Beyond prolonging an unwinnable war — with all the destruction and loss of life this entails — such a brazen theft would further erode confidence in Europe’s currency and financial institutions
that is what it looks like to me.. gun the finacial system hoping for an even more collassal financial restructuring.. it is one big ponzi scheme anyway.. war is just the quickest way of keeping the money flowing out of the little people’s hands and into thr kleptomaniacs - bankers and there overlords..
The Western ones are, although some evidence suggests Trump is opposed to the banking cartel (that owns the Western leaders.) They did try to kill him, after all. People don't seem to like this hypothesis, but I'm not sure if they really think it through. If Trump was actually fighting the banking cartels, do we really think he'd announce it? If you were fighting people who nearly killed you, would you be sly or fully open about it?
Good analysis. The confiscation of Russian reserves would indeed mark not only a legal and moral breach but also a strategic blunder of historic proportions. Freezing central bank reserves already shattered one of the last pillars of trust in the Western-led financial system. To move from “frozen” to outright theft would be to confirm to the entire world that the euro and dollar are no longer safe stores of value, but political weapons wielded at will.
This is precisely why central banks across Asia, the Middle East and the Global South have accelerated gold accumulation and diversified away from Western currencies since 2022. Such a precedent will only embolden the BRICS-led push to establish alternative settlement systems, commodity-backed exchanges and regional reserve currencies. In the longer term, it will strengthen multipolar financial sovereignty and leave Europe increasingly isolated both from its supposed allies and from the rising powers of the Global South.
One additional point worth underscoring is that by siphoning assets into Ukraine’s war effort, European leaders are doubling down on prolonging destruction without addressing the underlying reality that the conflict is strategically unwinnable. This is not a show of strength but an admission of weakness. Europe is sacrificing its financial credibility and long-term stability to delay the inevitable. The Global South sees this clearly and each act of self-sabotage only accelerates the decline of Western hegemony.
Good article, though it makes me feel like I need to write one soon that spells this out very simply, since my American friends and family generally do not follow the war in Ukraine. And even though the financial language here is simple compared to trying to read about modern finance and financial instruments, I feel like simple language is really needed here.
Like..
The EU and the US stole $300 billion from Russia. It's that simple. Russia had $300 billion worth of assets in a bank in Europe* and the EU and the US took that money out of Russia's accounts and put it in a new account that Russia can't access. A $300 billion heist, unprecedented in world history, and the thieves are beginning to suffer the consequences.
*Not certain this bank is in Europe but I think so. Not certain if all the assets were in the same bank either.
It's not such much about central banks , as most Russian assets are not held by central banks directly but by clearing houses. If they seize Russia assets, that's the whole European financial system that goes down the drain as clearing houses will not be considered any longer as trusted third parties. The two largest clearing houses in the world, Clearstream and Euroclear, will be replaced by Americans, Chinese etc. This is outright suicide.
We know which countries benefit from European suicide. We know which politicians are supporting it in the EU, to their countries detriment, while mobilising the EU and ECB apparatus to steamroll dissent . How do we prosecute for corruption/sedition/treason?
Around Europe, poverty and inequality are rising, as inflation increases the prices of energy and basic commodities. This comes on the back of ineequality having grown massively as a result of the coronavirus distruption.
Its remarkable that in this environment - and it's bad enough that the European mis-leaders want to steal this money - but they thing they think to do with it burn it in Europe's most corrupt country, on a patently unwinnable war.
But at the end of the day Europe needs friends and to be credible in a world in rapid change. Or it will become a hapless backwater very quickly.
The conclusion that the Empire and its vassal ‘governments’ are deliberately burning everything to the ground, does seem inescapable. Consider….. almost all the western international institutions created after WW2 are being progressively undermined. UN, ICJ, ICC, WTO, IMF, IAEA, OPCW. In addition, the US is destroying the USD as global reserve currency (through unsustainable and out of control debt, and endlessly weaponising its status), and the EU is doing the same to the Euro - as per this article. We do seem to be living in extremely interesting times, that’s for sure. 🫣
Just like NYC is going to get Mamdani to teach everyone how destructive a true Marxist can be to wealth, it’s time the Eurocrats pull the rip cord and find out what true bankruptcy really means.
I see it as a clever move by the Russians to have left their assets where they can so easily be “seized”. It’s like the Poisoned Pawn trick in chess, where the side that captures an apparently free pawn pays for it in time and mobility - and often loses. If they snap up the bait, the Western elites will destroy the very basis of their power - the dollar.
What if our rulers are deliberately destroying our societies? What if all these traumatic events are intentional?
that is what it looks like to me.. gun the finacial system hoping for an even more collassal financial restructuring.. it is one big ponzi scheme anyway.. war is just the quickest way of keeping the money flowing out of the little people’s hands and into thr kleptomaniacs - bankers and there overlords..
The Western ones are, although some evidence suggests Trump is opposed to the banking cartel (that owns the Western leaders.) They did try to kill him, after all. People don't seem to like this hypothesis, but I'm not sure if they really think it through. If Trump was actually fighting the banking cartels, do we really think he'd announce it? If you were fighting people who nearly killed you, would you be sly or fully open about it?
Good analysis. The confiscation of Russian reserves would indeed mark not only a legal and moral breach but also a strategic blunder of historic proportions. Freezing central bank reserves already shattered one of the last pillars of trust in the Western-led financial system. To move from “frozen” to outright theft would be to confirm to the entire world that the euro and dollar are no longer safe stores of value, but political weapons wielded at will.
This is precisely why central banks across Asia, the Middle East and the Global South have accelerated gold accumulation and diversified away from Western currencies since 2022. Such a precedent will only embolden the BRICS-led push to establish alternative settlement systems, commodity-backed exchanges and regional reserve currencies. In the longer term, it will strengthen multipolar financial sovereignty and leave Europe increasingly isolated both from its supposed allies and from the rising powers of the Global South.
One additional point worth underscoring is that by siphoning assets into Ukraine’s war effort, European leaders are doubling down on prolonging destruction without addressing the underlying reality that the conflict is strategically unwinnable. This is not a show of strength but an admission of weakness. Europe is sacrificing its financial credibility and long-term stability to delay the inevitable. The Global South sees this clearly and each act of self-sabotage only accelerates the decline of Western hegemony.
I am in France. Probably one of the few who understand what Europe is doing with regard to Russian sanctions.
It is time for Russia to put sanctions on Europe!
Aye, Russia's sanctions are also known as: NDB_SCO_SPFS + BRICS Pay
IF you use Acronyms. Spell them out for everyone to understand!
New Development Bank_Shanghai Cooperation Org_System for Transfer of Financial Messages_BrazilRussiaIndiaChinaSouthAfrica Pay (a payment system).
Happy?
Good article, though it makes me feel like I need to write one soon that spells this out very simply, since my American friends and family generally do not follow the war in Ukraine. And even though the financial language here is simple compared to trying to read about modern finance and financial instruments, I feel like simple language is really needed here.
Like..
The EU and the US stole $300 billion from Russia. It's that simple. Russia had $300 billion worth of assets in a bank in Europe* and the EU and the US took that money out of Russia's accounts and put it in a new account that Russia can't access. A $300 billion heist, unprecedented in world history, and the thieves are beginning to suffer the consequences.
*Not certain this bank is in Europe but I think so. Not certain if all the assets were in the same bank either.
Thank you for your work.
It's not such much about central banks , as most Russian assets are not held by central banks directly but by clearing houses. If they seize Russia assets, that's the whole European financial system that goes down the drain as clearing houses will not be considered any longer as trusted third parties. The two largest clearing houses in the world, Clearstream and Euroclear, will be replaced by Americans, Chinese etc. This is outright suicide.
We know which countries benefit from European suicide. We know which politicians are supporting it in the EU, to their countries detriment, while mobilising the EU and ECB apparatus to steamroll dissent . How do we prosecute for corruption/sedition/treason?
We need a revolution first... The only way to catch them :D
Around Europe, poverty and inequality are rising, as inflation increases the prices of energy and basic commodities. This comes on the back of ineequality having grown massively as a result of the coronavirus distruption.
Its remarkable that in this environment - and it's bad enough that the European mis-leaders want to steal this money - but they thing they think to do with it burn it in Europe's most corrupt country, on a patently unwinnable war.
But at the end of the day Europe needs friends and to be credible in a world in rapid change. Or it will become a hapless backwater very quickly.
Its layer upon layer of stupidity.
The conclusion that the Empire and its vassal ‘governments’ are deliberately burning everything to the ground, does seem inescapable. Consider….. almost all the western international institutions created after WW2 are being progressively undermined. UN, ICJ, ICC, WTO, IMF, IAEA, OPCW. In addition, the US is destroying the USD as global reserve currency (through unsustainable and out of control debt, and endlessly weaponising its status), and the EU is doing the same to the Euro - as per this article. We do seem to be living in extremely interesting times, that’s for sure. 🫣
Didn’t the EU seize RF assets like 3 years ago? Why is this still news?
Just like NYC is going to get Mamdani to teach everyone how destructive a true Marxist can be to wealth, it’s time the Eurocrats pull the rip cord and find out what true bankruptcy really means.
Very plausible assessment
I see it as a clever move by the Russians to have left their assets where they can so easily be “seized”. It’s like the Poisoned Pawn trick in chess, where the side that captures an apparently free pawn pays for it in time and mobility - and often loses. If they snap up the bait, the Western elites will destroy the very basis of their power - the dollar.