The Financial War V: That’s a Wrap

And that’s a wrap on our excerpt on the financial war between Russia and the West. Make sure to buy the book, not just for yourself but for your friends, family, neighbors, local cornhole associations, etc.

The Russian economy, which accounts for between 1-2 percent of global trade, is suffering from financial sanctions but with considerable secondary effects on inflation and global trade flows. At something close to the “Russia Standard,” financial sanctions start to hurt everyone, including the states that launch them. Consider that in 1914 Germany’s 9.3 percent share of global trade was enough to deter the British from a declaration of total financial war out of concern that heavy sanctions would wreak global financial devastation. It’s worth noting in this context that the People’s Republic of China represents around 15 percent of world trade, making financial war an exceedingly touchy prospect to contemplate.

And while we’re here…

• Mental health in wartime Ukraine.
• What JDAMs could do for Ukraine.
• Lotta discussion of an upcoming Russian winter offensive... I’m not quite convinced but I’ve been wrong lots of times so far in this war…
• Is Ukraine distracting Washington from the Indo-Pacific? I’ll note that the Koreans I spoke with this week did not seem at all concerned about this.