
<p>This is humiliating.</p>



<p>Joe Biden’s sanctions have been an utter failure, his influence negligible.</p>



<p>How do I know this?</p>



<p>The Russian Ruble is now STRONGER than it was before the war and before the sanctions. Before the war, it fluctuated between 1.3 and 1.4 cents. Now it is about 1.5 cents, a swing of about 15%. In a world where currency traders make fortunes on 1% fluctuations, this is a pretty wild swing in Russia’s favor.</p>



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<p>The ban from the SWIFT network (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) was supposed to be devastating. It was supposed to take all credit cards and payment systems in Russia inert, disrupting Russia’s economy. </p>



<p>It didn’t. In preparation for this war, Russia began working on its own payment network several years ago. While is it not nearly as extensive as SWIFT but it relieved a lot of pressure.</p>



<p>Because of the sanctions, several countries are now buying oil and gas from Russia in rubles rather than dollars. Germany and others are considering doing that as well (and despite rhetoric to the contrary, they probably have no choice). China is buying oil and gas in Yuan.  ;</p>



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<p>Oil and gas have traditionally been traded with the “petrodollar”, i.e. U.S. currency, which has always been a prestige factor for the U.S. But moreover, since the U.S. dollar is a floating currency backed by the world’s strongest economy, it has been a stabilizing factor in world trade. The Yuan and the Ruble are NOT floating (at least not guaranteed to be…) and can be easily manipulated by their respective governments.</p>



<p>Putin has locked in the land bridge that he needs. He has established three independent countries that provide a land bridge to support his Navy base and warm water port on Crimea. Two of the three have voted for independence (possible election fraud notwithstanding), and the third is poised to do so, minus much of its Ukrainian speaking population which has been evacuated (leaving the Russian speakers).</p>



<p>It will be tough to argue forcing those new countries back into Ukraine, since they voted to be independent. And since they are mostly Russian speakers, they will likely stay in the Russia camp. This was well thought out by Putin. In case you don&#8217;t realize yet, Putin has been preparing for this for about 10 years.</p>



<p>The hapless Biden Administration doesn&#8217;t know what to do next. They missed all of the opportunities to prevent the war, they had no idea what to do when the war started, and Putin continues to make a fool out of them. Us. America. NATO. The West.</p>

Russian Ruble Stronger than Before the War – Good Work with Those Sanctions Joe
