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Countries sanctioning Russia shown as green.
The gray and purple areas are not sanctioning Russia.
(Wikipedia public domain map)

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The Associated Press reported the following:

Americans want Biden to be tougher on Russia: AP-NORC poll

March 24, 2022

As President Joe Biden meets with key allies in Brussels to coordinate a stronger response to Russia’s monthlong assault on Ukraine, a new poll shows Americans have yet to rally around his leadership. …

Only 43% of Americans approve of Biden and a similar percentage approve of his handling of the relationship with Russia. …

The U.S., along with NATO allies, have tried to isolate Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin with sanctions, including freezing foreign assets of Russia’s central bank and cutting off its supply to essential war materiel. But Russia has continued for a month to batter cities in Ukraine with air strikes and artillery, despite a stalled ground invasion. …

Fifty-six percent of Americans think Biden has not been tough enough on Russia, while 36% say his approach has been “about right.”

Even among members of his own party, Biden faces pressure to do more. https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-europe-nato-eedb46ae4df798dc2cc4df15e6a3b847

Economic sanctions have been one of the main ‘weapons of choice’ by the USA, EU, and some others related to the Russian military moves in Ukraine.

But, there are costs to sanctions. Plus, there will be unexpected consequences to sanctions.

US President Joe Biden is currently in Europe hoping to increase sanctions against Russia.

Some see some of the risk of that approach. Notice also the following:

Will Biden Sanction Half The World To Isolate Russia?

March 24, 2022

There will be expected, but undesirable consequences to sanctions. … from Mexico to Brazil to China to India and much of Africa, the world is resisting Washington’s call to treat Russia as a pariah nation. In the words of James Pindell, “Most of three huge continents—Asia, Africa, and South America—are either still working with Russia or trying to project the image of neutrality.”

Yes, the US will certainly inflict a lot of damage on the Russian economy with its sanctions, but it’s unlikely to be enough damage to incapacitate the Moscow regime. This is because much of the world has shown it plans to continue having relations with the Russians, albeit while taking some efforts to avoid any direct policy confrontation with Washington.

But this all also means that if Washington wants to press the issue of global cooperation and assistance with US sanctions, the US is going to have to threaten many other regimes with secondary sanctions—sanctions

Needless to say, this rubs many foreigners and their regimes the wrong way. Imagine, for example, how Americans react any time they’re told foreigners are somehow meddling in American affairs. Moreover, Washington has ratcheted up its use of sanctions in this way in recent decades, whether to sanction China, Iran, Russia, or other countries. This has led to growing pushback from many third-party states that find themselves targeted by these secondary sanctions. As one observer remarked back in 2021:

This unchecked power to levy sanctions inevitably has met with strong opposition from across the globe, not only from governments and businesses targeted by US sanctions but also by those in third countries whose foreign policy and business interests are curtailed by US secondary sanctions. The EU and Canada and other nations traditionally aligned with the US have led the pushback up to this point, and now China has entered the fray, increasing the risk of geopolitical confrontation as well as increasing the compliance risks for multinational companies.

Now, by extending very harsh sanctions to Russia, the US is greatly expanding the scope of its sanction regime, …

If Washington pursues a path as a “global sanctions cop” picking winners and losers, this will only encourage more regimes to decouple from the dollar.

Moreover, the US’s recent seizure of Russia’s central bank reserves should make any regime think twice about holding large amounts of dollars. If Washington can do it to Russia, Washington can do it to anyone, and other regimes are likely to see this and slowly flee the dollar.

Washington, however, thinks only in the short term, and it’s clear that the US regime now fancies itself the leader of some kind of new world order in which are revived old notions of a “free world” (i.e., the “first world”) followed by lesser regions of poorer states and rogue states. The United States, though, is no longer in any position to remake the world in its image. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/will-biden-sanction-half-world-isolate-russia

As the map at the beginning of this post shows, most of the world is not participating in the sanctions against Russia. Most of the land mass, most of the people, and a major part of the world’s economy are not sanctioning.

One unintended consequence of USA sanctions is that they pushed countries away from using the USA dollar in trade.

Notice the following:

India is discussing how to set up a rupee-ruble payment mechanism to enable it to trade with Russia, to circumvent the U.S. sanctions regime.

India abstained from voting on the March United Nations (UN) General Assembly Resolution demanding an end to Russian offensive in Ukraine (General Assembly resolution demands end to Russian offensive in Ukraine). 03/11/22 https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/03/india-is-mulling-rupee-ruble-payments-system-for-trade-for-trade-with-russia.html

India is the second most populous nation in the world.

Bypassing the USA dollar hurts the USA which profits mightily from its position as the world’s primary trading and reserve currency (see also WP: Why the enormous scale of financial pain being inflicted on Russia worries some in the West’ ZH: Zoltan Pozsar Warns Russian Sanctions Threaten Dollar’s Reserve Status).

Consider also the following:

Putin Tells Europe to Pay for Natural Gas in Rubles

Updated March 24, 2022

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia will only accept payments in rubles for gas deliveries to “unfriendly countries,” which include all EU members, after Moscow was hit by unprecedented sanctions over Ukraine.

Immediately after his announcement, the ruble, which has plummeted since the start of the Ukraine conflict, strengthened against the dollar and euro, while gas prices rose.

“I have decided to implement a set of measures to transfer payment for our gas supplies to unfriendly countries into Russian rubles,” Putin said during a televised government meeting.

He added, however, that Russia will continue supplying the volume of gas outlined in its contracts.

Putin ordered Russia’s central bank to implement the new payment system within a week, saying it must be transparent and will involve the purchase of rubles on Russia’s domestic market.

Putin also hinted that other Russian exports may be affected.

Later Wednesday the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced it too will insist its international partners pay it in rubles.

“We will also conclude all our external agreements in rubles,” Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin was quoted as saying by the official Tass news agency.

“It is clear that delivering our goods to the European Union, the United States and receiving dollars, euros, other currencies no longer makes sense to us,” Putin said. …

“Russia is now trying to pressure the West with counter sanctions — and reduce its dependence on foreign currencies,” Swissquote senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya told AFP. …

Andrew Weiss of the Carnegie Foundation said: “Putin definitely knows how to build and exploit leverage.”

“Putin has routinely used escalation in such situations to upend his opponents’ best-laid plans. No reason to doubt that that’s changed,” Weiss said on Twitter. https://www.voanews.com/a/putin-tells-europe-to-pay-for-natural-gas-in-rubles/6498771.html

As I have warned for years, there are unintended consequences from sanctions.

Sanctioned nations take steps.

This one from Russia is significant.

It has already helped strengthen the ruble and gotten more people to see that the USA “petro-dollar” is more and more at risk.

The time will come when, not only its dollar, but the USA itself, will be no more.

The solution to wars and conflicts is not sanctions, but the return of Jesus and the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 24th, 2022 at 6:00 am and is filed under Prophecy.

• ‘Russia’s Putin declares an end to Western currencies, says world moving towards “real reserves” including “land, food, gold”’
• AP: Russia slams sanctions, seeks to blame West for food crisis; CBS: Russia’s ruble is the strongest currency in the world this year
• BibleNewsProphecy: Russia, Sanctions, Transnistria, Europe & Prophecy
• 2012 a Hit in Russia
• WP: Russia wants to weaken the US; BBC: IMF says Russia has the fastest growing economy of the ‘advanced’ nations
• VOA: Russia’s Ruble Rebound Raises Questions of Sanctions’ Impact; GFP: West is making no headway in isolating Russia. India expands trade with Russia, Turkey absorbs Russian oligarchs. Expert accuses the West of neocolonial “hypocrisy”.
• ‘Putin says Western sanctions are akin to declaration of war’ ‘ How Russia Will Counterpunch the U.S./EU Declaration of War’
• Russia expects to share a currency with Europe
• Russian Naval Bases in Ukraine Planned to Counter European Union
• Russia’s Putin Calls USA Global Parasite