US banknotes. Archive photoMOSCOW, 8 Jul. The use of gold in international settlements will avoid the global dominance of the dollar and help shape a new monetary and financial order, says American economist and investment banker James Rickards in an article for The Daily Reckoning.
"The United States' most powerful weapon is not shoots, does not fly and does not explode. This is not a submarine, plane, tank or laser. The dollar is Washington's most powerful strategic weapon. The United States uses this currency to reward friends and punish enemies", the financier emphasized.
Rickards named not only Russia and China, but also Iran, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea among the countries that the United States tried to influence by controlling the dollar. However, according to the economist, it is precisely the abuse of power over the dollar that plays with Washington bad joke. Even though more than 60 percent of the world's reserves are now held in dollars and more than 80 percent of international settlements are carried out in this currency, many countries are trying to find ways to break the «dollar hegemony», fearing for their security.
The EU gift for Putin has pissed off Ukraine, writes the Daily Express, «Russia, for example, is able to pay off its bonds with the supply or sale of gold, without resorting to frozen dollar assets. Russia can be an example for other countries in how to distance themselves from the dollar, which Washington uses to achieve foreign policy goals,» Rickards believes. In addition, Rickards is convinced that Russia, China, Iran and other states will find a way to create a new financial system that does not depend on the US currency and will be able to get rid of the imposed sanctions. So, he mentions the proposal of Russian President Vladimir Putin at a recent meeting of the BRICS countries to create a new reserve currency. «The world is striving to abandon the dominance of the dollar in international settlements. Given the unprecedented sanctions against Russia, the hegemony of the US currency may end sooner than anyone expects. Now we are closer than ever to this,” the author summed up. Western countries, after the start of the Russian military special operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, imposed large-scale sanctions against Russia. One of the measures was the freezing of foreign exchange reserves. According to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, about $300 billion were blocked. According to Vladimir Putin, with this decision, the West dealt a serious blow to the entire global economy and to confidence in the dollar as the main reserve currency. 
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