"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the
issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and
corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all
property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers
conquered.... I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our
liberties than standing armies.... The issuing power should be taken from the
banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."~
Thomas Jefferson
America is in a fiscal death spiral thanks to the traitors
at the helm of the government fueled by the corrupt banking system. The traitors in the U.S. House and Senate
conspired in 2000 to overthrow the American form of government of, by, and for
the people on behalf of the Federal Reserve Bank. On December 12, 2000 five corrupt Republican
Supreme Court Justices overturned the will of hundreds of millions of voters
and installed George W. Bush as President of the United States.
Three days later during a last minute lame duck session the
U.S. Senate passed the Commodities Futures Modernization Act, deregulating the
over the counter derivative trading, banking and insurance industries. Wall Street had been trying to overturn the
Glass-Steagall Act since the Great Depression when it was installed to protect
the American people from Wall Street’s inherently risky gambles. According to the Business Insider
Excerpt:
Speculation in OTC derivatives
involves no connection to an underlying asset or to a real business risk, but
the liabilities and risks they create are real. Under state gaming laws the speculative use of OTC derivatives, such as
naked CDS (similar to naked shorts) and synthetic CDOs, was illegal in the US
until state gaming laws were preempted by the federal government's Commodity
Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA).
Officially, roughly $604.6 trillion in OTC derivative contracts, more
than ten times world GDP ($57.53 trillion), hang over the financial world like
the sword of Damocles, but to the average investor the derivatives bubble
is invisible. From the perspective of those outside the bubble, the explosion
of OTC derivatives is a mania.
Anyone with a modicum of intelligence and basic
understanding of banking could predict what the outcome would be, a complete
collapse of the global banking system like we saw in 2008. Senator Phil Gramm, one of the main sponsors
of the CFMA left the Senate in December, 2002, after serving for 24 years in
Congress and joined the Swiss based UBS Investment Bank as Vice Chairman. His wife Wendy Gramm headed the presidential
Task Force on Regulatory Relief in the Reagan administration. Wendy also was chairwoman of the U.S.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 1988 until 1993. According to a NewYork Times article:
Excerpt:
In her final days with the commission she helped push through a ruling
that exempted many energy futures contracts from regulation, a move that had
been sought by Enron. Five weeks later, after resigning from the
commission, Wendy Gramm was appointed to Enron's board of directors.
According to a report by Public
Citizen, a watchdog group in Washington, ''Enron
paid her between $915,000 and $1.85 million in salary, attendance fees, stock
options and dividends from 1993 to 2001...''
Enron exploited the deregulation mania to the max, and the result has
been economic ruin for thousands upon thousands of hard-working families. As
Public Citizen put it, ''Enron developed mutually beneficial relationships with
federal regulators and lawmakers to support policies that significantly
curtailed government oversight of [its] operations…''
Enron’s employees’ retirement funds were in Enron stock and
they were not allowed to cash out unless the Federal Trade Commission
downgraded Enron’s stock by a certain percentage point basis. Wendy Gramm and other board members cashed
out just before Enron’s 2001 collapse leaving the workers holding the bag. From Market Watch:
Excerpt:
Workers, retirees and shareholders
of Enron complained Tuesday that they
were left holding the bag when the company's "house of mirrors"
crashed…
Vigil explained that employees'
401(k) contributions were matched dollar for dollar by Enron in company stock,
with limits on swapping to more diversified investments. As the end came, employees were locked out of their accounts entirely…
"As the truth about Enron started to come to light -- and as the
officers at the top cashed out -- we, the employees, had no choice but to
ride the stock to the ground," Vigil said. He said employees' pensions
lost an estimated $1 billion.
Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay and
former Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling each sold shares in recent months for
more than $60 million, while members of
Enron's board sold shares worth more than $160 million.
Phil Gramm’s UBS tenure was much like his wife’s Enron
tenure, very shady. According to The NewYork Times:
Excerpt:
In the wake of the UBS settlement
with the United States government over bank secrecy and offshore tax evasion, some questions have been raised about
whether former Senator Phil Gramm, the Texas Republican who is now a vice
chairman at UBS, knew about the Swiss bank’s offshore activities and whether he
blocked laws meant to prevent tax evasion.
Mr. Gramm has not been involved in
the Internal Revenue Service‘s tax investigation of UBS. Still, Mr. Gramm is a
controversial figure in the economic debate right now, since it was under his leadership as chairman of the powerful Senate
Banking Committee from 1995 to 2003 that a bevy of laws were passed that
deregulated many parts of the banking sector.
For example, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley
Act allowed commercial banks, investment banks, securities firms and insurance
companies to consolidate, creating behemoths like Citigroup that later became
“too big to fail.” Mr. Gramm also pushed
through the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which led to a proliferation
of complicated derivatives that gummed up the Wall Street money machine,
sending the economic crisis into overdrive…
The reason I bring up the case of the Gramm’s is that in the
American government they are not the exception they are the rule. Since that time America has been marauding
across the globe overthrowing governments and robbing their treasuries and
natural resources in order to forestall America’s impending financial
collapse.
The election of Donald Trump as President had thrown a
wrench into the gears that have been grinding along since the installation of
George W. Bush. President Trump had
campaigned on ending the regime change wars and building better relations with
Russia, however Trump’s foreign policy has been hijacked by the Bolton, Pompeo
and Abrams axis of evil.
China had been working in concert with Brazil, Russia, India
and South Africa to form a New Development Bank that would be a competitor to
the World Bank. From Euromoney:
Excerpt:
NDB: The Brics bank takes shape
Over the last 12 months, the New
Development Bank has gone from concept to fully fledged lender. It says it wants to be differentiated by
its nimbleness and focus on sustainability. Where does it fit in a changing
multilateral landscape?...
There is a certain cosiness to the
36th floor of the Brics Tower, where the
executives of the New Development Bank reside, and it’s not just because it’s a
grim and murky day in Shanghai. “The guy who just walked in is one of the
vice-presidents; his office is next to mine,” says Leslie Maasdorp, CFO of New
Development Bank and a vice-president himself. “The president’s office is
there. There are two more VPs there,” he says, pointing. “On this floor is the
entire credit committee.”
Being small, centralized and nimble
is a key differentiator for NDB, says Maasdorp: “If there’s a project, we don’t have to wait for weeks to convene the
investment committee. We call a meeting, assess the project, approve it and
move on with our lives…
Brics acronym of 2001 referring to Brazil, Russia, India and China. Bric
became a formal institution in 2010, with South Africa added later in the year.
It was never entirely clear what it meant, other than an arbitrary and
conveniently pronounceable aggregation of enormous emerging market economies…
“The creation of the bank,” he
says, “is an expression of the intent of emerging markets to take their
rightful role in global governance.” Also, the five Brics nations
illustrated the desperate need for infrastructure development in emerging
markets.
“Also, given climate change – and
we are absolutely persuaded that the world is undergoing fundamental changes – these banks have a public good objective
to build infrastructure in a new kind of way,” Maasdorp says. “It’s not just about building roads or
ports or power plants, but looking through the lens of what damage you are
doing to the environment.”
A Brics bank, it was decided,
should be all about sustainable infrastructure, climate resilient and built
with proper governance. It would also need to have a long-term view and a
profound understanding of technological change.
“You cannot just build a road,” Maasdorp says. “You’ve got to configure what autonomous driving will mean in
five, 10, 25 years for that road.
So we weren’t just created to be another bank for emerging markets.”
With those ambitions in mind, the
bank set about the practical side of formation. The idea of a Brics bank was
first mooted at the fourth Brics summit, in New Delhi in 2012. The finance
ministers of the five constituent nations reported back with their ideas at the
next summit in Durban the following year.
During the next one, in Fortaleza in Brazil in 2014, an agreement was signed to
establish what was now called the New Development Bank…
“This is a major commitment by
these institutions,” Maasdorp says. “Each put in $2 billion, coming in
instalments; we just received the fourth instalment and are more than halfway
to the $10 billion.” This is another important distinction, he says. The ratio of paid-in capital to
subscribed capital at the NDB – 20%, with $10 billion paid in and $50 billion
subscribed – is the highest among multilateral banks.
“It’s a much higher proportion of
equity, which demonstrates the strong commitment of our shareholders to the
institution,” he says. In 2016 to 2017,
the bank approved loans involving financial assistance of over $3.4 billion
across green and renewable energy, transportation, water sanitation and
irrigation…
He says he hopes “the likes of the
UK, Germany, France will join.” (This is
perhaps not a good moment to ask the US to participate in globalization.) Maasdorp
says there is “very strong interest” for others to join, partly because of the
sheer scale of their needs. “Whether it’s Vietnam, Turkey or Mexico, they have
a massive need for funding.”
“There’s a sufficient number of
projects out there, and not enough capital,” says Maasdorp. Then there is the
China angle. China is now the
headquarters of two multilaterals, first AIIB and now NDB. “There’s no question China is playing a
bigger role in the multilateral system,” says Maasdorp. But while the bank
talks of expansion, it still faces a challenge in getting things done in its
founder countries.
There has been a heavy focus on
China and India, and far less on South Africa. “There is definitely an
intention to have a properly balanced portfolio among the five countries,” he
says. “It’s not surprising that China
and India would be disproportionate in the initial phase.” They have larger
economies and China has a very clear infrastructure rollout programme mandated
by the state, he says…
NDB has a target of $1.5 billion to
$2 billion to be deployed in South Africa this year, which would be a fourfold
increase on the $500 million committed in 2018. “What you are going to see now is a shift in momentum towards Brazil and
South Africa,” says Maasdorp. These are not always easy places to do deals
on the right terms, however.
Yes, the BRICS NDB Bank is one of the reasons the government
of Brazil was overthrown and the far right, military dictatorship of Jair Bolsonaro
was installed by the CIA, Elliott Abrams, John Bolton and Mike Pompeo. That is why China is now on the hot
seat. From Economic Times of India:
Excerpt:
BRICS under new Brazilian President
New Brazilian government has started a radical reorientation of
strategic partners, in line with the populist winds that have shaken much
of the globe.
In 2019, Brazil takes the rotating presidency of the Brics group, the club
created in 2006 that also includes Russia, India, China and South Africa.
But you wouldn’t know that from declarations of the new government of president
Jair Bolsonaro or from the list of priorities from his Foreign Minister,
Ernesto Araújo. In the new administration, the Brics have become nearly
invisible…
But it is clear that, in contrast
to his predecessors, Bolsonaro’s foreign policy priorities lie elsewhere. One likely explanation is that the Brics group became heavily associated
with the leftwing governments of the Workers Party (PT), specially during the
presidency of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010). The club of emerging
giants was an essential part of the South-South strategy which was a trade mark
of his diplomacy…
Bolsonaro’s main ally is Donald Trump, followed by Israel’s Benjamin
Netanyahu and the populist leaders of Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic.
Italy’s Mateo Salvini is already considered a close friend. In Brazil’s
neighborhood, he has formed solid
partnerships with Chile and Colombia, also governed by conservatives.
That leaves the rest of the world
in a limbo. Araújo, the new head of Itamaraty (the Foreign Ministry), has shocked the Brazilian diplomatic community
by calling himself bluntly an antiglobalist.
The new government rejects multilateralism, the United Nations and
global pacts. One of the first acts of the new government was to withdraw
Brazil from the recently signed global pact on migration. There was also talk of Brazil following Trump’s example and leaving
the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, though more pragmatic voices seem to
have prevailed and the country is sticking to it for the moment.
So the new Brazilian diplomacy
consists of few friends and limited goals, with no global ambitions. One of these goals is solving the crisis in
Venezuela, and that, incidentally, is another factor to weaken the links with
the Brics.
Bolsonaro has made it clear that toppling the government of
President Nicolas Maduro is a priority, and for that he counts on political
and maybe military support from the United States.
On the other hand, Venezuela’s dwindling number of friends
include Russia and China, the two most powerful members of the Brics. Even the other two, India and South África, even if not staunch
allies of Maduro, seem to have little stomach for regime change in Venezuela
led by Trump, specially if it comes by with a military offensive.
In the last decades, Brazilian
diplomacy has alternated between two poles: one, Atlanticist, privileges
relations with the rich, Western world; the other, strongly embodied by President Lula, sees Brazil as a natural leader
of the emerging world and emphasizes historical links with Latin America,
Africa and the Middle East.
None of these traditions, however,
has rejected the notion of a multipolar world in which Brazil is a balancing
force. But Bolsonaro has come to change
that moderating streak in Brazilian diplomacy. He has clearly taken sides
against countries not formed in the Jewish-Cristian tradition, as Minister
Araújo remarked in his inaugural speech in office. Ironically, a president that has promised to govern without
ideological bias has made ideology a central part of his priorities.
The relationship with China exemplifies this abrupt change. In the last decade, the Chinese have become the most important trade
partners of Brazil, and have been treated accordingly by all Brazilian
presidents.
Bolsonaro, however, has followed Trump in his criticism of Chinese
imperialism and appetite for buying companies and land. In the early stages
of his campaign, the president travelled to Taiwan, a sure way to irritate
Beijing. A visit by some congressmen of his party to China in January caused a
storm within his political coalition, specially after criticism from Olavo de
Carvalho, a Brazilian philosopher who lives in the US and is considered the intelectual
guru of the president. Stepping on Red
China was considered akin to treason…
Foreign relations have a way of
acomodating themselves, as they are subject to multiple pressures. But it is already clear that under
President Bolsonaro, diplomacy, as other areas in his government, will be very
different from anything we have ever seen.
You bet your ass “diplomacy will be very different from
anything we have ever seen.” From G.Q.
Excerpt:
Brazil Lost 1,330 Square Miles of Rainforest in Just the Last Six
Months
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro
has set the logging industry free—single-handedly hastening climate change.
When Jair Bolsonaro became the
president of Brazil late last year, it
was a major victory for the country's far right, and a potentially monumental
disaster for the Brazilian Amazon.
To back up a bit: It was a shock when Bolsonaro claimed
victory, not because his win came from nowhere—he was leading in the polls.
But because his rhetoric drew comparisons to fascism (Foreign Policy claimed
his propaganda campaign took a "page straight from the Nazi
playbook.") And the man
originally expected to win the election, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da
Silva, was jailed on corruption charges before the election.
It's since come out that Sergio
Moro, the presiding judge, was secretly directing prosecutors on how to conduct
their case, and Bolsonaro subsequently gave Moro the second most powerful
position in the Brazilian government—raising some eyebrows about
the legitimacy of the charges.
Bolsonaro started out as an army
captain when Brazil was ruled by a military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, and he's frequently praised the brutal
regime that kidnapped, tortured, and executed suspected dissidents and
communists.
He's vehemently anti-gay, saying
that if he saw men kissing in public then he would assault them. He told a
woman politician she was too ugly to rape. He's vowed to criminalize social
movements including his political rivals, the Workers Party. And he
now leads a country of almost 200 million people, the second biggest in the
Americas after the U.S.
Brazil is home to one of the most
valuable resources on the planet, the Amazon rainforest. For decades, preserving the rainforest had been one of the main points
of the environmental movement, and for a short while Brazil's conservation
efforts were surprisingly successful.
But Bolsonaro ran on a campaign
that promised to free up as much of the Amazon as possible for logging and
deforestation, which was an appealing promise to both Brazilian and
international business interests that often butted head with environmentalists
and conservation efforts. He vowed not
only to put "an end to activism" in Brazil, but also swore that if he
became president "not a centimeter more" of land would be protected
for indigenous people.
Under Bolsonaro, the government has
dramatically scaled back environmental enforcement efforts, including fines and
the seizure of illegal equipment. In fact, a recent investigation by the New York Times found that over the last
six months, enforcement actions by Brazil's environmental agency dropped by 20
percent compared to the year before Bolsonaro took the presidency, while
deforestation of the Brazilian rain forest shot up by 39 percent. That means that so far this year, the
Amazon lost 1,330 square miles of forest—an area the size Houston, Los Angeles,
and Chicago combined.
This has been a huge boon for the
logging industry. Ecologically though,
it's a disaster. The whole process of deforestation releases a tremendous
amount of carbon, and not just from the machinery for felling and processing
trees or from the commercial farming and cattle raising that take the place of
the forest.
The Amazon rainforest works as a
massive carbon capture system, soaking up and storing carbon emissions that
would otherwise clog the atmosphere and exacerbate climate change. As those trees are cut down, not only do
they release carbon they've been storing for decades, but they no longer do the
vital work of soaking up more than 2.4 billion tons of carbon per year.
The global environmental impact of the Amazon is so huge that the
forest has long been called "the lungs of the world,". A recent
study in the journal Science found that reforestation, planting up to 2 billion
trees around the world, could absorb as much as two thirds of all man-made
carbon emissions. Unfortunately, Brazil is doing the opposite, and the current government is openly
hostile to both Brazilian and foreign environmentalists. Or, as
Bolsonaro told one European reporter, "The Amazon is ours, not
yours."
So the Bolton, Pompeo and Abrams axis of evil are using
Brazil to try to destroy the BRICS especially China. The axis of evil sees diplomacy as a sign of
weakness. They much prefer bombs rather
than carrots. Brazil along with
Colombia, Honduras, Chile, and Guatemala are the reason America’s Southern
border is being invaded by indigenous people fleeing persecution by the axis of
evil’s dictators.
While America has been destroying the world China has been
building the world through their belt and road initiative. China finds loans and infrastructure more
effective than bombs and dictators.
China has been an apt pupil of the IMF.
For that China has incurred the traitors’ wrath. From Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge:
Excerpt:
Bombs Vs Bridges: How Two Empires Are Competing For Their Version Of
The New World Order
There is a crisis in the Western
world. Both in terms of domestic affairs
and foreign policy, Western nations are showing all signs of impending
collapse. This is despite the fact that the flagship of the Western world,
the United States, continues to expand its empire across the globe. At the same
time, the world is witnessing the
“rise of China,” an empire in its own right though no one seems to have
any interest in calling it what it is.
The American empire has come to
terms with itself to some extent.
Through all the claims of support for “democracy” and “freedom,” the United
States has transitioned to an authoritarian state at home and a rampaging
military of conquest abroad.
Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Sudan,
Syria, Ukraine, Egypt, Somalia, Niger, Cameroon, Nigeria, Venezuela, Chad and
Mali all serve as hot battles for the American military (in cooperation with
other Western militaries, including Australia) in service of forcing
governments into accepting the rule of private central banks, big biotechnology
firms, pharmaceutical and industrial corporations and forcing those nations into providing
raw materials for major industry centered in the Western world.
This says nothing of the American
military bases in place across the globe. The
US military posture of aggression coupled with threats of invasion against
sovereign nations who are not compliant is well-known the world over and
only the willfully blind do not see it.
But the US is definitely not alone in this.
China is also an empire and it is
also marching across the globe attempting to expand its influence and control.
However, most Westerners do not recognize it as such and even those
anti-imperialist journalists in the alternative media find it difficult if not
impossible to call China what it is; an expanding empire. Like the United States, China’s empire is one based on authoritarianism
and control, though placing the collective in an even higher priority than its
American competitor. Domestically, it has surpassed America in
totalitarianism though the US is running as quickly as it can to the Marxist
slaughterhouse.
While the US offers sticks, China offers carrots, albeit tainted ones.
The US offers threats of overthrow and chaos, China offers roads and industry. The
US offers bombs, China offers bridges. Despite
the manifestations, however, both countries are offering nothing more than
empire in different packaging.
The Chinese Strategy
With the exception of its domestic
oppression, China’s expansion of empire has
been largely bloodless. It has focused on the maintenance of its status as a
“developing nation” as well as benefiting from Free Trade globalism, the
intentional de-industrialization of the West (particularly the United States)
and the tyrannical repression of individual rights at home.
China’s slave labor industrial model [see here also] has made it the
number one dumping spot for jobs that once provided high wages and high living
standards to workers in America and, though raising some Chinese out of the
poverty of rural areas, has simply moved them to the poverty of the city. With
its excessively long hours, authoritarian work culture, extreme pollution, and
low living standards, China has made the Chinese people into the collective Mao
slaughtered so many to bring about, a
mass able to be molded and adapted to serve the whims of the ruling class.
China has used the designation of
“developing nation” to its greatest benefit,
allowing it to skirt virtually all environmental regulations, turning the country
into a toxic cesspit of pollution, chemical pools, and fake food…
Likewise, China has willingly acted
as a depository for the Free Trade system, allowing
it to soak up jobs and industry that should have remained in the West providing
high wages and high living standards for Americans. Unfortunately, however,
both the left and the right, as well
as the well-meaning but uninformed middle have supported this transition under
the name of Free Trade. But the result is not just the weakening of
American economic might, it is the growth of China’s economic and, hence,
political power.
Buying up US debt as well as
manufacturing material that is essential for the US economy and national
security has placed China in a position where attempts by the US to regain its
industry puts America in a precarious position. If China sees its current status of economic powerhouse going by the
wayside, it could decide to commit
suicide by dumping the dollar.
If this happens, it is highly likely that the US will be plunged into
an immediate financial crisis. This time, however, the US will not be
equipped with the industrial infrastructure it had before NAFTA, GATT, and the
various Chinese trade agreements to survive such a destructive decision. It is obvious that mutual destruction is
the only thing holding China back from pushing the button but, if it is
assured of its own destruction, why wouldn’t China push it?
It is this fact, as well as the US law that allows for foreign
nations to donate to political candidates and a myriad of organizations of
influence throughout the country that has essentially created a system in
which China is able to act as perhaps the second busiest lobbying firm in
Washington after AIPAC.
Together with buying up land inside
the United States (land now owned by the Chinese government) including ports
and industrial facilities, the US is slowly becoming more and more dependent on
China than ever, weak attempts at tariffs notwithstanding. Even critical components of the American military, national security,
and economic infrastructure have now been outsourced to China, demonstrating
both how well the Chinese have played the game and how intelligent American
“leaders” have spiked the football.
The current situation is not
an accident, it is a necessary consequence of Free Trade that was known long
ago and was, in fact, one reason this disastrous policy was introduced.
The Strategy Of Bridges
While the US bombs its way across the world, threatening to overthrow
uncooperative governments at the slightest sign of resistance, China has chosen
to play the long game, armed with centralized economic control and captured
American industry at its command, by using its economic might and promised
(often real) guarantees of economic growth to the third and “developing” world.
What China offers is development,
infrastructure, and economic growth but what it takes in return is influence
and control over sovereign affairs.
Much like its position of holding
America’s debt, China holds critical infrastructure and the purse strings of
investment and growth. If one decides to
balk at Chinese wishes, they will not face a color revolution or bombs, they
will face having the financial spigot cut off…
One such example of the rapid expansion of Chinese influence in world
affairs is the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative. OBOR is a global
“development initiative” launched publicly by the Chinese government in 152
countries and “international organizations” spanning the globe in Asia, the
Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
The “Belt” aspect of OBOR refers to
overland routes as well as road and rail routes (aka “Silk Road Economic Belt”)
and the “road” aspect involves the sea routes, the 21st Century “Maritime Silk
Road.” Interestingly enough, the plan involves the improvement of
infrastructure on land routes that equate to the old Silk Road. It is essentially the creation of a
trading network controlled and owned by the Chinese government.
But the Chinese initiative is about
much more than mere trade routes. It is
a neo-colonial project that is using the carrots of trade and infrastructure
held in front of the third world as bait, while the subservience of the
recipient nations is what is paid in return...
China, of course, rejects such
criticism and labels those who point out China’s “debt-trap diplomacy” as not
being able to see beyond their own Western views of development as colonialism,
while the Chinese have a pure, more equitable concept of it. Obviously, this is
a fair response to critics from the Western
world who have scarcely developed a third world country without also using it
as a harvesting ground for labor or raw materials…
Djibouti is a perfect example of Chinese neo-colonialism
One may look at the case of
Djibouti to see an example of Chinese neo-colonialism at work. In this small,
financially disadvantaged, East Africa country, China has planted its foot via the creation of two new airports, a
new port, and the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway. The very size of these
projects, particularly when taken into consideration the size of Djibouti and
the financial situation of the country, make
China’s presence there absolutely immense.
And with such an immense presence
comes immense influence and control.
This is to say nothing of the fact that Djibouti is China’s first overseas
military base. It thus stands as
the first “pearl” in the string long desired by the Chinese government. To be clear, Djibouti was in need of
all the things China built. So why the controversy?
These projects were built and
developed with Chinese investment and Chinese money but they were also funded
via debt in the host countries like Djibouti. The question then becomes whether or not these countries will be able
to service their debt to China and, when they inevitably cannot, what will
happen?
China is simply engaging in the
same practices as the International Monetary Fund, wherein target nations are promised and provided some degree of
development, only to see the debt service far beyond anything they are able to
repay. At that point, the IMF
privatizes essential services, natural resources, and industry. This
“payments in kind” model is precisely what China is betting on. In this case,
China is simply stepping in to become the IMF and stepping in to suck up the
resources and industry that will inevitably be sacrificed to “service” the
debt.
China is going after other countries with “debt traps”
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Angola, and Zambia have already suffered such consequences from China and Sri
Lanka also has a story tell… Every time Sri Lanka’s president, Mahinda
Rajapaksa, turned to his Chinese allies for loans and assistance with an
ambitious port project, the answer was yes.
Yes, though feasibility studies said the port wouldn’t work. Yes, though other frequent lenders like
India had refused. Yes, though Sri Lanka’s debt was ballooning rapidly
under Mr. Rajapaksa.
Over years of construction and
renegotiation with China Harbor Engineering Company, one of Beijing’s largest
state-owned enterprises, the Hambantota
Port Development Project distinguished itself mostly by failing, as predicted.
With tens of thousands of ships passing by along one of the world’s busiest
shipping lanes, the port drew only 34
ships in 2012.
And then the port became China’s.
Mr. Rajapaksa was voted out of
office in 2015, but Sri Lanka’s new government struggled to make payments on
the debt he had taken on. Under heavy
pressure and after months of negotiations with the Chinese, the government
handed over the port and 15,000 acres of land around it for 99 years in
December. The transfer gave China
control of territory just a few hundred miles off the shores of a rival, India,
and a strategic foothold along a critical commercial and military waterway…
As far what lies ahead for Djibouti, ‘The debt with China increases
exponentially. They are going to take this port, just like they did in Sri
Lanka,’ Doualeh Egueh Ofleh, a deputy in the National Assembly with the
opposition Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development told ISS Today. This
is what lies ahead for all the nations who take part in China’s OBOR initiative…
With China expected to invest
around $1.3 trillion in infrastructure projects across the globe, it should be
remembered that what China is promoting is not even a plan designed to protect
the Chinese economy, it is a Free Trade
network that will see China at the helm of the exploitation of workers,
worker’s rights, and the environment.
OBOR is not about fighting against
Free Trade with the cooperation of third world countries, it is about expanding exploitation to those countries with a Chinese
flavor instead of the Western Anglo version. That,
in a nutshell, is what Free Trade is all about. Indeed, Free Trade and
colonialism have always existed side by side. The two are virtually
inseparable…
China’s Empire Uses Military Might Also
That China’s empire takes the form
of economics and “debt trap” diplomacy should not discount the fact that it
also intends to spread through military force. Most notable is Chinese aggression
in the South China Sea… One need only
look at the South China Sea to see a perfect example.
The South China Sea is perhaps the biggest and most important oceanic
shipping and trade route in Asia. China, of course, has laid claim to the
vast majority of the SCS. However, there are more countries than China in the
South China Sea and closer to the
Spratly Islands, which China also has laid claim to.
Known as the “9-Dash Line,” Chinese
claims in the South China Seas encroach upon the territorial waters of Vietnam,
the Phillippines, and Malaysia. So obviously overblown were the Chinese claims
when the Phillippines took China to international court over its claims, the
court ruled against China. Much like the
empire across the ocean, China simply ignored the ruling and continued to act
virtually as the sole owner of the South China Sea…
Partly in order to extend its
“legitimate” claims to the sea and partly to expand its military footprint, China then began constructing man-made
islands in the SCS for the purpose of deploying military forces to the islands.
With the construction of the islands, China also likely believes it can argue
its claims to even more of the South China Sea as a result of its placement on
the islands it made as well as
physically control the area where $5.3 trillion worth of trade takes place
every year, $1.2 trillion of which belongs to the United States.
In addition to use as a trade route, the South China Sea also may contain
around 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas,
according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. SCS is also one of the most important fishing zones in the world,
an industry that China is the overwhelming leader in.
Add to the aggressive military
posture in the South China Sea, China’s own policy that Taiwan will one day be
brought to heel under the current Chinese government (aka the “One China
Policy), and the threat of Chinese military action becomes very real. Indeed, China has become more aggressive both
diplomatically and militarily in its stance toward Taiwan.
Which Is The More Successful Strategy?
Although both America and China are spreading their empire across the
globe, the immediate short term methods of doing so seem completely
opposite to one another. But in the race
to expand empire, which one is winning?
America has pushed its empire across the world by using bombs, color
revolutions, invasions, sanctions, and other forms of imperialist aggression
for a hundred years, most notably
in the last two decades. The continuing destruction of governments,
countries, and cultures has made American imperialism clear to all its victims
and to all the populations watching the American war machine march forward.
The US empire has unmasked itself
before the world. There is no longer any
doubt as to the fact that the American military and all the power of the
American government is being used to impose the Western-financier system on the
rest of the world.
Decades of watching their families being murdered, their culture and
countries being destroyed has resulted not in the capitulation to the whims of
America’s dictates but a deep-seated simmering hatred. It has also resulted
in a growing resistance and ever-unified opposition to the spread of American
influence. In many cases, it has resulted in the establishment of alliances of
countries that otherwise would not have had common ground, based upon the common ground of a need for defense against the
United States and NATO.
The Chinese empire has also been
spreading for decades but the Chinese have been playing the long game and doing
so in the most covert manner possible. While
America’s bombs leave a bloody trail back to Washington, China’s bridges
generally leave goodwill, increased investment, and, to some degree, economic
growth within third world countries that desperately need it but are unable,
for various reasons, to create it for themselves.
That is, these investments bring
goodwill for a short time until Chinese tentacles begin to squeeze tighter and
tighter both at the economic and social levels. The Chinese version of empire is no less insidious but, over the long
haul, it may be just as effective. By using the carrot instead of the
stick, China is luring away countries that may have been clients or targets of
the United States. It is expanding its
empire by the day and doing so without firing a single shot.
The American empire is overextended
and showing signs of collapse. It has repeatedly shown that it cannot be
trusted to live up to even the most minor agreements it has made with its “clients,” and the threat of
expressing one ounce of sovereignty by its concubines results in bombs, blood,
and upheaval. China is, of course,
there to pick the low hanging fruit and to capitalize on the failures of
American empire and the fears of falling under its orbit. America’s
clients see bombs in their future. China’s clients see bridges.
As a result, American influence in
the world is waning while China’s grows by the day. America, in many respects, is spreading China’s empire itself.
How Could The US Turn It Around?
If the United States wishes to
maintain its influence on the world stage, it must abandon its desires for an
empire and it must cease attempting to
force systems of government upon sovereign nations, particularly the
Anglo-financier system. If the United States does not wish to see its
influence eroded and eliminated in the coming decades, it must focus on providing tangible improvement in the lives of the
citizens of the countries it wishes to influence and it must do so through an
open and honest channel, unlike the Chinese debt trap and unlike and most
unlike the carpet bombing American version.
America has done everything in its power to squander the enormous good
will many of the world’s people had in the past and still continue to have for
it today. However, that need not be the case. America could once again
establish good will for generations to come if it decides to influence the
world by improving the living standards of its people. America’s legacy must cease to be war and destabilization and instead
must become clean water, clean air, industry, infrastructure, and freedom…
But in order to usher in a Marshall
Plan for the World, America must first
rebuild itself. It must boldly proclaim an end to Free Trade. America must return to a country that
protects its own economic interests and national prosperity by enacting
tariffs on goods coming into the country that can reasonably be produced
domestically and return to a state of high wages and high employment. A 15%
tariff across the board, not used as negotiating technique or a political
hammer, but as a means to protect and
encourage growth inside the United States that provides high wage and high
skill jobs to American workers.
The creation of infrastructure and higher living standards in the third
world will do more to expand American influence than all the bombs its military
can drop. It is a legacy that will engender good will for generations and
will improve the lives of billions of people in the process.
Conclusion
The Western world has finally
routed itself into a crisis not only of culture and values but of its very
existence. Decades of imperialist wars
designed to force third world countries into accepting the Anglo-financier
system have drained America’s resources and have set the country into
upheaval at home. The American empire is primed for collapse. Only by
abandoning the concept of empire at all can the United States return to a state
where it is the greatest engine for wealth and freedom the world has ever
known.
Abandoning the neo-liberal policies of Free Trade would not only
re-industrialize the United States, it would cut the knees out from under
the competing empire quickly emerging across the ocean. The United States must
focus on rebuilding domestically. If America wants to spread the principles of
prosperity and freedom, doing so on the basis of respect, peace, and investment
will win over the ideologies of Communism, Fascism, and Authoritarianism. Instead of dropping bombs, the U.S. should
invest in building bridges. But more than bridges, America should be the symbol
for clean drinking water, electricity, highways, airports, jobs, clean air, and
a healthy environment the world over. If America wants to continue its influence
across the globe, it has no other choice.
Fat chance the Bolton/Pompeo/Abrams axis of evil will
abandon neo-liberal policies of Free Trade and carpet bombing and color
revolutions for clean drinking water, electricity, highways, airports and
jobs. The only chance that would happen
is if Trump exterminates the vermin who have invaded his administration. But that isn’t going to happen, especially
with the complete embargo they have placed on Venezuela for refusing to remove
their elected government for an American dictatorship. From Checkpoint Asia:
Excerpt:
The Chinese Ride to the Rescue of Venezuela’s Run-Down Oil Refineries
Sanctioned country is not able to
cover its own gasoline needs
A Chinese contractor has agreed to shore up Venezuela’s derelict
refining network to ease fuel shortages, potentially complicating the Trump
administration’s push for regime change in the oil-rich country. Wison Engineering Services Co., a
Shanghai-based chemical engineering and construction company that is using
China’s ‘Belt & Road’ infrastructure program to expand overseas, agreed last month to repair Venezuela’s
main refineries in exchange for oil products including diesel, according to
people with knowledge of the deal.
U.S. financial sanctions aimed at starving the current regime of
revenue contributed to the decision to revive a domestic refining industry
crippled by years of mismanagement and under-investment, said one of the
people, who asked not to be identified because the information is confidential.
The deal mirrors the OPEC producer’s other arrangements with Russian
and Chinese oil majors, under which payments are made in crude by
Venezuela’s cash-strapped national oil company.
Wison’s repairs are expected to
last six months to a year, according to another person. The Nicolas Maduro administration was having difficulties navigating
the U.S. economic blockade even before the U.S. announced additional
restrictions on Aug. 5. Last month state-controlled Petroleos de Venezuela
SA was importing Russian gasoline through Malta to relieve shortages, a slow
and expensive route to the Caribbean nation.
Irregular Supply
Irregular fuel supplies have
crippled mobility in a country where shortages of food and basic medical
supplies have already caused a health crisis and led to one of the largest mass
migrations of recent times. PDVSA, as the state producer is known, has
been directing most available gasoline to Caracas, where Maduro is most
vulnerable to mass protests.
The Trump administration was hoping to swiftly chase Maduro out of
power earlier this year and has criticized China and Russia for supporting what
it considers a criminal and repressive regime.
Wison didn’t respond to an email or fax seeking comment on the
refinery contract. PDVSA didn’t respond to emails and calls seeking comment.
The Chinese company hasn’t
completed a contract it won in 2012 to overhaul the Puerto la Cruz refinery.
Wison’s revenue from Venezuela sank 72% last year as the nation’s economic
crisis deepened, according to its an annual report. China and Russia have an interest
in preventing the complete collapse of Venezuela’s oil industry because it’s
the only way to recoup the tens of billions of dollars in loans and investments
they have made in the past decade.
Wison’s deal also underscores how the oil-hungry Asian nation remains
committed to Venezuela as a strategic location for foreign investment.
Economic Blockade
Restoring fuel production, if it happens fast enough, would weaken the
U.S. economic blockade and put Maduro in a stronger negotiating position as
talks with the opposition drag on without any visible progress. Despite Venezuelans’ widespread
dissatisfaction with their government, divisions within the opposition are
complicating the push toward a post-Maduro administration…
Venezuela’s refining industry, once
a major supplier to the U.S. with 1.3 million barrels a day of capacity, has
been in gradual decline due to theft, inadequate maintenance and a brain drain
of qualified staff, and was hit by a series of major power outages this year. In
recent years, PDVSA hasn’t even been able to meet domestic gasoline demand that
has historically been about 250,000 barrels a day…
American officials continue to
project confidence about replacing Maduro with a pro-business administration
despite the lack of progress. China rejects “foreign interventions and
unilateral sanctions” in Venezuela, and supports dialogue between the
government and the opposition, its embassy in Caracas said in a statement on
May 12.
The embassy didn’t immediately
offer additional comments when contacted by the business news agency. China
wants “to be identified with a friendly socialist government, especially in the
backyard of the U.S.,” said Schreiner Parker, Rystad Energy’s vice
president for Latin America. “They have
no guarantee that a regime change will necessarily mean that they’re going to
be repaid.”
You can be damn sure China won’t be repaid if the elected
government of Nicolas Maduro is removed.
Not only will China not be repaid but the people of Venezuela will
suffer immensely just like the people of Brazil have since their elected
government was removed. America is in a
fiscal death spiral thanks to the traitors at the helm of the government fueled
by the corrupt banking system. This game
of chicken with China is not going to end well for anyone especially
America. The traitors at the helm and
their neoconservative and neoliberal enablers in congress’ China derangement
syndrome will destroy what’s left of America.
