After a smaller than expected GDP loss in 2022 of -2.1%, Russia has slipped through the NATO sanctions net and is projected by the IMF to see growth of 0.3% in 2023. Western media proponents, shocked by this development, are wondering how this could be? (Report starts at 15:43)
Only months ago, political leaders and mainstream economists were expecting the complete fiscal destruction of Russia, leaving the nation in economic ruins and ending any chance of a continued military presence in Ukraine. Joe Biden pledged to “crater” Russia’s economy, stating that Vladimir Putin “had no idea what was coming.” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire predicted Russian collapse after the first wave of Western sanctions. Politico lauded the “benefits” of the coming disintegration of the Russian Federation. The propaganda has obscured certain economic realities that should have been obvious.
The development of Russian economic resilience is not a surprise to those in the alternative media, who pointed out a year ago that Russia’s primary trading partners including China, India and Brazil make up a third of the world’s population and around 24% of global GDP. They are also production based countries which manufacture a large portion of the world’s goods. Russia is rich in raw commodities and resources including oil and natural gas, allowing for profitable trading opportunities for nations willing to ignore western sanctions.
Far from severing trade relations between the BRICS nations, US and NATO efforts to wage economic warfare over the Ukraine conflict have instead brought the countries closer together. The BRICS are now engaged in bilateral trade which cuts out the US dollar as the world reserve currency and China is pursuing stronger military ties to Russia on top of its increased purchases of Russian commodities.
Given the rising potential for future hostilities between the US and China, their closer associations with Russia could impede the defense of Taiwan or other allies in the Pacific. In other words, the US government has potentially sabotaged its own interests.
The IMF’s recent report in global economic health indicates that Russia, despite all the media claims of imminent catastrophe, is relatively unaffected by sanctions and its removal from the SWIFT network. Regardless of what “side” one supports in the ongoing Ukraine conflagration, one has to admit that financial weapons have been mostly ineffective. Rather, what sanctions have revealed is that a global consensus on Ukraine simply doesn’t exist, and this reality runs contrary to the prevailing narrative the public has been told for the past year.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/25/2023 – 15:00
