By Pepe Escobar, posted with the author’s permission and cross posted with The Cradle
Mariupol was battered by Ukraine’s right-wing Azov battalion well before Moscow launched its military ops. In Russian hands, this strategic steelworks port can transform into a hub of Eurasian connectivity.
Mariupol sits on the strategic Sea of Azov at the tip of the Black Sea, and is the ‘Mecca’ of Europe’s steel industry. Its conquest by Russia can pave the way for a Eurasian railroad and connectivity surge. Photo Credit: The Cradle
Mariupol, the strategic Sea of Azov port, remains in the eye of the storm in Ukraine.
The NATO narrative is that Azovstal – one of Europe’s biggest iron and steel works – was nearly destroyed by the Russian Army and its allied Donetsk forces who “lay siege” to Mariupol.
The true story is that the neo-Nazi Azov batallion took scores of Mariupol civilians as human shields since the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, and retreated to Azovstal as a last stand. After an ultimatum delivered last week, they are now being completely exterminated by the Russian and Donetsk forces and Chechen Spetsnaz.
Azovstal, part of the Metinvest group controlled by Ukraine’s wealthiest oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov, is indeed one of the biggest metallurgic plants in Europe, self-described as a “high-performance integrated metallurgical enterprise that produces coke and sinter, steel as well as high-quality rolled products, bars and shapes.”
Amidst a flurry of testimonials detailing the horrors inflicted by the Azov neo-Nazis on Mariupol’s civilian population, a way more auspicious, invisible story bodes well for the immediate future.
Russia is the world’s fifth largest steel producer, apart from holding huge iron and coal deposits. Mariupol – a steel Mecca – used to source coal from Donbass, but under de facto neo-Nazi rule since the 2014 Maidan events, was turned into an importer. Iron, for instance, started to be supplied from Krivbas in Ukraine, over 200 kilometers away.
After Donetsk solidifies itself as an independent republic or, via referendum, chooses to become part of the Russian Federation, this situation is bound to change.
Azovstal is invested in a broad product line of very useful stuff: structural steel, rail for railroads, hardened steel for chains, mining equipment, rolled steel used in factory apparatus, trucks and railroad cars. Parts of the factory complex are quite modern while some, decades old, are badly in need of upgrading, which Russian industry can certainly provide.
Strategically, this is a huge complex, right at the Sea of Azov, which is now, for all practical purposes, incorporated into the Donetsk People’s Republic, and close to the Black Sea. That implies a short trip to the Eastern Mediterranean, including many potential customers in West Asia. And crossing Suez and reaching the Indian Ocean, are customers all across South and Southeast Asia.
So the Donetsk People’s Republic, possibly part of the future Novorossiya, and even part of Russia, will be in control of a lot of steel-making capacity for southern Europe, West Asia, and beyond.
One of the inevitable consequences is that it will be able to supply a real freight railroad construction boom in Russia, China and the Central Asian ‘stans.’ Railroad construction happens to be the privileged connectivity mode for Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). And, crucially, of the increasingly turbo-charged International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC).
So, mid-term, Mariupol should expect to become one of the key hubs of a boom in north-south routes – INSTC across Russia and linking with the ‘stans’ – as well as major BRI upgrades east-west and sub-BRI corridors.
Interlocked Eurasia
The INSTC’s main players are Russia, Iran and India – which are now, post-NATO sanctions, in advanced interconnection mode, complete with devising mechanisms to bypass the US dollar in their trade. Azerbaijan is another important INSTC player, yet more volatile because it privileges Turkey’s connectivity designs in the Caucasus.
The INSTC network will also be progressively interconnecting with Pakistan – and that means the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key BRI hub, which is slowly but surely expanding to Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s impromptu visit to Kabul late last week was to advance the incorporation of Afghanistan to the New Silk Roads.
All that is happening as Moscow – extremely close to New Delhi – is simultaneously expanding trade relations with Islamabad. All three, crucially, are Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members.
So the grand North-South design spells out fluent connectivity from the Russian mainland to the Caucasus (Azerbaijan), to West Asia (Iran) all the way to South Asia (India and Pakistan). None of these key players have demonized or sanctioned Russia despite ongoing US pressures to do so.
Strategically, that represents the Russian multipolar concept of Greater Eurasian Partnership in action in terms of trade and connectivity – in parallel and complimentary with BRI because India, eager to install a rupee-ruble mechanism to buy energy, in this case is an absolutely crucial Russia partner, matching China’s reported $400 billion strategic deal with Iran. In practice, the Greater Eurasia Partnership will facilitate smoother connectivity between Russia, Iran, Pakistan and India.
The NATO universe, meanwhile, is congenitally incapable of even recognizing the complexity of the alignment, not to mention analyze its implications. What we have is the interlocking of BRI, INTSC and the Greater Eurasia Partnership on the ground – all notions that are regarded as anathema in the Washington Beltway.
All that of course is being designed amidst a game-changing geoeconomic moment, as Russia, starting this Thursday, will only accept payment for its gas in rubles from “unfriendly” nations.
Parallel to the Greater Eurasia Partnership, BRI, since it was launched in 2013, is also progressively weaving a complex, integrated Eurasian network of partnerships: financial/economic, connectivity, physical infrastructure building, economic/trade corridors. BRI’s role as a co-shaper of institutions of global governance, including normative foundations, has also been crucial, much to the despair of the NATO alliance.
Time to de-westernize
Yet only now the Global South, especially, will start to observe the full spectrum of the China-Russia play across the Eurasian sphere. Moscow and Beijing are deeply involved in a joint drive to de-westernize globalist governance, if not shatter it altogether.
Russia from now on will be even more meticulous in its institution-building, coalescing the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), the SCO and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – a Eurasian military alliance of select post-Soviet states – in a geopolitical context of irreversible institutional and normative divide between Russia and the West.
At the same time, the Greater Eurasia Partnership will be solidifying Russia as the ultimate Eurasian bridge, creating a common space across Eurasia which could even ignore vassalized Europe.
Meanwhile in real life, BRI, as much as the INSTC, will be increasingly plugged into the Black Sea (hello, Mariupol). And BRI itself may even be prone to re-evaluation in its emphasis of linking western China to western Europe’s shrinking industrial base.
There will be no point in privileging the northern BRI corridors – China-Mongolia-Russia via the Trans-Siberian, and the Eurasian land bridge via Kazakhstan – when you have Europe descending into medieval dementia.
BRI’s renewed focus will be on gaining access to irreplaceable commodities – and that means Russia – as well as securing essential supplies for Chinese production. Commodity-rich nations, such as Kazakhstan and many players in Africa, shall become the top future markets for China.
In a pre-Covid loop across Central Asia, one constantly heard that China builds plants and high-speed railways while Europe at best writes white papers. It can always get worse.
The EU as occupied American territory is now descending, fast, from center of global power to the status of inconsequential peripheral player, a mere struggling market in the far periphery of China’s “community of shared destiny.”
Might not shutting off gas to EU result in war with Russia as
the US embargo on Japan of resources pre-Pearl Harbor resulted in Japan’s declaration of war on US
a repeat of WW2 where by EU,Russia,China,Japan all destroy each others ecconomies leaving
the US sole ecconomic /military power in the world.
No.
Japan was under an oil blockade – Russia is not refusing to sell energy but wants rubles or gold. Or of course the EU could lift all sanctions and become friendly.
No pretext for war and who would fight?
I understand, you’re madly afraid, but be sure, the US will get more than it’s share of targeting. This time around the empire doesn’t go unharmed on his home turf, evenin case of a no-nuke war.
@ Uncharted,
The Russians are not “shutting off” any gas to Europe – they can have as much of it as they want as long as they pay for it in currency that Russia can use – ie the Ruble (and by extension the Yuan and physical Gold).
It was the EU that chose to cancel pipeline projects, chose to cut Russia off from its foreign currency reserves, and impose “sanctions from hell” on Russia.
The EU thought Russia would beg for thier pieces of paper called Euros and Dollars, but it backfired worse then an of thier intellectual-idiots could have thought, and now the EU will have to beg for Russian gas and oil, and either buy (using Yuan or Gold) the Ruble, or give up the only real money they have which is Gold.
War with Russia has been going on for decades
What exactly would EU wage war with ? It has no military forces and demographics do not favour such – and Japan was already heavily into Manchuria and threatening USSR where it received a bloody nose from Zhukhov 1937-39 and the Kwantung Army withdrew from Soviet territory………..this was ALL BEFORE USA embargoed Japan.
1937 Japan sank USS Panay and Washington did………NOTHING
“War with Russia has been going on for decades”
Correct, some understood that and part of the reason why some met to cooperate in facilitating the ongoing process of the transcendence of “The Soviet Union” by what is presently known as The Russian Federation.
Mr. Suslov suggested in respect of ” War with The Soviet Union” the start date was 1922 with the post-civil war famine relief efforts of “The United States of America”, since the focus of “the United States of America” had been on creation of ethnonationalist states – primarily but not only The Polish Second Republic – with warring internal minorities to restrict the development, whilst simultaneously profiting from the development of Eastern Europe/Eurasia.
Different brand names today but still essentially the same hope which is misrepresented as “plan”.
Mr. Brzezinski was not the only student who needed to copy other student’s books – Mr. Josef Pilsudski largely being the one whose ideas Mr. Brzezinsky “introduced” as his own, with small sprinklings of Mr. Dmowski.
Yes Zionists have never had an original thought, only the accumulation of power/wealth at anyone and everyone else’s expense.
Has an International Warrant for the arrest of Victoria Nuland been issued by Russia yet?
I hope a list of Company Directors of the Bio-Labs has been compiled alongside any other US-NATO criminal involvement in Ukraine.
To be accurate, the Kwantung Army withdrew from Mongolian territory. There is still a monument to Zhukov in Mongolia, as well as many in Russia. In my daughters’ town, there is a tradition of going from the ZAGS office to lay the wedding bouquet at Zhukov’s statue.
Europe (and the US, for that matter) cannot suffer even the first body bag.
It’s armies are meant to satisfy capitalist interests, i.e. the arms industry.
Its warriors see themselves as 9-to-5 state workers, expect to be home for dinner at 6, TV at 7.
Anything else is rubbish.
Why do people here keep feeding these concern trolls? This place is infested with them at the moment. Can the moderators not close them down?
I see that you’re a true supporter of free speech, huh?
“Free speech for bots!” Excellent. Thanks for the laugh.
yes, japan and europeans forgot about the second world war. The Russians would already have every reason to start a war with NATO. But Putin is in Russia, because the Universal Good still wants to preserve humanity, at least for now.
May I say what is the problem with Western civilization? The West and Slavic liberals now think that 1 + 1 = 3.
WET DREAMS
even yemen joined BRI in 2017. i guess peace will come soon, china can produce miracles as even saudis now seem to see the future is eurasian not anglo.
https://thecradle.co/Article/investigations/6144 an old article but more to note who is not included than who is .
Pablozz,
Thank you for posting this link, an excellent piece by Cynthia Chung with lots of detailed information – a great reference to have at hand!
Gianni
Dear Pepe,
That is exactly the vision that the Eurasian and African countries need to keep their eyes on: a dynamic, co-operative association of trade, exchange, and development that will create an untold amount of human capital and shared wealth. Thank you for your relentless efforts to keep this unfolding vision in our minds so that we may all contribute!
Gianni
May be possible that DPR and Russia and Kadyrov are playing with the walled off AZOV in pockets of Mariupol like a cat plays with a mouse when it’s hunting it and has it essentially in its control . They could use MLRS and wipe them out but why hurry. Each day without food and water and resupply, gas and ammo, make the caldron residents more vulnerable and more unable to counterattack or even move around. Why rush, besides its interesting to read the take in the Western media about it how that evacuation corridors are open and the “civilians” are being examined closely before allowing to use it to escape. Interesting case there in Mariupol.
This play for golden ruble is a final chance for Japan, Italy, Germany (JIG) to break the Zio-USUK chains.. Russia has been compassionate, cutting off gas in Spring rather than Winter. But the three occupied nations MUST use the coming civil turmoil to reverse course. Zio-USUK is drowning under the waves of 100 fronts and has a tenuous grip on them..
https://t.me/c/1394010098/3062
https://t.me/c/1394010098/3068
Shoigu is also providing the stick of Operation Z expanding to their territories. All are justifiably terrified at historical visions of Bears roaming their neck of the woods again. They just need to break the totalitarian hold of Technocrats such as von der Lügen, vampire Dragi and Co.
https://t.me/c/1394010098/3066
Decision time at Last Chance Saloon for the captive JIG
Don’t write off Europe too soon. It will probably be an important market in the future. Ukraine needs de-Nazification and Europe needs de-Yankification. Crushing the dollar by switching international trage to a new system will achieve this happy outcome.
In what timescale? No clue – but once the current financial edifice starts tipping it will crash suddenly as confidence goes and everyone (state and private) pulls their money out.
NATO is just a military alliance – not an economic one. The US enforces what is good for the US – NS2 would have benefited Germany but Germany had to toe the US line. Conversely BRI is win-win so states will (eventually) go with market forces.
Once Russia has won the firefight in Ukraine she will then win the peace (economic war) which is moving along so swiftly and quietly it looks suspiciously like all the brou-ha-ha over negotiations with Kiev are deliberate attention-distractors.
“NATO is just a military alliance – not an economic one,”
Simply not true as written in their chargers for all to see.
Globablism, neoliberalism, EU expansion and NATO expansion are all linked by the same economic paradigm and why it was created in the first place.
With either loans from the IMF or the ECB. sell off the assets and then the public sector into a rent extracting monopoly. When the loans can’t be repaid. As the loans are always in a currency they can’t issue.
The devil is in the detail. When they get pushed into debt in order to buy The military hardware and remodel their economies on neoliberal terms. As they are told this is the easiest way to pay back the loan.
The IMF will issue a loan to one of its member countries, but there are conditions.
First the country has to submit a letter of intent, specifying its economic plan to recover and repay the IMF loan. The executive board then agree with the country the terms and conditions.
Over the years the IMF have been able to classify the types of loans countries need depending on the reasons the money is needed. For example low-income countries may borrow on relatively generous terms through one of the:
Extended Credit Facility (ECF) – Financing under the ECF currently carries a zero interest rate, with a grace period of 5 and a half years, and a final maturity of 10 years.
the Standby Credit Facility (SCF) – Financing under the SCF currently carries a zero interest rate, with a grace period of 4 years, and a final maturity of 8 years.
Exogenous Shock Facility (ESF) – ESF loans carry a zero annual interest rate until 2011, with repayments made twice a year, beginning at 5 and a half years and ending 10 years after the the loan was issued. The Fund reviews the level of interest rates for all concessional facilities every two years.
Then there are other loans for more established countries that come under one of the following categories:
Stand-By Arrangements (SBA) – The length of a SBA is typically 12-24 months, and repayment is due within 3-5 years of disbursement. The majority of Fund assistance to middle-income countries is provided through SBAs.
Extended Fund Facility (EFF) – Arrangements under the EFF are longer than SBAs usually 3 years. Repayment is due within 4-10 years from the date of disbursement.
Flexible Credit Line (FCL) – The FCL is for crisis prevention or response purposes. The length of the FCL is one or two years (with an interim review of continued qualification after one year) and the repayment period the same as for the SBA but unlike SBA, this loan is available in a single up-front disbursement rather than phased.
Precautionary Credit Line (PCL) – The PCL can only be used for crisis prevention and countries with a good track record of recovery. It can have the length of between one and two years.
When the IMF loan can’t be repaid think of the excessive debt procedure that runs through the EU treaties and then you will understand and see clearly why it is all linked. Why the current economic paradigm is set up specifically on globalist, neoliberal terms and plays a central role to support US geopolitical foreign policy.
In order to get the IMF loan in the first place even before they can’t pay it back there are strings attached. Think of an EU convergence program and the point by point list they have to adhere to as they converge to join the EU. Look under the heading of ” structural reforms”, deficit reduction, severe austerity. The old currency backed by a commodity economic model.
NATO membership now ensures you are trapped by Orwellian group think. In the exact same way you are trapped by EU membership.
Well explained. Thank you.
I’m curious about other Ukrainian industry as well. The last I looked, Burisma (now owned by “Brociti”, both HQed in Cypress) has two western bankers and an ex-CIA official on its Board of Directors. I assume the purpose of this arrangement was to direct Burisma profits to western interests. Similarly, U.S. Agribusiness Monsanto seems to control much of the Ukraine’s agricultural land. I think Russia has to fix a lot of things that has happened to Ukraine since 2014.
So far Russia is not even close to be able to do anything with Mariupol. Pskov is back to justifying why the Crimea is Russian. So let’s not talk about Mariupol, ok? As long as there remain Ukrainian troops east of the Dnjepr Russia has lost the war.
Jawohl, verstanden, Herr Niklaus,
Ve von’t talk about it any more. Russia has lost ze war zjust as in nineteen vorty vife… ;-)
Russia lost the war? Like, Russia lost the war at the doorstep of the Reichstag, when suddenly the Endsieg came upon them?
Can you imagin, what’s going to happen the next couple of weeks, to the “winning” Ukries eaast of the Dnjepr?
These types of comments are simply not worth anything.
Peskov refused to discuss the issue of Crimea. But, that is not what you say because it does not fit your schtick – Let’s look at the quote:
“”Crimea is a part of the Russian Federation, and according to the constitution, we cannot discuss with anyone the fate of Russian territories, the fate of Russian regions. This is out of the question, it is written into our constitution. Nor will we discuss or tell you about any nuances of the negotiations,” Peskov told reporters Wednesday.”
And then, you make your own requirement and forget what the Russian requirements are. And then you state if this does not work according to your requirement, then you call it a loss for Russia.
Worthless and I question reading comprehension.
America talks as the Chinese walk.
I wonder if this alliance could go further and take advantage of it in order to stabilize what is left of Ukraine.
For instance, convincing Odessa to be the capital of a new Novorossia and make it a state-of-the-art commercial port able to affordably and fast deliver crops and grains harvested by the remaining Ukraine.
That would be a good incentive for Kiev to behave and not nurture new Azov “snake eggs”. To trade denazification for market accessibility.
Multilateral Loans, IMF By Country
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/multilateral-loans-imf-wb-data.html
If NATO expansion doesn’t trap you with their conditions to get the loan and what happens after you can’t pay it back. Then EU expansion will with the stability and growth pact and excessive debt proceedure. The 2 pack and 6 pack.
2021 European Semester: National Reform Programmes and Stability/Convergence Programmes
https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economic-and-fiscal-policy-coordination/eu-economic-governance-monitoring-prevention-correction/european-semester/european-semester-timeline/national-reform-programmes-and-stability-or-convergence-programmes/2021-european_en
Government spending is the devil. Please walk this way into my office while I provide you with a loan instead. Now you have turned West your economy will become what we like to call the ” Skye bridge” economic model. Welcome to the land of ” structural reforms”
Our IMF branch is situated in the basement of the Pentagon. They will sort you out with all the military equipment you will ever need just give them a call. For a 20% discount we will through in some far right wing fanatics that will help to destabilise your country so you can push the reforms you need through.
Our Wall street branch will also help with the effort. You need an attack on your currency they’ll make sure the foreign debt will never be repaid.
The Maidan Revolution remains a messy event that isn’t easy to categorize but is far from what Western audiences have been led to believe. It’s a story of liberal, pro-Western protesters, driven by legitimate grievances but largely drawn from only one-half of a polarized country, entering a temporary marriage of convenience with the far right to carry out an insurrection against a sovereign government. The tragedy is that it served largely to empower literal neo-Nazis while enacting only the goals of the Western powers that opportunistically lent their support — among which was the geopolitical equivalent of a predatory payday loan.
The same far right that had led the charge in toppling Yanukovych, including Parubiy, found themselves with plum roles in the interim government that followed, while the winner of the 2014 snap presidential election — Ukraine’s seventh-richest man, Petro Poroshenko — had a history of corruption. His interior minister soon incorporated the Azov Regiment, a neo-Nazi militia, into Ukraine’s National Guard, with the country now a Mecca for far-right extremists around the world, who come to learn and get training from Azov — including, ironically, Russian white supremacists who were hounded from their country by Putin.
One of such NATO bases has just been obliterated by a Russian missile strike on the Polish border. 3 others have been completely destroyed. Nobody even asked why so many NATO bases are in Ukraine when they haven’t even joined yet. The Hypocrisy knot tightens.
Despite far-right parties ultimately losing seats in Parliament, ultranationalist movements successfully shifted the country’s politics to the extreme right, with Poroshenko and other centrists backing measures to marginalize the speaking of Russian and glorify Nazi collaborators. Even so, far-right candidates have entered Parliament on non-far-right tickets, and extremists like former Azov commander Andriy Biletsky have taken high-ranking law enforcement positions. While far-right vigilantism spread through the country, Poroshenko himself granted citizenship to a Belarusian neo-Nazi and engaged in some borderline anti-Semitism of his own.
With Yanukovych out, the interim government and Washington’s handpicked prime minister signed the EU deal whose rejection had started it all, solidifying Ukraine’s move to the West, and ushering in the brutal austerity measures demanded by the IMF. Over the years, Yanukovych’s successor signed off on a round of privatisation, raised the pension age, and slashed gas subsidies, urged on by then vice president Joe Biden.
Putin clearly recognised it. Offered the Ukrainians the same loan without any strings attached straight out of the belt and road initiative playbook.
In stepped the comedian who ran on a peace ticket Ran on the Minsk agreement. Told Ukraine everybody would be respected, represented in parliament and both the East and Western Ukraine would get a veto against either joining Russia or NATO. Ukraine would become an independent state that would trade with the West and Russia. All sensible Ukrainians liked that idea and voted accordingly.
It was all a joke the comedian’s last famous one liner.
He done a complete 180 increased the Nazis power across the country and immediately started to build up troops on the borders of eastern Ukraine. Banned the Russian language in schools and bombed them over an 8 year period until 14,000 of them lay dead. Closed down 3 Russian speaking TV channels in true Orwellian fashion. Refused to sign the Minsk agreement that would have fulfilled the promises he made during the election campaign.
Here we are living through the consequences.
Globalism, neoliberalism, EU expansion and NATO are all linked by the same economic paradigm.
If you take the time to read an EU convergence program.
https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economic-and-fiscal-policy-coordination/eu-economic-governance-monitoring-prevention-correction/european-semester/european-semester-timeline/national-reform-programmes-and-stability-or-convergence-programmes/2021-european_en
That is exactly what NATO demands.
Quickly turns into an EU reform programme.
The Skye bridge economic model
Is from the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
Rather than an elected government simply instructing their central bank to start crediting blips into the bridge builders bank account to build the bridge. Making sure there are enough skills and real resources available to build the bridge and absorb the blips. So taxes don’t have to rise.
It is done via a bank loan instead.
The company or consortium of banks will then charge a toll to cross the bridge for the next 100 years.
The people of Skye were having none of it. They all took turns to get arrested and clog up the courts on the Scottish mainland. The police stations and courts couldn’t deal with the number of people being arrested.
Until the tolls were removed and the American bank behind the project ran back to America.
Globalism, neoliberalism, EU expansion and NATO expansion are built upon that model.
The Battle of Skye Bridge
https://docuwiki.net/index.php?title=The_Battle_of_Skye_Bridge
Um, didn’t Russia turn down the Donbass republics when they sought to become part of Russia? Why wd it change its mind? Maybe after a looong interval (10 years?), but doing so right away makes it look like this truly was a war from which Russia wanted something other than its own security and a chance to save the lives of the people living under oppression and shelling. Plenty of ways for those three countries to mutually benefit w/o joining politically.
One thing that “changed” is a thing that didn’t change, namely, the Minsk Agreement was never implemented.
The subject matter of the Minsk Agreement was the status of the Donbass republics within Ukraine.
If Plan A doesn’t work, so Russia presumably had a Plan B. Things are still up in the air, though. j
A strategy is not a tactic. A strategy can be achieved via different tactics, depending on the actual situation.
Russia’s strategy is to ensure the people of the Donbass are secure, and the area poses no hazard to Russia.
It seems Russia is postponing paying gas in rubles.
RT:
Kremlin reveals details on switching to ruble payments for gas
Importers of Russian gas will be allowed time to switch the settlement method
Kremlin reveals details on switching to ruble payments for gas
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the process of switching to ruble payments for Russian gas export deliveries will take time and won’t begin immediately this week, despite the March 31 deadline set by presidential order.
“This process is more drawn out in time for technical reasons,” he told reporters, adding that importers will be allowed time to adjust.
Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the government to take necessary steps to switch all payments for Russian natural gas from “unfriendly” importers to the ruble, starting March 31.
The move targets states that are waging economic warfare against Russia by imposing numerous sanctions and freezing the country’s foreign currency reserves, following the launch of the military operation in Ukraine.
Here’s the Architect of Thatcherism and Reganism telling the world on live TV in the 90’s. Who pushed through her reforms in the UK under the guise of a crises of their own making in order to get the job done. Who wrote her memoirs.
That a new economic paradigm will be created to reflect NATO expansion.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BZMVKwmeprY
Which is based on the old gold standard economic model of colonialism and the stealing of real resources from which to extract economic rent.
This was happening in Ukraine under NATO expansion and will certainly happen if they join the EU under EU expansion.
Putin saw it clearly stepped in and offered the same IMF loan without any strings attached. A lot of things started to show ball from there.
For Americans, who for sure are completely lost, it is important to remember the original world land-bridge, which China is now working on, the BRI,
William Gilpin , Governor of Colorado, and the Original World Land-bridge Project
https://canadianpatriot.org/2018/10/29/william-gilpin-and-the-original-world-landbridge-project/
Have a look at Gilpin’s Cosmopolitan Railway map of 1860’s :
https://i0.wp.com/canadianpatriot.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/7bfd1-image838.png?ssl=1
The Transiberian Railway was part of this grand strategy, to make Britain’s maritime Empire redundant. It is actually cheaper to transport freight overland via production centers than ships – who ever saw even the largest cargo ship ever produce capital goods over sea? Production, as with Mariupol Steel along the BRI is precisely this physical economic fact.
Fresh off the RT News press, for those without access:
“A new financial order will be negotiated in the world, and the West won’t have the main say in it anymore, ex-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has claimed.
The “hellish” sanctions imposed on Russia by the US, EU, and their allies over the conflict in Ukraine have failed to cripple to the country, but are instead “returning to the West like a boomerang,” Medvedev, the former Russian president who is now the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, wrote on Telegram. “This is hurtful for our ‘friends’ in Europe and overseas.”
But while the West continues its “fruitless efforts” to restrict Russia, “the world is gradually moving towards a new logic of global economic relations; towards upgrading the financial system,” he said.
According to Medvedev, the US and EU have “tarnished their reputation” by blocking the reserves of the Russian central bank. “It is impossible to trust those who freeze the accounts of other states; steal other people’s business assets and personal possessions, compromising the principles of sanctity of private property.”
Confidence in reserve currencies is “fading like the morning mist,” and the prospect of abandoning the dollar and euro in this role does not seem like such an unrealistic prospect anymore, he said. “The era of regional currencies is coming.”
Russia said that from March 31, it will only accept payments for gas in rubles from “unfriendly countries,” which include the US and EU, while China and Saudi Arabia have been discussing switching to the yuan in their oil trade.
“No matter if they want it or not, they’ll have to negotiate a new financial order,” Medvedev said. “And the decisive voice will then be with those countries that have a strong and advanced economy, healthy public finances and a reliable monetary system. And not with those who endlessly inflate their public debt, issuing more and more pieces of paper into circulation which aren’t backed by national wealth.”
Roger,
But when it’s over in Ukraine.
They Can’t go backwards.
Any businesses who closed their businesses in Russia and any business who cheered on the war against Russia. Or any business that has helped Ukraine in Urkaine.
Should never be allowed back into Russia or deal with Russia.
It must pivot to Asia sell everything in rubles.
Or it will be a HUGE opportunity missed and they might never get that chance to do it again politically.
I trust Putin to deliver on the objectives of the operation. The guy never bluffs.
This is my only concern. That Russia misses this oppertunity.
The whole history of Globalism, neoliberalism, EU expansion and NATO expansion and how they were all linked up under the same economic paradigm and how to fight back against it.
Is in this book
Reclaim the state – A new Vision of Sovereignty for a Post-Neoliberal World
By Bill Mitchell and Thomas Fazi
…. All that of course is being designed amidst a game-changing geoeconomic moment, as Russia, starting this Thursday, will only accept payment for its gas in rubles from “unfriendly” nations…
Waiting for Olaf Schols to mount podium again and repeat that “G7 reject payment for gas in rubles”, like rejecting your salvation!
Meanwhile I hope this interconnectivity of trade routes has kicked off because have been reading this for some years now no time to waste anymore objectives need to be set against a time-line. It’s now or never
Latest german garbage Peter Hauk advised citizens to wear a sweater. Apparently this advice to avoid being cold is modern thinking. Id say a mob of red hot sweating grandmas will chase him down and beat him to death shortly
And with what will the E.U. buy rubles? Gold? Or with their fiat currencies?
Paubranco,
https://new-wayland.com/blog/rouble-gas-payments-false-flag/
This is exactly how it will work.
No politics, no ideology, but the actual transactions that will take place.
Free from most of the petro $ and foreign reserves nonsense that clogs up the internet.
https://www.rt.com/business/552976-russia-ruble-gas-time-adjustment/
It will not start any soon.
Does it account for the SWIFT-sanctions? Most banks aren’t allowed transactions anymore and who guarantees, that the exchange-bank doesn’t get keel-hauled by our friendly empire and everything experiences another freeze?
Where there’s ill-will there’s a way. lol
Eurozone Dystopia – Groupthink and Denial on a Grand Scale
Is one of the best if not THE best book ever written on what actually happened in Europe.
A complete history of the European take over by globalism, neoliberalism and EU expansion.
From Pepe at telegram:
Vatican State bought Rubel from the Russian central bank, for € to pay its gas bill.
Is this possible, because VSis no unfriendly state or because it’s not april yet?
If anyone could go on, buying Rubel in €+$,it would not do any good, so I think it’s done, because the new regime is not activ yet.
All these sound good and dandy. But there is nothing in the apparent clumsy ways Russia has been handling its dealings with the West which gives one the certainty that this prognosis might actually become a reality. Looking from the outside, I don’t feel that the Russian leadership is prepared to stand-up to the West. The timidity and sometimes the inconsistency of the Kremlin is hard to grasp.
Historically Russia stands up to the West untill she has achieved some victory or giant Bufferzone, the she let’s her guard down because people forget the sacrifices she has made and then the whole cycle starts a new. It might me be that Russia this time around concludes the Entire Europe should be her Bufferzone.
More Russian Tankers Are Going “Dark”
REF: The Maritime Executive et al
Not sure of its significance in the broader longer-term context, but speaking of Mariupol as a “strategic Sea of Azov port”, certain “maritime security” agencies seem quite disturbed by what would appear to be one almost inevitable reaction to the imposition of sanctions on the transshipment of various commodities.
What were they expecting? Increased cooperative exposure by the sanctioned entities themselves perhaps?
Oops, that REF link should go to
https://maritime-executive.com/article/windward-more-russian-tankers-are-going-dark
Apparently I messed up my attempt to make it ‘tidy’ somehow.
I was thinking something similar; We fought to take Mariupul, our people and the residents suffered, and you think we are now going to “give it back?”. Nonsense, if you dont want to lose Odessa, then please read previous sentence. Realpolitic dudes.
I am afraid the collective west will throw some sticks into the spokes of this wheel of future commerce, development and partnership of the “east”.
#1. It seems the EU would like very much to stop getting gas/oil from Russia even though they do not have sufficient alternative sources of supply. Right now the EU is refusing to pay for gas/oil in rubles, which means they might get their wish and not get any gas/oil from Russia. Either the EU will buckle and pay or Russia will stop sending gas/oil. IMO, the collective west, no matter how hard they try to produce it or divert other countries’ gas/oil to the EU, cannot ship enough over there to keep industry going and people warm.
Something has to give. Could this be a good excuse for NATO military action against Russia?
The steel manufacturing in Mariupol and shipment of steel products all over everywhere allows so many countries to escape the shackles of the collective west that I cannot see the US, for one, saying oh, okay. Could this be a good excuse for military action against Russia?
I have read articles that the US(?) planned and plotted ways to get Russia to make a military incursion into the Ukraine. Now Russia has done that. Could there be plans afoot for what comes next – whatever that is?
What I read was that months ago the US had told oil shipping companies to get ready to divert their cargo.
I wonder why commenter Sarcophilus wants us “concern trolls” closed down. What about dialogue? I am concerned. I am not a troll, but a citizen of an exceptional country that wants to control the world – I mean the powers that are running this country behind the scenes want to control the world. IMO, they are of the school of if I can’t have it nobody can, I will just break it. That’s not good.
Parabéns Pepe… Assisto com frequência as suas lives junto com o pessoal do 247, e compartilho com todos as pessoas que eu sei que tem uma cabeça um pouco mais aberta para absorver as suas ideias e análises. Grande abraço.
PS: tentei fazer uma doação mas fui bloqueado.
Please, provide your own translation in the future. Mod.
Congratulations Pepe… I often watch your lives together with the staff of 247, and share them with everyone I know who has a little more open mind to absorb your ideas and analysis. Big hug.
PS: I tried to make a donation but I was blocked.
Yes. When I read the articles at New Eastern Outlook, I am always amazed at the commercial projects China, and to a lessor extent Russia, are involved in. They are true progressives. Then I look, invainly, for similar projects America may be creating, and there aren’t any. My country, the USA, should be building and advancing trade within the Western hemisphere, but we have nothing to sell except poor quality overpriced weapons and GMO corn and wheat. As the world wakes up to the fact that we’re impotent that market will dry up too. The nation that should be demilitarized, and de-Nazied, is the USA. The bigger problem are the banks. Debt based fiat reserve money is dead, and digital ain’t the answer as that will lead to permenate slavery. Look forward to and get ready for a ‘brave new world’.
Same in Australia. Everything we needed was made here once.
Now that car industry is destroyed so as to divert subsidies to weapons manufacturing.
Successive govts. have talked about a railway circling the country for decades. And in 2022 we still have different gauge rails between the states.
Industry is dead and the Scamdemic destroyed retail.
When it rains more than usual the main north/south highway becomes flooded at multiple locations because the scum jut won’t spend money rebuilding bridges. But billions are found for clot shots and fake PCR/RAT magic tricks.
We used to sell billions of dollars worth of coal, wine, and many other products to China but we spat on them, our biggest customer, because the ZOG of the USA told us to.
If we don’t hitch up to the BRI and Eurasia we will be the poor white trash of Asia as Lee Kwan Yew famously uttered.
The Zionist lobby is large but not as bad as UK/USA/France/etc.
Fun Fact: The industrialization of the Donbass was started by a Welsh Businessman specializing in coal and iron, John Hughes in the 1870s. Donetsk was originally named Hughesivka after him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hughes_(businessman)
No doubt the familial relationship of the British and Russian Royal families at the time facilitated the arrangement.
“There will be no point in privileging the northern BRI corridors – China-Mongolia-Russia via the Trans-Siberian, and the Eurasian land bridge via Kazakhstan – when you have Europe descending into medieval dementia.”
The north south trade between Iran, China, Russia & the Stans will set the standard. The big question is “How far does India go?”. Do they continue fence sitting? They, and the Chinese, still need the USA & Euro markets for their products.
“Buy local” just took on continental proportions LOL.
A few hours ago I watched Boris Johnson telling British MPs that Britain is looking at “going up a gear” in its military assistance to Ukraine, potentially supplying armoured vehicles to help relieve the besieged city of Mariupol.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-military-ukraine-mariupol-b2047341.html
This is what is happening in the West. Difficult to believe but true. GB is going to help Mariupol!
“All that of course is being designed amidst a game-changing geoeconomic moment, as Russia, starting this Thursday, will only accept payment for its gas in rubles from “unfriendly” nations.”
***
I hear from other sources that Russia has told Germany it could still pay for its gas in €’s…
Where does all that really stand now? I’m confused.
—-
“Putin Tells Scholz Gas Payments Can Continue In Euros: Berlin”
https://www.barrons.com/news/putin-tells-scholz-gas-payments-can-continue-in-euros-berlin-01648661707
Please check Russian sources for the facts. Unknown link. Mod.
I read a very good explanation somewhere. Lost the link and didn’t understand the book-keeping, but basically the world’s banks (for a handsome commission) “shuffle the paperwork” around the world so customers pay one bank in the currency they have (eg Euro) and sellers eventually get from another bank the currency they want (eg Ruble). Even when customers in Europe paid for Gazprom gas in Euro, Gazprom in Russia always received some Rubles eventually. The only difference now would be that, if “Russian blackmail” demands immediate direct payment in Rubles at the customer’s bank, the Ruble will tend to strengthen because of EU customers selling Euro to buy Ruble to buy gas.
Why has the U$ Dollar been so strong ever since Bretton Woods? Because the U$ has forced the world to buy oil (which they call “gas”) in U$D. This is “U$ Blackmail”. Eurocrats in Brussels regard as right and proper to buy expensive U$ “gas” in rapidly depreciating U$ currency. But Eurocrats regard it as “Russian blackmail” when Russia asks to for Russian gas to be paid in Russian currency. From this one can see for whom the Eurocrats work — and it is not for Europe.
I think the situation in Kharkov and what is happening in the Kharkov Oblast is going to be intense in the next few days . If it is the Russian will start taking the city.
What are the immediate and medium-term benefits to Russia for the gas to be paid for in Rubles by the customer?
Europe as a vassal of the Anglozionist Empire cannot be afforded the luxury of cheap and plentiful Russian Gas. It undermines the Imperial hold on Europe and affects the Petrodollar cycle which is meant to keep the wealth in the West at the expense of the rest.
Russia backing her currency with gold and then with her natural gas is a game changer. It allows the third world to glimpse a working blueprint on how to secure it’s currency and then to have it further propped up by the strength of their exports.
Combine this with the massive infrastructure development Initiatives led by China’s Belt and Roads Project and you have the groundwork laid for establishing a new reserve currency, (Chinese Crypto) and a new way of doing business away from the corruption of the west.
It is a great time to be alive. The world has been turned on its head and power is shifting to East into the Eurasian Block. A great war is gonna play out soon and massive wealth is in the offing too.
It’s fortunate that Russia – China and the countries of the South now realize how colossal the war against the globalist is in which the developments surrounding the Ukraine is a small component of the whole picture. Russia’s switch from the globalist’s currency is a good start, but everybody know if the new multi-polar system would ever want to be established it needs an overhaul for the entire globalist arrangement currently in place including its organizations like the UN, IMF, WTO, Banking sectors, international jurisdiction…etc. These bodies today function according the US-sponsored commission/bribery scheme where most corrupt technocrats serve on behalf of the big money. China’s SCO / BRI could be the foundation for a new UN, …et al.