That's pretty much what Russia's Vladimir Putin had to say to the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi at their lakeside summer camp.
"They are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar," Putin said. What he's talking about, of course, is the dollar's use as the world's reserve currency and its exclusive use as the currency in which oil trading is conducted.
"Thank god," Putin said, "that they had enough common sense and responsibility to make a balanced decision."
"If over there (in America) there is a systemic malfunction,this will affect everyone," Putin said.
"Countries like Russia and China hold a significant part of their reserves in American securities ... There should be other reserve currencies."
The problem is that both Russia and China are the sort of countries where your wealth can be confiscated by the government much easier than it can here in the US. So bonds and treasuries are still a safe way of preserving capital for the wealthy in those countries.
In many ways, Putin's stop at the Nashi camp is being looked on as an early campaign appearance. There's a lot of speculation about whether Putin plans another term as Prime Minister or will run for president again ( he's served two consecutive terms but would be allowed to run fo ra third if Medvedev, the current president stands aside. At 59, he's relatively young yet.
And Putin's actually pretty popular in Russia. He's a firm nationalist who puts Russia first, got rid of a lot of the mobsters and ogliarchs ( except for the useful ones) is not perceived as overly corrupt himself and fights domestic Muslim terrorists fairly successfully. And most Russians revel in his macho image.
He's a preview of what we'll see here if Americans eventually decide to ditch our Republic and become Rome.
In fact, from the standpoint of Russia, Putin's only made two mistakes and they're huge. He's been unsuccessful at increasing the non-Muslim Russian birthrate and he's repeated Stalin's error in thinking that a deal with the devil is going to keep Russia safe.
Unfortunately for both Putin and Russia, those mistakes are the ones that are almost certainly going to come back to haunt them.
( hat tip to long time Joshua's Army member Louie Louie for sparking this train of thought)
And Putin's actually pretty popular in Russia.
ReplyDeleteof course he is. anyone who's ever crossed him has awoke dead the next morning.
These statements by Mr. Putin are very disturbing. This is the most powerful man in the world who heads the most powerful country in the world. If the United States is going to survive let alone thrive in the 21st century it is going to need at least cordial relations with the world's most powerful country.
ReplyDeleteYou write: "The problem is that Russia and China are the sort of countries where your wealth can be confiscated by the government much easier than it can here in the US. So bonds and treasuries are still a safe way of preserving capital for the wealthy in those countries." Historically this may have been true but it is now quite easy for the government to confiscate wealth and it is becoming much easier. As such, while there may still be some difference in this regard between the US and other countries that difference is less pronounced now than it had been in the past.
Actually Russia and China could have the US dollar dumped as the world's reserve currency by tomorrow afternoon if they wished and they could have it replaced with whatever they wish. All of this could be accomplished by Monday morning of 8/8/11 if the wanted to do so.
Why haven't they? I think part of it may have to do with the statement you write in your post. There may be some resistance because people don't trust the Russians or the Chinese.
I think there are two other factors at work here as well. 1.)As pointed out earlier, the Russians and the Chinese can have the dollar replaced as the world's reserve currency any time they wish and could have it replaced by whatever they want it to be replaced with. All of this could be done in a few days. Right now they need America as an enemy to justify there military build ups and the consolidation of power for themselves. In other words, it is a timing issue for them. 2.)As long as America has the debt it has and a lack of a manufacturing base, it needs for the dollar to remain the world's reserve currency. As such, at any time Russia, China, Arab nations, nations of the EU and others can hold the threat of dumping the dollar as world's reserve currency over America's head to get America's leaders to do whatever they want America's leaders to do. As such, it is much more beneficial to them to have the dollar as the world's reserve currency than not. Essentially the dollar can be dropped from this role at any time.
As for the two mistakes Mr. Putin has made. The jury is still out on this one. It takes time to increas the non muslim birth rate. The substantial amounts of money being paid out to people who do this will likely begin bearing fruit. As for the "deal with the devil", essentially what he's done is to deflect much anger away from his country toward America. He's been very successful in this area. This may be another reason why he needs America around right now. Simply a matter of timing.
Furthermore Mr. Obama may not always be America's leader. Such statemts coming from the leader of the most powerful country have got to be disconcerting to certain American decision makers. What if a future American leader should conclude that America is about to be attacked by Russia. Such a leader will know that America lacks the trained troops, technical savy, the advanced military hardware, or the financial ability to fight a war with Russia. As such, they may conclude America's only hope to avoid certain attack will be a massive preemptive attack on Russia in the hope of eliminating Russia's military capability before they can respond. This would not be good. Mr. Putin should cool his rhetoric before something happens that everyone regrets.
Statements like this from Mr. Putin are further confirmation of what I have suspected for many years. The Cold War never really ended. At least this is so as far as Russia is concerned.
As for the mistakes Mr. Putin has made, they are no where near as severe as the mistakes America has made over the last few decades. In any event, he has to be thanking whatever god he believes in that the problems his country faces are no where near as severe or intractable as the problems faced by America are.
ReplyDeleteWe need to get a handle on this anti-Americanism and fast!!
ReplyDeletehttp://cleaves.zapato.org/news/story-2451.html
This is very likely part of the Russian/Chinese/Islamic propaganda being directed against America. Here you have someone essentially calling for genocide against Ameria and its people. Mr. Putin needs to act to cool the rhetoric.
With this propaganda campaign as with any campaign. The steps are as follows: 1.) Dehumanize the targe. 2.)Assign the target more power than it actually has. Once this is done it then becomes possible to justify any manner of evil agains the target.
This type of thing was done to the Jews in the 1930s and 1940s. Now its being done to America. The Jews were presered and while not yet totally secure at least they have a prosperous homeland today. Furthermore God has guaranteed eternal surivival to the Jews. May God be equally merciful to the Americans.
In any event, we've ot to do someting to counter this vicious anti-Americanism. Its placing all of us in grave danger.
The article you reference appears to largely take the position that this is merely campaign rhetoric on Mr. Putin's part. Somehow I'm not sure the European press would take such a casual attitude about this if they were the ones being targeted by this vicious propaganda attack.
ReplyDeleteActually the Western European leaders are probably enjoying this. After all America is the EU's "strategic competitor." As such, in their view if any thing bad happens to America they would view this as a good thing. If something tragic were to happen to Ameirca in public all the leaders and people of Western Europe would probably say the right things but in private and in their actions they would celebrate any such calamity that might befall America.
America is their strategic competitor. As such, from their perspective any thing that weakens or harms America is good for them. If America is destroyed or otherwise eliminated, this is all the better for them. At least they think.
Sorry about the multiple posts on this thread. Mr. Putin says, "if over there (in America) there is a systemic malfunction, this will affect everyone." Since the US dollar is the backbone of the world financial system at present, this means it is connected to everyone else. As such, a systemic malfunction in some other part of the world, say Western Europe, Russia, China, or the Middle East will affect Aemrica as well. In other words, this effect of systemic malfunctions works both ways. For Mr. Putin not to point this out, he either does not understand how the world economy works or for the purposes of propaganda he is being disingenuous. I think he is being disingenuos, however, either way its not good and is a huge problem for America. If the leader of Russia the world's powerful nation does not understand how the world's economy operates, this is not good indeed. I think he does understand though and his statements are anti-American propaganda designed to demonize the country and the people he hates in order to jsutify his actions which will probably lead to some type of military attack on America at a time and place of Mr. Putin or a future leader of Russia.
ReplyDeleteIn order to confront this, I'd suggest American leaders begin by making a concerted effort to counter anti-Americanism while, at the same time, working to upgrade and expand the nuclear arsenal as well as the systems that deliver nuclear weapons.
But look at the bright side: '"Thank god," Putin said, "that they had enough common sense and responsibility to make a balanced decision."'
ReplyDeleteHe must be a Tea Party member. Or Vodka Party in his case