administration succeeded in continuing to drive are two main global rivals closer to a permanent alliance with one another. how does that help america? well, it doesn't. over time it's dangerous and not just militarily. the only reason the u.s. government can enforce international sanctions is because the u.s. dollar is the world's reserve currency. russia and china don't like this, obviously, so let's say they convinced other global powers that the u.s. government was abusing its monopoly on monetary control. they do it to us, they might do it to you, they would say, and in other countries decided to drop the u.s. dollar in favor of a new currency. where would that leave us? suddenly the united states would no longer be able to run an economy based on debt. we would be impoverished immediately overnight. has no one in washington thought of this? apparently not. imposing tough new sanctions every few months feeds their moral vanity, it makes them feel like good people. what fools they are. both parties, by the way, participate in this, preening