Putin beordrar styrkor att gå in i Ukraina - INVASION NU (2022-02-24)

This multi-level cooperation strategy between Russia and China provides financing into Russia from China, regardless of possible sanctions from the U.S. and its allies, including the much-vaunted barring from the SWIFT international payments system – which, even in the event of a full invasion of Ukraine by Russia are unlikely to be effective. On the other side, it provides China with an increasing proportion of the oil and gas it needs to power its attempt to overtake the U.S. as the world’s largest economy by nominal GDP by 2030 at the latest. It is already the world’s largest economy by purchasing power parity, the largest manufacturing economy, and the largest trading nation. Any interim gaps, both in finance for Russia or oil and gas supplies for China, can be increasingly filled by the cooperation of politically ambiguous states around the globe, particularly amongst the Middle Eastern oil-producing countries. Not only are they pools of natural energy resources for China’s growth machine but also their apparent increased willingness to switch away from US$-centric oil and gas markets, as analyzed in-depth in my new book on the global oil markets, would neuter the single most effective power that the U.S. still has in the world today.