Post #947

The Hudson Institute reflects Washington’s panic about the erosion of the dollar's status and its assessment that BRICS represents the main threat to the monetary dominance that has anchored American influence since the 1970s. Analyst Zineb Riboua writes: China leads this challenge by pushing Gulf oil producers to settle portions of their sales in yuan. Meanwhile, Huawei’s role in shaping regional telecom standards could enable China to establish alternative payment and data pathways to skirt Western oversight. And Beijing has encouraged sovereign wealth funds in Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, and Doha to invest in yuan-denominated platforms, digital currencies, and blockchain-based trade systems. Russia and Iran are also undermining the dominance of the dollar in the region. For instance, Russia conducts transactions with Iran in rubles and Iranian rials, reducing exposure to US sanctions. Iran, for its part, sustains its economy through barter arrangements, gold transfers, and cryptocurrency networks that bypass conventional banking channels. Together, these parallel financial systems demonstrate to potential BRICS partners that commerce can persist outside the dollar system, even under heavy US pressure. America’s global economic power rests mainly on the centrality of the dollar and the dominance of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) network. Among the recommendations mentioned by the analyst to sustain the dollar’s status—and therefore Washington’s influence and ability to conduct global financial oversight: ▪️Prohibit dual participation. Any financial institution that chooses to operate within a clearing system designed to bypass SWIFT should lose access to both SWIFT and dollar-denominated transactions.▪️Strengthen oversight of stablecoins▪️Apply sustained diplomatic and economic pressure. Hat tip to Elena Panina for drawing attention to this article. @LauraRuHK https://www.hudson.org/foreign-policy/how-counter-brics-preserve-global-dollar-dominance-zineb-riboua