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We may never know what Euroclear, which holds 191bn of 260bn in frozen Russian assets, thinks is wrong with using those assets to backstop Ukranian debts.
Can you imagine the damage to Euroclear’s reputation? Think of what would happen if, every time some government declared war on another, the global community froze those assets and gave them to the victim. My god, what an alarming precedent. Think what would happen to the market if those frozen assets started to move again. What would the Kremlin have to say if those assets, frozen in response to aggression, were given to the victim of that aggression? Cats and dogs living together, total anarchy.
The problem with giving away the assets, and I’m just parroting Simon Whistler here, is that they have never been used this way while in war time. This would be essentially funding one side’s war machine and could come back to bite western countries if they opt to overthrow a bad actor in the future.
For example, what if Bashar Al-Assad decides on the heavy use of chlorine gas on the majority Sunni in his country. The West opts to overthrow. The West are then the aggressors. Does Euroclear then freeze US assets and give them to Assad according to the precedent set by Russia v Ukraine?
The judiciary likes to follow precedent and consistency, it fairs less well when there is nuance and subject to interpretation. From a geopolitical standpoint, do we really want the judiciary determining who the good guys and the bad guys are?
The West are then the aggressors. Does Euroclear then freeze US assets and give them to Assad according to the precedent set by Russia v Ukraine?
For the love of christ PLEASE hold us accountable, SOMEBODY.
You are walking on the street in the public square of your town. You encounter a child and someone who you perceive as a parent having a struggle. The struggle escalates and you see the parent start bludgeoning the child with their fists. Other than the absolute trauma of the experience, you fear the child is going to receive some long term injuries from this. How do you act?
I misread your comment. I wouldn’t have agreed that US would be the aggressors in that case. In such a hypothetical case, they would be defending the sunnis from Assad’s aggression. Assuming they got there in time to do anything about it and were actually interested in defending the region’s peoples and prosperity instead of securing oil.
It’s not aggressive to stop a bully from striking a child- the opposite actually- though you might have to use aggression.
Unfortunately at the geopolitical level, things are not always so morally easy, as I suspect you already understand.
Even in my brutish example, it depends on the lens in which we see things. In an orthodox culture, it may be the parent’s duty to harshly discipline a child. Perhaps meddling would be seen as a faux pas. Or perhaps leaving matters to authorities would be considered cowardly. Even still, maybe it just depends on the day and who’s tribe witnessed the event. The human experience is paradoxically wonderful, isn’t it?
No sure if your statement is sarcastic:) It reads like it? But yes it would be a good precedent - invade and lose your foreign assets.
Removed by mod
Hey, when the funds are stored in Russian banks, you are certainly welcome to freeze them all you want. But for some reason they typically aren’t. Huh, I wonder why?
I absolutely refuse to use the /s tag. I tend to try to lay it on pretty thick, because specifying that you’re being sarcastic tends to ruin the comedic emphasis the sarcasm is intended to provide.
You did well in not using the /s
If they try to pull this then western financial dominance is as good as dead.
That’s why I want it to happen.
Another straw on the back of the collapsing western financial and monetary system. We’ll be glad to see it die.
Bitcoin will fill the power vacuum
No
What do you think is going to happen?
Countries are already moving towards bilateral currency swap agreements where possible, and some regional blocs are proposing multi-currency baskets or a non-aligned unit of account for their settling of accounts. We will see this trend accelerate as more and more countries realize that they are now free to make these agreements with the US no longer able to convincingly enforce its Bretton Woods dollar hegemony across the world.
There are also discussions occurring around a sort of Keyensian Bancor for the 21st century, something that BRICS is positioning itself to be able to facilitate, realistically maybe beginning sometime in the 2030s.
There are likely more options being discussed, yet more theorized, and maybe some new ones will be born out of the experience and knowledge gathered in the trial phases of various systems. What I do know is there will not be one single currency taking the place of the US dollar as global reserve currency. Not only is it unsustainable, it’s the opposite of conducive to a peaceful and prosperous humanity.
Let them do it, use the frozen Russian assets. I’m sure Russia knows that they won’t be seeing that money again.
Let the western financial system finally fucking collapse.
I know nothing about Euroclear or whose governmental auspices they operate under, but I would say this:
nationalize their asses if they don’t like it.
Belgian… they will wine and squeel, take it to court. And then be forced to fork over the cash plus interest.
