by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with the Asia Times by special agreement with the author)
Rhetorical war has far-reaching consequences, including a potential economic slump via the disruption of global oil supplies
The key take away from the BRICS summit in Johannesburg is that Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – important Global South players – strongly condemn unilateralism and protectionism.
The Johannesburg Declaration is unmistakable: “We recognize that the multilateral trading system is facing unprecedented challenges. We underscore the importance of an open world economy.”
Closer examination of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech unlocks some poignant details.
Xi, crucially, emphasizes delving further into “our strategic partnership.” That implies increased BRICS and Beyond BRICS multilateral trade, investment and economic and financial connectivity.
And that also implies reaching to the next level; “It is important that we continue to pursue innovation-driven development and build the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR) to strengthen coordination on macroeconomic policies, find more complementarities in our development strategies, and reinforce the competitiveness of the BRICS countries, emerging market economies and developing countries.”
If PartNIR sounds like the basis for an overall Global South platform, that’s because it is.
In a not too veiled allusion to the Trump administration’s unilateral pullout from the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), Xi called all parties to “abide by international law and basic norms governing international relations and to settle disputes through dialogue and differences through consultation,” adding that the BRICS are inevitably working for “a new type of international relations.”
Relations such as these certainly do not include a superpower unilaterally imposing an energy export blockade – an act of economic war – on an emerging market and key actor of the Global South.
Xi is keen to extol a “network of closer partnerships.” That’s where the concept of BRICS Plus fits in. China coined BRICS Plus last year at the Xiamen summit, it refers to closer integration between the five BRICS members and other emerging markets/developing nations.
Argentina, Turkey and Jamaica are guests of honor in Johannesburg. Xi sees BRICS Plus interacting with the UN, the G20 “and other frameworks” to amplify the margin of maneuver not only of emerging markets but the whole Global South. So how does Iran fit into this framework?
An absurd game of chicken
Immediately after President Trump’s Tweet of Mass Destruction the rhetorical war between Washington and Tehran has skyrocketed to extremely dangerous levels.
To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2018
Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force – and a true rock star in Iran – issued a blistering response to Trump: “You may begin the war, but it is us who will end it.”
The IRGC yields massive economic power in Iran and is in total symbiosis with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. It’s no secret the IRGC never trusted President Rouhani’s strategy of relying on the JCPOA as the path to improve Iran’s economy. After the unilateral Trump administration pullout, the IRGC feels totally vindicated.
The mere threat of a US attack on Iran has engineered a rise in oil prices. US reliance on Middle East Oil is going down while fracking – boosted by higher prices – is ramping up. The threat of war increases with Tehran now overtly referring to its power to cripple global energy supplies literally overnight.
In parallel the Houthis, by forcing the Yemen-bombing House of Saud to stop oil shipments via the Bab al-Mandeb port, are configuring the Strait of Hormuz and scores of easily targeted pipelines as even more crucial to the flow of energy that makes the West tick. If there ever was a US attack on Iran, Persian Gulf analysts stress only Russia, Nigeria and Venezuela might be able to provide enough oil and gas to make up for lost supplies to the West. That’s not exactly what the Trump administration is looking for.
Iranian “nuclear weapons” was always a bogus issue. Tehran did not have them – and was not pursuing them. Yet now the highly volatile rhetorical war introduces the hair-raising possibility of Tehran perceiving there is a clear danger of a US nuclear attack or an attack whose purpose is to destroy the nation’s infrastructure. If cornered, there’s no question the IRGC would buy nuclear weapons on the black market and use them to defend the nation.
This is the “secret” hidden in Soleimani’s message. Besides, Russia could easily – and secretly – supply Iran with state-of-the-art defensive missiles and the most advanced offensive missiles.
This absurd game of chicken is absolutely unnecessary for Washington from an oil strategy point of view – apart from the intent to break a key node of Eurasia integration. Assuming the Trump administration is playing chess, it’s imperative to think 20 moves ahead if “winning” is on the cards.
If a US oil blockade on Iran is coming, Iran could answer with its own Strait of Hormuz blockade, producing economic turmoil for the West. If this leads to a massive depression, it’s unlikely the industrial-military-security complex will blame itself.
There’s no question that Russia and China – the two key BRICS players – will have Iran’s back. First there’s Russia’s participation in Iran’s nuclear and aerospace industries and then the Russia-Iran collaboration in the Astana process to solve the Syria tragedy. With China, Iran as one of the country’s top energy suppliers and plays a crucial role in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Russia and China have an outsize presence in the Iranian market and similar ambitions to bypass the US dollar and third-party US sanctions.
Beam me up, Global South
The true importance of the BRICS Johannesburg summit is how it is solidifying a Global South plan of action that would have Iran as one of its key nodes. Iran, although not named in an excellent analysis by Yaroslav Lissovolik at the Valdai Club, is the quintessential BRICS Plus nation.
Once again, BRICS Plus is all about constituting a “unified platform of regional integration arrangements,” going way beyond regional deals to reach other developing nations in a transcontinental scope.
This means a platform integrating the African Union (AU), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as well as the South Asian Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).
Iran is a future member of the SCO and has already struck a deal with the EAEU. It’s also an important node of the BRI and is a key member, along BRICS members India and Russia, of the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC), essential for deeper Eurasia connectivity.
Lissovolik uses BEAMS as the acronym to designate “the aggregation of regional integration groups, with BRICS Plus being a broader concept that incorporates other forms of BRICS’ interaction with developing economies.”
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has defined BRICS Plus and BEAMS as the “most extensive platform for South-South cooperation with a global impact.” The Global South now does have an integration road map. If it ever happened, an attack on Iran would be not only an attack on BRICS Plus and BEAMS but on the whole Global South.
Free trade. That is ok.
The issue is that China is not after free trade.
Chinese market is overprotected. And they only suck western know compounded with massive trade balance surplus.
Great for China.
Not so great for western blue collars and others 99%
Trump is correct.
No foreign invasion from S### hole countries.
No unfair trade.
No intellectual property theft.
Troops come back home.
Uh, troops are still flowing the other way. The ‘news’ has regular announcements of America increasing its troop strength in one place after another. Can’t remember a single one about troops coming home, or any about making the military a bit smaller because we are no longer the world’s policeman/emperor.
LOL.
America is a global economic parasite based upon the US Dollar as the world’s only reserve currency. So the United Snakes is the last country on this planet to play the victim and cry about so-called “unfair trade.”
Overall, It’s pretty pathetic that the American superpower is such a nation of self-pitying snowflakes, especially as they have economically raped the world through their Dollar Dictatorship and the Washington Consensus brand of capitalism … for decades. This is the parasitic basis of the entire American way of life. And this ain’t a secret, as this system has even been exposed by former NSA operative John Perkins.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8171.htm
And Trump and his Trumptard followers are a reflection of the warped nature of the American Empire in general: the United States of America is a bloodsucker nation–but one that clings to pathological sense of its own victimhood to deny this reality and reassure itself in the delusion of US moral exceptionalism.
Regardless, the Americans will learn the hard way that Karma is bitch, when reality hits them like a wall of bricks, and the USA’s financial Day of Reckoning finally comes with the deserved implosion of the Dollar.
Will the US Succeed in Breaking Russia to Maintain Dollar Hegemony?
http://www.kitco.com/ind/Maund/2014-08-26-Will-the-US-Succeed-in-Breaking-Russia-to-Maintain-Dollar-Hegemony.html
“Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions”
Sure see how successfull those countries have been.
Surely Trump does not want it to be the other way arround with China.
Trump position is legitimate.
As for the other countries. If they do not wanna be counciliatory : then man up as Russia or Iran does.
However do not expect western based technology, trade framework and other reward. Just build it up yourself from scratch.
China is the only real competitor to the US.
Russia wanna play hardball and makes necessary arrangement. But make no mistake in capitalist and economic terms Russia is no more than an African country compared to US and China.
China played well and is challenging the western led world order with help of third rate global players which are not happy with the western leader rule.
Just like Russia and Iran (not to mention the other nothings. Brazil and South Africa : are you kidding me ?)
As for India, it is an oceanic power and surely has more in common with UK and US compared to China and Russia.
China is playing nice, all smile, hug and kisses.
But be carefull, as goes the saying : “there is no man ownership on a land. Just as there is no dog ownership on a kennel.” (Churchill if I remember well).
If and when China prevail, nice and pretty China will gobble Russia up one other day.
Actually, Chinese business is well known for its transparency, rule of law, respect for intellectual property and fair or balanced trade practices..
Regarding USD that is not the most important issue.
Only degenerate wall street bankers and their degenerate counterparts (when I see the answers here I am dumbfounded) could believe such thing.
The most important issue is technology leadership.
With technomogy all follows.
The west is the leader of the world because it created and controls all key and most advanced modern technologies. And the US is the most dynamic in the western hemisphere.
In case someone missed it here. It is what Trump is refering to when speaking about Chinese “intellectual property” robbery.
It means China threat of taking the leadership in technologies.
That is why African countries will remain shitholes as they will not learn to do that. They will continue to have overpopulation with >6 babies per woman. And that is why such countries with their good leaders will be cheated by everyone.
African do not care and believe exactly the same.
“Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions”
Sure see how successfull those countries have been.”
[…]
“Regarding USD that is not the most important issue.”
Your comments demonstrate how much you imitate your false idol, Donald Trump, an Anglo American shill who clumsily lies through his teeth to conceal America’s economic looting of the world–and stands reality on its head in the process.
The American victimizer now pathetically parades as a victim…. You really should be quoting George Orwell rather than the great British war criminal Winston Churchill.
American-driven Neoliberal globalization is one of the primary causes of misery on the planet. Indeed, this is what the United States inflicted on Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union: the American rape of Russia through economic austerity measures, capitalist privatization, and deregulation. This is the actual content of USA’s cheap rhetoric about “freedom, democracy, rule of law, transparency, etc.”–all propaganda slogans for America’s free market fundamentalism, also known as the Washington Consensus.
The Rape of Russia
/the-rape-of-russia-saker-blog-exclusive-interview/
The Harvard Boys Do Russia
https://www.thenation.com/article/harvard-boys-do-russia/
In fact, America’s current trade war against China is–like most American wars whether economic, military, or political–based upon pretexts and bullsh*t. The agenda is *not* about reducing the trade deficit or US unemployment, or enforcing intellectual property rights, blah, blah. Those lies are only for the MAGA suckers to believe.
As William Engdahl has argued, “The aim is a fundamental opening up of the Chinese economy to the Washington free market liberal reforms that China has steadfastly resisted. In a sense, it is a new version of the Anglo-American Opium Wars of the 1840s using other means to open China…. In effect, Washington and the latest trade salvos are intended to tell China to keep its place in the US-version of a globalized liberal world where the state is not allowed to play any significant role, one where decisive power is held by a multinational corporate elite.”
Trump China Trade War Has Deeper Agenda
http://www.williamengdahl.com/englishNEO8Apr2018.php
Incidentally, America’s Washington Consensus doctrine has been imposed throughout the planet–Latin America, Asia, Middle East and Africa. That is the real reason–in addition to American wars of aggression–that other nations are sh*tholes. There were Made in the USA.
And you call all this “success”?! Not for those countries.
As for the Dollar, America’s almighty Dollar Imperialist system is the alpha and omega of the entire US way of life and economy–not just Wall Street. This system has allowed the USA to extract the greatest economic lunch in history for almost a half century since the early 1970s, as Michael Hudson–and even Vladimir Putin–have bluntly stated.
America: Host or Parasite?
https://soundcloud.com/guns-and-butter-1/2051-20070314-guns-and-butter
Vladimir Putin Calls US a ‘Parasite’ on World Economy
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/08/02/vladimir-putin-calls-us-parasite-on-world-economy.html
In essence, America’s Dollar Imperialism is one where “Washington can control the world’s energy supplies and force the world to trade in dollars, it can spend well in excess of what it produces and not be held to account. It’s like having a credit card you never have to pay off.
That’s a racket Uncle Sam is prepared to defend with everything he’s got, even nukes.”
Defending Dollar Imperialism
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/01/defending-dollar-imperialism/
America has greedily devoured an enormous amount of real goods and services from the world (including from China, I would add) and “paid” the world back in toilet paper Dollars from the Federal Reserve’s unlimited printing machine.
“As for India, it is an oceanic power and surely has more in common with UK and US compared to China and Russia.”
This is the one thing that you’re right about. India is like the USA and Britain. But that is not a compliment.
India is joining the Anglo American Axis of Evil so as to advance its own aspirations for an Indian Raj throughout South Asia and beyond–essentially following in the steps of the British Empire’s Raj before it.
Too bad that the Indians don’t realize that the Anglo Americans don’t have allies. They only have vassals and stooges–who will be treated as such. Trump’s recent imposition of economic tariffs on Indian steel and aluminium imports–despite India’s status as a most favored ally–was a slap in the face to remind India who is the real “man” in the USA-India bromance.
When I said “success” that was obviously ironic.
Calm down my friend.
The point being that US has no duty and obligation to allow China to apply the same “hitman” method to the US.
As for Russia, Yeltsine and the so called washington boys.
That is first Russian responsability for their own failed system ans corrupt leadership.
Do not blame US to take advantage of Russia own failure and weakness.
Just as do not blame US for Arab cheikhdom failure and orruption.
In real world dog eat dog.
Help yourself fIrst. Only then god Will help you.
The same apply to everyone. Be it China-US relation or others.
I’m always impressed with immoral arguments that consist of cliches, platitudes and BS baffles brains.
How are the Ashkenazi hitmen working out for the suckers in the USA. They, must have superior brainwashing/socialization “technology”?
The Zionazis control the Internet with its mass surveillance capabilities. They are also leaders in other surveillance technologies, and in the methods and instruments of mass repression, as honed for decades on the human laboratory rats of Gaza and the West Bank.
So the business folks who steal the jobs of US workers and export them to their own subsidiaries in China get upset when their intellectual property and know-how gets stolen? Am I expected to get worked up over this? So Trump wants to pressure Chinese not to take US know-how, which will only make it easier for US companies to export jobs.
The process described in ‘Economic Hitmen’ usually involved taking out frivolous loans from the IMF-type gangsters, with the goal of seeking privatization of the public space to alieve those debts. China is not doing this. In reality, the tariffs on Aluminum are to put a floor on the spot market for Aluminum, where producers are forced to buy due to Goldman’s sequestering of the metal. This benefits Goldman and Wilbur Ross, and virtually nobody else. And as far a Dog Eat Dog goes: the best anyone has to look forward to is dog for dinner. Bon Appetit!
“That is why African countries will remain shitholes as they will not learn to do that. They will continue to have overpopulation with >6 babies per woman. And that is why such countries with their good leaders will be cheated by everyone.”
Do leave your anti African bias out of this. The birth rate is a lagging indicator and is not a cause on its own. A productive economy will naturally have declining birth rates, this is true as far back as Rome
Higher birth rate is an auto response to failed states, check that out. Why does VVP give award to families with higher than average birth rate. It is a tool that can be used for good with good management.
Africa is a failure because the colonialist have consistently given leadership to “Genetic Slaves” people they can control, these slaves also fancy themselves as lords and attempt the enslave their former masters, hence the chaos
Too few Africans have learnt to work for what they want. the system appear to always need an intervention even if its “God” this is why the people give up easily and generally don’t push for what they think is best.
Cheers
Ah, I said it before and I am going to repeat. Excellent book, very eye opening on the operations of “NGO’s”.
I would say, a must reading for all interested to know how things work behind the seens’ as the “we bring you Democracy, … Not”.
China cannot have it both ways. Run a huge trade surplus and remove the dollar as the reserve currency and vehicle for international trade. If China wants to reduce the dollars role in the World, it needs to allow its currency to float freely, and run a trade deficit … just like the US.
And, to talk about China being against ‘protectionism’ is ludicrous. China built its modern economy with protectionism. There is nothing wrong with doing that, but to cry tears if someone else reacts (well, after 30 years) is silly.
Trump is correct in wanting to keep the Americans in their own S###hole country and not to spread its content all over the world. They can bring back all the dollars in the world, they would need them to wipe their a##es. They can keep the ‘know’ to themselves.
“Trump is correct in wanting to keep the Americans in their own S###hole country and not to spread its content all over the world. ”
Corrupt countries and failed leadership are more than happy to get US troops on their soil.
I did heard Germany, Italy or Spain say “US go home”.
Who is profeetering ? Who can say for sure ?
Slave mentality or sovereign will power is not for you to decide for everyone and rant about.
‘They can keep the ‘know’ to themselves.”
You need convince your fellow citizen first.
See what Putin or orhers say about the so called sanctions.
Not sure all are that happy.
You seem to be satisfied. Good for you.
Therefore all is fine and I am not sure to understand what the whole rant is aimed at.
We the U.S. are kings when it comes to so called unfair trade practices,after all what was NAFTA and GATT but unfair trade agreements, which benefited no one except the U.S. business sector and destroying the middle class in the process.I presume you did notice that Trumps tariffs are only placed on the goods manufactured by Chinese corporations, but American corporations are untouched by these tariffs even tho these same products are made in the so called s*** hole countries Trumps term not mine which is another plus for these u.S. companies and corporation along with their off-shore accounts, and the very large tax break that Trump gave them when he took office, which does nothing except add to the trillions we already owe…….
@Robert Ferrin
Do you mean Democratics Clintonian policies is the right way ?
Or Democrat socialists ?
Or Bush style republicans ?
Or maybe the green party ?
The point is that after cold war. Clintonian policies destroyed the US.
With MSM regulation being destroyed and MSM oligopoly being allowed by the corrupt Clintonian gang.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996
“….The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first significant overhaul of telecommunications law in more than sixty years, amending the Communications Act of 1934. The Act, signed by President Bill Clinton, represented a major change in American telecommunication law,…”
“….In this context, the 1996 Telecommunications Act was designed to allow fewer, but larger corporations, to operate more media enterprises within a sector (such as Clear Channel’s dominance in radio), and to expand across media sectors (through relaxation of cross-ownership rules), thus enabling massive and historic consolidation of media in the United States. These changes amounted to a near-total rollback of New Deal market regulation…”
“…The Act was claimed to foster competition. Instead, it continued the historic industry consolidation reducing the number of major media companies from around 50 in 1983 to 10 in 1996[23] and 6 in 2005.[24] An FCC study found that the Act had led to a drastic decline in the number of radio station owners, even as the actual number of commercial stations in the United States had increased.[25] This decline in owners and increase in stations has reportedly had the effect of Radio homogenization, where programming has become similar across formats…”
Just as the Clintonian gang destroyed the Glass Steegal act.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass–Steagall_legislation
“…The Glass–Steagall legislation describes four provisions of the U.S.A Banking Act of 1933 separating commercial and investment banking…”
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath_of_the_repeal_of_the_Glass–Steagall_Act
“…President Bill Clinton’s signing statement for the GLBA summarized the established argument for repealing Glass–Steagall Section’s 20 and 32 in stating that this change, and the GLBA’s amendments to the Bank Holding Company Act, would “enhance the stability of our financial services system” by permitting financial firms to “diversify their product offerings and thus their sources of revenue” and make financial firms “better equipped to compete in global financial markets.”[1][2]:223..”
All the same it is under Clinton administration with bipartisan efforts that limit to political campaign contribution was abolished.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance_in_the_United_States
“…Contributions made directly to a specific candidate are called hard money and those made to parties and committees are called soft money. Soft money constitutes an alternative form of financing campaigns that emerged in the last years. It “derives from a major loophole in federal campaign financing and spending law that exempts from regulation those contributions made for party building in general rather than for specific candidates”.[18] There are no limits on soft money …”
“Furthermore, in 1996, the Supreme Court decided Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee v. FEC, in which the Court ruled that Congress could not restrict the total amount of “independent expenditures” made by a political party without coordination with a candidate, invalidating a FECA provision that restricted how much a political party could spend in connection with a particular candidate.[40] As a result of these rulings, soft money effectively enabled parties and candidates to circumvent FECA’s limitations on federal election campaign contributions.[41]”
Trump is not saint.
Nor Perfect.
Nor all powerfull in case you missed it.
But at least he is “less worse” than the (current) democrat and other republican establishment corrupt gang.
And Clinton are the worst corrupt and vicious plundering gang in US modern history.
As for the “mainstream” republican establishment. They are clueless and corrupt all the same.
Regarding the US sell out and job offsharing.
Whodunnit ? Let you guess…
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States–China_Relations_Act_of_2000
“The U.S.–China Relations Act of 2000 was an act that granted permanent normal trade relations to China; it was signed on October 10, 2000 by President Bill Clinton. Prior to passage of the bill, China was subject to an annual review of its trade status with the United States.[1] The act removed the review, eased some trade barriers, and facilitated China’s entry into the World Trade Organization.[2]”
Hi Anonymous, I have news for you: USA has been invaded by a sh!thole country and has lost its capacity to think or see clearly. Every time it gets a glimpse of the changes necessary for its survival it gets overwhelmed by a hysterical blitzkrieg of diversionary media screaming.
There is no such thing as free trade in the mind of the USA. It is monopoly all the way and they will lie, cheat and kill to obtain that monopoly for the USA. We all know that!
No “intellectual property” theft.
“Intellectual property” is an artificial concept created to keep the haves on top of the havenots.
Intellectual property IS theft! – there, fixed that for you…
@ anodinous
““Intellectual property” is an artificial concept created to keep the haves on top of the havenots.”
That sounds pretty anarchist.
One could also assume with such argument that the whole concept of “property” or “theft” was only created to separate the have and the have not.
But surely there is a meaning in such senseless argument in what it indirectly reveal : a deep crisis in “advanced” society about the meaning of struggle for life, selfrespect or consideration for own family or own community.
It’s not anarchist, I’d say it’s common sense.Things like ‘intellectual property’/patents are attempts at claiming ownership of knowledge, a futile endeavor, and exist only as matters of law, whereas concepts of ownership,property and theft have existed in this world well before any laws.Morally these laws have no standing since pieces of knowledge aren’t created in vacuums, knowledge is built on top of each other, when people ‘invent’ something they usually take for granted plenty of commonly available knowledge, some dating back millenniums, so why should these recent additions, built on existing knowledge, be allowed to be owned by anyone when only a small portion of the ‘invention’ comes purely from the ‘inventor’.Plus, unlike physical property nobody can really lose knowledge, knowledge/information replicates and spreads, nobody loses anything, can you call an act a ‘theft’ if nothing is lost?Either way I don’t think things like ‘intellectual property’ will be taken seriously anywhere outside the West, not just in China.
@ anon12309846
Your explanation is unconvincing : if I follow your logic, why should I pay for oil or gold whereas it is available on earth for millions of years ?
Property is an arbitrary concept anyway.
The correct explanation is the social usefulness of “property”.
That separate communists vs capitalists.
Communist system lost. And proved disfunctionnal.
The “intellectual property” is socially usefull for a limited period to allow initial investment in r&d to be recovered.
But yes you are correct in that it is also related to “might makes right”.
You can take it anyway if the owner cannot impose its ownership.
As goes the saying : “there is no man ownership on a land. Just as there is no dog ownership on a kennel.” (Churchill if I remember well).
Because that gold does not jump out of the ground, refine itself and transport onto your lap, those things are done by others who demand a price for their labor, the gold itself does not demand anything, neither does knowledge and is typically ‘refined’ by people long dead and ‘transported’ by people unwittingly, for free.Incidentally if you manage to find gold on a piece of land you own, I’d imagine you would not have to pay anything for it.
Aren’t all man-made laws arbitrary?And no, the concept of property existed long before any communists or capitalists ever existed.Did the communists really lose?Isn’t socialism supposed to be watered-down version of communism?And given your preference for ‘social usefulness’ I might say you were a socialist.
And that just shows the typical American inability to see anything without money/profit being part of the process, when neither is of any importance to much of anything.
I don’t see where I wrote anything that could be interpreted as ‘might makes right’, I wrote knowledge replicates and nobody ‘loses’ knowledge and as such it’s not something that can be stolen or owned.To make it clear, if you had a bar of gold and somebody took that bar of gold, you’d lose the gold and the other would gain the gold, this is the nature of physical objects, but if you had a piece of knowledge and somebody ‘took’ that piece of knowledge, you’d have lost nothing while the other has gained knowledge, which is the nature of knowledge/information.Might is completely irrelevant in this dynamic.Unless you were talking about ‘intellectual property’ not being taken seriously outside the West, even that has nothing to do with might, the laws of a nation only goes as far as the nation’s borders, no further, so foreign countries have no obligation to obey American/Western laws in the first place.
While we’re on the subject of owning knowledge, do you think the West will ever payback the Chinese for using gunpowder?Must be quite the bill there.
@ anon12309846
“Because that gold does not jump out of the ground, refine itself and transport onto your lap, those things are done by others who demand a price for their labor, the gold itself does not demand anything, neither does knowledge and is typically ‘refined’ by people long dead and ‘transported’ by people unwittingly, for free.Incidentally if you manage to find gold on a piece of land you own, I’d imagine you would not have to pay anything for it.”
IMHO your are mistaken.
Gold price is not related to added value.
It is related to scarcity.
Legaly and philosophically the one who discover a treasure or a gold mine is called an “inventor”. Just like know how and intellectual property.
ad hominem statement removed … mod
That depends on demand, if nobody wanted gold it’d be worthless, regardless of how scarce it is.And since gold is not something like food, without which people can’t live, it really depends on what value specific groups of men, of a specific era assign to it.Though being scarce does make it useful as a currency/medium of exchange.But I think we’re talking about this from two different levels?Price is a matter between buyers and sellers, and the ones I mentioned are factors on the seller’s side of the equation.
This is the first time I’ve ever heard of someone who discovered a treasure or gold mine being called an ‘inventor’.Inventors are called ‘inventors’ because they invent things, people who find treasures or gold mines are called explorers/finders/treasure hunters(?) and some other similar terms, but certainly not ‘inventors’.If you wrote ‘someone invented a treasure or a gold mine’ that’d be interpreted as that person engaging in a work of fiction.But even if I go by your standard would someone who discovered a treasure or a gold mine be handed ownership of what he discovered by default?The laws differ from country to country but I’d imagine he’d at least have to own the land in question first to claim ownership, otherwise it’d probably go to the state(though he’d get some sort of finders fee).
only a USA citizen can give credit to the nonsense above.
@ nietzsche1510
Surely when they might the Chinese will explains the same To Russian :
“We are 1 billion. You are less than us. Earth is out there for millions of years. Give me your land and your country”
As Russian do rather prefer their own family and community over Chinese. They will not accept that.
WTF that is truly racist and egotistic.
That separates have and have not !
As always, coming from Pepe, a interesting and well-thought-out analysis.
A most, most optimistic outlook at that.
On the other end of the spectrum of all possible outlooks might stand the observation: that all these are just very general declarations, nothing more. Not concrete treaties, economic or otherwise. Joint conference declarations by what could not be more disparate parties. While “BRICS” (or “BRICST”:-)) might sound nice, it is hardly more than an acronym, certainly not a solid edifice.
(One need just examine “the bricks of “BRICS””. Brazil has been long lost to a U.S. fascist puppet regime… South Africa is on its fast way down, already experiencing a mass exodus of its most productive citizens, fleeing in panic to … oh horror … the “R” of “BRICS”!!!… While the charming bride “I” – India, not Iran, mind you – is enthusiastically flirting with its Anglo-Zionist Empire suitor. And so on. Read the news, connect the dots…)
Trump says, she says, he says, I says, “BRICS” says…
Divining is a tricky business.
If America wants to start WWIII – Attacking Iran is a good way to start it.
Not really. The window of golden opportunity has closed ever since Russia entered the Syrian war. From now on the Jewish Mafia will face only uphill battles. Wherever they will put feet on the ground, they will be panicky, exposed, outnumbered, disoriented, wondering at what exact moment things started going south. And that huge fake Islamist mercenary armies are not the solution either is now – after the annihilation of ISIS in Syria – an established fact.
According to my sources Iran did aquire nukes during the firesale of the USSR.
The total number was unclear, not the fact,and they were mirv’ed warheads still on their busse’s.
Hundreds of nukes and tonnes of plutonium have never been accounted for, and ANYTHING was for sale
by starving soviet generals back then.
The world does not need to find this out the hard-way how many they bought.
The hard part of acquiring a nuclear weapon is acquiring the bomb grade material. That’s the part that requires whole complexes of centrifuges or breeder reactors or something along those lines. Once they’ve got that, repackaging that into new warheads that fit onto different missiles, well its not minor, but its not as hard as the first part.
Maybe I’ll watch Nic Cage in Lords of War as a general reminder of how weapons were flowing out of the old Soviet Union just as a reminder. If AK-47’s and attack helicopters were for sale, nuclear weapons aren’t really a stretch. I wonder if the Pentagon edited that out of the script?
That should help everyone sleep easy tonight. :(
Oh well, alchohol and sleeping pills will take care of that, just like it does on any other nite.
SA and Brazil had their leaders removed. India got into an argument with China. And we are back to just Russia and China trying to save the world. No one else has the balls to resist here in Africa and the Americas.
In Brazil, they had to use a lawfare coup to remove an elected president. Then they have to use more lawfare to keep a popular ex-president from running again in a coming election he’d be sure to win. At this point, Brazil can no longer hold a free election.
That won’t bother anyone who counts in the AZ Empire. But its not exactly a stable situation. Situations like that usually spiral downwards as more oppression creates more resistence which creates more opporession and use of force against the people and that creates more resistence and so it goes on and on until it becomes the little puff of dust that is always the fate of Wile E. Coyote in the cartoons.
Makes one wonder if the next explosion won’t be bigger than the last one? If people tried legal elections to change their society the last time, will they be so nice about it the second time around? And that’s not just Brazil but all across Latin America.
All of which is pretty much the story behind how Iran became a BRIC.
Better not relax. In Brazil, Michel Temer’s popularity is nearly zero. The only reason he isn’t already in jail for corruption is that he had Congress pass a law to shield him from such charges. Unless he cheats, he will not be re-elected. So you had better start worrying: Brazil will probably soon rejoin BRICS in spirit.
I said, “[Temer] will not be re-elected”.
I should have said “elected for the first time” of course. Temer was not elected, but this sickeningly corrupt creep is the President of Brazil for some reason. But probably not for much longer. The next general election in Brazil will be held this October.
The USA seems to want to divide the world with a paper wall of sanctions and lawfare. If they put in sanctions on those trading with Iran for oil like Trump says he’ll do in Nov, then that’s just another brick in that wall (sorry, couldn’t resist :).
The point is, on which side of that wall do you want to be. Do you want to be locked into trading with a declining USA and a shrinking pool of trade that they haven’t sanctioned yet? Especially because on that side of the wall yu are at the whim of who-ever the American president is? Or do you want to be on the side of the wall with a growing China and its billion people that is a cinch to be the biggest and most important economy in the world fifty years from now?
Each country is going to have to decide which side of that paper wall that they want to be on. The USA seems insistent of more and more use of sanctions as a weapon, and as they cover more countries and more goods the world is going to divide. And its not a good sign for the USA that they appparently have to use coups and force to put countries on their side of that paper wall.
What the US has forgotten is that sanctions have to be unanimous if they are to be effective.
If China keeps buying Iranian oil, and so far it seems highly likely that they will, then overall the sanctions have very little effect on the world.
Its still a world oil market. The only thing that has an impact is if Iran’s oil is completely removed. After all, if China keeps buying Iran’s oil, then that’s less oil they buy in other places. Overall, the world oil market is uneffected. There’s only two ways that Iran’s oil can be completely taken off the world market and thus have an effect on supply and demand. One is if everyone agrees with and follows the sanctions, and that does mean everyone with no exceptions. The other is if the empire uses military force to blockade Iran’s oil.
As long as Russia and China stand with Iran on trade, then Trump’s only option is a physical military blockade to stop Iran’s oil. That would be war. That would be bad PR for Trump, so he’d blink before then. He’s already hinted he wants a new deal, but Iran has replied with a firm no. Most likely then Trump just moves on and creates another s###storm somewhere else and hope no one remembers that he really lost this round.
And Trump is more and more certain to try to focus on the coming elections as this year roll along. That’s the natural cycle of American politics even if Trump is new to the game. The Democrats are running to Trump’s right with ex-CIA and military officers complaining that Trump is Putin’s pupppet, so Trump won’t mind trying to look tough. But a war and the economic upheaveal that will come with it won’t do Trump’s election chances any good at all. The AZ empire might be ok with that, as they’d rather have Pence or a Clinton-clone as a figurehead, but that wouldn’t be what Trump personally wants so he certain to try to avoid it. Trump won’t try to start an actual war. That doesn’t mean he won’t blunder into one, but Trump is certain to blink first in a showdown. He already has against Putin in Syria.
I would add though that the ‘fiat’ supposedly from government only applies to cash and government debt. Since financial deregulation most of the debt issued is by banks, which are private. And then there is the rest of the ‘money’ such as the insanity of derivatives. The era of government fiat is largely over. Unfortunately you can be deluded by paying attention to the meaning of words, that is the depth of the lunacy of the global financial system. The debt now is globally unpayable, a pattern that goes back thousands of years. Typically the solution is debt forgiveness but goodness knows how that would work.
China has always been perfectly protectionist, which is a sane and healthy approach for any nation. Xi is playing games when he calls for free trade, because he doesn’t intend to change China’s policy.
Escobar doesn’t see the fakery.
As for Persia, I don’t think this complicated “south-south” stuff is necessary. Persia’s economic interests are already protected pretty well by Germany and France, who need Persian oil badly enough to disobey American sanctions. Persia’s military interests are protected by alliance with Russia.
Actually I think it’s highly likely that Washington’s recent attempts at regime change in Iran are about isolating Europe, more than anything else.The so-called attempts to isolate Russia may have been for that purpose too.
Xi is playing games when he calls for free trade, because he doesn’t intend to change China’s [protectionist] policy.
Xi is probably using the American definition of “free trade”. For the U.S., a free trade agreement with another country is a heavy book one inch thick.
Saying again, a planet not owned but, inhabited and nature in balance is the key. Money is as artificial as the factions of humans.
Enlightenment must be the discussion between all the “chosen” multitudes of leaders and followers and all the choosing to be free.
Nice article by Pepe that might upset those who favor enforced Empire Perpetual Backwardness and Underdevelopment in the (Til Very Recently Too Slowly) Developing Sector.
But the New Silk Road Spirit May Soon Lift the host continent, Africa out of darkness. 600 million Africans lack of electricity. China takes the lead with transportation and communication connectivity the colonial powers denied Africa. But Russia intends to help to turn the lights on:
https://youtu.be/0YDNgl9Vx_o?t=1423
Putin quotes from Johannesburg on What Russia Can do To Help The Developing Sector……making Africa a test case.
The USA became a stinking moral mess, especially after November 22, 1963….however the New Silk Road was inspired by American Statesman and physical economist Lyndon LaRouche (“Increases in the productivity of human labor through the adoption of science and technology is the real source of value. Money, and monetarists, have NO intrinsic value in themselves.”) with the release of his International Development Bank proposal in 1975,
Xi invoked the fact of 2018 being the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth and invoked Mandela’s imagery of hills to climb……as JFK urges once more optimistic and inspirable Americans into space…. to be like the boy in Ireland….that had the habit of throwing his hat over the next fence…and always pressing forward:
https://youtu.be/0YDNgl9Vx_o?t=1164
It was in India, that a young G.I named Lyndon LaRouche reacted to the evil effects of British Colonialism in terms of poverty, misery and violence…namely a massacre of Indians in Calcutta by British troops demanding independence which the young G.I. stationed there witnessed..first hand…..that forged his commitment to development of the Third World….73 years ago.
Mathew Ogden recounts those events, here:
https://youtu.be/0YDNgl9Vx_o?t=384
and here’s the IDB proposal….which I used to have a copy of:
https://youtu.be/0YDNgl9Vx_o?t=459
And so, by 43 years ago, in 1975, he had made sufficient study and contacts with Non-Aligned Movement leaders such as Indira Ghandi, Lopez Portillo and others to have his proposal for an International Development Bank introduced at a major UN Conference. Fred Wills, Finance Minister of Guyana and Lifelong friend and collaborator gave the speech introducing the IDB concept to the world.
Of course the IMF slaves, the British and their “blue-blood” US (Tory) Eastern Establishment partners in crime vehemently opposed the IDB concept and the British targeted Wills politically….ending his political career a very short time after his UN speech.
Those are the very early, important roots of the BRICS Plus…as it is becoming known, and growing …despite fears and apprehensions, today.
“Plus” means Iran, Afghanistan, Argentina…..and many more to come, including in AFRICA in this century’s more potent version of last century’s Non-Aligned Movement.
I think that China should tone down and downplay its 2025 ambitions. See this link: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1114475.shtml
It arouses too much fear which can lead to violence. Besides it breaches Sun Tzu’s dictum: “Let your strategy be as dark as the night..”.