A multi-polar world is bad news for the American Empire but great news for gold. Since the 1970s it’s been virtually impossible for a country to function without access to US dollars. And Washington maintained this highly-favorable status quo by putting various kinds of pressure — from sanctions to election theft to outright invasion — on anyone who stepped out of line.
This weaponization of the world’s reserve currency has, not surprisingly, created resentment in a lot of foreign capitals. And after a long gestation period, that resentment is now erupting into a rebellion against dollar hegemony. Among the big recent events:
The BRICS coalition has become the hottest ticket in geopolitics. Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (the BRICS) have been toying with the idea of forming a political/monetary counterweight to U.S. dominance since 2001. But beyond some aggressive gold buying by Russia and China, there was more talk than action.
Then the floodgates opened. Whether due to the pandemic’s supply chain disruptions, heavy-handed sanctions imposed by US-led NATO during the Russia-Ukraine war, or just the fact that de-dollarization was an idea whose time had finally come, the BRICS alliance has suddenly become the hottest ticket in town. In just the past year, Argentina, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mexico, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Egypt have either applied to join or expressed an interest in doing so. And new bilateral trade deals that bypass the dollar are being discussed all over the place. Even in an emerging multi-polar world, there’s no obvious replacement for the deep, liquid US capital markets. So the dollar won’t disappear from global trade. However: If the BRICS have the commodities and the US and its allies are left with finance, pricing power for crucial things like oil and gold will shift to Russia, China, and the Middle East. Falling demand for dollar-denominated bonds as reserve assets will send trillions of dollars now outside the US back home, raising domestic prices.
The loss of its weaponized reserve currency will lessen the US’ ability to impose its will on the rest of the world (witness China as Middle-East peacemaker and India buying Russian oil with rupees).
To sum up, tomorrow’s world is multi-polar, and for the US and its allies, inflationary. That means a commodities bull market — at least in dollar terms — and extreme financial instability as the US Empire is forced to live within its means. It won’t be pretty but for gold bugs and commodity bulls, it might be extremely profitable. Combine the land mass, population, and natural resources of the BRICS countries with those of the potential new members and the result is more or less half the world. And now things are getting real.
The Battlefield
One thing that many missed about the war in Ukraine. Putin was sensitive to the opinions of the Global South. The Kremlin made sure that civilian casualties was at a minimum, and minimize infrastructure damage. This was a sea-change from the way NATO conducts wars over the past few decades. This manner of war conducted by Russia has won praise from the world, except the West. In short, Putin has won the battle for hearts and minds.
NATO has already lost this war. Just waiting for the official announcement. In the meantime, Russia sits back and waits for the Ukraine to send its manpower and equipment to send to the front, to be ground up. And at an increasing rate. But, both the supply of manpower and equipment going to the front is dwindling.
With the current financial blow-out in Wall Street and the City of London, the cash/money pipeline is coming to an end.
Due to a very small industrial production base, NATO is unable to replenish/replace military equipment and arms to send to Ukraine. Putin stated that according to Moscow’s data, the US is currently producing 14,000-15,000 artillery shells a month, while the Ukrainian military uses up to 5,000 shells each day. “Next year… [the US plans] to produce as much as 42,000, and 75,000 in 2025.”
“Russia’s output level and its military-industrial complex are developing at a very fast pace, which was unexpected by many,” he said. While multiple Western countries will provide Ukraine with munitions, “the Russian production sector on its own will produce three times more ammunition for the same period of time,” according to the president. Putin also noted that the Western “instigators” of the conflict plan to send more than 400 tanks to Ukraine. “The situation here is the same as with the ammunition. During that period, we will produce and modernize over 1,600 [tanks],” he said, adding that the total number will exceed Ukraine’s by more than three times. Putin stated that the arms shipments to Ukraine are of concern to Russia only because they constitute “an attempt to prolong the conflict” and will “only lead to a bigger tragedy and nothing more.”
There was talks of regime-changing Lukashenko – leader of Belarus plus, NATO is “poking the bear” by sending B-52s very close to Russia’s borders. Putin is now getting fed up with the childish and clownish behavior of Western leaders. To shock them into reality, he is now stationing tactical and ballistic missiles in Belarus! NATO seems to forget that Russia has the advantage, and Russia will win any battle against, as RUSSIA HAS ESCALATION DOMINANCE. NATO HAD IT, but lost it. By any matrix, this war in Ukraine is a disaster for the power of the 2 families. It even has the real possibility of placing the leaders and its key staff on death row. To avoid this, these 2 are prepared to blow up the world.
Jacob Rothschild is the real boss/owner of the ICC. This entity is a private entity, and not a multi-lateral entity. As such, it is not recognized by the majority of the countries in the world. Not even by the US. The ICC was built by the Rothschilds was to lock up its rivals, and those leaders that have turned against either London or Paris. We can see the desperation of the Rothschild family by their stooping to such low levels. This is what Medvedev had to say on this:-
The consequences for international law will be monstrous. After all, this is a collapse of the foundations and principles of law. Now no one will go to any international bodies, all will agree among themselves. All the stupid decisions of the UN and other structures will burst at the seams. There will be a grim sunset of the whole system of international relations. Trust is exhausted; – – – also the judges of the ICC are cheering in vain. Look, we are brave, we didn’t shirk standing up to the biggest nuclear power. It is quite possible to imagine a hypersonic missile being fired from the North Sea from a Russian ship at the Hague courthouse. It cannot be shot down, alas. And the court is only a miserable international organization, not the population of a NATO country. That’s why they won’t start a war either. They are afraid. And no one will be sorry. So, gentlemen judges, look carefully to the sky…”
Since the ICC’s decision became public, the Kremlin has been contemplating the possibility of prosecuting ICC judges and Western politicians under Russian law. The first such steps have been applications to the Russian investigative authorities to open a criminal case against none other than US President Joe Biden. These were filed by representatives of the regional authorities in the new territories that acceded to the Russian Federation in the fall of 2022. The joint application has been filed by Yury Guskov, Minister of Economic Development of the Zaporozhye region, and Svetlana Shevchenko, Minister of Food Policy. They did this as eyewitnesses to the alleged crimes committed there by the President of the United States. Of course, this is clearly a political action, but at the same time it is also a signal that the political elites of the Russian Federation are ready for an uncompromising struggle.
The 2 families and their networks of power have managed to do in a year what the Kremlin could not do for 20 years. Western scheming and vindictiveness have seriously weakened the appeal of the liberal mind-virus, and consolidated the Russian people, the elite and the bureaucratic apparatus. This is probably the first time in the country’s contemporary history that the interests of these three groups have fully coincided. The question remains open as to whether Russia has time to reconsolidate within the framework of the new architecture of society. Yet the more pressure there is, the faster these processes will develop. The success of the spring offensive by the AFU, with overt NATO support, could play a cruel joke on Western strategists. This will trigger reactive processes in Russian society, but not at all the ones that Washington and Brussels are hoping for. The special military operation would then turn into a third Patriotic War.
Global Financial Meltdown
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank shook up the U.S. banking system, possibly more strongly than news reports and government officials made it sound. A run on banks was barely avoided, and far from everyone believed Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen when she said the system was safe and sound. And oil prices took a dive.
While the Fed, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of England are all still in rate-hiking mode, central banks in Southeast Asia have either stopped monetary tightening or are preparing to wrap it up.
With the economies of Southeast Asia largely insulated from any potential fallout in case of a banking crisis in the West, they are likely to outperform developed ones. Asian developing economies are about to outperform the developed ones—because they have access to cheaper oil, partly because of the West’s sanctions on Russia and partly because of that same west’s banking troubles.
In the West, meanwhile, governments are focusing on reducing the demand for oil and gas by planning massive build-outs of wind and solar power. These build-outs will cost billions, and building the supply chains for them will also cost billions because both Europe and the United States are starting more or less from scratch since China dominates current supply chains. Speaking of China, the Asian powerhouse is set to be one of the biggest winners from the current situation. It is the world’s largest oil importer, and any downward trend in prices is good for it.
This is the back drop to an ever worsening economic climate. Companies are collapsing in droves, banks are closing, leaders are ignoring the pleas of their people, and societies in the west are rapidly fracturing. And all this, while the 2 families are blindly focused on Ukraine, while ignoring the rest of the world.
Despite the attempt to cover this up, bits and pieces are leaking. Chinese real estate developers have stopped about USD 53.6 Billion in loans to Western banks, Blackstone defaulted $580 million on a Manhattan building (40% vacancy); the second default on Nordic REIT (46% vacancy) totaling $2.1 Billion…PIMCO defaulted on $1.7 Billion and Brookfield defaulted on 2 Los Angeles buildings with $783 million in mortgages.
Global Majority on the Move
The rest of the world- the Global South, or the Zone B nations, finally have a chance to breathe. The grip of the 2 tyrants is lessening over them. Let us do a quick tour of the globe to check how things are.
Xi invites Putin to visit China
Since the war began, China played a neutral role, in public, even though it was back-stopping Russia by buying its sanctioned commodities. Chinese leader Xi visits Moscow in late March, and the “secret alliance” has now become an “open and official alliance”. With this move, the multipolar world was born.
Immediately after, a rash of peace has been breaking out in some of the most intractable conflicts in the world. We will do a quick report, region by region.
The Russia-China Team Neutralizes the Middle East Powder Keg
From 1946 to 2020, the US dominated the Middle East. In recent times, the US influence has been reduced in the region. The Western policy of “divide-and-rule” and “forever conflict” has ended with the establishment of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, brokered by China. The next peace deal in the region is brokered by Russia, and this is between Syria and Turkey.
All of the Arab states are on board with this. The odd ones out are the Kurds and Israel. Strangely, the recent riots in Israel over judicial reform, is a project of the CIA. The Americans hate Netanyahu, and a possible regime-change operation is being carried out in Israel. Israel has never been an ally of the US, rather Israel was a convenient ally on certain geopolitical aims.
China brokers a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran, two bitter historical enemies who want to join the BRICS/SCO alliance but can’t if they’re in an undeclared war. Should they stop competing and start cooperating they could dominate the Middle East and raise China’s clout in the region, at the petrodollar’s expense.
Eurasia’s geo-economic integration took a great leap forward as a result of the Iranian–Saudi rapprochement, which unlocks the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) trade potential with Russia and China. Its wealthy members can now tap into two series of Iranian-transiting megaprojects in one fell swoop through this deal, with the North-South Transport Corridor (NSTC) connecting them to Russia while the China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor (CCAWAEC) will do the same vis-à-vis China…
…Only two weeks after Saudi Arabia announced an effort to establish diplomatic ties to Iran in a deal mediated by China, more news surfaced that Saudi Arabia was also planning to reopen its embassy in Syria for the first time in over a decade. Rumors are swirling that Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria are on the verge of geopolitical and economic agreements that sidestep the US. Today, also, peace broke out in the long-simmering, sometimes violent confrontations of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that the protracted conflict with Azerbaijan is over: “There will be a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan.” The treaty will be based “on joint official statements adopted at the highest level…. There won’t be a new escalation!” Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the forthcoming celebration of opening Turkiye’s first nuclear energy plant, built in collaboration with Russia, to be held at the end of April.
Today, also, Saudi Arabia is holding discussions with Syria on mending eleven years of opposition—including Saudi funding to overthrow Syria’s government. They plan to announce the re-establishment of diplomatic relations shortly. Both developments—Armenia-Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia-Syria—are thought to have been brokered by Moscow, but they both come in the wake of the shocking Chinese-brokered breakthrough with Shi’a-dominated Iran and Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia. London and Washington have been caught with their pants down in their “peace-is-impossible, don’t-you-know, Middle East.” Maybe it’s time to review what Putin and Xi were discussing earlier this week.
To sum up, all of the US-instigated problems in the Middle East region is being defused by the Russia/China/Saudi combo. Syria-Turkey; Syria-Arab world; Turkey-Egypt; Saudi-Yemen; Saudi-Iran; Azerbaijan-Armenia. The main conflict zone is Israel vs Iran, and the chaos in Libya.
This, then, leaves no room for the “divide-and-rule” policies of the 2 families. No outside interference will result peace breaking out.
Washington Vs the Russia-China Axis
Washington is using the total power of its alliances against both of its rivals in Eurasia, China, and Russia. It is also hoping to beat those rivals one by one – first, eliminate Russia as a major power, and then make China accept American conditions.
What, then, could be the strategy of Sino-Russian interaction in the face of all this? China and Russia are both major powers, fully sovereign in charting their strategies on the world scene. These targets are squarely based on their respective national interests. The Moscow-Beijing relationship is a far cry from the tight bloc discipline that exists in the US-led Western alliances.
Nevertheless, the Chinese and Russian leaders certainly understand that they must wreck Washington’s plan of defeating Moscow first and then turning on Beijing. As a result, American warnings and threats to the Chinese over the assistance they can give to Russia may actually be counter-productive. The leadership will find the tone of these admonitions rude and disrespectful – particularly in conjunction with forthcoming American arms deliveries to Taipei. While China certainly cares about the US and EU markets for its goods and services, but it wonders whether it can really trust Washington and its allies, given Moscow’s experience with the Minsk agreements on Donbass which, as the former German and French leaders have admitted, were nothing but a ploy to buy time.
China is finally stepping up to its role as a superpower. This will change the world.
Thus, much more coordination between Beijing and Moscow can be expected. This does not presage a new military bloc in Eurasia, but instead a greater joint effort to help the world move faster toward multipolarity, which effectively means ending American global hegemony.
One way to achieve this would be by reducing role of the US dollar in international transactions. Much of the Sino-Russian bilateral trade is already carried out in the Chinese yuan; but the yuan can also be used in dealing with third countries. China just completed its first LNG purchase in yuan.
Another way to help bring about the new world order is upgrading non-Western institutions, such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, to set the agenda for the world in areas such as finance and technology, energy and climate, and, not least, international security.
China’s recent rise as a worldwide geopolitical – not just geo-economic – player, exemplified by its recent brokering of the Iranian-Saudi rapprochement, is welcomed in Russia as a practical step toward the new order. Moscow and Beijing can be more successful if they act jointly to reduce the economic and political dependence of many countries in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America on the US and its European allies.
In the field of military security, there is much that Russia and China can benefit from through closer collaboration – beyond the existing formats. The main goal here is dissuading Washington, by deed not just word, from escalating the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and from provoking Beijing over Taiwan. By this move, the Putin-Xi-MBS-MBZ team has outmaneuvered the Rockefeller Empire’s aim to blow up Eurasia, as per their American Fortress game-plan. The aim was to blow up Eurasia on its 3 extremities- in the West-Ukraine. In the East-China over Taiwan. And, the Middle East with the tension between Saudi-Iran and Syria-Turkey. This plan is now dead. Their Ukraine Project has failed. Their New Middle East Project has failed. Their China gambit also has a good chance of failing.
China has also secured a huge advantage over western economies through securing discounts on its energy purchases from Russia and Iran- ranging from 20-30%. With this, it can either outprice or earn a higher profit on its production costs. Compare this to the EU, where the same energy is costing between 50-200% more than listed global prices. It doesn’t take an economist to see how this will end in a year or two for Europe Inc.
Cheap Oil Is Fueling Economic Development In Asia. Developing economies in Asia are largely insulated from the fallout of the banking crisis in the West. Central banks in Asia have signaled an end to their quantitative tightening policies. Cheap Russian oil is fueling economic growth in Asia’s developing economies.
India
Russia and India agree to trade oil for rupees. Russia is now India’s largest oil supplier, with 35% of that massive, growing country’s imports. The U.S. is not happy about this — but India doesn’t seem to care. From a recent article:
Even the US itself seems to have finally accepted that it can’t reverse this trend, which is evidenced by former Indian Ambassador to Russia Kanwal Sibal recently telling TASS that “Lately, the discourse from Washington has changed and India is no longer being asked to stop buying oil from Russia. In a recent visit to India, the US Treasury Secretary actually said that India can buy discounted oil from Russia as much as it wants so long as western tankers and insurance companies are not used.”
India’s central government has unveiled its new Foreign Trade Policy, which is expected to facilitate greater trade, boost manufacturing, help to shift away from the US dollar, and make the rupee a global currency. The FTP 2023, revealed on Friday by Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, comes into effect on April 1. Rupee trade was made the centerpiece of the new plan as part of New Delhi’s broader policy aimed at securing a global status for the currency and allowing it to be used for international trade settlement. Indian policymakers have recently taken several steps towards shifting away from the greenback to rubles and rupees in mutual trade with sanctions-hit Russia. The nation agreed to switch to a rupee payment mechanism for Iranian crude imports. Malaysia is the latest nation to agree to settle trade with India using the rupee.
India and Russia are in negotiations over more systematic use of their national currencies in trade settlements. The CEO Igor Sechin of the Russian energy giant Rosneft met with the heads of India’s largest oil and gas companies to work out wider cooperation in India’s processing of Russian energy resources. Sechin concluded one deal with the Indian Oil Company to “substantially increase” Russia’s sale of crude oil to India.
Asia
The Race for Gold
Many large players – from governments, banks, family offices and large corporations are feverishly acquiring precious metals, such as gold, silver platinum. Due to scarcity of these, ingot bars of copper, aluminum and similar metals are being purchased. The race is on from paper to real wealth. See the current prices for all 5 of the above. The big question is where is all the physical gold the Swiss have been storing in their vaults for more than 50 years? They have so far refused to honor legitimate requests to return either Chinese or Japanese imperial gold (Yamashita’s Gold). Even the US Fed has been caught out returning fake gold to its owners, such as Germany, China, etc. If they no longer have the gold, this is very important because at the very top of the financial system, only real assets like gold are accepted: paper is not. The race to get more gold is becoming frenzied.
Now, both the families are in the best of position for this coming crash. Over the decades, the majority of the world’s gold has ended up in the hands of these 2 families. Remember Yamashita’s Gold- roughly between 1 and 2 million tons (recovered between 1945 and 2010), the gold recovered from Germany at wars end (between 20,000 and 40,000 tons), the gold that went “missing” from the Russian Central Bank in 1990 (2,000 tons). There are too many cases to list here. Read our articles on this. The Rockefeller Empire has been reduced to threatening to use earthquake weapons to force countries to hand over gold. Indonesian authorities tell us they are being told to hand over gold and other natural resources, or a very large earthquake will occur later this month. The threats came from the Dutch embassy in Jakarta. It was passed on to a high-level official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesian intelligence sources say. That would explain the tsunami threats against Indonesia etc.
Indonesia is not alone. They are also trying to intimidate the Philippines into handing over its gold and other resources. The Philippine people are fighting back. A Philippines court has issued an international arrest warrant for Bill Gates, who as the founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is “wanted in connection with hundreds of thousands of deaths, a number which cannot be estimated at present and is certain to increase exponentially in time.” A Philippine government source said “Bill Gates and David Rockefeller Jr. are involved. More threats/assassination attempts are being planned. The family is desperate for control of the Philippines.” Neither Mr., Gates nor Mr. Rockefeller were available for comment by the time this report went live.
In any case, this financial turmoil and the accompanying threats were visible at the recent G20 foreign ministers meeting which broke up without issuing a communique. This is highly unusual because usually, such meetings will paper over cracks by at least issuing a bland statement. “Some Western delegations turned the G20 agenda into a farce, trying to blame Moscow for their own economic failures,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. At the G20 meeting, countries like Brazil, India, China, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey asked for the “elimination of the Western monopoly” in international organizations. The Western countries responded with “blow-below-the-belt” tactics by threatening to “punish” countries that disobey, Lavrov said.
The head of Russia’s Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev went further saying Washington and its allies resort to “political pressure, military blackmail, financial enslavement, economic sanctions and, of course, deceitful propaganda,” Their refrain is “attack Russia, attack Iran, and attack China etc.” The Rockefeller Empire will go after Iran even more since Iran has disclosed a massive Lithium find, a week ago, totaling nearly 8 million tons. Just last year, India also found massive lithium reserves of more than 5 million tons. Zimbabwe has lithium reserves of more than 7 million tons.
Not only do they keep trying to start an all-out nuclear war, but they have also been caught red-handed trying to kill most of the world’s population with toxic vaccines. The problem is the G7 leaders have lied so repeatedly and often that almost nobody believes them anymore.
The Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the ten-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are meet over March 28-31 in in Bali, Indonesia, including to work out a Local Currency Transaction scheme. As of March 28, they are investigating making financial transactions in local currencies, and to avoid their previous dependence on the dollar, euro, yen and pound. A day earlier, Indonesia’s banking regulator had stated that the Bank of Indonesia plans to introduce its own domestic payment system. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has argued, further, that Indonesia needs to learn, from the U.S. and EU sanctions targeting Russia’s financial sector, to protect itself from “possible geopolitical repercussions.” The most notable such repercussion may be the Washington and Brussels’ naked seizure of Russian foreign reserves. The precious indications of sanity are popping up, like early spring flowers. The ten ASEAN countries, meeting in Indonesia on the level of Finance Ministers and Central Bank governors, escalated their arrangements for trade in local currencies—delinking from the dollar, the pound, the euro, and the yen. Indonesian President Joko Widodo was most explicit about the simple reality that the geopolitical craziness that seizes Russia’s foreign reserves must not be allowed to loot their ASEAN countries.
Towards Eurasian development, Chinese President Xi Jinping this past week sent invitations out for the first China-Central Asia Summit, to take place in May. He wrote to the leaders of the five nations of the region—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan—speaking in terms of putting a “grand plan” for cooperation in motion. The idea is to match the Belt and Road Initiative with the specific development visions of each of the nations. For example, the Turkmenistan development plan is called, “Revival of the Great Silk Road.”
In the direction of development in the Pacific Rim, meetings took place in Beijing March 22-25 between New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and top diplomat Wang Yi, including plans for increasing economic activity, and discussions of stability in the South China Sea islands.
Israel
Benyamin Netanyahu is also not likely to be around much longer as a massive Jewish revolt against the Rothschild/AngloZionist crowd is well underway. As a sign of this, the use of the Ukrainian flag has been banned in Israel. The display of Ukrainian flags is prohibited in houses on the street, and in all public places, with a fine of 10,000 shekels (about $3,000).
The resignation of the Defense Minister has revealed a hidden secret. The CIA has been funding these riots in Israel, as a way to remove Rockefeller enemy Bibi from office. The reason is that Israel hesitated in supplying Ukraine with arms. There is a lot of bad blood between Bibi Netanyahu and Washington.
David Rockefeller Jnr is going all out for full control of Israel, to ensure that it does not interfere with any American plans for the region. Good luck with that. To confirm this, we find that a Rockefeller company, Chevron bought a stake in an offshore gas field from an Israeli company.
Africa
Africa has long served as a resource base that helped prop up western economies, especially the 2 key Rothschild countries –Britain and France. Over the past 2 years, several countries have evicted France, with more to follow. Other former British colonies such as South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, and Botswana have all rebuffed London’s threats and blackmail.
Last week, 40 African leaders were invited to Moscow. Both Xi and Putin reassured these leaders that Moscow and Beijing have their back. In essence, the West is losing control of Africa at a stunning speed. According to the press release, the attendees … discussed the potential for collaboration across a range of sectors, their contribution to the African continent’s economy and security, and their work in the realms of science and education, politics, and techno-military area. During the conference, the African continent was invited to work together to form a new multipolar world order. This is especially important given the significant human resources of Africa, which is home to more than 1.5 billion people and has enormous mineral reserves in its soil.
Any illusions the Anglo-Americans may have been nurturing that they could sway African countries firmly into the unilateralist camp with a “Leaders Summit” and aggressive diplomacy have been dashed, as the parliamentary leaders of 40 African nations showed up in Moscow for the Russia-Africa Parliamentary Conference, March 19-20. Worse for Washington and London, attendance was higher than in 2019 at the pre-Ukraine summit, at which 36 countries defied the unipolar order.
South Africa held a BRICS economic summit, announcing their clear intent to end the colonialist “raw materials” exporter role, and underlining the need for an industrial Africa.
The contrast between the dying unilateral order and the emerging multipolar world was in sharp focus. In his keynote address on March 19, Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said, “Washington and Brussels seek to take control of Russian and African natural resources. In fact, they continue their colonial policy. They go to any measures, including force and terrorist nature, for their own benefit.” Emphasizing the importance of Africa in the rising new order, Russian President Vladimir Putin took time out from his simultaneous discussions with China’s President Xi Jinping to personally address the lawmakers. The contrast between the two world orders was best shown by Putin’s description of Russia’s fight to feed African nations with “Black Sea grain”: “Let me stress that only if our position is taken into account will the fair and comprehensive implementation of the Black Sea grain deal be ensured, and depending on this, we will decide on our further participation in it. For reference, I can give you the following information. From August 1, 2022, to March 20, 2023, 827 ships left Ukraine, of which only 3 million tons of grain were sent to Africa and 1.3 million to the poorest countries in Africa. As I said, almost 45% went to well-fed European countries, despite the fact that this whole deal was presented under the pretext of ensuring the interests of African countries.”
By the way, let me note that at the same time, despite all the restrictions and limitations on the export of Russian grain, almost 12 million tonnes were sent from Russia to Africa.
“I would also like to add that if we decide not to extend this deal after 60 days, Russia will be ready to supply the same amount that was delivered under the deal, from Russia to the African countries in great need, at no expense,” he insisted, drawing applause.
Although not mentioned in his speech, more than one news outlet has reported that Putin has additionally canceled $20 billion in African debt, dating from the Soviet era. It has been being written off for decades, with Sergey Lavrov having put the total figure at $140 billion since 2000.
In Chad, the government nationalized the oil assets of a Rockefeller company, ExxonMobil.
Then came the French colonies in West Africa. Several countries have cancelled the internal use of the French franc. The franc is out, to be replaced by local currencies. From the way things are going, Africa will be free of the tyranny of the French Rothschilds in the days ahead.
Look at initiatives of the nation of Egypt, benefitting its own 104 million people, and as well, the continent of Africa, and the fraught, war-torn Southwest Asia. On March 22 it was announced that Egypt has joined the New Development Bank founded by the BRICS in 2014, a concrete action consistent with BRICS membership to come, perhaps, and also a signal to other nations. The same day, the Suez Canal Authority announced a deal in which a Chinese firm will set up an iron and steel complex in the Suez Development Zone, to manufacture cast iron pipe, a basic industrial capacity for all kinds of infrastructure and manufacturing. It is a $2 billion deal.
South America
China and Brazil have concluded an agreement to trade in yuan. An agreement on settling payments in yuan has been signed with Brazil, and its adhesion to CIPS (China Interbank Payment System), which is the Chinese alternative to SWIFT. The expectation is to reduce the costs of commercial transactions with the direct exchange between BRL and RMB. The bank will be the first direct participant in this system in South America.
Sputnik reported that Brazil and China announced yesterday the establishment of a clearing house that would provide for settlements without using the U.S. dollar. It would also lend in national currencies, circumventing the dollar. Among other things, it would facilitate and reduce the cost of transactions.
China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Guo Tingting announced today: “An agreement on settling payments in yuan has been signed with Brazil, which greatly facilitates our trade.” Specifically mentioned was the expansion of mineral extraction and food production, along with the increased ability to promote each other’s industrial exports.
Brazil and Argentina announce a common currency. In February, the two dominant Latin American economies announced plans for a common currency called the “sur” for use in bilateral trade. South America is a big, resource-rich place with numerous grudges against its intrusive northern neighbor. So a de-dollarization movement there, while not as immediately consequential as what’s happening in the Middle East or Asia, is both plausible and potentially serious for the dollar.
The Honduras Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina is in Beijing for meetings to set up diplomatic relations. “Honduras cannot remain on the sidelines of the benefits which the new world order could bring,” commented Honduran Minister of Transparency Edmundo Orellana on the establishment of relations with China, ending the recognition of Taiwan, rather than China. Speaking to Proceso Digital this week, he pointed out that a new world order is being built in which China plays a leading role. “This decision should have been taken at the beginning of this century, but the opportunity is always there, and hopefully we are in time to join that new world order,” Orellana told the internet daily.
The meeting of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva set for Beijing March 28 with President Xi Jinping is strategically extremely important. The discussion is to include Lula’s proposal for a “peace club” of nations to work to bring about a resolution of the Ukraine conflict. This was addressed explicitly in an interview in London’s Financial Times yesterday, with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, who said, “We are very interested in promoting or helping generate some kind of meeting that would lead to a peace process. The President has said so many times; he hears a lot about war but very few words about peace. He is interested in peace conversations.”
However, it was announced today that President Lula has had to postpone his trip because he has pneumonia. Brasilia confirmed that his travel plans and meetings will be rescheduled, although some of the meetings originally scheduled with businessmen and some Brazilian officials will go ahead.
Today, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, after reaming out the lying hypocrisy of the U.S. State Department for daring to dictate “morality” and concern for “human rights” to any country that it wants to destroy, called upon the better angel of the nature of the U.S. republic, harkening back to Abraham Lincoln’s union with Mexico’s Benito Juárez, fighting for republics free from the imperialist control of France and Britain.
The story continues in Part 2 – – –
