by The Last Refuge Staff at The Last Refuge
An enterprising journalist from Bolivia [Twitter Link] mapped the countries that support the sanctions against Russia (yellow) versus the countries that are not participating in the western sanctions against Russia (grey). The image provides a visual reference to consider our previous discussions about the cleaving of the global economy between two overarching ideologies.
In my estimation this intentional global cleaving, using the opportunity created by the Ukraine crisis, is going to be the major story of this year. This global splitting can be looked at in multiple ways, but the overarching story is the ramifications of two global trade relationships.
The western alliance (in the yellow above), has forced the world to reevaluate the dollar as the global trade currency, by denying Russia and their trade partners the ability to use the financial mechanisms under western control. To work around the sanctions, Russia is working on new financial systems to sell oil and farm products in non-dollar currencies. There is also a possibility the petro-dollar, for the global trade of oil, might be dropped.
Russia is part of OPEC. While many countries develop their own resources, OPEC sells the majority of oil the rest of the world consumes as the basis for their economic engine. One way to look at the global cleaving is to look at the way energy is viewed.
Two world groupings. One group, oil-based energy (traditional) – let’s label them the RED GROUP (grey on map), and one group GREEN energy (the build back better plan, yellow on map). It is not accidental these two groups hold similar internal geopolitical views and perspectives, hence, their alignment with the sanctions against Russia.
♦ The important part to see is…
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