"There are two ways to fight a $200 million F-35:
You build another stealth fighter, or
You puncture the tires of that F-35.
That’s an analogy for using dedollarization to neutralize the American Empire.
China doesn’t want to fight a war with the US and its vassals in Asia.
Instead, China will puncture US dollar, which is the foundation of the military industrial complex.
For all those unaware of the tsunami of dedollarization that has just begun all over the world:
MAIN ARTICLE
Beautiful Things are Happening in Geopolitics!
True freedom is flourishing from Asia and Africa to Latin America, as the juggernaut of multipolar world rolls forward
Where to begin? There has been an overload of positive news from all over the world! There are outbreaks of peace between intense geopolitical rivals, which would have been unthinkable before… developing countries are suddenly breaking free from the clutches of a rigged global financial system… and a new world order is emerging at an astonishing pace.
Let’s take a look at the astounding developments that presage an epochal realignment of geopolitics and geo-economics.
We can break down the historic events into three categories:
Peace Movement: In an earth-shattering move, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to establish diplomatic ties — brokered by China. Saudi Arabia and Iran are also poised to join BRICS and SCO.
Next, Syria’s President Assad visited the UAE — an equally astounding rapprochement. He has also been invited to the upcoming Arab Summit.
The third one is about the former Taiwanese President who went on a 12-day trip across mainland China — an unprecedented event since the Chinese civil war ended in 1949. All these are terrible for America’s power, which rests upon chaos, wars, and divide-and-rule.
De-dollarization: Suddenly everyone is finding ways to decouple from the US dollar. Countries are boldly announcing plans to circumvent USD when they trade (especially when buying oil) and engage in e-commerce and tourism.
It’s not just Russia but also US allies and partners like India, Africa, ASEAN, Latin America, Saudi Arabia, and even some European countries are jumping on this bandwagon. The BRICS group is poised to announce its own gold/commodity-backed currency during its summit in August this year. And for the first time, China just bought natural gas (LNG) in Yuan! Hello, petroyuan! Watch out, petrodollar!
Revolt against American Hegemony: There is a global revolt against the American Empire. Check out these recent rebellious events:
“Mexico is not a colony of the USA” — thundered Mexican President Amlo a couple of days ago on the 85th anniversary of Mexico’s nationalization of oil. This progressive leader nationalized Lithium a month ago, to the great displeasure of his northern Big Brother.
Similarly, El Salvador’s Young and dynamic President Bukele warned the US that Monroe Doctrine is dead. (Bukele has cracked down on violent gangs and drug trafficking, which may have disrupted CIA’s revenue).
Another LatAm country, Honduras, just dumped Taiwan and recognized PRC in mainland China.
Heck, even some German leaders are talking about fixing the Nord Stream pipeline and renewing trade with Russia.
And how about Putin, the supposedly international pariah under 10,000+ US/EU sanctions? Few days ago, 40+ African countries sent representatives to Moscow to attend a conference titled “Africa and Russia in a multipolar world.” Not subtle at all.
Then a day later, Xi Jinping visited Moscow for a three-day visit and said that “Changes unseen in a century are happening; and we (Russia and China) are leading this.”
Add to all this is the sudden interest shown by numerous countries in joining BRICS.
Meanwhile, Americans are not only in denial about dedollarization but also about its impact on the dollar’s global reserve currency status.
Here’s the simple truth: If people don’t need dollar for trade, they don’t need dollar in the foreign exchange reserves either. In the near future, technology and multi-currency trade will turn reserve currencies into an archaic and colonialist notion.
Dollar itself won’t just disappear but its hegemony will be gone. The US dollar will be one among major currencies such as Euro and Chinese Yuan.
US in Denial
Americans are in for a rude awakening. The mainstream media, pundits and politicians are still engaging in bravado about the supremacy of the US dollar. However, events can unfold like an avalanche.
So, now you have an idea about the bigger picture of the tectonic paradigm shift occurring all over the world. Let’s take a look at these events and see what they mean to the world and even how they affect us.
Xi-Putin Meeting
Russia and China are jump-starting a multipolar world, while the US and Europe are stuck in the delusional past.
First, Xi’s visit is highly symbolic, showing the world that China got Russia’s back. During the visit, both leaders called each other “Dear friend.” The camaraderie is real. 10 years ago, in March 2013, as the newly elected leader of China, the first trip Xi made was to… Russia to meet Putin. Thus, making another trip on the anniversary is very meaningful.
Then, there is the de-dollarization, the mother of all geopolitical phenomenon. Weaken the dollar’s hegemony, you have neutralized America’s unipolar prowess. Putin essentially heralded the death of petrodollar and the birth of petroyuan by making these two points:
Already 2/3rd of Russia-China trade is happening with Yuan and Ruble.
Furthermore, Russia will use Chinese Yuan to trade with Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Here’s an astonishing chart of how Russia decoupled from dollar and Euro within a couple of months and switched to Yuan and Rubles for trade with China:
Then there are other profound changes: Russia using yuan as the main currency in foreign exchange reserves, Russian companies issuing RMB bonds, Russian banks allowing people to open yuan accounts and so on.
The implications of these moves are enormous, as they combine decoupling from US dollar with internationalization of yuan. Double whammy for the US.
De-dollarization
Once Russia and China can establish secure and easy alternatives for non-dollar and non-Western systems, everyone will start using them, at least for some of their trades. Why have a middle-man for trade and commerce that could be accomplished in local currencies?
The use of dollar means (1) forced to hoard $$ in foreign exchange reserves (2) paying commissions (3) being subjected to US diktats in fear of sanctions (4) losing sovereignty and (5) extra friction in doing business.
Old world order: If you run out of US dollars, you must go begging to the IMF, which will impose austerity and privatization — i.e., let Western corporations plunder your country.
New world order: You buy oil in your local currency! Or, use another option like the RMB.
Old world order: If you are a developing nation, you need to go beg to the IMF and the World Bank.
New world order: If you are a developing nation, China will not only give you the money but will build the infrastructure you need.
By the way, de-dollarization is already spreading like wild fire! Consider these examples:
India just signed a deal with Malaysia to enable trade in Indian Rupees; and India is working with 18 other countries to do trade in Rupees. These include not only neighbors like Bangladesh and developing countries in Africa, but also staunch US allies/vassals like Germany, UK and New Zealand. India is also in talks with the UAE to buy oil for rupee. Petro-rupee… who would have thought of that?
Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand now have a digital payment system that enables settlements in local currencies. They have even standardized the QR code payments. No need for the dollar middleman anymore. Now, all ten ASEAN countries — with 600 million people — want to adopt this system and eliminate the use of foreign currencies such as US dollar and Japanese yen in the intra-ASEAN trade.
For the first time, China just bought liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the UAE using Yuan. Kind of a shocking news that should really be on the front page of CN and BBC.
Already, 15% of China’s trade and cross-border payments are happening in yuan — that was about ¥8 trillion in 2022.
Kenya’s President announced that Saudi Arabia and the UAE will sell oil for Kenyan Shilling! Ghana is buying oil in gold. True freedom for African countries.
Kenya and Iraq have made it possible for people and businesses to buy things on Alibaba — the Chinese e-commerce giant — with yuan. No need for US dollar in a globalized, hi-tech world.
Egypt has joined the BRICS Bank — the New Development Bank. Who needs the predatory IMF and World Bank, who anyway hate giving out loans for infrastructure projects and real development? Egypt is also issuing RMB-denominated bonds.
Indonesia’s President Jokowi has told his people to stop using Visa and Mastercard. And the reason he gave? How the US confiscated Russia’s foreign exchange reserves.
During his visit to China, the Malaysian PM Ibrahim proposed an Asian Monetary Fund to rival the IMF and to reduce dependence on US dollar.
By the way, the new head of BRICS bank is none other than Dilma Rousseff, the former President of Brazil. She was spied on by the NSA, the US spying agency. Later, the US staged a soft coup and removed her from the office by leaking a recorded conversation. Now, she will live in China and manage the New Development Bank. Her influence will likely bring Brazil into BRI - Belt and Road Initiative.
Brazil, which is the largest economy in Latin America, is now enabling yuan payments for Brazilian exporters. No more dollar, thank you. As a sign of things to come, the transactions will go through CIPS — the Chinese version of SWIFT. This is a complete decoupling from the post-WW2 financial world order.
In January, Argentina joined 40+ other countries and established a currency-swap agreement with China. It is also trying to set up a new currency for trade within Latin America, especially with Brazil.
The big kahuna in this radical transformation is, of course, Saudi Arabia — the most influential Arab country and the de facto leader of OPEC. Saudi prince MBS is a visionary and shrewd person who understands geopolitics. Consider that public schools in Saudi Arabia are now teaching Chinese language!
MBS is making all sorts of long-term deals with China. For his $1 trillion futuristic city - Neom - he is getting yuan-denominated loans from Chinese banks! And Saudi Aramco signed a $12 billion deal to build refineries in China. In the future, Saudis can more quickly export petroleum products to other Asian countries.
Saudi Prince Salman has also applied for BRICS membership; and under China’s stewardship, he has made peace with Iran, thus transforming Middle East politics. Peace is also good for China, which wants uninterrupted land mass for its freight trains.
While modernizing Saudi’s economy, he knows that China will be Saudi’s #1 oil customer for at least two more decades.
The Saudi-Iran deal is also a geopolitical coup de grace for China. It may very well be the cornerstone for petroyuan — i.e., oil being sold for Chinese RMB. Obviously, this detente paves the way for both Saudi Arabia and Iran to join BRICS. (Even Forbes magazine predicts that Saudi Arabia will become an official member of BRICS at the Aug 2023 Summit).
More than 12 countries have sent in their applications for BRICS membership, as South Africa’s foreign minister admitted — South Africa holds the current BRICS presidency.
BRICS expansion map. “BRICS+”?
Imagine a BRICS+ with three oil giants — Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran. And perhaps even UAE, Mexico, Venezuela and Nigeria. The “BRICS+” can account for 60% of world’s oil production! How hard will it be to create a new currency that’s backed by oil? Or even a combo of commodities — oil, natural gas, wheat, iron ore etc.? Remember that Russia and Iran are #1 and #2 in natural gas reserves of the world.
Endless possibilities in a multipolar world!
(As I have explained in the previous article, Chinese Yuan can/will become a global trade currency without it becoming a major global reserve currency. Note: Already 70+ countries are using Chinese RMB in their foreign exchange reserves portfolio. Brazil recently announced that Yuan has surpassed the Euro in Brazilian FOREX! This is especially astounding given that, as recently as 2018, Brazil had no yuan in its FOREX!)
How long before the local de-dollarization stories are replicated worldwide? This is just a matter of scaling that needs the right governance and technology.
Imagine a future when any person in any country can directly and instantly trade with anyone in the world!
All the US sanctions and bullying will become meaningless. Already, look how most of the world is ignoring US/EU sanctions on Russia.
The proof is in the pudding. Look at how Russia’s exports of crude oil, petroleum products, LNG and coal have been virtually unaffected by US/EU sanctions. The message from Global South to the imperialists about the Ukraine war is clear: “Your monkey, Your circus.”
BRICS and BRI — Challenging US Hegemony
BRICS started off as a virtual concept created by Goldman Sachs. Then, after the 2008 financial crisis, BRICS became more serious, although the US constantly sabotaged it from becoming meaningful. The weakest links are Brazil and India. Brazil has a lot of pro-US elites; and India is probably hesitant to allow BRICS to grow too strong because it will mean a stronger China.
Right now, BRICS is larger than the US in terms of nominal GDP and larger than the G7 nations in terms of PPP GDP.
Thus, BRICS has a lot of potential. With a few more members, BRICS won’t be held hostage by Indian and Brazilian politics.
The new President of “BRICS Bank” - formally, the New Development Bank - is Dilma Rousseff, who is the former President of Brazil. She has moved to Shanghai! Imagine that — former world leaders moving to and living in China.
Similarly, China’s Belt and Road Initiative has great potential to transform the world. With 147 members, the BRI is a transformative paradigm. Hopefully, some European countries will also grow spines, reject the life as American vassals, and embrace the BRI and a cooperative world. All the propaganda about debt traps or failures of projects is cynical and either exaggerated or blatantly false. If these holier-than-thou people are so concerned about debt trap, they should join the BRI, propose noble reforms and offer cheap loans.
Peace and Development
Poor countries have enormous challenges with the basics and are caught in a Catch-22. To get out of poverty, they need to build infrastructure; but to build infrastructure, they need money! These countries suffer when there are endless perpetual wars that disrupt global supply chains and trade. Plus, Western institutions don’t give loans for infrastructure. US military bases? Yes. Hydropower dams and internet connections? No!
The Middle East, for example, has so much wealth but many Arab countries are poor and/or destroyed by wars. This is why peace between Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and the UAE is a game changer. The leaders are finally realizing how much more they can accomplish through cooperation. It’s as if there is a spiritual awakening!
Historic Saudi-Iran peace deal brokered by China (in Beijing). Syrian president Assad and his wife in UAE for peace summit
The only ones to benefit from conflicts are the US and the EU. Divide Sunnis and Shiites, Arabs and Persians… the US gets to be the hegemon of a pivotal region. Plus, keeping Iran down helps US/EU oil/gas companies make enormous profits. Of course, selling weapons is also a big industry in the US.
Needless to say, what’s happening in the Middle East is amazing. After decades of brutal civil wars, proxy wars and religious wars, Arab leaders are having an epiphany: “Hey, how about we cooperate with one another and find win-win ideas for peace and prosperity?”
This process is not easy. It requires enormous diplomacy and willingness to forgive. However, the dividends of peace and development will be astronomical. And they can lay the framework for other countries to resolve their issues as well.
Imagine peace between:
North and South Korea
India versus China/Pakistan
China and Japan
Russia and Europe
One final note: The Saudi-Iran peace deal is also a proof of another phenomenon: China’s growing geopolitical clout and mastery. It’s not just a “workshop of the world” anymore. Who knows, maybe the Chinese will play a great role in ending the Ukraine war as well.
Arrogance and Ignorance
The globalist magazine Economist had a clever cover page that shows the axis of China-Russia-Iran-Saudi.
25 years ago, geopolitical mastermind Brzezinski wrote in his book — Grand Chessboard — that the biggest threat to American hegemony will be the coalition of China, Iran and Russia. Well, thanks to terribly flawed US foreign policy, that grand alliance is coming to fruition. Add Saudi Arabia to this group, and you get far-reaching geopolitical multiplier effects.
The Economist article is replete with anti-China propaganda and classic misconceptions. Such ignorance is why the West missed the reemergence of China as a global power. But Western intellectuals are just doubling down on their failed analyses.
Apart from the usual trope about “authoritarian CCP,” the author’s faux pas is to dismiss China’s foreign policy as “transactional.”
It’s quite the opposite. China makes 20- and 30-year deals with Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. And the deals are also holistic — covering everything from trade and technology to infrastructure and agriculture to cultural exchange and beyond. For example, Saudi Aramco just agreed to invest $10 billion on a massive refinery in China. Saudis will also store millions of barrels in China to export quickly to other Asian countries.
Also, the cover art shows China as a hegemonic power and others as satellites. However, this is a Western projection. In reality, China and Russia are partners, who are breaking the American stranglehold on the world. Also, many are starting to have a different opinion about who is the true “axis of evil” — US, UK, NATO and the little Nazis of Ukraine.
While American politicians like to constantly demonize “communist” China, guess who’s going to Beijing? Singapore Prime Minister this week (for 6 days!); Malaysian PM and Spanish Prime Minister also this week; French President Macron and EU President Ursula von der Leyen in early April; Brazil’s Lula the following week and so on.
The hubris and ignorance in Washington/London/Brussels bubble are astounding. On one hand, US sanctions (weaponization of USD) and warmongering are accelerating the death of dollar hegemony, which underpins American power and prosperity. On the other hand, Europeans are meekly accepting their vassal state and sacrificing their economy, security — and potentially their lives — as geopolitical pawns in the proxy war against Russia.
Moreover, the US/EU financial systems have become Ponzi schemes on top of unsustainable debt and mind-boggling amount of derivatives. The de-industrialized Western economies can’t even supply Ukraine with enough ammunition. The American economy is a “fugazi” — financial capitalism with fake wealth created by printing trillions of dollars and hiding failures with bailouts, a.k.a. socialism for oligarchs and banksters.
All these are possible only because of the rigged global system.
Conclusion
The American Empire is based on three things: Dollar, Military, and Divide-and-Rule.
And all three pillars of the Matrix are crumbling in real time.
Everything is changing in the blink of an eye. The East is uniting and rising; and the West is on a self-destruction path. A multipolar world is blossoming and the centers of gravity for economy and diplomacy are shifting to Asia. The de-dollarization movement is gaining momentum faster than anyone could have imagined.
Peace is emasculating mighty America. If Saudis and Iranians are friends, if Taiwan and China forge a compromise, if India and China settle their borders… America’s ability to manufacture wars and control others will evaporate.
As for military dominance, Russia and China already have hypersonic missiles, while the US program has failed and is now at least a decade behind. As for US Navy, it is not only unable to build enough warships but is also dependent on China for precision tools, electronics, rare earth minerals and even aluminum. In essence, the USA is turning into a paper tiger.
The best-case scenario is that Western leaders understand that their domination is over and will work with China, Russia and others to implement a new world order based on cooperation, equality and mutual prosperity. However, I am not holding my breath for that to happen. Copied