Them’s the Rules

The most truly insane aspect of American foreign policy is the notion that because the United States occupies the preeminent heights of morality, it can do whatever it wants to whoever it wants whenever it wants. In doing so, it maintains the rules-based international order. However, if an unauthorized nation does what the U.S. is currently doing or has done in the past, this constitutes an attack on the rules-based international order even if it’s in accordance with international rules such as the United Nations Charter.

Following the Chinese media, one wonders if at some point a commentator will simply keel over from an aneurysm while decrying the psychotic hypocrisy of it all. It blows their minds, but then again most of them have never even heard of the Talmud. I don’t know Russian, but from the English coverage it appears they react with far more cynicism. They certainly understand the game, so that’s probably why.

I recently found myself chatting with a patriotic Russian who’d served in his country’s military, although he described his experience as “hell.” One of the interesting things he pointed out was that many ordinary Russians think the confiscation of gaudy oligarch toys is funny. Russians are well aware that most of these oligarchs share the same ethno-religious background as Richard Engel. Where’s the sympathy going to come from?

US Justice Department’s “Operation KleptoCapture” which is focused on the lawful seizure of Russian oligarch assets has moved to seize two planes belonging to billionaire Roman Abramovitch, a Gulfstream G650ER and a Boeing 787, according to court documents. @Tom_Winter

— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) June 6, 2022

I think it’s pretty funny, too. My concern stems from the fact that if Abramovitch’s people are willing to do this to him, what does that spell for us? We live in a “nation of laws” and yet depending on the situation, none of them apply to us as written. To the extent they do, it’s often in violation of the protections explicitly accorded by the Constitution. In spite of all the escalating persecution, confiscating our property isn’t a possibility? The government can literally confiscate children and turn them into a trannies. Why not your land or stuff?

These confiscations are proceeding with the usual hubris we’ve witnessed end in calamity, such as in Afghanistan and all over the Middle East. That’s not a coincidence because it’s literally the same people (see paragraph 3) with the same MO. The simply can’t help themselves, which is a much-noted feature of history you quickly learn as a dissident.

Another extremely serious issue here is that astronomical sums of externally-held Russian foreign currency reserves that have been “frozen” by the West. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has repeatedly cited a figure of over 300 billion dollars and uses the word “stolen.” In comparison to a Russian GDP last year of roughly 1.78 trillion, this is a massive chuck of change indeed.

It’s the property of Russia, not some oligarch’s yacht nobody cares about. When this conflict comes to a close, it will have to foot the bill for rebuilding and integrating what used to be eastern and southern Ukraine. Various officials have also discussed a peacekeeping operation by the CTSO in whatever’s left of the country. Presumably, that will all be underwritten by Russia as well.

In other words, they’ll need their money back, but the United States is too arrogant and reckless to just fork it over since it lost the conflict. The problem for anyone living in the West is that they have the leverage to get their money back. Europe depends on Russian commodities within a certain price range for survival. In America, we also need Russia exporting commodities to keep our consumption affordable. Since the people in charge (see paragraph 3) don’t change course, I’d say this situation doesn’t bode well for any of us.