The article paints the Chinese and Russians as attacking the USD, and maybe they are. But from my perspective, it appears the US has basically done everything in its power to force them into this position. If anything, we have brought it on ourselves.

When Iran was locked out of the SWIFT settlement system, I thought "oh boy, here we go". When you start unilaterally using an international system set up to settle trade against a nation as a weapon of war (and that is exactly what it was) it is just screaming at nations that we don't like very much to find an alternative. It was a warning shot across all other nations that basically said "you mess with the USA, we intend to destroy your economy".

When you take something that is an international standard, and use it as a weapon, we would be crazy to think that other nations did not sit up and take notice and wonder when they were going to be on the US black list and it happen to them. In my opinion, the sanctions against Russia just sped up the process.

When you use something as a weapon, you can't expect other nations to put their trust in it. I don't see it as an attack against the dollar. I just see it as a rational decision of other countries that the SWIFT system and the US dollar was no longer a dependable tool that they could count on. So they are setting up their own alternative.

I don't see China and Russia as being pure as snow or anything like that. But if I were them, I'd be doing the exact same thing. It only makes sense to not depend on someone (or their systems or money) that is openly hostile to you.

John