RE:RE:Russian ruble a gold standard currency going forward? So many of the issues swirling around all of this are matters of first impression. I mean we really don’t have much precedent to look back on to guide us in deciding just how to act/react to these rather unexpected, very rapidly developing circumstances.
Rather than breaking everything down in the article and offering my thoughts on each element of President Biden’s actions and reactions (which he has in fact formulated with the benefit of a whole lot of input and help from various other Western leaders), I will simply state that I am pretty much in full agreement with all the steps that we in the West have taken up to this point. Had I been the one calling the shots - these are pretty much the “shots” I would have taken.
This brief article we are referring to is great: it is a concise, insightful summary of what has/is taking place up to this point. However, the author’s prognostications, predictions. etc. as to what will ultimately work out to Russia's exclusive benefit are just that - they are mere uncertain projections and speculations. Maybe nothing will ultimately work out to Russia’s benefit, or at least will not work out in the way(s) they were contemplated to work out by the Dear Leader.
Additionally, we absolutely must add into our equations the variable that we are dealing with a one-man government, and that that one man, Vladimir Putin, is not fully compos mentis - which leaves us with yet one more very unpredictable, hard to understand and hard to develop an effective response to variable.
Finally, I will mention here just one further area I take issue with in this article - and that is where it claims Putin has outsmarted us in coming up with his counters to our sanctions. That is all nonsense. There was no cleverness or outsmarting us in the least.The Russians just reacted in most cases in the only way they COULD react (i.e., there was no big cleverly thought-out master move at play).