A new reality is being formed:
the unipolar world is irrevocably becoming a thing of the past,
a multipolar one is taking shape.
—
By Pepe Escobar, posted with the author’s permission and widely cross-posted
It was something to behold. Dmitri Medvedev, former Russian President, unrepentant Atlanticist, current deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, decided to go totally unplugged in an outburst matching the combat star turn of Mr. Khinzal that delivered palpable shock and awe all across NATOstan.
Medvedev said “hellish” Western sanctions not only have failed to cripple Russia, but are instead “returning to the West like a boomerang.” Confidence in reserve currencies is “fading like the morning mist”, and ditching the US dollar and the euro is not unrealistic anymore: “The era of regional currencies is coming.”
After all, he added, “no matter if they want it or not, they’ll have to negotiate a new financial order (…) 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.”
Medvedev relayed his succinct analysis even before D Day – as in the deadline this Thursday established by President Putin after which payments for Russian gas by “unfriendly nations” will only be accepted in rubles.
The G7, predictably, had struck a (collective) pose: we won’t pay. “We” means the 4 that are not large Russian gas importers. “We”, moreover, means the Empire of Lies dictating the rules. As for the 3 that will be in dire straits, not only they are major importers but also happen to be WWII losers – Germany, Italy and Japan, still de facto occupied territories. History does have a habit of playing perverted tricks.
Denial didn’t last long. Germany was the first to break – even before industrialists from Ruhr to Bavaria staged a mass revolt. Scholz, the puny Chancellor, called Putin, who had to explain the obvious: payments are being converted into rubles because the EU froze Russia’s foreign exchange reserves – in a crass violation of international law.
With Taoist patience, Putin also expressed hope this would not represent a deterioration in contract terms for European importers. Russian and German experts should sit down together and discuss the new terms.
Moscow is working on a set of documents defining the new deal. Essentially, that spells out no rubles, no gas. Contracts become null and void once you violate trust. The US and the EU broke legally biding agreements with unilateral sanctions and on top of it confiscated foreign reserves of a – nuclear – G20 nation.
The unilateral sanctions made dollars and euros worthless to Russia. Hysteria fits won’t cut it: this will be resolved – but under Russia’s terms. Period. The Foreign Ministry had already warned that refusal to pay for gas in rubles would lead to a serious global crisis of non-payments and serial global-level bankruptcies, a hellish chain reaction of blocked transactions, freezing of collateral assets and closures of credit lines.
What will happen next is partially predictable. EU companies will receive the new set of rules. They will have time to examine the documents and make a decision. Those that say “no” will be automatically excluded from receiving direct Russian gas shipments – all politico-economic consequences included.
There will be some compromise, of course. For instance, quite a few EU nations will accept to use rubles and increase their gas acquisitions so they may resell the surplus to their neighbors and make a profit. And some may also decide to buy gas on the go on energy exchanges.
So Russia is not imposing an ultimatum on anybody. The whole thing will take time – a rolling process. With some sideway action as well. The Duma is contemplating the extension of payment in rubles to other essential products – such as oil, metals, timber, wheat. It will depend on the collective voracity of the EU chihuahuas. Everyone knows that their non-stop hysteria may translate into a colossal rupture of supply chains across the West.
Bye bye oligarchs
While the Atlanticist ruling classes have gone totally berserk but still remain focused on fighting to the last European to extract any remaining, palpable EU wealth, Russia is playing it cool. Moscow has been quite lenient in fact, brandishing the specter of no gas in Spring rather than Winter.
The Russian Central Bank nationalized foreign exchange earnings of all major exporters. There was no default. The ruble keeps rising – and is now back to roughly the same level before Operation Z. Russia remains self-sufficient, food-wise. American hysteria over “isolated” Russia is laughable. Every actor that matters across Eurasia – not to mention the other 4 BRICS and virtually the whole Global South – did not demonize and/or sanction Russia.
As an extra bonus, arguably the last oligarch capable of influence in Moscow, Anatoly Chubais, is gone. Call it another momentous historical trickery: Western sanction hysteria de facto dismembered Russian oligarchy – Putin’s pet project since 2000. What that implies is the strengthening of the Russian state and the consolidation of Russian society.
We still don’t have all the facts, but a case can be made that after years of careful evaluation Putin opted to really go for broke and break the West’s back – using that trifecta (imminent blitzkrieg on Donbass; US bioweapon labs; Ukraine working on nuclear weapons) as the casus belli.
The freezing of foreign reserves had to have been forecasted, especially because the Russian Central Bank had been increasing its reserves of US Treasuries since November last year. Then there’s the serious possibility of Moscow being able to access “secret” offshore foreign reserves – a complex matrix built with Chinese insider help.
The sudden switch from dollars/euros to rubles was hardcore, Olympic-level geoeconomic judo. Putin enticed the collective West to unleash its demented hysteria sanction attack – and turned it against the opponent with a single, swift move.
And here we all are now trying to absorb so many in-synch game-changing developments following the weaponization of dollar assets: rupee-ruble with India, the Saudi petroyuan, co-badged Mir-UnionPay cards issued by Russian banks, the Russia-Iran SWIFT alternative, the EAEU-China project of an independent monetary/financial system.
Not to mention the master coup by the Russian Central Bank, pegging 1 gram of gold to 5,000 rubles – which is already around $60, and climbing.
Coupled with No Rubles No Gas, what we have here is energy de facto pegged to gold. The EU Chihuahuas and the Japanese colony will need to buy a lot of rubles in gold or buy a lot of gold to have their gas. And it gets better. Russia may re-peg the ruble to gold in the near future. Could go to 2,000 rubles, 1,000 rubles, even 500 rubles for a gram of gold.
Time to be sovereign
The Holy Grail in the evolving discussions about a multipolar world, since the BRICS summits in the 2000s featuring Putin, Hu Jintao and Lula, has always been how to bypass dollar hegemony. It’s now right in front of the whole Global South, as a benign apparition bearing a Cheshire cat’s smile: the golden ruble, or ruble backed by oil, gas, minerals, commodity exports.
The Russian Central Bank, unlike the Fed, does not practice QE and won’t export toxic inflation to the rest of the planet. The Russian Navy not only secures all Russian sea lines, but Russian nuclear-powered submarines are capable of popping up all over the planet unannounced.
Russia is far, far ahead already implementing the concept of “continental naval power”. December 2015, in the Syrian theater, was the strategic game-changer. The Black Sea-based submarine 4th division is the star of the show.
Russian naval fleets may now employ Kalibr missiles across a space comprehending Eastern Europe, West Asia and Central Asia. The Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, linked by the Don-Volga canal, offer a space of maneuver comparable to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf combined. 6,000 km-long. And you don’t even need to access warm waters.
That covers around 30 nations: the traditional Russian sphere of influence; historical borders of the Russian empire; and current political/energy rivalry spheres.
No wonder the Beltway is berserk.
Russia guarantees shipping across Asia, the Arctic and Europe, in tandem with the Eurasia-wide BRI railway network.
And last but not least, don’t mess with a Nuclear Bear.
Essentially, this is what hardcore power politics is all about. Medvedev was not bragging when he said the era of a single reserve currency is over. The advent of a resource-based global reserve currency means, in a nutshell, that 13% of the planet will not dominate the other 87% anymore.
It’s NATOstan vs. Eurasia redux. Cold War 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and even 5.0. It doesn’t matter. All the previous Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) nations see which way the geopolitical and geo-economic winds are blowing: the time to assert their real sovereignty is at hand as the “rules-based international order” bites the dust.
Welcome to the birth of the new world system. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in China, after meeting several counterparts from across Eurasia, could not have outlined it better:
“A new reality is being formed: the unipolar world is irrevocably becoming a thing of the past, a multipolar one is taking shape. It’s an objective process. It’s unstoppable. In this reality, more than one power will “rule” – it will be necessary to negotiate between all the key states that today have a decisive influence on the world economy and politics. At the same time, realizing their special situation, these countries ensure compliance with the basic principles of the UN Charter, including the fundamental one – the sovereign equality of states. No one on this Earth should be seen as a minor player. Everyone is equal and sovereign.”
Pepe nailed it. Like always.
Amen to that !
indeed! Putin wasn’t bluffing. nevertheless, germany must be the first example.
“Russian gas stopped flowing to Germany from Poland”
https://en.topwar.ru/194301-rossijskij-gaz-perestal-postupat-v-germaniju-iz-polshi.html
These developments are a bit scary. The US Dollar was the tool by which the Anglo Saxon fascists enslaved nations and they have never taken lightly any threat to their hegemony.
Iam concerned that the hidden controllers will use this threat to drag America into a direct confrontation with Russia and thereby WW3. We can see concerted efforts to drag America into this operation. All sounds familiar pre WW1 and WW2 circumstances.
It is highly likely that is false flag attack will be hoisted upon America or American assets and blame Russia for it. Like Pearl Harbour and 9-11. The potential for WW3 seems high.
These developments taking place right after the COVID-19 drama is a cause of concern.
As a spiritual person aware of end time eschatology, these developments are taking place in a forecasted pattern and the demise of the Dollar seems certain. With so many currencies’ values tied directly to the Dollar, fall of the US Dollar will create a huge ripple effect and shake world economy. Yet, it seems to be the way ahead. Changes cannot be achieved without losses and sacrifice.
Hope we will have peace after the chaos or at least our progenies will live in a better world.
ww111 has been going on since 1990/91, the west’s media kept it hidden from its mind control centres.
Don’t worry. The United States will never enter a war with Russia, they are too weak and fearful to do that.
Do not forget that Russiaa has first-strike nuclear decapitation power, and USA does not.
Wrong, the USA with its super fuse program and hyper accurate sub based force has the decapitation power. Your first sentence gives the USA leadership too much credit and your second shows a lack of knowledge in the area.
I say screw it let’s all press the red button. we will all go down in flames burn this polluted planet to a ball of charcoal. If anybody survives see if they learn anything from the mistakes of all the idiots who think they know how to rule all the rest of us all.
In the words of a former president: “Never underestimate the ability of Joe Biden to F things up.”
Pepe explains it so well. However, the consequences may be dire. Life for the people of the planet will get worse before it gets better. We will face difficult times.
Excellent, Pepe! Isn’t Russia now in a position to tell Germany they’re going to switch gas contracts out of the old (leaky) Soviet era- pipelines through Ukraine and Poland and into Nordstream2? All in the interest of the environment? Not a cutoff, merely a re-route? An article released in the past few weeks from Space.com (IIRC) detailed a space-based color spectrum analysis that reveals the leaks of natural gas, from cracks in the ground in the Permian in Texas clear to the pipelines of the Soviet empire, all over 50 years old and VERY leaky. Ukraine has been raking in the transit fees for decades and has never maintained them. They leak. And there’s the direct route to Germany all set to go, brand new, no leaks, Nordstream2. No more losses from leaks, no more opportunity for the Ukrainians to steal the gas, no more American meddling in the process. And this scheme OUGHT to meet with the desires of the greens who have been agitating against the harm done in global warming by leaky pipelines and old wellheads now in the past couple of years. Again, not a cutoff, just a moving of transit through leaky land-based pipelines onto Nordstream2. This seems like a natural and yet another win-win for Russia and Germany, win-win for environmentalists, for everyone but the U.S., who if honest would admit they can’t replace (via LNG) natural gas to Germany from Russia in any case. But they could still bring LNG to European terminal-equipped loading docks as they are now, which Germany has none now. THAT is why they wanted Nordstream2 to begin with. It’s also the right thing to do. We’re not stupid of course, sooner or later Nordstream 2 WILL go into operation, but this solution might hurry things along?
Many of you gents have forgotten more of this stuff than I’ll ever know, so I’ll ask, is my idea LSD-based or is it feasible? I’m a layman, but it seems like a perfect solution to me
Remember that US boots on the ground is still holding Germany occupied. I believe its like a master and slave relation.
I do not believe Germany is to decide this and that NS2, is a hot potato in the US and they will not allow any usage of NS2.
Remember Bidenstan is on the brinck of collaps in many ways. Civil war, collaps of the dollar, political implossion and what not, and they WANT to monetize upon the delivery of gas to Europe.
So the master rather see their slave go down, if they can not profit on it going up.
In order to catch a glimpse of rhis relation(master & slave), do not hesitage to spend tje full 12 hours to see the complete documentary called “Europe, the last battle”.
Spinning out from that is a idea of what the “Jewnited States” has as for visions for Germany and the Germans”. And its not what is told on TV.
The idea you bring forward is logical, its rational and make sense but sense, rationality snd logical behavior might not be expected frim a nation in distress with a leadership (Joseph & Bitch) whom has become a serious competitor for any TV program that monetize peoples urge to laugh.
Just look at this latest from Kamala here:
https://rumble.com/vz635h-vice-president-kamala-harris-with-some-word-salad-on-jamaica-covid-recovery.html
So what can you expect from such leaders? Rationality? Logics?
These are the true leaders of Germany. Biden and Kamala as puppets for the hidden power, that usually holds twoo passports.
And they are hellbent to deliver gas to Europe, no matter the cost and efforts it takes.
So they managed to achieve to important goals by setting Ukraine ablaze.
Divirting attention from ” Operation Covid 1984″ and put an end to NS2.
If and I say if, Germany was to recieve gas through NS2, it could only happen with s complete breakup of NATO, and that the leaders behind the puppets officially running JS, would be kept calm by gunpoint and showed with some exsamples that they will not live tomorrow if any stupidity is made and they interfer with this.
Europe, or a majority of it, would need to stand together and they would need to be backed by both China and Russia on this, in order to maintain peace and not having a WW3 played out in Europe.
We have a saying in Norway like; ” be aware of the cornered rat”.
I think that applies to the US as we speak…
Wouldn’t say LSD-based, but illusional,non the less.
The prime driving force of the “Green” in Germany is pure hate for Russia and obedience to the US.
So they are willing, to litteraly hit the German people, until it hurts Russia, yes they are this stupid!
By totally ignoring your ideas and the fact, that NATO-military is the prime factor of environmental pollusion, they actually stated, that this “global warming” is something, one could very well call: total BS
It’s one of the narratives of the global oligarchs, to press the last centt out of everyone.
Die Linke is on the margins, too bad.
Sahra Wagenknecht of Die Linke would have made a far better choice than Merkel.
Jim,
It certainly makes sense to me, but I defer to the pessimistic assessments of the idea already given by other commenters.
Nevertheless it seems to me that Russia is canny enough to figure out how to use this issue as a negotiating chip in discussing the terms of new contracts. Like, maybe a calculation of the amount of gas lost to leaks, and of course the Europeans are paying for the leaked gas. So leak actually represent an added premium on the price. I should think the Germans and others would be pretty PO’d to be informed just how much leaked gas they are paying for because of USA mulishness.
If the Russians were at the top of their PR game, they should be able to use rejection of this obviously “no-brainer” sensible option to make some political hay.
they are cutting the branch they are sitting on… and the BIG angry bear is just waiting below
Excellent article today about Russian financial fortunes.
==========================================
Russia will have record revenues from natural gas sales this year due to high prices in the spot markets, Janis Kluge, a Eurasia-focused researcher at the German Science and Politics Foundation, told ntv.de news outlet.
https://www.n-tv.de/politik/Russland-wird-dieses-Jahr-Rekordeinnahmen-haben-article23235488.html (In German)
“Almost half of the Russian budget is based on transactions with oil and gas. The state earns enormously from production taxes and export duties. It receives the income in rubles, and the amount is determined by two factors: firstly, by energy prices on the world market and, secondly, by the exchange rate of the ruble,”
The gas price on the spot markets has quintupled within the past year. That means Gazprom will have record revenues,” he said, while predicting that the cost will increase significantly within the next several months, same with oil.
Russia planned the national budget with a dollar-ruble exchange rate of 72, but now the ruble is around 85, much weaker, but with a view to energy exports this is an advantage. If we multiply the oil price by the ruble exchange rate, it shows that Moscow expected revenues of around 4,500 rubles per barrel of oil, but is getting much more, around 7,000 rubles.”
The profit from energy sales will be enough to cover the impact of Ukraine-related sanctions on the Russian economy, among other things, by halting inflation.
Kluge also believes the costs of the operation in Ukraine are not very high, and economic measures, except for a complete embargo, will hardly “stop the tanks.” And seeing that the Russian Central Bank has been inventive in introducing counter-measures to keep the economy afloat, Kluge predicts that Russia will survive the sanctions and even have a budget surplus this year.
Looks like a win/win for Russia (and a lose/lose for the West – especially the Europeans)
Russia is expecting a rate of 17 Rubles to the D0llar. You should be able to calculate just about everything from that based on a $300 ounce of gold. I’ll believe it when I see it, but I have no doubt this is Russia’s intention. Value now of China’s US Treasuries about $8.3 trillion, Japan as well. Saudi’s pretty high.
I was wondering how the Saudi’s were going to build such a huge resort including snow skiing, now I know.
China’s holdings of US Treasury Notes are now down to $1 trillion.
“$3000 ounce of gold”??
Big News just coming in ..
Gazprom has terminated its participation in the German company GAZPROM Germania GmbH and all its assets.
⚡️Gazprom announces withdrawal from its subsidiary Gazprom Germania GmbH and all its assets on March 31
From various sources.
This is to avoid the Germans stealing (“nationalising”) it. Good move. I think we will see the same all over Europe but France next, Macron was talking babout this yesterday. Old Emanuelle is going to find it hard to get re-elected!!!
It is really simple dear Europe – No rubles, No gas!
Boris,
re “This is to avoid the Germans stealing (“nationalising”) it”
How does “pulling out” of the company actually preempt nationalization?
Was Gazprom able to pull out its actual investment?
Is it a legal action that protects the investment? Since the invested money was already spent to build the pipeline, . . . how does “pulling out” affect Gazprom financially?
Interesting, it appears Gazprom NS2 is not alone in being “punished.”
Reutrers
“Gazprom paid half the cost of building Nord Stream 2, with the remainder of the $11 billion pipeline project financed by British oil and gas major Shell (SHEL.L), Austria’s OMV (OMVV.VI), France’s Engie and Germany’s Uniper (UN01.DE) and Wintershall DEA (WINT.UL).”
Would that be a de facto abandonment NordStream 2? Such waste.
There is always the possibility that the gas lines from the Ukraine don’t survive the war. So, it is interesting that NS2 is just sitting there presently unused.
Which was what I thought the Russians would do instead of invade. Arrange an “accident” of the gas pipeline in western Ukraine and blame it on poor maintenance (easily proven). Then it’s “NordStream2 or bust”.
What is the implication of this? In other words, what will the impact be?
No rubles – no gas. It means that the Germans will not be able to confiscate Gazproms assets in Germany. There are gas stores there so I don’t know how that will work out, either gazprom sends them back to Russia or the Germans steal them – you see, the West, they are all pirates, thieves, if its not your dollars, its your gold or your oil or your gas. How low have the Germans become, Idiots.
I got to say I respect the Germans very much for their ability to be a major economy based upon skills and not like my country, the luck of finding oil and monetize on earthraping.
The Germans have nothing to say in Germany. They are singled out for complete destruction by the zionists, just as Norway is.
I feel deeply sorry for the Germans.
Their leaders are like most others in Europe, carefully choosen controllable zio assets and the population deeply manipulated.
The zionist tool NATO is key here.
If the Jewnited States drops to its knees, like a nayural catastrophe or whatever, Germany might break free from being the slaves they are today.
The documentary “Europe, the lasr battle”, sheds light on this.
I do not believe one man is better than the other, but one can measure one another by how badly manipulated and victimised one is made into be…
If you could see and hear the level of anti-Russian hatred professed by my fellow Germans these days, your pity wouldn’t last long, I guarantee.
@Beirut
The devil is in the details:
“or the Germans steal them”
OMG, but that—Ukrainian stealing—was one of the prime reasons that NS2 was built in the first place!!
If they steal the gas they will truly have fallen very low.
Eine Unverschaemtheit.
Actually here is something.
https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/products-services/energy-transition/methane-performance-certificates
“The EC has in recent months said it would look into allegations of anti-competitive market behavior by Gazprom following a number of complaints.
Russian gas supplies into Europe slowed in the second half of 2021 despite record-high prices, with deliveries falling further in the first weeks of 2022.
Gazprom has also left its storage sites in Germany and Austria at close to empty.
=============================================================
Gazprom has previously denied deliberately withholding gas from Europe, saying repeatedly that it was supplying gas to Europe in line with its contractual obligations.”
So no gas left in the tank for the Germans to steal)) Very smart.
Can anyone elaborate on Venezuela’s future? Thanks
This could be the answer to all our problems.
Methane gas can be used to run petrol cars with a couple of simple modifications. It can also be used as a replacement to gas to heat our homes. Sewerage works can be converted to become our local gas suppliers using methane from human poo.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000t8zl
Teaming up with world-class scientists, they search for biological entities in sewage with potentially lifesaving medical properties, find out how pee can generate electricity, how gas from poo can fuel a car and how nutrients in waste can help solve the soil crisis. They follow each stage of the sewage treatment process, revealing what the stuff we flush can tell us about how we live today, and the mindboggling biotechnology being harnessed to clean it, making the wastewater safe enough to return to the environment
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zvsycdm/articles/zfmm6yc
Methane is a gas. One molecule of methane contains one carbon atom, surrounded by four hydrogen atoms.
Methane is a greenhouse gas, and is produced by cows and landfill sites.
Methane from farms and landfill can be used as a fuel for cooking and heating, and to generate electricity.
https://nfp-energie.ch/en/projects/1018/
If you decide you want to reduce your CO2 emissions, you should not drive a car. But this is not an option for everyone. An attractive alternative is the use of methane as a fuel. Combustion of this gas causes less CO2 emissions than petrol. Moreover, the production of this fuel could also solve the storage problem related to solar and wind energy, since methane can be stored for long periods of time.
The Rooskies give a new bank account at GasPromBank to the dudes buying the gas
The dudes buying the gas pay exactly as they had done, but they make the payment to the new account at GasPromBank.
Then GasPromBank converts the regular money into Rubles and then pays GazProm
Please note that GazProm has ‘spun off’ GasPromBank, so while the names are similar they are separated entities!
The result is:
Before, all payments were wired through New York City and the accounts were held in New York and this is why the Biden administration was able to “freeze” Russia’s money, because it was technically located in New York accounts.
Now, the money comes out of New York, goes into Russia, and cuts Washington DC and the Fed out of oversight and control.
The problem I see is that the “money” never goes from NYC to Moscow but is just a number transfer within a computer.
How does the russian Bank GaspromBank gets certainty it has that “money”?
Can’t the sender renege on the transaction and declare ir invalid once the NG has been delivered?
They may ask for collateral that can be seized. Or backed by physical gold in some neutral location
“Can’t the sender renege on the transaction and declare ir invalid once the NG has been delivered?”
Surely that would happen once only.
And then there would no more gas under any circumstances. Plus, I am quite sure it is a blatant violation of contract law to agree to a contract under false pretenses and then cancel payment.
It seems to me that the challenge for the West now is to rebuild it “full faith” or credibiltiy/trust. Not continue to throw economic and financial boomerangs.
The receiving bank would wait until the transfer has been processed by a clearing house. Once that is done, the transfer is complete and not reversible unless the receiving bank actively sends the funds back in a new and separate transaction, which it would simply not do.
Also pretty sure that SWIFT will not be used here, the Russian transfer system will be used. Either way, it is not just a number transfer. The transfer is processed and the receipt confirmed through various steps along the way with several safe guards in place. Goes for any transfer. Once the funds have left one account and are properly confirmed in another, the sender cannot access the funds any more. If that was possible the whole banking system would not function.
“A new reality is being formed: the unipolar world is irrevocably becoming a thing of the past, a multipolar one is taking shape. It’s an objective process. It’s unstoppable. In this reality, more than one power will “rule” – it will be necessary to negotiate between all the key states that today have a decisive influence on the world economy and politics. At the same time, realizing their special situation, these countries ensure compliance with the basic principles of the UN Charter, including the fundamental one – the sovereign equality of states. No one on this Earth should be seen as a minor player. Everyone is equal and sovereign.”
the antithesis of the WEF Parasites world-view
– bring it on!!!
Great article from Pepe Escobar.
This is just incredible to watch unfolding. As Gonzalo Lira said , recently, Putin is a history maker. Wow. That is truly awesome when you think about it. We are seeing history in the making!
Hmmm.
Somehow, this does not seem quite right. The Ruble instead of the Dollar as the new global reserve currency – no matter how backed – suffers exactly the same problem as before – it is a currency controlled by a single nation.
I doubt the Chinese will be thrilled by this.
there will be no single reserve currency, there will be a basket, Yuan, ruble, rupees, maybe one day they may even allow the dollar in)) BRICs is going to be part of this I feel sure.
Today is the day that the “new global financial system and currency” designed by the EAEU and China is supposed to be revealed. Leastways, the first draft thereof. Is this part of that? There is no reference to it.
There was a post a few days ago on The Saker by Godfree Roberts which seemed to suggest the new currency would probably be an SDR type. Perhaps just have to wait and see.
Bravo Pepe , as usual a brilliant sum up of the current economic world events.
In Farsi we have a saying :” They ( in this case the mad /fake empire) smelled their own FART , and apparently it smelled very bad , bye bye to euro and usd FIAT trash , God willing…..
This is the best write up I have seen regarding the ‘Gas for Rubles’ situation
Title:
Putin Edict on “Gas for Roubles” Consistent With Original Description (and Our Take); Western Officials Nevertheless Claim a Walkback
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/04/putin-edict-on-gas-for-roubles-consistent-with-original-description-and-our-take-western-officials-nevertheless-claim-a-walkback.html
Obviously this is complicated and is going to take time.
I expect Putin does NOT want to cause harm to the industry operators in Western Europe.
This is mostly smoke and mirrors for all but the most sophisticated Banksters and LawFare practitioners.
I reluctantly continue to have faith in V. V. P. even if this seems like a nothing burger on its surface.
I agree, he is happy to destroy their Govt but not industry. German business is extremely unhappy with what is going on. BASF claiming today they will have to close down their entire operation if gas supplies dip below 50%. German industry has been quiet so far but we are heading into insane ‘suicide’ levels of decision making with the German Govt at the moment. Simply doing what the US wants them to do is forcing them to betray their own population. I doubt this Govt is going to last beyond early 2023.
German speaking here, you might doubt a lot, but my regime is happily applying every hardship upon us, the master demands. Most of my compadres are so deep into servility, they beg for more.
It’s not an accident, that Germany and Austria are the last bastions of plandemic measures in Europe. When all around,countries open up, we make mandates even stronger.
Germany is an open-air S&M-club.
“Germany is an open-air S&M-club.”
That’s a candidate for quote of the year, even though it invokes some disturbing mental pictures.
Where the inmates in the S&M Club or asylum or … police each other far more effectively than prison guards ever could…
Sounds too altruistic to believe Pepe, but Vlad hasn’t strayed from his 2007 Munich speech yet.
He definitely walks the walk.
The only nations that won’t be too happy with the ” All nations under their own Groove” will be the Empire and the Exploiters. I don’t think they had this in mind for the great re-set !
What is the overriding reason EU refuse to pay in Rubles? Is it economics? Is it an ego issue? Why are they so worked up about paying in Rubles?
Petro dollar power. They have to be settled in dollar, that means you have to get it from USA and have to leave the money in the USA and the more you draw (credit) the more USA will print for free and let them hold USD without paying interest, that’s then passed back to the USA as free float
Thanks. I do understand that part.
But I am still looking for a objective analysis on why EU refuses to pay in rubles. EU behaves as if its the worst thing ever to have happened. EU’s currency is Euro which i assume is processed in Germany. Now Russians demands EU pays for its gas in rubles. And the EU is so adamant that they cannot pay in rubles. Is it because by doing so they raise value and prominence of ruble?
Of course i understand the political angle, that they have sanctioned Russia blah blah but in reality they haven’t sanctioned buying of Russian gas/oil. Or there simply could be no good economic reason for it?
one word: control
as the saying goes “who owns the clock can set the time”, who owns the currency can set the exchange rate
they can manipulate another economy by either, lowering their exchange rate, to make imports expensive and exports cheap, or the reverse to mess with other countries if their debt is denominated (hence interest rates) in a floating rate of the currency owner
you can see how the baltic countries have been hit. they all took property loans in Euro or Krona when it was weak and suddenly it got strong. govt’s that do that, get the same shock, but in a bigger scale. then the giver of debt, can turn that debt into equity, also known as debt trap or creeping takeover (like China has done to some BRI lendees)
to execute what I say above you need “muscle”. that’s either military, currency or resources. or all of the above
Think of it as the US being the big mean bully who picks on other kids and steals their lunch money. The EU forms (part of) the bully’s pack who gets some of the scraps the bully leaves for them.
They are mostly motivated by fear for the bully, however. They know that he’ll always go after somebody, and they just don’t want it to be them. So they never do anything to upset the bully and draw attention on themselves.
This ‘rubles for gas’ scheme basically cuts the US out of a lucrative scam they’ve been running. The EU knows all too well that the US is an exceptionally mean and vindictive bully. Given that the other party in this scheme, Russia, is effectively a judo-master who has little to fear from the bully, they also know the bully will likely take it’s anger out on them.
Basically, the EU is in a position where it is f****d either way, if not by Russia turning of the tap, then it will be because of America’s wrath. So far they’ve been hoping that Putin was bluffing, because that’s the only thing they had left to might have gotten them out of that bind.
The idea of setting a price for buying gold was brilliant, setting a price for it’s sale is a noose.
I hope Medvedev is right about a plurality of ‘reserve currencies’ this avoids the trap of a small group using a new sdr to manipulate everyone again.
All well and good, as well as long overdue. But the real question is if the US will accept the new order.
Short answer: no.
I suspect Poland will be encouraged or manipulated into sparking a wider war, dragging in NATO, the rest of Europe, and eventually the US which will have to stand by NATO or be disowned by their puppets in the EU.
A chemical / biological / nuclear false flag also remains a distinct possibility. The real nazis are in Washington, and as we have seen in Mariupol they are psychopaths without limits.
Regime change in the US is not a simple matter of replacing the president (all puppets since JFK) or party in power (they are one and the same), it is a matter of replacing the entire system from the shadow government (not-so-intelligent agencies) to their megaphone (corporate media) and the pyramid scheme economy run by Wall St.
The only way I see this happening is by glaring defeat in a global war (end times) or by a civil war where the US military is unleashed upon the domestic population. This could lead to a coup, which is probably the very best that Americans can hope for.
The US does a have a state owned and operated bank. The Bank of North Dakota. The state’s tax receipts are the capital of the bank which then competes with the other national and state private banks. So there is precedent. Why not allow state owned banks, or true national banks to hold tax revenue as capital to be recirculated as loans back to the same tax payers at competitive rates? Can’t JP Morgan Chase compete? With states earning fair interest, taxes can then remain lower for the citizens.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_North_Dakota
JPM and corporate banks don’t compete. Their business model is based on greed and is executed through corruption and theft.
They don’t compete with the other banks within the state of ND in most types of loans or in retail banking. It only makes loans to agricultural, commercial, and industrial projects and to the state. They have a seat at the Fed and at the US Treasury like the big (Wall Street) banks, and, as the big banks do, they loan to the banks within their state at the Fed rate plus a fee. The main differences are that they charge less than the large commercial banks, and they demand an actual deposit reserve within these local banks – not faked asset values.
Dear friends,
Excuse please my ignorance in these matters but has anyone have a little time to briefly explain if and how this new reality would expose the inadequacy of the “green” projects such as solar panels, windmills etc. ?
Thank you in advance,
Regards
Leonidas
Dear Leonidas, these two “new realities” have nothing to do with one another. Price and currency are mental realities, based on “credit” and “confidence” which come and go. Solar panels and windmills are physical realities based on the Laws of Nature which are for ever. What we are seeing is a “Clash of Civilizations” between the “The West” based on financial credit, and an emerging “East” based on physical reality. Russia (gas) and China (solar panels) have real goods to sell, and they do not see why they should sell real goods in return for a “Western” currency which, as Pepe says, has become too much based on QE ie, on credit.
Thank you very much!
Is the Russian flotilla still off Irish waters?
The silence from Wall Street leadership is frankly deafening, adding significantly to the belief that although thought unimaginable mere weeks ago, the Greenback is about to become an over indebted also ran.
The “single reserve currency” was never a thing. The IMF and World Bank recognized 8 different reserve currencies and a few years back added gold at full market value, rather than at a discounted value.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_currency#Global_currency_reserves
The US had the dominant share of designated reserve holdings at over 60% until 2020. Most observers expect that share to decline faster than it has over the last 10 years. But it will likely remain #1 for at least another decade.
The Trillion dollar question is if and when does the Rouble get added to the mix? Given that voting at the IMF and World Bank is weighted by GDP, the US ally voting block will most certainly act to prevent it.
Yes a new era – I wonder what the FED BOE & ECB think of this.
Are they smiling ?
The whole game plan after the UKN liberation has backfired.
Soros and his successors won’t be able to use western currencies to damage Russia anymore.
Or any third world countries who use the Ruble.
We now have a third world currency. Second if you count the Euro as being part of the USD system.
This should not really be a problem for nations, industry and people in the west – it is only a problem for the elites in the west who want to control and manipulate their own countries and others.
Trade and exchange will go on as before but the west’s moneychangers will be on many FX transactions cut out of the the system which they have been milking for centuries and this can only be a good thing. It will I think create a better eco environment in the west. And many businessmen in the west who have distain for the bankers there may find this a blessing.
How to move away from dollar hegemony? Put forth legitimate security proposals backed up with military-technical facts on the ground, and have your enemy go hysterical and sanction themselves into obscurity.
That’ll teach ’em.
I think we will know that the political tides have turned, when Germany opens the NS2 pipeline.
However, this may take months of pain and self flagellation, before the Germans realise that they either continue wearing a suicide vest, shivering with cold, with empty pantries, or they accept their situation. The German ego is made of steel, and stupidity!
As someone said, Germany is just one big Sado-Masochism camp at the moment!
I don’t see any peace or long term solutions coming any time soon but only more distress with increasing perplexity among and between nations.
This idea of “the sovereign equality of states. No one on this Earth should be seen as a minor player. Everyone is equal and sovereign.”
though laudable is just so much nonsense really.
“Rivers of ink and acres of paper would be required to record man’s futile quest for peace. In the thirteenth century, the wild horsemen of Genghis Khan swept out of Manchuria across the steppes of Central Asia, and burned the capital of Kiev. The Tatar yoke lasted 240 years. The Russians have never forgotten the rule that finally ended in 1480. The pages of history revel that Russia has been at war 75% of the time during the past seven centuries. France and Britain have been involved in wars over 50% of the last seven centuries. In 3,358 years of mans history, he could point to only 227 years of global peace. From 1500 BC to AD 1860 man had signed 8,000 treaties -with an average life expectancy of less than two years.
A Norwegian statistician goes even further and says that in 5,560 years of history, man has fought 14,531 wars. this represents 2.6 wars per year. In 855 generations. we have witnessed only 10 years of unsullied peace. More than 600 million men have marched to the battlefields of the world never to return.” Cantelon
The EU is going to be the most screwed out of all. They will either have to go without, or pay significantly more for things in the future. Either way, they will see recessions and maybe even mini-depressions, or full-blown ones which may lead to regime changes within EU-member states, or even the collapse of the failing EU project. We lived long enough to see the rupture of the US-led order. May we live long enough to see the end of the EU.
The West is starting to reap what it so assiduously sowed under the American ‘leadership’. We are entering very rough waters…I feel for the poor.
141,750 Rubles equals one ounce of gold equals $300 per ounce. Russia has their sights set on the Ruble being about 17 to one d0llar. I would think this puts crude at about $45/barrel. Saudi’s need somebody other than China also buying crude in another currency.
Living in The Netherlands I hope ‘our’ fall is fast, vast and hard. I will personally suffer as do all my loved ones, but I know it’s for the best on the long term for both ‘us’ and ‘all’. Hopefully the awakening to the full truth will also be fast and in bright sight, but I doubt this seeing so many people arround me just sticking to the propaganda, the narrative and the lies brought upon us so many decades. This must happen. Often I thought: “Why don’t people stand up against such institutions where their leaders enslave and bring disaster on them?” Now I see just this happening in my country which is a so called democracy with free speech. It’s just a fata morgana, something nice on paper but in reality nothing better than fascist dictatorship. It will become clear to more people ‘here’ sooner rather than later, realizing it’s too late and there’s nothing to do then feeling the pain and go through that awakening process along having the real great reset. After the fall, hopefully mankind as a whole will have more consciousness. Even then a lot have to be done, because ‘we’ are not the only ones who need to wake up.
In this note I recall how in the early 1970s the Japanese Yen was about 700Y to US$1 and it ended up around 100Y to a $1 about 20 years later. The rate was even much higher from post WW2 and 1950s & 60s.
Those investors buying into the Ruble now may stand to make a large profit holding it.
Many in the US will be breathing a sigh of relief as the burden of being the economic power house of the world and unending destination of millions of illiterate migrants comes to a blessed end. Now millions of black Africans will be streaming northwards toward Russia and China. Will they be welcomed?
Those immigrant’s are more educated and cultured than American low life’s red necks
I would watch what you say soi-boy
This Red Neck can dispose of you in a heart beat
You feelin lucky???
Come out to the boonies, we’ll show you a really good time
Yee Yee
Being in the US and well familiar with both groups, I disagree. There are always those who are better educated, who value their cultures, they are not bound to any particular race nor global region.
“Many in the US will be breathing a sigh of relief as the burden of being the economic power house of the world and unending destination of millions of illiterate migrants comes to a blessed end. Now millions of black Africans will be streaming northwards toward Russia and China. Will they be welcomed?”
Don’t delude yourself.
America is not the economic powerhouse of the world.
America is the economic parasite of the world.
Thanks to the American Dollar as the sole reserve currency, Americans have benefitted from the greatest free lunch in history, as they can live beyond their means and “pay” for goods and services from the rest of the world with worthless US Treasury paper–all while exporting inflation to the rest of the planet.
And many of the migrants that go to the USA are not “illiterate” but middle class professionals who are the best and brightest that America is able to brain drain from the world.
Putin says U.S. is “parasite” on global economy
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-putin-usa/putin-says-u-s-is-parasite-on-global-economy-idUSTRE77052R20110801
America: Host Or Parasite? – Michael Hudson, #121
https://soundcloud.com/guns-and-butter-1/2051-20070314-guns-and-butter
Dmitry Medvedev’s post today.
————————————————-
Our food against their sanctions
I remember that during my childhood, the USSR bought grain from Canada.
It was strange, the largest country, and wheat – for dollars.
Today the picture is quite different: Russia is the largest grain producer, along with India and China. And in recent years, the largest exporter of wheat.
It so happened that the food security of many countries depends on our supplies. It turns out that our food is our quiet weapon 😉. Quiet but ominous.
And if anyone does not know or has forgotten, then the export of our agricultural products exceeds the export of real weapons – it amounted to more than 37 billion dollars last year.
Taking into account the total sanctions imposed against us by Western countries, I will outline a few simple but important points regarding Russia’s food security.
First. Diverse and delicious Russian products are enough to fully meet our domestic needs.
Second. The priority in food supplies is our domestic market. And price control.
At the same time, the state will continue large-scale and systematic assistance to farmers.
Third. We will supply food and crops only to our friends (fortunately we have a lot of them, and they are not at all in Europe and not in North America). We will sell both for rubles and for their national currency in agreed proportions.
Fourth. We will not supply our products and agricultural products to our enemies. And we won’t buy anything from them (although we haven’t bought anything since 2014, but the list of products prohibited for import can be further expanded).
It turns out that we will eat breakfast ourselves 🥐🍳🧀☕️. Perhaps we will share lunch with friends🥗🍲/🍛🥘. And we will not give dinner to the enemies🍧🍦🫖. Will manage. We’d better eat ourselves too, and in the morning we’ll work out more actively🏋🏻♂️🏸🚴🏻!
That should answer the question Europeans are asking about whether they will need to buy wheat with rubles. The simple answer it, no, nor any other currency because Europe will go hungry for two reasons, poor yield due to no fertilizer and no food from Russia. Arrogance and servitude to the US assure a rough road ahead in every household and every industry.
Germany has the reality of its car industry is in terminal decline and not likely to survive 3-4 years… The largest consumer of cars in the world is China and 60% of new car sales are battery-electric cars none of the legacy companies are investing in the research that should have been done 10-15 years ago. Tesla will be the only car factory remaining in business in Europe but its profits got to Texas.
My last few visits to Europe left me with the impression of a rudderless society obeying the least competent officials isolated in Brussels. Everyone I met had unkind words when discovering I was an American, and worse when they found my choice of residence for the last 21 years has been in St Petersburg Russia. Maybe another trip in in order once the hard times really take their toll, just to gloat. Maybe I will bring a bag of wheat as a CARE package.
Germany is going to have to grow balls or die a eunuch. Time to become a friendly nation, NS2 included. Growing balls requires getting rid of little Sholzy, cause he don’t have any.
Sitting back and watching with glee the level of cope from the cucked EUsa’s respective governments having to come to terms with the New Reality, as coined by FM Lavrov. (What are the stages again, first there’s denial, then anger, then….)? All these corrupt uniparty politicians that blindly kowtowed to Uncle Schmuel’s Putinman-bad campaign, that ignored the very un-democratic atrocities that occurred in Ukraine over the last decade deserve all that is coming to them. We can now watch in real time as the supposed smart leaders and generals in the west stumble into blunder after blunder, all led by grandfather Biden’s word salad directed by the very same neocon thought that brought us such famous lies such as WMDs in Iraq(!), whispering in his earpiece. Beware of false flags that can arise and take to action from desperate men.
Russia is clearly thinking about tomorrow, forging new trade deals that will sustain itself and its trading partners, unburdened from the falling fiat $ and the globohomo that comes with it as an added bonus….while the west is still blindly working its outdated 1980’s style iron curtain hegemony strategy. Zone A is led by 20th century leadership desperate to maintain 20th century arrangements. Time’s up.
Appreciate Pepe’s work, his bonhomie, his vast knowledge and historical context, his breadth of contacts, and his war stories.
That said, I weary of a pattern that I’m seeing wherein with great fanfare and triumphalism he marshals what amounts to a tantalizing list of suggestive tidbits without really adding much in the way of argument or new factual detail.
via rt
Germany has reportedly put on hold interactions between its tax authorities and their counterparts in Russia and Belarus since the start of Moscow’s military campaign against Ukraine in late February.
the letter cited by Der Spiegel, Lindner went on to reassure his Ukrainian counterpart that the German government supported efforts to exclude Russia from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
“We are determined to inflict further economic damage on Russia and Belarus,” the German minister reportedly wrote, adding that his ministry was “fully” at Ukraine’s disposal “in these matters.”
via rt
The nationalization in Germany of the subsidiaries of Gazprom and Rosneft would seriously violate international law… it will violate all imaginable and unimaginable laws,” Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin, told reporters on Friday. He added that Moscow considers even raising this issue “unacceptable.”
“Pepe the Great” channeled into the Future during the ‘00s and saw this coming way before the Empire and it’s chihuahuas and now it has arrived. The Neocon/liberals have suddenly realized that they are Checkmated/screwed/on their backs with the Hated/Evil Putin on top of them so they are finished with no way out of it, except they don’t have a Reverse Gear so they will Quadruple, Octuple down and resort to, what else, a massive Nuclear Attack on Russia/China/Iran to not lose. That will be a loser strategy too because the S-500 can take out Satellites and the Missiles. Russia may run out of S-500s but won’t be totally destroyed. However the Empire of Lies will be and that will be a real shame for the Deplorables like you and I. Hopefully the Ukraine will be Denazified and Demilitarized and Galicia will be controlled by Russia first.
The other question is, who are the VIPS stuck in that Plant? American/NATO Generals or the Nazi High Command? I would say probably both.
Thanks Pepe ! I am from the west and I have lived long enough to see us get our wings clipped!
Extraordinary análisis ,, as allways from Mr. Escobar.
Platos term “kakistocracy” seems fully appropriate. I know i write this on every voting sheet i get (i live where my car rego and driver lisence is suspended ,even jail is a final option if i dont vote)
I think the world should be DUO-POLAR and Multi-polar at the same time. Duo-Polar refers to distinction made between the New World and the Classical World. The New World is N & S America (i.e. USA/Brazil/etc) and the Classical world is Africa, Asia, Europe, & the Islamic-Arab World. (The nation(be it the US or UK or some other new-fangled super zionism movement) that imagines it can manage to somehow rule BOTH the New World and classical world in the 21st century is mad and on a fools errand that will probably end in failure.) The Classical world is multi-polar based on physical geography i.e. the Continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Islamic-Arab World. The New World can be a single pole but it is more precise to say it is a twin pole continent of North and South America both of whom are marked by and united by their peculiar origin and genesis from Europe and Africa through the slave trade… The Classical world, and its poles, are getting stronger every day. Its heritage is all the best of Classical Egypt, Greece, Rome, Islam, China and Modern Scientific and Cultural Europe. It is high time to advise the New World of this vision of Duo-Pole Multi-polar arrangement which is constructive and can be cooperative based on free will, Classical values and indeed the Silk road development model.
I think the world should be DUO-POLAR and Multi-polar at the same time. Duo-Polar refers to a necessary distinction to be made made between the New World and the Classical World.
The New World is N & S America (i.e. USA/Brazil/etc.)
The Classical world is Africa, Asia, Europe, & the Islamic-Arab World.
The New World is a twin pole comprising the continents of North and South America both of whom are eerily marked by their origin and genesis from Europe and Africa through the slave trade.
The Classical world is multi-polar based on physical geography i.e. the Continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Islamic-Arab World.
The Classical world, and its poles, are getting stronger every day. Its 21st century heritage is all the best of Classical Egypt(Africa), Greece, Rome, Persia, Islamdom, China and Modern Scientific and Cultural Europe.
A Duo-Pole arrangement can be constructive and cooperative and based on free will. In short, If the US stayed in their part of the world and managed their own house, no one would bother them.
Escobar: “All the previous Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) nations see which way the geopolitical and geo-economic winds are blowing: the time to assert their real sovereignty is at hand as the “rules-based international order” bites the dust.”
If I were Putin, right now I’d order mass production of S500’s and their delivery systems. Then I’d sell them at cost price to China, Venezuela, Cuba, and any other nation that wants to be able to defend itself against US hegemony and determine its own future.
Saturate the non-aligned nations with S500s and the West loses all forms of air superiority. It’s their boots on the ground or nothing and I’m certain that the US public would rebel pretty quickly against losing too many of these boots on foreign soil.
The usurpers who stole the U.S. presidency together with the elite bankers are already destroying the U.S. from within. The elite bankers ie. The Fed took over the dollar by getting authorized to print dollars and to “loan” it to the U.S. Treasury with interest. Paid back by taxpayers. The Fed is a group of private banks. It is to THEIR advantage to have the dollar as the Reserve currency.
I am no fan of Putin, I have no dog in this fight. Having said that I can see how Russia was pushed into a response over Ukraine. assuming there is a lot of propaganda coming from both sides. Still it looks as though Putin has underestimated the difficulty all of his task. I hate the fascist globalist, Klaus Schwab and his friends. A nationalist like Putin may end the New World Order dream. I hope I am correct.
As long the Rothschild family don’t get involved in the New World Order…everyone is Welcome !!
Today, China, EU met
Xi calls on EU to form independent China policy, encourages bloc to take primary role for Ukraine resolution
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202204/1257426.shtml
“The EU is now kidnapped by the US on security, but that does not conform to the strategic independence the EU has pursued,” Cui said, noting that to avoid being caught in hot water again, the EU must take control of its own destiny.”
Hot Water indeed! We have a boiling frog!
“The sudden switch from dollars/euros to rubles was hardcore, Olympic-level geoeconomic judo. Putin enticed the collective West to unleash its demented hysteria sanction attack – and turned it against the opponent with a single, swift move.”
Sheer Awesome-ness.
And, in a supreme moment of irony, the Russo-west European system, GAZRuble, replaces the defunct SWIFT system…?
Excellent happy reading! While internet addicts go ga ga over Bitcoin, Russia develops a new world currency architecture and shift the political weight from a tired, aching NATO based Europe to a vibrant, innovative Asia.
To be precise, it is a model.
The environmental lobby in the US benefitted from a lot of Russian funding to close down booming pipeline and LNG facilities development from the huge Marcellus/Utica/deeper shale gas and natural gas liquids plays in the eastern US. It was assumed the goal was just to protect European markets from competition but it is clear now there were other motives.