Cutti or Playground Behavior to Geopolitical Collapse to Economic Catastrophe.
There is a children’s vocabulary in India which is not visible on internet. They use the word “Cutti” (with a hard ‘t’) is when children stop talking to each other after a fight or dispute. Consider it a derivative of “Cut”. It’s like a temporary break in friendship or being on non-speaking terms.
And “miththi” or “abba” is making up afterwards, patching things up and becoming friends again. Miththi means something that is sweet. That’s such a sweet and specific children’s vocabulary for these relationship dynamics.
Nations do often engage in periods of “cutti” through sanctions, diplomatic freezes, or cutting off communication after disputes. Then later they pursue “abba” through peace talks, trade agreements, or diplomatic normalization.
The comparison highlights how even sophisticated geopolitical relationships can resemble playground squabbles. Countries stop talking, impose penalties, then eventually negotiate reconciliation when it serves their interests.
It’s a wry way of noting that international relations sometimes operate on surprisingly childlike patterns of conflict and resolution. Some countries employ this binary, simplistic approach of total rupture and reconciliation.
But mature diplomatic behavior is more nuanced. Adult nations maintain communication even during disagreements, work through multilateral channels, and avoid the all-or-nothing mentality. They maintain dialogue, use back channels, and avoid dramatic breaks that make resolution harder later. They recognize that relationships are complex and multifaceted. You can disagree strongly on one issue while cooperating on another simultaneously.
The cutti-abba pattern reflects a lack of diplomatic sophistication. It treats international relations as zero-sum games rather than ongoing negotiations with shades of gray.
Western Foreign Policy
Western powers act more emotionally reactive than strategically patient in their international relationships. The US and Europe often impose sudden total sanctions and diplomatic freezes on countries they’re in dispute with. Then later they seek dramatic normalization.
Examples include the on-off relationship with Iran over nuclear negotiations. Complete isolation followed by attempts at comprehensive deals, then back to isolation again.
Cuba experienced decades of cutti, then Obama’s abba moment, then cutti again under different administrations. No middle ground or steady engagement.
Russia faced gradual escalation recently, but the pattern fits: either partnership attempts or complete rupture with sanctions.
This binary approach happens because domestic politics rewards dramatic gestures over patient diplomacy. Leaders gain points for “getting tough” or “making breakthroughs.” It also reflects ideological thinking where countries are either friends or enemies, democratic or authoritarian, with us or against us.
Countries like China or India maintain more consistent engagement regardless of disagreements. They separate economic, security, and diplomatic tracks rather than linking everything together.
Hypocrisy
The cutti-abba pattern emerges from treating foreign policy as moral drama rather than pragmatic interest management.
The hypocrisy is stark: when the US invades Afghanistan, it’s justified as necessary intervention. When Russia invades Ukraine, it’s an unforgivable war crime.
The principle isn’t about sovereignty or international law. It’s about who’s holding the toy. If America does it, reasons are found to justify it. But when another power does essentially the same thing, suddenly it violates every sacred principle. The outrage is selective based on the actor, not the action. This is the ultimate childishness. The rules apply to you but not to me. I can invade but you cannot.
The smoking lecturer is smoking while simultaneously slapping the cigarette from your hand. A child cries when someone takes their toy, even if they just took someone else’s toy moments before. No self-awareness about the double standard.
Adult nations would apply consistent principles regardless of who commits the act. But this binary morality says American invasions have noble purposes while others’ invasions are pure aggression.
Seizing Russian assets without anticipating reciprocal action shows a lack of strategic foresight. Adults understand that actions have consequences and mirror responses.
A mature approach would have war-gamed the retaliation before acting. Either accept the reciprocal losses or find different leverage points that don’t invite tit-for-tat escalation. This is playground logic: I’ll hit you and somehow you won’t hit back. Then surprise and outrage when the predictable countermove happens.
Adult statecraft involves thinking several moves ahead. Understanding that your opponent has similar tools and will likely use them creates different strategic calculations. The failure to anticipate shows either incompetence or the cutti mentality where emotion overrides strategic thinking. Acting impulsively feels satisfying but creates worse outcomes.
Mature Behaviour
Mature powers would have either avoided asset seizures or structured them knowing full well their own assets abroad would become vulnerable. They’d have calculated whether the exchange favored them. This lack of anticipation is indeed childish behavior on the international stage.
Impose tariffs expecting China to simply absorb the punishment without response. Then when China threatens rare earth restrictions, suddenly there’s panic and backtracking.
An adult would have assessed vulnerabilities before starting the fight. China controls over 70% of rare earth processing, which is critical for technology and defense. Starting a trade war without securing alternative supply chains first shows no strategic preparation. Just emotional reaction: “We’ll punish them!” without asking “Then what happens?”
China thought multiple steps ahead. They knew their leverage points and kept them in reserve. The West acted first and planned later.
A child grabs a toy without thinking the other child might grab theirs. An adult secures their own toys first or accepts mutual loss.
India’s approach shows adult restraint and strategic thinking compared to the Western cutti pattern. Despite deaths at the border, India didn’t seize Chinese assets or freeze accounts. They used policy tools like investment restrictions that China had to accept economically. No dramatic property confiscations that would invite mirror responses. India protected its vulnerabilities while applying pressure through legitimate regulatory changes.
Global Geo-Economic Effect
The West’s asset seizures create a catastrophic precedent. Every country now knows that parking money in Western financial systems carries confiscation risk during disputes. This will reshape global finance for decades. Countries diversify away from dollar and euro systems to protect themselves from arbitrary seizure.
The Panchatantra stories teach exactly this lesson of anticipating consequences. The monkey who drops one fruit to grab another loses both. Children who read these tales learn strategic thinking. Act today knowing it shapes tomorrow’s possibilities. Don’t create weapons your opponent can turn against you. Western leaders apparently missed those childhood lessons. They created a tool that others will now use freely, having established the precedent themselves.
The asset seizures triggered a massive flight to gold as countries lost trust in currency systems. Gold has reached a new high price of $4480 today and is showing no sign to stop anywhere soon. When reserves can be frozen or seized arbitrarily, gold becomes the only truly sovereign store of value. No counterparty risk, no political vulnerability.
Central banks worldwide are now hoarding gold at unprecedented rates. This represents a fundamental breakdown in the post-war financial order that depended on trust. The 300% gold price rise reflects this trust collapse. It’s not just inflation but a structural shift away from paper currencies and Western financial institutions. This devalues everyone’s currency holdings and savings globally. Ordinary people everywhere pay the price for these childish geopolitical tantrums through reduced purchasing power.
China, Russia, and others are building alternative payment systems specifically because Western financial weaponization proved the system unreliable. The dollar’s dominance is eroding from self-inflicted wounds.
Dominoes Are Falling
BRICS representing 35% of global GDP trading in local currencies is a seismic shift. This bypasses the dollar system entirely. When major economies no longer need dollars for trade, demand for dollars falls and its reserve status erodes.
Saudi Arabia now accepts yuan for oil. This was unthinkable just years ago. The petrodollar system that anchored American financial dominance is crumbling. Each country that joins this alternative system makes it stronger and the dollar system weaker. Network effects work in reverse now.
The West’s financial privilege depended on everyone needing their currencies and systems. That monopoly is breaking because they proved themselves unreliable custodians through childish seizures. This wasn’t inevitable. It resulted directly from childish behavior, treating the global financial system as a toy to weaponize during tantrums.
The financial architecture that gave the West enormous power is being dismantled because they couldn’t resist the childish impulse to weaponize it. What makes it worse is the lack of self-reflection even as the dominoes fall. No course correction, just doubling down on failed approaches.
Expert Opinions
Experts often obscure simple truths with jargon and elaborate frameworks that make them seem sophisticated. Common sense sees the emperor has no clothes. A child understands cutti and abba instantly. The expert writes thousand-page reports about “strategic ambiguity” and “rules-based order.”
Common sense is actually uncommon, especially among people who have convinced themselves that complications equal intelligence.