An Asian Bretton Woods?

September 8 (King World News) – Alasdair Macleod:  The financial war between Russia with China's tacit backing on one side, and America and her NATO allies on the other has escalated rapidly. It appears that President Putin was thinking several steps ahead when he launched Russia's attack on Ukraine.

We have seen sanctions fail. We have seen Russia achieve record export surpluses. We have seen the rouble become the strongest currency on the foreign exchanges. 

We are seeing the west enter a new round of European monetary inflation to pay everyone's energy bills. The euro, yen, and sterling are already collapsing — the dollar will be next. From Putin's point of view, so far, so good.

Russia has progressed her power over Asian nations, including populous India and Iran. She has persuaded Middle Eastern oil and gas producers that their future lies with Asian markets, and not Europe. She is subsidising Asia's industrial revolution with discounted energy. Thanks to the west's sanctions, Russia is on its way to confirming Halford Mackinder's predictions made over a century ago, that Russia is the true geopolitical centre of the world.