Yes the use of proxies has been in place since WW2. From Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan(twice), Iraq and now Syria, it was always direct confrontation between one of those 2 super powers and their proxy beside Korea.
The irony for the Americans is Saddam Hussein was once a very useful "friend" that became a liability just like Talibans when CIA was weaponizing them and we know the rest.
Since the West brought all these 'democratic' values to strongmen regimes, the world had got even more violent. The funny thing is almost all of a sudden ISIS got taken out of newswire immediately and we are now focussing on Syria which attracted bees to the honeypot in the first place. What is an ally/proxy can exist in limbo. Kurdish YPG, Turkey, Shia and Sunni are blended into this hot pot mix of unpredictable and endless conflicts.
I just love the way the West are the knights in shining armour charging in with our superior principles trying to send in a heap of olive branches but turn a blind eye on the conflicting agendas/interest among the direct interest or of their allies, Turkey for starters.
Cold war and tariffs are the 2 fronts I presume is Trump's game plan to counter the Sino-Soviet loose alliance? I think this Yuan settled oil deliverable futures contract is a new development that make sense to the Chinese after all they are the biggest consumer of crude oil. Why not start an alternate way of oil transactions instead of China having to stock access Yuan or converting to USD into bonds, it lets their trading partners stock up on Yuan like the Americans have been doing for decades? For Iran they circumvent the sanctions of the international funds clearing ability imposed on them.
The golden age of USD has been shown by the biggest scam/ponzi scheme in history with the unravelling of GFC. Folks in the famous Economics uni have been debating the Keynesian and Austrian economic schools of thought for decades and the field test results have been sobering? Time and time again, GFC has not divulge its true lessons because of bureaucracy/politics. No one went to jail beside some low ranking French creator of CDO. These professor may know their theories but clueless on the side effects. They realised teaching in their own closed world is easier than competing in the real world!
Fast forward a decade of so called bull run in US, we now discover Volatility etf promoted by the same banker types encouraging a new way to punt on derivatives with leverage is showing signs of stress. Buying XIV etf to expose on the short side of volatility as if volatility is an asset class? CDO was an asset once it left the shores of the centre of securitisation exchanges into foreign fund instos who used them as collateral for their leverage plays. Liar loans in Oz, predatory lending through mortgage finance brokers and a few more in the car finance industry are just some of the lessons we as Ozzies need to learn the painful way if markets are the risk assessors through the Austrian free market system. Keynesian approach through the use of APRA powers with macro prudential mechanisms are already discovering what big 4 banks can create even with tight leashes.
My whinge on the banker, only difference is the unlucky one in front of my car will not have the privilege of a skid mark post event.
