Well, would you look at that? An extremely prescient headline for this rag considering our conversation from last Thursday. It seems as if Russia is in the process of preparing to be completely cut off from the SWIFT network, which is used to send and settle international payments between banks. As I've said before, the US and our banking allies throughout the world may just mess around and expedite Bitcoin's adoption as they continue to economically maroon other countries from the international banking system. Regardless of your politics or whether or not you believe Russia is mind-controlling the US masses via social media, this is an ability that no one entity should have over millions of people. The fact that people can be shut off from international commerce with the click of an "Enter" button should be terrifying to people.

At the end of the day, the people most affected by these actions are everyday, working-class people like you and me. The people just trying to get through their lives with a little bit of comfort. Disconnecting their economies from a portion of international markets seems like it could throw a wrench in the operations of (at least some) everyday citizens. All of the country v. country feuds we are fed via the media always seem like dick-measuring contests between egomaniacs hated by their constituencies. Dragging us with them into wars of might and economics as they pillage us via inflation.

I've worked for a Russian. One of the smartest people I've had the pleasure of knowing. A great man. I've studied with an Iranian, one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life. A great man. Whenever I see geopolitical headlines calling for economic or aerial warfare (more recently at these two countries in particular) I think of my friends and how they and their families would be affected by these actions. They would be forced to move or suffer the burden of the inflicted economic oppression. This is part of the reason why Bitcoin exists.

The ability to route around the tyrants who control the computers that run the world's banking system with open-source software that can be downloaded by any individual in the world is extremely powerful. As the banking elite continues to shut off whole countries from international commerce, it will be interesting to see if more and more people begin to turn to Bitcoin as an alternative. We shall see.

Final thought...

May be an extra light week at this here rag. Finna crush a week filled with good wine, cheese and steak frites.