The End of The PetroDollar, The Rise of BRICS is Here
BRICS Axis is Gaining Momentum in Challenging US Hegemony. But does it matter for the New World Order Control Agenda? Probably Not...
Soon after Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, I published a 3 part article series [1,2,3] in March 2022 that predicted the Western response to the crisis would facilitate the rise of BRICS and catalyze de-dollarization- - particularly because of the use and threats of sanctions on the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and India - although the emerging tensions between Turkey and Hungary and the rest of NATO were explored as well as some other factors. The first two articles of my series are featured below:
In Part 2 of my 3 part series, titled “US Hegemony Threatened as Saudi’s, UAE, India Ignore Threats of Sanctions, Turn to Russia/China”, I concluded:
As Saudi Arabia is seeking to abandon the Petrodollar, India is seeking to phase out the dollar as a reserve currency in trade with Russia… the dollar’s reserve currency status faces a great threat.
Saudi Arabia’s departure from the standard it was instrumental in creating could embolden other countries to follow suit.
Likewise, as multiple countries bolster relations with Russia and China(Or allies of theirs, such as the UAE meeting with Syrian president Assad), and defy the US’s wishes and implicit or direct threats, this could embolden others to do the same in the future-dismantling US hegemony.
We could be witnessing the fall of the US empire, and its reserve currency, coincided by the rise of an emerging power structure and world economic system in which BRICS nations rise as the new dominant power of the globe.
If you’ve been paying attention the past year and a half, you’ll know that my prediction of the continued trend of countries seeking to ally with BRICS and distance themselves from US hegemony has been steadily manifesting and coming to fruition.
US Hegemony Threatened As Saudis, UAE, India Ignore Threats of Sanctions, Turn to Russia/China
The phenomenon I wrote about in Part 2, “US Hegemony Threatened As Saudis, UAE, India Ignore Threats of Sanctions, Turn to Russia/China” is playing out exactly as one would expect
”Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and India appear to be distancing themselves from Western Powers as they explore bolstering their relations with Russia and China. While the US pressures neutral parties to sanction Russia, or possibly face sanctions themselves, Russia and China are building an alternative economic system to that which has dominated the globe for decades. Russia being kicked off the SWIFT international payment system expedited this into a rapid development by necessity. “
3 weeks after the publication above, I published part 3 at the end of March 2022, predicting that Russia was leading BRICS nations to return to gold-backed currency, indicated by financial maneuvers that sought to take advantage of arbitrage created by sanctions on Russian gold. Russia, through clever employment of financial phenomena, was transmutating the sanctions on Russian gold into an advantage that allowed the Russian Central bank to generate greater liquidity to feed its demand to buy and accumulate gold.
Less than 2 months after I published the speculative article, Russia confirmed the intention to back the Ruble with gold and Commodities.
4/30/2022 — A New Gold Standard? Kremlin Confirms Intention to Back Ruble With Gold and Commodities
I concluded at the end of Part 3 that the Western response was leading to predictable blowback which endangered US national security as well as international security(and of course continues to do so). This is undeniably what we have come to witness since the publication, hence…predictable blowback.
“Russia seems to be outplaying the US in geopolitical chess. This is reflected by the Ruble’s recent rebound to post-war levels and the continued deterioration of US-foreign relations. The US dollar is likely to continue to fall under increased criticism as a reserve currency, the impact of the economic war the US has initiated will grow, and hedging one’s money against US hegemony, whether that’s increasing exposure to commodities, crypto, or just buying fertilizer and bullets, is likely a good idea. If Western Leadership doesn’t check itself, it is looking like Russia will checkmate it.”
By June 23rd, 2022, 3 months after I published the article, the Ruble would have hit relative highs, with CNBC publishing the headline, “Russia’s Ruble Hit Its Strongest Level in 7 Years Despite Massive Sanctions”
However, it is worth noting that the Ruble has declined much in the past few months. After the attempted Wagner Mutiny, the Ruble slid back to “early war lows”.
7/6/23 — NYT: The Ruble Hits Early War Lows, Extending a Slide That Began After Prigozhin’s Mutiny.
This month in July of 2023, NYT would report on the Ruble’s poor price action into 2023:
But it likely isn’t only the possibility of more domestic instability [referring to Wagner mutiny] that has been hitting the currency.
Russia’s revenues from oil and gas are down sharply from the bonanza of last year. The Russian budget’s oil and gas revenues fell by 47 percent in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period the prior year, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing Russian finance ministry data….
Western sanctions, including an oil embargo and price cap aimed at reducing Russia’s export revenues, have also impacted the currency. So has the Russian government’s response to sanctions, which has included capital controls…
A weaker ruble could help the Russian government cover its ballooning expenses. The Russian deficit for the first five months of the year already exceeded the target for the entirety of 2023, as oil revenues declined, while wartime spending climbed.
It is interesting to note that a weak Ruble actually helps Russia in its debt payments (Domestic debt originally denominated in the Ruble, and US denominated debt has been being serviced in Rubles since May 2022).
5/25/22 — PBS: Russia Says It Will Pay Foreign Debt in Rubles After Ban From U.S. Banks
WAPO published an article this week as well, commenting on the Ruble’s falling price action this year being challenging for Russia, but not indicative of economic failure.
7/12/23 — WAPO: The Ruble’s Fall Points to Pain but Not Collapse
The WAPO article would state in its conclusion:
Indeed, money supply was 25% higher year-on-year in June — another reason the ruble has been depreciating. Central bank data show low levels of government debt holdings by banks, though, and interest rates are far from their historic highs, allowing normal economic and consumer activity.
Thanks to the ingenuity of finance officials and entrepreneurs, Russia remains economically resilient and can fund its wartime budget, which in 2022 reached a rather underwhelming 4.4% of GDP, a level it is expected to maintain this year. The agility of private companies in restructuring their supply chains and the strong labor market shouldn’t be underestimated — and since the fighting is only felt in a limited way in Russia’s border regions with Ukraine, most of the country still lives in a business-as-usual mode.
It is additionally worth noting that the US dollar isn’t doing too hot either. Reuters recently reported on how the dollar is hovering around a 15 month low.
7/17/23 — Dollar Hovers Around 15-Month Low as Traders Await Policy Decisions
But moving on from this short term trend on the Ruble — I digress, the indisputable fact is more and more people, and even more importantly - now countries and their central banks - are beginning to desire a return to hard money, with gold-backed currency, very much involved in the effort to overthrow the dollar. This has been evidenced by the developments that have transpired since my publications in March of 2022.
Now, a little more than a year later, BRICS - whose economies account for more than 40% of the global population and nearly one quarter of the world's GDP - is all the talk and is getting the due attention it deserves as international interest in the economic bloc has been snowballing.
But this article isn’t just to say “Boy, was I right!”(but man, was I right)..
Since my publishing, BRICS has announced the intention to create a BRICS reserve currency, which many have been speculating will be backed by gold and perhaps other commodities.
The topic of the future BRICS currency will be the highlight of the BRICS summit in August.
Recently, in the process of writing this, Russia has further confirmed the intention to have the common BRICs currency backed by Gold.
A BRICS Common Currency - A Return to Hard Money? Gold, Gold, Gold
Only India objected to this idea of a common BRICS currency backed by gold - while China, Brazil, and South Africa are seeming to follow Russia’s lead. It is worth noting that there has been no official announcement from BRICS diplomats in an official manner on this, but Russian diplomats have asserted this to be the case. The expected official announcement will come at the BRICS bloc’s summit in August.
”BRICS Gold-Backed Common Currency A Shock To Global Fiat Money System, Says Economist, As Russia Confirms Launch In August” — July 8th, 2023 — Benzinga
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, a coalition of nations going by the moniker BRICS, is set to introduce a new currency backed by gold, Russian English news channel RT reported.
An official announcement in this regard will be made at the bloc's summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August. "With the growing initiative, more and more countries are lining-up to join the group," RT said.
BRICs countries have been buying up gold at a higher rate since the war, and continue to do so as the sustainability of current financial system is increasingly thrown into question. The drive by the US to other countries to take sides, in its agenda to isolate Russia, has tremendously backfired, as I predicted, for the reasons I laid out in my article series. Bloomberg reported the following in August of 22, about a year ago:
8/05/22 — Bloomberg: The US-Led Drive to Isolate Russia and China Is Falling Short
”While the US and its allies have sanctioned Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, half of the countries in the Group of Twenty have not signed up.”
When writing part 3 of my series from March of 2022, “Russia Pegs Gold To Ruble, Rebounds to Pre-War Levels” , I wrote on how BRICs countries were buying up and accumulating gold reserves at an increasing rate, predicting the trend would continue, and juxtaposed that coverage to Ottawa’s fresh, extreme example of how western countries and regions are allowing their gold reserves to be depleted. I would write:
It is humorous to note that on March 4th(2022), the following headline was published: “Ottawa sells off almost all its gold reserves, leaving just 77 ounces — or less”. But, as CBC noted in the article cited above:
“That doesn’t mean all governments are selling off their gold hoards, however. Countries such as Russia, India and China are currently bolstering their reserves. Central banks added 336 tonnes to their reserves in the second half of last year, a 25 percent increase from the previous year, the World Gold Council says.”
Precious metals expert Everett Millman was quoted by Kitco News saying that, “Russia’s intention would be for the value of the ruble to be linked directly to the value of gold. Setting a fixed price for rubles per gram of gold seems to be the intention. That’s pretty important when it comes to how Russia could seek funding and manage its central bank financing outside of the US dollar system.”
If Russia succeeds in creating a new Gold Standard, and simultaneously encourages the growth of oil purchases in the Ruble(even if the Yuan and native currencies emerge into acceptable currencies to trade oil in as well), this could be seen as a hybridization of the gold standard and petrodollar dynamic. This of course is in direct challenge to the US dollar as a reserve currency.
Since my observations in March of 22’, the trend of increased demand for Gold by BRICS nations has continued. And its not just BRICS, but central banks in general have been accumulating gold at a record breaking pace(Gold has traditionally been a hedge against hard times in fiat hell, and the writing is on the wall).
Central banks bought more gold in 2022 “by far the most any year in records” that go all the way back to 1950, according to World Gold Council(WGC).
2/8/23 — Central Banks Bought the Most Gold on Record Last Year, WGC Says
Central banks added a whopping 1,136 tonnes of gold worth some $70 billion to their stockpiles in 2022, by far the most of any year in records going back to 1950, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Tuesday.
The data underline a shift in attitudes to gold since the 1990s and 2000s, when central banks, particularly those in Western Europe that own a lot of bullion, sold hundreds of tonnes a year.
Since the financial crisis of 2008-09, European banks stopped selling and a growing number of emerging economies such as Russia, Turkey and India have bought.
And not only have central banks continued buying gold at record pace since the war broke out and I published my articles in March of 22’, but to reiterate, BRICS has recently moved forward to discuss a BRICs currency backed by gold.
There is much anticipation for the BRICS summit in August as people are eager to hear and official proposal or announcement regarding the upcoming BRICS common currency to be backed by gold, based on what has recently come out of Russia Today and a statement by the Russian Embassy this month.
7/3/23 — Russian Embassy Tweet
7/10/23 — BRICS Nations Buy Massive Amounts of Gold to Back the New Currency
7/12/23 — Robert Kiyosaki Warns US Dollar 'Will Die' Citing BRICS Nations' Plan to Launch Gold-Backed Currency
We will circle back to these recent developments later in the article. For now lets recap what happened in terms of general BRICS momentum for the year 2022.
2022: BRICS Rising
In Part 2, I wrote on the dynamic with India, a neutral nation having had previously good relations with both Russia and the US. I highlighted how the US was threatening India with sanctions….for not sanctioning Russia...despite it not being in the interest of the country or its people to do so. In fact, it was in their interests to trade with Russia. I wrote:
The US went as far as to threaten sanctions on India, if they did not sanction Russia.
What was the outcome of such attempted coercion?
Blowback that negatively impacted the financial security of the US, and the strength of the dollar. India just bought 3 million barrels of oil from Russia . They are even considering abandoning the dollar for trade with Russia, which thus far has been the standard.…Keep in mind, India imports 85% of its oil, and the country’s overall demand is expected to jump over 8% this year. Economically, buying discounted oil from Russia is undisputedly in India’s best interest.
India didn’t obey our demands or give in to our threats and kept importing cheap oil that their country benefited from? The audacity!
To repeat the above question from my March 2022 series… What was the outcome of such coercion?
6/18/23 — Fortune Magazine: There’s a Global Backlash Brewing Against the US Dollar as World Leaders Say It’s Being Weaponized for American Interests —
As the disobedience continued, the US took the route of sanctioning the individual banks that did not comply in these countries, forcing them to have a sort of foot in both camps, one in the BRICs/Mir/CHIPs axis, another in the Western/SWIFT axis.
3/11/22 — Turkey Won't Sanction Russia, Despite NATO Pressure
The following 2 headlines are over Iran on the surface, but I see them as being tied to/partial retaliation for Turkey and the UAE neglecting to sanction Russia. Regardless, it demonstrates the authority the US attempts to wield over other sovereign nations in their trade.
4/19/22 - Justices Rule Turkish Bank Must Face US Prosecution for Sanctions Violation
7/06/22 — U.S. Imposes New Iran Sanctions as Others Try to Save Deal
The Treasury Department’s latest efforts are going after Chinese and UAE companies accused of being involved in Iranian oil shipment operations. They claim China is trying to keep getting “cheap Iranian oil.“
2/6/23 — US Sharpens Focus on Russia Sanctions Evasion, Warning Turkish Banks, Businesses
Being that the US couldn’t convince countries like Turkey to unilaterally sanction Russia, and they did not want to unilaterally sanction those respective countries like Turkey in response as the resulting blowback and PR/diplomatic disaster would be only expedite the movement away from the dollar…they took the middle ground of sanctioning the private entities/banks that continued doing business with Russia on their Mir system, which forced countries to fragment their economy.
And it wasn’t just sanctions on Russia that was manifesting in this geopolitical tug-a-war.
Columnist at Foreign Policy and fellow for international political economy at the Council on Foreign Relations, Zongyuan Zoe Liu, published the following article in September of 2022
”China Is Quietly Trying to Dethrone the Dollar”
”Regional groups and small banks are helping insulate Beijing against sanctions.”
At their recent summit in Uzbekistan, members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)—a prominent regional organization led by China and Russia—agreed on a road map to expanding trade in local currencies. A road map for using local currencies in trade and developing alternative payment and settlement systems has been part of the SCO’s economic plan for years.
This agenda is in line with individual policies on the part of the group’s most prominent members, including Russia’s attempt to cushion the blow of Western sanctions, China’s deteriorating relations with the United States, India’s use of nondollar currencies in its trade with Russia, and Iran’s recent proposal for a single SCO currency.
To return to the line of the US targeting Turkish banks and private entities of other countries who stayed connected to Mir, Reuters described in September of 2022 described how this specifically propelled India to integrate the Mir system. Blowback, blowback, blowback.
9/23/22 — Reuters: Russia Hides Details, but Says Mir Bank Cards Still Work in Turkey
The head of Russia's National Card Payments System (NSPK) said on Thursday that it was no longer disclosing which countries accept its Mir bank cards, but that they still worked in Turkey, despite some Turkish banks suspending their use.
Russia's central bank vowed last week to expand the number of countries that accept its Mir cards, despite new U.S. sanctions targeting people and entities accused of helping Moscow skirt financial sanctions.
Denizbank and Isbank, two private banks in Turkey, a leading destination for Russian travellers, suspended the use of Mir after Washington included NSPK head Vladimir Komlev in its sanctions programme, imposed in response to Russia's military campaign in Ukraine…
According to Dmitry A. Solodov, a spokesperson for the Russian embassy in New Delhi, India recently held talks with Russia this week concerning the adoption of the Mir system, a result of Russia being cut off from the SWIFT system.
Of course these sanction's didn’t destroy the Mir system. It would lead to what could be seen as it further entrenching itself in what might be the emerging financial world order. As Pepe Escobar reported in December 2022:
12/2/22 — The Global South and BRICS Births a New Game-changing Payment System
The system will include a single payment card – in direct competition with Visa and Mastercard – merging the already existing Russian MIR, China’s UnionPay, India’s RuPay, Brazil’s Elo, and others.
The US, in its arrogance, refused to altar course.
4/12/23 — U.S. Slaps Sanctions on Hungary Bank Over Russia Ties
Iraq is experiencing the same punishment as the US just sanctioned 14 Iraqi banks[July 23’] for seeking to trade with Iran without the US’s permission. .
Again… The US wasn’t able to intimidate India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Hungary, and Turkey out of doing trade that is in their interest to conduct…so rather than going full send and imposing unilateral sanctions on these countries(which would just expedite the trend of countries turning against us), the US is sanctioning the private institutions within these countries that do not comply.
The result of which is these countries, their economies, and the billions of people attempting to sustain themselves within them, are like a ragdoll caught in the middle of a geopolitical tug-of-war, caught in the jaws of each axis, being torn apart. But Russia and China aren’t the ones overriding these third party nations’ sovereignty and initiating economic warfare on them every time they have their authority challenged. China and Russia doesn’t presume authority over these nations. They don’t have a list of countries that they expect other nations to not trade with {or else].
These countries are being economically carpet-bombed as the US forces them to splinter their economy between 2 economic axes. Countries have been, and still are, literally begging the US to leave them out of their feuds (that US leadership seems to want to perpetuate with no consideration to blowback for the rest of the world(and America’s own citizenry))
Even fellow NATO nations Hungary and Turkey, are not wanting to comply with US declared sanctions! As mentioned, this has caused tension and conflict within NATO, leading to discussion on kicking both out of the military alliance. Now, I didn’t remote view these predictions, or pull them out of my ass. It is important to understand that I had simply been analyzing the context of the geopolitical and economic environment and extrapolating natural cause-and-effect relationships - like how the US threatening sovereign, non-hostile nations for not sacrificing the interests of their own people for American special interests might lead those respective countries wanting to distance themselves from the US.
India’s relative neutral status, and that of the Gulf nations, underlined much of significance of the US’s threats of mass terrorism (which unilateral sanctions are as they target and generally impact civilians).
The gravity of unilateral sanctions might be lost on privileged Americans detached from, and apathetic to, the real world damage imposed on entire populations by America’s sanctions….but they arn’t lost on the rest of the world.
After my publication, the US continued threatening to starve India/the Indian Economy/The Indian people for not serving as a vassal state. From April of 2022:
4/6/2022 - U.S. Warns India Faces "Significant Long-Term Costs" If It Aligns With Russia
”And now Washington is putting New Delhi on notice that it faces "significant costs" should it become aligned with Russia, and as a major export destination allowing Putin to side-step sanctions effects.”
And of course, it wasn’t just India that the US was threatening. We were threatening Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and everybody else who didn’t comply too. As I wrote previously, forcing non-neutrality is a great way to make enemies out of actors that would otherwise be neutral.
The US expects other countries to sacrifice themselves and their interests at its altar, for its interest[Being the interests of the elite running the American oligarchy, not the American people’s interests of course].. And in normal times, that treatment by America of other countries (as slave/vassal states) has been one thing, not to say it has been okay, or remotely just, but other countries/the world have found it generally tolerable enough to not organize against it en masse.
But the economic conditions were dire already before Russia’s invasion, for much of the world, following 2 years of pandemic disruptions and blowback. (which was probably a result of US-sponsored gain-of-function research in China(In the process of writing this more leaks have occurred implicating Fauci covering up NIH gain-of-function research and suppressing the lab leak theory to the public while validating it privately))
And following that extreme economic upheaval, in the wake of the suffering imposed by pandemic policies, the US and NATO instigated (yes, *instigated*) war with Russia further disrupted global supply chains. And then America imposed unilateral sanctions against Russia, cutting them off SWIFT, and threatening neutral countries who would dare put their people and country first over the agenda of US policy maker who don’t care how their policies impact other nations.. US policy makers who were too incompetent to perceive, or too apathetic (or evil) to care about the consequences and potential blowback on America, brought about by such behavior..
The Ukraine war not only triggered an energy crisis, but a food crisis as well being that Ukraine is the bread basket for the world. Food and energy security are bedrocks of economic stability of modern civilization. Countries like India got hit with a double whammy, getting their economy destroyed by the Covid fallout, and then going on to have to deal with an energy and food crisis in the wake of the war in Ukraine. And THEN, on top of all that B&!!$%!#, they had to deal with the US pressure to take sides in the economic warfare, which was not in their interest to do so.
It is one thing for the US or another country to decide they don’t want to conduct business with Russia, but to command other sovereign nations to not do what they find in their own interests is unreasonable and it has become increasingly clear to many internationally that the world is reaching a point where they cannot afford to continue hosting the parasitic US-centric system. This isn’t just felt in regards to Russian sanctions. Iraq, for example, has been burdened by Iranian sanctions, which has boiled over to a climax this July in 2023 as this article will cover further in depth later.
It was a very foreseeable consequence that countries caught in the middle, and those watching on the sidelines, might start realizing it is not in their interests to go along with and help maintain US hegemony - which they suffer under, and comes at their expense, or inevitably will.
Countries started realizing that maybe it isn’t in their interest to be a slave vassal state that exists to martyr itself at the feet of the US empire in its vain attempt to maintain global dominance…. that maybe, just maybe.. it is time for the global south to claim exert greater self-agency and move away from the US empire system that has robbed them of sovereignty for decades.
The global south has gradually been coming to realize that maybe their respective countries, whose governments are naturally entitled to make decisions in the best interests of their people, like any - rather than being forced to cede sovereignty, decision making, to other countries or transnational corporations that treat them as vassals/slaves rather than equals, they can instead coalesce around a new axis/world order for protection from, or simply as a hedge against, the US world police bully
[No wonder our police are so F%#*$@…same dynamics and patterns of entitlement, exceptionalism, greed, cruelty, corruption, etc visible both on the macrocosm of the the US police as the world police, and the microcosm of the behavior of the domestic police within the country that fashions itself to be the world’s police. As above, So below]..
So what changes have we seen in trade relations since my articles above? Lets look at some headlines that followed the first couple months of the Ukrainian war, and my series.
The following headlines from 2022, listed chronologically, tell a story of countries lining up to apply to join BRICS, while simultaneously seeking new financial infrastructure, payment systems, and alternative reserve currencies and trade agreements to break away from US hegemony.
5/19/22 — China Says It Wants to Expand BRICS Bloc of Emerging Economies
7/15/22 — "Preparing to Apply for Membership": Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt Plan to Join BRICS
9/19/22 — India, Saudi Arabia Discuss Rupee-Riyal trade, UPI Payment System
↕this juxta position lmao↕
9/21/22 — U.S. in Talks With India About Rethinking Reliance on Russian Arms and Energy [“talks”…or “commands and threats”?]
10/19/22 — Lula Aide Backs Argentina for BRICS, Eyes Role in Ukraine Peace Talks
11/1/22 — BRICS Is Becoming The Big Kid On The Block: Implications For Australia – Analysis
11/7/22 — Newsweek: Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa BRICS Bloc Grows with U.S. Left Out
11/7/22 — WSJ: China's Xi Jinping to Visit Saudi Arabia Amid Global Reshuffling
11/10/22 — At Least a Dozen Countries Interested in Joining BRICS: Russian Foreign Minister
11/17/22 — Goodbye G20, Hello BRICS+
12/2/2022 — The Global South and BRICS Births a New Game-changing Payment System
The last article, “The Global South and BRICS Births a New Game-changing Payment System” by Pepe Escobar, discussed how the BRICS nations were already exploring the idea of a BRICS currency by the end of 2022, in an effort to increase trade in their own domestic currencies(reducing sell pressure and boosting demand of their own currencies), as well as circumnavigating the need to acquire dollars to trade.
Escobar wrote last December:
The Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) is speeding up its design of a common payment system, which has been closely discussed for nearly a year with the Chinese under the stewardship of Sergey Glazyev, the EAEU’s minister in charge of Integration and Macro-economy.
Through its regulatory body, the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), the EAEU has just extended a very serious proposal to the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) which, crucially, are already on the way to turning into BRICS+: a sort of G20 of the Global South.
The system will include a single payment card—in direct competition with Visa and Mastercard—merging the already existing Russian MIR, China’s UnionPay, India’s RuPay, Brazil’s Elo, and others.
That will represent a direct challenge to the western-designed (and enforced) monetary system, head on. And it comes on the heels of BRICS members already transacting their bilateral trade in local currencies, and bypassing the U.S. dollar.
This trend of rising demand to join BRICS as the organization is growing in attention, as is their ambition to overthrow the dollar, would continue into 2023 - of course leading to the news this month in July of 2023 when the Russian Embassy confirmed their intention for the BRICS summit in August to come to an agreement on a GOLD-BACKED BRICS RESERVE CURRENCY. For those interested, in my 2nd article from last year, I explain how the current fiat system was installed and the significance of the collapse of Bretton woods and the Gold standard.
It is worth noting, it is not just BRICS countries that have been considering and mulling over the idea of a return to hard money
In May, Financial Times published “Zimbabwe to Launch Gold-Backed Digital Token as Currency Concerns Mount”. Al Jazeera reported on the matter as well, in “Zimbabwe’s New Gold-Backed Digital Currency: All You Need to Know”, reporting the following:
Zimbabwe released a gold-backed digital currency for peer-to-peer and peer-to-business transactions as well as to act as a store of value as the country’s currency continues to lose ground against major currencies.
“Holders of physical gold coins, at their discretion, will be able to exchange or convert, through the banking system… into gold-backed digital tokens,” the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said in a statement inviting individual and corporate entities to use the digital currency that can be bought either in Zimbabwean dollars or foreign currency.
Speaking of Zimbabwe, and connecting to the topic of the expanding BRICS+ axis - Just on Thursday, July 13th, The Cradle reported on the President of Iran visiting Zimbabwe after a diplomatic tour of the MESA region. In the articled titled “Iranian President Wraps up Africa Tour With Zimbabwe Visit”, the Cradle wrote that “Ebrahim Raisi traveled to Kenya and Uganda a day prior, in a historic tour that saw the signing of more than 20 memorandums of understanding”
Like his three-nation tour of Latin America last month, Raisi's two-day tour of Africa comes as part of his “look east” foreign policy agenda, which seeks to strengthen cooperation bonds with Global South nations to overcome crushing western sanctions.
And on the note of the Iranian President’s “Look East” foreign policy, Syria has adopted the same agenda.
Iranian Media Press.TV published the headline recently on July 13th 2023, “Assad Stresses Look East Policy as Indian Minister Visits Syria for First Time in 7 Years”
Muraleedharan's trip is the first by a high-profile Indian diplomat in seven years and comes after Syria’s return to the Arab League more than a decade after its membership was suspended by the 22-member regional organization…
Assad highlighted that Syria has adopted an eastward foreign policy approach, emphasizing that the shift is due to friendly economic and political relations between Damascus and Asian countries, including India, and Asians’ commitment to values and principles.
Assad also underlined the need for establishment of close relations among Asian states in order to play an effective role in the new multi-polar world order, stressing that the West, as part of attempts to exercise its hegemony, is provoking conflicts worldwide.
We will shift back to discussing Syria in just a moment as the normalization of relations by many countries, with Syria is a prime example of how countries are rejecting the US-led world order and consciously forming and coalescing around an oppositional, or at the very least separate/parallel axis.
The continuation of the Global South axis strengthening in opposition to US hegemony is happening as the Arab world normalizes relations with each other. Latin America has also been looking to strengthen regional cooperation.
3/23/23 — Why Latin America Keeps Talking About a Common Currency
Prominent Think Tank (rated #1 actually) Center for Strategic and International Studies, commonly referred to by its acronym CSIS, would discuss the circulating discussion of A common currency for Latin America, El Sur, in a frank article titled;
“South America’s ‘Common Currency’ Is Actually about De-dollarization”
Argentine and Brazilian officials clarified that the project’s true ambition is to create a new unit of account (a synthetic currency like the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights) for denominating bilateral trade and financial flows as an alternative to the U.S. dollar. Notwithstanding the near-universal dismissal of the proposal, the objective at its root—a reduced reliance on the U.S. dollar—is interesting to consider, even if highly unlikely to occur, at least in the medium term.
It is worth pointing out that the recently proposed BRICS currency will meet the goal of a new unit of account to facilitate bilateral trade without the dollar.
Indeed the entire global south - from Africa to Latin America to the Gulf states to Asia - is undergoing a period of shifting and rebalancing of relations.
To reiterate, as this cannot be stressed enough, this predictable trend is largely in response to US sanctions and continuous pressure by the US-led order on countries to act in the US’s interests, rather than their own, becoming too burdensome in the current dire economic climate. The sad truth is this can be seen in country, after country, after country. Jimmy Dore’s rant featured below scrapes the surface on that.
As pointed out in the Cradle’s coverage of Iran’s president visiting Zimbabwe, “For the past two decades, Zimbabwe has also been the target of unilateral punitive measures from the US…”
The same day as Iranian president’s visit to Zimbabwe, Africa News would publish an article detailing Zimbabwe’s President urging for “Nations Targeting by Sanctions to Unite.”
"It is critically important that we, the victims of Western sanctions, are talking to each other... that we show them that we're united," Mnangagwa told a press briefing after talks with Raisi…”
Africa has emerged as a diplomatic battleground, with Russia and the West trying to court support over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, which has had a devastating economic impact on the continent, sending food prices soaring.
Western powers have also sought to deepen trade ties with Africa, along with India and China…
Raisi has already been to Kenya and Uganda this week holding talks with his counterparts William Ruto and Yoweri Museveni.
As Ted Snider wrote a few weeks ago on July 8th, in “How Africa Surprised the West During the War in Ukraine”, Africa has largely remained neutral, with the region seeming to favor the BRICS axis and vision of a multi-polar world. The subtitle of Snider’s article summarizes:
”To the surprise and concern of the United States and Europe, the predominant response of Africa to the war in Ukraine has been neutrality and growing support for a multipolar world.”
Africa’s answer of neutrality is not the continent declining to take a position. It is the powerful new stance that you do not have to choose a side in a world where you can partner with many poles, in a world where you don’t have to fall in behind the United States in a unipolar world or choose between blocs in a new Cold War.
The United States exerted intense pressure on Africa to support U.S.-led sanctions.
The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told African countries that “if a country decides to engage with Russia, where there are sanctions, then they are breaking those sanctions.”
She warned them that if they do break those sanctions, “They stand the chance of having actions taken against them.” Nonetheless, not one African country has sanctioned Russia. Her threat had the opposite effect, Ajala told me: It “has done nothing but strengthen the resolve of African countries to remain defiant in their position.”
Note - this is the common theme, BRICS+ members and the global south, from Africa to Latin America to The Middle East to Asia, are upset with having their sovereignty and interests overridden by foreign, western interests.
Likewise US-centric systems and paradigms of global finance has only served to replace one form of colonialism with another - these institutions like the IMF, World Bank and much of their “solutions” are not designed for distributed and sustainable prosperity.
4/05/21 — IMF Austerity is Alive and Increasing Poverty and Inequality
4/21/22 — 87% of the IMF's Pandemic-Related Loans Are Now Forcing Austerity on Crisis-Ravaged Nations[1,2,3]
Al Monitor would report on Raisi’s tour, describing how when Raisi met his Ugandan counterpart, the Iranian President was quoted to say “Imperialism and the West prefer countries to export oil and raw materials, allowing them to convert these resources into value-added products. Therefore, our efforts in Iran are focused on preventing raw material exports.”
This article will explore the Global Souths strengthening relations amongst each other in more detail, but for the meantime I will refocus to the central topic of the BRICS axis rising, and expand my thesis on what is happening with the BRICS axis. But it is important to once again re-emphasize, sanctions affect not only the countries we sanctions, but every other country that seeks to do business with them. Iraq’s recent clash with the US over the sanctions waver for Iran is yet another example in a never ending stream of problems the US creates for countries around the world - real, 3rd world problems that lead to people starving and dying from lack of medicine, or exposure to the elements, and other sufferings imposed by poverty.
For now, lets take a look at a chronological timeline of headlines that brief the reader on how BRICS has gained momentum in 2023, as has de-dollarization.
2023: BRICS Rising, De-Dollarization
Russia's war on Ukraine triggered a larger embrace of the yuan for oil sales which could shift the crude market.
Kpler lead crude analyst Viktor Katona told Insider that Russia has essentially "become an Asian nation."
The birth of a so-called petroyuan could spread across Asia for crude transactions, he added.
While the dollar will likely remain the dominant global currency in the near future, the rise of a so-called petroyuan will gain momentum as China leverages its status as the world's biggest oil importer, analysts say.
The greenback remains the top currency for trade and foreign reserves. But Beijing is increasingly pushing the yuan as a currency for oil deals, challenging the dollar's lead in commodity markets.
In particular, Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year was the biggest driver in the shift away from the dollar, said Viktor Katona, lead crude analyst at Kpler.As Western countries froze Russia's currency reserves and shunned its oil, Moscow embraced Asia as an alternative crude market and surpassed Saudi Arabia last year as China's top oil supplier.
In fact, Russia has effectively become "an Asian nation that in my opinion has introduced the yuan into large-scale oil trade," Katona told Insider.
Markets Insider would note, it wasn’t just Asia that was adopting the Yuan and strengthening ties with BRICS, but the Middle East too. A Credit Suisse analyst marked Xi’s trip to Saudi Arabia in December, his third trip out of the country since Covid, as the “birth of the petro-yuan”.
And as yuan-based trade with Russia is rising, China is also targeting the Middle East to reorder energy markets.
During a trip to Saudi Arabia last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to use the Shanghai Petroleum and National Gas Exchange to carry out yuan-based energy deals. China and Saudi Arabia also signed over $30 billion in trade deals during the visit.
That trip marked "the birth of the petroyuan," according to a recent note from Credit Suisse analyst Zoltan Pozsar, who said China wants to dedollarize parts of the world after the currency's dominant status was used against Russia.
Pozsar also pointed out that Russia, Iran and Venezuela account for 40% of OPEC+'s proven oil reserves, with the GCC making up another 40%.
And indeed, this general time period was a critical inflection point for BRICS gaining momentum. Saudi Arabia is as much a symbolic VIP as it is as a logistic one. As my 2nd article, “US Hegemony Threatened As Saudis, UAE, India Ignore Threats of Sanctions, Turn to Russia/China” from my Ukraine/Russia series last year pointed out.. the Saudi’s birthed the petrodollar - and they have the power to start a domino effect leaning away from the dollar.
1/17/2023 — Davos 2023: Saudi Arabia Says Open to Settling Trade in Other Currencies
THIS right here was a major inflection point for De-Dollarization and BRICS VS. US Hegemony — December 2022 - January 2023
It was at Davos 2023 in January where De-dollarization really reached an inflection point
1/19/23 — Saudi Arabia Open to Trading in Currencies Other Than US Dollar, Signaling a Shift Toward De-Dollarization
After a 48-year relationship solely with the U.S. dollar, Saudi Arabia’s finance minister, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, said the kingdom is open to trading in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. The statements follow China’s president, Xi Jinping, urging the Gulf monarchs to accept yuan for oil, and Riyadh officials saying last March the country would consider accepting the Chinese currency.
Saudi Arabia’s Move Away from U.S. Dollar Signals Changing Economic Landscape
This week, the world’s elite met in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos for the 2023 World Economic Forum, and Saudi Arabia’s finance minister, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, spoke to Bloomberg TV on Tuesday. Al-Jadaan stunned reporters when he said Saudi Arabia is open to trading in other currencies. “There are no issues with discussing how we settle our trade arrangements, whether it’s in the U.S. dollar, the euro, or the Saudi riyal,” Al-Jadaan said.
At the China-GCC conference in December, as reported by VOA:
"China will continue to import large quantities of crude oil from GCC countries on an ongoing basis," he said, also vowing to expand other areas of energy cooperation including liquefied natural gas imports.
Xi said China would make full use of a Shanghai-based platform “to carry out RMB [yuan] settlement of oil and gas trade’”-- a move that, if Gulf countries participate, could weaken the global dominance of the U.S. dollar.
Regarding Saudi Arabia, the Gulf kingdoms would be “repeatedly stressing” their desire to remain neutral despite the US’s pressure to get involved in the middle of the geopolitical showdown between US/NATO and the BRICS axis.
Saudi officials have repeatedly stressed that they value deep ties with Washington but will not hesitate to explore relationships elsewhere.
"We are very much focused on cooperation with all parties and I think competition is a good thing," Prince Faisal said Friday, adding that Riyadh will also continue to have strong relations with the U.S. "across the board.”
"We will continue to work with all of our partners, and we don't see it as a zero-sum game by any means," he added.
"We don't believe in polarity."
“We don’t believe in polarity”….well that’s neat Prince Faisal.. but as we know, the problem is the US does.
In the build up of anticipation to the Saudi-China trip, The Wall Street Journal published “China's Xi Jinping to Visit Saudi Arabia Amid Global Reshuffling” in November of 22’. WSJ describe the rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and the US — explicitly identifying Saudi Arabia’s neutrality as a major problem for the US.
The meeting comes at a time when large parts of the developing world have expressed reluctance to choose sides in the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has received Western backing, despite urging from Washington and European capitals.
Riyadh, in particular, has expressed a desire to put its own interests first on oil policy, in a way it says isn’t intended to benefit Russia. Saudi Arabia pushed for a significant cut in output by the OPEC+ group of oil-producing nations in an effort to keep petroleum prices from falling.
Riyadh was essentially telling DC, “Hey, we know you want us to raise production, but we have our own interests and it is in our own interests to cut production, so kindly bug off and let us act in the interests of our country, not yours”
And the US attitude was “But you are supposed to be our slave, what the #$&! is happening right now?! You are supposed to submit and kowtow. Remember Gaddafi?”
As reported by VOA in their article on the December Xi-Saudi meet:
Xi's arrival in the kingdom Wednesday earned a rebuke from the White House, which warned of "the influence that China is trying to grow around the world.”
Washington called Beijing's objectives "not conducive to preserving the international rules-based order.”
Saudi officials have repeatedly stressed that they value deep ties with Washington but will not hesitate to explore relationships elsewhere.
I am hearing in Jimmy Dore’s voice right now “What rules-based order?”
As stand-up Comedian Jimmy Dore explained about The US’s 'Rules Based International Order'
We (the USA) do not follow any rules:
When we (the US) invaded Afghanistan and occupied it for 20 years we weren't following any rules-based order.When we invaded Iraq and killed a million people we weren't following any rules-based order.
When we illegally invaded Libya Bombed the shit out of them, turned that state into a failed state with open slave [markets] - we weren't following any rules-based order.
When we went and dropped 26, 000 bombs in Syria, we weren't following any rules-based order.They call it rules-based order - what they mean is the United States rules the world. That's what this is about. So, we don't follow any rules or order.
Right now we're we're occupying a third of Syria. We're stealing Syria's oil right now, what rule does that fall under?
So what he's saying here.. this is about us staying in control of the world "
To Recap: In December Xi, in a rare visit outside the country(his 3rd time since Covid), visited Saudi Arabia - the country that birthed the petrodollar. Then the next month Davos announces their concrete intentions to shift away from the dollar.
So Saudi Arabia, the oil kingdom which essentially created the petrodollar for the US Dollar, announced at Davos among the worlds most powerful collective of business and policy leaders, their intention to ditch the petrodollar standard.
…this was the writing on the wall being outlined with neon paint. This was highly significant in the perception of the rest of the world regarding the US’s grip/control on the world order.
The petrodollar standard is of course what has given the US dollar its plush, privileged position as the world reserve currency. and allowed the US to pretend the National deficit and basic economics and laws of reality doesn’t matter.. and that the country for decades hasn’t been deindustrializing and allowing its economy to be gutted by outsourcing and become hyper import-dependent.
And the irony of the whole “supply chains being highly dependent on importation” situation is that we are not just dependent on importation in general, but much of western supply chains, including the US, are highly dependent on China. As the US/NATO axis butts heads with China and BRICS, the danger of this is becoming more and more apparent. The supply chain disruptions resulting from the Covid response did invigorate much discussion, both internationally and domestically, of supply chain integrity and versatility. This growing awareness of existing over-dependence on importation, particularly from China, was recently highlighted in an article concerning the US incentivizing EV battery recycling within the country in closed-loop supply chains.
Reuters reported on July 21st, “Dead EV batteries turn to gold with US incentives:
“The race is on to build "closed-loop supply chains" where recycled minerals are put into locally produced new batteries, said Christian Marston, chief technology officer at Altilium Metals, which is building a plant in Bulgaria and plans one in the UK by 2026.
"Everybody wants to control their own supply chain and nobody wants to be reliant on the Chinese," he said.”
Now, lets look at a chronology of headlines from 2023, starting with January - which paints a general picture of BRICS gaining steam and momentum
1/06/23 — Why We Shouldn't Underestimate China's Petro-Yuan Ambitions
”Credit Suisse's Zoltan Pozsar: the de-dollarization of the global oil industry is in full swing–even if we can’t see the final end game from here.”
1/21/23 — UAE De-Dollarization Accelerates: “Crypto Will Play A Major Role In Trade Going Forward”
1/26/23 — Russia, South Africa and a ‘Redesigned Global Order’: The Kremlin’s Hearts and Minds Machine Is Steaming Ahead
1/31/2023 — The Importance of Sisi’s Visit to India to Build Economic Blocs for Egypt With the BRICS Group
2/13/23 — Saudi Arabia Eager to Join SCO, BRICS: Russian Diplomat
— “Meanwhile, Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Minister of Russia, claimed earlier this year that ‘more than a dozen’ countries had indicated interest in joining the BRICS alliance.”
→ Fast Forward 4 months from the article above to July 2023, and according to BRICS officials: FORTY countries that have expressed interest to join BRICS. From a dozen countries to 40 countries interested…in a span of months.
7/21/23 — VOA — “40 More Countries Want to Join BRICS, Says South Africa”
Returning back to the timeline though- lets rewind back to march.
3/24/23 — Egypt Joins BRICS Bank as New Member Weeks After President Sisi's India Visit
The Egyptian Parliament endorsed the agreement that allowed the country to join the NDB. Egyptian MPs had welcomed the agreement, seeing in it a way to help reduce the demand for US dollars. The next BRICS Summit to be hosted by South Africa in August is expected to give a big push to intra-BRICS trade in national currencies, enabling member states to safeguard their forex reserves.
El-Sisi had taken part in the BRICS summits in 2017 and 2022. “I would like to express my appreciation for the BRICS group – a forum whose position is growing day by day at the international scene…”
The New Development Bank(NDB) was set up by BRICS nations on the basis of the intergovernmental agreement signed at the sixth BRICS summit in Fortaleza in July 2014. The bank’s goal is to finance infrastructure projects and sustainable development projects in BRICS member states and developing countries.”
3/28/23 — China Completes First Yuan-Settled LNG Trade [With the UAE]
3/30/23 — South Africa's FM Pandor Lists Countries *Publicly* Wanting to Join BRICS
- Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Algeria, Argentina, Mexico and Nigeria
As you can see the first quarter of 2023 saw rapid momentum in expression of interest to join BRICS. More countries sought to coordinate intentions to join BRICS+ as well as seeking greater cooperation with alternative institutions challenging the west such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO) and New Development Bank(NDB).
4/13/23 — Brazil's President Calls For An End to Dollar Trade Dominance During a Speech at the BRICS Bank in Shanghai:
"Every night, I ask myself why all countries are forced to do their trade backed by the dollar? Why can't we do trade backed by our currency?" — Brazilian President Lula De Silva
Asking yourself every night? Damn Lula, okay, I see you — Call those demons out. (In other news: 7/12/23 - Brazil’s CBDC Pilot Contains Code That Can Freeze or Reduce Funds, Dev Claims)
As we are moving onto the 2nd quarter of 2023, it is important to note that de-dollarization really began to accelerate in this time period. As already mentioned, Latin America began discussing the issue heavily in early 2023,
2/14/23 — “South America’s ‘Common Currency’ Is Actually about De-dollarization”
3/23/23 — Why Latin America Keeps Talking About a Common Currency
4/10/23 — DW: A New World Order? BRICS Nations Offer Alternative to West
Challenging the World Bank model
In 2014, with $50 billion (around €46 billion) in seed money, the BRICS nations launched the New Development Bank as an alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In addition, they created a liquidity mechanism called the Contingent Reserve Arrangement to support members struggling with payments.
These offers were not only attractive to the BRICS nations themselves, but also to many other developing and emerging economies that had had painful experiences with the IMF's structural adjustment programs and austerity measures. This is why many countries said they might be interested in joining the BRICS group.
4/24/23 — Foreign Policy: A BRICS Currency Could Shake the Dollar’s Dominance
5/1/23 — Syria Urges BRICS to Lead in Ditching Dollar, Talks Yuan Adoption With China
5/11/23 — BRICS Leaders Set to Discuss Common Currency to Challenge US Dollar Dominance in Upcoming Summit
5/22/23 — BRICS, Eurasian Economic Union, SCO Members Plan to Discuss Forming an Extensive Alliance
6/1/23 — BRICS: What Happens if Mexico Joins the Alliance?
6/3/23 — BRICS Ministers Call for Rebalancing of Global Order Away From West
6/6/23 —Newsweek: BRICS Is Evolving from China-Russia Dream to Potential U.S. Nightmare
Global interest among nations seeking to join the BRICS economic bloc… is demonstrating its growing influence as a new geopolitical force with the potential to challenge the largely Western-led financial system.
As the group prepares to hold a fateful conference this summer, transformations long in store for the international order are beginning to take effect.
"The main drivers are to do with an overall belief that the United States has become both unreliable and overbearing in its foreign policy," said Chris Devonshire-Ellis, chairman of the Dezan Shira & Associates business firm dedicated to doing business across Asia.
"Unreliability such as issues concerning the recent U.S. debt ceiling—which has only been pushed back to 2025—and the risks of sanctions," Devonshire-Ellis told Newsweek. "Overbearing in that it has used international mechanisms to punish countries it doesn't agree with (cutting countries off SWIFT) and has appeared to use the G7 as an economic 'gang' to support and justify what it does elsewhere."…
"Other countries are starting to become concerned at this type of behavior: unsustainable debt levels and the imposition of a 'rules based order' and global economics that only appear to service the U.S. and its immediate allies—at the expense of everybody else," Devonshire-Ellis said."Simply put," he added, "numerous global leaders from Africa, Latin America, Central Asia and the Middle East, as well as China and Russia, have stopped believing in the United States as a responsible global leader."
6/6/23 — De-Dollarization Signs Are Emerging as the Greenback Slides in Currency Reserves, JPMorgan Says
Signs of de-dollarization are showing in FX and central bank reserves, JPMorgan said.
"Some signs of de-dollarization are emerging; this trend is likely to persist but USD should maintain its large footprint for the foreseeable future."
This has been set against a decline in the US share of global trade, as the country's exports fell to a record low of 9%.
And the dollar's share of foreign exchange reserves has also dropped. That trend was accelerated after the West froze Russia's $330 billion in reserves last year for its Ukraine invasion — prompting other nations to decrease their reliance on the US currency.
"De-dollarization is evident in FX reserves where USD share has declined to a record as share in exports declined, but is still emerging in commodities," JPMorgan said.
Meanwhile, the dollar has started to lose to gold, as foreign central banks have bought the commodity in record volumes over the past few quarters. The yellow metal now compromises 15% of total assets, versus the dollar's 44%.
And interest in BRICS and BRICS adjacent organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperative Organisation (SCO) and New Development Bank(NDB) would keep growing, as would bilateral trade in national currencies.
6/14/23 — Egypt Eyes Dropping US Dollar in Trade With BRICS Nations
6/20/23 — UAE Closes in on BRICS as Emirati Defense Firm Signs Deal With Brazilian Navy
7/6/23 — Afghanistan Wants Invite to Future SCO Meetings
7/7/23 — With Largest Proven Oil Reserves in the World, Venezuela Eyes BRICS Membership to Boost Declining Economy
7/8/23 — How Africa Surprised the West During the War in Ukraine
”To the surprise and concern of the United States and Europe, the predominant response of Africa to the war in Ukraine has been neutrality and growing support for a multipolar world.”
Not one country in Africa has joined the U.S.-led sanctions on Russia and the dominant stance of the continent has been neutrality. The United States expected strong support from Africa and strong condemnation of Russia. Instead, it saw neutrality from most, a lack of condemnation of Russia from many, and the blame being placed on the United States and NATO by several….
Alden Young, professor of African-American Studies at UCLA, told me, “Putin finds a receptive audience when he talks of multipolarity in Africa.”…African countries realize that U.S. hegemony can be just as easily weaponized against them.There is a deep dissatisfaction with unipolarity in Africa. Young says that African states feel “marginalized” and that they are “frustrated with their inability to have a larger voice in international organizations.” As South Africa has seen with the Russian and Chinese-led BRICS, perhaps the only important international organization in which an African country has an equal voice, multipolarity offers an alternative…
The United States exerted intense pressure on Africa to support U.S.-led sanctions. The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told[threatened] African countries that “if a country decides to engage with Russia, where there are sanctions, then they are breaking those sanctions.”
She warned them that if they do break those sanctions, “They stand the chance of having actions taken against them.” Nonetheless, not one African country has sanctioned Russia. Her threat had the opposite effect, Ajala told me: It “has done nothing but strengthen the resolve of African countries to remain defiant in their position.”
7/22/23 — Algeria Applies for BRICS Membership, Wants $1.5bn Stake in New Development Bank
— ”Dozens of nations are looking to join the group of emerging economies as part of a larger push toward de-dollarization”
”Presidents from BRICS member states are set to discuss the group’s expansion in August, during a summit where they are also expected to launch a new currency to rival US dollar hegemony.
According to South Africa's representative to the alliance, over 40 nations have expressed interest in becoming members of BRICS.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Syria, Egypt, Bahrain, Iran, Argentina, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Gabon, and Kazakhstan are among the countries that want to join BRICS.”
7/ 15/23 —SCMP: Why African Nations Are Keen to Join the Expanding BRICS Club
“Various African countries, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Nigeria, Sudan and Tunisia, have expressed interest in joining BRICS…
A number of economies in Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe are also angling to become members, including Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Iran, Mexico, Syria, Turkey and Venezuela.”
7/15/23 — Bloomberg: “Middle Eastern Wealth Flows to China Amid Anxiety About US Ties”
Zerohedge would report on Bloomberg’s article on ME wealth flowing to China:
It's hard to overstate the potential impact of a move underway that - thanks to Biden's catastrophic diplomacy - could result in China replacing the U.S. as a security guarantor with the petro-monarchies that control so much of the world's oil reserves
Bloomberg stressed the significance of the Gulf States shifting allegiances, in the context of the Petrodollar and its vitalness in propping up the US Dollar as the world reserve currency:
For decades, the oil states of the Middle East have relied on the United States as their primary economic partner and security guarantor. Their holdings of dollar-denominated U.S. debt and settlement of sales contracts in dollars keeps the dollar as the world's reserve currency. That status enables to U.S. to run massive deficits, print money to pay for them, and not suffer a foreign exchange crisis and severe devaluation.
Even Macron, seeing the writing on the wall for BRICS Vs. US Hegemony, is wanting in on the action now. (lmao)
7/13/23 — Macron’s BRICS Summit Invitation: Exploring shifts in French foreign policy
In March, Macron took a dig at US hegemony policy, accusing it of treating France as a Vassal state.
4/10/23 — Macron Sparks Anger by Saying Europe Should Not Be ‘Vassal’ in US-China Clash
5/20/23 — Is France Backing China’s Currency Against the US Dollar?
President Macron’s recent state visit to China resulted in rare yuan-denominated deals. Does that signal French support for renminbi internationalization?
”The French leader also suggested that Europe reduce its dependence on the ‘extraterritoriality of the U.S. dollar,’ referring to Washington’s ability to deny countries access to the dollar-dominated global financial system”.
Global Times wrote in June[6/16/23]: ”Why Macron May Have a Fondness for BRICS”
”It is clear that Washington's global influence is declining. Be it Macron's intent to display independence from the US or his possible interest in more cooperation with BRICS countries, it all indicates that the US is no longer what it used to be. Macron has pointed out that Western hegemony may be coming to an end because of the West's own missteps.
…Worse, with the US profiting from the Ukraine crisis and shifting the burden to Europe, as a major European power, it is impossible for France to have no complaint. Therefore, Macron's move can be seen as expressing dissatisfaction with the US, as the US, the leader of the West, is becoming increasingly unreliable.
The BRICS, as a mechanism and platform that advocates multilateralism and cooperation, is attracting heightened attention from a growing list of countries, including France. This represents a natural progression. After all, cooperation with developing countries can bring positive outcomes to a turbulent world.”
Russia would oppose Macron’s bid, citing a 'Hostile and Unacceptable' Policy Toward Moscow
The general reception to Macron’s bid by France was poor, although Politico quoted South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor on the matter, who had been discussing directly with Macron, “If that were to happen, this would be an innovation within the current BRICS participation model, but it could amplify the BRICS forum’s global reach,” Pandor said.” She would add that the decision on who gets invited lies with President Cyril Ramaphosa who is the current BRICS chairman.
Whether Macron is allowed to assimilate or not(probably won’t be), his desire to assimilate with BRICS is more important than whether or not he is allowed. It is indicative of the US’s waning influence, and the rising of BRICS. Because France has effectively acted as a loyal, devout vassal state to the US for so long, the suspicions of BRICS members on France’s intentions are warranted. However, when this happened, many comments on social media were along the lines of “PuTiN sHoulDnT aLlow tHe gLobAlisTs tO inFilTrate BrICs”
I am being hyperbolic, but I have noticed that since BRICS is poised to take advantage of growing backlash against US abuse internationally, many view it almost diametrically opposed, with the “multipolar” rhetoric in contrast to the US Unipolar world order. That leads me to want to address the multi-dimensionality of things, and to remind people that just because the US empire and government treats the world like shit, doesn’t mean that BRICS governments are coming to save the day. Before we move on I would like to at least introduce this part of my thesis.
Just Because US Hegemony = Bad, Doesn’t Mean BRICS is “Good”
While the 3 articles I published last year acknowledged that BRIC’s was a favorable alternative to the US empire from other countries’ perspectives of) considering their own finances and sovereignty… people need to be wary of a meta “savior narrative” and false dichotomy between two world orders that may be, hell, probably are, nothing more than 2 sides of the same globalist coin. If the reader will make it to the end of this article, I think it should be clear why I am saying that.
Just because BRICS is challenging the big bad boogeyman US empire doesn’t mean BRICS countries aren’t overrun by globalists seeking to roll out Agenda 2030, CBDCs, and dystopian control schemes under the guise of ““sustainable development”, implemented regionally in line with the “multi-polarity” and “regional cooperation” rhetoric.
Many view the bloc’s challenging of US hegemony and the idea of returning to hard money as evidence that the bloc itself is going to run an agenda counter to that of the Western axis, that BRICS governments are going to offer a reprieve to the pervasive tyranny and exploitation the US-centric world has experienced so much of.
The question is: Will there be a change of power, or just a change in power? Will the situation for humanity actually change, or will it be just a change in appearance, a change in font, a change in aesthetic - rather than a change in substance?
Amidst the multi-polarity rhetoric and the opposition to the world’s boogeyman the US empire, what should we actually make of BRICS?
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the multi-polarity rhetoric, in opposition to US unipolarity, and I believe the rallying around BRICS is reflective of a growing awareness throughout the world- an awareness of the evils conducted by the US empire and its current system… but I worry that it is rhetoric that may be more reflective of the desire to console and appease the desires of the peoples of the world, known to the oh-so-benevolent rulers of the world on both axes who must pretend to care for the interests of their peoples to stay in power, rather than a genuine shift away from the western elite’s methodologies and agenda..
That is to say: all the talk of '“multi-polarity” and the like may just be rhetoric meant to appease growing dissatisfaction with US hegemony around the world, and skepticism with international governance centralization, but that does not mean the ruling class of BRICs nations genuinely care about deconsolidating power, or returning it back to people, away from governments and institutions under their control.
It is worth noting that BRICs only assimilated into an actual organization after the 2008 global financial crisis, when the countries that made up BRICs realized they should turn the acronym created by a Goldman Sachs analyst into an actual cooperative organization/entity to challenge US hegemony, or at least form a contingency against US-centric institutions, and provide developing countries a platform to cooperate amongst each other without having sovereignty overriden by western countries or institutions.
The Council on Foreign Relations describes the origin of BRICS in its desires to challenge US-centric global institutions and paradigms, arising out of the 08’ crisis.
In the early days, at least if assessed by their joint statements issued at summits, the BRICS focused on highlighting the need for emerging powers to have a greater voice in global governance.
In the wake of the global financial crisis, the 2009 joint statement contained strong declarations on the importance of coordinating financial policy through the G20. But it also made several specific points about the need to reform international financial institutions to create “greater voice and representation” for emerging economies, including a more transparent process for leadership selection.
These statements also addressed the longstanding traditions in which the World Bank’s president has been an American, the IMF’s Managing Director a European, and the developed Western economies have had the most weight in the voting and quota shares.
Are the BRICS nations going to save us from the New World Order and the big bad globalists like many seem to make it out to be(or at least seem to hope)?
[For the skimmers out there, I’ll save you the trouble on the answer: Unless you are cool with CBDC’s, 15 minute cities, digital identification, surveillance state expansion and intranational cooperation, carbon credits, ESG, social credit scores, and everything one associates with Agenda 2030 and the sustainable developmental goals…..the answer is no…you shouldn’t* look to BRICs governments or politicians to save you from the globalist agenda they are taking the reigns of]
This article will continue to follow up on the relevant geopolitical developments since my article series published a year ago, and conclude by taking the conversation to the arena of CBDCs. My next article will continue to explore the thesis that the BRICS nations are just as onboard with the globalist 2030 agenda as the Western axis. One of the points I am building to in this article is that the BRICS governments are not only just as participatory in the CBDC agenda, but they are actually leading it in terms of piloting and implementing. It should be no surprise that China is at the helm of this.
7/4/23 — 130 Countries Move Towards CBDC Currency, US Dollar in Jeopardy
India The Wild Card
India is the only BRICS nations to voice opposition to the creation of a common currency backed by gold. As reported on recently in the Times of India in a June 23’ article titled “BRICS’ Plan to Float a Common Currency & India’s Reaction to It”
Although all other countries constituting BRICS, including Brazil, Russia, China, and South Africa seem to be on the side of issuance of a common BRICS currency, India seems to be the only country that has not shown interest in the plans to launch a new currency.”…
India’s External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar in a press conference held on Monday, 3rd July, 2023 said that India has no plans for a BRICS currency.
He declared a month before the summit that India might back out from creating the new currency. Instead, India is focused on strengthening its national currency, the Rupee, and making Rupee stronger will be the top priority of the Indian government, Jaishankar had stated.
India’s objection seems to have made an impact on the agenda for the Summit as in the process of writing this, even after the Russian Embassy announced a gold-back BRICS currency was to be discussed at the upcoming BRICS summit, BRICS officials recently clarified that discussion at the BRICS summit would actually stay away from a BRICS common currency and instead focus on de-dollarization by expanding trade in national and local currencies over the dollar.
Discussion of a BRICS common currency in the future is still on the table, but the vice president of the BRICS New Development Bank said that “The development of anything alternative [to trading in nationalcurrencies” is indeed a medium to long-term ambition.””
7/22/23— BRICS Currency Not on Agenda for Leaders' Summit — Nations to Focus on De-Dollarization
The above article appropriately referenced India’s objections to the BRICS common currency idea, ‘Earlier this month, India’s foreign minister emphasized that currencies would remain “very much a national issue for a long time to come.’ ”
The concrete steps towards de-dollarization have come largely in the form of bi-lateral trade negotiations occurring throughout the world, especially the global south, that replace the use of the dollar with the trade participants respective national currencies, (India is afraid of BRICS trade becoming too Yuan-centric)
7/22/23 — Crisis-Hit Sri Lanka May Allow Indian Rupee to Be Used in Local Transactions
India’s objection to the common currency is interesting, and important to explore because the dynamic between India and china underpinning their objection will continue to effect the development of BRICS.
In “BRICS’ Plan to Float a Common Currency & India’s Reaction to It”, Pepe Escobar would go on to explain why India is wary of participating in the new BRICS currencies:
Justification for India’s stand
1. India is the only country in the bloc that is doing well in terms of GDP on its merit. As such, the country needs no support from BRICS and can survive without the new BRICS currency, it is claimed.
2. India also has good relations with the U.S. and Europe with trade and military deals worth billions of dollars. Country does not want to risk its trade with Western powers, believing in the yet-to-be-released BRICS currency.
...India particularly is skeptical about the intentions of China for the following reasons:
- India is wary of China’s power & her prowling nature, and hence wants to remain alert of the possibility of China, a communist & authoritarian country using BRICS for her self-interest.
- India feels the BRICS alliance is becoming China-centric making the communist nation the recipient of international trade deals.
- India feels, Xi Jinping led China is trying to become a global economic and military superpower and BRICS could be the stepping stone to achieve her goal.
- China is pressuring several countries to settle trade using Chinese Yuan to outdo every other member of BRICS to enable China to follow her plan of action & impose Xi Jinping’s vision of the global order, once the new currency reigns on the international stage.
- China and India have been at odds for more than a decade now despite being together as members in BRICS. It is noteworthy that India previously banned Chinese goods from entering the country and placed a ban on Chinese apps, including TikTok, a short-form video hosting service and Shein, the Chinese online fast fashion retailer.
- India is therefore rightfully worried that Beijing is using the platform of BRICS for imposing President Xi Jinping’s vision on the countries of the world by dethroning the US dollar & becoming a global economic & military superpower.
Economically, there are reasons to be wary of a centralized currency as well, as you expose your economy to the consequences of the economic policies in other countries. As the Atlantic wrote regarding Latin America’s mullings over a common currency:
As the EU experience suggests, common currencies demand that countries have stable political systems and a shared view of macroeconomic policy. For the sur to work, Argentina and Brazil would first have to remove trade barriers, strengthen political ties, harmonize business regulations, and make moves to enable the free flow of labor and capital between the two countries. “You can’t just say ‘We’re going to adopt a common currency,’” Orphanides, the MIT professor, told me. “That’s not how it works.”
The outcome of India’s rejection of the common currency proposition is BRICS agreeing to continue de-dollarization and expand trade in their domestic currencies - BRICS currencies are being termed the “R5”.
7/24/23 — BRICS Problems, BRI Solutions — Escobar
"...The notion that a new BRICS gold-backed reserve currency will be announced at the South Africa summit is spurious.
What is in progress, as confirmed by BRICS sherpas, is the R5: a new common payment system. The sherpas are only in the preliminary stages of discussing a new reserve currency which could be gold or commodities-based. The discussions within the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), led by Sergey Glazyev, by comparison, are way more advanced.
The order of priorities is to get R5 rolling. All current BRICS currencies start with an “R”: renminbi (yuan), ruble, real, rupee, and rand. R5 will allow current members to increase mutual trade by bypassing the US dollar and reducing their US dollar reserves. This is only the first of many practical steps in the long and winding road of de-dollarization.
An expanded role for the New Development Bank (NDB) – the BRICS bank – is still being discussed. The NDB may, for instance, grant loans denominated in BRICS gold – making it a global unit of account in trade and financial transactions. BRICS exporters will then have to sell their goods against BRICS gold, instead of US dollars, as much as importers from the collective west would have to be willing to pay in BRICS gold.
The Cradle recently published an article titled “India’s Foreign Policy Dilemma: Counter or Cooperate With China?” which further explored the teeter-tottering by India between the Western axis and the emerging BRICS axis, exploring the peculiar role India has in BRICs as being a sort of wild card towing the line between the East and the Western axes as a relatively neutral nation.
Pepe Escobar of The Cradle would explain the military tensions in the Indian Ocean region:
“In an era marked by shifting geopolitical dynamics and strategic realignments, India's evolving role as a "supplying and maintenance agent" for the US naval force in the Indo-Pacific region raises questions about the country's cherished principle of "strategic autonomy."
As India deepens its alignment with the US, an agreement made late last month between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden during the former’s state visit has garnered attention. This agreement entails providing base facilities, repairs, and maintenance services for US Navy vessels operating in the Indo-Pacific.
However, this new development is not without its implications, as it potentially conflicts with Chinese interests in the region and could strain India's relationships with its fellow BRICS members and those of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), whose latest fully-fledged member is Iran.
It has been reported that Modi and Biden reached the agreement in order to counter China’s naval influence in the Indo-Pacific region where Beijing boasts the world’s biggest numerical strength with about 355 ships and submarines…
Insights into the agreement reveal that the US Navy plans to establish three maintenance and repair hubs in the Indian cities of Chennai, Mumbai, and Goa. In the past, the US has signed bilateral hub agreements in different regions, including West Asia, Western Pacific, Japan, and Singapore…
Speaking to The Cradle, a source within Pakistan’s Foreign Office says: “The potential ramifications of establishing US military installations within the Indian Ocean region are such that they may engender a notable level of instability within the vicinity.”The source adds that the recent development gives rise to apprehensions regarding the SCO's capacity to effectively accomplish its core objectives, particularly the advancement of regional tranquility and the safeguarding of security. ..
India’s Non-Alignment PostureTo date, India has adeptly maintained a delicate balance in its relations with western countries and the SCO. As India strives to augment its global and regional influence and position itself as a leader within the Global South, it looks to establish a well-calibrated foreign policy that encompasses major global powers such as the US, China, and Russia, to optimize its national interests.
In addition to India creating tensions within BRICS by expanding collaboration with the US Navy and recently rejecting the gold-backed BRICS currency, the article pointed out a reversal of India’s past trend of increasing importation of Russian oil, with imports declining since May.
India purchased a record amount of Russian oil in May, but since then, the importation has been declining month-to-month.
The progressive shift in New Delhi’s partnership with Washington transcends its traditional focus on defense and technological hardware. Recent developments indicate a deepening camaraderie between the two countries, extending to the procurement of petroleum from the United States, which has displaced Russia as a key oil supplier to India.
These oil purchases signify a significant upswing in the bilateral relationship, resulting in India's resurgence as a dominant player in the global market. Conversely, there are signs of a decline in crude oil imports from Russia.
Energy intelligence company Vortexa reports an 6.5 percent decrease in India's crude oil imports from Russia in June compared to the previous month, primarily due to voluntary production restrictions implemented by Russia, the world's second-largest crude oil producer. In June, India imported 1.8 million barrels per day (mb/d) of crude oil from Russia, down from the record high of 1.96 mb/d in May.
In January 2023, India purchased 406,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the US, which subsequently declined to 244,000 bpd the following month, and further plummeted to 100,000 bpd in March. However, imports from the US saw a rebound, reaching 119,000 bpd in April and 138,000 bpd in May, with a notable 62 percent increase to 224,000 bpd in June.
India clashed with the other BRICS nations on the common currency idea and the admission of new members as the country is wary of China’s growing influence. One of the countries seeking to join BRICS is Pakistan, which India has notoriously bad ties with.
In June, Business Standard published the article: “Amid Economic Crisis, Pakistan Expresses Interest in Joining BRICS: Report”
There is fear among the grouping that any attempt to include Pakistan as part of the grouping could weaken the credibility of the BRICS with India withdrawing from any willing participation in the grouping.
India may choose to refrain from active participation in the group, thereby denying the grouping of one of the world's largest and fastest-growing economies, consumer markets and advanced manufacturing hubs.
It is possible that India is also afraid of Western nations and the repercussions for not staying in the middle. While my 2nd article from March of 2002 was considering the public threats of sanctions, not to mention the implicit threat, or ones covertly delivered, which must also be considered.
Days after Pakistan had expressed interest in joining BRICS this June, Pakistan made their first payment for Russian oil in the Yuan, rather than the dollar which had been the standard (naturally).
6/13/23 — Pakistan Reportedly Pays Yuan for Russian Oil, Boosting Global Function
Pakistan's move follows those of a number of other countries. In February, the Central Bank of Iraq said that it plans to settle trade with China in the yuan to improve Iraq's access to foreign currency, while China National Offshore Oil Corp and France's TotalEnergies completed China's first yuan-settled liquefied natural gas trade using cross-border yuan settlement in March, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Pakistan would receive a $3 Billion dollar IMF bailout the next month(July) after announcing their intentions to join BRICS and their move to buy Russian oil using the Yuan instead of the dollar.
Saudi Arabia, who has seemed to be courting struggling central banks lately with oil money, deposited $2 billion to Pakistan after the IMF gave Pakistan $3 Billion.
7/11/23 — Saudi Arabia Injects $2 Billion into Pakistan Central Bank
The Saudi aid comes just two days ahead of a meeting during which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to give final approval on a $3 billion bailout package much-needed by the country to alleviate economic pressures. ..
In line with IMF demands, Pakistan has revised its 2023-24 budget, raised its interest rate to 22 percent, and accumulated over $1.41 billion in new taxation in order to meet adjustments.However, these measures have contributed to an all-time high inflation rate of 38 percent. Many countries, including Ecuador, Kenya, and Sudan, have struggled economically as a result of severe measures put forward by the IMF.
As Pepe Escobar pointed out in the above article, the IMF has a notorious reputation for economically devastating countries with imposed austerity measures. A fun historical fact/perspective is Chavez was direct blowback from the IMF’s first implementation of “The Washington Consensus” (otherwise known as the 10-commandments of neoliberalism), in the form of Austerity measures on Venezuela in the largest IMF bailout in history up to that date, in 1989.
The Venezuelan president, Carlos Andres Perez had campaigned for his first term in 1988, when as Time Magazine reported, “he called the IMF a ‘neutron bomb that killed people but left buildings standing.’”.. He would also say that World Bank economists were “genocide workers in the pay of economic totalitarianism.” Then, he gets elected, turns around, and accepts the largest IMF package in history, which stipulated the harshest “austerity measures” to date. The high taxes coupled with cuts in social spending led to massive protests (which western media called riots of course) which the government responded to by slaughtering hundreds (by some estimates thousands) of civilians.
History doesn’t repeat, but sure as hell does rhyme. And there are choruses.
Al Jazeera reported on Kenya’s recent protests, where dozens of Kenyans have been killed and children teargassed, explaining succinctly that they “are happening because ‘Protesters have taken to the streets in Kenya to decry the end of subsidies and rising taxes as the country’s debt crisis looms.’ “
What Al Jazeera doesn’t mention is the IMF was imposing these measures, as was recently reported in Business Daily Africa’s article — “Kenya Heads into Fifth Review as IMF Firms Grip on Economic Policy
Ahead of the fifth review of its multi-year arrangement with Kenya on Monday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has already positioned itself as a key shaper of the country’s monetary and fiscal policies.
From the increase of contributions to the National Social Security Fund to new taxes, elimination of fuel subsidies… the global lender has had a hand in recent policy pronouncements by the Kenya Kwanza administration.
The important thing to understand is that countries such as Kenya are currently struggling with the high taxes, among other measures, stipulated by IMF bailout packages that they feel they have no alternative to. BRICS is setting up the NDE, and China has the AIIB, to offer up as an alternative which can appeal to the desire of countries for loans with less, or alternative, stipulations. This plays directly into the theme of the US-led world order structurally failing the global south. While aggressive sanctions were the catalyst for BRICS rising, decades of failure by the US-centric institutions, the IMF and World Bank, was the backdrop for the catalyst to be able to take effect. Even now, protests have been rising in Kenya and Argentina over newly imposed IMF austerity measures.
And the irony is while the US and NATO were screeching about other countries besides themselves purchasing Russian products, they themselves continued conducting businesses as they felt needed. Turkey and Hungary were the exceptions to the NATO dynamic, being criticized for not imposing sanctions harshly enough to their US masters bidding.
Germany scaled back purchasing but continued to purchase large amounts. The Nordstream pipeline mysteriously blowing up might have something to do with that.
Covering on a report by the NYT at the end of October 2022, in an article titled “Supporters of Anti-Russia Sanctions Are Some of Its Biggest Customers – NYT”, RT noted that”Data compiled by NYT showed an enormous surge of 430% and 213% in the monthly import averages from Russia to India and Turkey respectively”
India and Turkey were 2 countries I identified in my article series in March 2022 that were indicating their desire to remain economically neutral. But Turkey wasn’t the only country in close proximity to the NATO/Western axis that continued trading with Russia in large amount. In fact, many countries, including Turkey, were ramping up their importation from Russia….giving them foreign reserves… and many European nations that were increasing Russian imports, were decreasing exports to Russia. This increased the balance of trade for Russia. Russia was able to withstand the decreased importation from European countries due to years of having implemented import substitution industrialization.
As RT would report:
Some of the nations that have been actively boosting purchases of goods and produce from Russia have taken an active role in opposing the country’s military operation in Ukraine, including EU member states and those supporting anti-Russian sanctions.
Thus, imports of Russian goods by Spain saw a surge of 112%, while Russian exports to Belgium soared 130%. The Netherlands increased imports from Russia by 74%. Japan’s purchases of Russian goods and produce grew by 40%, while Germany and Norway ramped up imports from the sanction-hit nation by 38% and 21%, respectively.
Moreover, Russia’s total trade turnover with The Netherlands grew by 33%, as well as 13% with Japan, while overall trade with Belgium jumped by 84%.
At the same time, most of these nations have reduced exports to Russia, giving Moscow a healthy trade surplus. “
It is worth noting importation from Russia by Saudi Arabia increased 45%.
While much of the the European countries were depriving Russia of imports, Turkey did increase exports to Russia, helping China in offset the effect.
Meanwhile, China and Türkiye, on the other hand, increased the export of goods to Russia. Beijing ramped up the volume of exports to Russia by 24%, while exports from Türkiye soared by 113%.
Turkey and Hungary
8/22/22- WSJ - U.S. Warns Turkish Businesses Against Work With Sanctioned Russians
”The U.S. Treasury Department is intensifying pressure on a NATO ally that has maintained strong ties with Moscow”
9/19/22 — Two Turkish Banks Suspend Russian Mir Payments After U.S. Sanctions
2/6/23 — US Sharpens Focus on Russia Sanctions Evasion, Warning Turkish Banks, Businesses
The US took the same route with other non-compliant countries, forcing countries to essentially have a foot in and out of both pools, economically impacting them negatively.
Of course, as predicted, the blowback of this was wreaking diplomatic and economic ties between the US and the countries we were attempting to impose sovereignty over.
It’s not like I’m the only one that saw this coming, even those within the system were warning about this, granted the media wasn’t covering it. The IMF was echoing my warnings days after I published my 2nd article.
3/31/22 — IMF Says Russia Sanctions Threaten to Reduce Dominance of US Dollar
4/21/22 — 87% of the IMF's Pandemic-Related Loans Are Now Forcing Austerity on Crisis-Ravaged Nations[1,2,3]
It isn’t just Russia that the US seeks to force every other country to stop trading with, even when they wish to because it is in their country’s interest. Iran is not only another recent point of contention with Turkey, but a good illustration of how the US decides it gets to determine which sovereign countries are allowed to trade with each other. These nations the US presumes authority over, basically every nation that isn’t its overt enemy, never agreed to being subservient to the US. They never agreed to the US being the world’s one world government.
If Turkish banks want to do business with Iran, who is the US to tell them they can’t? The rest of the world does not benefit from allowing western oligarchs to enslave them, to put bluntly, in case this article is not getting the message across. That is what the “US rules-based order” means: Enslavement for other countries who are denied their sovereignty and decision making without fear of the US orchestrating a form of punishment, whether that is being sanctioned, or having “moderate rebels” funded to wreck havoc and overthrow your democratically elected leader, or getting Gaddafi’d.
4/19/22 - Justices Rule Turkish Bank Must Face US Prosecution for Sanctions Violations[Over Iran, whom is normalizing relations with much of the region]
Again, This dynamic of Turkey playing a middle ground of sorts has created a tension within NATO, with some wanting to kick Turkey out even. Newsweek even ran the headline, “Has Turkey Defected to Russia and China?
Coincidentally, as I am getting around to publishing this piece, Erdogan has recently pivoted to a more compliant demeanor with NATO, recently stating “Without a doubt, Ukraine deserves to be in NATO.” A Russian Senator would respond to this, leading to headlines such as RT’s “Turkey Turning Into ‘Unfriendly Country’ - Russian Senator”
It is worth mentioning that Ukraine is not the only front that Turkey has been clashing with NATO on.
7/3/23 EurAsian Times — Erdogan’s ‘Disruptive’ Policies On Russia, China, Iran & Syria Frustrates The West; Will Turkey Be Ejected From NATO?
But the fact of the matter is that Turkey and Hungary do not wish to be totally cut off from Russia, and like many countries from the gulf states to African nations to much of Latin America to Asia - the pressure by the US to make decisions and policies not in the interests of their own people are felt in NATO nations as well as non-NATO nations. The pressure to go against their own interests and serve as a proxy for a foreign agenda is the important theme here.
7/18/23 — Saudi Arabia, Turkey Boost Economic and Defense Ties During Erdogan Visit
Arab News quoted Hakan Akbas, senior advisor at Albright Stonebridge Group, noting, “Over the past two years, Turkiye has normalized relations with the UAE and Saudi Arabia and aggressively courted Gulf investments to buoy its struggling economy.”
Akbas says Saudi Arabia is pursuing “check-book diplomacy” in response.
“As a result of Erdogan’s visit, bilateral trade and Saudi tourism flows to Turkiye will increase. There will also be new deals for military and defense equipment procurement as the Saudi government will want to diversify suppliers beyond the US,” he said.
During this recent period, Erdogan, like Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, has been engaging in diplomacy with much of the Global south, and is expanding trade negotiations with many countries.
Meanwhile in the near by country of Hungary, also a NATO nation, Orban has become increasingly vocal on NATO’s lack of intent for peacemaking , and the military alliance’s foolish disregard for diplomacy.
7/23/23 —Viktor Orbán: “The world is heading towards a collision”
In a state of anxiety and feeling trapped, the European Union has chosen “decoupling” and “de-risking” instead of connecting to the world, thereby losing its global competitiveness, according to the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, who gave a speech on Saturday, July 22, at Tusványos, a conservative political gathering in Transylvania.
As with every speech he has made in the past at the Tusványos Summer University in Băile Tușnad, Romania, Viktor Orbán once again reflected on the most important geopolitical trends, European current affairs, and their impact on Hungary.
He believes the EU is “rich and weak,” and it is isolating itself in a world with many uncertainties, in which the balance of power has tilted. To underline his message, the prime minister cited the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) report, which forecasts that neither the United Kingdom nor France or Italy will be among the world’s ten largest economies by 2030, while Germany will drop to tenth place.Orbán noted that once-ambitious plans to have a free trade area from “Lisbon to Vladivostok” are now being replaced by the EU’s actions that are decoupling Europe from Russia through sanctions.
Orban: “Of course, you can decouple the EU from Russian energy, but Russian raw materials will be bought by someone else, whilst we bear the inflation costs and lose our competitiveness.”
Both Orban and Turkey have been critical of fellow NATO member states for treating Ukraine and the world economy geopolitical cannon-fodder, and actively avoiding the path to peace.
Turkey, like Orban, has been critical fellow NATO member states for their desire for the war to continue.
4/21/22 — Turkey Admits Some NATO Countries Actually Want the War in Ukraine to Continue Raging
In an interview on Wednesday (April 20), Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said some NATO member states want the war in Ukraine to last longer as a way to hurt Russia.
“There are countries within NATO who want the war to continue,” Cavusoglu told CNN Turk. “They want Russia to become weaker.”
My article series in March 2022 identified Hungary’s resistance to sanctions along with Turkey’s as the source of a potential schism in NATO, falling along the same line countries feel their interests are being overridden and neglected for the sake of other countries. And indeed, Tension between Turkey and Hungary has been rising since my publications. They,, like India, are wild cards.
8/8/22 — Western Countries Concerned With Turkey’s Deepening Ties With Russia
But at the end of the day, Turkey isn’t aligned with BRICS, they, like many rationally minded countries, seek neutrality and the path path of non-alignment in this clash between NATO and Russia. However, as described in my article series in March 2022, and further evidenced in this piece…the US does not, or is not, tolerant of neutrality. The “You’re either with us or against us mentality” makes enemies of friends, especially when you’re the one instigating the drama.
7/26/23 — Neither East nor West: Turkey's Travails as a ‘Swing State'
As prominent Turkish expert Mehmet Ozkan, Professor of International Relations at the Joint War Institute under the Turkish National Defence University in Istanbul, put it:
“Turkiye is a third path. While building its relations with both the West and the East, Ankara’s policy is one to guarantee its strategic autonomy and ability to move independently in order to avoid being caught between the two blocks"
Orban has faced similar treatment to Erdogan by the media over the past year because of his challenging of the NATO warhawk mentality.
Carnegie Europe would publish in March of 2023 Judy Asks: Is Hungary a Reliable EU and NATO Member?
Hungary at the moment is reliable only in its unreliability as a Western state…
From 2018 onward, Budapest vetoed high-level NATO-Ukraine meetings, alleging violations of the rights of the Hungarian minority in western Ukraine. In 2019, Hungary allowed Russia’s International Investment Bank, a communist-era relic that once provided cover to KGB officers, to open a new headquarters in Budapest with diplomatic status for its staff—offering access to the Schengen area for Russian intelligence officers.
Since Russia launched its attack on Ukraine last year, Orbán has blocked the transit of Western weapons for Ukraine; insisted on exceptions to EU sanctions to allow Russian gas and oil to flow to Hungary; delayed EU financial assistance for Ukraine; and called for the war to be frozen along the current front line, leaving Putin in control of a fifth of Ukraine.
The problem is what to do: so far, the other twenty-six EU member states have not agreed to use their power to suspend Hungary’s voting rights; and NATO has no mechanism to do anything similar. So Orbán will remain a cuckoo in the Western nest.
Syria, Iran, and Normalization of Ties Through the Middle East
After years of sanctions on Syria for allegedly using chemical weapons on its civilians. Much of the international community expected the US to lift sanctions to allow aid to reach the country after the tragic earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey, killing thousands.
[One of my first ever published articles was on the initial set of OPCW leaks by Ian Henderson, published by The Mind Unleased and Censored by Facebook within hours]
The recent Bloomberg headline fom July 15th, “Middle Eastern Wealth Flows to China Amid Anxiety About US Ties” introduces, maybe even sums up, this section well.
Blinken said in 2021 that U.S. Policy was to "Oppose the Reconstruction of Syria"
Quite frankly, it shouldn’t take a devastating humanitarian disaster to understand why collective punishment of an entire population for the alleged crimes of its government is fucked up.. But that does help dissipate any façade of altruistic motivations of concern and consideration for the Syrian people, which the US pretends are driving the sanctions rather than geopolitical special interests.
2/6/223 — After Earthquake Devastates Syria, US Shows No Interest in Lifting Sanctions
2/16/23 — America’s Syria Sanctions Are Stopping Vital Aid From Helping Earthquake Victims
2/27/23 - World Bank Estimates Earthquake in Turkey Caused $34.2 Billion in Damage; Rebuilding May Cost Double
As the World Bank and other US-led institutions were keen to point out on behalf of turkey, it costs a lot to rebuild a country - more than it does to destroy it. Despite this, the US maintained a hardline on Syrian sanctions:
3/1/2023 - US Doesn’t Want Countries Working With Syria’s Assad on Earthquake Relief
3/2/2023 - House Overwhelmingly Approves Resolution to Maintain Syria Sanctions After Earthquake
Syria started to receive more support from the international community, but especially their Arab neighbors, during this time.
In April, Saudi Arabia would Invite Assad to the Arab League Summit, as the members of the region began to normalize relations recognizing the need for regional cooperation and peace, strength to enforce their own interests, and sovereignty from powers such as the US that seeks to dominate their countries, governments, policies, trade relations, etc.
4/3/2023 — Saudi Arabia to Invite Syria’s Assad to Arab League Summit
4/12/23 — Syrian FM Makes First Visit to Saudi Arabia Since 2011
5/1/23 — Arab Ministers Call for Syria to Regain Control of Its Territory
According to the statement, the Arab ministers agreed to work to “support Syria and its institutions in any legitimate efforts to extend its control over its lands and impose the rule of law, and end the presence of armed and terrorist groups on Syrian lands, and stop foreign interference in Syrian internal affairs.”
In other words, the Middle East has been growing sick of the US’s shit, and the players in the region want to look after their own interests and sovereignty and condemn the US systematically destroying countries as they are realizing that by tolerating it being done to their neighbors, they are setting themselves up for failure for it is only a matter of time before they are in the crosshairs of US special interests…
First they came for Iran, but I did not speak out because I was not an Iranian..
Then they came for Iraq, but I did not speak out because I was not an Iraqi..
Then they came for Syria, but I did not peak out because I was not a Syrian..
Then they came for my country...
Of course, the US didn’t heed the call by the Arab Ministers - having maintained sanctions on Syria as well as the continuing the occupation of Syrian farmland and oilfields.
5/31/23 — US Unveils Caesar Sanctions on Syrian Money Service Businesses
6/11-23 — US Presses for Tightened Sanctions on Syria's Assad
As the World Bank was tossing figures on how utterly devastating the Earthquake was, the US was continuing to engage in mass terrorism, targeting the Syrian civilian population with inhumane siege warfare.
7/10/23 - Tightening Syria Sanctions Will Only Heighten Civilian Suffering
It is worth noting that Rule 53 of the IHL Database is that “The use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare is prohibited.” Starving Civilian populations is widely acknowledged and regarded as a war crime. Caitlin Johnstone had published an article titled, “Starvation Sanctions Are Worse Than Overt Warfare” that does a good job of explaining how economic warfare can be even more insidious, or at the least damaging, in its impact versus convention or overt forms of warfare with explicit violence(bombs and bullets).
Any honest assessment of the impact of sanctions on economies, especially developing or under developed ones, would conclude that sanctions lead to starvation. Other countries hearing the US accuse Russia of starving the world by blocking trade through the black sea feel the US has no moral grounds to point fingers.
Following the point of normalization of relations in the region, Iran has been making strides in diplomacy with some of its neighbors in the Middle East, and the whole MESA region in fact, as Iranian president Raisi recently conducted a diplomatic tour of Africa to strengthen ties with Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
3/20/23 — Iran’s President Welcomes Invite From Saudi King After Normalization Deal
This normalization deal between the Saudis and Iran really pissed off the CIA and the Mossad.
3/11/23 — Saudi Deal With Iran Worries Israel, Shakes Up Middle East
3/12/23 — Israeli Official Says Saudi-Iran Deal the Result of U.S. "Weakness"
4/6/23 — CIA Director Tells Saudis the U.S. Was Blindsided By Iran Normalization Brokered by China
The Israeli official in the second headline is wrong, the Saudi-Iran deal was a result of US overkill, not “weakness”. As Iliyasu Gadu wrote for the Nigerian paper The Cable in his article “Should Nigeria join the BRICS?”:
”For Brazil, India and South Africa, the BRICS idea is aimed at working towards consolidating their leading roles and position as regional powers, especially as the US seems bent on behaving like a bull in China shop (no pun intended) in the global space not minding who gets hurt in the process friend or foe. So should Nigeria then join this group?...”
While Gadu is talking about Brazil, India, and South Africa’s motivations for aligning in a system parallel to US organizations, the motive can be generally extrapolated to the whole global south’s movement away from the US-centric world order, towards greater cooperation independent of western countries and the US.
Again, Americans might not feel the effects, or understand the large-scale suffering imposed on human beings by their governments actions, but the rest of the world certainly has come to feel the consequences of the US being “bent on behaving like a bull in China shop (no pun intended) in the global space not minding who gets hurt in the process friend or foe.”
It is important to understand, that the normalization of countries the US and Israel want ostracized and isolated are not happening because of US “weakness” - it is blowback resulting from the flagrant overuse and abuse of “strength”(violence, economic warfare, general coercion) and power - and the lack of respect and consideration the US carries towards other countries in its foreign policy. Weakness will not be the downfall of the US empire. Like the Roman empire, over expansion, abuse, and parasitism that eventually kills the hosts will be the downfall.
The global south is striving for mutually beneficial dynamics, rather than parasitic ones. The trend of the 3rd world being encouraged by the IMF and Western institutions to export raw materials and import finished goods from Western nations plays into this, and it is why when Iran’s Raisi met his Ugandan counterpart, the Iranian President was quoted to say “Imperialism and the West prefer countries to export oil and raw materials, allowing them to convert these resources into value-added products. Therefore, our efforts in Iran are focused on preventing raw material exports”.
Al Arabiya reported in May in an article titled “Iran’s President Meets with Syria’s Assad in Damascus to Boost Cooperation” that ”The last Iranian president to visit Syria was President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2010.”
As the US was turning up the economic pressure on Syria during this period, the Gulf states had already distanced themselves further from the US, growing in cooperation with the BRICS Axis as well as their Middle Eastern neighbors, even the ones we have designated enemies such as Syria and Iran. The Arab world has been rapidly normalizing relations and expanding regional cooperation this past year, it is not just Syria and Iran.
And Saudi Arabia at the center of the action leading the charge away from the Petrodollar has been increasingly butting heads with the West as they were being told to raise OPEC+ production - but refusing to do so.
6/8/23 — WAPO: MbS Threatened 'Major' Economic Pain On US While Pursuing Saudi-Russia Concord In OPEC+
A US intelligence document revealed and analyzed by The Washington Post shows what's really behind the Saudis no longer playing ball with the Biden administration with its decision to slash oil output amid already high energy prices, which also won't bode well for the Democrat incumbent in the fast-approaching 2024 election...
The document leaked by 21-year-old National Guardsman Jack Teixeira cited the crown prince as asserting "he will not deal with the U.S. administration anymore," vowing that there will be "major economic consequences for Washington."
As pointed to earlier, the US pressuring Saudi’s to push for increased OPEC+ production, and the US’s behavior as having some sort of presumption of authority over OPEC+, further drove the wedge in between the gulf state and the US.
Zerohedge would write in June :
…A curious thing happened in Vienna on Sunday just as the 35th Ministerial Meeting of OPEC+ was about to start at its headquarters. Three princely western news organizations – Bloomberg, Reuters, and the Wall Street Journal – were barred from entering the OPEC premises. When asked about it, pat came the reply: “This is our house.”
Indeed, OPEC officials were left with no option other than an unorthodox way of “mood setting,” given their heightened sensitivity about the wild stories disseminated in the western media about disagreements between Saudi Arabia and Russia, the two high flyers in OPEC+.
To be sure, OPEC+ touches raw nerves in Washington even seven years after the group took shape as the brainwave of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS). The two leaders intended that they would have more control over the global crude oil market. The impetus to realism on the part of Moscow and Riyadh has only grown since 2016, and will crystalize further after the US-led G7 inserted itself into rule making in the world oil market last year, threatening to fragment the entire ecosystem.
Saudi Arabia’s BRICS aspirations
Neither Russia nor Saudi Arabia can afford a break-up of OPEC+. In fact, had there been no OPEC+ today, there would be an urgent need to create one, as both Moscow and Riyadh have, in different ways, come under US pressure on account of their global pre-eminence as energy producers.
Their potential to be key players in the emerging multipolar world is giving Washington the jitters. Saudi Arabia has formally applied for BRICS membership and sought to join the New Development Bank, the multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states and headquartered in Shanghai, China.
6/ 12/23 — Saudi Arabia, UAE Lobby EU Allies to Restore Ties With Syria: Report
6/20/23 — Qatar, UAE Restore Diplomatic Ties After Six-Year Split
— "Doha[Qatar] highlighted that the decision is part of a “consolidation of joint Arab action"
7/4/23 — Turkey, Egypt Exchange Envoys for First Time in 10 Years
7/5/23 — Renewed Turkey-Egypt Ties Pave Way for New Era of Trade Relations: Report
Months after Syria’s reintroduction into the Arab league, July saw rapid normalization of ties with Syria in the MESA region.
7/14/23 — Syria ‘Looking Eastward’ Assad Tells Indian FM
7/16/23 — Iraqi PM Meets With Assad in Syria for First Time in Over a Decade
7/16/23 — Iraqi PM Sudani, Syria's Assad Hold Talks on Security, Water in Damascus
- “Sudani said Iraq supported the lifting of sanctions on Syria”
7/16/23 — Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia Al-Sudani: We Support The Measures Aimed at Lifting Sanctions on Syria
Naturally, the US is gripping for control still, and having learned nothing, is lashing out at the Arab world which is ultimately just feeding the underlying cycle of pushing “allies” away by treating them as servants.
7/26/23 — White House blocks Arab rapprochement with Syria: Report
"Washington has threatened to withhold financial aid to block Arab allies from continuing to normalize ties with Damascus, leading Moscow to step in”
7/27/23 — Jacobin: Despite Exemptions, US Sanctions Are Still Holding Back Syria’s Quake Recovery
It wasn’t just intra-regional cooperation growing in opposition to US interests, as these Arab nations are also growing in cooperation with China, both economically and in terms of infrastructure and physical cooperation (China’s Belt and Road Initiative comes into play here) and the rest of the BRICS axis.
5/1/23 —Syria Urges BRICS to Lead in Ditching Dollar, Talks Yuan Adoption With China
6/17/23 — Syria Intends to Join BRICS, SCO
7/18/23 — China Is Moving In To Replace The US With Gulf Oil Monarchies
”It's hard to overstate the potential impact of a move underway that - thanks to Biden's catastrophic diplomacy - could result in China replacing the U.S. as a security guarantor with the petro-monarchies that control so much of the world's oil reserves.”
7/5/23 — Iraq Wants to Drop Dollar in Iran Trade to ‘Relieve US Pressure’: Report
”The pressures of the US Treasury prevent Iraq from using its official currency to transfer money to Iran," the Iranian official added, highlighting that the current trade process "harms Iranian merchants."
"Based on this, we offered the Central Bank of Iran that Iranian businessmen and merchants trade in dinars instead of dollars," Rabihawi continued.
The news comes days after Iraq released the entirety of Iran's frozen assets in the country under a US sanctions waiver, amounting to a total of $10 billion in gas arrears.
Over the past several months, Iraq has been working to lessen its dependence on the US dollar after Washington implemented several strict measures, including sanctions on Iraqi banks and rationing the dollar supply, to exert pressure on Baghdad to redirect its energy sector away from Iran.”
Back in March of 2023, seeing the writing on the wall, Iraq also announced the intention to trade with China using the Yuan instead of the dollar, following a trend of other countries dropping the dollar in Bilateral trade deals.
2/22/23 — Iraq to Allow Trade With China in Yuan - State Media
Having been stonewalled and denied on waiver for sanctions to continue importing gasoline from Iran, Iraq had circumnavigated the sanctions through an oil-for-gasoline barter deal.
7/5/23 — Iraq Wants to Drop Dollar in Iran Trade to ‘Relieve US Pressure’: Report
“Baghdad earlier this year banned the US dollar for personal and business transactions to boost the dinar and has allowed trade in China to be settled in yuan”
7/12/23 — Iraq to Trade Crude Oil for Desperately-Needed Iranian Gas
“Despite having some of the world's largest oil reserves, Iraqis continue to suffer rolling blackouts due to US sanctions on Iran”
7/13/23 — Iraqi Officials Are Defending a Barter Deal With Iran, Say It Doesn’t Violate US Sanctions on Tehran
7/13/23 — AP reported on the Iran-Iraq barter deal this month, detailing how the petrostate had been burdened with electricity shortages(ironic) for decades(since the US destroyed their country), and how the sanctions on Iran have contributed to their shortages:
After decades of electricity shortages because of war, corruption and mismanagement[all of these the US bears much responsibility for), oil-rich Iraq has become heavily reliant on imported Iranian gas to meet its electricity needs. The shortages in recent months are in part due to U.S. restrictions on transferring funds to Iran.
Imports from Iran are especially vital during the scorching summer months when Iraqis are forced to pay for private diesel generators or suffer through temperatures that often exceed 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).Washington has granted some exemptions to its sanction on Iran over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program to allow Iraq to meet its energy needs.
The article would note however that the Iraqi PM, upon announcing the gas for oil barter deal, had warned Washington that the US still had not granted Baghdad the waiver it had been asking for pay 11 Billion it currently owes Tehran. This had led to Iran cutting gas exports since beginning of July, leading to Baghdad’s supply of gas being cut by more than 50%.
After the barter deal, al-Sudani said the “supply of Iranian gas has resumed” and would “return to the same quantities as previously.”
According to a senior political official close to al-Sudani’s government, the barter agreement would see Iraq send 250,000 barrels of crude oil to Iran daily…
The official said U.S. sanctions would not be violated because they apply to financial transactions — and not barter deals. Still, Iraq has not officially notified Washington of the arrangement, he said.
In the days that followed, Iraq and Russia indicated growing relations. This was presumably a message by Iraq, “Treat us right, or we’re partnering with Russia”. Or just a natural consequence of Iraq seeking help elsewhere when the US not only had no help to offer, but was actively impeding on it receiving help.
7/17/23 —Russian Investment in Iraq Reaching New and Promising Stage: Official
— “The recent Saudi-Iran rapprochement has laid the groundwork for increased Russian and Chinese influence in Iraq”
A couple days later, The US would finally issue the sanctions waiver for Iraq….
7/19/23 - US Issues New Sanctions Waiver Claiming to ‘Help’ Iraq Pay For Iranian Gas
…only to sanction 14 Iraqi banks the next day.
7/20/23 — US Bans 14 Iraqi Banks in Crackdown on Iran Dollar Trade, Wall Street Journal Reports
These sanctions on Iraqi banks plays into the same dynamic seen with the US targeting individual banks in Turkey and the UAE with sanctions, after the nation’s ignored the US’s threats I highlighted in my March 2022 series. The effect is a middle grounds, where the countries are having to splinter their economy between the two axes.
The real question, is why should the sovereign country of Iraq — whose economic insecurity the US already bears large responsibility for, having destroyed the country 2 decades ago based off fabricated “intelligence” of WMDs[lies] — why should Iraq have to beg the US permission to conduct business with its neighbor that is in its own interest?
Somewhere in the answer to that question, is the prime reason for why BRICS is rising.
Speaking of Middle Eastern countries having their sovereignty trampled upon by the US. Lebanon was prevented from accepting free fuel from Iran during massive fuel shortages, facing threats of sanctions if they accepted *free fuel* during ongoing fuel shortages *Which the US was not offering to alleviate*
7/21/23 — Desperate Lebanon Secures Lifeline from Iraq for Fuel
”Lebanon and Iraq continue cooperation as both countries suffer from electricity outages made worse by US sanctions”
It is no wonder that so many countries are ditching the US, as we have screwed over so many.
7/25/23 — Washington Names Itself ‘Custodian’ of Iraqi Debt Payments to Iran via Oman
And thus, its no wonder the global south is breaking away from US control, when it so often overrides their own interests.
7/25/23 — India Will Use ‘Every Means’ to Expedite Iran’s BRICS Entry: Official
“In May, Tehran and New Delhi launched discussions to boost the use of local currencies in bilateral trade as part of a broader push towards de-dollarization…
Iran, alongside multiple Arab nations, has officially applied to join BRICS, an alliance that currently comprises 40 percent of the global population and nearly a third of the world’s economy.”
UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar— Energy Nexus — Growing Influence and Power — Bridge Building — De-Dollarizing
While this article has covered the developments with the UAE and Saudi Arabia pretty extensively, Qatar is an important player to watch as well. In January, Bloomberg reported Qatar as being tied with the US for the top global exporter of Liquid Natural Gas(LNG), a spot which Qatar had “reclaimed in 2022”
1/03/23 — Bloomberg: US Surges to Top of LNG Exporter Ranks on Breakneck Growth
4/16/23 — Qatar 'reclaims' position as world's largest LNG exporter in 2022: GECF
This month in July, the CEO of Qatar energy made the claim that 40% of the new LNG to market by 2029 will be from Qatar. France recently expanded trade ties with the nation, along with its neighbor the UAE.
7/14/23 — France Expands Trade Ties With UAE, Qatar: Minister
It is worth noting that that Qatar and the UAE have had poor relations for years, and during this period of relation normalization among the Arab world, they too have restored diplomatic relations.
6/20/23 — Qatar, UAE Restore Diplomatic Ties After Six-Year Split
“Doha highlighted that the decision is part of a “consolidation of joint Arab action"“
The Eurasia Review wrote a piece which detailed the geopolitical importance of Qatar drifting towards the middle of the power struggle between China(BRICS axis) and the US axis as it has recently tightened trade relations with China, giving it the longest time-duration gas export contract in history, along with “preferential access to its energy reserves” as are the other Gulf exporters.
7/13/23— Qatar: America’s Best Friend in the Gulf? [Qatar is traditionally US aligned
”A recent 27-year, four million-tonne liquified natural gas (LNG) Qatari export agreement with China, the longest in gas export history, highlights different Gulf state approaches to navigating big power rivalry between the People’s Republic and the United States.
Widely seen as giving China a grip on Qatari gas, the deal is as much a commercial agreement as it is a security arrangement. It acknowledges China as the Gulf state’s foremost export market and gives China a stake in protecting Qatar.
Qatar is not alone in giving China preferential access to its energy reserves. So do other major Gulf exporters, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, for whom China has become their foremost market.
The article significantly notes that the difference between Qatar and UAE/Saudi Arabia is Qatar has traditionally been aligned with the US, unlike the other gulf states which have traditionally remained neutral.
The difference is that Qatar’s energy dealings with China are embedded in a policy that broadly aligns the Gulf state with the United States, emphasises the Gulf state’s utility as a go-between, and avoids ruffling feathers.
In contrast, Saudi Arabia and the UAE stress their independence, on occasion counter or distance themselves from the policies of the United States, the region’s security guarantor, and sometimes poke the US in the eye.
Last month, the contrast was on full display. While UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed raised eyebrows as the only head of state to attend the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani flew under the radar a week later when he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.”
Qatar’s PM being the only head-of-state attending the Russia St. Petersburg Economic Forum(Basically WEF but for Eurasia) is indicative of Qatar aligning itself closer to BRICS, following the trend of many others.
7/16/23 — India, UAE Ditch Dollar for Bilateral Trade
The move comes as multiple nations seek to end the use of the dollar to avoid US sanctions and reduce costs
In a visit to the UAE on 15 July, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed an agreement that will allow India to settle trade with the UAE in rupees instead of US dollars, in an effort to cut transaction costs by eliminating dollar conversions, Reuters reported. …
The UAE is India’s fourth largest supplier of oil and the second largest provider of natural gas, “which makes de-dollarization particularly significant,” the Hindustan Times noted.
Days after the above news of India and the UAE ditching the dollar in bilateral trade, Global Times would publish an article acknowledging the recent move away from the dollar by the ASEAN countries, a group of Asian countries representing a modest 6.5% of the global economy, but around 9% of the world population. on July 19th, “Chinese Mainland Holdings of US Treasury Debt in May Sink to 13-Year Low amid Global De-Dollarization Wave”
"Though the US dollar remains the dominant payment currency around the world, countries and regions have gradually started to reduce their dependence on it due to the deteriorating US economic situation, especially after Washington wielded its dollar hegemony to sanction Russia," Xi Junyang, a professor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Investors tend to purchase US Treasury debt with excess dollars to earn interest. However, demand for the dollar is dropping, and so is that for US Treasury debt, Xi told the Global Times, and this will not be a short-term scenario.
More countries are planning or establishing local currency payment mechanisms, with the latest being Indonesia and India, which plan to settle bilateral transactions in local currencies, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.
ASEAN member states have kicked off discussion on how to reduce dependence on the US dollar, euro, yen and pound from financial transactions and move to settlements in local currencies. Some Indian refiners have used the yuan to buy Russian oil as well, reports said.
These are only the latest global efforts to reduce dependence on the dollar, and "the gradually declining trend of the dollar as an international currency over the long run is irreversible," Xi said.
What's more, the US keeps lifting its debt ceiling and issuing new bonds to make up for the fiscal gap. That's not sustainable, and in the long run, it will make other countries worry about the performance of US Treasury debt, Xi noted.
7/14/23 — Japanese PM Plans Gulf Tour for Green Energy Talks
7/17/23 — Japan, Saudi Agree to Deepen Energy, Investment Ties
ASEAN Countries — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Singapore
6/16/23 —BRICS: 10 Asian Countries Agree to Ditch The U.S. Dollar -
In conclusion, apart from BRICS countries, now ASEAN nations will move away from the U.S. dollar. It is reported that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is also planning to move in the same direction.
7/13/23 — Russia pitches use of local currencies in appeal to ASEAN
”-- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday appealed to Southeast Asian countries to work together to revive flagging trade with his country, using a forum here to pitch the use of national currencies, rather than dollars, to evade Western sanctions.
The sanctions, leveled after Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, have led to a 4.4% drop in trade between Russia and member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.”..
Lavrov said in a written interview with Kompas, an Indonesian newspaper, that Russia is "ready for practical work" with ASEAN to promote the use of local currencies."Not just Russia, but a number of other countries are consistently reducing their dependence on the U.S. dollar and transitioning to alternative payment systems and payments in national currencies," he said, according to a transcript of the interview provided by the Russian foreign ministry.
ASEAN members have encouraged the use of local currencies rather than the dollar to deepen economic integration in the region.
7/13/23 — Saudi Arabia Inks Amity And Cooperation Treaty with ASEAN States
”In March, finance ministers and central bank governors from ASEAN states launched discussions on dropping the US Dollar, Euro, Yen, and British Pound from financial transactions to settle trade in local currencies instead.”
Turkey
While Turkey has been towing a middle line, like the Gulf states and India, they have also been teeter-tottering a bit between both axes, a bit like India. During the general turbulent economic environment for the entire world economy, Turkey has been grappling with a rapidly depreciating currency, and a crumbling economy. The massive earthquake in March did them no favors, although they have not had to contend with US sanctions like Syria has in its wake.
6/22/23 — Erdogan’s New Cabinet Should Improve Ties With the West
6/22/23 — Turkey’s Central Bank Hikes Interest Rate to 15% In Dramatic U-Turn to Tackle 40% Inflation
In July, Turkey finally agreed to back Sweden’s NATO bid, which Hungary followed suit on days later.
7/9/23 —Turkey Has Agreed to Back Sweden’s NATO Bid, Alliance Chief Says
”The announcement represents a stunning about-face from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who had earlier on Monday suggested Sweden could only join the alliance after his country is accepted into the European Union. Erdoğan has stood in the path of Sweden joining NATO for more than a year over a multitude of concerns.
7/10/23— Turkey Turning Into ‘Unfriendly Country’ – Russian Senator
7/11/23 — Hungary Backs Sweden’s NATO Accession, Foreign Minister Says
Turkey and Hungary backing Sweden’s ascension, of course, would not make Russia happy - neither would Turkey’s ambitions to join the EU. Regarding Turkey’s desires to join the EU, the Kremlin told Turkey to remove its “rose-tinted glasses” to understand the West does not want Turkey to assimilate, nor do they care about Turkey’s interests.
7/12/23 — Russia Cautions Turkey to Remove ‘Rose-Tinted Glasses’ About Joining EU
”The Kremlin says 'no one in Europe' wants to see Turkiye join the western bloc”
7/12/23 — High-level Turkish delegation seeks Qatari investment -
The Gulf States have been cozying up with Turkey during this period of regional normalization. As Gulf states have distanced themselves from US, and aligned with BRICS, Turkish expansion of relations with the gulf states is an indicator of growing Turkish proximity and appeal to BRICS, despite the recent approval for Sweden to join NATO.
7/17/23 — Erdogan Begins Three-Nation Gulf Tour
…stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE.
“Meetings in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE will focus on bilateral relations, global and regional issues, and possible areas of cooperation, especially in the fields of economy and investment,” Turkish news outlet Anadolu Agency (AA) said…
The tour comes as Turkey is working to improve soured ties with several Arab states, including the UAE and Egypt, which just this month exchanged diplomatic representation with Turkiye for the first time in a decade…
Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, have invested significantly in Turkiye.In March, the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) deposited $5 billion into the accounts of the Turkish Central Bank.
Two months later, before Turkiye’s election, Erdogan revealed that several Gulf states sent financial aid to Ankara to alleviate pressure on the central bank and markets.
The Gulf funds reportedly offset declines in the central bank's foreign exchange reserves. The Turkish president then said he would travel to the Gulf “to show gratitude."
The Cradle would also note in the above article that “Ankara has also boosted economic and investment ties with Russia.”:
In April, Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin took part in a virtual ceremony to inaugurate the Akkuyu power plant. This joint Russian-Turkish project saw the construction of Turkiye’s first-ever nuclear power facility.
7/17/23 — Erdogan Again Expresses Hope to Meet Bashar Al-Assad
”Despite Erdogan's wishes, Assad has repeatedly stressed that any rapprochement with Turkiye is dependent on the removal of Turkish forces from Syria”
7/18/23 —Saudi Arabia, Turkey Boost Economic and Defense Ties During Erdogan Visit
The US Views De-Dollarization as not Just an Economic Threat, But a Militaristic One
WATCH: 4/16/23 — Trump Tells Tucker Carlson that China Pushing the World Off the US Dollar Currency Standard is Equivalent to America Losing a World War.
As Watcher Guru recently reported:
Trump stated, “Iran gets together with Saudi Arabia through China. And China is taking over … And, I heard a couple of people say, ‘Well, we’ll never lose a dollar standard.’ Are they kidding?”
He stated that China wants to change the currency standard, and if it happens, it is like losing a world war. Trump also mentioned that it would make the US a second-tier country. The comment comes as a follow-up to the recent turn of events from global nations where they are weaning themselves off of US dollar dependency.
In March Bloomberg reported how the Ex-Goldman chief economist who originally coined the term BRICS, publicly encouraged the bloc to continue the path of de-dollarization:
“Jim O’Neill, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. chief economist who coined the acronym BRIC, said the bloc of nations that later adopted the name should expand and work to counter the dollar’s dominance.”
O’Neill published a paper in the Global Policy Journal that called on the group to apply strict criteria to ensure the addition of any new members to its ranks helps further its aims and urged it to focus on climate finance, improving healthcare and boosting trade.
“The US dollar plays a far too dominant role in global finance,” he wrote. “Whenever the Federal Reserve Board has embarked on periods of monetary tightening, or the opposite, loosening, the consequences on the value of the dollar and the knock-on effects have been dramatic.”
Latin America
2/22/23 — Miami Herald: A Year After Russia Invaded Ukraine, Much of Latin America Is Shamefully Soft on Putin
3/24/23 — Brazil Would Like to See Argentina Join BRICS, FM Says
We know now that Argentina is one of more than 40 countries looking to join BRICS.
4/13/23 — CNN: Leaked Documents Reveal Heightened US Anxiety over Russian and Chinese Influence in Africa and Latin America
4/27/23 — Reuters: Argentina to Pay for Chinese Imports in Yuan Rather Than Dollars
5/15/23 — Latin America’s Neutrality on Russia, China Vexes Washington
”The Biden administration wants total, unfettered support for Ukraine against Russia”
Latin America and the Caribbean are caught between geopolitical competitors. According to leaked Pentagon documents, Washington is very concerned about what it views as undue influence by its global rivals in its self-proclaimed backyard of Latin America—or, in the words of President Joe Biden, the US’s “front yard.”
The documents relate to an alleged plan by the Russian Wagner Group to “provide security” in Haiti, Brazilian President Lula da Silva’s call for peace in Ukraine, and negotiations between China and Nicaragua to build a deep-water port near the coastal city of Bluefields…
As such, the continued economic cooperation of many regional governments with China and Russia, coupled with the refusal of many to adopt the US position of unconditional support for Ukraine, has raised concerns in Washington, with Lula’s Brazil at the top of Biden’s list of worries.While Lula’s government is by no means the most radically transformative in the region, his prestige on the world stage, his lead role in the expansion of BRICS, and Brazil’s large economy make his non-aligned foreign policy a matter of concern for the Biden administration.
Lula, however, appears committed to non-alignment. During his recent visit to China, he informed the press, “When I talk to the US, I don’t worry about what China will think of my conversation with the US. I’m discussing the sovereign interests of my country. When I come to China, I’m also not worried about what the US thinks about my talks with China.”
Countries in Latin America, like the Middle East and every other region across the world, are tired of having to explain their sovereign decisions and interests to Washington every time a respective country’s interests in some way conflict with US geopolitical interests, or that of their corporations.
It is worth noting that China’s Belt and Road Initiative plays a major role in emerging trade relations across the world. Particularly in MESA and Africa, but Latin America is interested too.
6/05/23 —Argentina — Argentina Consolidates Belt & Road Membership With Construction Plans
”The two countries are drawing closer in their relationship and recently agreed to drop US dollar usage in their bilateral trade, which is currently running at about US$1 billion a month. Trade settlement will be made in RMB Yuan instead.”
5/18/23 — Argentina President, Protesters Slam IMF Debt, Austerity as Economy Creaks
“Argentine President Alberto Fernandez and protesters in Buenos Aires pushed back against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday amid heightened tensions with the lender as the country faces nearly 109% inflation and dwindling dollar reserves….
"More than a debt, it's a crime," President Fernandez wrote in a tweet on Thursday, citing a new government auditor report that concluded the original deal had lacked the required impact study and not passed through proper legislative channels…
Fernandez, who has criticized the original deal before, called for an investigation "with all the weight of the law."Powerful but divisive Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, a previous two-term president, called the original deal "scandalous" and a "scam" of the Argentine people…
On the streets of Buenos Aires on Thursday, thousands of Argentines marched in protest against tough economic conditions and the IMF, which many blamed for austerity measures that sharpened Argentina's worst economic crisis in two decades."Our worry is that the IMF will meddle in Argentina's own internal issues," said protester Norma Morales, defending government subsidies as essential especially with poverty levels having risen to around 40%.
Like Africa, the IMF has a not-so-good reputation and history in Latin America. Nor does the US and the general global power structure it heads.
Africa
Nigeria
3/30/23 — South Africa's FM Pandor Lists Countries *Publically* Wanting to Join BRICS
“South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor names Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Algeria, Argentina, Mexico and Nigeria as wanting to join BRICS.”
6/8/23 — BRICS: Will Nigeria Join And Adapt BRICS Currency
Kenya
05/23/23 — Kenya Gets Sh162bn IMF Loan Top-up on Tax Reforms
"Kenya will receive an additional Sh162.5 billion under the 38-month programme that it has with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after President William Ruto showed a firm commitment to implement the stringent tax policies agreed with the Washington-based global lender."
Given Iran’s president recently visisting Kenya on his Africa Tour, it is worth noting that Kenya recently headed into its fifth review by the IMF(at the center of the US-centric world order), which forced the country to add various new taxes and eliminate fuel subsidies - among other measures - which negatively impacted many. As reported by Business Daily Africa :
"Among notable tax measures carried in the 2023 Finance Act include the standard rating of VAT on petroleum products at 16 percent from the previous eight percent, the lifting of turnover tax on small and medium enterprises from one to three percent and the widening of the tax base through introduction of taxation on digital assets and digital content monetisation."
This led to massive protests in Kenya which saw police killing protestors and teargassing kids. CNN recently published the article “UN ‘Very Concerned’ Over Widespread Violence by Police During Protests in Kenya”, which has the UN’s death toll at 23.
"Demonstrations have flared in Kenya over a raft of unpopular tax hikes proposed by the national government... A Kenyan court temporarily halted the implementation of the Finance Act 2023 touted by President William Ruto as a measure to shore up public finances and increase domestic revenue.
However, the Ruto administration defied the court order and increased tax on fuel prices, which has led to a rise in cost of transport and staple goods."
RT reported on Raisi’s trip: “President Raisi's trip to Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe will weaken the barbaric western sanctions regime, decrease dependence on the "West," and enhance South-South cooperation. Iran's trade corridors to Russia & Central Asia will also open news markets for these countries.
Other African countries are looking to grow closer to BRICS. As cited earlier:
7/ 15/23 —SCMP: Why African Nations Are Keen to Join the Expanding BRICS Club
“Various African countries, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Nigeria, Sudan and Tunisia, have expressed interest in joining BRICS…
A number of economies in Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe are also angling to become members, including Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Iran, Mexico, Syria, Turkey and Venezuela.”
Nigerian Newspaper The Cable pubished a piece on July 4th titled, “Should Nigeria Join the BRICS?”
One of the major foreign policy decisions that the new administration of President Bola Tinubu is likely to face in the coming months will be whether to join the BRICS group of nations or not.
The activities of BRICS have been gathering momentum steadily such that many people around the world are beginning to see them as not just a possible counterweight to the United States and its allies in the near and long term but also ultimately as the platform for a new world order of multipolar power centres in the world. And because several influential countries have shown interest in being part of BRICS or, at the very least, share in its mission due mainly to the appeal it poses, there have been calls on Nigeria to join the group lending its considerable weight and influence.But beyond the rhetorical appeal of BRICS, what does it offer in concrete quid pro quo terms for Nigeria to consider joining it? In this regard, let us examine the countries pushing the BRICS agenda and what motivates their involvement in it…
In the case of China, the US engaged in a trade war over products, market access and accusation of undercutting the US dollar, among many other allegations. Following the Ukraine war, the US and its allies wasted no time in slapping wide-ranging sanctions on Russia, which not only affected it but its trading partners around the world. China and countries like India, Saudi Arabia and a whole host of others were negatively affected.The moment the US and its allies slapped those sanctions against Russia, countries trading with it became collateral damage of the US action. This had the effect of accelerating the traction of the BRIC idea, which before then was not moving as fast as its proponents wanted.
India, Brazil and South Africa, which are regional powers in their respective continents and make up the other members of BRIC, have their mini agenda. Unlike Russia and China, they do not have any political and economic issues with the US and its allies. The three are countries with entrenched democratic structures which the US favours. Economically, the three have excellent economic relations with the US.
So why are they risking it all to get involved in a venture that the US considers hostile?
For Russia and China, BRICS is a pushback against US attempts at containment. For Brazil, India and South Africa, the BRICS idea is aimed at working towards consolidating their leading roles and position as regional powers, especially as the US seems bent on behaving like a bull in China shop (no pun intended) in the global space not minding who gets hurt in the process friend or foe.
While BRICS is seen as the rallying point for the world against US hegemony, as spoken on earlier briefly, BRICS governments talk of multi-polarity does not mean they do not wish to consolidate power regionally into organizations that continue to erode national sovereignty and move power up the top-down totem-pole.
Ill repeat myself this important point again to emphasize it as I aim to conclude this article:
Unless you are cool with CBDC’s, 15 minute cities, digital identification, surveillance state expansion, carbon credits, ESG, social credit scores, regional “cooperation” superseding national sovereignty, Agenda 2030 and the sustainable developmental goals,…and everything else one associates with the agenda for top-down control by governments(or a singular world one)…you shouldn’t* look to BRICS governments or politicians to save you from the globalist agenda they are taking the reigns of
When I predicted the expansion and rise of BRICS, catalyzed by sanctions on Russia and cutting them off from swift, I was casting BRICs in a positive light because what they are offering the world an alternative to US hegemony which so much of the world desires, as US hegemony has been so burdensome, or downright exploitative....But come on. Lets not kid ourselves and tell ourselves BRICS governments arnt authoritarian globalist cesspools like Western nations, ran by control-hungry psychopaths like all governments, let alone communist ones(looking at you China).
China’s Xi just spoke at Davos in January, as he has many times. Brazil’s Lula and and Bolsonaro are both WEF stooges. Even Putin was a WEF global leader, mingling heavily with Klaus Schwab the Davos crowd, until recently. South Africa and India have plenty of representation at Davos.
And it is worth noting the UAE annually hosts the World Government Summit, which garnered some attention last year as global governance think tanks and organizations attracted more scrutiny due to shifting public awareness.
One of the viral videos from this year’s World Government Summit was of Klaus Schwab speaking at the conference, describing how those who master technology will master the world:
2/25/23 — Klaus Schwab on the Need to Shape Together Policies For the Ability To Master Technologies
H.E. Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, UAE: "You invented and you wrote, the 4th industrial revolution. What is next? What is next after the 4th industrial revolution? Where your mind take you."
Klaus Schwab: "I think the 4th industrial revolution will be in our mind for quite some years to come.
But what is very essential, my concern, My deep concern is that with [4IR] technologies, if we don't work together on a global scale, if we do not formulate, shape together the necessary policies, they will escape our power to master those technologies."
Outlining Technocracy, Klaus Schwab said at the summit that those "Who master those technologies, in some way, will be the master of the world."
The World Government Summit 2022 would even air a video titled “The New World Order?” featuring Klaus Schwab ..
Not only are BRICS nation policy makers and business leaders mingling with Western globalists at these forums like the WEF, World Government Summit, and St. Petersburg Economic Forum, sharing common visions of the future - but BRICS and BRICS adjacent countries are actively leading the implementation of many of the dystopian policies that people associate with the “globalists” and the general technocratic agenda for control.
Take these following headlines from BRICS nations as examples. This one from Tech Monitor on India’s CBDC Pilot mentions how China, another BRICS member, is the only country whose CBDC has seen success/performed at or above expectations.
12/5/22 — Tech Monitor: Nobody’s Using CBDCs. India’s Piloting One Anyway
The slow uptake of CBDCs in Africa and across the Caribbean does not bode well for India’s new digital currency.
CBDCs are on the march. From China to the UAE, the Bahamas to Nigeria, countries around the world have started trialing the use of central bank digital currencies as a way to translate their national fiat currencies into a means of digital exchange. ..
Interest in CBDCs has been low thus farTake Nigeria. It launched its own CBDC, the e-Naira (https://t.me/g3news/10425), in October 2021. Since then, adoption has been lacklustre.
A similar pattern has played out in the Caribbean, home to the Bahamian Sand Dollar..
Indeed, the only case of a CBDC performing above and beyond expectations has been that of the digital yuan. Also known as the e-CNY, the People's Bank of China began trialling the digital currency in September 2021...a success that some have attributed to its introduction into an economy where digital payments have almost eclipsed those using cash and where cryptocurrencies are vigorously suppressed.
Active promotion by the central government also hasn't hurt - a campaign outwardly premised on the role the digital yuan could play in reducing systemic risk in the national payments system but also, some have speculated, on the fact that it provides another opportunity for the state to peer into private individual transactions.
The main point of including this article is to highlight how BRICS, and countries looking to join BRICS+ like the UAE and Nigeria, are leading the way in piloting CBDCs.
While in this article only India and China’s CBDCs are mentioned, it is worth noting that South Africa was one of the first countries in Africa to pilot a wholesale CBDC. Regarding Russia and Brazil, the other BRICS core members, take the following recent headlines from this month:
7/11/23 — Brazil’s CBDC Pilot Contains Code That Can Freeze or Reduce Funds, Dev Claims
7/12/23 — Russian Parliament Passes Digital Ruble Bill
Edward Slavsquat would report on the Russian Digital Ruble, “The Digital Ruble: It’s Finally Here”
I won’t waste your time explaining why the digital ruble is no different from the digital euro, or the digital peso, or whatever kind of soul-crushing digital token your own government is currently shilling.
Yes, there have been valiant attempts by the internet’s most revered intellects to portray the digital ruble as a sanctions-busting, sovereignty-protecting, completely voluntary, extremely friendly and benign digital coin.
But unfortunately these Very Serious Pundits are very seriously misinformed.
Returning to UAE and Nigera, mentioned in the article Tech Monitor article above as helping pave the way for CBDCs,
10/30/22 — UAE Central Bank Completes CBDC Pilot, Eyes International Usage for Cross-border Payments
The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) has announced the completion of “the world’s largest pilot” of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in collaboration with the central banks of four countries."
According to a Reuters report, the multinational CBDC pilot was part of Project mBridge, which saw the participation of central banks from Thailand, Hong Kong, and China. Over 20 commercial banks from the collaborating countries took part in the pilot, with the six-week experiment recording over $21 million transactions.
10/31/22 — Bank for International Settlements Tests mBridge: Successful Pilot Of Cross-Border CBDC Platform
Nigeria’s case is a good, in-your-face example of the reality of the struggle between people and central bankers that is occurring.
November 2022 — Nigerians’ Passion for Crypto is Stopping Short at the eNaira
Central bankers, academics, politicians, and an assortment of elites from over 100 countries hoping to launch their own CBDCs have closely followed the eNaira.
They used Nigeria—Africa’s largest country by population and size of its economy—as a Petri dish to test their nefarious plans to use CBDCs to enslave the people of North America, Europe, and beyond.According to Bloomberg, only 1 in 200 Nigerians use the eNaira. That’s even after the government implemented discounts and other incentives as desperate measures to increase adoption.
This came as a surprise to the elites...
Nigeria has one of the highest Bitcoin adoption rates in the world—ranking #11 among all countries. They figured Nigerians wouldn’t be able to differentiate between Bitcoin and the eNaira—they are both digital currencies, after all.
As Financial Underground reported, “A long history of rampant currency debasement in Nigeria—including six devaluations in recent years—also helped spur the adoption of Bitcoin, which is totally resistant to inflation.”
But while the Nigerians loved the freedom and sovereign Bitcoin offered them, they wern’t keen on adopting the E-Naira CBDC. Bloomberg explained: “Nigerians’ passion for cryptocurrencies doesn’t extend to the central bank offering.”
Bloomberg also said Nigerians view the eNaira as “a symbol of distrust in the ruling elite” and that the people view the government as “hostile to them and therefore have no interest in anything it introduces.”
Fast forward a month and Bloomberg was seen publishing the headline “Nigeria Caps ATM Cash Withdrawals at $45 Daily to Push Digital Payments”
If you don’t see the issue with that, this article isn’t for you.
Moving back to India, the BRICS core member has not just been a leading country in rolling out their CBDC pilot, but on implementing a digital ID as well..
12/13/22 — Indian Citizens That Don’t Link Account Numbers to Digital Id Will Soon Face Financial Blacklisting
This ties in with the UN Digital Id initiative, and what the IMF has stated regarding the merger between CBDCs and a digital ID>
10/18/22 —IMF Meeting: CBDC Should Be Tied to Digital IDs to “Push Society Into to New Equilibriums”
12/30/22 — Turkey’s Central Bank Completes First CBDC Test With More to Come in 2023
6/24/23 — United Nations Proposes Digital ID System Tied to Bank Accounts and Mobile Payment Platforms
“The proposal is outlined in a section dedicated to “global digital cooperation and sustainable development goals.””
As we can readily see, it wasn’t just the BRICS axis gearing towards CBDCs of course. Its been both, and that is the point.
5/1/23 — Australia Announces CBDC Pilot and Study for the eAUD
Reserve Bank of Australia(RBA)’s Assistant Governor Brad Jones was quoted by Decrypt:
”“I have absolutely detected a shift in the last 18 months or so, growing support—particularly in Congress—behind the idea that the primacy of the U.S. dollar and its role in the international financial system could be at risk if all the others race ahead and the U.S. sits behind,” he said in a speech published Wednesday on the RBA’s website.”
5/26/23 — WEF 2022: SWIFT probably won’t exist in 5 years, says Mastercard CEO
”Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said on Tuesday that he does not expect SWIFT, one of the most widely used platforms for cross-border fiat transactions, to exist in five years' time.
Miebach was speaking at a panel session on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as part of the Global Blockchain Business Council’s (GBBC) Blockchain Central Davos conference, which ran adjacent to the World Economic Forum 2022 in Davos, Switzerland.”
5/30/22 — Mastercard CEO: SWIFT Payment System May Be Replaced By CBDCs In Five Years
6/24/22 — More African Central Banks Are Exploring Digital Currencies
9/21/22 — Iran to Begin ‘Crypto Rial’ CBDC Trial Despite Possible Lack of Infrastructure: Report
10/18/22 —IMF Meeting: CBDC Should Be Tied to Digital IDs to “Push Society Into to New Equilibriums”
11/1/22 — Singapore’s Central Bank Says No Urgent Case for Retail CBDC, but Launches 4 Fast Trials of It
12/30/22 — Turkey’s Central Bank Completes First CBDC Test With More to Come in 2023
6/14/23 — Bank Of Israel Is Looking For Ways To Convince People To Adopt Digital Shekel
6/22/23 — The IMF Is Working on Global Central Bank Digital Currency Platform
6/30/23 — CBDCs Aren’t About Solving Today’s Problems — Australia’s CBDC lead
The Bank for International Settlements announced this month that NINETY THREE PERCENT of central banks are currently working on CBDCs, and that 24 could be live by 2030.
7/10/23 — BIS Survey Says 93% Of Central Banks Are Working on CBDCs, 24 Could Be Circulating by 2030
The same day, Politico reported on the looming advancement of CBDCs.
7/10/23 — Politico: Government Issued Digital Money Gets Closer
7/10/23 — Digital Currencies Could Forbid Buying Ammo, WEF Panelist Says
7/ /23 — WEF Elites Admit Potential for ‘Darker World’ Where CBDCs Could Be Gov’t-Controlled - (I’d like to point out the Russia/ruble part of this article)
In July 2021, Bank of Russia deputy governor Alexey Zabotkin gave a real world example of what CBDC programmability could look like when he spoke at the annual cybersecurity training exercise Cyber Polygon.
There, Zabotkin explained:
“This [digital ruble] will permit better traceability of payments and money flow, and also explore the possibility of setting conditions on permitted terms of use of a given unit of currency.”
“Just imagine that you are able to give your kids some money in digital rubles and then restrict their use for purchase of junk food, for example.”
“That would be a useful functionality for a customer, and of course you can come up with hundreds of other similar use cases.”
7/9/23 — UK Digital Pound May Have Digital ID Features
7/11/23 — Brazil’s CBDC Pilot Contains Code That Can Freeze or Reduce Funds, Dev Claims
7/23/23 — Bank of Japan’s “CBDC Forum” Holds Its First Meeting
7/26/23 — Nigeria’s Central Bank Upgrades ENaira with NFC, Programmability Features
BRICS Rising, US Hegemony Collapsing into 2030
In 2012, The DNI (Office of Director of National Intelligence) released a report titled “Global Trends 2030” which lead to headlines such as the USA Today’s “Intel Report Sees U.S. Losing Superpower Status by 2030”. The 2012 DNI report would predict that on the way to 2030 power will shift to "networks and coalitions in a multipolar world."
"The world of 2030 will be radically transformed from our world today," the report concludes. "By 2030, no country -- whether the U.S., China, or any other large country -- will be a hegemonic power."
To think transnational globalists wouldn’t be hedging their bets against the US in lue of such predictions is naïve. In this author’s opinion, Western globalists have already abandoned America, chosen it to be a scrape goat/ sacrificial lamb, and are preparing for an emerging multi-polar world, which the 2012 DNI Global Trends 2020 report predicted. I think the notion that America could be experiencing a sort of controlled demolition is worth considering.
In a follow up to this article, I will explore the ties between BRICS nations and global governance organizations and initiatives such as the UN’s sustainable development goals and the 2030 agenda. If you enjoyed this content, please help support it by subscribing to my Substack or donating below to support my work. Also consider following the newswire I help run. You can do both by clicking the buttons below.
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