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Above image. Nothing quite captures the rot inside the United States today than the very foundations of New York City.
Calm cool, accurate, and easy to read. Here’s the reality as we move forward in January 2022.
From Strategic Culture…
Eamon McKinney
January 8, 2022
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In a world of chronic shortages China has realized that commodities hold more value than cash.
The current trade war with China began at the very outset of the Trump administration. Apparently alarmed at America’s dependence on Chinese goods, particularly the extent to which its defense industries are reliant on Chinese components and rare earths, Trump had a point but may have better served to speak softly about this vulnerability. He mentioned only two dependencies, there are thousands of products that America relies on China exclusively for.
In moves that were simply anti-competitive practices he then launched in a “tech war” with China. Banning the sale of chips and semi-conductors, along with bans on Chinese 5G and Huawei the global leader in particular. Not content with that the U.S. launched a global push to pressure its “allies’ to also ban Huawei and its state of the art 5G technology. Not to be taken in isolation, the tech war was just part of an overall strategy to damage and restrain China’s economy. “Decoupling” had arrived into the general lexicon.
To an extent the measures worked, the chip shortage caused a slowdown among many tech dependent sectors, but not for long. China has developed its domestic production at a pace not possible anywhere else. It has also convinced China that it needed to greatly accelerate its self-sufficiency across all sectors.
As it stands today, America has nothing that China needs that it can’t make or buy elsewhere. America conversely needs China desperately, without China’s goods the American economy grinds to a halt. The extent of that dependency has been highlighted by Americaэs ongoing supply chain chaos. Manufacturing, retail, construction and countless other industry sectors have stalled without Chinese goods. No country in the world is as dependent on imports as the U.S. Attempts to find alternatives to China are fruitless, no other country can match the efficiency, infrastructure, economies of scale and cost that China can. American manufacturing only accounts for 20% of the American economy, self-sufficiency for Americans is a fantasy, even in the best case scenario, it is generations away.
Long spoken of is “China’s nuclear option”, dumping its dollar holdings and rendering the dollar worthless. China doesn’t want to do that. Firstly the loss of a trillion of its own dollar holdings is not to be taken lightly, and it would also damage the holdings and economies of its other trading partners around the world. Such a move would be an absolute last resort. China’s real nuclear option is the withholding of essential goods to America.
China has all but monopolised the rare earth industries, now accounting for more than 85% of global production. Without rare earths Americas tech and defence sectors would be paralysed.
Curious how President Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, makgin American purchases of anything out of Xinjiang illegal.
Funny thing though... all of the Chiense "rare earth" minerals come from Xinjiang and are mostly mined by Uighurs.
Uh oh! (Head slap!)
All the seventeen critical rare earths are mined and refined in China in high volume. Some are mined in other countries in smaller volumes: developing alternative sources to China would a very lengthy process. For the foreseeable future, China decides who gets rare earths, and who doesn’t.
Unknown to many Americans the pharmaceutical industry is among the most heavily dependent of China. 80-85% of its products and precursors come from China, and there are currently few alternatives. I leave it to the reader’s imagination to visualize an America without medications, think Zombie apocalypse.
Some recent developments in China have given us a glimpse of the future. China is stockpiling food and other commodities at unprecedented levels. It is believed to hold more than half the world’s grain and maize already, other essential food stuffs are also being stockpiled at similar levels.
Iron ore, steel and other industrial raw materials are also being hoarded in previously unforeseen quantities. In a world of chronic shortages China has realised that commodities hold more value than cash.
More significantly, China just published a Governmental “White Paper.” It emphasises the need to conserve natural, finite resources (again think rare earths.) It also addresses the paradox that Trump was concerned about, why is China supplying parts to the U.S. military contractors? These among many other sectors will now require a “special export licence”. Read between the lines. China can apply these principles across any exported product it chooses. If they don’t like where it is headed, or what it will be used for, it isn’t going. Fertilisers, for which China accounts for about 30% of the world’s production are already banned from export. This is already forcing American many American farmers to switch from wheat to less fertiliser-intensive crops like soybeans.
China didn’t start or want this trade war, to date it is has been a one-sided assault on the Chinese economy by an increasingly desperate American government. China has not retaliated or employed any of the measures it could have in response, until now.
America now truly has its trade war, and more decoupling will follow, but from here on in, it will be on China’s terms.
Re–shoringmakesgoodeconomicsense,becauseitispossiblethatinthenearfuture,theonlypeoplewhowillacceptthe US dollararelikelyto only beotherAmericancompanies.
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Conclusion
You will not read about the collapse, the SHTF, or the various wars and brush fights in the American Government controlled media. But they are still going on. Here’s an insight as to what is going on.
Finance folk, bankers, accountants, and other FIRE industries have looted the United States, and gutted American society. It’s a big boated crusty shell with nothing but dust on the inside. Soon, very soon, there is going to be a mass realization of this reality.
It could be harsh, brash and catastrophic.
Or, it could be a serious of controlled implosions.
But it WILL HAPPEN.
There is no way out of this mess. None. The only thing that a person can do is hunker down in a smaller community away from the larger clusters of dependent citizenry, become active and involved in your respective communities, and be the Rufus; help others will no concern for personal profit.
I will advise you all to use all of the techniques provided on MM here to center your consciousness, and prepare.
Here’s a quick review…
Affirmation prayer campaigns.
Perform your Fate Forecasting, and monitor it closely.
Center your consciousness using Hemi-sync.
Conduct world-line travel and slides as necessary.
Be part of your community.
Be able to provide a service, or volunteer in your community.
Tune out the bullshit propaganda off the “news”.
Stock up your food larder. Have a garden.
Trade and barter with neighbors.
Ride a bicycle more often. Use the car less.
Surround yourself with cats, or dogs, or other animals.
Be kind. Be calm. Be neighborly.
Make your little area a bubble of kind softness. That way, no matter what changes hits your world, your little area will be mostly immune to them. Be great; be the Rufus.
I believe in you.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
Like, well for instance, the kinds of books that are being published these days inside of America.
Obliviously, the USA is not a very healthy place.
How and why do you think the United States is spending trillions of dollars it does not have, on trivialities such as social re-engineering, and wars in foreign lands? It’s because the USA has forced the world to conduct international trade using American and European banks. This system of banks is known as SWIFT and is the root behind all the trouble and problems plaguing the world today.
The system takes a million tiny bites out of every financial transaction in the world, and that money is used to finance the enormous American economy, and mindless, and uncontrolled spending.
Well, guess what?
Yep. This dominance of SWIFT is coming to an end. And the rest of the world is eagerly looking forward to it happening. And with it, will be the harsh slap of reality when the ACTUAL value, and the actual worth of American money settles in place.
Some predict a catastrophic collapse.
I don’t.
Instead, I see a swift contraction of all things financial, and the economy will follow suit. If it is managed by a talented and alert bureaucracy, then it will be managed well. Otherwise, it will be a frightening time, and a time where the most unreasonable notions will enter the minds of the American leadership.
But first, let’s review…
[1] America has no REAL democracy
It is instead an oligarchy of selfish and evil corporations that use the American people as cattle to serve them. video 9MB
[2] America Believes that it owns 1/3 of the world
The facts speak for you cannot deny this truth, and the rest of the world is mighty pissed off about it. video 8MB
[3] America is a Military Empire where war is an every-day event
And that might be just fine for blowing up mud huts, and strafing goats and sheep, but it’s really dangerous when the USA tries to bully the BIG players. And that is exactly what is going on. Not only with military threat but hybrid-war at all levels. This is pissing them off to no end. video 8MB
[4] Everyone is suffering because of these facts.
Maybe the ultra-rich are happy, and their enablers are, but the rest of the world is hurting, and it is manifesting in horrible scenes throughout the United States. video 6MB
[5] The wealthy has sucked America bone dry.
How can a nation that is willing to spend trillions of dollars destroying other nations cannot provide food, shelter and health care for it’s own citizens? What is wrong with the system? Because it is broken very, very badly. It is NOT worthy of saving. video 4.7MB
Let’s talk about changing the system…
Well, the wealthy oligarchy in America doesn’t want to change. So “outsiders” will need to force the changes themselves. Thus this…
Washington hawks float expelling Russia from SWIFT but Moscow’s budding geo-economic alliance with Beijing will keep the money flowing
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin spent an hour and 14 minutes in a video conversation on Wednesday. Geopolitically, paving the way for 2022, this is the one that really matters – much more than Putin-Biden a week ago.
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov, who generally carefully measures his words, had previously hinted that this exchange would be “extremely important.”
It was obvious the two leaders would not only exchange information about the natural gas pipeline Power of Siberia 2. But Peskov was referring to prime time geopolitics: how Russia-China would be coordinating their countercoups against the hybrid war/Cold War 2.0 combo deployed by the US and its allies.
While no substantial leaks were expected from the 37th meeting between Xi and Putin since 2013 (they will meet again in person in February 2022, at the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics), Assistant to the President for Foreign Policy Yuri Ushakov did manage to succinctly deliver at least two serious bits of information.
These are the highlights of the call:
Moscow will inform Beijing about the progress, or lack thereof, in negotiations with the US/NATO on security guarantees for Russia.
Beijing supports Moscow’s demands on US/NATO for these security guarantees.
Putin and Xi agreed to create an “independent financial structure for trade operations that could not be influenced by other countries.” Diplomatic sources, off the record, say the structure may be announced by a joint summit in late 2022.
They discussed the Biden-hosted “Summit for Democracy,” concluding it was counterproductive and imposed new dividing lines.
Of all of the above, the third point is the real game-changer – already in the works for a few years now, and gaining definitive momentum after Washington hawks of the Victoria “F**k the EU” Nuland kind recently floated the idea of expelling Russia from SWIFT – the vast messaging network used by banks and other financial institutions to make money transfer instructions – as the ultimate sanctions package for the non-invasion of Ukraine.
Putin and Xi once again discussed one of their key themes in bilaterals and BRICS meetings: the need to keep increasing the share of the yuan and ruble in mutual settlements – bypassing the US dollar – and opening new stock market avenues for Russian and Chinese investors.
Bypassing a SWIFT mechanism “influenced by third counties” then becomes a must. Ushakov diplomatically put it as “the need to intensify efforts to form an independent financial infrastructure to service trade operations between Russia and China.”
Russian energy businesses, from Gazprom to Rosneft, know all there is to know not only about US threats but also about the negative effects of the tsunami of US dollars flooding the global economy via the Fed’s quantitative easing.
This Russia-China drive is yet another dimension of geoeconomic, geostrategic and demographic power rapidly shifting towards Eurasia and possibly foreshadowing the advent of a new world system related to other matters Putin-Xi certainly discussed: the interconnection of Belt and Road with the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), the expanded reach of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the coming Chinese presidency of BRICS in 2022.
The US – with US$30 trillion in debt, 236% of its militarized GDP – is virtually bankrupt. Russia-China have already experimented with their alternative payment systems, which will inevitably integrate.
The most important banks in both countries will adopt the system – as well as banks across Eurasia doing business with them, and then vast swaths of the Global South. SWIFT, in the long run, will be used only in exceptional cases if China and Russia have their way.
Maidan redux
Now to the heart of the geopolitical puzzle.
Ushakov confirmed that the Russian Federation has submitted proposals on security guarantees to the US. As Putin himself had confirmed even before talking to Xi, it’s all about “indivisible security”: a mechanism that has been enshrined all across the territory of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe since a 1975 summit in Helsinki.
Predictably, under orders of the powers that be, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg already rejected it.
Both Xi and Putin clearly identify how Team Biden is deploying a strategic polarization gambit under good old divide-and-rule. The wishful thinking at play is to build a pro-American bloc – with participants ranging from the UK and Australia to Israel and Saudi Arabia – to “isolate” Russia-China.
That’s what’s behind the narrative thunderously splashed non-stop all across the West – to which Biden’s Summit for Democracy was also tied. Taiwan is being manipulated against Beijing while Ukraine is being literally weaponized against Russia. “China aggression” meets “Russian aggression.”
Beijing has not fallen into the trap but has asserted at different levels that Taiwan will eventually be integrated into the mainland motherland, without any ludicrous “invasion.” And the wishful thinking that massive American pressure will lead to cracks inside the Chinese Communist Party is also likely generating zero traction.
Ukraine is a much more volatile proposition: a dysfunctional nightmare of systemic instability, widespread corruption, shady oligarchic entanglements and poverty.
Washington still follows the Zbigniew Brzezinski-concocted Maidan plan laid out for cookie distributor Nuland in 2014. Yet seven years later, no American “strategist” managed to understand why Russia would fail to invade Ukraine, which has been part of Russia for centuries.
For these “strategists”, it’s imperative that Russia faces a second Vietnam, after Afghanistan in the 1980s. Well, it’s not going to happen because Moscow has no interest whatsoever in “invading” Ukraine.
It does get more complicated. The ultimate fear dictating all US foreign policy since the early 20th century is the possibility of Germany clinching a new version of Bismarck’s 1887 Reinsurance Treaty with Russia.
Add China to the combination and these three actors are able to control just about the entire Eurasian landmass. Updating Mackinder, the US would then be turned into a geopolitically irrelevant island.
Putin-Xi may have examined not only how the imperial hybrid war tactics against them are floundering against them, as well as how the tactics are dragging Europe further into the abyss of irrelevance.
“The EU has virtually ruptured its relations with both Russia and China – at the same time. Washington’s hawks wanted it. A ‘European Brzezinski’ certainly would have advised the EU differently: never lose both in tandem – you are never that powerful.”
No wonder the leadership in Moscow-Beijing can’t take anyone in Brussels seriously – be it assorted NATO chihuahuas or the spectacularly incompetent Ursula von der Leyen at the European Commission.
A faint ray of light is that Paris and Berlin, unlike the Russophobic Poland and the Baltic fringe, at least prefer having some sort of negotiation with Moscow over Ukraine as opposed to slapping on extra sanctions.
Now imagine Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explaining the ABCs of foreign policy to a clueless Annalena “Grune” Baerbock, now posing as German foreign minister while displaying a fresh mix of incompetence and aggressiveness. She actually placed the phone call.
Lavrov had to meticulously explain the consequences of NATO expansion; the Minsk agreement; and how Berlin should exercise its right to pressure Kiev to respect Minsk.
No leaks about it should be expected from Ushakov. But it’s fair to imagine that with “partners” like the US, NATO and the EU, Xi and Putin should conclude that China and Russia don’t even need enemies.
Big Big News
Next up is a second (!) excellent piece by Pepe Escobar giving details on the close collaboration between the Russian SPFSand the Chinese CIPS. It spells the doom for SWIFT.
SPFS = System for Transfert of Financial Messaging
CIPS = Cross-border Interbank Payment System
Not to mention the global geopolitical and geo-economical consequences examined in Escobar’s article.
Just to remind some relevant key moments :
1996
The Shanghai 5 created to solve some border problems & working together against terrorism. President Jiang Zemin & President Boris Yeltsine decided for cooperation in the post-Soviet space. Sergey Primakov played a key role.
The five are : China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan.
2000
President Vladimir Vladimirovitch Putin began to rule Russia.
2001
Uzbekistan joined and the group got a new name : Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) I also called “Sovereigns’ Coalition Organization.” Then, September 11, 2001 : 9-11 (NYC) occurred.
December 11, 2001
China is accepted into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
2007
Putin’s historic speech in Munich on American and NATO’s meddlings.
2010-2015
The CIA network in China decapitated. The endeavor started during the last 2 years of President Hu Jintao (2002-2012) and completed under President Xi Jinping.
2012
Iran excluded from using SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications).
November 2012
President Xi Jinping began to rule China
2013
Xi & Putin began their friendship and fruitful collaboration. Between 2013 and the last virtual Summit on December 15, 2021, they met 37 times (an average of ~ 4 times a year). They will meet again in February 2022 at the beginning of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
End of 2013
The Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) announced by President Xi Jinping first in Astana (for the Eurasian Landbridge) and in Jakarta (for the Maritime Silk Roads)
Feb 2014
The Maidan color revolution in Ukraine. Return of Crimea to Russia just after the Sochi Olympic Games.
2014
Leviathanesque gas deal between China & Russia.
February 2015
Minsk Accords between Kiev & the autonomous Republics of Donetz & Luhansk
Russia signed too as a witness.
July 2015
JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) signed by Iran, the US, Russia, China, the UK, France. and Germany. Iran can then use again the SWIFT system.
June 2017
India & Pakistan welcomed together at the historic Astana Summit into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization aka the Sovereigns’ Coalition Organization (SCO).
2018
Iran excluded a second time from the SWIFT system.
March 1st, 2018
Vladimir Putin announced to the world the new Russian weapons, including hypersonic missiles. (Avangard, Kinzhal, Poseidon, Burevestnik, Sarmat, etc.). Nuclear parity is restored.
Putin:"They did not listen to us then. Listen up now !"
March 26, 2018
The Petro-yuan was created at the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It was a Monday.
October 1st, 2019
Celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.
January 7, 2020
Iranian General Qasem Soleimani murdered on January 7 by the US government.
2020
The Common Prosperity Initiative started in China. It is a concept created by His Excellency State Councillor Mr. Wang Huning, advisor to Presidents Jiang Zemin (1989-2002), Hu Jintao & Xi Jinping.
November 2020
The Chinese government announced the end of extreme poverty in China.
July 2021
Celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
August 2021
China tested a hypersonic gliding vehicle.
August 15, 2021
Fall of Kabul. The invasion & occupation of Afghanistan by the US lasted practically 20 years. Named “Operation Enduring Freedom” started on October 7, 2001.
September 2021
Safe return to Earth of the 3 taikonauts after 3 months living in the Chinese Space Station Tian Gong (Heavenly Palace)
September 2021
Iran accepted as full member of the SCO at the historic Dushanbe Summit (Tajikistan).
October 2021
A second crew of 3 taikonauts reached the Chinese Space Station including the first Chinese female taikonauts Miss Wang. They should be back to Earth in April 2022.
December 2021 (second week)
Immensely fruitful Putin’s visit to India, concluding many deals with Modi,
contributing to Eurasian Integration.
December 15, 2021
During a virtual Summit (lasting one hour & fourteen minutes),, President Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping agreed to establish a financial platform independent of SWIFT. They confirmed closer collaboration within the framework of the already solid Sino-Russian Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for a New Era.
THE SCO (WITH AT ITS CORE RUSSIA & CHINA) IS THE ONLY GROUP ON EARTH HAVING THE UNWAVERING INTENTION, THE DETERMINATION, THE RESOURCES, THE BRAINS, THE STAMINA, THE ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS, THE PATIENCE, THE DIPLOMATIC NETWORK, THE WEAPONS AND THE QUALITY LEADERSHIP ENABLING THEM TO DEAL WITH THE EVIL & MADLY HUBRISTIC KFC-AZAEL (Kakistocratic Feudal Conglomerate of the Anglo-Zio-American EstabLishment) aka the PBGC (Psychopathic Barbarian Genocidal Crusaders) OR SIMPLY THE CRUSADERS.
In French, the KFC-AZAEL is called le CaCA. ("Kakistocratique" in French can also be written "Cacocratique"), hence le CaCA is for "le Caco-Conglomérat Anglo-Siono-Américain")
Putin and Xi plot their SWIFT escape
Russia and China’s announcement of an independent financial trading platform will free nations under US sanctions from western intrusion into their commercial activities.
Vladimir Putin got straight to the point. At the opening of his one hour and fourteen minute video conversation with Xi Jinping on 15 December, he described Russia-China relations as “an example of genuine inter-state cooperation in the 21st century.”
Their myriad levels of cooperation have been known for years now – from trade, oil and gas, finance, aerospace and the fight against Covid-19, to the progressive interconnection of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU).
But now the stage was set for the announcement of a serious counter-move in their carefully coordinated ballet opposing the relentless Hybrid War/Cold War 2.0 combo deployed by Empire.
As Assistant to the President for Foreign Policy Yuri Ushakov succinctly explained, Putin and Xi agreed to create an “independent financial structure for trade operations that could not be influenced by other countries.”
Diplomatic sources, off the record, confirmed the structure may be announced by a joint summit before the end of 2022.
This is a stunning game-changer in more ways than one. It had been extensively discussed in previous bilaterals and in preparations for BRICS summits – mostly centered on increasing the share of yuan and rubles in Russia-China settlements, bypassing the US dollar, and opening new stock market options for Russian and Chinese investors.
Now we’ve come to the crunch. And the catalyzing event was none other than US hawks floating the – financially nuclear – idea of expelling Russia from SWIFT, the messaging network used by 11,000+ banks in over 200 countries, as well as financial institutions, for rapid money transfers worldwide.
Cutting off Russia from SWIFT would be part of a harsh new sanctions package developed in response to an ‘invasion’ of Ukraine that will never happen – mainly because the only ones praying for it are professional NATO warmongers.
Profiting from a strategic blunder
Once again, an American strategic blunder offers the Russia-China self-described “comprehensive strategic partnership” the chance to advance their coordination.
Ushakov put it very diplomatically: it’s time to bypass a SWIFT mechanism “influenced by third countries” to form “an independent financial structure.”
That amounts to a serious game-changer for the entire Global South – as scores of nations yearn to be released from a de facto US dollar dictatorship, complete with recurring Fed quantitative easing circus packages.
Russia and China have been experimenting with their alternative payment systems for quite a while now: the Russian SPFS (System for Transfer of Financial Messages) and the Chinese CIPS (Cross Border Interbank Payment System).
It won’t be easy, as the most powerful Chinese banks are deep into SWIFT and have expressed their reservations about SPFS. Yet, they will have to inevitably integrate prior to the launch of the new mechanism, possibly in late 2022.
Once the most important Russian and Chinese banks – from Sberbank to the Bank of China – adopt the system, the path opens for other banks across Eurasia and the Global South to join in.
In the long run, SWIFT, prone to non-stop American political interference, will be increasingly marginalized, or restricted to Atlanticist latitudes.
Bypassing the US dollar, on trade and all sorts of financial settlements, is an absolutely central plank of the ever-evolving Russia-China notion of a multipolar world.
The road will be long, of course, especially when it comes to offering a solid counterpoint to the US-controlled global financial system, a maze that includes the humongous investment houses of the BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street variety, with their interlocking shareholding of virtually every major multinational company.
Yet a SWIFT escape will rapidly gain momentum, because it is inextricably linked to a series of developments that Putin-Xi touched upon in their conversation, the most important of which are:
1. The progressive interconnection of BRI and EAEU, offering expanding roles to the BRICS-run New Development Bank (NDB) as well as the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
2. The increasing geopolitical and geo-economic reach of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), especially after the admission of Iran in October.
3. And crucially, the upcoming Chinese presidency of the BRICS in 2022.
China in 2022 will invest deeply in BRICS+. This expanded BRICS club will be linked to a development process that includes:
1. The consolidation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – a massive East Asia trade deal uniting China, the ASEAN 10 and Japan, and South Korea, as well as Australia and New Zealand.
2. The African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA).
3. And the memoranda of understanding signed between the EAEU and MERCOSUR and between the EAEU and ASEAN.
Anchoring West Asia
Yaroslav Lissovolik, one of the world’s leading experts on BRICS+, argues that it’s now time for BRICS+ 2.0, operating in a system that opens “the possibility for bilateral and plurilateral agreements to complement the core network of regional alliances formed by BRICS countries and their respective regional neighbors.”
So if we’re talking about a major qualitative jump in terms of economic development across the Global South, the question is inevitable. What about West Asia?
All these interconnections, plus an escape from SWIFT, will certainly profit the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), arguably the flagship BRI project, to which Beijing plans to annex Afghanistan.
CPEC will be progressively connected to the future Iran-China corridor via Afghanistan, part of the 20 year Iran-China strategic deal in which BRI projects will be prominently featured. Iran and China already trade in yuan and rials, so settlements between Iran and China in a non-SWIFT mechanism will be a given.
What happened to Iran is a classic example of SWIFT becoming hostage of imperial political manipulation. Iranian banks were expelled from SWIFT in 2012, because of pressure from the usual suspects. In 2016, access was restored as part of the JCPOA, clinched in 2015. Yet in 2018, under the Trump administration, Iran was once again cut off from SWIFT.
None of that will ever happen with Iran joining the new Russia-China mechanism.
And that leads us to the interconnection of China’s BRI expansion in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. The reconstruction of Syria may be largely financed via the non-SWIFT mechanism. Same for China buying Iraqi energy. Same for the reconstruction of a Yemen possibly hosting a Chinese-owned port, part of the “string of pearls.”
Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Israel may remain in the US financial sphere of influence, or lack thereof. And even if there is no BRICS nation anchoring West Asia, and no regional integration economic agreement on the horizon, the role of the economic integrator is bound to be eventually played by China.
China will play a similar role to Brazil anchoring MERCOSUR, Russia anchoring the EAEU and South Africa anchoring the SADC/SACU.
Both BRI and the EAEU will get a tremendous boost by bypassing SWIFT. You simply can’t go multipolar if you trade using (devalued) imperial legal tender.
BRI, EAEU and those interlocking economic development agreements, combined with digital technology, will be integrating billions of people in the Global South.
Think of a possible, auspicious future spelling out cheap telecom delivering financial services and world market access, in a non-dollar environment, to all those who have been so far cut off from a truly globalized economy.
…
With that in mind, consider that the rest of the world is already moving away from the USD.
Iran to pay Chinese, Turkish builders in crude, minerals
Iran will pay builders from China and Turkey in crude or minerals rather than cash if they become involved in housing projects in the country, says a member of the country’s Supreme Housing Council.
Ahmad Donyamali said on Saturday that Iran is in talks with Chinese and Turkish construction companies to get them involved in a tiny segment of its massive project to build four million affordable houses in the country in the next four years.
However, Donyamali said that a main condition for working with those companies will be to avoid paying them in cash because of restrictions facing Iran in banking and crude export issues.
“In talks with foreign companies we are seriously discussing the oil barter mechanism and we have declared that the condition for partnership … is that we will not pay any cash,” the official was quoted as saying by semi-official ILNA news agency.
The comments are the latest to come from Iranian government officials about the need to use crude shipments to fund key projects or to pay for imports of basic goods into the country.
The oil barter mechanism has been highlighted as a major instrument to offset the impacts of American sanctions on Iran’s economy, especially since an administration came into office in August on promises that it will seek to neutralize the sanctions.
Donyamali said that Chinese or Turkish builders will have a small share of Iran’s affordable housing project, saying government’s policy will be to award around 90% of the contracts to Iranian companies despite their more expensive bids.
He said paying foreign builders in crude or minerals shipments was not yet final, saying main government departments have to reach a decision on the issue.
Conclusion
2022.
China and Russia will start performing monetary transactions using their SEO based systems. As more and more transactions use the Asian systems, the use of the USD dollar will decrease. That will radically change the transactional value of the US Dollar.
It will start to deflate towards it’s true and actual value.
Within a year or two, 2023 to 2024, the actual and real value of the US dollar will be exposed. The entire world will witness this. This will result in inflation domestically (perhaps hyper-inflation, depending on the financial adroitness of those in Washington DC), and financial consternation in all nations that are fundamentally tied to the US Dollar. There WILL be shock waves in any nation that is not being serious about taking care of their domestic needs.
It will be a “bumpy” time, but not a catastrophic one. Well, at least the measure of discomfort should be well controlled by skilled and talented leadership in the various nations so affected.
How the USA leadership will react to this is anyone’s guess.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
"Get off our front porch. Get out of our front yard. And stay out of our backyard."
-Summary by Pat Buchanan
And it is not at all being reported in the Western “news”. I wonder why?
Guess.
There is a risk in giving an ultimatum. If the other side rejects this ultimatum (and the possibility is real) then Russia will have to react and will have to switch from diplomacy to military arguments.
If the ultimatum will be rejected it will inevitably lead to much worse bilateral relations and tensions never seen since 1962.
Time is on Russia’s side (each year Russia becomes more powerful militarily) so why taking the risk to dramatically escalate everything now?
The only reason I see is that with the current path Russia considers a clash as inevitable and they see their ultimatum as the only real possibility to avoid a conflict in the near future.
The positive side of the ultimatum is that if it’s a success then the risk of war will be substantially reduced.
The negative side is that if the ultimatum will be rejected then war will become even more likely and may start even sooner.
I'm sure the Russians realize their technical advantage can only be temporary, and are utilizing their advantages while they can.
Searching for the "Russian ultimatum" on the western corporate mouthpieces, it doesn't even register. I'm sure 99% of Americans are absolutely clueless. The propaganda masters are most probably formulating a line of bs that will make Russia look like they aggressor. There really is no access to the masses by non-corporate media.
The questions to me is, "can the East make the West uncomfortable enough without starting a nuclear holocaust to come to reason, or will the West spin the situation to increase its aggression?"
What truly frightens me is when the Empire develops its own hypersonic weapons and first strike tactics become very attractive to the idiots and sociopaths running the Western show.
A Throne of Chinese Skulls! Oh Yeah?
By Chris Faure for the Saker Blog
The hot question among a number of hot questions is: What will China do?
Is there clarity? I would argue yes there is .. some.
The paradox is that West pushes for terms of a new partitioning of the world (democracy summit, unending belligerence, cynical, and hypocritical paranoia), while Russia and China expect terms of surrender.
According to China, there has to be payback for past empire atrocities.
After all, it is well established that the United States has been unyielding attack of China with everything from Bio-Weapons (livestock and human), to color revolutions, to non-stop "hybrid-wars".
In such an environment a kinetic hot war makes little sense because there is no overt military threat against western leadership.
I would argue that Russia’s ultimatum is military containment by agreement, as a first step.
I would also argue that because we do not have insight into step 2 (military/technical counter-threats), we cannot reason that step 2 is not highly coordinated with China, to the nth degree.
Double negatives in the passive voice are confusing. To rewrite the statement:
"There is no reason to believe that China and Russia are not coordinating step 2."
It is so that the USA is no longer the world’s only ‘indispensable nation’.
They are now both dispensable and replaceable in their current form and the only hope is that they will reform themselves.
As there is much that we do not know in terms of further steps, there is also much that we do not know about how China is going to interrelate.
What we do know is that they will be a part of the final dethroning of Western powers’ force for empire. We know this, because they said so and China is dead serious.
Russia made their proposals known.
China did too.
Just today…
20 December 2021
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on the United States to work with China to find out the way of peaceful coexistence between the two major countries.
He noted some people in the United States are [1] unwilling to admit that other countries also have the right to development, [2] unwilling to accept the fact that China is growing stronger and making progress, [3] unwilling to agree that China and the United States can achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, and [4] are trying to form a camp to contain and suppress China.
“The wrong words and deeds of the U.S. side not only seriously damage the interests of the two peoples, but also seriously impact world peace and stability” Wang said.
Here are the Chinese statements over the past few days:
Shortly after the Putin/Xi Jingping virtual meeting, this question was posed to Foreign Minister Spokesperson Wang Wenbin. Mr Wenbin is a highly competent diplomat.
Chinese Spokesperson Wang Wenbin
Question from TASS: In his virtual meeting with Russian President Putin, President Xi Jinping said China will continue to carry out flexible and diverse cooperation with Russia and other member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization to safeguard security and stability in the region. What challenges are China and Russia facing in this aspect? What can China and Russia do to safeguard regional security?
Wang Wenbin: On December 15, President Xi Jinping had a virtual meeting with Russian President Putin. The two heads of state had an in-depth exchange of views on core and major issues of common concerns including safeguarding regional security, and achieved new, important consensus.
Translation
The world is witnessing the combined forces of changes and a pandemic both unseen in a century against the backdrop of complex and profound changes in international and regional landscape.
We believe that China and Russia, two permanent members of the UN Security Council, take on an important mission in defending regional peace and stability and promoting development and revitalization of all countries.
For some time, certain countries have been drawing ideological lines, building new military blocs and stoking regional tensions, which have all brought grave threats and challenges to regional peace and stability and global strategic stability.
China and Russia firmly reject this.
We will continue to follow the two leaders’ consensus, take up responsibility, unite all forces that love peace and support peace, and make active contribution to realizing sustained, universal and common security in the region and the wider world.
Certain sentences and words need to be lifted out of ‘diplo-speak’.
Note, the question from the TASS reporter is about regional security. Mr Wenbin, in his response, brought it back to the strategic stability of the wider world.
This sentence: Russia/China take on important mission in defending regional peace and stability and promoting development and revitalization of all countries.
Again, he then speaks about Global Strategic Stability and not only regional.
For some time, certain countries have been drawing ideological lines, building new military blocs and stoking regional tensions, which have all brought grave threats and challenges to regional peace and stability and global strategic stability.
And here is the shocker:
We will continue to follow the two leaders’ consensus, take up responsibility, unite all forces that love peace and support peace, and make active contribution to realizing sustained, universal and common security in the region and the wider world.
The phrase the two leader’s consensus indicates that all plans have been made, everyone stands at the ready, and Putin and Xi Jinping will take the next step probably on a phone call.
The fate of the world is now in the hands of Putin and Xi Jinping.
It is astonishing that China is subjecting itself to The Consensus of the Two Leaders and shows without a shadow of a doubt that they are acting in full concert, strategically, politically, economically coordinated, and we know militarily as well, we just don’t know to what extent.
Another statement from Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin: This statement is interesting in that it shows the emotion (which I’ve never seen him display) of the Chinese people. They are at the end of their strategic patience as well and this is how they feel.
“The era in which the USA acted arbitrarily in the world under the pretext of democracy and human rights is now over.”
CHINA: “The era in which the USA acted arbitrarily in the world under the pretext of democracy and human rights is now over.”
pic.twitter.com/TxIuQHn1GE
— ASB News / MILITARY〽️ (@ASBMilitary) December 15, 2021
Currently, the destruction that the Western powers waged on the world, is transparent. Take a look: Pentagon documents reveal ‘deeply flawed’ US air war: report
Russia and China are stepping into alternative world relations…
…still based on the UN Charter and Law…
…and based on respect between countries.
And more than that, they are proving that it is possible since the first discussions of multi-polarity in the world in 2015 and the first public discussions of Belt and Road in 2013.
The Time Has Come
For years now Russia and China tried to help the Western powers out of their sorry state; but the time has come.
‘Gung-ho’ and ‘wolf warrior diplomacy’ seem to be over and at least from China side, this is a tipping point.
The Western powers need to face their downright self-inflicted humiliation.
This will happen economically by moving the world to a new economic system with new economic tools and will go right through to military intervention should the Western powers continue their arbitrary actions.
But nobody will be fighting the ‘West’s War’ and I submit we may see something quite unanticipated by our usual analysis and calculus.
It is already unprecedented that Mr. Lavrov published his diplomatic correspondence with France and Germany regarding the Ukraine.
It is also unprecedented for draft proposals from Russia to be open to the public at this stage.
We are in an unprecedented time.
Want peace, but…
The fact that both Russia, China, and Iran do not start the shooting, is incontrovertible proof that they are genuine in their statements that they want to bring peace.
China is in, boots ‘n all.
If a regional conflagration should break out and it is in Russia’s ballpark (the Ukraine), and Russia can deal with it on her own, China will make sure that the Russian soldiers are the best outfitted and supported of any modern military force that we have ever seen.
You will see a voentorg to beat all voentorgs. Russian forces will drink champagne and eat oysters (OK, this is shameless hyperbole, but it makes the point).
Taiwan has simmered down.
The latest words there from China in the person of Foreign Minister Wang Yi, is Taiwan’s reunification with China is a question of time. “China must and will be reunified,” he stressed.
He noted that there has been growing support for the ‘One-China’ principle around the world, referring to the recent decision by the government of Nicaragua to break ties with Taipei.
“Ten days ago, we resumed diplomatic relations with Nicaragua. The total number of countries with [whom China has] diplomatic ties has increased to 181, and the one-China consensus has been consolidated internationally,”
He said.
If there is a fight, no matter the size, or the manner of the fight, the Chinese are in and I would argue that they are in right now!
Nobody can beat them at producing what is necessary for a fight.
Their own aircraft carrier battle groups are out in the ocean through the near Pacific, South China Seas and other seas.
One has to get used to how China presents things.
Even the media reporting these maneuvers, puts scare quotes around the words “routine drills”. Battle groups are out for scare quoted “routine drills”. They do not say that China is readying herself for a defense of her own basin, in which case Russia will support in the same way that China will support Russia.
Will anyone be able to penetrate beyond and inside the first island chain?
So, it is clear that the Russia/China double helix is operating fine currently.
Mr Wang is not playing a good cop to Russia’s bad cop.
He is making it clear that what is happening is not only a Russian problem, but a problem of the strategic stability in the world, It affects not only Russia, but China as well, and no longer can one entity be allowed to attack others like fish in a barrel.
We cannot think of a multi-front war: the West cannot possibly be that deranged.
Yet, the ludicrous rhetoric in the Western spheres continues apace and distracts from reality.
It is hardly worthwhile rebutting every accusation.
China is not using much rhetoric currently but we can be sure that they note this rhetoric. Knowing the strategic situation in the world, they are not rebutting.
There is no need.
A Throne of Chinese Skulls
We need men ” … who want to sit on a throne of Chinese skulls …”
Tucker Carlson’s guest:“We don’t need a military that’s woman-friendly, that’s gay friendly” we need men “who want to sit on a throne of Chinese skulls, but we don’t have that now. We can’t get women off of naval vessels, that should be step one but most are pregnant anyway.”-pic.twitter.com/9uNzdbx0ON
— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) December 18, 2021
Andrei Martyanov is causing high hilarity about USA representatives that want to ‘kill themselves some Ruskis’ and even offers up a few:
This boy, obviously, despite his tour in Iraq never saw a real war and a real enemy who can actually kill you back even when one is in the bunker inside your own army base.
We can conclude then that the slew of accusations made to Russia, are similar in tone and also in substance, as those made to China.
The minds of these accusers cannot contemplate a peaceful world.
It seems to be impossible for them.
Although Russia is not threatening the Ukraine, and China is not threatening her own Taiwanese province, they believe their belligerent rhetoric can make it so.
Western states are slowly approaching the state of being disconcerted and soon now they will enter a stage of being stunned, as they are now being dictated to on the red lines of the other forces in the world.
We can never forget Iran, which showed everyone how to say NO!
There will be NO conformity to Western red lines.
I venture to say that the USA and cronies will NOT even be allowed to keep operating their Monroe Doctrine.
They will NOT be allowed a sphere of influence.
They will ONLY be allowed their space as a pole in multi-polarity.
The leftist candidate won the elections in Chile yesterday (although there are questions as to how ‘empire-proof’ he is). The one slogan that was visible is:
“If neocolonialism started in Chile, we will end it in Chile”.
Within China, China is looking after China.
They are developing their space program, their Belt and Road which is ‘a force for good’ in the world, and building their economy and continuing to create an increasingly varied and better life for their people. The Olympic Games will continue, and in time Taiwan will reunify.
They are also, with Russia and others, building out a new financial system for the world.
What can stop a war at this stage?
The West will lose. The West has a very strong and simple reason to avoid a new war: They will lose. Their actions are now futile.
The USA is dying. Xi and Putin can still decide to let it die and continue to stay out of the fray. But they have made the decision to enter a confrontational era. We could speculate as to why as the situation reveals itself.
Ready to strike the death blow. China, Asia or the AsiaPacific is ready to end the empirical era. Both Russia and China are ready to end the empirical era in such a way that retaliatory strikes are almost impossible. It is a most complex ballet of threat and counterthreat, coherently managed by the two countries. Russia is not arriving, China is not arriving and Iran is not arriving for the war that the hegemon is inviting them to. How frustrating for them.
What can stop a war?
China and Russia, the consensus of the two leaders probably can. I repeat:
“The era in which the USA acted arbitrarily in the world under the pretext of democracy and human rights is now over.”
Yankee Go Home!
Russia’s ultimatum to the West (IMPORTANT UPDATE)
To understand what just happened, we need to look at two things: how Russia chose to communicate her demands and then the contents of the demands themselves.
However, before I do that, I want to recommend two other points of view, both of which are, in my opinion, very helpful:
I recommend you read them before we continue. This being said, let’s look in more detail at just what happened.
First, this was clearly an ultimatum. Second, it was a public ultimatum.
This is absolutely crucial, as it marks, at the very least, a total break with normal Russian (and Soviet) diplomatic practice.
It is also pretty obvious that both the form and the substance of that ultimatum would be unacceptable to the USA and the US colonies in Europe.
Which begs the question: what are the Russians trying to achieve here?
Some will say that the Russians (or Putin personally) are simply stupid and that they are too arrogant to realize that their ultimatum would never be accepted.
Well, if the USA (the only part of the “West” which matters because it has actual agency) ignores that ultimatum and then merrily continues on the path it has been on since at least Bill Clinton, and if the Russians (or Putin personally) do nothing, then those who believe that the Russians are stupid will be proven right.
Now let’s look at what else might happen.
The first thing we need to understand is that Russia holds all the military cards (read Martyanov for details I won’t bother repeating it all here).
So let’s quickly worst case: “Biden” ignores Russia and Russia replies by deploying weapon systems, including hypersonic weapons, which will threaten the US not only in Russia, but in Belarus, the Arctic, and the mid-Atlantic. Then the US will feel the same way Moscow does: 5 minutes away from annihilation. Will that be good for “Biden”?
Let’s imagine that “Biden” decides to play tough and creates some kind of incident that will force the Russians to either sink a USN ship or shoot down a USAF aircraft. That would mean war.
Here “Biden” would have two options: keep the war below the nuclear threshold and lose that war (the NATO military infrastructure would be gone) or go nuclear and risk a nuclear holocaust. Will either one of these be good for “Biden”?
Now let’s say that “Biden” agrees to negotiate with Russia (while, of course, keeping up with all the pretenses about “consulting with partners and allies”) and the two sides come to some kind of deal. How would that deal manifest itself? Well, that is quite obvious – NATO would have to give up its expansion while Russia would have to provide verifiable guarantees that she will not attack any NATO country. I know, I am skipping over a gazillion of details in which, as the expression goes, the devil lies, but for our purposes this is sufficient. Then, again, I would ask the same question as above: would that be a good outcome for “Biden”?
We need to look at this possibility even further:
First, some of the US EU vassals would be incensed and they would do two things: verbally protest as loudly as possible and engage in whatever action they could come up with to force the situation and create a crisis.
And no, that would not be good for “Biden” at all.
But, consider this: first, “Biden” can tell the EU vassals to shut up and behave. But even more importantly, that “bad option” will look “less bad” to “Biden” than either one of the two options mentioned above (place the entire USA 5min away from destruction or face a full-scale war).
Remember how I said that Russia holds all the military cards?
Russia also holds much stronger political and economic cards than the USA which has close to nothing.
Politically, Russia is now “more than an ally” to China, she is a close partner to India (to the fury of the White House) and politically, she is much less isolated than the USA!
Even the map above does not give the full measure of the situation. Why?
Because most of the “international community” which “supports” (well, obeys) the USA is the EU, which itself is in a terminal crisis on too many levels to count here!
Compare the red and the grey zones on the map, and ask yourself these questions: which zone has the most powerful military? Which zone has the most natural and human resources? which zone has the most promising trading routes? which zone has a real GDP, as opposed to a purely FIRE one? Which one is literally dying spiritually under the trans-national “Woke” ideology and which one has retained the willingness and ability to fight for its spiritual, cultural, and civilizational values? Finally, which zone has a viable vision of the future?
I could go on and on with many more such questions, but I think that you see my point: the USA is not only losing militarily, but it is also losing on all fronts!
Next question: what does the USA need most?
Well, there are plenty of things the USA need, but I would single out one: time. Why? Because the truth is that the USA has only two options left: a “Kabul style” retreat from Europe or an orderly, negotiated “rearrangement” of the European collective security system (which, let’s not forget, the USA screwed up all by itself, a true disaster for which the USA is now totally responsible for).
[Sidebar: there is not such thing as unilateral security. All real security is always collective. That truism is now a dangerous political heresy in the West for which folks get (figuratively) burned at the stake for. Unilateralism is just a trigger for insecurity and, eventually, war.]
If there is no war, then NATO will survive, at least politically. If there is no war, “Biden” will be able to say that the West’s “firm and united” stance forced Russia to make concessions: remember how the Cuban missile crisis was presented by the USA as a US victory when, in fact, it forced the USA to withdraw missiles from Turkey?
It has been many decades since the Cuban missile crisis, yet something like 99% of the people in the US and EU sincerely believes that the US “won”!
The AngloZionist propaganda machine can easily repeat that once more.
Except for a “small” problem: this time around, Russia presented her ultimatum first and made so very publicly.
Why did the Russians choose this method?
Well, I don’t know, I cannot read the Kremlin’s mind, but my guess is that Russia wants way more than just a “draw” (which is what the Cuban missile crisis was). Russia wants a full victory which she would define as “defanging NATO“, at least in Europe. Why?
Now let’s look at Russia’s options:
Do nothing aka “more of the same”: that means full surrender to the West, followed by a partition of Russia and a US attack on China. To say that this is unacceptable to Russia would be an understatement.
Or
Gradually step down from the demands of the ultimatum: that is a more interesting one and it is again a case of “the devil is in the details”. For example, the existence of NATO by itself means nothing to Russia. Ditto for the EU, by the way. All these are in reality are irrelevant Kaffeeklatsch pretexts for politicians with no future, and countries with no agency. The biggest mistake made by both the EU and NATO was its “glorious” expansion to the East only to find out that all this achieved was irreparably weaken both the EU NATO as the newcomers were, how shall I put it politely, quite terminally stupid, corrupt and infantile. When I listen to EU and NATO politicians, I think of a Kindergarten on crack cocaine or something equally insane (see here for a perfect example).
So one option for Russia would be to “creatively revisit” the terms of her ultimatum and then keep the substance while jettisoning the hostile tone and giving the West some symbolic “concessions”. Would that be a good option for Putin? Well, it all will depend on the mentioned “devil in details”. If at the end of the process NATO is defanged, then yes. If NATO remains as aggressively hostile as it is today, then no.
Which begs the question: what will Russia do in such a case?
Here we need to at least consider one option: a Russian recognition of the LDNR justified by Kiev’s total rejection (de facto and de jure) of the Minsk Agreements and the constant Ukronazi provocations and attacks on the LDNR: remember two things Putin said recently. He spoke of “not yet recognized republics” and he spoke of “genocide“.
Of course, the Ukronazis would have to attack (even at least symbolically), which would allow Russia to make a military move against the Ukraine, free the LDNR and deploy Russian forces inside these republics, fully backed by Belarus, of course, and, possibly, even China (politically). Notice I did not say “invasion”.
Let’s imagine that Russia will use her standoff weapon systems to defang the Ukies, liberate the LDNR, and then will turn to the rest of Europe with a “smile” strongly suggesting the following “which of you guys wants to be next?” This would result in a total panic in Europe, especially in Mons, Brussels, and Warsaw.
And here is the beauty of that option: Russia can easily strike Mons and Brussels (or Warsaw) with conventional weapons and leave most of these cities in mint shape. And if the EU/NATO decides to strike back, then Russia will wage a full-scale war against the EU/NATO and she will win it.
What about the “Biden” administration in such a scenario? The Pentagon knows what Russian missiles can do to it and any other military objective in the continental USA. I very much doubt that the US deep state will be willing to commit mass suicide just to try (and fail!) to protect the EU. Besides, the Russians have no intentions or capabilities, to invade the EU anyway, so why destroy the USA for a threat which does not even exist?!
Does “Biden” want to go down in history as “the President who lost Europe”?
Would “the President who triggered a nuclear holocaust” sound any better?
So by making her demands public, Russia has (for the first time and finally!!) also sent a message to the people of the West. This message can be summarized like this: we don’t want war, but if you insist, we will oblige.
And, for the first time since 1991, Russia does have the objective means to achieve these goals.
So there, we have it, I think.
Now we also need to address the elephant in the room: the US War Party and, even more so, the EU infantiles on crack cocaine. For them, defanging NATO would be utterly unacceptable…
… or would it?
The US War Party is just that, US-based. And while some of the talking heads on the idiot tube do sound like real “hawks”, the military professionals in the US armed forces know the real score.
Not only that, but the “smart wing” of the War Party understands that the USA desperately needs time and an orderly draw-down, even if just a temporary one!
Their game is, as I said many times, a game of what I call “nuclear chicken” but, crucially, a game short of actual nuclear war which they don’t need at all (if only because they would likely die themselves).
Which leaves the EU infantiles on crack cocaine.
Here I am going to say something terrible, and I feel really bad for writing this, but I only see one method to get the Europeans back from la-la-land to the real world: Russia has to defeat them militarily, yet again, as she did over and over in her history.
Somehow, the narcissistic megalomaniacs who currently administer the European continent on behalf of the USA won’t read history and won’t rein in their deep sense of racial superiority over the subhuman Russian Asiatic hordes.
These modern wannabe Kulturtraegers and assorted Herrenvolk still hate Russia for defeating Hitler, Napoleon, and the rest of them, and for them, their phobia (in the sense of both hate and fear) of everything Russian is now part of their identity, something quite sacred to them and to hell with those who think otherwise!
The only effective way to bring the European Master Races back to reality is well-known (see picture).
I would argue that such an outcome goes directly against the interests of BOTH the USA and Russia. And, most obviously, it goes totally against the interests of the people of Europe.
But if the latter does nothing to prevent such an outcome, then it is for the USA and Russia to prevent it.
And if the USA won’t prevent it, then Russia will deliver.
As for the notion that boycotts, sanctions (even from hell!), or the cancellation of NS2 will stop the Russians -it is truly beyond ridiculous. Last time around, Russia lost 27 million people and then rebuilt her economy within a decade.
In fact, it is so real that it was made public for two reasons I believe: first, of course, to try to appeal to the people of the West and, second, to morally “untie the hands” of Russia should it come to full-scale war.
Analysts in the West always assume that public gestures are somehow exclusively aimed at them. They are wrong.
This ultimatum is also addressed to the Russian people and Russian armed forces and says this to them:
“people of Russia, we tried all we could to avoid this, we pleaded and begged for decades, and we retreated on many fronts, yet in spite of that, the West keeps pressing on. We will never allow a June 22nd to happen again. Prepare for war“.
I will end with three quotes by Putin himself:
“As a citizen of Russia and the head of the Russian state I must ask myself: Why would we want a world without Russia?”
“Fifty years ago, the streets of Leningrad taught me one thing: If a fight’s inevitable, you must strike first”
“Any aggressor should know that retribution will be inevitable and he will be destroyed. And since we will be the victims of his aggression, we will be going to heaven as martyrs. They will simply drop dead, won’t even have time to repent,”
UPDATE: according to the Russian media citing “diplomatic sources”, China has given her full support to the Russian demands. What that actually means or implies is unclear, but this is the first indication that the Russian ultimatum was coordinated with the Chinese and that China will have some kind of role to play in the next move of the Russians if the US rejects the Russian demands.
Why? Well, we definitely don’t know the answer to that because it’s a secret. But we can guess. And my guess is that Russia knows something: that, essentially, the US is much weaker than anyone in the US thinks and waiting any longer will leave the world in an untenable situation. Thus, Russia is eager to get these deals signed ASAP, while there is still someone in Washington who can hold a pen. And the last useful thing that Washington can do is, essentially, disband NATO (which is what signing Russia’s ultimatum would essentially accomplish).
I’ve written about all of this before, and it goes like this:
• A situation where offering a million dollars for a book of matches gets you a punch to the face
• No access to imports of any sort within the (former) US because there is no longer a credit mechanism for funding trade; no functioning utilities or transportation networks; a new economy based on looting and barter.
• My “Five Stages of Collapse” in chorus with 4-part harmony while Russia and China do their best to keep US nuclear and bioterror installations and facilities under control while repatriating their nationals and providing a bit of humanitarian aid to those who cooperate with them.
Look at the title of this article: it contains the word “ultimatum” for a really excellent reason. Russia is not negotiating; Russia is spelling out how it will all go down, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and that last bit is all that’s left to decide. But while the ultimatum is as public as possible, its implementation will be as secretive as possible. Essentially, we don’t know how it will happen because we are not allowed to know.
Comments – Whozhere
You are correct Dmitry…..
“that Russia knows something: that, essentially, the US is much weaker than anyone in the US thinks”
In a nutshell, the Biden operation has no access to the nuclear arsenal of the US.
Comments – Mike from Jersey
I live in the United States.
There is a dynamic playing out.
A very substantial amount of the population no longer supports the government or major institutions. They look on their own government/institutional structure as the enemy. They no longer consider this to be a flawed, but nonetheless, functioning system.
They consider themselves living under the heel of an occupying army which is suppressing them and their freedom. The numbers who take this position are large. Probably as much as thirty per cent or more.
On the other hand the people pulling the levers of power have no understanding of this erosion of faith. They act with a total lack of awareness that they are surrounded by large numbers of very angry citizens.
It may be that Russian intelligence understands what the American “intelligencia” does not.
Comment – Dmitry
The numbers the Russians have voiced are that 40% of Democrats and 50% of Republicans are in favor of disbanding the USA. This is quite far beyond what’s needed to make it happen with even a minimal external stress.
Comment – Eagle Eye
Looks like schadenfruede is going to get a workout shortly.
And if disbanding the USA happens, where does that leave Klaus Swabbe and his WEF Great Reset agenda? What happens to Wall Street and Operation Mockingbird media control in the collapse scenario and how does that play out globally?
“On the other hand the people pulling the levers of power have no understanding of this erosion of faith. They act with a total lack of awareness that they are surrounded by large numbers of very angry citizens.”
I see that same dynamic here in Australia at a state and federal level. Others are seeing it elsewhere. It is no longer an academic debate, but an existential problem. The media no longer accurately portray the public mood with the exception of grief following tragedy, like the local one where kids got killed in a freak playground accident. Beyond that the public reaction is endlessly spun to deliver the story “media” wants told, the truth be damned.
The danger for “the West” is that nominally democratic nations will fall to totalitarianism. There is a very interesting but disturbing interview with clinical psychologist, Professor Matthias Desmet at panedemic podcasts which should be on the must listen list of the readership. It details the steps to take to create a mass formation and what that psychological phenomenon is capable of delivering. In his well qualified view the management of the Covid Pandemic in the West can bring about such a response from the public. If it does the damage will compound with that from the USA collapse Dmitry forsees and the result will be truly biblical carnage.
Comment – Blackring
@Dmitry Orlov
“…while the ultimatum is as public as possible, its implementation will be as secretive as possible”
Ok, that explained lack of “else” in ultimatum. But because of showing too much patience to spoiled brats, now it is necessary to bitch-slap them to senses. As many times as it takes.
I do not see how this can be done secretly enough. Thanks to informational technology and MSM dominance, West have advantage in clandestine game.
In addition, since UKUS always preferred to use proxies, it is wise to embolden vassals to defect.
Russian advantage is in having hyper-sonic weapons, which allows tactics used by West against weak opponents without air defense. Maybe something like Israelis did in Gaza can be done to, say, Aegis Ashore in Romania. “Knock on roof”, followed with Big Kaboom after personnel runs away. Big hole in the ground – no casualties. After that, friendly talk can begin.
Seriously, it is long overdue that Empire get a taste of its own medicine.
Comment – Scuppers
Why now? Because it’s the right moment. I keep coming back to the game of chess, in my mind. White (the west in this analogy) starts the game with the initiative, and black (Russia in this analog) has the task of arresting that initiative, and stealing it. Black did that in 2015-2018, and locked the board. But white keeps trying to regain the initiative, and at this point, black blocks, but also ensures that every counter move makes white’s next move more catastrophic. And 3 years later, we are at the point that if white decides to start trading pieces, it will lose catastrophically. So you offer your opponent a way out. Tip your king and bow out, and come back another day to play again or get blown out and humiliated. There is a third option; throw the board in the air and everyone loses. Let us hope the west doesn’t choose option 3.
Comment – RZW
Why I agree with Orlov, my guess is that Russia has intelligence about false flag or attack on Donbass. Just for the record keep in mind 6th of January (Orthodox Christmas eve) and 4th of February (Opening of Olympic games, Putin in China).
Comment – Ted Richard
Andrei, ultimatums are generally if not always time dependent…. time specific, which is to say a Russian ultimatum declared today has a shelf life before agreement or action must be taken………that time is in your opinion……..years, months, weeks?
Comment – The Saker
To begin negotiations, the Russians said “tomorrow in Geneva”, but that was metaphorical.
A month, maybe 2 max.
But the key decisions might have already been taken.
I don’t think these people understand what is at stake here.
That is exactly my biggest fear too.
Comments – Razor
it seems logical to me that Russia has already decided what action it will take if, as likely, the West brushes off its ultimatum. I would assume that whatever action it takes, will be measured. A trip wire if you like, to show it means business, and to awaken the sleeping masses in EU US, while allowing the West to step back from Armageddon. And if that doesn’t create the desired result, they will also no doubt have planned for this eventuality, which could of course mean full pedal to the metal, God save us.
Comments – Peterd
I recently came across the wicked suggestion by somebody to counteract NATOs eastward expansion of Russia by offering Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg until 1946) as a naval/military base for China, sharing it with the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy. That would certainly put the cat among the euro-pigeons sandwiched as it is between Lithuania and Poland.
Comments – War is coming
These people need a ‘lesson’ teached by Russia to be sure they never come back again with their idiocy, wargames, sanctions, ‘kill some Russians” etc…they must have ‘the fear of their life’ at least once, otherwise they will double down forever.
Comments – GRI
I read on another site the following news: from February 1, 2022, for the first time in Russia, the national standard “Urgent burial of corpses in peacetime and wartime” is being introduced. It describes that the authorities must be prepared to bury thousands of people in mass graves. The standards for graves, labor costs, the amount of equipment and the way of storing corpses have been established. The question is whether the ultimatum and the introduction of the above-mentioned measures are correlated.
Comment – Vaughan
The reason for Russia’s hardened stance imo may be the absolute and quickened spiritual and moral decline of the West.
They’ve become like the bully in a bar room brawl who, will pounce with the killer blow once the peace deal and handshake have been made and the innocent victim looks away.
Russia has endured so much ridicule, lies and mockery via Western leaders now for the past 12-15 years now. There are too many statements to quote.
Russia and Putin in general, have become the ‘hit piece’ of mocking ridicule of the Western Leaders and US Generals and simply, their time is up.
I feel that Russia has finally taken as much as she can and the Russian Leaders KNOW that they can no longer trust a country like the USA who’s own people have lost faith in their once robust institutions.
The American people have lost faith in their democratic system, the media, the judiciary, and their stumbling bumbling President’s’.
Indeed, the people have become the enemy of their own government.
On the world stage, the US has become a joke unto herself. A mockery of the great country she once was and, the decline of that country and all that made her great have been systematically dismantled and white anted away.
Her leaders words mean nothing. Their deals mean nothing and their words mean nothing.
Sadly, truth to them, holds no value and is treated accordingly.
Words are used by them but their words mean nothing and have no weight. No long lasting reach. No true value. Therefore, their words have become like the wind, carrying with it a scent from where it was but not strong enough to have any value
Russia knows that unless they can draw the line now, a declaration of peace is impossible.
Russian leaders know that long lasting peace for Russia may not disappear with a bang but wither over time by a thousand cuts. A dissolving. A watering down of conditions, a watering down of borders and a watering down of understanding until soon enough, peace will no longer exist.
This kind of peace is no peace at all.
“Peace peace where there is no peace”.
War is an abomination but the dissolving of peace slowly before your very eyes is a burden no true Leader can entertain.
This is what has been happening since the Wall came down. A slow dissolving of peace.
The Russians have always seemed to attempt to turn the other cheek. They’ve used logic and were met with mockery. They’ve valued truth with a people who excelled in connivance.
They valued respect and were met with ridicule.
Finally, they’ve run out of humour. They’ve run out of hope that hope still exists in the West. They’ve been met with no truth, no logic and no respect
And now, we will see if these western ‘leaders’ have steel in their backbones or jelly in their pants.
I know what I believe we’ll see.
Comment – Band Itkoitko
“I only see one method to get the Europeans back from la-la-land to the real world: Russia has to defeat them militarily.”
Alternatively, and almost equivalently in term of a shock effect, is Russia completely defeating them economically. Let’s have Western people go and clean toilets in Asia or US Americans work in the fields of Mexico. Let the world reverse, they will be more than humbled and more than defeated. Their “greatness” illusion will be destroyed. Their ridiculous “superiority” will be vanquished.
Notably, the West is doing everything necessary to enact their own economic defeat. So no much effort on the Russian side is needed.
Comment – CDvision
Very smart move by Russia. They are likely convinced a conflict is unavoidable, but want to lay these documents down so that history will be unequivocally on their side.
At this point. I too am convinced that a conflict is inevitable. The collective West is finished economically, politically and culturally. Its their last gambit – to upset the board.
Should the peace terms be rejected (likely) then I expect Russia to have a Mike Tyson, punch in the face, at the ready. Paradoxically, 404 attacking the Donbass plays into Russia’s hands, and provides the cause for a Gotterdammerung. Then there will be a much shorter ultimatum sent to the West.
Comment – Tedrichard
the other half of the ultimatum neither written or spoken is the elegance of china moving against taiwan simultaneous to something happening in ukraine.
this places the pentagon and usa in an utterly untenable place where neither victory can be achieved and a massive loss of face.
if you are russia and china and you coordinate so many things now and for future it makes no sense NOT coordinate this geopolitical move resolving both problems at the same time with a minimum of fuss and which will overwhelm the western msm narrative manipulation.
Comment – MIJJ
My feeling is Russia/China have already won. What US is doing is what any ill-disciplined child would do to instinctively create a primitive sense of dominance – throw the chess board across the room, trample the pieces scream hate and yell threats to instinctively create a primitive sense of dominance.
If you hate a person , then you are defeated by them
– Confucius.
MM Comments
Russia and China are SERIOUS.
I fully expect the USA to take zero action. Just like when China announced at the UN in 2020 that the United States had to answer for the 11 bio-weapon attacks against China.
Nothing apparently happened.
Well, nothing publicly visible happened.
And I fully expect the same thing; a repeat of the sloth, and arrogance of the United States government. Only this time, it will be visibly kinetic.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
