16 Comments

I don't pretend to understand all of this but I keep reading how unfair to smaller countries the 'old order' is/has been. With BRICS the USA/Europe would not be able to sanction countries.

I will keep on going reading this News and thank you.

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Oct 20Liked by Ben Norton

Bring it on! Long overdue in order to bring sanity and equality in this world.

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Oct 20Liked by Ben Norton

Great write up.

Forget the pantomime US clownshow election. BRICS 2024 in Kazan is by far the most important event this year.

Many are describing it as an historic event that will usher in a profound & seismic change in geopolitics.

There are a number of significant changes coming down the line, but the formal launch of the BRICS Cross-Border Payment Initiative (BCBPI) & BRICS Clear will in themselves be historic game-changers. The other initiatives will follow in due course, but those 2 initiatives are simply massive.

Washington DC & it's slave states in the west must be freaking out. These 2 new BRICS systems alone land 3 killer blows on DC at the one time : they by-pass SWIFT, weaken the $USD & nuke the ability of DC/the West to use sanctions as a geopolitical weapon.

As Lenin once said, "There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen."

True then, as it is true now.

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Oct 20Liked by Ben Norton

Most concise description of what the new world order of trade exemplified by BRICS is all about Ive read.

Radical, revolutionary in its fairness.

Journalism reports the news!

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Can’t really blame them for trying, can you?

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Alan. My only hope is that they will succeed!

MOST of the world is sick and tired of the US warmongers/after the British warmongers.

White people MUST rule because all other nations are incapable of running a country!

When you understand that each Asian/African country has been ruled by white people for decades, is it any wonder that everyone of these countries is having problems?

Each country (in my opinion) followed the masters (white Govts.)

This was a BIG mistake.

Bring on BRICS

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Oct 21Liked by Ben Norton

I see BRICS as the belated evolution of the Third World Bandung Conference movement. Back during the Cold War, neutral 3rd world countries made an attempt to form a bloc that would prevent them from falling under the hegemony of either the Soviets or Western colonialists.

Most of their leaders were snuffed out and movement destroyed by CIA coups. It set back the sovereignty of peoples of the Global South by 70 years.

The fall of the Soviet Union, originally seen as a great victory for the West, may have changed Russia's geopolitical position to where, as an instigator of BRICS, we have truly resurrected the great threat of developing powers throughout the world of uniting against Western financial extraction and domination.

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Oct 21Liked by Ben Norton

Simply put - the rest of the world needs anti-theft device in their banking system. Because the world's biggest country is a brazen thief,

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Excellent piece.

The only caveat I have is the strict separation between the financial markets sector & the goods/commodities sector of the global economy.

It seems to imply that these 2 sectors operate independently of each other and that therefore these new BRICS initiatives won't have as much of an impact on the financial markets sector.

Not sure that I agree with that.

It's important to recall that BRICS members control the majority of the world's commodities & rare earths. Access to the world's commodities & rare earths underpin not just the businesses of the bulk of the companies that are being traded on major stock exchanges, but on all businesses and by extension, on entire economies.

Witness what's happened to Germany after losing access to cheap Russian energy, for example. Now in economic freefall, Germany's financial markets will inevitably suffer, as will the ability of the German government to raise funds via German bonds.

Sure, it's not only the loss of Russian cheap energy that's to blame for the ongoing German disaster. However, I'd argue that the disaster wouldn't be hapoening without access to cheap Russian energy.

The pont being that the global commodities and global financial markets sectors are both linked. Any geopolitical shift in the way global commodities & rare earths etc are controlled, managed, bought & sold, will have an inevitable & pretty much immediate impact on all businesses/companies that need access to them, the financial markets sectors that buy and sell the shares of those companies and by extension, on the economies of nations that rely on the financial markets & commodoties sectors, to do business.

The 2 new BRICS systems about to be formally launched will fundamentally alter global trade in commodities, rare earths & goods. Ergo, western financial markets will also take a hit and be weakened, as will the economies of non-BRICS nation states. I think this will start to manifest far sooner than many realise.

It's not just that BRICS members will be able to trade with each other at lower prices, in their respective currencies, with the West being powerless to stop it.

There's another seismic change that many are overlooking - BRICS members trade with non-BRICS buyers is going to fundamentally change, in ways that have previously been considered inconceivable.

Think about it this way. If you're a BRICS member state rich in commodity resources that you export, liberation from SWIFT gives you far more leverage in pricing of your exports to non-member importers.

You can now charge more for your exports to non-BRICS importers (eg charging a price that's profitable for you, but still too low for western competitors to match) and not just that, you can demand that payment for the commodity be made in your own currency, via the BRICS platform.

Note that non-BRICS governments and businesses won't be able to buy BRICS resources in ANY western or non-BRICS currency. It's not just the $USD that will be affected. From potentially as early as the end of this week, it's all going to have to be done via the currency of the BRICS nation, using the BRICS system.

These are huge developments, simply massive. Hopefully the launch will continue to succeed, leading to the replacement of the DC-led predatory 'western financial system', with a fairer global economy that serves all of humanity, rather than a small greedy group of elites in western capitals.

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"....It's important to recall that BRICS members control the majority of the world's commodities & rare earths....."

Not exactly.

If you look in detail you will find that the ownership of these commodities, as in the actual farms or mines, is often by western companies such as Rio Tinto, Cargill, Bunge, etc. On top of that, even when the actual underlying asset is owned by companies or countries in the BRICS, the financialiation of the commodity sector means that huge swathes of the production output are under forward contracts, options, etc which are in the hands of the 5-6 largest asset managers on Wall Street (Black Rock, State Street, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, etc), as well as the many hedge funds like Blackstone, and countless others that go under the radar. In addition there are private equity funds and oligarchs such as Bill Gates etc which own loans to the commodity asset owners.

So financialization greatly impacts actual control of the commodity output, to the detriment of the BRICS. And as a result, nationalisation would have to come into play, sparking lawsuits and of course military threats. Otherwise the BRICS govt will have to be very clever in structuring legislation and regulations to ensure they enjoy the value and effective control of their own national resources.

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Sorry but that is just incorrect.

China and Russia are the key BRICS members - both have mixed economies, including private enterprise, but both Moscow and Beijing control the economy and major sectors, including banking, energy, military, and commodities.

It is true that some other BRICS members and aspirant members have historically been exploited by western companies & governments.

The point about BRICS is that the new grouping controls not just commodities trading but also the supply chains that control the flowmog commodities. The point of BRICS Pay etc is that the new financial systems undermine the ability of those western enterprises & governments to deter or threaten BRICS states that use the new system.

Most people in the West, distracted by the pathetic clown show aka the US "election", still have no idea how the world has already been shaken by BRICS, and how badly exposed the West is. For example, the commodities trading environment for the west has been undermined in a profound way. From now on, if (say) Cargill decides to be stupid and act badly in a BRICS dominated commodity sector and / or with a BRICS government or company, it will soon find itself shut out of not just that BRICS nation, but all BRICS nations, as well as the supply chains that BRICS controls.

And there is sweet FA Cargill will be able to do about it, either.

That's how much things have changed.

BTW you mentioned financial speculation eg puts, options etvc. Respectfully, I think you're placing far too much importance on these trades than exists in reality. Put simply, if western financial institutions want to lay bets on BRICS commodities etc (eg with options and other gambling methods) they can continue to do so. It's irrelevant to BRICS members, much like how you or gambling on the outcome of a horse race overseas, is irrelevant to the actual outcome of the race. However and again, if they make predatory bets aimed at interfering within BRICS nations, then the relevant financial institution will find itself shut out of BRICS in its entirety.

Western governments have never been weaker. They no longer have teeth. Ukraine and Afghanistan have exposed this. As a result, nations willing to remove themselves from the exploitative / predatory western financial system to join BRICS, are getting out as fast as they can.

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Oct 23·edited Oct 23

You are making broad and grandiose and misleading generalisations. It's clear that you have never for example looked at a spreadsheet of intentional trade data. Or you wouldn't be pretending it was simple or that nation states are th only entity to consider.

So it's hilarious you say I am "incorrect". Maybe you dont understand the complexity. But that doesn't make it incorrect when someone who does, points it out.

in fact I am pointing you at reality.

- "Commodities" means many hundreds in fact thousands of types of products from agricultural to minerals and others.

- each one you have to investigate the situation to be able to make any clear assessment

- ALL of them, are impacted by financialization in various ways

Oh and you just sweep over "BRICS" like its two countries, but its not.

Get real man. Real is detailed knowledge, not cloud talk.

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Unlike you, 'Kojo', I actually know what I'm talking about.

Your 'financialisation' is not complex. It's very simple - speculative & predatory trading by western financial institutions & guvernments of commodities that are based in foreign nations, to transfer wealth to the west while screwing the country that owns the resources.

The predatory west has controlled a rigged financial system, to exploit the vulnerabilities of many of these nations. For example, like drug pushers, the West hooked these nations on IMF debt & then used that leverage to take ownership of the resources of those nations.

A good example is how the despicable French have screwed Sierra Leone into the ground for decades, by coercing that African country to sell cheap uranium to France for bargain basement prices.

Well that's all changed now hasn't it. The French have been kicked out. As have the US.

Why? The world has changed & the west is being shut out.

Why? Great powers have risen again , in particular Russia and China, and they've created powerful blocks such as BRICS to remove the ability of western states to steal other nations resources.

Do you seriously think that great nation states like Russia & China give a damn about what puny little companies like Cargill think, or do? About the corrupt 'rules based order'?

About a debt ridden, corrupt and broken Washington DC?

If you think that they care, you're just plain naive. Reality?

They couldn't give a damn about the West anymore

The West, deindustrialised, broken, hooked on debt & grandiosity, militarily weak and amoral to the core, is in freefall.

It has no meaningful role in global affairs anymore, except to emit hot air and to murder civilians.

The sun is setting on the West. It is not the future. You can't see that, but sooner or later, the truth will be so obvious that even you can't ignore it.

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As I said you have no detailed knowledge. You have slid out one example. Wow.

Again, I ask you how many commodities are involved here? Do you know? Ever seen the spreadsheets? No, clearly not. Otherwise you would not be pretending that you can show 2 months of one country as a demonstration of what is the underlying situation.

You are speaking from ignorance, for the ignorant. Only.

The the details of the actual underlying situation are too complex for you.

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Addendum : Sierra Leone AND Niger

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Considerable resistance to this New Economic World Order and to global equality measures has been created by those who stand to lose the most from their implementation. This resistance gained much traction using the 'covid' debacle (which was created on social media to line big pharma's pockets) to scaremonger about a NWO. It was also claimed that climate change was somehow faked to bring in some of these changes which would affect fossil fuel and animal ag's profits.

However, any resistance that's been successfully created in the West is neither here nor there. What you describe shall come to pass.

Unfortunately so will the climate crisis.

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