The King is Dead 

No one in Washington will admit it — not publicly, anyway — but the weaponized dollar has misfired badly. Some of the developments that have taken place in the last 11 months…

• Russia has all but made the Chinese yuan a de facto reserve currency — with 17% of its foreign exchange reserves now denominated in yuan

• The United Arab Emirates (a tight Washington ally) began issuing bonds in its own currency, the dirham, in addition to U.S. dollars

• Egypt (another tight Washington ally) announced plans to issue more than $500 million worth of bonds denominated in Chinese yuan

• The central bank in Israel (the tightest Washington ally of all) has diversified its foreign currency reserves beyond dollars, euros and British pounds — adding Japanese yen, Canadian dollars, Australian dollars and, yes, the yuan.

• China and India now pay for Russian oil and other commodities in yuan, rupees and UAE dirhams

• Iran and Russia have started conducting trade in rials and rubles.

A record central bank gold rush has been triggered by fears of Western sanctions after Russia was made a pariah state in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.”

Since the United States seized Russia’s dollar reserves after the invasion of Ukraine last year, other countries have grown distrustful of holding dollars as they fear that they, too, could see their reserves seized in the future. Hence the race for gold.”