What is really under attack? Ukraine or the US Dollar system?

A sequence of events leading to the current Ukraine conflict (joining the dots)

• THE WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING: Obama wins the US presidency in 2009 as a pacifist and an internationalist. His team works collaboratively with the G20 nations to overcome the Global Financial Crisis, a crisis born and bred on Wall Street greed and Fed sponsored financialization. He has to accept that a solution cannot be found without China’s help and in this processes understands US vulnerability vis-à-vis China as most of the demand for US dollars globally is to facilitate trade between China and the rest of the world. So the Middle East had lost its previous pivotal position in US calculations.
• THE SLEEPING DRAGON AWAKENED: In 2011, as soon as the worst of the GFC had past, Obama announced a pivot to the Asia Pacific, and away from the Middle East. The idea was to cut China down to size. Several steps followed. The announcement of US led TPP initiative (to build up alternative trading partners to China), intense pressure on China to allow the Yuan to strengthen (which it did from 2010 to 2013), extracting a commitment from China to avoid militarizing the South China Sea (which it broke after 2015), and establishment of a US base in Darwin. However, the administration realized that the Obama pivot had come too late. They had missed the opportunity to curb China’s rise. However, China’s geographical constraints and lack of ocean access offered up another potential solution.
• ENCIRCLEMENT: In 2012, the US strategy went a step further with the aim of bringing China down a peg by further encirclement and this involved getting Russia back into a more friendly orbit. It tried a “reset” of relations and invited Russia to join the WTO. All of this was aimed at ensuring Russia dropped its ambitions of being more independent of the US  Dollar system. But, Putin by now was very familiar with US policy and so this effort failed. The failure became obvious when Putin started work on the Power of Siberia pipeline system designed to provide secure supplies of natural gas to China settled in Yuan, which is now operational and expanded and will be expanded even further in future. Putin was clearly hostile to a US centric system and was going about challenging it openly. Of course, Russia is not a Cuba or a Venezuela who can be left alone and made irrelevant. It is too big a primary producer.
• LET THE LITTLE PEOPLE SUFFER: After this, the gloves were off and the US position towards Russia hardened and their agencies were tasked with removing Putin by destroying its ability to sell gas to Europe. Some Ukrainian factions & Turkey was used as partners for these efforts. The ideas were (a) to bring Central Gas to Europe via the Caucasus (foiled by Russian invasions of Georgia and Moldova); and / or (b) to bring Mid East gas to Europe via Syria and Turkey (foiled by the Russian successful defense of the Assad regime). At the same time, the existing arrangements had to be put into jeopardy and the CIA finally managed a coup in Kyiv in 2014 leading to Russian occupation of Crimea and Luhansk / Donetsk. The coup was orchestrated from the premises of the US embassy. The ousted president who was a pro Russia candidate had won a majority in all of Ukraine East of the the Dnieper river and Crimea. It should be noted that pro-Russian candidates historically win in half of the country and this is simply because half of Ukrainian people have a dual Russian - Ukrainian identity. NATO's historical role is to oppose Russia. It therefore needs serious questioning as to whether a country where half the people share at least part of their identity with Russia should be a part of an anti Russia club. Would this not be a recipe for dividing a country? Wouldn't well wishers want a country united rather than divided?
• THE OUTSIDER: Trump, for all his follies, did not buy into the encirclement narrative and instead went with a more direct approach vis-à-vis China in the form of the trade war. This had some impact but not much. However, the US – Russia relationship turned stable as Putin did not feel under threat.
• THE DIPLOMAT: Anthony Blinken was a key member of the team directing Obama’s Russia strategy and his appointment as Secretary of State would have made US policy crystal clear to the Russians and the Chinese. For Putin, its clear that this administration will stop at nothing to remove him so he has gone on the offensive rather than wait for the axe to fall on him. Naturally, China supports him in this because Putin’s Russia is critical to China’s own policy independence.
• WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? Note that the US is supposed be a democracy. It is a very rich country. But, half its population have no assets or security. Uniquely, most of its population is armed and a large number have military combat experience. There are huge divisions on matters of social issues. Two decades of financialization has made inequality extreme as only asset owners get the benefits of central bank actions. This means avoiding a USD crash is not just about safeguarding or enhancing US prosperity, it is about avoiding hyper-inflation, maintaining a functional nation and avoiding civil war.
• BUT WHY? Why would a government have to go to such lengths to maintain the value of the USD? Isn’t it inherently valuable? No. Even today, based on all standard economic theories, the USD is highly overvalued even vs. other similarly debased currencies. If international trades stopped using the USD entirely, then its’ value would fall even further into the abyss.
• SO WHAT NOW? Firstly, we need a renewed and revitalized Security Council that brings in more of the world's population to the table. The US, Russia and China should be joined by the European Union, India, ASEAN, Organization of Islamic Conference, African Union and a Union of South American Nations. Secondly, we need a new currency for international settlements to complement any bilateral arrangements, perhaps in terms of a gold backed digital currency. Of course, the US Dollar will continue to figure as a reference point in how prices for basic commodities are set but the US Government will not be able to weaponize it and countries will not need US Dollars to actually settle the transactions. Needless to say, I am not optimistic that the above will be possible peacefully. The "exorbitant privilege's" of the Dollar as global reserve currency and power is both corrupting and addictive.

So there. Think carefully about what is happening, whom to believe and where to invest. Nothing is black or white, just shades of grey.