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You really think you'll have more gold than others when it comes to bidding for the last...whatever...?

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I'm posting this here because I don't know what to make of it.

I'm used to ZeroHedge always posting about the end of the stock market, the end of the Fed, the end of the dollar, the end of financial system ... the end of something. Ditto gold bugs ... they have been saying (for years) that the dollar is way overvalued and is bound to crash.

But lately ... within the past month or so ... all of those "out there" analysts are only talking about ONE thing, and it's the (planned) end of the dollar. According to them, it's not Russia or China manipulating this, it's the IMF.

So, as best as I can gather, it's supposed to happen like something like this:

The Central Banks will start to sell the assets that they purchased as part of "quantitative easing". Our Fed is already reducing its "balance sheet".

There is going to be a period of debt settlements among nations ... old bonds, even defunct or fraudulent bonds being paid off to square the books. For some nations, there will be debt forgiveness.

The petrodollar will disappear from use. (It already is fading, as Russia, China and Iran are settling their oil and gas payments in yuan, rubles, gold, and rials. IF China insists on receiving yuan from Saudi Arabia, that will be the death knell of the petrodollar.)

The USA will be required to close many of its foreign military bases because it can no longer afford them.

Nations will be required to use the IMF "special drawing rights" (SDR) for international exchange. In other words, they will have to use their currency to purchase SDR from the IMF; the exchange rate will float.

Once the dollar is doesn't have special international significance as either the reserve currency or for oil purchases, demand for the dollar will drop, and so will its value relative to the SDR. There will still be the USD for national exchange, but not international exchange.

The result will be massive inflation in the USA for goods that are sold internationally, even if produced in the USA. I've heard that this will happen mostly in stages, not suddenly and catastrophically.

China will mostly be advantaged under this arrangement.

*****

Normally I would just kind of shrug my shoulders, but both Trump and Christine Lagarde (IMF) have made some strange out-of-place comments about this. Trump said that he would not accept this new currency. New currency?? Christine Lagarde hinted that the IMF might relocate to China because, as pointed out by someone else "China, unlike other nations, actually pays its pledges to the IMF".

I know that China has been hot to trot to be the next global currency. They lobbied mightily - and won- a place in the current IMF SDR basket (along with the USA, Japan, UK, and EU). China and Russia combined have set up a complete international alternate financial system - the Shanghai (and soon to be Hong Kong) gold exchange (London gold fix), the BRICS bank (World Bank), the AIIB (IMF), its place in the SDR basket.

Both China and Russia have been purchasing gold like crazy, and Putin supposedly just spoke with the person who developed the Ethereum model.

It seems to me that the dollar will be replaced as the world currency; it's inevitable. The only thing keeping the value of our USD up is our military- we literally have to bomb nations into using it by bombing those who attempt to avoid it (Iraq, Libya, Iran). If some nation were to come to us with a billion dollars, WHAT could we sell them for that money?? More Treasuries?? More weapons systems?? So, how much is our money really worth??

The question is really when (not if) that will happen, and how badly will our dollar be devalued? 1:3? 1:10? And what will the new world currency be? Will it be the IMF SDR?? Or will the world eventually settle on some alternate, like a gold-backed cryptocurrency?

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De-Dollarization Accelerates: China Readies Yuan-Priced Crude Oil Benchmark Backed By Gold (Sept 3)

The world’s top oil importer, China, is preparing to launch a crude oil futures contract denominated in Chinese yuan and convertible into gold, potentially creating the most imporThe world’s top oil importer, China, is preparing to launch a crude oil futures contract denominated in Chinese yuan and convertible into gold, potentially creating the most important Asian oil benchmark and allowing oil exporters to bypass U.S.-dollar denominated benchmarks by trading in yuan, Nikkei Asian Review reports.

The crude oil futures will be the first commodity contract in China open to foreign investment funds, trading houses, and oil firms. The circumvention of U.S. dollar trade could allow oil exporters such as Russia and Iran, for example, to bypass U.S. sanctions by trading in yuan, according to Nikkei Asian Review.

To make the yuan-denominated contract more attractive, China plans the yuan to be fully convertible in gold on the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges.

Last month, the Shanghai Futures Exchange and its subsidiary Shanghai International Energy Exchange, INE, successfully completed four tests in production environment for the crude oil futures, and the exchange continues with preparatory works for the listing of crude oil futures, aiming for the launch by the end of this year.

“The rules of the global oil game may begin to change enormously,” Luke Gromen, founder of U.S.-based macroeconomic research company FFTT, told Nikkei Asia Review.

The yuan-denominated futures contract has been in the works for years, and after several delays, it looks like it may be launched this year.

Some potential foreign traders have been worried that the contract would be priced in yuan.

But according to analysts who spoke to Nikkei Asian Review, backing the yuan-priced futures with gold would be appealing to oil exporters, especially to those that would rather avoid U.S. dollars in trade.

“It is a mechanism which is likely to appeal to oil producers that prefer to avoid using dollars, and are not ready to accept that being paid in yuan for oil sales to China is a good idea either,” Alasdair Macleod, head of research at Goldmoney, told Nikkei.
tant Asian oil benchmark and allowing oil exporters to bypass U.S.-dollar denominated benchmarks by trading in yuan, Nikkei Asian Review reports.

The crude oil futures will be the first commodity contract in China open to foreign investment funds, trading houses, and oil firms. The circumvention of U.S. dollar trade could allow oil exporters such as Russia and Iran, for example, to bypass U.S. sanctions by trading in yuan, according to Nikkei Asian Review.

To make the yuan-denominated contract more attractive, China plans the yuan to be fully convertible in gold on the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges.

Last month, the Shanghai Futures Exchange and its subsidiary Shanghai International Energy Exchange, INE, successfully completed four tests in production environment for the crude oil futures, and the exchange continues with preparatory works for the listing of crude oil futures, aiming for the launch by the end of this year.

“The rules of the global oil game may begin to change enormously,” Luke Gromen, founder of U.S.-based macroeconomic research company FFTT, told Nikkei Asia Review.

The yuan-denominated futures contract has been in the works for years, and after several delays, it looks like it may be launched this year.

Some potential foreign traders have been worried that the contract would be priced in yuan.

But according to analysts who spoke to Nikkei Asian Review, backing the yuan-priced futures with gold would be appealing to oil exporters, especially to those that would rather avoid U.S. dollars in trade.

“It is a mechanism which is likely to appeal to oil producers that prefer to avoid using dollars, and are not ready to accept that being paid in yuan for oil sales to China is a good idea either,” Alasdair Macleod, head of research at Goldmoney, told Nikkei.

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
Good thing I have gold. Not that gold has any intrinsic value. But as a matter of exchange, people have to agree to use something. If it ends up being gold - or if gold buys rubles or yuan - then it's good to have gold.
>

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
Is this relevant to the topic, Jack? Do you have any facts or logic on the topic to contribute?

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Russia, Saudi Arabia Announce Billons In Energy Deals, S-400 Missile System Purchase

Two days ago, when we previewed the first ever visit by a Saudi King to the Russian capital - a move which prompted Bloomberg to call Russian president Putin the "new master of the Middle East" - we pointed out that according to Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, a joint Russian-Saudi fund to invest in the energy sector will be announced during the forthcoming visit of the Saudi King to Moscow, and that the preliminary agreement to establish the $1 billion fund has already been reached.

Fast forward to today when diplomatic history was made on Thursday, when Putin met with the King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - the first state visit to Russia by a reigning Saudi monarch

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- and the launch of a new level of relations between the countries, as well as billions in new energy-focused deals. The Saudi monarch's visit comes after decades of strained relations. More recently, tensions were high over the war in Syria. Russia and Iran have staunchly backed Syrian President Assad while Saudi Arabia has supported the Sunni rebels fighting to oust him. However, relations began to improve in recent years and Salman's heir, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has held several meetings with Putin.

There are also common points: the Saudi kingdom, much like Russia, has been hit by the fall in oil prices since mid-2014. Despite regional disagreements, the world's two largest oil-producers found common ground on energy policy in November, when they led a deal between OPEC and non-OPEC states to cut production in a bid to shore up crude prices. So far that deal is holding and prices have recovered slightly to above $50 a barrel. In an apparent reference to the output deal, Salman told Putin on Thursday that Saudi Arabia is "eager to continue the positive cooperation between our nations in the world oil market, which fosters global economic growth."

After the meeting, as noted before, the two countries launched a joint energy investment fund worth $1 billion

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which could include investments in natural gas projects and petrochemical plants. Among the deal signed, Saudi state oil firm Aramco, the world’s biggest energy company, signed a deal with Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and gas processing and petrochemicals company Sibur on joint projects in the area of oil refining. Amin Al-Nasser, Aramco chief executive said: "This marks a new milestone in business relations and partnerships with our counterparts in Russia. The visit by The Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud to Russia will further enhance ties and will foster collaboration among Saudi and Russian companies on various fronts."

Aramco also signed a memorandum of cooperation with Russian state-owned oil company Gazprom Neft, to collaborate on drilling technologies and research and development areas, as well as employee exchange programs. According to the FT, Alexander Dyukov, chief executive of Gazprom Neft, said:

Given the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainties, it is of paramount importance that major oil producers coordinate their activities to improve the stability of the global oil and gas market. An important component of such engagement concerns sharing cutting-edge technological solutions and working together to improve efficiency in oil production and refining.

Putting the deals in context, trade volume between the two countries reached $2.8 billion last year, according to official Saudi press. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, announced in 2015 plans to invest $10 billion in Russia over the next five years, though only a fraction of that has so far been put up. In an unexpected twist, the two countries also agreed to cooperate in nuclear energy, agriculture, information technology; trade, investments and social development.

"We have a vast potential for developing cooperation in nuclear power. Saudi Arabia plans to launch a major nuclear power program," said Russian Energy Minister and Co-Chairman of the Russian-Saudi Intergovernmental Commission Aleksandr Novak.

"Nuclear power may become one of the basic sources and an extra catalyst for the development of various industries and innovation technologies in Saudi Arabia," he added. That Saudi Arabia , the world's largest oil exporter, is planning on using Russian help to build NPPs will certainly raise a few eyebrows.

In addition to importing Russian nuclear technology, the Saudis also appear ready to expand food imports from Russia, which is set to remain the world's biggest wheat exporter this year. Food security is a major concern for Saudi Arabia, which stopped local production of livestock feed and wheat due to water scarcity.

Novak said that for the first time a substantial delegation from Saudi Arabia, including about 200 representatives and 85 CEOs of large companies has come to Russia. "Eighty-five heads of the largest companies flew to Russia to establish links with Russian businesses and expand ties in all areas," the minister said.

Just as notably, Novak said that relations between the two countries have reached a “fundamentally new level recently,” Novak said. “Parliamentary contacts show good dynamics and the two countries business circles maintain intensive dialogue," he said, adding that that significant progress has been made. Novak added that work is underway on a roadmap for the mid-term development of trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation between Moscow and Riyadh.

Putin and Salman are also expected to focus on extending the OPEC oil output cut agreement which has helped prop up oil prices. On Wednesday, Putin said he believes the oil cut agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC countries could be extended beyond March 2018. The next OPEC meeting is due to take place in Vienna at the end of November.

Relations between the two countries had traditionally been strained, especially during the Cold War when Saudis helped arm Afghan rebels fighting against the Soviet invasion. In recent years, however, strong relations between Saudi Arabia and the US have frayed, forcing Saudi Arabia to look for regional alliances elsewhere. Earlier on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia thinks highly of Saudi Arabia's role in arranging talks between the Syrian government and the oppositions in Geneva.

* * *

In a dramatic announcement as part of today's meeting, Saudi Arabia also announced it has agreed to buy Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, according to Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television reported on Thursday. The countries also signed a memorandum of understanding to help the kingdom in its efforts to develop its own military industries, a statement from state-owned Saudi Arabian Military Industries said.

According to Reuters, SAMI said the MoU with Russian state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport came in the context of contracts signed to procure the S-400, the Kornet-EM system, the TOS-1A, the AGS-30 and the Kalashnikov AK-103.

While SAMI did not specify the number of each system or the value of the procurement deal, it said the procurement was “based on the assurance of the Russian party to transfer the technology and localize the manufacturing and sustainment of these armament systems in the Kingdom”, but provided no timeframe.

This means that after Iran and Turkey, the Russian war machine has expanded to Riyadh, which as a reminder bought hundreds of billions in weapons from the US this spring.

Is Israel next in line to buy Russian weapons?

* * *

While Salman's visit signals closer Russian ties with Sunni Arab Gulf states, Russia's support for its close regional ally, Iran is not expected to change. The U.S., meanwhile, remains Saudi Arabia's top weapons supplier and its most critical Western ally.

Some, such as Anna Borshchevskaya, a fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says Russia has no capacity to replace the United States as Saudi Arabia's key ally. Others are not so sure. Cited by ABC, analysts said Salman's trip to Moscow is the clearest sign yet that Russia's strategy in the Middle East, including its high-risk show of military power in Syria, has paid off.

"A number of Gulf leaders have been going with greater regularity to Moscow and I think for a simple reason: Russia has made itself much more of a factor in key parts of the Middle East as the U.S. has taken a step back in some ways, particularly in Syria," said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

Or, as Bloomberg put it, "the Israelis and Turks, the Egyptians and Jordanians -- they’re all beating a path to the Kremlin in the hope that Vladimir Putin, the new master of the Middle East, can secure their interests and fix their problems. The latest in line is Saudi King Salman."

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Russia may soon issue its own official blockchain-based currency, the CryptoRuble

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"It's A Huge Story": China Launching "Petroyuan" In Two Months

China's plans for oil futures trading go back more than two decades, with the government introducing a domestic crude contract in 1993 and stopping a year later amid an overhaul of its energy industry. But in 2013, we first hinted at the birth of the petroyuan was looming...

In doing so China is effectively lobbing the first shot across the bow of the Petrodollar system, and more importantly, the key support of the USD in the international arena... setting the scene for the petroyuan.

And now, we are within two months of it becoming a reality as China prepares to roll out a yuan-denominated oil contract within the next two months...

"Approval of the trading rules by the securities regulator marks the clearance of a major hurdle toward launch of the contract," Li Zhoulei, an analyst with Everbright Futures, said by phone.



"The latest rules raised entry threshold for investors from the draft rules, which shows the government wants to avoid volatility when it first starts trading."

Which, according to Adam Levinson, of hedge fund manager Graticule Asset Management Asia, will be a “wake up call” for investors who haven’t paid attention to the plans.

A Yuan-denominated oil contract will be a “huge story” in the fourth quarter.



“The contract is a hedging tool for Chinese oil companies. We’re convinced Chinese oil companies will be anchor investors in the Aramco IPO.”

All of which fits with recent comments and actions from Russian and Venezuelan officials...

“Venezuela is going to implement a new system of international payments and will create a basket of currencies to free us from the dollar,” Maduro said in a multi-hour address to a new legislative “superbody.” He reportedly did not provide details of this new proposal.

Maduro hinted further that the South American country would look to using the yuan instead, among other currencies.

“If they pursue us with the dollar, we’ll use the Russian ruble, the yuan, yen, the Indian rupee, the euro,” Maduro also said.

Additionally, Levison warns Washington that besides serving as a hedging tool for Chinese companies, the contract will aid a broader Chinese government agenda of increasing the use of the yuan in trade settlement... and thus the acceleration of de-dollarization and the rise of the Petro-Yuan.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt we’re going to see use of the renminbi in reserves go up substantially”

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It would take a major shock ... the institution of a new global reserve currency by the IMF (for example, the issuance of a crytpocurrency backed by SDR) to push the dollar out of a "gradual fade" mode.

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Treasurys Tumble, Futures Slide On Report China "To Slow Or Halt" Treasury Purchases

The treasuries complex has sold off aggressively across the curve after the following flashing red Bloomberg headline:

- CHINA OFFICIALS ARE SAID TO VIEW TREASURIES AS LESS ATTRACTIVE.
- CHINA OFFICIALS SAID TO RECOMMEND SLOWING OR HALTING TSY BUYING

As Bloomberg reports, "Officials reviewing China’s FX holdings have recommended slowing or halting purchases of US Treasuries, according to people familiar with the matter."

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How China Is About to Shake Up the Oil Futures Market
By Sungwoo Park
March 7, 2018, 5:10 PM PST
From

China, the world’s biggest oil buyer, is opening a domestic market to trade futures contracts. It’s been planning one for years, only to encounter delays. The Shanghai International Energy Exchange, a unit of Shanghai Futures Exchange, will be known by the acronym INE and will allow Chinese buyers to lock in oil prices and pay in local currency. Also, foreign traders will be allowed to invest -- a first for China’s commodities markets -- because the exchange is registered in Shanghai’s free trade zone. There are implications for the U.S. dollar’s well-established role as the global currency of the oil market.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

March 26: The Chinese petroyuan comes online.

Tick tock.

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Wow, do you still want us to believe you're American. It's obvious you can't wait for this to happen. Hey I know, hold you breath until the dollar collapses comrade.

Hey sig, can you see me laughing? No really, can you see me laughing? Tell me sig, how does this help Russia?


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PetroYuan' Futures Launch With A Bang, Volume Dominates Brent As Big Traders Step In

As we detailed previously, China’s yuan-denominated crude oil futures launched overnight in Shanghai with 62,500 contracts traded in aggregate, meaning over 62 million barrels of oil changed hands for a notional volume around 27 billion yuan (over $4 billion). As OilPrice.com's Tsvetana Paraskova notes, Glencore, Trafigura, and Freepoint Commodities were among the first to buy the new contract, Reuters reports. https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/China-Yuan-Futures-Launch-With-A
-Bang.html

After an initial surge in volume that outpaced overnight transactions in global benchmark Brent crude in London, trading tapered off toward the end of the session

Within minutes of the launch, the price had gone up to almost US$70.85 (447 yuan) from a starting price of US$69.94 (440.4 yuan) per barrel. The overall price jump for the short trading session came in at 3.92 percent.

Many awaited the launch eagerly, seeking to tap China’s bustling commodity markets, although doubts remain whether the Shanghai futures contract will be able to become another international oil benchmark. These doubts center on the fact that China is not a market economy, and the government is quick to interfere in the workings of the local commodity markets on any suspicion of a bubble coming.

To prevent such a bubble in oil, the authorities made sure the contract will trade within a set band of 5 percent on either side, with 10 percent on either side for the first trading day. Margin has been set at 7 percent. Storage costs for the crude are higher than the international average in hopes of discouraging speculators.

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Twenty three out of 24 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg fell, and MSCI’s broad gauge briefly slipped below its average price of the past 200 days -- an indicator seen as a harbinger for more losses.

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Gold for Oil: India and Iran Ditch Dollar – Report 286

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Fed’s Jackson Hole Participants to QE-Exit Whacked Emerging Economies: Drop Dead
Posted on August 26, 2013 by Yves Smith https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/08/feds-jackson-hole-participants
-to-qe-exit-whacked-emerging-economies-drop-dead.html

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There is growing momentum to adopt China’s yuan as a reserve currency in Africa
https://qz.com/1291372/chinas-yuan-gets-support-from-africa-central-ba
nks-to-replace-us-dollar-reserve/

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But FWIW I don't believe that the USA deep state (and the elite that they serve) will be allowed to run roughshod over the globe much longer. Sooner or later ... possibly even as soon as next year ... there will be a major defection from the dollar by one of America's major partners. It's one thing for China, Russia, India, Iran, Venezuela and Turkey to dump out of the dollar system for their own bilateral dealings with each other. But I'm looking at Germany and Russia: If Trump insists on sanctioning any company that deals with the Nord Stream2, while Germany absolutely requires its completion, what do you suppose will happen? Putin and Merkel met last week, and I'll bet you dollars to donuts that Merkel and Putin were strategizing how to weasel around sanctions. I can think of a couple of ways for Germany to do this: (1) The same way that they got around sanctions before, by creating subsidiaries in Russia or other sacrificial business entities or (2) taking the much bolder step of paying for gas in Euros using a non-SWIFT system.

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EU Looking to Sidestep U.S. Sanctions With Payments System Plan

Germany and France said they’re working on financing solutions to sidestep U.S. sanctions against countries such as Iran, including a possible role for central banks.

The discussions, which also involve the U.K., are a signal that European powers are trying to get serious about demonstrating a greater level of independence from the U.S. as President Donald Trump pursues his “America First” agenda.

“With Germany, we are determined to work on an independent European or Franco-German financing tool which would allow us to avoid being the collateral victims of U.S. extra-territorial sanctions,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Monday during a meeting with press association AJEF. “I want Europe to be a sovereign continent not a vassal, and that means having totally independent financing instruments that do not today exist.”

Trump reimposed the sanctions after pulling the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear accord in May, despite opposition from NATO allies and China and Russia. European companies including Daimler AG and Total SA have halted activity or backtracked on investment plans to avoid U.S. punishment but France and Germany and their European Union partners want business with the Islamic Republic to continue.

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US Threatens SWIFT With Sanctions If Iran Isn't Cut Off

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin threatened the global financial messaging service SWIFT on Friday that it could be penalized if it doesn’t cut off financial services to entities and individuals doing business with Iran. The warning came just days ahead of the US re-imposition of all US sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, which will take effect at midnight tonight and cover Iran's shipping, financial and energy sectors.

Speaking to reporters, Mnuchin was quoted by Reuters as saying that "SWIFT is no different than any other entity," adding "We have advised SWIFT that it must disconnect any Iranian financial institutions that we designate as soon as technologically feasible to avoid sanctions exposure."

The Trump administration has been pressuring allies to cut Iranian oil imports to “zero” next month although on Friday the US agreed to grant exemptions to 8 countries that import Iran oil; the countries include Japan, India, and South Korea according to Bloomberg. China, the leading importers of Iranian oil remains in discussions with the US on terms but is among the eight, as is Turkey which will likely receive an exemption, the country's energy minister said on Friday. The full list of countries receiving waivers will be released on Monday.

By cutting Iran off from SWIFT, Iran would lose its ability to be paid for its exports and to pay for imports

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Washington has been pressuring SWIFT to cut Iran from the financial system as it did in 2012 before the nuclear deal. Six years ago the EU imposed sanctions on Iranian banks, forcing SWIFT, which is subject to EU laws, to cut financial transactions with at least 30 of Iran’s financial institutions, including the central bank.

Iranian banks were reconnected to the network in 2016 after the Iran nuclear deal came into force, allowing much needed foreign cash to flow into Tehran’s coffers.

While SWIFT (The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), which is a financial network that provides cross-border transfers for members across the world, is based in Belgium, its board includes executives from US banks with US federal law allowing the administration to act against banks and regulators across the globe. It supports most interbank messages, connecting over 11,000 financial institutions in more than 200 countries and territories.

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ESCOBAR: Putin, Xi to Cut US Dollar Out of Eurasian Trade; US Elites Panic

Something extraordinary began with a short walk in St. Petersburg last Friday.

After a stroll, they took a boat on the Neva River, visited the legendary Aurora cruiser, and dropped in to examine the Renaissance masterpieces at the Hermitage. Cool, calm, collected, all the while it felt like they were mapping the ins and outs of a new, emerging, multipolar world.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was the guest of honor of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was Xi’s eighth trip to Russia since 2013, when he announced the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

First they met in Moscow, signing multiple deals. The most important is a bombshell: a commitment to develop bilateral trade and cross-border payments using the ruble and the yuan, bypassing the U.S. dollar.

Then Xi visited the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russia’s premier business gathering, absolutely essential for anyone to understand the hyper-complex mechanisms inherent in the construction of Eurasian integration. I addressed some of SPIEF’s foremost discussions and round tables here.

In Moscow, Putin and Xi signed two joint statements – whose key concepts, crucially, are “comprehensive partnership”, “strategic interaction” and “global strategic stability.”

In his St. Petersburg speech, Xi outlined the “comprehensive strategic partnership”. He stressed that China and Russia were both committed to green, low carbon sustainable development.

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He linked the expansion of BRI as “consistent with the UN agenda of sustainable development” and praised the interconnection of BRI projects with the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU). He emphasized how all that was consistent with Putin’s idea of a Great Eurasian Partnership. He praised the “synergetic effect” of BRI linked to South-South cooperation.

And crucially, Xi stressed that China “won’t seek development to the expense of environment”; China “will implement the Paris climate agreement”; and China is “ready to share 5G technology with all partners” on the way towards a pivotal change in the model of economic growth.

So what about Cold War 2.0?

It was obvious this was slowly brewing for the past five to six years. Now the deal is in the open. The Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership is thriving; not as an allied treaty, but as a consistent road map towards Eurasia integration and the consolidation of the multipolar world.

Unipolarism – via its demonization matrix – had first accelerated Russia’s pivot to Asia. Now, the U.S.-driven trade war has facilitated the consolidation of Russia as China’s top strategic partner.

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs better get ready to dismiss virtually everyday statements coming, for instance, from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, when he alleges that Moscow aims to use non-strategic nuclear weapons in the European theater. It’s part of a non-stop process – now in high gear – of manufacturing hysteria by frightening NATO allies with the Russian “threat.”

Moscow better get ready to dodge and counteract reams of reports such as the latest from the RAND corporation, which outlines – what else? – Cold War 2.0 against Russia.

In 2014, Russia did not react to sanctions imposed by Washington. Then, it would have sufficed to merely brandish the threat of default on $700 billion in external debt. That would have killed the sanctions.

Now, there’s ample debate inside Russian intelligence circles on what to do in case Moscow faces the prospect of being cut off the CHIPS-SWIFT financial clearing system.
A 1936 map of Eurasia.

With few illusions about what may pass at the G20 in Osaka later this month, in terms of a breakthrough in U.S.-Russia relations, intel sources told me Rosneft’s CEO Igor Sechin is prepared to send a more “realistic” message— if push eventually comes to shove.

His message to the EU, in this case, would be to cut them off, and link with China for good. That way, Russian oil would be completely redirected from the EU to China, making the EU completely dependent on the Strait of Hormuz.

Beijing for its part seems to have finally absorbed that the current Trump administration offensive is not a mere trade war, but a full fledged attack on its economic miracle, including a concerted drive to cut China off from large swathes of the world economy.

The war on Huawei – the Rosebud of China’s 5G supremacy – has been identified as an attack on the dragon’s head. The attack on Huawei means an attack not only on tech, mega-hub Shenzhen, but the whole Pearl River Delta: a $3 trillion yuan ecosystem, which supplies the nuts and bolts of the Chinese supply chain for high-tech manufacturers.

Enter the Golden Ring

Neither China’s technological rise, nor Russia’s unmatched hypersonic know-how have caused America’s structural malaise. If there are answers they should come from the Exceptionalist elites.

The problem for the U.S. is the emergence of a formidable peer competitor in Eurasia – and worse still, a strategic partnership. It has thrown these elites into Supreme Paranoia mode, which is holding the whole world hostage.

By contrast, the concept of the Golden Ring of Multipolar Great Powers has been floated, by which Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and China might provide a “stability belt” along the South Asia Rimland.

I have discussed variations of this idea with Russian, Iranian, Pakistani and Turkish analysts – but it sounds like wishful thinking. Admittedly all these nations would welcome establishing the Golden Ring; but no one knows which way Modi’s India would lean – intoxicated as it is with dreams of Big Power status as the crux of America’s “Indo-Pacific” concoction.

It might be more realistic to assume that if Washington does not go to war with Iran – because Pentagon gaming has established this would be a nightmare – all options are on the table ranging from the South China Sea to the larger Indo-Pacific.

The Deep State will not flinch to unleash concentric havoc on the periphery of both Russia and China and then try to advance to destabilize the heartland from the inside. The Russia-China strategic partnership has generated a sore wound: it hurts – so bad – to be a Eurasia outsider.

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http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=63080
Originally posted by 1kiki:
Thinking about your post Signy - I think two things are going on.

1) Russia and China have been thrown into each other's arms for many years, and ... they're, finally, holding on tightly to each other. China has concluded there's no upside to dealing with the US on anything vital. ...

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Russia and China have been waffling around about what to do about the dollar for a few years now. For a while it looked like Putin would be willing to settle on trading in the Euro, but with Brexit and Italy and the other nationalist movements rattling the EU, plus the fact that the EU keeps caving in to whatever sanctions the USA imposes I think he dumped the idea.

China put in a bid to be included in the SDR (the IMF's Special Drawing Rights, which is a basket of currencies that the IMF would be willing to lend a central bank in case of emergency, and CNY (Chinese yuan) does indeed make up 19% of the SDR (just below the 20% required to have a vote in IMF policy!) but I think the Chinese have also abandoned that plan. China also created an oil futures market and the Shanghai gold exchange which would theoretically take over the oil trade (basically gold-for-oil) which seems to be doing good business, but has not taken over the world oil market.

There is a non-USA SWIFT in operation. Gold-backed national crypto is (or was) under consideration. Venezuela is experimenting with an oil-backed crypto.

What I think is that the Eurasian world is coalescing around something called the "gold trade note". Gold would be a way of valuing trade goods ... 100,000 tons of wheat is worth a half-ton of gold, a million barrels of oil for 1.5 tons of gold ... using gold as a ledger, nations trade for goods at negotiated prices and at the end of the year outstanding balances are settled in gold. This doesn't mean that the various nations would get rid of their currencies, only that international trade would be valued and settled in gold and not clunky currency swaps or the USD. I think this would work in parallel with the non-USA SWIFT bank exchange, which would be settling non-gold debts and payments (loans, credit card use in non-"home" countries) etc but where one ends and the other begins ... not sure.

The rest of the world would still be using the USD, so there will be a dual-universe system, it's just that the dollar universe would be getting smaller and smaller. Also, what has been speculated is that within the USD universe, the value of the dollar would just keep going up and up ... until it disappears.

Those are some thoughts, anyway.

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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .

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Originally posted by JAYNEZTOWN:
'No doubt' US has undercounted Covid deaths: Fauci

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