You asked for referrals to boos about India written by Indians. 1. EARLY INDIANS by Tony Joseph. The Story of our Ancestors and Where we Came From. 2. THE EMERGENCY by Coomi Kapoor. A Searing Inditement of the Darkest period of Indian Democracy. 3. AZADI BY ARUNDATHI ROY. Divisions in contemporary India and the repression of Indian Muslims.
I'm not so sure your reference to the USSR's collapse is that authoritative. Looking at the long arc of history the union of Russian manpower & natural resources, on the one hand, and German capital & technology, on the other, has terrified the banking elites of Europe (& more recently the US) for centuries. Indeed, it was Elizabeth I of England who sent her trade emissaries to Russia seeking an *exclusive trade agreement to cut Russia off from trading with its European partners. You can read the history of Russophobia in Prof. Glenn Diesen's <i>Russophobia<i/> (he's also on Twitter).
So, as the UK-US did in the Mideast with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and with Yugoslavia in the 1990's, the goal of the 'collective West' has been to balkanize Russia. In WWII, the UK-US used Nazi Germany as a battering ram against the former USSR. (27million ethnic Russians/Russian-speaking people were killed in WWII, by the way). Most recently we've witnessed the UK-US use Ukraine as a battering ram against Russia.
If you want to understand the 3 power centers in the world they are:
1. the City of London - a 1 sq. mile of bankers' Head Offices & an entirely separate jurisdiction to the rest of the UK. (Its Siamese twin, the US Federal Reserve - which is neither "federal" nor a "reserve" - is a consortium of private investment banks);
2. The Vatican, an entirely separate jurisdiction to the rest of the Italy, which sees itself as, and I quote, "God's Church", the inference being that any other denomination/organized religion is *not of the Divine. This explains why The Vatican tacitly supports political-military forces which attack Eastern European, i.e. Orthodox Catholic, nations (e.g. Serbia 1999 & more recently Russia) & also remains quiet about UK-US attacks on the Mideast/Islamic nations (e.g. Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, etc);
3. The Pentagon which remains outside US Congressional budgetary supervision, although the Congress provides its budget.
With all that being said, the breakup of the Warsaw Pact and collapse of the USSR was orchestrated by the US/NATO in these ways (not in any order of importance):
- a Polish Pope, Pope John Paul I, was *selected (its been well-known for decades that The Vatican has been infiltrated) to be used as lightning rod for Roman Catholics in the Warsaw bloc, esp. majority-Roman Catholic Poland;
- knowing that the USSR had stockpiled gold, the US-UK flooded the gold market, leaving the USSR holding a vastly diminished asset;
- since the 1950's, the CIA had persuaded the US Congress to change the designation of Ukrainian nazis (who had relocated to the US & Canada after WWII) from terrorists, to return them to Ukraine (which was then a Soviet Socialist Republic) to help destabilize Ukraine with the USSR;
- the propaganda of President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), aka Starwars to encourage the USSR to waste billions of rubles on useless research;
- after the USSR had invested heavily in infrastructure & education in Afghanistan (aka the Empire's graveyard) for decades, under President Carter & National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, the CIA funded, armed & trained the Mujahedin (which later morphed into the Taliban) 6 months *before the 1979 USSR invasion, to draw the USSR into A'stan and ultimately weaken the USSR economically & militarily, in what became known as "the Soviet's Vietnam";
- lastly, Yeltsin was always a US/CIA plant, aka asset. Via the use of bribery/blackmail, comprador elites can be pressed into service for the UK-US/NATO in many nations around the world.
These days the term we would use to describe all of the above is Hybrid War. And since the 1991 collapse of the USSR what the US/NATO has been striving for is termed Full Spectrum Dominance.
1. $1Trillion in deposits have been withdrawn from US banks
2. Gold is set to break above $US2000/oz
3. Multiple countries are now using the Chinese Yuan & Indian rupee for trade
4. Bitcoin is up 50% in one month
5. $US is still used in 59% of the world’s reserves but that's down from 72% 2 decades ago.
Conclusion:
It was the US itself that weaponized $US (confiscating Russia's, Venezuela's. Iran's & Afghanistan's $US reserves, and used it in too many attacks for sanctions. It was Henry Kissinger who called it out back in 2014. Other nations fearing US sanctions have turned to their own currency mercantilism, i.e. Multicurrency Mercantilism. However that doesn't mean the US will be replaced by another hegemon. There will be no new hegemon.
The US can't even pay the interest on its almost $32Trillion debt. It expects the rest of the world to do that by using its $. It was also a way that the US was 'exporting' inflation by it raising its interest rates.
It might take another ~30 years, say to 2050, but dedollarization is the end of the American empire (with its 800+ bases) living off the entire world.
So, expect the use of the $US for trade to fall further to ~30% of total.
I strongly recommend that you follow former central banker Kathleen Tyson & also zirpfailure on Twitter to monitor multicurrency mercantile developments.
Great comment. Thanks. I guess it is the speed of recent developmetns that has most taken me by surprise. Something that Jeffrey Sachs has also commented on.
You asked for referrals to boos about India written by Indians. 1. EARLY INDIANS by Tony Joseph. The Story of our Ancestors and Where we Came From. 2. THE EMERGENCY by Coomi Kapoor. A Searing Inditement of the Darkest period of Indian Democracy. 3. AZADI BY ARUNDATHI ROY. Divisions in contemporary India and the repression of Indian Muslims.
Good luck for thoughtful writing.
Tom Cowan
thank you
I'm not so sure your reference to the USSR's collapse is that authoritative. Looking at the long arc of history the union of Russian manpower & natural resources, on the one hand, and German capital & technology, on the other, has terrified the banking elites of Europe (& more recently the US) for centuries. Indeed, it was Elizabeth I of England who sent her trade emissaries to Russia seeking an *exclusive trade agreement to cut Russia off from trading with its European partners. You can read the history of Russophobia in Prof. Glenn Diesen's <i>Russophobia<i/> (he's also on Twitter).
So, as the UK-US did in the Mideast with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and with Yugoslavia in the 1990's, the goal of the 'collective West' has been to balkanize Russia. In WWII, the UK-US used Nazi Germany as a battering ram against the former USSR. (27million ethnic Russians/Russian-speaking people were killed in WWII, by the way). Most recently we've witnessed the UK-US use Ukraine as a battering ram against Russia.
If you want to understand the 3 power centers in the world they are:
1. the City of London - a 1 sq. mile of bankers' Head Offices & an entirely separate jurisdiction to the rest of the UK. (Its Siamese twin, the US Federal Reserve - which is neither "federal" nor a "reserve" - is a consortium of private investment banks);
2. The Vatican, an entirely separate jurisdiction to the rest of the Italy, which sees itself as, and I quote, "God's Church", the inference being that any other denomination/organized religion is *not of the Divine. This explains why The Vatican tacitly supports political-military forces which attack Eastern European, i.e. Orthodox Catholic, nations (e.g. Serbia 1999 & more recently Russia) & also remains quiet about UK-US attacks on the Mideast/Islamic nations (e.g. Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, etc);
3. The Pentagon which remains outside US Congressional budgetary supervision, although the Congress provides its budget.
With all that being said, the breakup of the Warsaw Pact and collapse of the USSR was orchestrated by the US/NATO in these ways (not in any order of importance):
- a Polish Pope, Pope John Paul I, was *selected (its been well-known for decades that The Vatican has been infiltrated) to be used as lightning rod for Roman Catholics in the Warsaw bloc, esp. majority-Roman Catholic Poland;
- knowing that the USSR had stockpiled gold, the US-UK flooded the gold market, leaving the USSR holding a vastly diminished asset;
- since the 1950's, the CIA had persuaded the US Congress to change the designation of Ukrainian nazis (who had relocated to the US & Canada after WWII) from terrorists, to return them to Ukraine (which was then a Soviet Socialist Republic) to help destabilize Ukraine with the USSR;
- the propaganda of President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), aka Starwars to encourage the USSR to waste billions of rubles on useless research;
- after the USSR had invested heavily in infrastructure & education in Afghanistan (aka the Empire's graveyard) for decades, under President Carter & National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, the CIA funded, armed & trained the Mujahedin (which later morphed into the Taliban) 6 months *before the 1979 USSR invasion, to draw the USSR into A'stan and ultimately weaken the USSR economically & militarily, in what became known as "the Soviet's Vietnam";
- lastly, Yeltsin was always a US/CIA plant, aka asset. Via the use of bribery/blackmail, comprador elites can be pressed into service for the UK-US/NATO in many nations around the world.
These days the term we would use to describe all of the above is Hybrid War. And since the 1991 collapse of the USSR what the US/NATO has been striving for is termed Full Spectrum Dominance.
This is the video I have just posted on Zubok, Collapse https://youtu.be/E_pM6ohY6hU
I think Mark B. Smith The Russia Anxiety is a good guide too.
re: "6. What surprised me most this week."
Here's where we're at:
1. $1Trillion in deposits have been withdrawn from US banks
2. Gold is set to break above $US2000/oz
3. Multiple countries are now using the Chinese Yuan & Indian rupee for trade
4. Bitcoin is up 50% in one month
5. $US is still used in 59% of the world’s reserves but that's down from 72% 2 decades ago.
Conclusion:
It was the US itself that weaponized $US (confiscating Russia's, Venezuela's. Iran's & Afghanistan's $US reserves, and used it in too many attacks for sanctions. It was Henry Kissinger who called it out back in 2014. Other nations fearing US sanctions have turned to their own currency mercantilism, i.e. Multicurrency Mercantilism. However that doesn't mean the US will be replaced by another hegemon. There will be no new hegemon.
The US can't even pay the interest on its almost $32Trillion debt. It expects the rest of the world to do that by using its $. It was also a way that the US was 'exporting' inflation by it raising its interest rates.
It might take another ~30 years, say to 2050, but dedollarization is the end of the American empire (with its 800+ bases) living off the entire world.
So, expect the use of the $US for trade to fall further to ~30% of total.
I strongly recommend that you follow former central banker Kathleen Tyson & also zirpfailure on Twitter to monitor multicurrency mercantile developments.
I, myself, have archived my a/c.
Great comment. Thanks. I guess it is the speed of recent developmetns that has most taken me by surprise. Something that Jeffrey Sachs has also commented on.
Too hard to get in
OK, not sure what you mean?