It has become a regular occurrence within the mainstream media these days to suggest that ties between Russia and China have been “strained” over the conflict in Ukraine and that Russia may lose the support of its ally soon. In most cases, these reports are highly exaggerated and based on official comments that are taken completely out of context.  

After the recent meeting between Xi and Putin in Uzbekistan, very little was said by China in regard to Ukraine, other than some short and prefabricated appeals for peace and diplomacy. Such comments are generally made for the sake of international appearances and have no bearing on China's actual agreements with Russia. There is no break in the alliance – The CCP doesn't care about Ukraine, it cares about its own interests, and those interests include vast supplies of energy resources and other commodities purchased from Russia at a discount.

By extension, Russia/China trade relations have expanded greatly in the past several months alone with bilateral deals that completely remove the US dollar as the world reserve. However, the frenzy of new trade arrangements and financial exchanges may be obscuring a much more important and far-reaching event, which is the digitization of national currencies.

According to Russian lawmaker Anatoly Aksakov. Russia is currently pursuing such programs.

"The topic of digital financial assets, the digital rouble and cryptocurrencies is currently intensifying in society, as Western countries are imposing sanctions and creating problems for bank transfers, including in international settlements," Aksakov said in an interview with Russia's parliamentary newspaper.

"If we launch this, then other countries will begin to actively use it going forward, and America's control over the global financial system will effectively end..."  

If we treat the Atlantic Council CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) tracker as a reliable reference, at least 100 countries around the world are now developing government-backed digital currencies, with 11 countries already using them. Often, CBDC programs are associated more with western central banks and it is assumed that digital currency mechanisms are purely a goal for western elites. This is simply not the case. 

Russia and China are both intimately tied to the International Monetary Fund (with China a large part of the SDR global currency program), and Russia's central bank appears to be operating directly in line with other banks in its development of CBDCs.While their digital efforts could be chalked up to necessity after the nation's removal from the SWIFT network, there are many central banks that are arguing in favor of digital mechanism as a solution to economic crisis. This is how such vast changes to society are implemented without public input: It's all done to save us from "disaster."

The fast progression of so many governments towards a cashless society is disconcerting because it could remove the last vestiges of free trade and anonymity from common markets. Paper money might be fiat, but at least its private. This is not the case with digital products of any kind.  

For now, CBDC developments are mostly limited to international trade transactions and have not trickled down to the general population yet. Russia's use of a digital Ruble sets the stage for a method of bypassing SWIFT-based networks and exchanging large sums of wealth in an instant. On the other hand, the notion that central banks in the US and Europe would be opposed to digital developments that cut out the dollar is a fantasy.  

Almost all central banks appear to be on board for a massive global shift in the way money functions and how our economies operate, and this includes the Federal Reserve, and they know that this change would effectively end the dollar's reserve status. The question is, what will replace the dollar? The IMF has some ideas about that as they also pursue a digital SDR mechanism. From the IMF's own website:

"A virtual SDR could facilitate the SDR’s use in private transactions, creating a global cryptocurrency that could circulate along with national or regional cryptocurrencies backed by central banks."

With geopolitical tensions rising to a fever pitch, the chaos may be the perfect smokescreen for such a financial reset.     

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