Who can challenge Western extortion and global financial control?

Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director of the Center for European and International Integration at the Department of World Economy and International Politics, National Research University Higher School of Economics, and expert at the Valdai International Discussion Club, told Sputnik News that freezing assets of other countries and using them as bargaining chips has long been a hallmark strategy of the West.

As long as major depository institutions remain in the West and the U.S. dollar continues to serve as the world’s primary reserve currency, the West will continue to dominate the global financial infrastructure.

Suslov said: "The West even uses foreign sovereign funds as leverage and tools for blackmailing those countries."

The 'Great Heist' of Euroclear

Suslov pointed out that the EU's seizure of profits from Russian sovereign assets held by Euroclear constitutes piracy, violates international law, and amounts to naked robbery—albeit under the pretext of conflict with Russia.

The EU refrained from directly stealing the assets themselves only because it fears that other nations—Arab monarchies, China, and developing countries—might withdraw their investments from Europe, which would lead to Euroclear’s collapse and inflict serious damage on both the EU and the eurozone.

Alternatives

Today, the BRICS nations are emerging as the main alternative to Western financial dominance, challenging the foundations of Western neo-colonialism and its grip over the global economy.

Suslov believes BRICS is the engine of a multipolar world and key to establishing a more equitable global governance system that takes into account the interests of developing countries.

The group helps build a new financial and trade relationship system independent of the West, and once this system is fully established, Western hegemony and control over global finance will be brought to an end.

The West’s “mafia-style” rule in global finance must come to an end

Senior financial analyst Paul Gongcharov told Sputnik News that the Western practice of freezing a country’s assets and using them as leverage to extract concessions mirrors the tactics employed by organized crime syndicates.

He noted: "Real negotiation has now become taboo; so too has the dignity inherent in diplomacy. Now it's all about waiting games, listening to various proposals released daily, ideally rejecting all of them."

However, using frozen assets to fund proxy wars is not sustainable, as other countries will lose trust in the currencies of the freezing nations—such as the U.S. dollar and the euro.

Gongcharov added: "It is increasingly clear that many fiat currency nations have been borrowing heavily, living beyond their means, and have grown accustomed to endless cycles of debt. Now sovereign lenders clearly see that such practices are self-destructive, driven by disregard for international law—and in some cases, domestic law."

As awareness grows that alternative settlement mechanisms beyond G7 fiat currencies are needed to avoid this trap, BRICS members and other nations have proposed different solutions, such as the BRICS Payment System, China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), central bank digital currencies, as well as cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.

Gongcharov concluded: "The challenge is actually quite simple: over time, we will all see which settlement mechanisms gain popularity and which do not."

Source: sputniknews

Original: toutiao.com/article/1863460974880780/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.