Trump Wants To Lift Sanctions Against Russia To Save The Dollar

The Republican presidential candidate of the United States, Donald Trump, wants to lift all sanctions against Russia. Is it too late to save the dollar? Is it Bitcoin’s turn?

Olive Branch

Mr. Trump declared: “I have myself used sanctions, but I lifted them as quickly as possible so as not to kill the dollar. […] The dollar must remain the international reserve currency. Failing would be like losing a war. We will become a third-world nation. We cannot allow it.”

The former president is well aware that the world is working to circumvent the Western monetary system. This is even a priority for the BRICS. Strong announcements to this effect are expected at the Kazan summit in October.

“You lose Iran, you lose Russia. China is trying to make its currency the dominant currency. You are going to lose dollar dominance. It is ongoing. We are going to lose so many countries,” he added.

[In this regard, don’t miss our article: “The internationalization of the yuan is astonishing”]

On the other hand, Vladimir Putin prefers to support Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential race. Some believe the Russian president is being ironic. Or not…

Indeed, foreign ministers around the world know that the American coup in Ukraine in 2014 is the real origin of the war. They also know that the US envoy Boris Johnson derailed the Istanbul talks that were supposed to bring peace just two months after the hostilities began. To make matters worse, the West froze half of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves (~300 billion euros), disconnected banks from the SWIFT network, and ceased its imports of gas and oil.

From there, Vladimir Putin decided to cross the Rubicon in the hope of sparking a global rebellion against the Empire. Successfully. His calls to drop the main instrument of American power – the dollar – have not gone unanswered.

[Our article: “Russia pleads in New York for the end of the dollar monopoly”]

The Exorbitant Privilege

The dollar has been the international reserve currency par excellence since the signing of the Bretton Woods agreements. These agreements stated that the dollar would be the pivot currency, i.e. the only currency freely convertible into gold, and against which all other currencies would float. And this thanks to the immense gold reserves that Americans had obtained in exchange for their support during the Second World War.

These agreements ended in 1971. After losing half of their reserves, the United States (Nixon) suspended the dollar’s convertibility. The greenback should have collapsed. Especially since the American trade deficit was going to seriously deepen due to the massive increase in oil imports following the peak of national oil production which occurred precisely in 1971…

But this was without counting Henry Kissinger and his geopolitical masterstroke called “petrodollar”. The United States managed to force Saudi Arabia to sell its oil exclusively in dollars as early as 1975, and soon all OPEC countries. Oil being the lifeblood of industrialized economies and globalization, the dollar remained the international reserve currency. Valéry Giscard d’Estaing used the expression “exorbitant privilege”. What is it concretely?

It’s very simple. The growing demand for oil has maintained the global demand for the dollar. Moreover, major exporting countries began to place their dollar reserves in the form of US Treasury bonds. In other words, a good part of the fruit of exports returns to the United States to finance the American public debt.

It follows that the United States can afford to have a chronic trade deficit without the dollar collapsing. This is the exorbitant privilege.

Only the United States can import more than it exports without its currency collapsing. In truth, a few European countries like France have the same privilege. They benefit from Germany’s massive trade surpluses that support the euro.

That said, can Germany remain an industrial power without Russian gas?…

When is Bitcoin’s Turn?

There is little chance that Russia and the BRICS in general will abandon their de-dollarization ambition, even if Donald Trump lifts the sanctions. Too much Russian blood has been spilled.

And given the success of the last BRICS gathering in Russia (more than 60 official delegations), why turn back?

The risk is that the United States will multiply conflicts to thwart this dynamic. Taiwan is the next pawn that could be sacrificed on the geopolitical chessboard. The West will not let the BRICS, lead by China, seize its monetary privilege without a fight.

The only solution is to trade on equal terms. The world needs a currency and a stateless payment system that offers no advantages to anyone.

Unlike the SWIFT network, this network must be immune to censorship. And unlike the dollar, this currency must exist in a limited quantity. The solution is called Bitcoin. A payment network as well as a currency, two-in-one.

It is no coincidence that Donald Trump plans to create a strategic reserve of bitcoins. Nor that Russia has just allowed Russian exporting and importing companies to settle their exchanges in bitcoin.

Bitcoin is the only currency with the makings of an international reserve currency. We need a war for BTC rather than a third world war. Bitcoin is the new Bretton Woods.