Read Hanne’s The Herland Report.
When you dig a grave for others, be careful that you don’t fall in it yourself, the Holy Book wisely warns.
The grave was dug for Russia, but the knockout blow now hits recession-bound USA and Europe in a dramatically changing world where the sanctions against Moscow have backfired spectacularly. The trust in Western banking institutions has been crushed; the SWIFT system as reliable source of economic order is at its all-time low; local currencies are replacing the U.S. dollar at the speed of light; 85% of the global population is refusing to sanction Russia; and Russia itself is swimming in money from the skyrocketing energy prices. President Putin has never been more popular, trusted by over 8o% of the Russian population, according to VTSIOM, many of whom complain that he should have attacked Ukraine much earlier. Even oligarchs who formerly hated Putin and strongly opposed him domestically now love him.
Europe also used to love Putin, to the extent that when the green energy ideology first made Europe shut down its own energy resources without having an energy substitute, Europe was happy to leave its fate in the hands of Russian oil and gas. Canadian philosopher Jordan Peterson recently deemed political statesmen incompetent to the degree it defies comprehension that they chose to become dependent on Russian energy for environmental reasons and failed to understand that it would produce the current crisis. By implementing sanctions against the very source of energy upon which they depend, Europe has been thrown by its own politicians into an unbelievable recession.
How wrong is it possible to be? How incompetent are our leaders, actually? European politicians rushed to implement sanctions as early as the day after the invasion of Ukraine – they needed no time whatsoever to reflect upon the long-term effects this would have on European nations and industries, but ran to the action with no second thought – most probably following Washington’s advice. Wall Street predicted with pure pride that Russia’s economy would collapse and resemble a train wreck when hit with sanctions. But soaring energy and commodities’ prices, as a result of the very same sanctions, have made Russia filthy rich, with surplus of 265 billion USD this year, according to The Economist. By 2022’s end, Russia’s energy export revenues are predicted to be $337.5 billion, 38% more than 2021. Top investment banks predicted a total Russian downfall, forecasting in March that the country’s GDP would fall 35% in the second quarter. It only fell 4%.
President Biden was extremely quick to state that Russia’s economy was already cratering, the Washington Post boasting in March that Russia was in free fall, its foreign reserves frozen, its oligarchs denied access to properties and its banks barred from Western financial networks.
As it turns out, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is now working around the clock to exclude both the U.S. dollar and the Euro and replace them with national payment systems. Who dares to have their money in Western banks after this? Russia was forced to switch to its local currency, the ruble, which is currently the best-performing currency in 2022, creating its own SWIFT system, abandoning the greenback. It rapidly searched out new markets and closer relations with China, India, Iran, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and African nations.
In Europe, on the other hand, 45 million Brits are set to plunge into fuel poverty this winter. London Mayor Sadiq Khan recently tweeted: “We have seen nothing like this before. We are facing a winter where for millions it won’t be about choosing between heating or eating but tragically being able to afford neither.” Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has in reality agreed to commit hara-kiri and face deindustrialization as skyrocketing energy prices hit the market. Russia, on the other hand, can shut off gas to Europe for a whole year without even noticing it much, writes Bloomberg. To top it off, Ukraine’s richest mineral deposits, worth 12.4 trillion U.S. dollars, are now in the hands of Russia, writes the Washington Post: That is 63% of world coal deposits, 42% of its metals and 33% of other earth elements, not even counting agricultural land.
With the worst drought in 500 years facing Europe, it apparently has rained more than ever in Russia, which is set for a record grain harvest in 2022 that may reach 145 million tons, according to the Institute of Agricultural Market Conjuncture. To return to the interview with Jordan Peterson: “Never underestimate the people you are at war with,” he says. Marching on Moscow has never been easy.
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