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Written by Piero Messina
There is the war that is fought on the ground and there is the war that is fought with international finance weapons. Financially, Europe and the United States have a nuclear option. They used it: to oust the Russian Central Bank from Swift transactions.
But what is the Swift? It is an acronym that stands for “Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications”: it is a Belgian messaging platform that connects thousands of financial institutions from all over the world for money transfers. Messages with the necessary instructions to transfer the funds travel on Swift: not the actual money, therefore, but the address to send it to. And it takes place through a code: a string of numbers and letters, between 8 and 11 characters, which allows you to make secure payments through banks in different countries. It is considered to be one of the most efficient mechanisms for verifying the identity of the bank or financial institution that acts as an intermediary for payments.
Once again the United States pushed Europe to make the first move. European Union foreign affairs ministers approved banning all transactions with the Russian central bank, according to officials familiar with the decision. According to the analysis of the Bloomberg portal, “the move, which is part of an effort to isolate Moscow’s economy and financial system, paves the way for the measure to be adopted as soon as Sunday evening, said the officials, who asked not to be identified because the process is private. Russia has about $ 640 billion in reserves. In a remarkable show of force and unity, western powers cast aside all their previous concerns about Russian energy export dominance, and uniliaterally announced the nuclear option of imposing sanctions on the Russian central bank coupled with targeted exclusions from SWIFT of key Russian banks “.
The goal of this move is to undermine the Russian economy, hit the population and precipitate the Russian consensus towards President Vladimir Putin. In practice, it is a financial “coup”, the ultimate aim of which is to push the Moscow establishment to dethrone Putin. The decision to penalize Russia’s central bank and exclude four other Russian banks from the SWIFT messaging system, used for trillions of dollars worth of transactions around the world, was announced Saturday in a joint statement by the US, European Commission, France, Germany, Italy , UK and Canada.
It is an extreme decision. It is the first time in the history of world capitalism that a bank the size of the Russian one has been excluded. The consequences on the world market could be devastating and the West could be hit by a boomerang effect. In the past, the U.S. has previously sanctioned the central banks of adversaries such as Iran and Venezuela for funneling money that supported destabilizing activities in their respective regions. North Korea’s central bank is also blacklisted.
The first consequences were not long in coming. Russian banks are offering to exchange rubles for dollars at a rate of 171 rubles per dollar on Sunday, compared to the official closing price of 83 on Friday before the European / US announcement about targeting the Russian central bank. In other words we are looking at a 50% + devaluation of the Ruble. Western investors are fleeing Russia too: widespread announcements of divestments in Russian equities by the likes of British petroleum and the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund mean that the Russian market will be a bloodbath on Monday. The risk for Russia is clear: bank runs that can exacerbate internal social tension and dollarization of the economy, the exact opposite of what Vladimir Putin hoped for in recent years and partly achieved by the Bank of Russia’s reserve diversification policy . Europe could immediately realize what the price of this decision could be, aggravated by the closure of its airspace to Russian flights and the banning of media deemed collateral to the Kremlin (RT and Sputnik). Russia could immediately launch unprecedented counter-sanctions that hit the Old Continent’s economy to the heart. Starting with closing the gas taps, despite Gazprom’s reassurance today on the regularity of the flows.
EU idiots in charge are sacrificing their own economies for the sake of promised candies from American side. TOTAL FUCKING TRAITORS to the people, who elected them. Most of EU politicians are sold souls, equally dirty as Nazis in Kiev. Next french (aka EU revolution) is brewing. That will be galactical.
I’m not sure that French people have the balls to revolt.
Don’t be to sure about that.
food lines and homeless reported in all USA—none Russia
4th world uncivilized primitive society…only 50% inflation…please donate used diapers for poor gringos
The shelves are empty in aisles of USA stores. Ongoing Covid political carry-on and Biden’s mismanagement of Californian shipping imports ports are to blame. Biden installed a Democrat party hack, and token faggot, as the Ports overseer. Upon appointment, this faggot immediately took extended leave. For, and get this, paid paternity leave! As he and his faggot partner were adopting, seriously! Kid you not! This is the reality of USA today. He never expected to have to any real work, as it was a gifted appointment, the Democrats promoting own Party hacks into plum bureaucratic high office jobs with high salaries. Only the idiot Biden appointed him at exactly the worst possible moment for such open Party nepotism. As the shit was hitting the fan, with unloaded cargo ships stacking up, and sitting off the coast, and this Party hack has NO experience with such logistics crisis management. Way to go Joe!
The western idiots will provoke WW3. If EU citizens will not rise again Brussel tyranny the will have WW3 in Europe.
73% voted for nato to go to war with Russia because they think Russia is getting its ass kicked. These idiots don’t realize Putin is tricking them into thinking Russia is weak. Those avangard missiles will fuck NATO up in the first day.
This will result in nuclear war. I hope nobody forgets to target Tel Aviv.
THANK YOU… Well said…
nuke ready så det är dax att vara redo eller vad ?de skymmer anslagstavlan min ibland
It’s time for Russia to deliver S500 and some ballistic missiles to Syria.
LOL: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/stocks-tied-chinas-swift-alternative-are-soaring
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. The BRICS have had a decade to create and test run their own parallel financial system, with CIPS as their own alternative to SWIFT. And perhaps Russia will make Germany pay with gold for their oil.
Has this tactic ever worked? I mean, think about all the countries that have suffered Western sanctions in the last hundred years. Cuba, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Venezuela, just to name a few. How many of these governments were overthrown in a popular revolt, or were forced to change their policies to something more palatable to the Western elites? Sudan, arguably, but the rest keep plodding along their chartered course in the face of all adversity. It’s a pride thing, I imagine. No president likes to be told what to do, especially by the pearl-clutching hypocrites in power in wealthy countries. Even if Russia suffers hyperinflation Venezuela-style, I don’t think that either Putin or the Russian state are going to reverse course on this, nor do I think there will be a successful military or popular coup. Even if the goal is to disrupt the comfortable lives of the elites in the country, that isn’t going to happen. States always eat first, and Russia is rich in resources on its own. Russian elites might miss vacationing in the Swiss alps for a while, but it’s not like there aren’t ample facilities at home. The Russian people, on the other hand, as always, will suffer terribly. They probably won’t starve or freeze, thankfully, but they’ll certainly lose their jobs and businesses. More cruelty carried out in the name of international justice. Sickening.