Usually in a war, it is the military targets and the weapon manufacturing plants that are attacked, and not the civilian infrastructure. However, the US has been using economic warfare against our enemies for several decades. Countries have been expelled from the international payment system, SWIFT, when they fell into disfavor of the US gov't. The US has banned individuals from having accounts in any bank which does business in dollars, or does business with a US bank. This sabotage of the Nord pipelines fits the profile, and thus is obviously another in along series of economic attacks.
Russia, as led by Putin, does not blindly rush into altercations. Putin takes his time, weighs his options, considers the consequences, and then, at a time of his choosing, acts. Putin had several Russian navy submarines surface in the Atlantic Ocean only 15 miles off the US east coast earlier this year. The submarines were stealth running and were not known to be in the area. This was a warning to Biden that Russia could launch ballistic and cruise missiles from undetectable submarines that are mere minutes away from US targets. There would not be time to react from US forces.
If Putin decides to respond in kind, he will pick an economic target instead of an obvious military target. These are some of the options that Putin has on his short list for retaliation against the US/NATO:
1) Seaport. There are only a few seaports in the US that handle container ships in quantity. An attack with a dirty bomb of Cobalt 60 hidden inside a shipping container would make the port uninhabitable for (ten 5 year half-lives) 50 years.
Potential Economic Impact 6/10, depending upon which port is hit. NY would rate a 9/10.
2) Selling all US Treasury Bonds. Russia has already cashed out most of its T-Bills, having only about 15 Billion dollars remaining, but China has 1.2 trillion in T-Bills that they could use to flood the market and drop the value of the US Dollar.
Potential Economic Impact 2/10.
3) Export boycott. Russia can stop all exports of commodities that they mine and produce. Russia supplies 90% of the worlds palladium and Platinum, which is used in Catalytic converters. Russia supplies 100% of the worlds Titanium, used for military fighter jets. The other important exports are Coal, Oil, LNG, aluminum, rare earth metals, fertilizer.
Potential Economic Impact 4/10 overall, but 9/10 to the automotive industry.
4) Gold Reserves. Russia can reveal their large gold holdings and use it to back the Ruble or a new currency or a digital currency. This will force the US to perform and publish an audit of its gold holdings, something not done since the 1950s. This will reveal that the US gold has been replaced with many gold plated tungsten bars. This will then cause the Dollar to fall from being the worlds reserve currency. The Ruble could then become the new reserve currency.
There is over $2 trillion dollars in US currency in circulation overseas, mostly in $100 bills. That US Currency will then be converted into other currencies, and the cash will return to US banks. This will cause almost instant hyperinflation.
Potential Economic Impact: 9/10.
5) Other pipelines can be shutdown. Russia also has pipelines feeding several NATO countries, including Turkey, Greece and Italy. The oil and gas could be shutoff, placing pressure on these countries to leave NATO.
Potential Economic Impact: 4/10
6) EMP. Russia could fire off an EMP over the US. Depending upon location and strength, this will permanently destroy any electrical infrastructure or electronic device that is exposed to the EMP. The power grid substations would overload and burn. The transformers in these stations take months to build and install, and that is in a time when manufacturing supply lines are normal, With half, or most of the US power grid down, it will be a decade or two before the grid returns to present day service.
With the grid down, services such as elevators, municipal water and sewage service, fire fighters, police, traffic signals, gasoline station pumps, refrigeration, radio, TV, internet, transportation of food and fuel, and all new manufacturing of goods will cease. Any device with electronics, including automobiles, cell towers, computers, internet servers, elevators, traffic signals, and cell phones will be electronically fried. There will not be any repair or spare parts available. Welcome to the 18th century.
Potential Economic Impact ∞/10
7) Cyber-attacks. Russia could engage in a cyber attack on the US internet infrastructure. There are only a few Cisco main internet servers. Taking out one or two of them would slow the internet to a crawl. Since most banking and all stock trading is conducted over the internet, any interruption in the net would result in billions, if not a trillion dollars in losses.
Potential Economic Impact: 7/10
8) Satellite killers. Satellites are vital for everyday communication both civilian and military. Russia is capable of blinding any satellite that crosses over Russia with a high powered laser. Satellites that are in geosynchronous orbit over the US could be destroyed by hunter/killer satellites.
Potential Economic Impact 7/10
Potential Economic Impact: 10/10
If Putin does not choose to respond in kind and cause economic damage, but instead up the ante and use military force, he has many choices. Russia has hypersonic weapons, and anti-ship missiles against which there is no defense. Russia has nuclear weapon capable, nuclear powered, underwater drones that can cause a 100' tsunami to wipe out miles of a seaside city.
10) Military Action. This could involve an attack on the US, UK, or within Europe. The head of the snake is located in The City Of London, also known as "The Crown". This is the square mile within London that is an independent country and serves as the base for the Banksters.
A cruise missile, or two or three, carrying radioactive metals, exploded over the City will make the area uninhabitable for decades, plus kill many of the population and cause cancers for the survivors. A cruise with a neutron bomb warhead will kill all living beings but leave the infrastructure unharmed. A low yield fission warhead will, of course, destroy the entire area.
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