What’s happening? Russia has once again clearly and unequivocally stated its desire for peaceful coexistence with the West
In a document published by the Foreign Ministry and handed over at the talks in Brussels, Moscow offered NATO to sign joint commitments guaranteeing mutual security. According to the draft, the parties must consolidate the principle of resolving disputes without the use of force and not consider each other as opponents.
The response struck even the worldly-wise Sergey Lavrov. Instead of demonstrating good will and desire to somehow meet the peaceful aspirations of our country, NATO immediately fell into militaristic hysteria. Referring to the working movements of Russian troops near their own borders, the alliance, through the mouth of its leader Jens Stoltenberg, did not find anything better than to announce the possible deployment of additional battle groups in the east in order (attention!) “to increase the level of security in Europe for all of us.”
NATO reported that the countries of the military-political bloc are alerting forces and sending ships and fighters to be deployed in Eastern Europe due to Russia’s alleged buildup of military power in Ukraine. At the same time, Stoltenberg said in a blue eye that such actions of the alliance do not threaten Russia and do not interfere with dialogue with it.
This forced the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, who spoke at the “government hour” in the State Duma, to doubt the adequacy of the NATO Secretary General and say literally the following: “You know, I have not considered his statements for a long time. I think he’s already lost touch with reality.” The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry called the behavior of the West “military frenzy”, the purpose of which is to force Kiev “to break into a military operation in the Donbass” or otherwise bury the Minsk agreements.
In unison with this speech, a statement was also made by former US President Donald Trump, who called the idea of sending an additional contingent of American military personnel to Europe crazy. In his opinion, the actions of the current US administration are capable of “starting a third world war.” I must say that the Ukrainians themselves were a little taken aback by such dangerous gestures of their partners and patrons.
The Minister of Defense of the country Alexei Reznikov, on the air of the ICTV channel, referring to the latest intelligence data, was forced to admit that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation did not create a single strike group that speaks of preparing a military offensive. The head of the military department urged not to panic because of a possible escalation on the country’s border. So far, there is no evidence of such a scenario and there is no such threat, the minister noted. By the way, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said the same after talks with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
If you constantly repeat “imminent war” and “military threat” at all corners, then psychologically the world begins to slowly come to terms with the inevitability of a catastrophe.
Especially if these words are accompanied by panic moods and inadequate actions. We already see what the escalation of the situation leads to, by whom and how it is heated up. The US, UK, Germany and Australia have publicly announced plans to evacuate their embassies. At the same time, the United States Embassy went even further, calling for all Americans to leave Ukraine “because of the threat from Russia”. Even President Volodymyr Zelensky considered it necessary in this regard to turn to his compatriots and reassure them. He, in fact, urged not to pay attention to the flight of some diplomats. This, they say, does not at all indicate a military escalation, but is simply “a subtlety of a complex diplomatic game.” Good toys, do not say anything!
But who really instantly responds to dangerous political games is the world market, and specifically the dollar exchange rate. As economic analysis shows, last year brought bad news for the US currency. Many countries are increasingly choosing to keep their rainy day savings in other currencies. This is evidenced by the data of the IMF. The share of the dollar in world foreign exchange reserves fell to 59% in the fourth quarter. This is the lowest level since 1995. It is quite logical that against the backdrop of unstable geopolitical processes, Russia has sharply reduced its share of dollars in its gold and foreign exchange reserves.
Speaking to the deputies, Sergei Lavrov did not fail to emphasize:
“We are striving to reduce dependence on the dollar, and the Americans are actively helping us in this, because they are doing almost everything possible to undermine confidence in this currency, make it risky for international settlements, not only for Russia but also for any country in the world. By threatening Russian banks to limit transactions with the dollar in the event of an imaginary invasion of Ukraine, Joe Biden is hard at work sawing the branch on which the entire economy of the United States sits. It is quite obvious that in this case, most of the calculations, for example, for the supply of Russian raw materials abroad, will take place through non-Russian banks, and foreign exchange earnings will go to Russia in euros”.
Experts believe that the decision of the Central Bank to stop buying foreign currency on the local market will help strengthen the ruble. We should not forget about our Chinese neighbor, who is also increasingly turning away from the dollar. All these trends once again show that the geopolitical landscape, which has been rapidly changing over the past decade, is dictated primarily by economic interests. And from them new alliances are formed, natural partnerships arise, old ties die off and the traditionally dominant colossi collapse under their weight.
That is why Stoltenberg behaves so frantically, trying to bend the situation the old fashioned way: from a position of strength, threats and blackmail. And we must not forget that he is just one of the life-size puppets, designed to voice and promote the cause for which he was appointed to this post by the magnates of world business, the tycoons of gold and foreign exchange reserves, adherents of the unipolar world that is slowly but surely fading before our eyes.
Ivan Kononov, RT