By the 3 Musketeers, we mean Russia, China and Saudi Arabia.
The Shanghai 5 & The Grand Chessboard
The first Chechen war ended in mid-1995. Russian President Boris Yeltsin was worried that unrest in the Caucasus would spread to other Russian provinces in its south-the so-called “soft underbelly of Russia. He flew to China, met with Chinese President Jeng Xiamen, and discussed the security instability in the backyards of both nations. Both feared an increasing American presence in Central Asia which would be used to create problems for these two nations.
An agreement was reached between the two, and a new entity was formed, the Shanghai Five. Both governments fear ethnic separatism in their border territories, emanating in part from Islamic fundamentalist movements in Central Asia. Russian authorities dread the prospect of continued instability in the northern Caucasus, especially Chechnya and neighboring Dagestan. China’s leaders worry about separatist agitation in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, where deadly uprisings have occurred since the 1980s. Of the ten million non-Han Chinese in Xinjiang, eight million are Turkic and have ethnic and religious links to neighboring Turkic populations in Central Asia.
From Beijing’s perspective, the security agreements also facilitated the favorable revision of its borders with Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Chinese and Russian policy makers also have worried about the activities of Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United States in Central Asia.
The institutional manifestation of these shared Chinese and Russian interests in Central Asia initially was the so-called “Shanghai Five,” a loose grouping of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. On 26 April 1996, the five governments signed in Shanghai a treaty on military confidence-building measures that imposed restrictions on military deployments and activity within a hundred-kilometer (sixty-two-mile) demilitarization zone along their mutual frontiers.
On 15 June 2001, these governments, along with Uzbekistan—a country that had not participated in the original Shanghai Five, which initially focused on border security, because it does not adjoin China—formally established the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Given the growth in power and ambition of China under Xi Jinping and Russia under Vladimir Putin, the union of these nations in the same organization has aroused concern, even outright fear, in Western security agencies.
The membership of the SCO encompasses 60 percent of Eurasia’s total land area and nearly two billion people, about 25 percent of the world’s population. The combined gross domestic products (GDP) of its member states make up 15 percent of the world’s GDP. The organization could be considered a political, diplomatic, and economic threat to the United States even if its members were ostensibly friendly to America. The organization’s leading members are America’s two most powerful adversaries.
Iran, another U.S. adversary, recently received full membership. The true nature and potential of the SCO is required knowledge for those charged with analyzing possible security threats to the Western world. Both Russia and China knew very well that Iran had become a prime target of the CIA’s regime-change operations. Both knew very well that if Iran fell to American domination, then the geopolitical pressure on both China and Russia would increase over time leading to unforeseen consequences. To forestall this danger, both nations began rebuilding ties with Iran, especially in the military and energy sectors. Before we proceed further, let us discuss how the US views Iran and its links with Russia and China.
The formation of the Shanghai 5 in April 1996, sent shockwaves in New York and London. This prompted a key Rockefeller advisor to write a book, called “The Grand Chessboard”, and published it in 1997. Below are some excerpts that are key to understand what comes next. To understand the mentality of the power elite better regarding Iran, besides what has been briefly described above, one must go to the boss at the top- to the true owners of power in America-the Rockefeller family. It is nice to know how their thinking on key issues stands. For this, it would be wise to go to a key strategist for David Rockefeller – Zbigniew Brzesinki. He wrote a book which was published in 1997, “The Grand Chessboard”. Always long-term thinking.
The key geopolitical prize for the family is to control Eurasia as a whole, especially its natural resources and energy. If they could control the energy flows across Eurasia, then you stand a good chance to control Eurasia. As another Rockefeller geopolitical thug, Kissinger stated in the 1970s: “Whoever controls oil controls the destinies of nations”.
When we read these quotes and think deeply about its implications, we see that all the geopolitical wars in Eurasia, since 1991, in Eurasia reflect this thinking at the highest levels in America.
Zbigniew Brzeziński, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives
“How America ‘manages’ Eurasia is critical. A power that dominates Eurasia would control two of the world’s three most advanced and economically productive regions. A mere glance at the map also suggests that control over Eurasia would almost automatically entail Africa’s subordination, rendering the Western Hemisphere and Oceania geopolitically peripheral to the world’s central continent. About 75 per cent of the world’s people live in Eurasia, and most of the world’s physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil. Eurasia accounts for about three-fourths of the world’s known energy resources”.
“The world’s energy consumption is bound to vastly increase over the next two or three decades. Estimates by the U.S. Department of energy anticipate that world demand will rise by more than 50 percent between 1993 and 2015, with the most significant increase in consumption occurring in the Far East. The momentum of Asia’s economic development is already generating massive pressures for the exploration and exploitation of new sources of energy and the Central Asian region and the Caspian Sea basin are known to contain reserves of natural gas and oil that dwarf those of Kuwait, the Gulf of Mexico, or the North Sea”.
“With warning signs on the horizon across Europe and Asia, any successful American policy must focus on Eurasia as a whole and be guided by a geo-strategic design”.
“But in the meantime, it is imperative that no Eurasian challenger emerges, capable of dominating Eurasia and thus also of challenging America.”
“In the long run, global politics are bound to become increasingly uncongenial to the concentration of hegemonic power in the hands of a single state. Hence, America is not only the first, as well as the only, truly global superpower, but it is also likely to be the very last”.
“However, a coalition allying Russia with both China and Iran can develop only if the United States is shortsighted enough to antagonize China and Iran simultaneously.”
With these above quotes in mind, which reflect the Rockefeller plans, dreams and a maniac desire to control the world, let us look at the geopolitical value of having Iran under Rockefeller control.
Background
In 1951, Mohammad Mosaddegh was elected Prime Minister of Iran. Mosaddegh became enormously popular after he nationalized the oil industry, which had been largely controlled by foreign interests- mainly the Rothschilds Anglo-Iranian Oil, later renamed BP. He worked to weaken the monarchy until he was removed in the 1953 Iranian coup d’état—initially an Anglo-American covert operation, codenamed “AjaX” that marked the first time the US had participated in an overthrow of a foreign government during the Cold War.
After the coup, the Shah became increasingly autocratic and Iran entered a decades-long phase of controversially close relations with the United States and other foreign governments. While the Shah increasingly modernized Iran and claimed to retain it as a fully secular state, arbitrary arrests and torture by his secret police, the SAVAK, were used for crushing political opposition. Ruhollah Khomeini, a radical Muslim cleric, became a critic of the Shah’s reforms known as the White Revolution. Khomeini publicly denounced the government and was imprisoned for 18 months. After his release in 1964, he was eventually sent into exile.
The US entry into Iran led to the British giving the Americans a 40% stake in Irans’ oil industry. From 1954 till late 1979, Iran was inundated with CIA, Mossad and British Intelligence agents. They turned Iran into a dictatorship. .The US then appointed both Iran and Saudi Arabia as the “policemen of the Gulf”. A few years prior, the British abandoned their interests east of Suez.
After the 1973 war, oil prices rose 4-fold, bringing tremendous wealth to Iran. This new flood of money into Iran made the Shah of Iran become a bit more independent of his “handlers”. Due to the 1973 spike in oil prices, the economy was flooded with foreign currency, causing inflation. By 1974, Iran was experiencing a double-digit inflation rate, and despite many large projects to modernise the country, corruption was rampant. By 1975 and 1976, a recession increased unemployment, especially among millions of youths who had migrated to the cities looking for construction jobs during the boom years of the early 1970s. By the late 1970s, many of these people opposed the Shah’s regime and began protesting against it.
In December 1975, the Shah signed several economic deals. The first was a barter deal with Romania, whereby Romania will supply Iran with industrial goods, and Iran would supply Romania with oil, via the then Soviet Union. The second deal was a three-way deal between Iran and France and Germany. Iran would supply oil to France and Germany on a long-term basis in return for these 2 countries industrializing Iran. Payment for the oil would be done in Francs and Marks. These two currencies would be backed by gold would be supplied from South Africa.
David Rockefeller found out about these two deals, and a meeting held in December 1975, in New York, a decision was taken to topple the Shah and replace him with a cleric-Khomeini! The reason that the Shah was toppled was that both these deals went against the plans of the Rockefeller Empire. The Rothschilds also joined in this plan. The complete story of this remarkable plot, and its outcomes, are told in the 3-part article called “ The Iran File “, dated 25th January,2016. See HERE, https://behindthenews.co.za/iran-a-case-study-part-1/
In 1974, he signed economic deals with France, Germany, South Africa and Romania. These deals greatly angered David Rockefeller in New York. It was decided that the Shah had to be replaced. The man David chose to replace the Shah with was Ayatollah Khomeini-a longstanding recipient of CIA money. In January 1979, the coup was done. The Shah went into exile, and Khomeini became the new ruler.
Within 3 months, Khomeini became his own master and double-crossed those who helped him to power. This full story is told in our article called “The Iran File”. You can find it here, https://behindthenews.co.za/iran-a-case-study-part-1/
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution began in January 1978 with major demonstrations against Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi. After a year of strikes and demonstrations paralyzing the country and its economy, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fled to the United States, and Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile in February 1979, forming a new government. After holding a referendum, Iran officially became an Islamic republic in April 1979. A second referendum in December 1979 approved a theocratic constitution. Between April and December 1979, Khomeini double-crossed the Rockefeller Empire. And, from this point on, the 2 sides were in conflict mode.
Immediate uprisings against the new government began with the 1979 Kurdish rebellion, the Khuzestan uprisings, and uprisings in Sistan and Baluchistan. Over the next several years, these uprisings were subdued violently. The new government began purging the non-Islamist political opposition. Following Khomeini’s order to purge the new government of any remaining officials still loyal to Pahlavi, many former ministers and officials in Pahlavi’s regime, including former prime minister Amir-Abbas Hoveyda, were executed.
On 4 November 1979, after the United States froze Iran’s money in Rockefellers Chase Manhattan Bank, a group of Muslim students seized the US Embassy and took 52 personnel and citizens hostage. Attempts by the Jimmy Carter administration to negotiate the release of the hostages, and a failed rescue attempt, helped with the falling popularity of Carter among US citizens. On Carter’s final day in office, the last hostages were set free under the Algiers Accords. As a result of the Iranian takeover of the American Embassy, the US and Iran severed diplomatic relations in April 1980, and the two countries have had no formal diplomatic relationship since that time.
On September 22, 1980, Iraq – prodded and egged on by the Mossad and the CIA – invaded the western Iranian province of Khuzestan, initiating the Iran–Iraq War. The war continued until 1988, when the Iraqi army defeated the Iranian forces inside Iraq and pushed the remaining Iranian troops back across the border. Subsequently, Khomeini accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations, with both sides withdraw to their pre-war borders. It was the longest conventional war of the 20th century and the second longest war of this century after the Vietnam War. The total Iranian casualties in the war were estimated to be 123,220–160,000 KIA, 60,711 MIA, and 11,000–16,000 civilians killed. This was to act as a “punishment” to Iran by David Rockefeller and the trinity –Britain, France and Israel. The war lasted some 8 years. Cost more than $200 billion for Iran and the Arabs. It also cost about a million + lives.
Ali Khamenei became the Supreme Leader of Iran in 1989, after the death of Khomeini.
In the early to mid-1990s, as Iran was beginning to stabilize its economy and society, a new round of economic, financial sanctions were enacted by the US. At the same time, Israel began paying more attention to Iran as the next target to destroy. Over the last 2 decades, there has been an ongoing covert war between Israel and Iran.
Following the withdrawal of Israel from southern Lebanon, Iran began to beef up Hezbollah’s military capabilities. These results bore fruit when Hezbollah defeated Israel in the 5-week war of August 2006.
When the Western intelligence agencies created ISIS in early 2014, it was Iran and its militias that defeated ISIS. The reason for ISIS was to bring about an independent Kurdistan. And, then, we come to the current Gaza conflict. To understand the geopolitical situation of Iran, let us go through its links with Russia and China.
Russia
We will focus on the recent relations between Iran and Russia.
Russia and Iran have moved towards a much closer relationship than at any time since the Iranian revolution of 1979, based on pragmatic and strategic considerations. For example, the catalysts for the present `strategic alliance’ are Russia’ s needs for foreign currency and the desire to have a friendly neighbor to the Muslim states in Central Asia, and Iran’ s need for Russian arms, new technologies and, perhaps more importantly, for political support at both regional and international levels. In addition, both countries have common security concerns and economic interests in the development of oil and gas in the Caspian Sea. The new relations have been developing since the end of the Persian Gulf War of 1991. In addition, economic, trade and technological cooperation between the two countries are expanding at the very time that Washington is attempting to intensify its economic sanctions against Iran and politically isolate it internationally.
The Soviet Union was the first state to recognize the Islamic Republic of Iran, in February 1979. However, during the Iran-Iraq war, the Soviet Union supplied arms to Iran via North Korea.
After the war, in 1989, Iran made an arms deal with Soviet Union. With the fall of the USSR, Tehran–Moscow relations experienced a sudden increase in diplomatic and commercial relations, and Russia soon inherited the Soviet-Iranian arms deals. By the mid-1990s, Russia had already agreed to continue work on developing Iran’s nuclear program, with plans to finish constructing the nuclear reactor plant at Bushehr, which had been delayed for nearly 20 years.
Besides military and nuclear deals, Russia, over the past several years has invested in Iran’s energy sector.
In May 2007 Iran was invited to join the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Russia-based international treaty organization that parallels NATO. Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Iran and Russia have become the Syrian government’s principal allies in the conflict, openly providing armed support. Russia and Iran also share a common interest in limiting the political influence of the United States in Central Asia. This common interest has led the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to extend to Iran as observer status in 2005. The Iranians attained full membership status on 17 September 2021. Moscow and Beijing supported Tehran’s successful bid for full membership in the SCO.
Both Russia and Iran are subject to Western sanctions, and each extended period of sanctions seems to improve the relationship between them. This, however, has changed somewhat following the imposition of sanctions against both Russia and Iran. Improving the countries’ respective ties with the US proved more difficult than forging closer ties between Moscow and Tehran. So, Iran is now a member of the SCO and BRICS.
Russia will not allow the US to attack/invade/destroy Iran. Were Iran to fall under America’s orbit, then the US would use Iran to destabilize Russia’s southern borders in the Caucasus and in Central Asia. Russia will not allow its southern regions to be controlled by NATO, as it has done on its western borders in Europe. If push comes to shove, expect Russia to come to the aid of Iran. Just like it did in Syria in September 2015.
China
Diplomatic links between China and Iran have been maintained into the 20th and 21st centuries with the formation of both the People’s Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of Iran, in 1949 and 1979, respectively.
In March 2021, the two countries signed a 25-year cooperation agreement.
On March 10, 2023, Iran and Saudi Arabia announced that they would normalize their relations, in a deal brokered by China. One of the main pillars of the relationship is oil and gas. China switched to petroleum primarily to move its energy supply from coal. When China began its industrial and economic growth, it was self-sufficient in oil. It became a net importer of oil in November 1993. This made China look at the Middle East, and decided that it would partner with Iran. In 2021, approximately 10% of China’s oil imports were from Iran. Approximately 80% of China’s total imports from Iran are oil and the rest are mineral and chemical products. Because of this reliance on Iranian oil and gas, China is now investing in the modernization of Iran’s oil and gas sector to secure access to the resource. China considers Iran a permanent partner for its exports and a source of its growing energy demand.
China helped Iran militarily in the following areas: conducting training of high-level officials on advanced systems, providing technical support, supplying specialty steel for missile construction, providing control technology for missile development, and building a missile factory and test range. It is rumored that China is responsible for aiding in the development of advanced conventional weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, combat aircraft, radar systems, and fast-attack missile vessels.
It was not until the 1990s that the relationship between China and Iran came under close scrutiny by the United States. From this scrutiny, it became known that China was using North Korea to traffic arms during the Iran-Iraq war to avoid antagonizing the West, but later cut out the middle man. And then in 1986, Iran obtained Chinese-made anti-ship surface-to-surface missiles that posed a threat to Persian Gulf shipping. In possessing these missiles, Iran is able to control the Strait of Hormuz and all of the naval trade to and from the Gulf countries.
China and Iran held their first joint naval drill in 2017.
Since coming to office, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi in 2021 has pursued a “look east” policy to deepen ties with China and Russia. Tehran joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in September 2021. In January 2022, Iran, China, and Russia held their third joint naval drills in the northern Indian Ocean. The three countries started joint naval drills in 2019 in the Indian Ocean and the Sea of Oman area. The purpose of this drill is to strengthen security and its foundations in the region, and to expand multilateral cooperation between the three countries to jointly support world peace, maritime security, and create a maritime community with a common future. Iran relies on China’s membership, and especially Chinese veto power on the Security Council, to protect it from US-led sanctions.
China is known for its preference of diplomacy over sanctions. This tradition includes China’s (along with Russia’s) opposition to UN sanctions against Iran. In 1980, China refused to support the UN arms embargo against Iran and further abstained from voting on US sanctions against Iran. China’s top diplomat has said that a Chinese-mediated detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia was driving a “wave of reconciliation” in the Middle East and pledged to firmly support Tehran on “issues concerning core interests”. The surprise detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia, brokered by China in March, followed years of bitter rivalry that had destabilized several Middle Eastern countries, including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Bahrain.
Iran
Officials in Tehran and Riyadh have said the two countries’ deteriorating relations with the United States was one of the main reasons for their shift in policy. Iran’s Leader Khamenei wanted to end the political and economic isolation pushed by the US after it withdrew from a landmark deal curbing Tehran’s nuclear program, and saw new relations with Saudi Arabia as a way to do so.
Saudi Arabia had, meanwhile, lost confidence in any US commitment to shared regional security concerns and wanted to bolster ties with China, which has retained good relations with Iran.
Since the detente, the two countries have moved towards reopening diplomatic missions in each other’s countries and MBS has accepted an invitation from Amir-Abdollahian to visit Tehran.
In January 2024, Iran became the latest member to join BRICS.
Iran is a target for the Rockefeller Empire due to several reasons.
- First is its oil and gas reserves.
- Second, is the possibility for the two networks to create friction between the Gulf Arabs and Iran – using religion.
- Third is the possibility of cutting China’s supply of oil and gas, thus bringing China to heel, and under control of Wall Street.
- Fourth is the possibility of destabilizing the soft southern underbelly of Russia.
- Lastly, it can checkmate Turkey, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Energy Resources
Proven oil reserves in Iran, according to its government, rank fourth largest in the world at around 200 billion barrels, approximately, as of 2013 This is roughly 10% of the world’s total proven petroleum reserves. According to NIOC, Iran recoverable liquid hydrocarbon reserves at the end of 2006 were 138.4 billion barrels.
Iran has more than a century of history in exploration and production; the first successful exploration well was Masjid Suleiman on May 26, 1908. Since then, 145 hydrocarbon fields and 297 oil and gas reservoirs have been discovered in Iran, with many fields having multiple pay zones. A total of 102 fields are oil and the remaining 43 are gas, and there are 205 oil reservoirs and 92 natural gas reservoirs. According to Iran Energy Balance Sheet (2009), 78 of these fields are currently active, with 62 onshore and 16 offshore, leaving 67 fields inactive at present. Some 23 hydrocarbon fields lie in border areas and are shared between Iran and adjacent countries, including Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan. Many of these fields are “super-giants”. A few examples are Ahvaz (65 billion), Marun (46 billion), Aghajari (30 billion), Gachsaran (52 billion) and Karanj (11 billion). These five fields-alone – holds 204 billion barrels of oil.
Compare this to the hype we have been reading over the past few years about the oil off-shore Guyana, operated by Exxon. These fields’ hold 11 billion barrels of oil; and are currently producing about 800,000 bpd. That’s an extraction rate of 3 % annually. Were just these 5 Iranian fields pumping oil at the same rate as Guyana off-shore, then these fields could generate production of 15(fifteen) m bpd! Iran’s total oil production stands at about 2.5 m bpd. The cost of extraction in Iran is about $2 per barrel, while in Guyana it stands at about $15-20 per barrel.
Iranian production peaked at 6 million barrels per day in 1977, but it has been unable to produce at that rate since the 1979 Iranian Revolution due to a combination of political unrest, war with Iraq, limited investment, US sanctions, and a high rate of natural decline.
Iran, with 33 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves, ranks second globally after Russia. Its annual gas production is 260 billion cubic meters. This is a 1% extraction rate. Were it to extract at a 3% rate, there Iran would be producing some 1 trillion cubic meters of gas, (or about 3 bcm per day or 70 million tons) annually- making Iran the largest gas producer on earth. Now, compare it to Qatar which procures 180 bcm annually (equal to 126 million tons).
Iran oil reserves at the beginning of 2001 were reported to be about 99 billion barrels; however in 2002 the result of NIOC’s study showed huge reserves upgrade adding about 31.7 billion barrels of recoverable reserves to the Iranian oil reserves. Since then, more fields have been discovered , adding billions more to reserves of both oil and gas In addition to the large reserves, Iran still has huge potential for new significant gas discoveries: areas like Caspian Sea, North East, Central Kavir in Fars province up to the Strait of Hormuz and Central Persian Gulf, have considerable amount of undiscovered gas resources. According to Exploration Directorate of NIOC, there are about 150 unexplored anticlines in Iran. Iran’s oil and gas riches is what makes David Rockefeller’s mouth salivate.
The Iran-Russia-China Strategic Triangle
The developing economic, political and military links binding Iran, China and Russia-the emerging Golden Triangle in Eurasia, are continuing to deepen in significant areas. At present, the dynamic of the past several years of closer cooperation by the three pivotal states of the Eurasian Heartland is gaining strategic momentum.
In brief, we have a deepening of military defense links between the three points of the emerging Eurasian Triangle. This will have huge consequences, not merely for stabilization of Syria and Iraq in the Middle East. It will also give a major boost to the emerging economic links between the three great powers of the Eurasian Heartland.
Halford J. Mackinder, the father of British geopolitics variously called Russia the Heartland Power; suggested China might equally play the geographic and political role of Russia as the Eurasian Heartland Power. Today, given the enormous growth since 1943 of the geopolitical importance of the Persian Gulf oil and gas-producing nations for the world economy, the bonding together of Iran to China and to Russia forms a new Heartland Power, to stay with the designation of Mackinder.
The added element since 2013 is the initiative of China President Xi Jinping to crisscross all Eurasia and even South Asia with what he calls Chinas One Belt, One Road infrastructure, or the BRI. Both China and Russia have formally agreed to coordinate in this multi-trillion dollar vast infrastructure project to link entire new emerging markets of Central Asia, Iran and potentially Turkey to a coherent high-speed rail and maritime port network that within the end of this decade will already begin to transform the economic worth of the entire Eurasia.
Chinas One Belt, One Bridge, sometimes referred to as her New Economic Silk Road, is a brilliant geopolitical, economic, military and cultural project. It will enable the member nations to be far more shielded from USA Naval power to interdict vital goods trade by sea from Europe or the Middle East that must pass through the US-patrolled Strait of Malacca. As well, while Washington and Brussels impose economic sanctions on Russian trade with Europe, the Ukrainian crisis forced a far more serious Russian pivot to the East, notably to China.
What has emerged since the crisis created for Russia in Ukraine, is a strategic cooperation between the three major powers Iran, China and Russia, what Zbigniew Brzezinski described in his 1997 book, The Grand Chessboard, wrote as the” largest geopolitical challenge” facing continued Sole Superpower supremacy of the United States following Washington’s’ destruction of the Soviet Union in 1989-91.
For the Eurasian cohesion under the China OBOR infrastructure developments, Iran is strategic. Not only is China a major buyer of Iranian oil, it is also Iran’s’ largest export customer. But Iran is also vital to Chinas vision to create entirely new manufacturing and logistics centers or hubs in Central Asia and Europe. China has a keen interest in Iran’s geostrategic location, bordering both the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. The location enables China to carry out the BRI agenda. The new Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan to China rail line will transform the entire economic significance of the vast Central Asian region.
Everywhere we go today across Eurasia, from the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea to Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and on to China, there is a process underway for the first time since the original Silk Road era of more than two thousand years ago, of building up an entire new economic space, the Eurasian Heartland. Were the Turkish government to join the BRI project wholeheartedly, the potentials for a Eurasian transformation would become enormous. It remains to be seen what the US will do or not do to try to destroy this beautiful Eurasian build up.
America
What is America most afraid of right now? The United States has set fires everywhere and provoked conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, which shows that it is not afraid of Russia, and provoking the Taiwan Strait without a bottom line shows that it is not afraid of China. The perennial sanctions show that it is not afraid of Iran. However, if the three countries unite and form an iron triangle relationship, do you think the United States is afraid of it?
The American grand strategist Brzezinski has long said that Russia, China and Iran will join forces to form the largest force connecting Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and it will be the only force that can end American hegemony. The United States will gradually return to its true colors. , a remote island nation outside Eurasia.
Just as Brzezinski successfully predicted the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the solid Russia-China-Iran triangle has also become a reality.
Sometimes profound tectonic shifts in the global politics arise from the least noticed events.
The formal inclusion of Iran into China’s New Economic Silk Road project is “a giant positive step.” it will allow Tehran to “break years of economic isolation” and will open doors to the region’s economic development. The lifting of economic sanctions from Iran provides trade opportunities for regional countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Russia, and Central Asian Countries particularly, Tajikistan. The trade activity will generate billions of dollars not only for oil rich Iran but also for the countries having close economic relations with Iran. The countries would rather create a mutually beneficial triple alliance, a future cornerstone of a unified Eurasia. We’re seeing the emergence of a true Eurasian Golden Triangle with China, Russia and Iran as the three key points. With the stated plan to route the Silk Road rail infrastructure to assist the mining of new gold for currency backing of the Eurasian member states, including now Iran with its significant own unexploited gold, the hyper-inflated, debt-bloated dollar system is gaining a formidable positive alternative, one committed to peace and development. In the new world order, a triangle consisting of three powers – Iran, Russia, and China – has formed in Asia. This new arrangement heralds the end of the inequitable hegemony of the United States and the West. “Looking East”, will help Iran’s development and strengthen it against Western powers, particularly the United States.
What the United States did not want to see happened, happened, at the beginning of 2024 – the SCO summit was officially held, and five new partners were ushered in. At this summit, the heads of state signed a memorandum on the obligations of Iran to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and Iran will officially become a member. The current international situation is turbulent. The United States dominates the world, arrogant and indomitable, which is incompatible with the current trend of multi-polarization. And the ever-expanding SCO is definitely a clear stream. A continuing program of Chinese-Iranian-Russian collective maritime security cooperation poses a challenge to existing U.S.-led initiatives in the Gulf Region. If the joint military drills by Iran, Russia, and China signal a nascent maritime cooperative entity in the making, it could create another vector for naval competition between the United States and China in the Indian Ocean.
There has been recent news of threats from Washington regarding Iran. The problem is that America is in no condition to attack Iran, for it will lose badly.
Saudi Arabia
Ever since 1929, Saudi Arabia and the Rockefeller Empire enjoyed close relations. The original union between these two came about due to British (Rothschild) moves against the Saudi clan in 1929, when Britain backed Jordan in its border disputes with the Al Saud clan. This informal friendship gained strength in 1945, when oil for security agreement was born between America and Saudi Arabia. There have been ups and downs in the relationship over the decades. With the coming to power of MBS, the equation changed. The relationship turned hostile.
The problems between Iran and Saudi Arabia began in September 1980, when Saddam Hussein was misled into attacking Iran. Prior to this, relations between Iran and the Gulf Arabs were good. The war changed this relationship. Things went downhill from there. The Syrian regime change operation along with the war in Yemen did not help either.
It was with the advent of the Ukraine war that the equation changed. Putin knew very well that the 2 families were intent on blowing up the Middle East. To neutralize this, it was important to leave “no gap” in the region for Israel and the US to exploit.
In 2017, with the formation of OPEC+, Putin went on a charm offensive with MBS. One of the results of this was a change in mentors for MBS, from MBZ of Abu Dhabi to Putin in Moscow. MBS got educated real fast on the global geopolitical equation, and realized the long-term danger that a rift between Iran and the Gulf Arabs posed to the region. MBS wants to develop his nation, not wage war on his neighbors. The 7 year long Yemen war cost Abu Dhabi and Riyadh some $500 billion. This was money better spent at home. Many secret meetings were conducted between Teheran/Moscow, Riyadh/Moscow and Moscow/Beijing. The culmination of these meeting was a truce signed between Iran and Saudi Arabia, in March 2023. And brokered by China. This, of course, infuriated Israel and the US. There would be no more chance to play the “divide-and-rule” game anymore, in order to have an excuse to stay in the region anymore. There goes the chance to sell more arms to the Gulf Arabs, as the regional threat is over. Under the pressure of sanctions since 2018, Iran has refused to back down in the face of rapidly escalating tensions with the United States, its confidence bolstered in large part by continued economic support from China and Russia.
In light of tensions in the Gulf Region, the joint naval drills provided a symbolic military and political show of support from Russia and China for Iran—and also reflected a strategic alignment in the making between the three countries, with an aim to protect their shared strategic interests in the Indian Ocean. Such a powerful trio would be able to exercise greater influence in the Middle East, and would present a challenge to the U.S-led maritime coalition force. A growing naval competition in the troubled waters of the Indian Ocean between the United States and China could be seen in the near future.
Game Plan of the 3 Musketeers
The architect of asymmetric warfare is Putin- Eurasia’s grand chess master, and a former head of Russian intelligence. He thinks many moves ahead.
In conjunction with Xi of China, these two worked and game-planned a series of moves that will cripple and eliminate the influence of these 2 families, and their expansive networks of power. Although the timing of the Hamas operation took them by surprise, the principle and some of the strategy and tactics were known to these 2.
With the hate-filled reaction of Israel, and the world recoiling in horror at the genocide done by Israel, the plan they worked out began to unfold. The key to this is strategic patience and zero emotion.
Putin told MBS that the US is looking for the 1st chance to remove MBS from equation, so keep quiet and continue with the statement to the Israelis , that , “ you will sign the Abrahamic Accords, PROVIDED Palestine can have a state”. And, to the Americans: “Yes, I will sign the Abrahamic Accords, but provide me with nuclear arms and a civilian nuclear program”.
Many critics in the Muslim/Arab world are making a noise about the help provided by Saudi Arabia to Israel, in terms of allowing a “land bridge” from Dubai to Israel, via Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Most of these do not understand geopolitics. They see the surface picture only. What they don’t realize is that MBS, as per Putin’s guidance, is playing it very carefully, by not appearing to be hostile to Israel or America. With these assurances given to both Israel and the US, MBS has stumped them. MBS is NOT saying no, but with these, all the 3 musketeers know full well that these 2 families will not accept these terms. That leaves MBS safe for the moment.
The next issue is BRICS. As of writing (April 20th), MBS has not signed the papers officially making Saudi Arabia a member of BRICS. I personally believe that he is waiting for the right time, under Putin’s suggestion. By the actions of Hamas, the US, Israel and the Rothschild’s EU will get even more stretched militarily, economically and financially. The aim of these 3 is to weaken the 2 networks over time, and eventually box them into a corner. They either fight or withdraw from the Middle East. If they fight, they will lose. If they don’t fight, they will lose. If they withdraw, they will lose. And, when any of these options take place, then America’s next step would be to initiate the “Fortress America” plan; followed by the ICE NINE scenario and implementation of the CBDC nightmare.
The Ground Realities
Today is 207 days of the war in Gaza. A quick review of what’s happening on the many fronts. In mid-February, all the leaders of the various Resistance fronts have now moved onto phase 2 of the operation. Since then, the intensity of attacks has increased.
An updated map of who is bombing who in the Middle East.
On the Gaza front, especially around Gaza City and Khan Younis, there is intense fighting going on, with the Israelis taking massive losses in men and equipment. So much so that in the past month, Israel has been withdrawing its forces from Gaza. They are unable to stand these losses. Even with a mercenary force from 20 countries, numbering some 20,000, Israel is still unable to achieve any of its objectives. They have been defeated by a “street gang”!
Analysts estimate that Israeli losses in Gaza from Oct 7th till end-March is around 10,000 KIA and about 25,000 wounded. Add to this between 200-300 + soldiers (Israeli, US, British and others) captured. These numbers are estimates and CANNOT be VERIFIED at time of writing. These loses are in the southern front. Hamas has mentioned that they hold 30 Shin Bet and IDF officers as POWs. These were captured on the first day of the war.
On the Lebanese border, Hezbollah has increased the number of daily attacks. These are targeting military bases, troops, barracks and equipment. In addition, many towns – occupied by the military- have been destroyed. New weapon systems are being introduced into the battle field every week. These weapons, missiles, rockets are increasing precise and more destructive. The Israeli military is taking many casualties, but these losses are very heavily censored. The wounded are in the thousands, while KIA’s are running just as high. About 20,000 wounded and KIA may be about another 25 % of this wounded, say another 5,000 KIA. These losses are in the northern front.
The Israeli Occupation Force aka the IOF, is an expert on killing women, children, babies and civilians, but are useless against real men, especially the Resistance and Hezbollah fighters. The Iraqi Resistance is also increasing its attacks on most US bases in Iraq and Syria. Every other day, they lob off some missiles, drones and rockets to various strategic military targets in Israel. They have stated that their goal is to shut down maritime access to Israel via the Mediterranean, by targeting Haifa. Even the Palestinian groups within Syria have begun attacking Israeli military in the Golan Heights.
The Ansar Allah (aka the Houthis), have also stayed the course. Several ships have been targeted, including an American, German, British and French war ship. The US, British and French navies tried to break the Houthi blockade by escorting two Western ships. After the Houthis fired off a salvo of ballistic anti-ship missiles, the 2 ships made a U-turn. In short, the US Navy was defeated. Seeing this, ALL the western shipping companies have refused to take a chance. This is another blow to globalization, which built up this model on “just-in-time” supply chains – which are breaking down fast. Houthi attacks on British, American, Israeli ships, and war ships belonging to the US, Britain and France are becoming a daily occurrence. In addition, the Houthis are targeting Israeli/British/French/American ships in the Indian Ocean- in order to block them going around South Africa. In short, the Houthis are trying to cut off access to the East by these attacks.
On the 20th March, the Houthis sent a group to Moscow for meetings. It was during their Moscow stay that the Houthis hit an American merchant ship as well as a warship. Prior to this, they fired many “warning shots”, but not this time. Putin has sent a message to the 2 families. Since then, even more commercial ships and warships of the US and Britain have been hit by Yemen’s ballistic missiles. Casualties are high amongst the US coalition, but as usual, very heavily censored. There were reports that an American fighter jet was hit, but not sure if it crashed into the sea or not. There have been deaths on US bases in the region, with Biden making threatening noises. But, there is nothing much the US can do at this state, for if they escalate, Iran will destroy every US military base in the region. America will lose. In fact, Sullivan went and met with Wang, China’s Foreign Minister to plead with him to intervene with Iran. The message was, “Please inform Iran to tell the Houthis to stop hitting ships and Israel”, and further “please inform the Iraqi Resistance to stop attacking our bases and killing Americans”. What the 2 families and its networks fail to understand that it is not Iranians but Arabs who are supporting Gaza. All the non-state actors hitting Israel are Arabs! Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Gaza are all Arabs!
It was reported that the US offered through the Swiss embassy to Iran, to strike one of their sites but Iran should not retaliate. This would allow the US to save face. The US sent multiple messages to Iran over the past few days via third parties. Washington’s messages said that it did not want an open war and warned that expanding the war would be met with force by the US. All were rejected. Teheran rejected Washington’s threats and said it did not want war, but targeting its territory is a red line, and crossing the red line would be met with an appropriate response.
The US has released $10 billion of Iran’s funds that are owed by South Korea. In addition, the US has informed the Houthis that they would make a permanent peace treaty with Saudi Arabia stick, plus will not attack Yemen, and will remove the Houthis from the terror list. Finally, the US will remove the blockade of humanitarian aid going into Yemen. And, for sweeteners, the West will help fund reconstruction. Yemen and the Houthis told the US to “have a nice day”, but that they won’t stop until the genocide in Gaza stops. So, the US and the Rothschilds are stumped!
The entire Global South is watching this spectacle and having a great laugh. How the mighty have fallen! This, alone, goes to show that the US has lost its ability to influence events to its liking – truly a humiliating spectacle.
We can conclude this article by saying that the US is shown to the world to be nothing but a “paper tiger”. And so are the military capacities of the combined NATO. Putin, Xi, Iran and MBS, in conjunction with its allies, have now embarked on a policy of “wearing down” the US, militarily, economically and financially. The East is fighting back without going to extremes- the policy of gradual escalation and escalation dominance. Our next article is titled “THE Covert War Between Iran & Israel” . Stay tuned till then.
