Category Archives: Geopolitics

Russia Confirms BRICS Will Create A Gold-Backed Currency

The news regarding the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) implementing their plan to create a new international currency has gained momentum. The currency will be backed by gold, as announced on July 7, 2023.

In a recent meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, the foreign ministers of the BRICS countries, along with representatives from more than twelve nations, emphasized their intention to establish an international trading currency.

This undertaking, involving countries representing around 40 percent of the global population and a combined economic output comparable to that of the United States, has the potential for significant consequences.

Additionally, several other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iran, Algeria, Argentina, and Kazakhstan, have expressed interest in joining the BRICS alliance.

The main objective of the BRICS countries is to decrease their economic and political reliance on the US dollar, challenging the influence of the US dollar on the global stage. They aim to introduce a new international currency for commercial and financial transactions, replacing the US dollar as the standard means of transaction.

The motivation behind this initiative is clear. The US administration has frequently used the US dollar as a “geopolitical weapon” and engaged in what some refer to as “financial warfare.” Through sanctions and cutting off access to the US dollar capital market and international payment systems, the US has exerted control over enemy nations.

These actions have raised concerns in many non-Western countries, highlighting the political risks associated with holding US dollars. As a result, these countries have started restructuring their foreign reserves by reducing US dollar holdings, diversifying into other currencies, and increasing their gold reserves.

According to the search results, the latest data on gold holdings of BRICS member countries is as follows:

  • The BRICS countries have a combined gold reserves of 5,452.7 tons as of the first quarter of 2023, with a market value of around 350 billion US dollars.
  • China has quadrupled its gold reserves over the past twenty years, and Russia announced in March 2022 that they were linking the ruble to gold at five thousand rubles per gram and requiring payment for their exports in rubles.
  • Several sources suggest that the BRICS countries are exploring the possibility of a gold-backed currency, with a more specific framework potentially being announced during the BRICS summit in South Africa.
  • In addition, there have been reports of the BRICS countries mulling the formation of a single gold trade system.
  • While the BRICS countries are the second largest owner of gold reserves after the US, it’s unclear whether they have increased their gold holdings in recent years or if there have been any significant changes in their gold reserves.

While specific details about the structure of the new BRICS currency are not yet available, it is worth speculating on potential scenarios. One possibility is the establishment of a new bank, the “BRICS Bank,” funded by gold deposits from central banks within the BRICS alliance. The physical gold holdings would be recorded as assets on the balance sheet of the BRICS Bank and could be denominated as “BRICS gold,” with each unit representing one gram of physical gold.

The BRICS Bank could then provide loans denominated in BRICS gold to exporters and importers. These loans would be funded through credit contracts with holders of BRICS gold, who would transfer their deposits to the BRICS Bank for a designated period in exchange for interest. The BRICS Bank could also accept additional gold deposits from international investors, allowing them to hold interest-bearing BRICS gold deposits.

BRICS gold could potentially serve as international money, an internationally recognized unit of account in global trade and financial transactions. This new de facto gold currency could exist solely as an accounting unit and be redeemable on demand, without the need for physical minting.

However, the successful transition to using BRICS gold as an international trade and transaction currency would likely have significant consequences:

  1. The demand for gold would likely increase sharply, impacting gold prices not only in US dollars and euros but also in the currencies of the BRICS countries.
  2. The surge in gold prices would devalue the purchasing power of official currencies, including the US dollar and the BRICS currencies. Prices of goods denominated in these currencies would likely skyrocket, leading to a depreciation of all existing fiat currencies.
  3. The BRICS countries would accumulate gold reserves, particularly if they maintain trade surpluses. They would be the primary beneficiaries of this currency shift, while countries with trade deficits, particularly the US, would face losses.

The aforementioned points demonstrate the potential disruptive nature of the proposal to create a new international trading currency backed by gold.

The actions taken by the BRICS countries could have a profound impact on the global economic and financial framework, resembling a landslide in terms of changes.

It remains intriguing to observe the approach that the BRICS nations will adopt during their meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, scheduled for August 22-24.

Iran Becomes the 9th Member of Shanghai Cooperation Organization

The addition of Iran as the ninth full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), an influential security and trade alliance, has been welcomed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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China’s Bold Move: Unveiling the Game-Changing Foreign Relations Law that Defies Hegemony

The legislation recently approved in Beijing aims to restore the principles of equality and fairness among all nations, bringing back a system governed by the rule of law.

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Exposing the CIA Connection in the ‘Chinese Police Station’ Narrative

For months, mainstream media across the Western world – in particular English-language outlets based in the constituent members of the ‘Five Eyes’ global spying network – have been rabidly awash with terrifying news of secret “Chinese police stations” operating the world over.

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What Happens in Russia After The Longest Day?

Following Wagner’s ‘rebellion’ – which was nothing more than a blatant coup attempt, and a PR stunt demonstrated by Prighozin’s top-notch theatrics – NATO and the Collective West’s excitement over the possibility of Russia descending into chaos and civil war were quickly turned into utter disappointment.

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The Ukrainian Army is Run Not by the Generals But by the PR Department

What can you expect from a government headed by a comic actor named Zelensky? We see the answer to that question day by day in the way the Ukrainian armed forces are carrying out their much-anticipated spring counter-offensive: it is being stage managed by the Public Relations team with scant regard for their cannon fodder army.

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Syria and Saudi Arabia Reopen Embassies

The move comes just days after Damascus was reinstated to the Arab League, following a decade-long suspension.

Syria and Saudi Arabia have agreed to resume diplomatic relations nearly 10 years after cutting ties, both countries have announced. 

The move marks yet another rapprochement between Riyadh and its former foes, after the Gulf kingdom also restored diplomacy with Iran under a deal brokered by China.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry confirmed the decision in a statement on Tuesday, saying the renewed diplomacy would strengthen “bilateral relations between Arab countries to serve joint Arab action.”

“Based on the deep bonds and common affiliation of the peoples of the Syrian Arab Republic and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the embodiment of the aspirations of the peoples of the two countries …The Syrian Arab Republic decided to resume the work of its diplomatic mission in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the ministry said.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry issued a similar notice on Tuesday, stressing “the brotherhood ties that unite the peoples of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Syrian Arab Republic.” While neither country specified when they would reopen their respective embassies, the kingdom added that the move would “enhance security and stability in the region.”

Riyadh initially broke relations with Damascus in 2012, not long after the Syrian war kicked off, during which Saudi Arabia supplied millions of dollars in weapons and gear to jihadist rebel factions seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Saudi officials were among the first to condemn Assad’s handling of anti-government protests at the time, later shuttering the Saudi embassy in Syria and expelling the Syrian ambassador.

However, following a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran mediated by China in March, the region has seen renewed efforts to mend ties between former adversaries, with the United Arab Emirates also voicing willingness to improve relations with Syria. Tehran and Riyadh have also taken steps to end the conflict in Yemen, which has raged since 2015, taking a devastating toll on Yemeni civilians.

On Sunday, the 22-member Arab League agreed to lift Syria’s 12-year suspension from the organization, yet another step toward reconciliation. That decision followed a high-level meeting in Amman between Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, where all parties agreed to improve cooperation on combating terrorism and pledged to “support Syria and its institutions to establish control over all of its territory and impose the rule of law.”

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ICC’s Putin Arrest Warrant Based on State Dept-funded Report that Debunked Itself

On March 17, the Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, introduced an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Llova-Belova.

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EDCA Camps are US ‘Platforms for War,’ Chinese Missiles’ Targets | Duterte

RODRIGO Duterte hasn’t lost his penchant for telling it like it is, even beating this professional writer in crafting a precise, vivid term for our military camps that the former president Benigno Aquino 3rd and incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. are allowing the US armed forces to use whenever they please, especially in a war with China.

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France Blocked for 4 Years: Macron Has Just Deliberately Destroyed His Constitutional Authority

The crisis that France is going through today is not just another episode in an eternally agitated country. It is about a deep crisis of mode which will be solved only with the beginning of a new society. The country will go through several years of blockage, before embarking on a complete transformation, a revolution that will last at least a generation.

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How the China-brokered Saudi-Iran Deal will Change the Middle East

Last week, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced a landmark deal, brokered by China in Beijing, to formally restore diplomatic relations. The agreement saw the two sectarian arch rivals in the Middle East agree to put aside their differences and to normalize ties.

It was the first ever deal of its kind overseen by China, framing itself as a peacemaker, and showing that its commitment to have good relations with every country in the region is not just based on rhetoric but actual substance. Some have described it as a sign of a “changing global order.”

To put it mildly, it is bad news for the United States and deals a massive blow to the near-unlimited geopolitical sway Washington has long held over the region via its strategic relationships with countries such as Saudi Arabia.

Additionally, it effectively ruins a US led campaign to pressurize and isolate Iran and hinders American efforts to shape regional politics in Israel’s favor via the Abraham Accords. It is no surprise that the Western media is calling the Chinese-brokered deal a “challenge” to the international order, but what order is that? The ability of the US to dominate the Middle East? Perhaps brokering peace is a good thing.

US foreign policy in the Middle East

Since the decline of European colonial empires, the United States has been the sole military hegemon in the Middle East, using a network of partnerships from Israel to the Gulf States to sustain domination over the region and allowing the US to exploit its energy resources. In order to maintain this position, the US has long needed adversaries in order to perpetuate an ongoing security dilemma and force reliance on it as a security guarantor, which is also beneficial to the US military industrial complex. These policies have accumulated decades worth of wars, insurgencies and attempts at regime change.

Detractors to the US agenda have included revolutionary Arabist regimes, such as Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and Bashar Assad’s Syria, terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS, and of course the post-1979 Islamic Republic of Iran. It was after the US gave up on its botched attempt to topple Assad that policymakers in the Trump administration decided to focus on Tehran, tearing up US participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and imposing a crippling sanctions regime. In retaliation, Iran has waged a series of proxy conflicts against US partners in the region, most notably assisting the Houthis in Yemen against the Saudi-backed government, which has overseen the carpet-bombing of occupied regions.

China’s policy in the Middle East

Unlike the United States, China’s policy in the Middle East is non-interventionist, and assumes a neutral posture in regional conflicts, taking a position of respect for national sovereignty. However, this does not mean Beijing has no interests in the region. As it grows and develops domestically, its need for secure access to energy resources has increased, leading it on a diplomatic push to build good relations with every country in the region, and this has only accelerated as the US has pushed to isolate China from the West. Despite the intra-regional power struggle, in the past two years, Beijing announced strategic partnerships with both Iran and the Gulf States.

Multipolarity

Because China did not have the same military footprint or stakes in the Middle East as the US, many analysts were dismissive of Beijing’s ability to seriously act as a diplomatic mediator in the region. They believed that its attempts to build good ties with everyone were spread too thin. However, the Saudi-Iran deal shows this assumption was wrong. But how did it happen? 

First, it should be noted that the Gulf States are not “value” allies to the US in the way European countries are, and not “morally obligated” to follow the American cause. Rather, they are self-interested monarchies with very different ideological and value systems (strict Wahhabi Islam) and have seen the US as a “patron” in guaranteeing their economic and security interests (oil for weapons). This is not a “marriage”, just business.

It should be understood that the world has changed in ways which now lead these states to perceive that unparalleled US dominance, which is its unequivocal foreign policy goal, is no longer in their best interests. They have found a new, bigger partner in Beijing who not only can buy more of their oil, but also doesn’t have a foreign policy doctrine premised on evangelizing its ideology or creating war throughout the region. As such, when the US delivered an ultimatum to the United Arab Emirates that they will block the export of F-35s if they don’t drop Huawei from their 5G networks, Abu Dhabi told Washington where to go.

While this shift was already underway by 2022, events last year exacerbated it further as the Gulf States suddenly found the US demanding that they take sides in a war – in Ukraine – which did not concern them, and worse still, demanding that they compromise their own economic interests to suit its sanctions agenda.

The US fell out with OPEC, and Saudi Arabia publicly rebuffed its demands to increase oil production. Meanwhile, the events of that year also emboldened Iran, who was not being swayed by US pressure, while the return of Benjamin Netanyahu to power in Israel exacerbated Arab-Israeli tensions, damaging the US backed Abraham Accords, and hindering Saudi Arabia’s willingness to normalize with Israel.

These events have ultimately created the political space for a diplomatic reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, backed by China. It’s a massive blow to American interests as it is the first major Middle East deal brokered without Washington’s influence, and subsequently dilutes its policy of creating a perpetual war machine in order to legitimize its footprint in the region and its clout over Arab States.

It also shows that the US campaign to try and isolate and crush Iran has failed, and that the United States no longer holds the power it once did to isolate countries. If the US is wise, it should use this development to rethink its approach to the Middle East, but if other policies are anything to go by, the Washington circle is likely to continue to think every problem is a nail, and more hammers are needed.

Timur Fomenko, a political analyst .

Putin’s ‘Civilizational’ Speech Frames Conflict Between East and West

In his Federal Assembly address, President Putin emphasized that Russia is not only an independent nation-state but also a distinct civilization with its own identity, which is in conflict and actively opposes the values of ‘western civilization.’

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US Militarization of The Philippines Has Begun

FILIPINOS have short memories indeed. Suppose one looks and closely examines most, if not all, of the country’s perpetual problems, which are recurrent precisely because we have short memories. We are not learning lessons from our historical experience as a country. We never learn from our history, which should have been our best teacher.

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The Hunter Biden + Ihor Kolomoïsky affair

The Biden Administration is finally reacting to the scandals that have arisen from the computer of the president’s son, Hunter Biden. This loser, whose only known activities are those of a junkie and a pimp, managed to become the director of a large gas company; a job he knows nothing about.

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Volodymyr Zelensky and Ethnopolitics

President Zelensky has just been named by Time magazine “politician of the year 2022”. It is not to have realized his coup de force of July, in favor of the war. He had all the political parties that opposed him banned; assassinated the personalities who resisted him; controlled all the media, written, audiovisual and internet; banned the Russian language;

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