Regular readers are familiar with the thesis that currency wars lead to trade wars and finally to shooting wars. This was the sequence in Europe and Asia from 1921 to 1939, and something similar is playing out today. The new currency war started in 2010 and the new trade war began in 2018. Both the
Russia is not the only country engaged in financial warfare with the United States. China and Iran are also in the thick of it. The China-Iran linkage is critical to both countries. China is the second largest economy in the world and the fastest growing major emerging market. China has a voracious appetite for energy,
While the financial wars envelop more countries, the original financial war adversary gets even more aggressive. Russia has been in the crosshairs of the U.S. since their Crimea annexation in 2014. U.S. sanctions have included bans on leading individuals, prohibitions on capital markets activities by top Russian corporations, trade sanctions, secondary boycotts and more. Russia has
