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.

There is one piece in Putin's jigsaw yet to be put in place: a new currency system to protect Russia and her allies from an approaching western monetary crisis. This article argues that under cover of the west's geopolitical ineptitude, Putin is now assembling a new gold-backed multi-currency system by combining plans for a new Asian trade currency with his new Moscow World Standard for gold.