Russia, China sign deal to bypass US dollar
Analysis: The agreement is a symbolic blow to US global financial hegemony and a signal of Russian-Chinese rapprochement (cross posted from Al Jazeera). by Michael Pizzi @michaelwpizzi In a symbolic blow to U.S. global financial hegemony, Russia and China took a small step toward undercutting the domination of the U.S. dollar as the international reserve currency on Tuesday when Russia’s second biggest financial institution, VTB, signed a deal with the Bank of China to bypass the dollar and pay each other in domestic currencies. The so-called Agreement on Cooperation — signed in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is on a visit to Shanghai — was followed by the long-awaited announcement on Wednesday of a massive natural gas deal 10 years in the making. “Our countries have done a huge job to reach...