While genning up for a future post, on whether the pace of dollar decline is being overstated by worthy but wishful thinkers, I found this, posted today on the substack of Simplicius. To the backdrop of the three day G7 Summit in Italy, now in its second day, it pretty much speaks for itself but may I remind you of remarks in my last post but one, apropos the recent EU Elections and an …
… Extreme Centre in panic over a “Far Right” defined by rentier elites unwilling or unable to distinguish social conservatism from the Real McCoy, for instance an Azov Battalion they’ve been busily arming this past two and half years.
Left to right: Charles Michel (EC) Olaf Scholz (Germany), Justin Trudeau (Canada), Emmanuel Macron (France), Giorgia Meloni (Italy), Joe Biden (USA), Fumio Kishida (Japan), Rishi Sunak (UK), Ursula Von der Leyen (EC)
To be clear: while I know Giorgia Meloni has drawn the wrath of that Extreme Centre (Tariq Ali’s useful phrase) I could otherwise write the sum total of my knowledge of her government and its policies on the back of a stamp. But is it entirely coincidental that, alongside Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, she is now viewed by that other EC as less than fully supportive of its disastrous war on Russia in Ukraine?
Guardian readers: expect an uptick in column inches devoted to her far-right waywardness.
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Yves Smith at naked capitalism goes out of her way to debunk any notion of de-dollarisation any time soon:
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/06/dollar-doomsters-have-got-it-all-wrong.html
Whilst she makes sound well reasoned and argued points these all seem to be based on assumptions that the structure and processes which make this line of argument valid can realistically remain systemically separate and stand alone – a kind of untouchable and unchangeable bubble immune to outside pressures such as the ability and perception of ability of the US to effectively enforce dollar hegemony as part of full spectrum dominance hegemony.
With the Russians outperforming the Collective West industrially – despite sanctions – in bangs for bucks quality and quantity in Ukraine; and China doing the same in terms of economic performance vis a vis the hegemon the thought occurs as to just what various comprador elites may be thinking about the credibility of US control and enforcement abilities over such issues as dollar hegemony?