Good article on the situation in Ukraine, and the Russian and US related interests.
US financial showdown with Russia is more dangerous than it looks, for both sides
By AMBROSE EVANS-PRITCHARD, Telegraph
The United States has constructed a financial neutron bomb. For the past 12 years an elite cell at the US Treasury has been sharpening the tools of economic warfare, designing ways to bring almost any country to its knees without firing a shot.
The strategy relies on hegemonic control over the global banking system, buttressed by a network of allies and the reluctant acquiescence of neutral states. Let us call this the Manhattan Project of the early 21st century.
"It is a new kind of war, like a creeping financial insurgency, intended to constrict our enemies' financial lifeblood, unprecedented in its reach and effectiveness," says Juan Zarate, the Treasury and White House official who helped spearhead policy after 9/11.
[…]
Sanctions are as old as time. So are the salutary lessons. Pericles tried to cow the city state of Megara in 432 BC by cutting off trade access to markets of the Athenian Empire. He set off the Pelopennesian Wars, bringing Sparta's hoplite infantry crashing down on Athens. Greece's economic system was left in ruins, at the mercy of Persia. That was a taste of asymmetry.
Keep reading US financial showdown with Russia is more dangerous than it looks, for both sides – Telegraph.
