Monday, September 4, 2017

Economic Crisis: Russia and the Chinese Petrodollar Kill Shot

Economic Crisis: Russia and the Chinese Petrodollar Kill Shot

One Two Punch: Russia's Game Changing Intervention in the Mideast and the Failure of Engineered Lower Oil Prices to Break Moscow's Will While Draining Saudi Coffers Forced Riyadh to Beijing Hat in Hand

China has read out an inescapable verdict on the petrodollar -- it will be used less and less with each passing month in global trade, specifically transactions in petroleum that have been pegged to the greenback by agreement between Washington and its allied Persian Gulf producers led by Saudi Arabia since the 1970s.

Without a radical shift that American elites appear utterly incapable of humbling themselves to achieve, China and its allies led by the Russians and Iranians' influence will grow stronger, while Washington and its relevance will grow weaker. Washington's failure to topple the Russian defended Assad government of Syria, a losing war of occupation for the Saudi kingdom in Yemen, and Riyadh's humiliating failure to break the will of liquefied natural gas exporter and rival Sunni Islam patron Qatar all demonstrate that the petrodollar's time is up.

The Increasingly Not So Subtle Saudi Shift to the Eurasian Camp, as Riyadh's Syria and Yemen Wars Fail and the Failed Qatar Blockade Humiliates the Kingdom

““In late May, then Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman went to Russia to discuss with President Vladimir Putin the oil market and the situation in Syria. The visit came just three weeks before Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef was removed and bin Salman took his position. While in Moscow, the latter said that ‘relations between Saudi Arabia and Russia are going through one of their best moments ever.’

“Two months later, Moscow and Riyadh signed a preliminary military cooperation agreement worth $3.5bn.The Saudis have requested transfer of technology to accompany the signing of the deal.” [emphasis added]”

— http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/russia-slowly-surely-putting-end-american-empire/ri20789
Seeing the writing on the wall, the young and ambitious Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed has softened his hard line stance in support of the Syria jihadists while looking for a way out of the Yemen quagmire which Iranian support for the Houthis has deepened. A Saudi withdrawal from Yemen that spares the Kingdom internal revolt may be possible, but not without Riyadh making the mother of all concessions to the Eurasian giants if not the arch rival Iranians -- abandoning the petrodollar in favor of the petroyuan. A development Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned this summer would be an inevitable consequence of the desperate, extraterritorial sanctions passed by the Congress to wreck Russian energy trade with Europe and force Europeans led by the Germans to buy expensive American LNG exports.

How’s Socialism Doing In Venezuela?

September 04, 2017

from Freedom Outpost:
Once there was a South American country with a promising future. It had a functioning democracy, a rapidly developing economy, and a growing middle class. All the important indicators, including education, health care, and foreign investment, were pointed in the right direction.
It was far from perfect, but the mood was hopeful – and with good reason.
But now all that promise is gone. The country is a failed state, a hollowed-out shell of its former self.
Services like power and water are sporadic. The most basic consumer goods, from bread to toilet paper, are in chronically short supply.
Crime has skyrocketed.
Freedom of the press is almost non-existent.
Democracy has been replaced by a virtual dictatorship.
The country is, I’m sorry to say, my beloved Venezuela, a place in which my family has deep roots.
I can tell you what happened to it in one word: socialism.
In 1999, then-candidate for President Hugo Chavez promised to lead the people of Venezuela to a socialist paradise. His theme was “Esperanza y Cambio” – “Hope and Change”.
“Venezuela is a nation of great wealth,” Chavez said, “but it’s being stolen from its citizens by the evil capitalists and the evil corporations.”
This wrong would be righted, he assured the voters, if they elected him. And they did, to their everlasting regret.
Chavez drew inspiration from his mentor, Fidel Castro.
Like his mentor, he enjoyed giving speeches – some which lasted as many as seven hours! He even gave himself his own weekly television show where he would spontaneously break into song.
Here’s a rule: When your nation’s leader starts singing on national television, you’re in trouble.
Under Chavez, the government of Venezuela took over industry after industry.
The government, he assured everyone, would run these businesses better than private enterprise, and the profits would be “shared” by the people.
With great fanfare, he tore up contracts with multinational oil and gas companies and demanded that they pay much higher royalties.
When they refused, he told them to leave. They did.
His image was burnished by Hollywood celebrities who flocked to see the great work he was doing – taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor.
Progressive politicians from the US and Europe also praised him lavishly.
Here’s another rule: When Hollywood celebrities visit your country to praise your leader you’re in trouble.
When the leader sings on national television and is praised by Hollywood celebrities, you’re doomed.
Socialism always works in the beginning, so people are fooled...in the beginning.
It’s easy for governments to confiscate money, but eventually, there’s no more money to confiscate.
In the case of Venezuela, I mean that literally: People who could get money out of the country, did.
Read More @ FreedomOutpost.com