In looking for something totally unrelated, I noticed this interesting tidbit from James Fallows: the Russian embassy in Beijing no longer accepts US dollars for its [formerly $300] entry visa fee.

It's the "your money is no good here" aspect that I found interesting. Another round in the Bush-Putin war of nerves? Just a scheme to profit on exchange rate arbitrage? A sign of respect to their local Chinese hosts? Or maybe the Russians are reading the U.S. financial pages too?

Much of America's dominance in the world rests on the simple use of the dollar in everyday transactions like this all over the world. Watch it slip away.