Publication date: 2022-05-06
Update 2022-05-10: New source: Argentina invited to BRICS meetings, reports Ben Norton.
Update 2022-05-11: Another source from Ben Norton; a fascinating interview with Professor Michael Hudson.
Update 2022-05-18: Added sources by Medea Benjamin and Aileen Teague discussing the upcoming Summit of the America’s and the USA’s lack of invitation to some nations. Other Latin American nations are threatening a boycott unless all nations are invited.
Update 2022-05-25: A culture section is appended with two versions of “Gute Nacht” from Schubert’s “Vinter Reise”.
Update 2022-05-27: The size of seized Russian foreign reserves is revised down from 300 to 130 Billion based on recent information.
Former Brazilian President “Lula” has proposed the "Sur" as an independent multinational trade currency for South America.
Background
The 2014 coup installed government in Ukraine ran an eight year long civil war, often involving troops with Nazi ideologies, who were later funded, armed and trained by "the west" against two eastern provinces, Donetsk and Lugansk. Russia was "mouse trapped" to defend the embattled oblasts. Russia's correct calculations were that any military engagement would bring about complete economic wrath from the West.
Russia had previously publicly warned of serious existential concerns which amounted to a 2021 version of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Geopolitics
The problem for the USA is the alliance between China and Russia.
This echoes the predictions of Mackinder a century earlier when he spoke of the "one world island" of Eurasia. China’s economy has built the financial structures required to support the infrastructure to bring this vision to reality. The "One Belt One Road" trillion dollar project, often known as "BRI" (Belt and Road Initiative), is the implementation.
The mousetrap of Russia follows ideas published by the late Zbigniew Brzezinski. The two step plan is to weaken Russia such that she cannot militarily support China. This would weaken the two and create opportunities for USA+NATO to isolate and attack China, especially around the islands of Taiwan.
Geoeconomics
The seizure of 300 130 Billion USD of Russian central bank reserves by western banks created an ongoing crisis; a bifurcation of international trade markets. The impact on European economies will be profound. Impacts on USA economic performance also seem dire.
[Update 2022-05-27: the change in volume of seized funds by the USA and EU is based on a Reuters report cited by Alex Christoforou here.]
The situation just has become far more serious.
Libya Intervention, part II
In 2010 Libyan strongman and President Muammar al-Gaddafi proposed the creation of a gold backed African currency, the Dinar. Reports based upon leaked emails from Mrs Clinton suggest that the 2011 USA+EU military "intervention" in Libya was largely based on killing this currency.
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has proposed the same concept not for Africa, but South America. This is not a Monroe Doctrine mis-step but a doctrinal paradigm shift.
Ben Norton reports on Lula stating that participating countries:
could use the Sur [the proposed new currency] to do bilateral trade with each other, instead of having to exchange for US dollars
The last time a political leader made this type of threat to USA economic hegemony, he was murdered with a sword. Mrs Clinton paraphrased Caesar when describing the murder:
We came, we saw, he died.
Lula's proposition invites the USA beyond the Ukrainian and potential Taiwanese spaces into a three front war.
The USA is being mouse-trapped by its own actions.
Update
Begun in Miami in 1994, the Summit of the Americas is to be held from June 6th to 10th 2022 in Los Angeles, it’s first return to USA soil. The USA has yet to send invitations to Cuba, Venezuela or Nicaragua. Other prominent Latin American nations, particularly Mexico, are threatening to boycott the event unless all nations are invited.
Sources
Hillary Emails: NATO Destroyed Libya To Prevent Gold-Backed Dinar, Nathan Nicholson, PlanetLeak, 2016-02-05 updated 2018-09-03
Hillary Emails: NATO Destroyed Libya To Prevent Gold-Backed Dinar, Levant Report, CS Globe, 2016-02-07
Brazil’s Lula proposes creating Latin American currency to ‘be freed of US dollar’ dependency, Benjamin Norton, Multipolista, 2022-05-04
Secret Brazil Archive, Glenn Greenwald and others, The Intercept, 2019-06 and onwards
For Biden’s Summit of the Americas, Obama’s Handshake With Raúl Castro Shows the Way, Medea Benjamin, Antiwar, 2022-05-18
Boycotts threaten to turn Biden’s Summit of the Americas into a political disaster, Aileen Teague, Responsible Statescraft, 2022-05-18
The Socialist Program, Brian Becker interviews Greg Mellow, BreakThrough News, 2022-05-04
US-Russia Relations: Apogee to Perigee in 6 months (2013-14), Seven Decades After We Beat the Nazis Together, Ray McGovern interviewed by Regis Tremblay, Global Conversations, 2022-05-03
Argentina will attend BRICS summits, at China's invitation, in step toward 'formal entry', Ben Norton, Multipolarista, 2022-05-10
Economist Michael Hudson on decline of dollar, sanctions war, imperialism, financial parasitism, Ben Norton interviews Prof. Hudson, Multipolarista, 2022-05-11
Culture
Gute Nacht from Vinter Reise by Franz Shubert, performed by Emőke Baráth (Soprano) and Anastasia Razvalyaeva (Harp) during a concert on 2018-10-11 at Solti Hall, Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest.
Uploaded to youtube by the harpist.
To understand the complexity and balance of the music, a solo piano playing with score visualized may assist.
Thanks to Gustaf, a student at the International Peoples College, for recommending this beautiful musical composition.
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