DJ, my view;
The NATO-west has lost its wars against BRICS+....In PR they have find ways to "give it a twist". Elections, replacing biden are part of the "twist"....
So "we" are supposed to blame sunak, macron, biden..."new leaders" will do better !
Of course if you do not change the underlying problems the symptoms will not change...
There are limits to debts, to "man power", even to energy, food/fertiliser...
The outcome of western sanctions overuse is all those countries dealing with western sanctions stick together...Create their own international trade system, including payment outside the US$...
US/NATO may be able to send limited new weapons to its proxies USrael, UKraine but -slowly- even present western idiot-leaders do get the point it will make matters only worse...
16,000 Sanctions FAILED: World Bank UPGRADES Russia's Economy, Indicates Income Growth
DJ, So Europe stopped buying energy directly from Russia ? They did learn fast enough other countries would buy that energy...So "the shock" of the energy sanction -for Russia- was very limited...The back lash for Europe was much harder...
The US only could offer limited alternatives in LNG...at a much higher price. EU stored gas in Western Ukraine...Russia blew that mega-storage to pieces...
At the end EU/Europe is buying Russian energy -in finished products (diesel etc) from India, Türkiye even China...also at a higher-direct- cost.
The indirect costs are buying finished products-so refinaries in the west may be of limited use...Sanctions made BRICS+ only stronger...
Stealing Russian (Venezuela, Afghan etc.) reserves in the west resulted in BRICS+ looking at ways how to use/freeze western reserves under their control + pulling back reserves under western control...
Confrontation-insanity, started by crazy joe biden, destroyed the west !
You can invade smaller countries...Libya, Iraq, Grenada, Panama...Obama did warn Russia had escalation dominance in UKraine...
The goals were saving the US$ for global trade-so the US could continue creating debts-with others paying for it (by buying US bonds, US$ for international trade).
Saving western domination over the globe-like we had the last 500 years....BRICS+ now is-more or less-in control over global energy, food trade and an alternative financial system/banking...
My (DJ) reason to claim the west has lost its wars with BRICS+ is -by now- major western companies start accepting the "west" has to give up ideas of regaining western dominance...
Big companies, finance behind it, may decide it is time to switch policies...It was not their idea to go for full confrontation...
So next will be damage control...BRICS+ companies may buy themselves in in western companies...(Car-maker Volvo is Swedish in name-owned by China...Swedish IKEA in Russia was sold to an Indian company..).
It is NOT in the interest of BRICS+ to destroy the west/the US$ or the Euro/€...they rather do trade with the west...
So-to allow myself some optimism-western political changes may bring a restart of global trade...Most of the public may not even know/notice the major changes 'at the top"...
The alternative is to create more debts, de-militarize NATO or/and go nuclear...suicide...
