Putin Calls U.S. a “Parasite,” Demands New Reserve Currency

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Reuters reported yesterday that Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, while speaking to a youth summer camp, said of the United States: “They are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar.”

In the heat of the debt ceiling hype in the United States, it opened the door for foreign leaders like Putin to take shots at the American leadership. “If over there (in America) there is a systemic malfunction, this will affect everyone,” Putin stated.  He added “dollar dominance is a threat to the financial markets.”

He explained that if America’s credit rating is downgraded, it will affect their reserves, and he called for more reserve currencies. “Countries like Russia and China hold a significant part of their reserves in American securities … There should be other reserve currencies.”

Incidentally, Putin seemed pleased that politicians in the U.S. agreed to a deal to raise the debt ceiling. “Thank god,” Putin said, “that they had enough common sense and responsibility to make a balanced decision.”

Putin, with nearly a 70% approval rating in Russia, is anticipated to be the next president once again.  His well-received rhetoric demanding “other” world reserve currencies follows Medvedev’s promotion of a “World Currency” in 2009.

Article source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/01/us-russia-putin-usa-idUSTRE77052R20110801