I always knew that WWIII would occur during my lifetime if I lived beyond age 21 [see photo].
The economic war between EU, US, NATO allies, etc and Russia is the beginning of WWIII. The physical theatre for killing is on the barren plains of the Ukraine. Over there the Russian army is fighting the Ukraine army in theory. In practice the EU, NATO, US, etc are fighting a virtual war against the Russian economy with heavy sanctions on commodities [potash, gas, oil, etc] banking, and exchange rates. Western power tried to cripple the Rouble. But that tactic has not worked. Now they are attempting to prevent the free flow of Russian oil, gas, commodities, etc around the globe. This tactic will fail too. And this means that famine is coming. Urban and rural collapse will follow. WWIII is about to destroy all the amenities of free world trade and dissemble the traditional value of global currencies.
The move to peg the Rouble to Gold comes as the combined power of the EU, US, UK, and NATO allies work hard to cripple the Russian economy. Will this move by the Russian government halt any further degradation of the Rouble and the economic activity that supports it? I do not know the answer to that question and I guess we will have to wait and see what transpires. But, I sense that we are headed into a pit of insanity as the West seeks to fight Russians in the economic spheres of currency exchange and traded commodities.
This is a case of rinse and repeat for me. In 1989 I went to a seminar held in Leningrad [St Petersburg] on forming public-private joint ventures. On the last day I had a one-on-one interview with the Russian Minister for Finance. This long interview was conducted through a translator. The Minister was gracious and remarkably forthcoming in his answers to my direct questions about public spending, ten year planning in a centralised economy, etc. In the closing ten minutes I hammered away on the topic of monetary policy and the government decision to keep the Rouble pegged to the $US [8 Roubles to 1 $US]. I was urging him to float the Rouble. On the streets the exchange rate was crazy for anyone with US dollars [hard currency] willing to engage in blackmarket trades. Clearly the fact that the Rouble remained pegged to the $US at unreasonable rates of exchange was causing all sorts of problems both inside Russia and on the world scene for Russian trade. I made what I thought was a "good case" for floating the Rouble but in long rants of pure political rhetoric he held firm to his defense of the existing policy settings. As the interview came to an amicable end he extended his hand to me for a cordial handshake. As we shook hands he leaned in and whispered in clear and concise English - "you know why we can not do that... Richard".
Russia has gone back to a pegged exchange rate as it continues to repel all that the West can throw at it in terms of economic sanctions. This is another clear sign that Russia is winning both the virtual and physical war against the West; so we can fully expect this war to escalate. As this war escalates you, me, and our families are in more danger than our parents or grandparents were in either WWI or WWII. Soldiers and civilians alike will die on the battlefields of the Ukraine but that is not where WWIII will truly be fought. It will be fought in your local precinct as food, money, energy, services, etc become scarce. The true victims of WWIII will be you, me, and our loved ones whether we live or die.
Richard.
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