From a Russian perspective, mitigating a financial attack on civilians outside of Russia? That's a tough one. The first two actions that come to mind would be to carry physical currency of the country you're going to. I was going to say traveler's checks, but after a quick googling, they can probably be revoked by the issuing bank (if foreign), or deemed unacceptable by the foreign country you're in.Ego wrote: ↑Sun Mar 06, 2022 6:48 amhttps://www.reuters.com/business/financ ... 022-03-05/
Same for Mastercard. Is this more impactful than SWIFT?
What if this happened to you? Imagine you are a Russian who took the train to Finland and you are suddenly disconnected from your wealth. No way to pay the hotel bill, buy food or pay for transportation. Perhaps you can't even buy a ticket home. How many things you rely on daily, weekly or monthly require a Visa or Mastercard payment? Maybe you do not buy much but do you rely on systems that would collapse as a result of the impact on others? Which ones? How can you robustify? If you were an ERE in Russia what do you wish you had done two weeks ago? Two months ago? Two years ago?
The second action (inside of Russia) would be to not travel outside of Russia & its allies.
The third (inside Russia) would be to utilize domestic financial institutions, not foreign ones.
Outside of travelling, I think the standard "prepper" checklist would apply. Maintain a bunch of supplies like food, toilet paper, etc. Keep some physical currencies, gold, and silver on hand. I wonder if the Russians may still be fairly well prepared and practiced for the chaos and breakdown of financial/cyber attacks due to their experience with the breakdown of the USSR, especially for personally-produced food.
Aside from their "homesteading" culture, Russia produces a *lot* of food. If they aren't able to export it (speculative), at least they're not going to be starving, they'll just be going without imported goods/services. Russia doesn't import a lot (as a % of GDP), so I don't know if that will affect them that much.
Overall, I'm reminded of the Keynes quote,
I sympathize, therefore, with those who would minimize, rather than with those who would maximize, economic entanglement among nations. Ideas, knowledge, science, hospitality, travel--these are the things which should of their nature be international. But let goods be homespun whenever it is reasonably and conveniently possible, and, above all, let finance be primarily national. Yet, at the same time, those who seek to disembarrass a country of its entanglements should be very slow and wary. It should not be a matter of tearing up roots but of slowly training a plant to grow in a different direction.
For these strong reasons, therefore, I am inclined to the belief that, after the transition is accomplished, a greater measure of national self-sufficiency and economic isolation among countries than existed in 1914 may tend to serve the cause of peace, rather than otherwise. At any rate, the age of economic internationalism was not particularly successful in avoiding war; and if its friends retort, that the imperfection of its success never gave it a fair chance, it is reasonable to point out that a greater success is scarcely probable in the coming years.
), where there is plenty of waste buried underneath, and people are always astounded by the lack of smell. Regarding showers, a solar shower bag over a large tub can do the trick (you can use the excess water for your garden, toilet etc) or there are always sponge baths. If you are able to get water during a disruption, you should be able to carry on your life activities as more or less normal. Otherwise you're doing it wrong.