Is Russia no longer a superpower ?

[Correll]

U.S. dollar is the trading currency of the world. As long as that remains true, U.S. will always be a rich country. Russia and other nations including "first world" countries do not have that luxury. This dominance of the U.S. can only be altered through protracted military campaigns on all continents. I think that is what Russia is attempting to do but the number of Russian allies is much smaller than the number of U.S. allies at the moment. This provides another advantage to the U.S.

This dominance of the U.S. can only be altered through protracted military campaigns on all continents.

Vikrant, what do you mean by this? Altered how?

The answer to your question can be derived from examining events that are taking place in Syria and also by looking at previous Iraq wars.

Ask yourself few questions:
Why is Russia resisting U.S. attempt to overthrow Assad? What does U.S. have to gain from the ouster of Assad? What did Russia lose from the ouster of Saddam? What did U.S. gain from the ouster of Saddam?

Ok, I see now, thanks. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure how I missed it. You think the Russian campaign in Syria is an attempt to weaken the US through a protracted war. I would however respectfully disagree with your characterization. If anything I think the Russians are attempting to counter the US drive to strengthen dollar hegemony. But mostly I think the Russians are sincere in their desire to counter the terrorist threat that ISIS poses.

I will avoid getting into who is right vs who is wrong. The simple fact is that current world order does not suit Russia.

So, Russia has two choices:

a. Sit back and do nothing
or,
b. Get proactive and start building a network of allies

It seems like Russia is going for option b. If Assad falls then Russia will have to deal with a world which has one less Russian ally. This means one less nation who will honor Russian currency. This has far reaching implications. Syria is just one example. If Russians sit back and do nothing in Syria then this same tactics will be repeated in Iran and so on.

Other than in extreme situation of currency instability, I have not heard that units of currency are really not "honored".

The Ruble is traded in international markets now, is it not?

Has anyone really refused to do business with Russia because they don't have enough dollars?

 

[Vikrant]

When measuring the wealth of a country other than the U.S., dollar is not an accurate means to measure that. I think Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is more accurate means to accomplish that. It is so because those countries who export more to the U.S. have more dollar currency and those who do not export as much to the U.S. have less dollar currency.

Under current world order, there are only two ways for a country to acquire international purchasing power:
a) export to U.S. like crazy, e.g., China
b) toe Washington's line and have your currency valued, e.g., UK

Russia finds itself in a bind where it does not have none of the above mentioned options. Russia is not the only one though as there are a number of other countries whose currencies are seriously undervalued.

I think you are being confused by the use of the Dollar as unit of measurement. It is not tracking in any way the amount of dollars they have.

Also, the UK's currency is NOT based on it's relationship with the US.

I made two major points in my post. You were able to understand one of them but not the other. So, I will rephrase my post to see if you are able to understand what I am saying this time.

There are two ways a nation can acquire international purchasing power under current world order :

1. Export to U.S. to build its dollar reserve
2. Have very close relations with U.S. so that your currency is valued properly by U.S. financial institutions

China is an example of a country which has built large reserve of U.S. dollars by exporting goods to the U.S. This has improved China's purchasing power in international market as U.S. dollar is the trading currency of choice. Interestingly enough though, this also boxes China into a corner as now China has vested interest in maintaining dollar's strength. This is why China cannot do much to help Russia out in international crisis. China mainly offers lip services to Russia in exchange for getting its hands on sophisticated Russian technologies.

Coming back to UK, it is an example of a country whose currency is overvalued. Currency of a nation is supposed to be backed by its ability to produce goods and services. At least that should be the case if we were living in a just world. Now ask yourself: What does UK produce? Is it known for its agricultural output? Is it known for producing sophisticated technologies? Does it have lots of oil like middle eastern countries? Does it have abundant manpower?

Finally I want to address your last point. Yes, it is true that not all the wealth of all the countries are being measured by counting how much dollar they have. However, you need to realize that the value of the currency of a given country with respect to U.S. dollar plays decisive role in final output of the wealth measurement calculations. That is why PPP is considered more accurate means of calculating true wealth of a nation.

 

[Vikrant]

U.S. dollar is the trading currency of the world. As long as that remains true, U.S. will always be a rich country. Russia and other nations including "first world" countries do not have that luxury. This dominance of the U.S. can only be altered through protracted military campaigns on all continents. I think that is what Russia is attempting to do but the number of Russian allies is much smaller than the number of U.S. allies at the moment. This provides another advantage to the U.S.

This dominance of the U.S. can only be altered through protracted military campaigns on all continents.

Vikrant, what do you mean by this? Altered how?

The answer to your question can be derived from examining events that are taking place in Syria and also by looking at previous Iraq wars.

Ask yourself few questions:
Why is Russia resisting U.S. attempt to overthrow Assad? What does U.S. have to gain from the ouster of Assad? What did Russia lose from the ouster of Saddam? What did U.S. gain from the ouster of Saddam?

Ok, I see now, thanks. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure how I missed it. You think the Russian campaign in Syria is an attempt to weaken the US through a protracted war. I would however respectfully disagree with your characterization. If anything I think the Russians are attempting to counter the US drive to strengthen dollar hegemony. But mostly I think the Russians are sincere in their desire to counter the terrorist threat that ISIS poses.

I will avoid getting into who is right vs who is wrong. The simple fact is that current world order does not suit Russia.

So, Russia has two choices:

a. Sit back and do nothing
or,
b. Get proactive and start building a network of allies

It seems like Russia is going for option b. If Assad falls then Russia will have to deal with a world which has one less Russian ally. This means one less nation who will honor Russian currency. This has far reaching implications. Syria is just one example. If Russians sit back and do nothing in Syria then this same tactics will be repeated in Iran and so on.

Other than in extreme situation of currency instability, I have not heard that units of currency are really not "honored".

The Ruble is traded in international markets now, is it not?

Has anyone really refused to do business with Russia because they don't have enough dollars?

You could not be any further from the truth. Russian currency is seriously undervalued and furthermore it is not accepted by all of its trading partners including China. As of today, U.S. dollar is the trading currency of the world as majority of the world trade takes place in U.S. dollars. Ironically enough, Russia was paid in U.S. dollars when it sold S400 to China