Madeleine Albright is befuddled by a few simple questions. Watch her squirm because she knows she is lying.
(United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001)
USA
The dumbass West really only wants a final confrontation that will end all life on Earth. The West is being led by evil forces.
GOODBYE
Xi: “Now there are changes that haven’t happened in 100 years. When we are together, we drive these changes.
” Putin: “I agree.”
Xi: “Take care, dear friend.”
Putin: “Have a safe trip.”
Interview of Paul Craig Roberts by the Russian Geopolitical institute GEOFOR.
ByĀ Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Global Research, March 20, 2023
Region: USA
Theme:Ā Global Economy
***
There are two main avenues to a potential US financial crisis. Such a crisis, because of US financial dominance and because of the interconnections of globalism, which was a huge mistake for humanity, would be international.
One avenue to crisis is the Federal Reserveās current policy of raising interest rates. This policy follows many years of nearly zero interest rates in nominal terms, and negative interest rates in real terms.
During these many years the financial assets banks accumulated on their balance sheets, such as bonds, pay a low rate of interest. When the central bank (Federal Reserve) raises interest rates, the values of the lower interest rate financial instruments fall, thus shrinking the asset side of banksā balance sheets but not the liabilities side.
Thus the central bankās policy is pushing banks toward insolvency. When depositors realize that their deposits could be frozen for some time or lost if over $250,000 in size, as many corporation payrolls and some individual accounts are, they withdraw their deposits.
The banks cannot meet the withdrawals because their assets have shrunk in value relative to deposits and because as they sell the depreciated assets to meet the withdrawals the prices of the troubled assets fall further.Ā Ā Silicon Valley Bank had assets heavily weighted with low-interest rate US Treasury bonds, the value of which was driven down by the Federal Reserve raising interest rates.Ā Ā The other two banks were victims of crypto-currency which is too volatile for a bankās balance sheet.
To prevent the failure of the three US banks from causing a general panic, it was announced that the central bank would provide all banks with sufficient cash to meet withdrawals and that all deposits were insured even if they were higher than the insured amount. This should prevent panic.
However, if the central bank continues to raise interest rates, the higher rates will push more banks into insolvency. Central banks make mistakes just like everyone else. In Europe Credit Suisse, a large international bank, is in trouble, yet the European Central Bank just announced a rise in interest rates.
The Looming Quadrillion Dollar Derivatives Tsunami
The second avenue to the crisis is the trillions of dollars in derivatives held by the five large US banks,Ā which are international in their transactions. According to published reports, the five largest banks haveĀ Ā $188 trillion in derivative exposure.Ā Ā This sum is vastly greater than the banksā capital base.Ā Ā No one knows what the risk is in these derivatives.Ā Ā But the dollar amount is much higher than in 2008, so the potential for a worse crisis exists.Ā Ā A crisis only takes one mistake by one bond trader at a large institution to ignite a crisis.
The derivative crisis that occurred in 2008 (slowly building during 2006 and 2007) resulted from the repeal in 1999 of the Glass-Steagall Act which had prevented financial crisis for 66 years since its passage in 1933. Advocates of repeal claimed that āfinancial markets are self-regulating and do not need regulators setting rules.ā They were wrong as became clear 9 years later.
The Glass-Steagall Act separated commercial from investment banking. Commercial banks that take in deposits and lend on that basis were not permitted to undertake more risky and speculative ventures as investment banks that at that time were capitalized by the personal fortunes of their partners. This prevented commercial banks from speculating with depositorsā money. The repeal of Glass-Steagall let commercial banks use depositorsā deposits, not the banksā own money, to behave like investment banks. This is how the large commercial ābanks too big to failā acquired massive derivative exposure. The derivative risks were not understood either by the banks, the rating agencies, or the regulators and exploded into the 2008 crisis resulting in taxpayer bailouts of banks and a decade of low interest rate policy in order to rebuild the asset side of banksā balance sheets.
The public was annoyed by the bailout. The result was the Dodd-Frank Act which was misrepresented by politicians, economists, and financial media as a fix of the problem caused by the repeal of Glass-Steagall. But it was not a fix. Dodd-Frank created a new problem. What the Dodd-Frank Act āfixedā was to prevent taxpayer bailouts. Instead, there would be ābail-ins.ā What this means is that banks in trouble would bail themselves out by being permitted to seize depositorsā money. In other words, the Dodd-Frank Act created a powerful incentive for runs on troubled banks. A troubled bank doesnāt necessarily mean, or result in, the bankās failure. But because of the Dodd-Frank Act the depositors cannot take the risk, so they withdraw their funds and cause the bank to fail.
To summarize, smaller conservative and prudent banks that invested in āsafeā assets such as US Treasury bonds face bank runs. Larger banks with massive derivative risks are one bond traderās mistake away from exploding the financial system. The 2008 crisis and the potential for more crises rests entirely on the repeal of Glass-Steagall and the enactment of Frank-Dodd. We are looking at the total, complete failure of intelligence on the part of the US government and economists. Their handiwork has the capability of collapsing the existing financial system of the world. It was the work of total idiots.
There is, of course, the question: Is this real stupidity or is a plot unfolding to collapse the financial system as we have known it in order to āsaveā us with the introduction of central bank digital currency? Are we passing from the remnants of democracy and self-government into total tyranny?
A study finds that 200 US banks face the same risk as those that destroyed Silicon Valley Bank. The Federal Reserveās higher interest rates are destroying the banksā solvency. Yet the Federal Reserve has not backed off its disastrous policy, and with Credit Suisseās failure looming, the EU central bank raised interest rates! Yes, people are stupid. But are they this stupid? Could this be intentional with a secret agenda in mind such as digital currency? See this.
Paul Craig RobertsĀ is aĀ renowned author and academic, chairman of The Institute for Political Economy whereĀ this articleĀ was originally published. Dr. Roberts wasĀ previouslyĀ associate editor and columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy during the Reagan Administration. He is a regular contributor to GlobalĀ Research.Ā
The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright Ā© Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, Global Research, 2023
Global Research, March 21, 2023
Region: Russia and FSU, USA
Theme:Ā Law and Justice
***
This paradigm of International Relations isnāt about upholding the UN Charter, but arbitrarily implementing double standards in advance of Americaās interests and even sometimes at the expense of its own reputation in pursuit of its goals. This was recently expressed through its hypocritical approach towards Georgia-Moldova and Bosnia-Serbia as well as its equally hypocritical condemnation of the US-inspired foreign agents laws proposed by Bosniaās Republika Srpska and Georgia.
Biden just praised the āInternational Criminal Courtāsā (ICC) decision to issue an unenforceable warrant for President Putinās arrest as ājustifiedā despite the US itself still refusing to participate in that partially recognized and highly scandalous body. The Russian Embassy in DC reacted to this hypocrisy by calling that declining unipolar hegemon out for its āsluggish schizophreniaā, which perfectly embodies its ārules-based orderā concept and inadvertently extends credence to Moscowās criticism thereof.
This paradigm of International Relations isnāt about upholding the UN Charter, but arbitrarily implementing double standards in advance of Americaās interests and even sometimes at the expense of its own reputation in pursuit of its goals. This was recently expressed through its hypocritical approach towards Georgia-Moldova and Bosnia-Serbia as well as its equally hypocritical condemnation of the US-inspired foreign agents laws proposed by Bosniaās Republika Srpska and Georgia.
Leading Provider of Financial Research Says US Is Headed for Third World Status
The only ārulesā that matter enough for the US to care about enforcing are those that it regards as suiting its interests at any given point in time. This explains why Biden just praised the ICC in spite of the US itself refusing to participate in it. His countryās interests are served through this public relations spectacle due to the amount of global media attention its unenforceable warrant for President Putinās arrest has generated, which in turn contributes to misleading the public about the Ukrainian Conflict.
The targeted Western audience is made to think that thereās supposedly some credence to the false accusation that he himself personally as well as another Russian official are allegedly responsible for āabductingā Ukrainian children, thus reinforcing their perception that heās the ultimate evil. As long as they continue wrongly thinking that he is, theyāll keep supporting their governmentsā policy of extending a blank check to Kiev for indefinitely funding their de facto New Cold War blocās proxy war on Russia.
It doesnāt matter to them that the US is supporting a partially recognized and highly scandalous body that it doesnāt even participate in since all thatās important to them is that itās āon the right side of historyā in trying to ābring justiceā to those Ukrainian children that theyāre convinced were āabductedā. Those who see through this information warfare charade and thus are already skeptical of the Westās āofficial narrativeā about the conflict or outright oppose it wonāt be swayed by this latest provocation.
This insight therefore suggests that the only purpose in issuing an unenforceable warrant for President Putinās arrest and Bidenās hypocritical support of the ICCās decision is to reinforce the perceptions of this proxy warās remaining supporters in the West ahead of whatāll likely be a spree of bad news very soon. āThe Washington Post Finally Told The Full Truth About How Poorly Kievās Forces Are Faringā, which preconditioned the public to expect Kiev to experience some serious setbacks in the coming future.
Zelensky himself recently told CNN that Russia might roll through the rest of Donbass if it succeeds in capturing Artyomovsk/āBakhmutā, which could result in some of this proxy warās most spirited supporters losing hope in their side and thus beginning to question whether any more aid is worth it. If these same folks think that continuing to indefinitely fund this conflict could ābring justiceā to those Ukrainian children that theyāre convinced were āabductedā, however, then they might soldier on.
Should a critical mass of them change their minds due to forthcoming events, then public opinion would decisively shift against their elitesā blank check policy, thus possibly placing enough pressure on some of them to consider whether they should change this policy. Itās this scenario that scares Western leaders more than anything else since the last thing they want is large-scale protests in the streets over this issue, hence why theyāre doubling down on their deflection tactics via the ICCās ridiculous decision.
*
This article was originally published on Andrew Korybkoās Newsletter.
Andrew Korybko is an American Moscow-based political analyst specializing in the relationship between the US strategy in Afro-Eurasia, Chinaās One Belt One Road global vision of New Silk Road connectivity, and Hybrid Warfare. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright Ā© Andrew Korybko, Global Research, 2023
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2023-03-20/financial-crisis-will-be-none-other-history
BYĀ QUOTH THE RAVEN
MONDAY, MAR 20, 2023 – 5:34
Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance
It looks as though Credit Suisse is going to be sold off for pennies on the dollar, temporarily postponing a financial trainwreck, at least for a couple more hours or days, until the next shoe inevitably drops.
The Fed doesnāt seem keen to wait. U.S. dollar swap lines are being used to āenhance liquidityā and the Central Bank has all but thrown in the towel on the tightening cycle, it appears.
In response to the news and at the time of this writing, about 3:30AM EST, equity futures are mixed after being higher immediately after opening on Sunday night.
Itās tough to solidify exactly whatās going happen in the short term with U.S. markets, especially with things changing by the hour. But there are two things that I think are worth solidifying about the conundrum markets and the Federal Reserve find themselves in now.
The first is that this crisis isnāt going away anytime soon – it may shape-shift, but itās not going away. The second is that the outcome of this crisis is going to be unlike anything thatās ever occurred in history.
Even though Central Bank bailouts look as though theyāre going to be ubiquitous in coming weeks (as weāre already seeing with the Fed and the Swiss National Bank), it doesnāt mean that the crisis isnāt going to persist in another form.
These blowups in the system are zero sum games. Stop them from erupting through one manhole cover, and they have to eventually find another one to blow open.
When Central Banks all over the world bail out their respective institutions and equity markets, many will think itās just been another crisisā¦and another crisis averted.
The usual Austrian ācraziesā will prattle on about moral hazard, the wealth divide will get even wider, there will be āOccupyā-style protests againā¦but life will go on.
āHo hum,ā most market participants will say to themselves, content that another SuperSizedā¢ bag of dogshit didnāt hit the fan during their lifetime and will instead be bequeathed unto their grandchildren at about the same point the U.S. dollar has the global appeal of a moldy Kraft Singleā¢ cheese slice thatās been sitting out in the sun for 5 weeks straight.
But that lot has another thing coming this go-round, if you ask me. This time, the crisis truly is different because of the geopolitical setup.
As I have written about extensively over the last year, the global economy is dividing into two. On one hand, you have the West and our printing-press-based Central Banking policies. On the other hand, you have a growing constituency born out of a maturing Russian and Chinese alliance, now also inclusive of India, Saudi Arabia, and other nations. The petrodollar is dead, China and Russia are openly hoarding gold and some fund managers believe that Xi and Putin know that the West is running a ponzi scheme.
For a recent primer on just how the global economy is shifting, Iāll once again recommend this exceptional February 2023 interview with Andy Schectman, who lays out the global landscape in surgical detail, in less than an hour.
Andy lays out the thesis āthat the world is poised for a monetary reset which would result in the BRICS having their own reserve currency, likely backed by gold, and how this goes hand-in-hand with de-dollarization trends that are currently unfoldingā.
The important thing to realize when thinking about our current ācrisisā is that this unprecedented setup globally that Andy describes very well will likely lead to an unexpected and unprecedented result.
People need to understand that the Fed canāt stop what has already been put into motion. Market psychology has broken, as I noted last week several times, and risk aversion is now front and center. The Fed has capitulated, as Zero Hedge accurately noted last night.
But no matter what the Fed does now, itās going to be on a lag. This means they canāt just cut rates tomorrow and have the problem fixed by Wednesday. Theyāre now in a ādead zoneā where the seeds for the next several months have already been sown no matter what action they take with rates.
I have guessed that the blowups we are seeing now are result of rate hikes that took place last year. That means that the consequences of current rates wonāt be felt for another several quarters to come.
Silicon Valley Bank blew up because it was reaching for bonds when yields were near 1.5%. Their portfolio likely started to sustain serious damage as soon as rates were hiked from that level. If you donāt think other funds were taking similar bets, including continuing to buy bonds as yields became more attractive, youāre crazy.
This means that as the Fed āstayed the courseā the last 12 months, others likely suffered similar-style losses as SVBās. We just havenāt heard about them yet.
Rate expectations are moving lower now, but itās too little too late for others whose fates have been sealed already, in my opinion. We may hear about these names in coming days.
Putting aside that this crisis will almost certainly be used to usher in a Central Bank digital currency, one could mistakenly believe that money printing will once again get everything āunder controlā.
But instead of that being the case this time, what if the BRICS nations use this crisis as an opportunity to challenge the Western Central Banking empire? All Iāve been writing about for the last year and a half is how central banks in places like Russia and China have been stockpiling gold.
Thereās no point in doing this unless you eventually feel as though, to some degree, youāre going to have to fall back on gold as a baseline or a safeguard.
And a financial crisis is the point where people lose their faith in the existing system the most, thereby making it vulnerable to be usurped, if not practically at least psychologically. That makes a strong argument for (1) bitcoin perhaps either gaining traction or upsetting regulators enough to draw more ire right now and (2) the BRICS nations seeing this as an opportune time to try and challenge the U.S. dollar openly.
The pieces have already been put into place. The timing has never looked better:
(Chart: Zero Hedge)
Lest we forget that inflation continues to run rampantly out of control. Last year I was asking whether or not we would endure inflation or a recession, arguing that we would have to deal with one or the other due to the Fed raising rates.
It has now become clear that the central banks of the west are going to surrender to inflation. The idea of easing and trying to manage this crisis with inflation as high as it already is sets the table for the longshot hyperinflationary scenario that many people laughed at over the last year. Iām not saying itās definitely going to happen, but Iām saying that the setup is making it look more like a possibility than ever.
As is a function of Keynesian theory, bubbles get bigger and bigger as we kick the can down the road. This means that bailouts also get bigger and bigger as we kick the can down the road. Eventually, at some point, we lose control and some economic variables (like gold and M2) go into an unstoppable parabolic spike upward while others (like, perhaps, equities) go into a dead engine stall.
To be honest, for the long-term, itās difficult to forecast whether or not current policy will result in U.S. markets moving drastically higher on a nominal basis, or whether they will simply wind up like Japan, treading water for years to come as the Fed expands QE into every asset that isnāt nailed down.
It also remains difficult to try to forecast whatās going to happen in the short term. My guess is that equities are going to crash before eventually catching a bid once the lag of central bank panic being put into place today passes by, over the next year or so.
When the smoke clears, who knows what the situation looks like. We will have moved one iteration further into an alternate euphoric Keynesian reality than we were in March 2020, which seems impossible. Will the NASDAQ trade at a 60x multiple? Will the dollar index be at 40? Is there even a case where the US dollar holds up here and remains global reserve currency? Itās difficult to foresee, but that doesnāt make it an impossibility.
In addition to inflation, we also have to be acutely aware that there is a very real chance that war drums beat louder over the next year.
China moving into Taiwan is a real risk and we are already fighting a war against Russia via proxy in Ukraine. As China moves closer to Russia in supporting them and the US moves closer to Ukraine, the stage is set not just economically, but also militarily: the west and NATO are at war with Russia, China, and soon to be the nations they are supported by, like India and Saudi Arabia.
This war will not just be militarily, it will be over the fate of the new global reserve currency as well.
From CNN:
Chinese leader Xi Jinping will fly to Moscow next week to meet with President Vladimir Putin in his first visit to Russia since Putin launched his devastating invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago.
The visit will be seen as a powerful show of Beijingās support for Moscow in Western capitals, where leaders have grown increasingly wary of the two nationsā deepening partnership as war rages in Europe.
It will also be Xiās first foreign trip since securing an unprecedented third term as president at the annual meeting of Chinaās rubber-stamp legislature last week.
The face to face was revealed on Friday by statements from both Beijing and the Kremlin.
Now, a look at how Iām positioned and what I continue to buy and own…(READ THE REST OF THIS PIECE HERE).
Contributor posts published on Zero Hedge do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Zero Hedge, and are not selected, edited or screened by Zero Hedge editors.
āSince becoming the worldās most powerful country after the two world wars and the Cold War, the United States has acted more boldly to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, pursue, maintain and abuse hegemony, advance subversion and infiltration, and willfully wage wars, bringing harm to the international community. It has overstretched the concept of national security, abused export controls and forced unilateral sanctions upon others. It has taken a selective approach to international law and rules, utilizing or discarding them as it sees fit, and has sought to impose rules that serve its own interests in the name of upholding a ārules-based international orderā.
By China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Karsten Riise
Global Research, March 18, 2023
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Theme:Ā Intelligence
***
Introductory Note
The Chinese document āUS Hegemony and its Perilsā just came out on 20 February 2023.
It is very important ā and says:
āSince becoming the worldās most powerful country after the two world wars and the Cold War, the United States has acted more boldly to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, pursue, maintain and abuse hegemony, advance subversion and infiltration, and willfully wage wars, bringing harm to the international community.
It has overstretched the concept of national security, abused export controls and forced unilateral sanctions upon others. It has taken a selective approach to international law and rules, utilizing or discarding them as it sees fit, and has sought to impose rules that serve its own interests in the name of upholding a ārules-based international orderā.
The United States has been overriding truth with its power and trampling justice to serve self-interest. These unilateral, egoistic and regressive hegemonic practices have drawn growing, intense criticism and opposition from the international community.ā
In five precise paragraphs, China analyses how the US exerts hegemony and abuse of global power in the fields of politics, military, economics, technology, and culture, media, social media as well as censorship.
The Chinese analysis is harsh but accurate ā and China must be expected to act upon it.
Beware the timing. The Chinese paper comes exactly the day before Putinās Federal Council speech and two days before Chinese top-diplomat Wang Yiās visit to Moscow.
Introductory Note by Karsten Riise
***
It should be noted that this text was released on February 20th, 2023, 4 days prior to the PRCās statement entitled Chinaās Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis
Below is the complete text of this important document entitled US Hegemony and Its Perils released by Chinaās Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
US Hegemony and Its Perils
February 2023
Contents
Introduction
I. Political HegemonyāThrowing Its Weight Around
II. Military HegemonyāWanton Use of Forceā
III. Economic HegemonyāLooting and Exploitation
IV. Technological HegemonyāMonopoly and Suppression
V. Cultural HegemonyāSpreading False Narratives
Conclusion
Introduction
Since becoming the worldās most powerful country after the two world wars and the Cold War, the United States has acted more boldly to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, pursue, maintain and abuse hegemony, advance subversion and infiltration, and willfully wage wars, bringing harm to the international community.
The United States has developed a hegemonic playbook to stage ācolor revolutions,ā instigate regional disputes, and even directly launch wars under the guise of promoting democracy, freedom and human rights. Clinging to the Cold War mentality, the United States has ramped up bloc politics and stoked conflict and confrontation. It has overstretched the concept of national security, abused export controls and forced unilateral sanctions upon others. It has taken a selective approach to international law and rules, utilizing or discarding them as it sees fit, and has sought to impose rules that serve its own interests in the name of upholding a ārules-based international order.ā
This report, by presenting the relevant facts, seeks to expose the U.S. abuse of hegemony in the political, military, economic, financial, technological and cultural fields, and to draw greater international attention to the perils of the U.S. practices to world peace and stability and the well-being of all peoples.
I. Political Hegemony ā Throwing Its Weight Around
The United States has long been attempting to mold other countries and the world order with its own values and political system in the name of promoting democracy and human rights.
ā Instances of U.S. interference in other countriesā internal affairs abound. In the name of āpromoting democracy,ā the United States practiced a āNeo-Monroe Doctrineā in Latin America, instigated ācolor revolutionsā in Eurasia, and orchestrated the āArab Springā in West Asia and North Africa, bringing chaos and disaster to many countries.
In 1823, the United States announced the Monroe Doctrine. While touting an āAmerica for the Americans,ā what it truly wanted was an āAmerica for the United States.ā
Since then, the policies of successive U.S. governments toward Latin America and the Caribbean Region have been riddled with political interference, military intervention and regime subversion. From its 61-year hostility toward and blockade of Cuba to its overthrow of the Allende government of Chile, U.S. policy on this region has been built on one maxim-those who submit will prosper; those who resist shall perish.
The year 2003 marked the beginning of a succession of ācolor revolutionsā ā the āRose Revolutionā in Georgia, the āOrange Revolutionā in Ukraine and the āTulip Revolutionā in Kyrgyzstan. The U.S. Department of State openly admitted playing a ācentral roleā in these āregime changes.ā The United States also interfered in the internal affairs of the Philippines, ousting President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in 1986 and President Joseph Estrada in 2001 through the so-called āPeople Power Revolutions.ā
In January 2023, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released his new book Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love. He revealed in it that the United States had plotted to intervene in Venezuela. The plan was to force the Maduro government to reach an agreement with the opposition, deprive Venezuela of its ability to sell oil and gold for foreign exchange, exert high pressure on its economy, and influence the 2018 presidential election.
ā The U.S. exercises double standards on international rules. Placing its self-interest first, the United States has walked away from international treaties and organizations, and put its domestic law above international law. In April 2017, the Trump administration announced that it would cut off all U.S. funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) with the excuse that the organization āsupports, or participates in the management of a programme of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.ā The United States quit UNESCO twice in 1984 and 2017. In 2017, it announced leaving the Paris Agreement on climate change. In 2018, it announced its exit from the UN Human Rights Council, citing the organizationās ābiasā against Israel and failure to protect human rights effectively. In 2019, the United States announced its withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty to seek unfettered development of advanced weapons. In 2020, it announced pulling out of the Treaty on Open Skies.
The United States has also been a stumbling block to biological arms control by opposing negotiations on a verification protocol for the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and impeding international verification of countriesā activities relating to biological weapons. As the only country in possession of a chemical weapons stockpile, the United States has repeatedly delayed the destruction of chemical weapons and remained reluctant in fulfilling its obligations. It has become the biggest obstacle to realizing āa world free of chemical weapons.ā
ā The United States is piecing together small blocs through its alliance system. It has been forcing an āIndo-Pacific Strategyā onto the Asia-Pacific region, assembling exclusive clubs like the Five Eyes, the Quad and AUKUS, and forcing regional countries to take sides. Such practices are essentially meant to create division in the region, stoke confrontation and undermine peace.
ā The U.S. arbitrarily passes judgment on democracy in other countries, and fabricates a false narrative of ādemocracy versus authoritarianismā to incite estrangement, division, rivalry and confrontation. In December 2021, the United States hosted the first āSummit for Democracy,ā which drew criticism and opposition from many countries for making a mockery of the spirit of democracy and dividing the world. In March 2023, the United States will host another āSummit for Democracy,ā which remains unwelcome and will again find no support.
II. Military Hegemony ā Wanton Use of Force
The history of the United States is characterized by violence and expansion. Since it gained independence in 1776, the United States has constantly sought expansion by force: it slaughtered Indians, invaded Canada, waged a war against Mexico, instigated the American-Spanish War, and annexed Hawaii. After World War II, the wars either provoked or launched by the United States included the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, the War in Afghanistan, the Iraq War, the Libyan War and the Syrian War, abusing its military hegemony to pave the way for expansionist objectives. In recent years, the U.S. average annual military budget has exceeded 700 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 40 percent of the worldās total, more than the 15 countries behind it combined. The United States has about 800 overseas military bases, with 173,000 troops deployed in 159 countries.
According to the book America Invades: How Weāve Invaded or been Militarily Involved with almost Every Country on Earth, the United States has fought or been militarily involved with almost all the 190-odd countries recognized by the United Nations with only three exceptions. The three countries were āsparedā because the United States did not find them on the map.
ā As former U.S. President Jimmy Carter put it, the United States is undoubtedly the most warlike nation in the history of the world. According to a Tufts University report, āIntroducing the Military Intervention Project: A new Dataset on U.S. Military Interventions, 1776-2019,ā the United States undertook nearly 400 military interventions globally between those years, 34 percent of which were in Latin America and the Caribbean, 23 percent in East Asia and the Pacific, 14 percent in the Middle East and North Africa, and 13 percent in Europe. Currently, its military intervention in the Middle East and North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa is on the rise.
Alex Lo, a South China Morning Post columnist, pointed out that the United States has rarely distinguished between diplomacy and war since its founding. It overthrew democratically elected governments in many developing countries in the 20th century and immediately replaced them with pro-American puppet regimes. Today, in Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Pakistan and Yemen, the United States is repeating its old tactics of waging proxy, low-intensity, and drone wars.
ā U.S. military hegemony has caused humanitarian tragedies. Since 2001, the wars and military operations launched by the United States in the name of fighting terrorism have claimed over 900,000 lives with some 335,000 of them civilians, injured millions and displaced tens of millions. The 2003 Iraq War resulted in some 200,000 to 250,000 civilian deaths, including over 16,000 directly killed by the U.S. military, and left more than a million homeless.
The United States has created 37 million refugees around the world. Since 2012, the number of Syrian refugees alone has increased tenfold. Between 2016 and 2019, 33,584 civilian deaths were documented in the Syrian fightings, including 3,833 killed by U.S.-led coalition bombings, half of them women and children. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) reported on 9 November 2018 that the air strikes launched by U.S. forces on Raqqa alone killed 1,600 Syrian civilians.
The two-decades-long war in Afghanistan devastated the country. A total of 47,000 Afghan civilians and 66,000 to 69,000 Afghan soldiers and police officers unrelated to the September 11 attacks were killed in U.S. military operations, and more than 10 million people were displaced. The war in Afghanistan destroyed the foundation of economic development there and plunged the Afghan people into destitution. After the āKabul debacleā in 2021, the United States announced that it would freeze some 9.5 billion dollars in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank, a move considered as āpure looting.ā
In September 2022, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu commented at a rally that the United States has waged a proxy war in Syria, turned Afghanistan into an opium field and heroin factory, thrown Pakistan into turmoil, and left Libya in incessant civil unrest. The United States does whatever it takes to rob and enslave the people of any country with underground resources.
The United States has also adopted appalling methods in war. During the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War, the United States used massive quantities of chemical and biological weapons as well as cluster bombs, fuel-air bombs, graphite bombs and depleted uranium bombs, causing enormous damage on civilian facilities, countless civilian casualties and lasting environmental pollution.
III. Economic Hegemony ā Looting and Exploitation
After World War II, the United States led efforts to set up the Bretton Woods System, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which, together with the Marshall Plan, formed the international monetary system centered around the U.S. dollar. In addition, the United States has also established institutional hegemony in the international economic and financial sector by manipulating the weighted voting systems, rules and arrangements of international organizations including āapproval by 85 percent majority,ā and its domestic trade laws and regulations. By taking advantage of the dollarās status as the major international reserve currency, the United States is basically collecting āseigniorageā from around the world; and using its control over international organizations, it coerces other countries into serving Americaās political and economic strategy.
ā The United States exploits the worldās wealth with the help of āseigniorage.ā It costs only about 17 cents to produce a 100 dollar bill, but other countries had to pony up 100 dollar of actual goods in order to obtain one. It was pointed out more than half a century ago, that the United States enjoyed exorbitant privilege and deficit without tears created by its dollar, and used the worthless paper note to plunder the resources and factories of other nations.
ā The hegemony of U.S. dollar is the main source of instability and uncertainty in the world economy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States abused its global financial hegemony and injected trillions of dollars into the global market, leaving other countries, especially emerging economies, to pay the price. In 2022, the Fed ended its ultra-easy monetary policy and turned to aggressive interest rate hike, causing turmoil in the international financial market and substantial depreciation of other currencies such as the Euro, many of which dropped to a 20-year low. As a result, a large number of developing countries were challenged by high inflation, currency depreciation and capital outflows. This was exactly what Nixonās secretary of the treasury John Connally once remarked, with self-satisfaction yet sharp precision, that āthe dollar is our currency, but it is your problem.ā
ā With its control over international economic and financial organizations, the United States imposes additional conditions to their assistance to other countries. In order to reduce obstacles to U.S. capital inflow and speculation, the recipient countries are required to advance financial liberalization and open up financial markets so that their economic policies would fall in line with Americaās strategy. According to the Review of International Political Economy, along with the 1,550 debt relief programs extended by the IMF to its 131 member countries from 1985 to 2014, as many as 55,465 additional political conditions had been attached.
ā The United States willfully suppresses its opponents with economic coercion. In the 1980s, to eliminate the economic threat posed by Japan, and to control and use the latter in service of Americaās strategic goal of confronting the Soviet Union and dominating the world, the United States leveraged its hegemonic financial power against Japan, and concluded the Plaza Accord. As a result, Yen was pushed up, and Japan was pressed to open up its financial market and reform its financial system. The Plaza Accord dealt a heavy blow to the growth momentum of the Japanese economy, leaving Japan to what was later called āthree lost decades.ā
ā Americaās economic and financial hegemony has become a geopolitical weapon. Doubling down on unilateral sanctions and ālong-arm jurisdiction,ā the United States has enacted such domestic laws as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, and the Countering Americaās Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, and introduced a series of executive orders to sanction specific countries, organizations or individuals. Statistics show that U.S. sanctions against foreign entities increased by 933 percent from 2000 to 2021. The Trump administration alone has imposed more than 3,900 sanctions, which means three sanctions per day. So far, the United States had or has imposed economic sanctions on nearly 40 countries across the world, including Cuba, China, Russia, the DPRK, Iran and Venezuela, affecting nearly half of the worldās population. āThe United States of Americaā has turned itself into āthe United States of Sanctions.ā And ālong-arm jurisdictionā has been reduced to nothing but a tool for the United States to use its means of state power to suppress economic competitors and interfere in normal international business. This is a serious departure from the principles of liberal market economy that the United States has long boasted.
IV. Technological Hegemony ā Monopoly and Suppression
The United States seeks to deter other countriesā scientific, technological and economic development by wielding monopoly power, suppression measures and technology restrictions in high-tech fields.
ā The United States monopolizes intellectual property in the name of protection. Taking advantage of the weak position of other countries, especially developing ones, on intellectual property rights and the institutional vacancy in relevant fields, the United States reaps excessive profits through monopoly. In 1994, the United States pushed forward the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), forcing the Americanized process and standards in intellectual property protection in an attempt to solidify its monopoly on technology.
In the 1980s, to contain the development of Japanās semiconductor industry, the United States launched the ā301ā investigation, built bargaining power in bilateral negotiations through multilateral agreements, threatened to label Japan as conducting unfair trade, and imposed retaliatory tariffs, forcing Japan to sign the U.S.-Japan Semiconductor Agreement. As a result, Japanese semiconductor enterprises were almost completely driven out of global competition, and their market share dropped from 50 percent to 10 percent. Meanwhile, with the support of the U.S. government, a large number of U.S. semiconductor enterprises took the opportunity and grabbed larger market share.
ā The United States politicizes, weaponizes technological issues and uses them as ideological tools. Overstretching the concept of national security, the United States mobilized state power to suppress and sanction Chinese company Huawei, restricted the entry of Huawei products into the U.S. market, cut off its supply of chips and operating systems, and coerced other countries to ban Huawei from undertaking local 5G network construction. It even talked Canada into unwarrantedly detaining Huaweiās CFO Meng Wanzhou for nearly three years.
The United States has fabricated a slew of excuses to clamp down on Chinaās high-tech enterprises with global competitiveness, and has put more than 1,000 Chinese enterprises on sanction lists. In addition, the United States has also imposed controls on biotechnology, artificial intelligence and other high-end technologies, reinforced export restrictions, tightened investment screening, suppressed Chinese social media apps such as TikTok and WeChat, and lobbied the Netherlands and Japan to restrict exports of chips and related equipment or technology to China.
The United States has also practiced double standards in its policy on China-related technological professionals. To sideline and suppress Chinese researchers, since June 2018, visa validity has been shortened for Chinese students majoring in certain high-tech-related disciplines, repeated cases have occurred where Chinese scholars and students going to the United States for exchange programs and study were unjustifiably denied and harassed, and large-scale investigation on Chinese scholars working in the United States was carried out.
ā The United States solidifies its technological monopoly in the name of protecting democracy. By building small blocs on technology such as the āchips allianceā and āclean network,ā the United States has put ādemocracyā and āhuman rightsā labels on high-technology, and turned technological issues into political and ideological issues, so as to fabricate excuses for its technological blockade against other countries. In May 2019, the United States enlisted 32 countries to the Prague 5G Security Conference in the Czech Republic and issued the Prague Proposal in an attempt to exclude Chinaās 5G products. In April 2020, then U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the ā5G clean path,ā a plan designed to build technological alliance in the 5G field with partners bonded by their shared ideology on democracy and the need to protect ācyber security.ā The measures, in essence, are the U.S. attempts to maintain its technological hegemony through technological alliances.
ā The United States abuses its technological hegemony by carrying out cyber attacks and eavesdropping. The United States has long been notorious as an āempire of hackers,ā blamed for its rampant acts of cyber theft around the world. It has all kinds of means to enforce pervasive cyber attacks and surveillance, including using analog base station signals to access mobile phones for data theft, manipulating mobile apps, infiltrating cloud servers, and stealing through undersea cables. The list goes on.
U.S. surveillance is indiscriminate. All can be targets of its surveillance, be they rivals or allies, even leaders of allied countries such as former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and several French Presidents. Cyber surveillance and attacks launched by the United States such as āPrism,ā āDirtbox,ā āIrritant Hornā and āTelescreen Operationā are all proof that the United States is closely monitoring its allies and partners. Such eavesdropping on allies and partners has already caused worldwide outrage. Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, a website that has exposed U.S. surveillance programs, said that ādo not expect a global surveillance superpower to act with honor or respect. There is only one rule: there are no rules.ā
V. Cultural Hegemony ā Spreading False Narratives
The global expansion of American culture is an important part of its external strategy. The United States has often used cultural tools to strengthen and maintain its hegemony in the world.
ā The United States embeds American values in its products such as movies. American values and lifestyle are a tied product to its movies and TV shows, publications, media content, and programs by the government-funded non-profit cultural institutions. It thus shapes a cultural and public opinion space in which American culture reigns and maintains cultural hegemony. In his article The Americanization of the World, John Yemma, an American scholar, exposed the real weapons in U.S. cultural expansion: the Hollywood, the image design factories on Madison Avenue and the production lines of Mattel Company and Coca-Cola.
There are various vehicles the United States uses to keep its cultural hegemony. American movies are the most used; they now occupy more than 70 percent of the worldās market share. The United States skilfully exploits its cultural diversity to appeal to various ethnicities. When Hollywood movies descend on the world, they scream the American values tied to them.
ā American cultural hegemony not only shows itself in ādirect intervention,ā but also in āmedia infiltrationā and as āa trumpet for the world.ā U.S.-dominated Western media has a particularly important role in shaping global public opinion in favor of U.S. meddling in the internal affairs of other countries.
The U.S. government strictly censors all social media companies and demands their obedience. Twitter CEO Elon Musk admitted on 27 December 2022 that all social media platforms work with the U.S. government to censor content, reported Fox Business Network. Public opinion in the United States is subject to government intervention to restrict all unfavorable remarks. Google often makes pages disappear.
U.S. Department of Defense manipulates social media. In December 2022, The Intercept, an independent U.S. investigative website, revealed that in July 2017, U.S. Central Command official Nathaniel Kahler instructed Twitterās public policy team to augment the presence of 52 Arabic-language accounts on a list he sent, six of which were to be given priority. One of the six was dedicated to justifying U.S. drone attacks in Yemen, such as by claiming that the attacks were precise and killed only terrorists, not civilians. Following Kahlerās directive, Twitter put those Arabic-language accounts on a āwhite listā to amplify certain messages.
āThe United States practices double standards on the freedom of the press. It brutally suppresses and silences media of other countries by various means. The United States and Europe bar mainstream Russian media such as Russia Today and the Sputnik from their countries. Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube openly restrict official accounts of Russia. Netflix, Apple and Google have removed Russian channels and applications from their services and app stores. Unprecedented draconian censorship is imposed on Russia-related contents.
āThe United States abuses its cultural hegemony to instigate āpeaceful evolutionā in socialist countries. It sets up news media and cultural outfits targeting socialist countries. It pours staggering amounts of public funds into radio and TV networks to support their ideological infiltration, and these mouthpieces bombard socialist countries in dozens of languages with inflammatory propaganda day and night.
The United States uses misinformation as a spear to attack other countries, and has built an industrial chain around it: there are groups and individuals making up stories, and peddling them worldwide to mislead public opinion with the support of nearly limitless financial resources.
Conclusion
While a just cause wins its champion wide support, an unjust one condemns its pursuer to be an outcast. The hegemonic, domineering, and bullying practices of using strength to intimidate the weak, taking from others by force and subterfuge, and playing zero-sum games are exerting grave harm. The historical trends of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit are unstoppable. The United States has been overriding truth with its power and trampling justice to serve self-interest. These unilateral, egoistic and regressive hegemonic practices have drawn growing, intense criticism and opposition from the international community.
Countries need to respect each other and treat each other as equals. Big countries should behave in a manner befitting their status and take the lead in pursuing a new model of state-to-state relations featuring dialogue and partnership, not confrontation or alliance. China opposes all forms of hegemonism and power politics, and rejects interference in other countriesā internal affairs. The United States must conduct serious soul-searching. It must critically examine what it has done, let go of its arrogance and prejudice, and quit its hegemonic, domineering and bullying practices.
Click here to read the full Document
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Karsten RiiseĀ is a Master of Science (Econ) from Copenhagen Business School and has a university degree in Spanish Culture and Languages from Copenhagen University. He is the former Senior Vice President Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mercedes-Benz in Denmark and Sweden. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Featured image is from Global Times
The original source of this article is China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Copyright Ā© China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Karsten Riise, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs , 2023
Visa and Mastercard could become a problem, President Joko Widodo has warned
https://www.rt.com/business/573209-indonesia-visa-mastercard-sanctions/
FILE PHOTO: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov greeted by the President of the Indonesian Republic Joko Widodo at the G20 Summit in Nusa Dua, November 15, 2022 Ā© Leon Neal / Getty Images
The leader of Indonesia says the country must reduce its dependence on foreign payment systems, to negate potentially disastrous economic consequences should the country ever find itself in the crosshairs of Western sanctions.
Addressing a business forum in Jakarta this week, President Joko Widodo argued that Indonesia must shield itself from geopolitical disruptions, citing the sanctions attack on Russiaās financial sector by the US, EU, and their allies over the conflict in Ukraine.
āBe very careful. We must remember the sanctions imposed by the US on Russia. Visa and Mastercard could be a problem,ā Widodo said on Wednesday at a gathering that promoted the use of Indonesian-made products and services.
Last year, Indonesia rolled out a Domestic Government Credit Card (KKP) program to facilitate transactions between the central and regional governments. The president urged the public sector to adopt domestic systems, stressing that eventually āeveryone should be able to useā locally-issued bank cards so that āwe can be independent.ā
āIf we use our own platforms, and everybody is using them, from ministries and local administrations to municipal governments, then we can be more secure,ā Widodo said, according to the Jakarta Post.
READ MORE: Cuba accepts Russian payment system
However, in order to compete with Visa and Mastercard, any domestic alternative must be accepted internationally, experts cited by the Post said, expressing doubt that local providers are ready for costly investments in infrastructure upgrades.
Indonesiaās domestic interbank system, GPN, currently supports only local debit cards and requires some adjustments to properly serve credit cards and international transactions, Indonesian Credit Card Association (AKKI) executive director Steve Marta told CNBC Indonesia on Saturday.
Indonesia is a major economy, ranked seventh in the world with $4.37 trillion GDP based on purchasing power parity.
Moscow rolled out its own national card system, Mir, soon after the US first targeted the country with sanctions in 2014, and prepared the internal National Payment Card System (NSPK) to smoothly take over all Visa and Mastercard transactions should the companies pull the plug.
READ MORE: Western banking crisis cannot spread to Russia ā central bank
Last year, as Moscow was hit by further sanctions in response to its military operation in Ukraine, international payment systems indeed halted their services, but locally issued Western cards continued to work within the country via the NSPK. While these cards can no longer be used internationally, their expiration dates were extended indefinitely to give users enough time to comfortably migrate to the Mir system.
Russia also has its own financial messaging system, SPFS, which ensures transactions between banks both inside and outside the country, and acts as a substitute for SWIFT, which blocked many sanctioned Russian banks.
Says he made the decision in order to bolster his re-election chances as a war president.
on 16 March, 2023
Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc / Contributor via Getty Images
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh told the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. that Joe Biden made the decision to blow up Russiaās Nord Stream pipelines because he saw being a war president as giving him a better chance at re-election.
Last month, Hersh published a report asserting that the pipelines were destroyed by the US as part of a covert operation.
According to Hershās sources, the explosives were planted in June 2022 by US Navy divers under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise and were detonated three months later with a remote signal sent by a sonar buoy.
One source told Hersh that the plotters knew the covert operation was an āact of war,ā with some in the CIA and State Department warning, āDonāt do this. Itās stupid and will be a political nightmare if it comes out.ā
Last week, the New York Times reported that a āpro-Ukrainian groupā had sabotaged the pipelines, using a team with as few as six people involved in the mission, contradicting previous assumptions that only a state would have had the resources to carry out the operation.
According to Hersh, referring to Biden, āHe did it. He did it, Iām telling you, he did it, adding, The Biden game is to wait it out and never say yes.ā
The journalist claimed that Biden wanted to escalate the conflict in order to position himself as a war president.
āI think Biden also saw beating up Russia as a ticket. Jack Kennedy is a classic example ā presidents always did well politically in wars,ā he said.
Hersh claimed that Biden made the decision in January 2022 to āsee if we can find a way to blowā¦ those pipelines, and put [the Russians] back in the dark ages.ā
The Pulitzer-Prize winner went on to savage the legacy media for completely failing to follow up on his report that the U.S. was responsible for the attack, which took out three of the four pipelines.
Meanwhile, China has reacted with skepticism towards the explanation that a pro-Ukrainian group was responsible for the blasts.
During a press briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin called for āan objective, impartial and professional investigationā into the bombing.
āWe have noted that some Western media have been mysteriously quiet after Hersh reported that the US was behind the Nord Stream blast. But now these media are unusually simultaneous in making their voice heard. How would the US account for such abnormality? Is there anything hidden behind the scene?ā Wang asked.
New reports also reveal that a German spy ship was in the area where the attack occurred at the time of the blasts on September 26.
According to a report by German magazine Der Spiegel, the CIA warned Berlin about a potential attack on gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea weeks before it happened.
As we highlighted yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin branded claims that the Nord Stream pipeline attack was the work of pro-Ukrainian activists ānonsense,ā arguing the blasts must have been carried out by a state power.
It was in the interests of America.ā
17 March, 2023
Robert DEYRAIL via Getty Images
The leader of Franceās Eurosceptic party The Patriots responded to continuing controversy over the Nord Stream pipeline attack by asserting, āIt was obvious that the Americans were behind the bombing.ā
Florian Philippot made the comments during an interview with RIA Novosti.
Philippot referenced the report published by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, which claimed the explosives were planted in June 2022 by US Navy divers under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise and were detonated three months later with a remote signal sent by a sonar buoy.
āEven before the theory put forward by Hersh, who is a very reputable journalist, it was obvious that the Americans were behind the bombing,ā Philippot said. āEven before the war in Ukraine, the US had been fighting the Nord Stream pipelines for years, it had become a permanent element of their policy.ā
The politician also highlighted comments by President Biden, who confidently asserted that the pipelines would not be allowed to remain operational.
āMoreover, in early February 2022, Biden publicly said that the Americans were capable of making the pipeline go away. And it happened. After all, it was in the interests of America,ā said Philippot.
āAnd there is nothing absurd about this because Norway is Russiaās gas competitor, and Russian gas has been replaced by Norwegian gas in many countries. So they also had their own interests and enriched themselves at this expense,ā Philippot added.
According to Hershās sources, the Norwegian Secret Service and Navy were instrumental in locating the right position to plant the explosives.
As we highlighted yesterday, Hersh said during a National Press Club event that Biden gave the green light for the attack because he thought being a war president would give him the best chance of re-election.
āI think Biden also saw beating up Russia as a ticket. Jack Kennedy is a classic example ā presidents always did well politically in wars,ā he said.
Meanwhile, in a related development, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed attempts by Denmark to deny Moscow access to the investigation into the attack.
āThis is such a fraud, a total scam, not even a con but a threepenny game, which in my opinion no one has been buying for a very long time,ā Zakharova said in an interview with Rossiya-1.
āThey are playing this for themselves, but the story with Nord Stream will not end the same way as many other stories they have buried or covered up, I think, for the simple reason that thereās a lot of money at stake,ā she added.
13 Mar 2023
On March 6, Seymour “Sy” Hersh spoke about the Nord Stream explosion on September 26, 2022. He reveals in his substack how it was the result of Washington Administration authorizing C4 explosives be planted on the pipelines in June under the cover of a NATO exercise in the Baltic Sea, and then setting them off using a signal from a sonar buoy dropped on the surface. Hersh discusses the discussion of the sabotage at the UN, the decline of his brand of journalism in mainstream media and more!
The growing number of institutional failures is a signal that the entire economic system is under pressure
“Depositors could panic, resulting in national runs on banks. Since lenders donāt have the money they will be forced to close their doors and block depositorsā access to their accounts. As governments cannot protect all depositors, we could be facing a 1929-style Great Depression or worse ā the collapse of the entire Western financial system.”
https://www.rt.com/business/572913-us-banking-financial-crisis/
March 14, 2023
Ā© Getty Images / Siegfried Layda
The US banking industry is reeling from a string of bank failures, which kicked off last week and continue to rattle both domestic and global markets. Economists spell doom and gloom, despite efforts to stem the fallout. Here’s what you need to know.
- What happened?
California-based, crypto-focused bank Silvergate was the first to announce impending liquidation last Wednesday. Then came tech and start-up favorite Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the implosion of which on Friday was the largest US bank collapse since the financial crisis of 2008. New York-based Signature Bank was the latest to be shut down over the weekend, as regulators feared for its liquidity. - Why did the banks fail?
The banks saw their stocks plunge following massive deposit outflows amid fears of a recession, higher interest rates, and a slowdown in the market for initial public offerings. These factors made it harder for many businesses to raise additional cash and led companies to draw down their deposits at SVB and similar lenders. - What do interest rates have to do with it?
In order to tame inflation, governments in the West began to raise interest rates. There is a historic correlation between higher interest rates and failures of overleveraged financial institutions. Overleveraging occurs when a business has borrowed too much money and is unable to pay interest or principal repayments, or maintain payments for its operating expenses. Interest rates in the US have been hiked on more than one occasion over the past year, and many analysts warn they are currently too high at 4.5%-4.75% to keep financial bubbles from bursting. - Whoās next?
The stock meltdown resumed with a vengeance on Monday, with several bank stocks halted due to volatility. As of mid-day, PacWest Bancorp, Zions Bancorporation, First Republic Bank and Regions Financial were no longer trading until further notice. - How did the Fed react?
The Federal Reserve, US Treasury and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on Sunday announced a new emergency program aiming to shore up confidence in the banking system and protect depositors of failing banks. They will allow both insured and uninsured depositors of the collapsed banks full access to their money through a special FDIC fund. The Fed also separately announced it would make additional funding available for banks in cases of emergency, through a new Bank Term Funding Program. - Will the measures stem the fallout of the collapses?
Traders and analysts claim the panic is already ripe and could further push investors to move funds from small banks to what they view as the safety of large systemically important lenders. This would drain liquidity from the latter and may lead to their downfall. - Is there a risk of a broader upheaval?
Governments in the US, Britain and Canada have been taking extraordinary steps to prevent a potential banking crisis. Germany’s finance watchdog stated the ādistressed situationā of SVB’s German branch ādoes not pose a threat to financial stability.ā According to some analysts, thereās no risk of contagion, since the authorities have stepped in. - Whatās the worst-case scenario?
Depositors could panic, resulting in national runs on banks. Since lenders donāt have the money they will be forced to close their doors and block depositorsā access to their accounts. As governments cannot protect all depositors, we could be facing a 1929-style Great Depression or worse ā the collapse of the entire Western financial system.
Ken Griffin, founder of Citadel hedge fund, says the US central bankās rescue package for Silicon Valley Bank shows that American capitalism is ābreaking down before our eyesā.
Griffin told the Financial Times that US taxpayers should not have to bail out institutional investors, following the decision by the US Federal Reserve to intervene to prevent contagion throughout the US banking sector following the collapse of Santa Clara-based SVB.
āThe US is supposed to be a capitalist economy, and thatās breaking down before our eyes,ā he said in an interview. āThereās been a loss of financial discipline with the government bailing out depositors in full.ā
SVB was shut down by US regulators on Friday after customers raced to withdraw $42bn ā a quarter of its total deposits ā in one day and a failed effort to raise new capital called into question the future of the tech-focused lender.
On Sunday, the Fed unveiled a lending facility so that ābanks have the ability to meet the needs of all their depositorsā. Those at SVB and Signature Bank would be protected from loss, even if their deposits exceeded the normal $250,000 insurance limit, said officials.
Critics of the Fedās move have pointed to the risk of moral hazard that comes from making all depositors whole on the money they have with SVB, while regulators face questions over missed warning signs.
March 9, 2023
Many Americans wonāt realize that World War III has begun until missiles start raining down on our homeland. But by then it will be way too late. Ever since Joe Biden entered the White House, our relations with both Russia and China have been steadily swirling down the tubes, and it appears that our military could soon be forced to fight wars with both of them simultaneously. That would be absolutely suicidal, but our leaders donāt seem interested in peace. The hothead in the White House is surrounded by a team of incompetent warmongers, and if they stay on the path that they are currently on millions upon millions of Americans could end up dead.
So if you plan to make your voice heard before that happens, now is the time.
Over in Russia, regular television programming was interrupted by a message telling viewers that they needed to take their anti-radiation pills and head to the closest bomb sheltersā¦
Russians were warned today to take anti-radiation pills and rush to their nearest nuclear bomb shelters after hackers compromised state television servers to broadcast chilling messages.
TV and radio programmes in Moscow and the Sverdlovsk region, including Yekaterinburg city, were interrupted with an alarming message telling citizens a missile strike had been conducted on Russian soil.
The population was urged to take potassium iodide pills, don gas masks to protect themselves and to seek shelter.
Thankfully, the warning was not real.
Hackers were behind it.
But the truth is that we are all going to need anti-radiation pills if this madness doesnāt end.
Both sides just continue to escalate matters. On Thursday, the Russians hit Ukrainian cities with the largest missile attack in weeksā¦
The head of Ukraineās armed forces said Russia had fired 81 missiles at Ukrainian territory on Thursday morning, including six ākinzhalā hypersonic missiles, which its air force cannot intercept.
The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said the capital experienced a number of explosions that had damaged energy infrastructure and injured several civilians. In his most recent post on Telegram, Klitschko said that because of emergency power outages after the missile attack, 40% of the capitalās consumers are now without heating.
Russia had not used hypersonic Kinzhal missiles since the beginning weeks of the war.
These missiles are absolutely devastating because they can fly at speedsĀ that are absolutely mind blowingā¦
The Kinzhal, unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin five years ago, can accelerate to Mach 4 ā four times the speed of sound ā and may be capable of speeds of up to Mach 10, with a range to about 1,250 miles. The missile is also believed to be nuclear-capable.
An even more sophisticated weapon, Russiaās Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, can fly at speeds as high as Mach 27, according to the Kremlin. Another hypersonic, the Zircon anti-ship missile, has also reportedly been developed, but there are no reports of the Zircon or Avangard being used in combat.
The U.S. has poured nearly 200 billion dollars into this conflict so far, but the Russians continue to gain more ground.
Even with all of the aid we have given them, the Ukrainians are simply outmatched, and at this point even Ukrainian news sources are openly acknowledging the reality of what has been happening in places such as Bakhmutā¦
The Kyiv Independent recently interviewed soldiers on the frontline and issued a surprisingly blunt assessment (given itās obviously a news source on the Ukrainian side) that Ukrainian soldiers are by and large āunprepared, poorly-trained battalions being thrown into the front line meat grinder to survive as best they could with little support from armored vehicles, mortars, artillery, drones and tactical information.ā
Would Joe Biden be willing to send his son Hunter to fight in Bakhmut?
If not, then why does he expect Ukrainians to send their kids into an endless slaughter?
If politicians on both sides and their families actually had to fight in these wars, they would end really quick.
Unfortunately, I believe that things could soon go to an entirely new level.
Once they lose Bakhmut, the Ukrainians will become very desperate and might end up doing something really stupid.
Speaking of stupid, highly respected journalist Seymour Hersh says that the Biden administrationās approach to Ukraine is āvery scary and very dumbāā¦
āWhatās going on now in this White House is terrifying to meā, Hersh said. ā(Antony) Blinken, (Jake) Sullivan and (Victoria) Nuland ā¦ theyāre just out of their league hereā¦ Do they really want to get NATO into a war? Thereās no question weāve been increasing the amount of American troops in Poland, secretly, and deploying many more arms in that area. I would guess they may push for NATO to make a physical presenceā¦ I donāt know what the goal is. I donāt know if they know what the goal isā¦ I donāt know whatās going on in that White House. But itās very scary and very dumb.ā
I will never understand how the United States of America ended up having people like Blinken, Sullivan and Nuland running our foreign policy.
Have we really fallen that far?
They are evil and incompetent at the same time, and that is a very dangerous combination.
I wouldnāt trust them to run a Dairy Queen, but now the fate of humanity is literally in their hands.
Earlier today, I was quite alarmed to read that there has been āan increasing presence of Russian submarines off of U.S. coastsāā¦
As Russian President Vladimir Putinās war in Ukraine continues to rage, United States commanders and military observers are sounding the alarm about the activity of Russiaās submarine fleet thousands of miles away, off the U.S. coast.
Throughout the war, which began when Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine last February, there has been a buildup of Russian Navy forces in the Black Sea. There has also been an increasing presence of Russian submarines off of U.S. coasts and in the Mediterranean, according to officials.
If you have read my latest book, then you already understand why this is such a big deal.
Meanwhile, one of the top officers in the Chinese military has publicly stated that it is time to āconcentrate our efforts on preparations for warāā¦
Emphasizing Beijingās urgency on Sunday, one of Chinaās two most senior military officers, Zhang Youxia, called on the Peopleās Liberation Army to āconcentrate our efforts on preparations for war.ā Nearly 73 years old, Zhang remains in his position as one of the very few PLA officers with combat experience. As the South China Morning Post reports, another senior official called for improvements to the PLAās urban warfare capabilities. Most of Taiwanās population lives in cities.
Put simply, Beijing isnāt messing around. This yearās National Peopleās Congress has confirmed a defense spending increase of 7.2% for 2023-2024.
If the Chinese did not intend to invade Taiwan, they would have no reason to prepare for war.
But the truth is that they know that they are going to invade, and they also know that this will mean war with the United States.
Of course the U.S. military is rapidly preparing for such a conflict as well. The following comes from a very interesting piece in The Economist about U.S. preparations for a war with the Chineseā¦
The marines are training for a war with China, probably precipitated by an invasion of Taiwan. Their base in Okinawa, at the southern end of the Japanese archipelago, is just 600km (370 miles) from Taiwan. The two islands are part of what American military planners call the āfirst island chainā: a series of archipelagoes and islands, big and small, that stretches from Japan to Malaysia, impeding naval passage from China to the Pacific. Whether by harrying Chinese ships from a distance orāmuch less likelyāby deploying to Taiwan to help repel a Chinese landing, the marines will be early participants in any conflict.
Before I end this article, I want to make sure that nobody forgets about the Middle East.
War is coming there too, and it is going to be absolutely terrible.
Things are so tense in the region right now, and we just witnessedĀ a horrific terror attackĀ right in the heart of Tel Aviv.
This is a time of wars and rumors of wars.
If our leaders were sane, they would be trying to find peaceful resolutions with both the Russians and the Chinese.
But instead, they are drunk with arrogance and power, and they seem to take delight in endlessly provoking both Russia and China.
There isnāt going to be peace, and so you might want to stock up on some anti-radiation pills while you still can.
Tales from the Conspiratum 