I think it is a good idea to appreciate those who gave us life and nurtured us in our youth, at least I hope your Mom nurtured you. Today I want to look at the birth of new ideas from new tools of control to new economic alliances to active and brewing conflicts. It has been another busy news cycle this week, so lets get to the stories...
I won't be around today. We're going to Birmingham to celebrate my Mom's 92nd birthday, and attend our great-nephew's high school graduation party. Given the state of the US, I'm glad to be at an age closer to the end than the beginning. I think regardless of where we are on the spectrum, the objective is to treasure and appreciate every day. In the big picture we are experiencing the end of the US empire, and the beginning of a BRICS+ global system. The West projects onto China its own goal of global domination rather than China's goal of global cooperation. The sun sets in the west and rises in the east.
Has every war started with a lie? All the US wars in my lifetime were justified by lies... the Gulf of Tonkin and the Vietnam war, WMD's and the Iraq war, the Maidan Coup in 2014 and the Ukraine proxy war, just to mention a few of the wars provoked by lies. What about the Russiagate hoax whose effect continue to this day? Then there's all the lies about the pandemic, from the real risks to the dangers associated with experimental gene therapies to the suppression of effective inexpensive treatments. While we're discussing health let's not forget the lies surrounding recommended foods and the dietary food pyramid. Since the current food pyramid was released in the 1980's obesity has more than doubled. The lies go on and on...
TPTB are now prosecuting wrong thought and "unacceptable" speech. Four members of the Africa Socialist Party have been indicted for spreading Russian propaganda...in other words, they are speaking out against the Ukraine proxy war. What about the first amendment? Tucker did a short piece (4 min) about it. Aaron and Katie interview a member of the party.
Then there's the guy who has been convicted with a prison term for posting an anti-Hillary meme. That's why I suggest we've arrived in 1984.
The book is set in 1984 in Oceania, one of three perpetually warring totalitarian states (the other two are Eurasia and Eastasia). Oceania is governed by the all-controlling Party, which has brainwashed the population into unthinking obedience to its leader, Big Brother. The Party has created a propagandistic language known as Newspeak, which is designed to limit free thought and promote the Party’s doctrines. Its words include doublethink (belief in contradictory ideas simultaneously), which is reflected in the Party’s slogans: “War is peace,” “Freedom is slavery,” and “Ignorance is strength.” The Party maintains control through the Thought Police and continual surveillance.
I think we are close to the top of the sanction escalator of economic control, you know the modern day siege we use against countries which won't do our bidding. The USD is quickly being supplanted with 100+ countries de-dollarizing and trading in their own currencies. Lula, while in China this week, questioned the use of dollars. The BRICS+ are establishing their own bank with Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at its head. It will take time for the system to unwind, but there's a new alliance building across the world of countries who see through the hypocrisy of US superiority with the world's largest prison population, homeless filled urban areas, student debt at 1.75 trillion, and medical bills as the number one cause of bankruptcies.
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Happy Easter, Passover, and Ramadan! My world is spring green with the season's new leaf crop. Daffodils are largely gone, but the dogwoods are holding their bloom as are the buckeye. I think we are witnessing a major shift in the balance of geopolitical power. I'm hopeful the fall of one empire doesn't lead to another empire, and that perhaps we will mature to a international community of cooperation. I dislike being in a nation which tries to obstruct such a realignment in a last ditch effort to hold sway over the rest of the world, but it is what it is in a country where war is the business model.
“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”
― Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
Slowly, slowly, then all at once... the dollar's dominance and the US empire will fall. Will the petroyuan replace the dollar as the global currency? It is looking that way. China sold natural gas to France this week in yuan. Brazil and China are to trade in their own currency and by-pass the dollar. Russia is shifting to the yuan using the Chinese currency to settle accounts globally. Russia and India have been trading in their own currency for the last year. Additionally there's a rush to join the SCO and BRICS+ as nations eagerly try to escape the USD and its poison pill of sanctions.
Did the petrodollar die this week? It is at least the beginning of the end, as oil is sold in yuan and countries like Russia are placing much of their wealth into yuan. The banking sector in the west is still feeling the shock of the bank failures last week, as other banks sit at the brink of collapse. Lula had planned a trip to China but caught pneumonia. I wonder what they plan to discuss, perhaps a Ukraine peace plan? Meanwhile things are not going well for Ukraine as Russian forces continue their advance.
The train wreck in Palestine Ohio seems emblematic of the state of the nation and collective west. We've come off the rails economically, politically, socially, militarily, ecologically... There was some good news this week in the Netherlands, as the farmer protest party (BBB) won the largest number of members of their upper senate. Xi heads to Moscow this week. He may have a concept for peace in Ukraine. If that's true, my bet is the US will oppose it. Much more below the fold...
Biden has expanded his powers by declaring a "National Emergency" over the Ukraine proxy war. It only took his signature. Whatta democracy! Clayton will explain his expanded powers in a clip below the fold. Meanwhile we have the US ambassador in China declaring the US as the major power in the region as we sell more weapons to Taiwan. There's also been more fall out from the "lockdown files" as it has become obvious the pandemic was used as a power grab. So we see individuals, nations, and corporations all pursuing ever more power and control.
