The war in Ukraine has lasted for more than a month, although there is no hope of an end at present, but who is damaged and who profits is relatively obvious, in layman's terms: Ukraine is responsible for the dead, the European Union is responsible for spending money, and the United States is Qin Shi Huang touching the electric door - winning (winning) hemp.
(Just look at these broken walls and ruins, you know the Russo-Ukrainian War, Ukraine is the biggest loser)
Judging from the current situation, this is indeed the case: regardless of the outcome of the war, Ukraine is the biggest loser, because the war was fought on The territory of Ukraine; and the European Union, fearing Russia, is constantly paying money to send guns and cannons to Ukraine, and at the same time taking the initiative to cut off Russia's energy pipeline to Europe, using this way of killing eight hundred enemies and losing eight thousand to "resist Russia."
Only the United States seems to be the most profitable, and NATO, which has already shown signs of separation, has suddenly completely united with the United States, and at the same time, due to the war, the world's energy prices have soared, and the United States, as the world's largest energy exporter, has really made a lot of money.
But our ancestors said, "Misfortune depends on blessings, and blessings lie in misfortune." "Is it true that the United States can be the biggest winner at no cost? The answer, of course, is no, and the price paid by the United States can no longer even be measured in money!
(Comics reflecting the hegemony of the US dollar)
First of all, we must know that the world hegemony of the United States has two pillars, which are the US dollar and the US military. Among these two pillars, the financial hegemony represented by the US dollar is the core, and the US military is the bayonet that protects the US dollar hegemony.
The hegemony of the US dollar is mainly reflected in the fact that the US dollar is both the currency of the United States and the currency of the world, in other words, the currencies of other countries must have the appropriate collateral to ensure its value; and the US dollar is the world's equivalent currency, and the world's foreign trade transactions need using the US dollar, so the United States only needs to print money to buy what it wants to buy in the world. How strong is the liquidity of the US dollar? Looking at the GDP of countries around the world, they are all marked in dollars, which is enough to show how important the dollar is in global circulation.
In the past, when the dollar encountered resistance, the US military would appear to maintain the "credit" of the US dollar with a bayonet, so we saw that when Europe was unified and switched to the euro in 1999, the United States did not hesitate to launch the Kosovo War to interrupt the development of the euro; the same 2003, when Iraq tried to use the euro instead of the using the dollar as the settlement currency for oil trade, the United States immediately launched the Iraq War and overthrew saddam Hussein's regime In 2011, when Gaddafi began to promote the African unified currency "non-yuan", the United States also sent troops to Libya to overthrow the Qaddafi regime by force. But the U.S. military's bayonet has limitations, that is, when it encounters a big country like Russia and the United States that has the same nuclear warhead reserves, the U.S. military's bayonet will not work.
(The great thing about the dollar's hegemony is that the United States can harvest the world as long as it prints money.)
In this Russo-Ukrainian war, we saw that the United States imposed all-round sanctions on Russia, and even used "financial nuclear bombs", which directly led to Russia no longer using the US dollar for foreign trade transactions, but this is not only a problem of Russia, such as the oil trade between Russia and India, because it is impossible to use the US dollar settlement within SWIFT, so Russia and India directly chose to use the renminbi as a settlement tool, which means that the circulation range of the US dollar has been reduced.
Except for India, other countries that trade goods with Russia will no longer use the US dollar, which means that the trading range of the US dollar will be greatly reduced. Originally, the US dollar was a global circulating currency, if everyone did not use the US dollar, then the so-called "DOLLAR hegemony" would naturally disappear! And once the dollar loses its hegemonic status, the United States will not be able to rely on printing money to harvest the world as it did in the past, and by that time, the U.S. economy will collapse!
(Do you still want to reserve dollars as the main foreign exchange?) ）
It is worth noting that because the United States arbitrarily "kicked" Russia out of the SWIFT system, this undoubtedly sounded the alarm for other countries, and all countries will consider: What if the United States kicks me out of SWIFT one day? Therefore, it is foreseeable that all countries will consider appropriately increasing the amount of foreign exchange reserves in other currencies, such as the euro and the renminbi, while reducing the reserve amount of the dollar, which cannot be measured in money, but will also damage the hegemonic status of the dollar and accelerate the collapse of the dollar.
(American freedom and equality, democracy and harmony)
Second, the United States prides itself on being a "beacon of democracy and freedom." Another important reason why it has been able to become the world hegemon is that the United States has maintained a free and open posture for decades, thus attracting elites from all over the world to the United States and serving the United States. It is precisely by relying on the talent of the world that the United States has achieved today's prosperity.
(Russia has an independent economic system and is not afraid of U.S. economic sanctions.)
However, there are also times when the "lighthouse" is extinguished. During the Russo-Ukrainian War, the operation of the United States was really chilling, the United States first sanctioned and confiscated Russia's assets in the United States, whether it was the assets of the Russian national government or the assets of individual Russian citizens, the United States confiscated them all in one size; at the same time, the United States also vigorously engaged in "political correctness" in many aspects, such as science, education, culture, and public health, canceling the performances of Russian singers in the United States, canceling Russian painting exhibitions, prohibiting Russian athletes from participating in the Paralympic Games, and persecuting all kinds of Russian talents who had immigrated to the United States. Previously proclaimed by the West that "science and art sports ... Regardless of borders" suddenly became a joke.
(Millions of Ukrainian refugees have fled their homes, while the United States has so far received only 7 Ukrainian refugees.)
Moreover, "the sanctity of private property" is one of the basic principles of capitalism, and now the United States has completely abandoned this principle and has confiscated the personal property of Russian citizens at every turn, even the property of the Russian government in the United States, which will obviously resonate with the expatriates of other countries - because the US government can confiscate the property of Russian ethnic groups today, then tomorrow it can also confiscate the property of Other ethnic groups such as French, Polish, Turkish and other ethnic groups. In this way, many people will have to weigh up when they put their property in the United States in the future. To know that the United States originally relied on the wealth and intelligence of immigrants to support its hegemony, now if high-IQ immigrants leave the United States, and at the same time take away all their wisdom and wealth, then what is left in the United States?
All of the above can be described as "the gradual dimming of the world's lighthouse", in fact, it is the gradual collapse of the prestige and credibility of the United States, this loss cannot be quantified, but it really shakes the foundation of the US hegemony.
(The general trend of U.S. decline is inevitable, and the only variable is, how long can the United States hold up before it collapses?) ）
All in all, at present, although on the surface, the United States is the biggest winner of the Ukrainian war, but the United States has actually lost a mess in terms of national soft power, not only the dollar hegemony is in jeopardy, even the "lighthouse" is not bright, the credibility and prestige have dropped sharply, so short-term profits are not enough to make up for the long-term decline, the two foundations of the US hegemony have been shaken, and the throne of world hegemony has been unstable.