Weaponizing the dollar is a real bad idea, especially if it extends to confiscating frozen Russian assets. From James Rickards at dailyrecknoning.com:
Almost 10 years ago, I sat in a secure conference room at the Pentagon and explained to a group of U.S. national security officials from the military, CIA, Treasury and other agencies that the overuse of the U.S. dollar in financial warfare would eventually drive countries away from using dollars in international transactions for fear that they could become the next target of U.S. displeasure.
I said to the military and intelligence community, “I don’t think other countries can destroy the dollar, but we can do it ourselves. We are our own worst enemy.”
We, of course, meaning the United States. We’re destroying the dollar with the sanctions (and through other misguided policies). The U.S. is doing more to destroy the dollar than our enemies.
Some took note, some ignored the warning and one Treasury official slammed the table and said, “The dollar has been the global reserve currency, it is the global reserve currency now and it always will be the global reserve currency!”
Well, a lot has changed over the past 10 years — and especially over the past (roughly) two years.
The More Things Change…
But still many government officials and senior intelligence community members are stuck in this type of thinking.
Earlier this year, I taught a seminar at the U.S. Army War College on financial warfare.
