June 17 (Bloomberg) — The leaders of Russia and China agreed to expand use of the ruble and yuan in bilateral trade to lessen dependence on the U.S. dollar a day after they took part in the first summit of the so-called BRIC countries.

“We agreed to take further steps in this direction, including, perhaps, by adjusting contracts and laws that already exist,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told reporters in the Kremlin today after talks with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.

Russia, the world’s biggest energy supplier, wants to start selling oil to China in rubles, said Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who is also chairman of OAO Rosneft, Russia’s biggest oil company. Energy sales in rubles are a “strategic” issue for Russia, he said, adding that oil exports to China over the next 20 years will surpass $100 billion.

Brazil, Russia, India and China agreed yesterday to push for more clout in global financial institutions during what Medvedev called BRIC’s “historic” first summit in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. China and Russia have called for a more diversified financial system to give emerging economies a bigger say in economic affairs, including the creation of alternatives to the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency.

I think I could be quite safe in writing:

China holds a massive amount of American debt.

If China disavows the dollar, this is how you’ll have to purchase a loaf of bread (not unlike the Weimar Republic) at your local store — if there is bread to buy, and if you have sufficient paper:

I can tell you one thing, otherwise: at this point in our history, many persons I speak to are just about “at threshold” with regard to their ability to cope, to process, to understand, to endure more “change.” Think: Alvin Toffler’s “Future Shock” on geometric crank.

And Mr Obama continues to push and push and push.

Something’s got to give.