developed this facility also. so there are ways around it. i think the russians believe they could deal with this. the swift system, anybody who does a bank transfer internationally, knows it is the society for worldwide interbank financial transfers and they took iran off the system which prevented them from selling any goods around the world. let s talk about if a war does break out. you wrote this in foreign affairs on january 21st, the moment a war starts, the geopolitical landscape will become significantly more challenging for u.s. national security. the biden administration must maintain a delicate balance avoiding a one on one military confrontation with russia while punishing russia for creating this harsh new reality. right now, no task is more important. do you believe the u.s. administration hears you on this and is moving in that direction? i think they do hear me on
fantasy that ukraine is an essential part of the russian motherland and should be returned to the bottom of that motherland. we are in for a hellish time for the ukrainian people. the citizens of kyiv and for the russian people because putin will make himself, russia and russians a pariah state. we are already seeing that on just the first week of sanctions. russia has been thrown out of everything from the world soccer federation, to the world swift system. and this is a catastrophe. i have to believe lawrence that as we speak somewhere in the kremlin there is a water cooler. at that watercooler is an intelligence officer in a senior military officer who are literally saying to themselves, what s in the world is this guy
step in to offer support? the world s second biggest economy has been russia s biggest trade partnerfor years with bilateral commerce hitting a new high of $147 billion in 2021. china also has a payments system called cips, which russian banks might route payments through now they have been locked out of the more widely used global swift system. orat or at least to some banks have been. joining me now from beijing is tom rafferty, regional director for asia at the economist intelligence unit. there are lots of questions about what china will do next. what are you hearing? that about what china will do next. what are you hearing?- what are you hearing? at the moment china what are you hearing? at the moment china is what are you hearing? at the moment china is still - what are you hearing? at the moment china is still doing . moment china is still doing very cautious approach on the diplomatic crisis and we are still waiting to see how it approach the issues of what level of economi
russia, it certainly impacts his ability to be seen as a legitimate actor on the world stage. in the medium term, that will impact his ability to control russia and to control his future in russia, as well. let s talk about the big stick. there are big sanctions that have not been imposed just yet, the removal from the international payment system, the swift system. there are some european governments, or companies, and some americans, that are not that interested in it because it cuts off both ways. if you sell the russia or by from russia. and then, there s the energy sanctions. which, again, some european countries don t want to do, because they depend on russian oil and gas. frankly, if the price of oil and gas goes up because you caught russia out of the system, it goes up for everybody in the world. but i could be crippling to russia. i think the energy, more so than that swift. swift the main measure we have been talking about.
to become so dependent on somebody that, clearly, europe is afraid of. well, leapt me report a blow to russia. just exercised by the europeans, america and great broun. they have cut off great britain. they have cut off big russian banks from the international payment system. now, this is a very big deal. international payment system is the society for world wild interbank preponderance financial telecommunications. that swift system allows money to be moved from bank to bank. they ve just been cut off from that system. that s an attempt to isolate russia financially will that s officially happened now, stuart? yes. not all of them but some big banks in russia are cut off. rachel: the people who are buying oil, is russia still getting that money? yes. but suppose that putin turns around and says, right, i don t like you cutting me out of the swift system, i m going to cut off the energy to western europe. he could do that.