South African Ambassador Anil Sooklal revealed that more than 40 countries have expressed interest in joining the BRICS group of nations.
BRICS
The arrival of new members will be the big announcement for the next BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit to be held in South Africa at the end of August.
In addition to the 22 countries that have formally applied, an “equal number of countries have informally expressed their interest in joining BRICS, … (including) all major countries of the South,” Anil Sooklal said.
This is important news, in the sense that the BRICS are clearly seeking to counterbalance Western influence in world affairs. Challenging US monetary hegemony is an essential prerequisite for joining the club.
Argentina, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia have all recently distanced themselves from the greenback in an effort to show their credentials.
Saudi Arabia, for example, announced at the beginning of the year its intention to sell its oil in yuan (as well as in euros), and no longer exclusively in dollars.
The United Arab Emirates and Indonesia have stopped using the dollar for their trade with India. Argentina has for its part imposed on the IMF to repay its debt in yuan rather than in dollars.
The Persians have nothing more to prove. Iran has always refused to sell its oil in dollars. Hence the US embargo that has persisted for decades now.
South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, however, said that creating a new currency is no small feat:
“It is an issue that we have to discuss and that we have to debate properly. I don’t think we should always assume that the idea will work, because economics is a very difficult subject and all countries have to be taken into account. »
Rebellion against Imperial Mint
The BRICS are pushing for the use of national currencies, but there are limits. As proof, Russia itself recently stopped selling its oil in Indian rupees. Indeed, why accumulate rupees if India has nothing to sell that interests the Russians?
Hence the need to trade in another universally accepted currency. The dollar this role since the Second World War.
Unfortunately, the United States is shamelessly profiting from this “exorbitant privilege” that comes in the form of a strong dollar despite a chronic trade deficit. The reason being that nations accumulate trillions of dollars in reserve which are placed in US debt.
In July 2023, the official US federal government debt figure was $32.6 trillion. That’s $97,261 for every American. Or $248,403 per family.
To which is added the private debt of households of 19,000 billion dollars. That gives us $154,000 in debt per American of any age.
We could still add corporate debt and the roughly $100 trillion that the US government will have to borrow to meet its pension commitments, health insurance, and so on.
Despite this gargantuan debt, the dollar remains strong thanks to its status as an international reserve currency. If that were to change, Americans would no longer be able to import as much without causing the dollar to collapse.
But for this scenario to become reality, it will be necessary to find a replacement. The absence of Vladimir Putin in Durban, however, suggests that no sensational announcement will be made next month.
BRICS Currency = New World Order
The world is becoming multipolar and the war in Ukraine increasingly appears as a desperate attempt to stem this dynamic.
Russia is the spearhead of the sling against the dollar. Bringing about regime change in Russia is ultimately imperative to sustaining the US debt ponzi. Washington hopes that subduing Russia will be enough to put an end to the global sling.
This sling now consists of finding a replacement for the dollar. Central bank reserves currently consist mostly of US/EU bonds and gold.
Since US debt is very liquid, it can be quickly and cheaply converted into dollars by central banks if necessary. The downside being, as we said, it amounts to financing the United States, not to mention the risk of confiscating the reserves.
So what ? The Chinese yuan? It is not a freely convertible currency and Beijing does not seem to want to change at all.
Which does not mean that China is satisfied with the exorbitant privilege enjoyed by Washington. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently published a long paper in which we can read that “the hegemony of the dollar is the main source of instability and uncertainty in the world economy”and that she “has become a geopolitical weapon”.
Gold? The Barbarian Relic is a good hedge in times of crisis, but it does not earn interest. It is also impossible to oil world trade with a currency that is so expensive to move.
And if…
The solution already existed in the form of a currency existing in fixed quantity? After all, in a world where energy scarcity is getting worse (decreasing), no debt security will offer an interest rate higher than inflation. Those days are over unless there is an unlikely energy miracle.
It then makes sense to simply rely on a store of absolute value. Knowing that the finite money supply of 21 million units makes bitcoin infinitely superior to gold.
Not to mention his stateless character. Bitcoin does not benefit any particular nation, while having the great advantage of being a currency as well as an uncensorable (two-in-one) payment network, unlike the SWIFT network…
Even Blackrock CEO Larry Fink now realizes that Bitcoin is cut out for “transcend all other currencies” on an international scale :
Bitcoin will not replace fiat currency, but it can be the universal reserve currency. Embracing bitcoin means playing on equal terms.
We would breathe a wind of fairness that could greatly appease the deleterious global climate that recalls dark times in our history.
Even presidential candidate R. Kennedy proposes that the US government accumulate Bitcoins…
Receive a digest of news in the world of cryptocurrencies by subscribing to our new service of daily and weekly so you don’t miss any of the essential Tremplin.io!
