

These shipments continue unabated, right now, meaning America pours tens of millions of dollars of hard US currency into the accounts of the Oligarchs on a daily basis. Moreover, this flow of funds is somehow…miraculously…EXCLUDED from the otherwise onerous banking clampdown on Russian transactions.

Of course, America’s purchases of Russian energy, as large as they are, cannot compare to Western Europe’s, which remains totally beholden to Russian supplies, especially for Natural Gas. Those gigantic flows continue as well, proving the utter duplicity of the ruling class powerbrokers of the US and Europe. As blue-checks post Ukraine flags on their social media, they play a never-before attempted experiment in global Foreign Exchange warfare. But as these same virtue- signaling globalists pour out Russian vodka in performative protest, they welcome in torrents of Russian energy.

It seems as though this Ukraine-flag waving crowd of self-assured warmongers in the West actually wants the fighting to continue, otherwise they would resolutely refuse all Russian Energy, and leave the Ruble alone.

Clearly, many Western elites also clamor for regime change, hoping that a wave of economic pain upon the Russian people will compel an uprising – and it may. But it might also unleash rulers who are far less predictable and far more ferociously anti-American than Putin.

Recall that after America eliminated the terrible Saddam Hussein in Iraq, we ended up dealing with an even worse ISIS. In that scenario, at least the Caliphate did not possess nuclear weapons. The reality in Russia is quite different, of course, as the total warhead count in Russia exceeds America’s, see this Bloomberg chart:

Courage is the most important human virtue. Plenty of Ukrainians show real courage in repelling the Putin invasion. In contrast, there is nothing courageous about American politico laptop war-dogs constantly agitating for escalation, and instituting a money war against Russia.

The kinetic war that could well unfold from these actions will not be fought by these effete dilletantes, but instead by everyday American citizens from the heartland, by brave young men from flyover country with names like Mendez and Jackson.

Real courage in US politics right now requires standing up against the powerful and loud bi-partisan Washington War Machine.