Conspiring To Live
Co-Conspirators,
Danny Haiphong: Pepe Escobar and Michael Hudson Join on BRICS Plus Six, Ukraine, and the Multipolar World Economy! (Read it all.)
DANNY HAIPHONG: So I wanted to ask you then, because, you know, we touched a little bit on why BRICS didn’t come out with an independent currency that could almost be used as a reserve. Do you think that this is ever going to be possible or is it even necessary? What is your take on it?
MICHAEL HUDSON: It’s not even within sight at the present point. A currency has to be issued by a government, a sovereign government, and all the BRICS would have to be part of the same country to issue their own currency. And there’s nothing like that on the site. There are different governments with different purposes. This talk of a BRICS currency is very confused.
I tried to give the quote from President Putin because he used the correct term, a means of settlement among central banks for the balance of payments, imbalances of trade and investment. It’s paper gold...
..Michael Hudson: And certainly what Russia and China can do is saying, look, you have not got what the Western economies, oil companies have promised. You can say you’ve been guilty of violating the laws. We are nullifying your contract because of your bad behavior. And there have been a number of books you can go on my Web site. And I’ve talked about their bad behavior. Simply asking for that.
There’s another thing that the global South countries can do. And that is that while the United States can say, well, you have to pay reparations if you take the oil. And if you, under the international laws, if you pass a law that costs money for a corporation, the government can be sued and give all the money back to the corporation. So you have to pay all of the cleanup costs because you were dumb enough to sign the contract because we said we’ll shoot you if you don’t sign the contract. All of this can just be simply repudiated.
And I think that was the question that you wanted me to talk about before. What really can the BRICS countries do playing hardball? Well, one thing they can do.
The press has talked about, you know, how much wealth and reserves do the BRICS countries have? Well, naturally, you count their gold is a large part of their reserves. But where is this gold?
Much of their gold is not in their own countries. It’s in the New York Federal Reserve Bank in the basement. It’s in the Bank of England. And for African countries, it’s in the Bank of France. They can ask for their gold back.
Right now, this gold is being held hostage from them. If they just ask for the gold back, send the airplanes, give it back.
Germany tried to do that a few years ago. They said, well, can’t you begin to give us the gold that we moved there after, you know, when the world was more dangerous?
And the U.S. said, oh, I’m sorry, we can’t. We’ve already done something with the gold. There’s a legal problem and are giving it to you. And they haven’t even given Germany the gold.
So let’s say the BRICS country, number one, asked for their gold. And if the United States and England and France do not return their gold, then they can take compensation, including all of the foreign investments in their countries.
They can do another thing, especially the African countries. They can say, well, we BRICS countries are speaking for Africa. We have the majority. You’ve stolen our gold.
Our gold was what Libya’s President Qaddafi had. You took all the, what, $8 billion, however much, the billions of dollars of gold they took, just like they took the $8 billion of Afghanistan’s gold.
Say, give us back the gold that you’ve taken. You cannot expect us to pay our foreign dollar debts if you have come and seized our gold and will not even give us our gold back. That would be the most obvious.
It does not take a revolution. It doesn’t take a change in law. They can do that within the existing system. It’s our gold. We’re a sovereign country. We want it in our country.
We’re going to have to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. So when you give us the gold, you can’t send your troops in and do what you did in Libya and simply grab it all back for yourself and say, ha-ha, finders keepers.
I think this is an element of the financial future that nobody has talked about. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/08/danny-haiphong-pepe-escobar-and-michael-hudson-join-on-brics-plus-six-ukraine-and-the-multipolar-world-econo
Pepe Escobar, also worth reading for detailed information: 'Welcome to the BRICS 11' https://new.thecradle.co/articles/welcome-to-the-brics-11
Friend Or Foe? How BRICS Partners View China https://www.zerohedge.com/political/friend-or-foe-how-brics-partners-view-china
The Biden administration has been aware since last year that Saudi border guards were slaughtering African migrants on Saudi Arabia’s border with Yemen but kept quiet about the killings, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
Sources told the Times that American diplomats were made aware of the news last fall, around the time the US was publicly condemning Riyadh for agreeing to OPEC+ oil production cuts. The administration did not make any public comments about the reported killings.
The administration received more details about the atrocities in December 2022 when the UN presented information about Saudi forces shooting, shelling, and abusing Ethiopian migrants at the border, but the US still kept quiet. https://news.antiwar.com/2023/08/28/us-knew-saudis-were-slaughtering-african-migrants-at-border-but-kept-quiet/
BRICS nations just want what is theirs, and that spells doom for the Western hegemony
Economic interests will likely help the expanded bloc iron out long-standing feuds within
Richard D. Wolff, noted American economist, public intellectual, and radio host. This professor of economics emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a visiting professor in the graduate program in international affairs at the New School...“Every Global South country now has two options, not one, in securing development loans, grants, investments, and trading partners. The two (the West and BRICS) will compete to secure contracts and deals. This change is momentous as it alters the global economic status quo in place since 1945.”
In the longer run, according to Wolff, the rise of BRICS marks the further decline of the US empire and thus of US capitalism that significantly depends on that empire. “The US declining global economic footprint, the decline of the US dollar as a central bank reserve holding, the decline of the dollar as the global trading, investment and loan currency – these are all signs and symptoms of the reduced US role,” he states. Wolff shares the view of several other economists who contend that the US experience now is what the British empire and British capitalism suffered in the century before 1945. The consequences of US decline are already visible domestically in a strange and dangerous domestic civil splitting, the bizarre politics of Trump, and the resurgence of white supremacy, he avers. [See story below regarding "white supremacy" and Trump.]
Again, nobody disputes that there are differences of opinion within BRICS. For its part, India seeks an enhanced multipolarity in the world, but it doesn’t want the forum to become overly anti-West to the extent that it becomes a platform for China’s one-upmanship. New Delhi wants greater economic cooperation among non-Western countries. It doesn’t however relish the prospects of BRICS+ championing a China-first policy that hurts its military and trade cooperations with the West. India wants it to be a non-Western entity, but not rabidly anti-West. For India, this distinction is crucial. https://www.rt.com/india/581914-brics-west-hegemony-end/
Trump gets street-cred. Oops!
Considering how Democrats take black support for granted and routinely label Trump a racist and white supremacist, imagine the utter consternation they're feeling as they witness a social media eruption of black sympathy for Trump over an arrest that, for many blacks, parallels the mistreatment they perceive blacks have received in the American criminal justice system.
The first sign of trouble came when people calling themselves "Blacks for Trump" and "Niggas for Trump" posted themselves near the infamous Fulton County Jail on Atlanta's Rice Street.
Then we saw blacks lining the street to cheer on the former president's motorcade and shouting "Free Trump!"
The on-scene displays in Georgia were just a precursor to a social media wave of black Trump 2024 enthusiasm that's still rolling. "Trump is a brother now...I'm sorry, you go to jail in Zone 6 Atlanta, you a brotha," says this man. "Straight up. They f**ked up. Niggas like niggas that went to jail. They believe in that sh*t. We trust that."
"Every real nigga got to go to jail at least one time," says this man, who also warns that Democrats have "f**ked up" and will now face vengeance from a future President Trump. "You think he aint gonna spin the block?"
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/more-you-indict-more-we-unite-black-social-media-erupts-trump
It is a global Ponzi-scheme. The Federal Reserve needs to keep the rich people and TTF financial institutions invested in $US assets. To do that, the Fed has to offer a real return on investment, both in $US assets and in Treasury debt, which means raising interest rates enough to keep global financial elites in $US, which maintains the value of the $US. Raising interest rates hurts small businesses and people with debts. It hurts the US debt service, by raising it. It cannot bring down inflation by choking the economy this time, because inflation is being caused by a reduction in goods, more than the increase in money. The global economy can't produce as much because (redefined) "oil" production is down from the late 2018 peak. Oil is the master-resource.
Meanwhile the US Federal Government is spending a lot into the economy to juice it in specific sectors and with transfer payments. This seems contradictory, but they are both just trying to keep the global finance game in play, because a lot of things will crash and faith will be broken when it crashes. (The US would mostly prefer China or the Euro to crash first. Russia would have been better, but that scheme failed.)
Peter Schiff: Jerome Powell's Jackson Hole Speech Was Full Of Holes
Last year, Fed economists even admitted the central bank can’t rein in price inflation with monetary policy alone. But Peter said Powell is too big of a wimp to call out the Biden administration.
You can’t ignore fiscal policy when you’re running monetary policy. You can’t say, ‘Hey, there’s a separation here and I don’t want to interfere with what Congress is doing.’ No! He’s got to interfere. In fact, he’s paid to interfere. The idea that there is an independent Fed — it’s supposed to be independent from Congress, not the other way around. It’s not that the Fed is not supposed to point out when Congress is doing something wrong or the president. No, that is the job of the Fed chairman. If Congress is running these big deficits, and it’s creating a problem for inflation, if it’s creating a problem for the Fed and the public, the Fed chairman is supposed to call them out. The Fed chairman is supposed to say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to cut spending. You’ve got to bring down these deficits.” https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/peter-schiff-jerome-powells-jackson-hole-speech-was-full-holes
Paul Craig Roberts, Realistically, How Strong is America?
America’s weakness is overlooked by investment analysts. Having offshored manufacturing, the US is import-dependent, and having weaponized the dollar Washington is causing foreign central banks to stop holding dollars as reserves. The consequence is that the US has a rising issuance of debt to finance trade and budget deficits, but a declining supply of customers for that debt. Either the Federal Reserve has to monetize the debt or interest rates will rise.
Note also that it appears there will be in about 4 months a large expansion of BRICS. Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have been invited to join. https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2023/08/25/realistically-how-strong-is-america/
Charles Hugh Smith, The AirBnB Bubble Popping Will Pop the Housing Bubble
This is how bubbles collapse: the "vital few" 4% sell at whatever the market will bear, pushing prices down, and the 64% awaken to the rapidly narrowing window for locking in bubble capital gains.
John Maynard Keynes was brilliant, but "Keynsians" are mostly one-trick-ponies. In his day there were plenty of natural resources of all kinds, and people willing to work, but factories and cities had been destroyed. Massive fiscal stimulus was appropriate to get everybody back to work producing and rebuilding after WW-1 and WW-2. Now there is less of all resources except humans, and there has long been misallocation of capital. Resources like oil are in terminal decline. Keynes would be advising long term investment in durable goods and equipment which would serve for many decades in the future of reduced fuel and production. He would probably also advise massive write-downs of debts that can never be paid, and might often be counterproductive to the needs of societies going forward. "Debt Jubilee".(I would personally favor the transfer to American citizens at low cost of the massive collection of assets like mortgages, now held by the Fed. They should be dispersed to individuals who want to live in the house first, then to small rental landlords, not financial institutions and large corporations.)
Putting “Paid” to Keynesian Fallacies
Introducing gold into the trading system will expose the main fallacy of Keynesian economics: the elevation of aggregate demand to prominence in a nation’s economy rather than production—the only means of satisfying the demand in the first place. Jean-Baptiste Say showed that production is required in order to enjoy the benefits of consumption. Instead, Keynes shunned Say’s law in his General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money in order to hide his theory’s internal contradictions. Keynes elevated the concept of “aggregate demand” over production, while Jean-Baptiste Say shows that production is required in order to enjoy the benefits of consumption.
On the face of it, it is hard to believe that anyone would believe that production either isn’t required for consumption or that it magically appears. Yet, this rather upside-down theory appealed to politicians for obvious reasons—it gave them carte blanche to spend, all with money created out of thin air by the central bank. Rather than economize and prioritize spending that was absolutely necessary for the benefit of the entire nation, politicians were told by Keynes that it was their duty to spend, even if it was only to pay people to dig holes and others to fill those holes back up...
..The new international trade settlement system will require settlement in gold. (Or a BRICS+ agreed "paper gold", as above.) https://mises.org/wire/gold-will-destroy-keynesian-fallacies
Moon of Alabama, Thanks Christine.
The strategic advantage is clearly on the Russian side:
Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, the military architect of German unification and one of history’s most famed soldiers, would instantly grasp the state of affairs in this summer of Ukrainian discontent. After Kiev and its Western backers hyped the prospects for the spring counteroffensive against Russia, the counteroffensive has posted fitful progress to date. Moltke would ascribe the disappointing results to the fact that the Ukrainian military confronts a foe waging the strongest form of warfare.
Strategic offense coupled with tactical defense.
Moltke lays out the logic succinctly: “The tactical defense is the stronger [form of war], the strategic offensive the more effective form—and the only one that leads to the goal.” In other words, the contender that seizes or occupies some object or parcel of territory, then defends it tactically, primes itself for strategic and ultimately political success. In colloquial terms: grab something and hold it, and dare your enemy to come and take it back while fighting at a daunting disadvantage. For the German sage, in short, waging offense through defense blazes a path to triumph.
Advantage: Russia.
Tactical defense is what Russia has been doing over the last months. It has ground down the attacking Ukrainian forces by all means available to it. When they are done with it the Russian forces will launch their strategic offensive campaign. They are then likely to rapidly progress through thinned out Ukrainian lines. https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/08/ukraine-sitrep-us-to-prolong-its-proxy-war.html#more
Prigozhin Death Confirmed By DNA Tests, Kremlin Announces https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/prigozhin-death-confirmed-dna-tests-kremlin-announces
Disobey and Live – Maui Fire Barricades
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said that the barricades were intended to prevent residents from coming into contact with over 30 downed power poles. Yet, they prevented the public from accessing Highway 30. Pelletier insists that the barricades were merely a suggestion, but first-hand reports state that people were forbidden to leave. Those who disobeyed and bypassed the barricades narrowly survived. https://www.theburningplatform.com/2023/08/25/disobey-and-live-maui-fire-barricades/
Why Did the Maui PD Block Exits from Lahaina?
Investigating a disturbing piece of the Lahaina Fire puzzle.
Multiple witnesses have stated that the patrol officers made seemingly credible statements that they themselves did not know the rationale for the order to block off this street. All they seemed to know is that they had received the order to do so...
..Yesterday I learned through an excellent contact that members of the local, Hawaiian community know the patrol officers (who are also from the community) and do not want to throw these men under the bus. This raises the question: who in the Maui PD issued this puzzling order to these patrol officers, and why?
Sasha Latypova's blog: Was weaponized GIS used in Lahaina? Click-and-destroy program for "sustainable redevelopment"
This information is from an anonymous contributor. It describes the evidence from the GIS (Geographic Information System) of extreme precision and selectivity of the Lahaina fire. It also points to the plans of potentially moving all low-income residents off their properties and into a concentration camp, ahem, a 15-minute city...
..What’s most interesting about looking at the aerial imagery, is that amongst the destruction are various structures still standing with green grass & green trees, nearly right up to edge or property line.Looking at GIS data & street viewsome don't make sense, as a few have all wood construction!In other cases, condo complexes that appear to be of concrete construction, completely destroyed.
Commercial pilots who flew over Maui “fire” day of incident being CENSORED: Was it a DEW attack?
But what about the censorship of commercial pilots who saw firsthand what happened – or more importantly, what may not have actually happened – that fateful day?
An investigation into the reports that commercial pilots normally file concerning things they see or encounter during a flight has found that a shocking 30 percent, at least, of all PIREPs (pilot reports) filed with air traffic control (ATC) from Kahului Airport (OGG) in the center of Maui are missing, which begs the question: why?
According to Maui County, the Lahaina "fire" – the reason for "fire" being in quotes will become clearer as you read the rest of this story – started on the morning of August 8 and was declared 100 percent contained shortly before 9 a.m. the very same day. https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-08-25-commercial-pilots-maui-fire-censored-dew-conspiracy.html
Meryl Nass MD , This scares the ****out of me.
A German court has sentenced one of its own judges to prison for ruling against the government's mask mandates.
Look, it's not from mandatory COVID vaccines they got. These guys have been hiding all of their medical problems for years!
See, it was a set-up already, even though it didn't kick-in until 2021. (Some of these ex-military pilots even have PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSES!)
Hundreds of US Airline Pilots Suspected of Being Unfit to Fly https://sputnikglobe.com/20230827/hundreds-of-us-airline-pilots-suspected-of-being-unfit-to-fly---reports-1112931728.html
Peter McCullough MD , BREAKING--Clinical Rationale for SARS-CoV-2 Base Spike Protein Detoxification in Post COVID-19 and Vaccine Injury Syndromes , Publication of Baseline Protocol for Those Suffering from Long-COVID and Post-Acute Sequelae after COVID-19 Vaccination
We searched the literature for all available sources of evidence for products that can aid the human body in breaking down and catabolizing the Spike protein. We found two compounds, nattokinase and bromelain. Both of which additionally have fibrinolytic properties which are advantageous in the prothrombotic milieu induced by the persistent Spike protein. Curcumin was added for its anti-inflammatory properties in the setting of post-COVID and vaccine patients. The main safety caveats are bleeding and allergic reactions, both of which are manageable. It is our experience that both nattokinase and bromelain can be used in addition to antiplatelet and anticoagulant drugs with physician monitoring.
The empiric regimen can be continued for 3-12 months or more and be guided by clinical observation:
-Nattokinase 2000 FU (100) mg orally twice a day without food
-Bromelain 500 mg orally once a day without food
-Curcumin 500 mg orally twice a day (nano, liposomal, or with piperine additive suggested)
Unimpaired (pictured at sunrise in Yoakum)
We are conflating US with Global Imperial Empire. Those two entities are not one and the same. This inevitably leads to muddled analysis. First, all countries of Western Empire are vassal states, and that includes the US. There is very little of importance that the US government does in the interest of the US, the nation state. It is important to grasp that it is entirely probable that the Imperial Oligarchy is deliberately collapsing all nation states in the Western Empire. In this sort of game, eventual US$ collapse may be a desired outcome. Oligarchy manages through a series of deliberately engineered dialectic tensions (opposites) and when they make the world ready to accept their synthesis, they deploy their plans. Does anyone really detect any real opposition within Western Empire to BRICS? So far, I have not. They have invaded countries for much lower systemic threats. OK, so they cannot invade Russia and China, but to believe that they are letting South American countries act seemingly in their own national interests is a stretch. It seems to me that it is very possible that BRICS is an imperial project. It is also possible they are managing the BRICS process to advance their higher goal of one world oligarchical government.
John, every time I read your blog I have the same thought. How do you find time to tend your garden, ride your bike, work in the kitchen and still manage to keep up with everything going on in the world!? I find it completely overwhelming! Admittedly, I started the current phase of my life more than a little uninformed about the rest of the world and maybe I have a lot to catch up on, but seriously, I don't know how you do it! I greatly appreciate the synthesis that you provide to me on a regular basis.