Vince Dhimos answered a question at Quora.
 
https://www.quora.com/Why-doesnt-Europe-abandon-the-USA-and-NATO-and-accept-the-Chinese-world-order-Wont-the-world-be-a-much-more-prosperous-and-peaceful-place-if-it-shuns-the-USA-and-its-warmongering-ways/answer/Vince-Dhimos
 
WHY DOESN’T EUROPE ABANDON THE USA AND NATO AND ACCEPT THE CHINESE WORLD ORDER? WHY DOESN’T EUROPE ABANDON THE US AND NATO AND ACCEPT THE CHINESE WORLD ORDER?
 
Editor-in-Chief at New Silk Strategies (2016–present)
 
A recent article in Bloomberg shows that the first step toward your dream may in fact come true. Germany Weighs Measures Against U.S. Over Nord Stream Threat
 
In fact, Germany’s refusal to pay the exorbitant amounts assessed by Trump toward the upkeep of NATO forces in Germany is a first step in pulling away from that protection racket. (https://www.quora.com/Why-hasn-t-NATO-evaluated-its-peacekeeping-experience-to-identify-and-implement-best-practices-for-transitioning-failed-states-into-functional-democracy/answer/Vince-Dhimos).
 
Bloomberg writes:
 
“Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration is considering pressing for coordinated European Union action, according to two German officials familiar with the discussions. An economy ministry paper seen by Bloomberg News said such measures by the U.S. would be new and could hit significantly more German and European companies and banks as well as state agencies.” [This refers to the new US sanctions against Europe. Vince]
 
Some background is in order. Germany is the acknowledged leader of the EU. In fact, former German defence ministress Ursula Von der Leyen is now the president of the EU Commission, the body that makes the really important decisions and decides which issues get voted on. It is reasonable to expect her loyalty to her own country to play a role.
 
As for the China part of the question, while Europe can’t afford to abandon the US completely, a China-EU summit has been held as a video conference. The US is already too openly hostile to China for a US-China summit to take place.Brookings Institution highlights the differences between the US and EU approach to China. The future of trans-Atlantic collaboration on China: What the EU-China summit showed.
 
According to that report, the EU is not about to wage any kind of trade or other economic war with China, despite EU misgivings about Chinese governance. This approach has the advantage over the US because China, despite US objections, is inextricably tied to its partner countries, including the US. The Trump idea of complete decoupling can only harm the US. And of course, the harder Trump pushes against China and pushes the EU to join in its anti-China policies, the harder the EU will push back against the US. This forms the back drop of the planned German and EU sanctions against the US.
 
The issue behind the new move toward independence of Europe is the US sanctions intended to kill the Nord Stream 2 project based on a legally binding contract between Russia and Germany for the laying of a pipeline and the supply of natural Russian gas to Germany. The sanctions already caused the main pipe-laying company Allseas to suspend its work with only 6% of the pipeline remaining to be laid. It was a sleazy dirty trick on the part of the Trump administration and the US Congress and Senate. Although the US bases its move on the ridiculous idea that buying Russian gas puts Europe’s “energy security” at risk, the scarcely hidden ulterior motive is the desire to sell US LNG to Europe. The absurdity of the US pretext is obvious when you consider that US LNG costs 40% more than Russian pipeline-delivered gas. It boggles the mind. And it infuriated Germany.
 
Now that Merkel will be the wizard behind the EU curtain, there can be no doubt that both German national and EU supranational measures will be taken against the US for its brazenness.
 
This stands geopolitics on its head, with the sanctions bludgeon now in the hands of Europe and with the US on the receiving end.
 
What has gone around has come around.
 
WAR NEWS
 
 
Russian Hmeimim airbase swats down dozen missiles fired by Turkish-backed jihadists
 
https://avia.pro/news/neozhidannyy-manyovr-rossiyskih-pvoshnikov-v-sirii-zastavil-turciyu-drozhat-takogo-erdogan-ne?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fzen.yandex.com&utm_campaign=dbr
 
Since Turkish proxies are attacking Russians and Turkey is a proxy of the US, you can say that the US and Russia are at war with each other. Russia has superior air power.
 
Sudanese would/be mercenaries arrested
 
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/sudanese-forces-arrest-dozens-of-mercenaries-en-route-to-libya/?utm_medium=ppc&utm_source=push&utm_campaign=push%notificationss&utm_content=varies
 
Like all US wars, the attack on Sudan ordered by Bill Clinton in Sudan in 1998 was based on a contrived pretext and most observers agree it – along with an attack in Afghanistan – was done to divert attention away from the Lewinski scandal. As I always say, the US has no department of defence. Its engagements are always offensive and criminal so that department should be properly named as the Department of Offense.
 
It is interesting to note that Sudan, which was humiliated by Bill Clinton and attacked for no valid reason at all should now support the forces of Khalifa Haftar, who opposes the “government” of Faez Serraj in Tripoli which exists solely at the pleasure of the UN and the US and has no democratic legitimacy whatsoever. It was Hillary Clinton who headed the State Department when the heinous murder of Ghadaffi by the US-NATO threw Libya into chaos and opened its doors to the terrorists who are now fought by Khalifa Haftar and supported by Serraj, so it is only fitting that Sudan should support Haftar by supplying him with weapons.
 
Once more, the Washington war machine ignored the fact that even weak nations that it attacks can eventually find a way to fight back.

https://www.quora.com/Would-the-EU-be-better-off-with-Russia-or-should-they-stay-close-to-the-USA/answer/Vince-Dhimos

Would the EU be better off with Russia, or should they stay close to the USA?
 
Vince Dhimos
 
Editor-in-Chief at New Silk Strategies (2016–present)
 
The question implies that the EU must either accept Russia or the US. But that is not the issue. It’s like saying: Should the US choose Canada or Mexico. Well, both of course.
 
Some Westerners think Russia is of no use to Europe. Some even claim that Russia has a non-European language and culture and its history had nothing in common with Europe.
 
All of these are fallacies of people with a limited outlook and knowledge of history and culture and suffering from the dread psychological disorder of hyperpatriotism. And these fallacies are nurtured by the US propaganda factory that is based on the NATO raison d’etre, namely that Russia is — supposedly — the enemy of the West. This in turn is nurtured by the myth of “Russian aggression,” which I debunked here:
http://www.newsilkstrategies.com/military-affairs/the-real-aggressor-is-not-russia-its-the-us
 
Want to talk language and culture? As a Slavic language, Russian is part of the same Indo-European family as English. As for culture and history, ever hear of Swan Lake? The composer was Russian. Chekhov? Dostoyevsky? They were Russian. The inventor of television at RCA was also Russian. Lev Tolstoy? His novel War and Peace is about what the Russians call the Great Patriotic War of 1812. The allies of Russia included Prussia and Austria. France lost ignominiously. Later Napoleon would be defeated again, this time at Waterloo in Belgium by a coalition consisting of Britain, Netherlands, some German states and Prussia. Later, the US would ally itself with a group of nations including Russia to fight WW II. Russia killed 3 out of every 4 of the Nazi troops killed in that war and it also liberated Auschwitz, although the West refuses to give it its due credit. Mike Pence, in his speech in Europe commemorating the end of WWII, could not bring himself to say that it was the Red Army that liberated Auschwitz. He only managed to mutter that it was freed by “soldiers.”
 
Let’s look at Russia’s usefulness. At this moment, Russia and Germany have a signed contract for the laying of a pipeline called Nord Stream 2 from Russia to Germany and for the supply of natural gas at a rate sufficient to supply all or most of Germany’s gas needs. Now Germany is the world’s second biggest exporter after China and it needs affordable gas to run its economy. NOTE: Russian gas delivered by pipeline is 40% cheaper than US LNG.
 
So let’s see how useful the US is to Germany and the EU, or in other words, how much better off Europe is with the US.
 
For several years, Richard Gernell, Trump’s ambassador to Germany, has been haranguing that country to desist from buying Russian gas and buy the 40% MORE EXPENSIVE US LNG. The reason? According to Grenell and the Trump administration, buying Russian gas is a threat to European “energy security.” What Grenell won’t admit is that buying overpriced energy is the biggest threat of all the German industry because it would ruin the export business that fuels the German economic locomotive that in turn powers the EU. Without this economic powerhouse, the EU would be in even more trouble than it is already (it is deeply indebted and running a huge budget deficit). Now THAT is REAL energy insecurity. The phony US claims that by relying on Russian gas, the EU would be susceptible to pressure from Russia. But Russia has never tried to use its energy exports to pressure Europe. Yet the US uses the extravagant privilege of its dollar to pressure Europe in ways that threaten its economic competitiveness. This nonsense about Russia threatening its “energy security” is therefore rank hypocrisy! Yet based on this nonsense, the US Congress and Senate have approved sanctions that killed this pipeline project with only 6% of the pipe left to be laid. This US pettiness and mean-spiritedness cost Europe billions.
 
Worse, Trump has been pressuring Germany for years to pay extravagant amounts of its GDP to NATO. And yet, if we examine this situation closely, we see that NATO is nothing but a protection racket, claiming that Russia is a threat so as to extort money from Europe and force the continent to buy overpriced underperforming US-made arms (a good case in point is the F-35 “stealth” fighter-bomber, which flies slower and has a shorter range than its counterpart, the Russian made Su-35, of which Russia has already sold 20 to US ally Egypt).
 
Added to this list of economic threats is the absurd US-imposed sanctions on Iran, with which Europe has always enjoyed healthy and profitable relations, and the sanctions on Russia which Europe imposed under pressure and threats to Europe. These sanctions have led to multi-billion euro losses to the European economy. We might also mention the absurd US protection of its wayward ally Turkey, which has sent Syrian terrorists to Europe and is now sending ISIS militants to Libya, which is causing more immigration there that threatens Europe. Of course, let’s not forget the US invasions of Iraq and Libya that opened the floodgates of immigration to Europe in the first place, causing billions of euros worth of damage to various European economies.
 
The US has also pressured Europe to refrain from using Russia’s arctic shipping route between Asia and Europe, which saves considerable shipping distances and costs over the lengthy and time-consuming route via the Suez Canal. And let’s remember how the US pressures Europe to refrain from its once-lucrative cooperation with Chinese tech companies on the absurd fabricated excuse that the Chinese could somehow use its components to spy on Europe. What hypocrisy, when it was the US, not China, that spied on Angela Merkel’s cell phone a few years ago!
 
Here again, the US is undermining Europe’s economy by foisting NATO membership on it. Not only that, NATO, which slaughtered, 4,000 EUROPEANS in the 1998–89 Kosovo war, is a very grave exisential security threat to Europe. So how does Russia compare to this? Unlike US-led NATO, the Russian Federation has never once launched an attack or invasion in Western Europe. I have posted a response on Quora outlining NATO’s grave existential threat to Europe: https://www.quora.com/Why-hasn-t-NATO-evaluated-its-peacekeeping-experience-to-identify-and-implement-best-practices-for-transitioning-failed-states-into-functional-democracy/answer/Vince-Dhimos
 
Thus we see that the US threatens Europe’s economic security and its physical security, while Russia does not threaten either one!
 
Objectively speaking, there is absolutely no reason that Europe should continue its relationship with the US and refrain from entering into security agreements and economic agreements with Russia. In fact it would save billions if it stopped buying the overpriced US-made weapons and bought all of its arms from Russia instead. This would in turn stimulate the exportation of autos and other European products popular in Russia.
 
Finally, there is the issue of the US dollar, which, according to renowned economists such as ex Morgan Stanley top economist Stephen Roach and Deutsche Bank top economist Sameer Geol, is likely to be dethroned as the primary reserve currency after the second wave of the COVID pandemic. All of the above makes any alliance with the US economically toxic.
 
 

Deutsche Bank analyst warns US dollar may be dethroned as primary world reserve currency, possibly replaced by RMB

In the following you will find our translation of an article from rueconomics.ru with this foreword and intra-textual notes [in brackets] by Vince Dhimos. Many of the articles we publish in translation from RIA Novosti and rueconomics.ru are analyses by Russian experts of opinions and reports from the Western press, particularly financial journals. This one relates to a stunning statement by an analyst of Deutsche Bank that a second wave of the COVID pandemic could dethrone the US dollar as the primary world reserve currency and see it possibly replaced by the RMB. Needless to say this would be the most resounding possible slap in the face to all the US politicians who badmouthed China and did their darnedest to maintain the power and prestige of the US economy by simply undermining China. The fact that China is the only country that, amidst the COVID crisis, has actually shown some economic growth in contrast to the severe erosion of the US GDP foreshadows this possibility – the untimely death of MAGA and a nightmare for the US politicians on both sides of the aisle who wish China ill based on their zero-sum pseudo-religion.

The author is referring to the Business Insider article linked here:

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/deutsche-bank-investor-demand-us-dollar-waning-2020-6-1029329462

Of course, in world affairs, nothing is predictable. For instance, if a cure or vaccine were found soon enough, the Fed may not feel obliged to “print” more trillions. However, there is no hint at this point that such is in the cards.

Vasiliev predicted what currency will replace the dollar after its collapse

June 26, 2020

https://rueconomics.ru/449441-vasilev-rasskazal-kakaya-valyuta-smenit-dollar-posle-ego-krakha

The weakening of the dollar as a world reserve currency will change the direction of the global economy, the chief researcher at the Institute of the USA and Canada, Doctor of Economics Vladimir Vasiliev, told FBA Ekonomika Segodnya.

Sameer Goel, Deutsche Bank’s chief macro strategist for the Asian market, warned in a CNBC interview that investors would reject the dollar if a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic begins. According to him, the exit strategy for the United States looks poorer than that of other countries.

Sameer Goel made this statement after a sharp spike in new cases of the disease was recorded in the United States at the end of last week. So, on June 19 and 20, 2020, according to Johns Hopkins University, more than 30,000 [new] cases were detected, which was a record and shocking daily increase since May 1, 2020. On Sunday, June 21, 27,476 new cases of COVID-19 infection were reported in America.

“The alarm forecast of Deutsche Bank should not be understood as a prediction of the collapse of the US national currency, but as a foreshadowing of its dethroning as a global reserve currency. A weakening of the dollar is being observed – at least in relation to the renminbi. In the case of the euro, parity is possible, since European countries that are part of the Eurozone are pumping in at least as much money, and therefore the euro does not have much circulation outside the specified area.

In this regard, the alleged collapse of the dollar is a signal to the Federal Reserve System, which got carried away with pumping dollars into both the American and the global economy,” says the expert.

A new reality for the global economy

Vladimir Vasiliev notes that today the US Federal Reserve has lost its autonomy and is dependent on the intentions of the current American president.

“The features of the Fed’s foreign policy demonstrate a reaction to signals from the White House, which is playing all-in. Donald Trump is ready to pump the world full of dollars, since it is important for him that by the fall of 2020, when the US presidential election is due, the country's economy will be afloat.

Therefore, if the Fed continues to follow instructions from the White House to pump the world economy full of dollars, the collapse of the American currency will become an inevitable event. At the same time, the scale of the current crisis will not allow the dollar to quickly regain its position. It is important to understand that it can collapse and rise from the ruins,” the source said.

When the coronavirus began to spread actively around the world, investors preferred the American dollar to currencies from the G10 countries: Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Canada, the USA and Switzerland. The Deutsche Bank strategist also clarified that investors usually “flock to the US dollar” in times of uncertainty due to its relatively good position as a global reserve currency. But now the situation is noticeably changing and not in a favourable direction for the American currency, so the strategy and speed of the United States of America coming out of self-isolation look worse than in other countries.

“The packages of measures that the US has taken via the federal budget account for about 15% of GDP. In addition to this, the Federal Reserve is churning out large amounts of money. Obviously, these funds also go to the stock markets. [But, of course, no distinction is made here between stocks of badly managed companies – which should be allowed to fail – and well-managed ones. This indiscriminate distribution of unsecured loans to all major companies keeps bad companies afloat at the expense of the US economy as a whole]

Therefore, from the standpoint of simple exchange rates, it becomes quite obvious that the dollar’s ​​position in the world economic system will weaken in the near future, that is, for the summer-autumn period of 2020. In other words, the injection of funds from the Federal Reserve System is leading to a devaluation of the American currency, which can only have a weak foreign-economic value for the United States [ie, value in relation to foreign currencies],” the economist comments.

The saturation of the global economy with dollars leads to strong market volatility, which is becoming difficult to predict. This volatility, in turn, is easily capable of provoking a panic that could weaken the already fragile position of the American currency.

“The coronavirus pandemic is sending the world economy into uncharted waters, followed by a deep dip in the dollar. One of the important issues in this case will be the regulation of the international currency market, the impact of which the International Monetary Fund is experiencing today.

The weakening of the US currency as a factor in stabilizing the global monetary system can actually lead to other currencies playing its role,” the economist believes.

Reorientation of the post-crisis world

According to the leading macro strategist of Deutsche Bank, foreign exchange markets have recently been confronted with “multiple cross-currents” amid concerns about a second wave of coronavirus cases threatening the world. Investors looking to the American currency are asking a "big question" about whether they should buy the dollar at a premium for its alleged security against a backdrop of fears. Samir Goel suggested that if a second wave of coronavirus occurs, the United States dollar may weaken against most currencies in developed countries, including China.

As China gradually opens up its financial markets, while introducing more assets denominated in local currency,” the portfolio flow history is gradually becoming positive for the renminbi.”
“The yuan will continue to strengthen its position and will be seen by investors as a new international reserve currency. This will provide tremendous economic and political benefits to China. Moreover, in terms not only of its impact on the regional economy, but also of the international regulation of global financial flows. This is precisely what analysts in the United States of America fear.

The Chinese side is supporting its economy to a much lesser extent than the United States of America. This is due to the fact that the PRC economy is not experiencing so many major crisis shocks and is demonstrating certain growth rates,” said Vasiliev.

China foresaw such a scenario. As soon as the American side began to impose its conditions on Beijing for the upcoming trade deal, and after the partially concluded trade deal, while threatening sanctions and tariff increases, the Chinese government decided to pursue a wise policy regarding Washington’s actions, and in June 2020 Fan Xinghai, vice chairman of the Securities Control Committee of China, said China needs to prepare for a projected disconnect from the global dollar settlement system based on the interbank information transfer and payment system SWIFT and interbank electronic clearing settlement system CHIPS, in the event America imposes sanctions. [In other words, in the event the US tries to cut China off from these systems. Of course, the more the US weaponises the dollar and institutions dependent on it, the more foreign countries are pushed into distancing themselves from dollar-based transactions and thereby weakening the USD. US policy makers have lost all sense of the principle that every action is accompanied by an equal and opposite reaction]

By the way, strengthening the position of the Chinese yuan, Vladimir Vasiliev believes, will ultimately lead to a reorientation of many leading countries, including the Russian Federation. In April 2020, according to the data of the US Ministry of Finance, Russia increased its investments in US government securities by almost 80%, ie, to $ 6.85 billion – it had previously chosen to reduce these investments.

“In America, there is an obvious decline in GDP, and analysts cannot accurately predict the timing of the recovery of the United States economy. It is possible that it will begin no earlier than 2021. At this time, China will gradually come to maintain growth both in 2020 and in subsequent years.

It is at this time that a tectonic shift towards the renminbi would begin, which would determine a new direction for the development of the world economy. If this happens, then China will have an additional opportunity to accelerate the growth of its own economy and reorient many economic players. China has recently attracted the attention of the Russian Federation and has reduced the impact of the United States on itself in the framework of the trade war,” the expert said. [Economists acknowledge that it was China that restored the world economy after the 2008-9 Great Recession. There is no other economy that can stabilize the world economy after the pandemic crisis. And yet, US policy makers are intent on destroying it!]

Author: Alexandra Melnik

Vince Dhimos on Quora writing on this topic:
​
https://www.quora.com/Now-that-China-has-forced-America-to-its-knees-begging-for-mercy-when-should-China-strike-the-coup-de-grace-or-should-it-wait-until-Biden-gets-elected-before-deciding-what-to-do/answer/Vince-Dhimos

WAR NEWS

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/gaddafis-cousin-warns-erdogan-we-are-able-to-reach-istanbul/?utm_medium=ppc&utm_source=push&utm_campaign=push%notificationss&utm_content=varies
 
Gaddafi’s cousin warns Erdogan: ‘We are able to reach Istanbul’
 
By News Desk -2020-06-260
 
BEIRUT, LEBANON (8:00 P.M.) – The political official of the Libyan National Struggle Front and cousin of the former Libyan President, Ahmed Gaddaf Al-Dam, said on Thursday that Egypt has the right to defend itself, pointing out that many of the bombings that took place inside the country came from Libya.
 
In an interview with Sky News Arabia, Qaddaf Al-Dam stressed that the efforts of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to interfere in Libya will fail.”
 
“Egypt is subject to an organized war as an Arab country, and it has the right to defend itself when its red lines are crossed. As for us, our red lines are in Zuwara and Tobruk, and if the Turks extend to Libya, we are able to reach Istanbul, especially as we have allies in Turkey.”
 
Qaddaf Al-Dam considered that “Turkey was dragged into a trap in Libya,” saying: “Stupid policies that Erdogan signed, who thought he would be the caliph and that the Ottoman Empire would return through the gang that turned around Qatar, without realizing that they were carrying out a plan to destroy the Islamic world.”
 
He also considered that Ankara “is implementing a plan drawn up by the West,” saying: “The brothers in Turkey lost their minds and were lured to be drained financially, morally and militarily, and created internal problems there. I pity Turkey because Libya will return, as we have the will and strength, and we are a country that returns and recovers.”
 
“Our armed forces are returning and will join forces with each other in the east, west and south. They will not be able to resist our tribes, and there is no legitimacy in Libya except the legitimacy of the Libyan people.”
 
ALSO READ  Turkish-backed Libyan forces achieve major victory by retaking all of Tripoli
He added: “The West will not allow Turkey to exist militarily in the Mediterranean Sea, or to obtain Libya’s wealth, but Erdogan’s recklessness and encouragement of those around him made him believe that they would be victorious, but he might slip into this bump.”

​

 
Vince Dhimos answered a question at Quora.
 
https://www.quora.com/What-can-US-Republicans-really-do-to-stop-China-from-becoming-the-worlds-largest-economy/answer/Vince-Dhimos
 
WHAT CAN THE US REPUBLICANS REALLY DO TO STOP CHINA FROM BECOMING THE WORLD’S LARGEST ECONOMY?

Vince Dhimos
 
Editor-in-Chief at New Silk Strategies (2016–present)
 
Short of war, the US can’t stop China. A few examples will explain this.
 
After 2019, the first year of the trade war, the US still showed a very large, though somewhat diminished, trade deficit, but China had a surplus and an increase in trade of $1.34 trillion, thanks in large part to the members of its BRI. The trade war was designed to cripple China’s economy but it failed ignominiously. Almost all economists agree that trade wars are of no benefit and that both sides lose. So Trump was displaying abysmal ignorance of macroeconomics when he launched the war. It’s not that Trump is especially inept. ALL US presidents are ignorant of macroeconomics and their advisers are also focused only on a small area of that field that prevents them from seeing the whole-world picture. In particular, they all believe in quantitative easing (issuance of unbacked trillions) as a remedy to economic ills.
 
One problem for the US is that although it is China’s biggest trading partner, China has many others and the US’s share is only about 11% at this point. That is not enough to put a dent in China even if it were possible to shut off all bilateral trade.
 
The biggest problem, though, is the US’s overall strategy. The US economic strategy is zero-sum, while China’s is win-win.
 
Even in theory, or on their face, we can easily see which strategy is superior and which is designed to fail.
 
According to US zero-sum theory, if the competitor suffers economic loss, the other side gains. There is, of course, no logic in this. It is pure ideology. After all, it is possible that both sides could suffer loss. It is also possible that the side trying to cripple the other’s economy would fail (and that’s exactly what has happened).
 
In the Chinese win-win game, if China makes a poor African partner richer, for example, through judicious investments, then both partners gain because dealing with a rich partner is a bigger advantage than dealing with a poor partner since the rich partner can afford to import more of your goods. So Xi Jinping’s long-term goal of lifting Africa out of poverty is not just pure altruism, it is partly selfish, ie, win-win, as the Chinese leadership itself proudly admits.
 
Further, the US has, since the 2008–9 at Recession, been forced to turn to the Fed’s “printing press,” ie, the issuance of unbacked currency, to remedy crises, but this can only be a temporary remedy, as the Fed itself admits. In the long run, it creates a real risk of making the world lose confidence in the US dollar. Already, Morgan Stanly’s ex chief economist Stephen Roach has predicted a crash in the dollar in 2021 (A Crash in the Dollar Is Coming).
 
China, of course, does not have this problem. In contrast to the US, it has over a trillion dollars in US Treasuries saved up for such a crisis as the COVID pandemic. Of course, Western critics like to jeer that China’s companies often file for bankruptcy. But look, that is not a sign of a badly run economy, to the contrary, it shows that badly run companies are flushed from the system as they well should be. Contrast this with the US non-solution: after the Great Recession, and now again following the onset of the COVID crisis, the Fed printed up trillions of unbacked dollars and spread them all over the map, helping bail out companies with abominable management that should have been allowed to fail — and would have in the good old days of fair competition. But for the Fed, their billionaire cronies in Big Business are royalty and cannot be allowed to fail. Thus, these badly managed companies become a permanent drag on the overall economy and their owners are rewarded for their incompetence. Now ask yourself: is a country that consistently rewards incompetence destined to win or doomed to fail? This horribly flawed system, BTW, is why the income gap between rich and poor is growing to such staggeringly heights. And there is no cure for it because nothing can stop the Fed from continuing to reward its filthy rich pals (this is one reason why we can’t talk about American “democracy,” which is a chimera. It’s all explained here). This is what we call corruption, and the favouring of the rich goes hand in hand with the favouring of whites by police (though few have noticed it). It’s part of the same social and spiritual cesspool that drags down America and festers until it erupts in a coast-to-coast conflagration that the Federal government is powerless to contain.
 
But getting back to China, the US had slandered Huawei in hopes of ruining that company, but that was very foolish because Silicon Valley tech workers have known for some time that there are delicate ties between US tech and Chinese tech that make it impossible to decouple the two sides. And just to show how this attempted sabotage worked out, the US was recently forced to back down and allow Huawei to cooperate in the US 5G rollout.
 
Nothing, absolutely nothing, is going America’s way in this foolish zero-sum game, and unless the US wakes up and sees the whole picture of US-China ties and their indispensability for the US economy, the zero-sum nonsense will continue to blow up in the US’s face.
 
I have posted answers to various questions at Quora that provide further details:
 
https://www.quora.com/Is-Russia-benefiting-from-driving-a-wedge-between-China-and-the-US-e-g-Russia-has-more-projects-in-Chinas-BRI-initiative-than-any-other-nation/answer/Vince-Dhimos
 
https://www.quora.com/What-do-Americans-typically-get-wrong-about-the-economy-of-China/answer/Vince-Dhimos
 
https://www.quora.com/Would-China-dethrone-the-US-and-become-a-global-superpower-in-the-post-Covid-world/answer/Vince-Dhimos

 
WAR AND CRISIS NEWS
 
In the following you will find our translation of an article in nation-news.ru with commentary and notes [in brackets] by Vince Dhimos.
 
https://nation-news.ru/531605-rossiiskii-diplomat-obyasnil-zverstva-pns-livii-v-tarhune-problemami-s-psihikoi?utm_source=whitepush.biz&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=push14_17_06_2020
 
Democrat-backed Libyan Government of National Accord shows its true colours again. This time, its psychopathic militias harass and rape civilians.
 
17 June 2020
 
Various news reports from the US and elsewhere show that the Libyan GNA is not the kind of “government” the US should be supporting. A GNA official admitted to the WaPo that it is supported militarily by ISIS and Al-Qaeda militants imported to Libya by Turkey. So far, the Trump administration has shown restraint, not supporting either side in the war, but the Democrats are intent on making political hay out of the fact that the Russians are fighting on the anti-terrorist side, claiming that both Russia and the Haftar troops it supports should be sanctioned under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) simply because Russia is involved. So when Russia opposes terror that is bad just because Russia is, by the perverted definition of US lawmakers, an “adversary” of the US, based on the lie that Russia is an “aggressor” (I debunked this notion here). It is becoming increasingly clear that the US Democrats, the same party that killed Ghaddafi and plunged Libya into civil war, are behind this move to punish Russia for protecting civilians in that country. As if they haven’t done enough damage there!
 
https://nation-news.ru/531605-rossiiskii-diplomat-obyasnil-zverstva-pns-livii-v-tarhune-problemami-s-psihikoi
 
Russian diplomat attributes the atrocities of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tarhun to mental problems
 
June 17, 2020
 
https://nation-news.ru/531605-rossiiskii-diplomat-obyasnil-zverstva-pns-livii-v-tarhune-problemami-s-psihikoi
 
The militants of the so-called Government of National Accord (GNA) of Libya suffer from mental illness and have derangement, said Stanislav Kudryashov, spokesman for the Eastern Libyan Government in the Russian Federation.
 
According to Kudryashov, it is precisely the problems with the psyche that are indicated by the video recordings on which the Misurat group raped a person who looked like one of the Egyptian workers. After this incident, videos appeared with the torture of other abductees in Tarhun. According to the expert, in reality, the GNA is fighting not for the Libyan people, but for atrocities and violence.
 
"They have already formed serious mental derangement, which the militants of Sarraj and Bashagi themselves most certainly possess. All this is sad and abnormal," the Federal News Agency (FAN) quotes Kudryashov as saying.
 
According to the expert, children are growing up in this kind of environment, and several million people are forced to live under the control of mentally ill representatives of the GNA. Kudryashov believes that the actions of jihadists are not compatible with the logic of a healthy person, and that militants can only be stopped by implementing common efforts [unfortunately, such efforts are opposed by the Turks and US Democrats]. The expert believes the world community can stop the chaos created by the GNA in Libya. Kudryashov called the actions of the militants inexplicable, since this is a surge of aggression against defenceless people who are not waging war with them.
 
Earlier, the Libyan GNA released false news about the presence of PMC "Wagner" [Russian mercenaries] in the country. No one could confirm this information. [The GNA knew that sleazy American lawmakers would use this unconfirmed report to garner support for their side, but when all they have in their “favour” is the fact that the Russians oppose them, that shows that they have no logical arguments to support them. After all, the Russians sent medical aid to the US. Does that mean this medical aid was bad or unhealthy. It is sad that so many Americans fall for such flimsy propaganda]
 
Author: Oleg Nikitin

Below you will find our translation of an op-ed by Ivan Danilov from RIA Novosti with a foreword and notes [in brackets] by Vince Dhimos. As usual, Danilov takes his facts from the US financial press, but this time the American commentators have pulled out the stops and their straightforwardness and honesty echo that of the Russian commentator. It is no longer possible for Western financial journalists to hide the glaring facts about the precarious state of the US economy and the dollar.
 
Another wave of the pandemic is expected in the fall and that wave could be followed by another. Each wave will be accompanied by the issuance of more trillions in unbacked dollars. It’s the only trick the Fed knows at this point. There is no other way for a nation that has forgotten the value of saving. Say what you want about Russia and China, but they both know the importance of saving for a rainy day. 
 
It’s the greatest loss America has ever suffered, but yet, it could be the most valuable lesson it has ever had.

Now, of course, America has received many valuable lessons, but like a lazy student who spends his time in class staring out the window and daydreaming, it has not yet learned any of them. Incredibly, it keeps making the same mistakes over and over again, supporting the same kind of warlike and irresponsible leaders as before. But if this time America learns that love and compassion for its neighbours is the only way to greatness – not trade wars, not blaming others, not sanctions, not wars, not quantitative easing, not self-aggrandisement, will it not have been worth it? God forbid that this pandemic cum rioting cum economic catastrophe will be another of the many lessons received but not learned?
 
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2
 
BEGIN TRANSLATION
 
American top economist: "A crash in the dollar is coming in 2021"
 
June 12, 2020
 
Ivan Danilov
 
The “coronavirus crisis” and riots, which have already led to billions of dollars in material damage, as well as damage to image that cannot be measured in money at all, are forcing the American expert community to look at the United States with different eyes. Not through the eyes of a delighted teenager, a professional propagandist or a naive viewer of an old Hollywood action movie who knows in advance that in the end America will defeat everyone and evil (that is, those who oppose Washington) will be severely punished, but through the eyes of a doctor watching the onset of a serious illness.

Among those who dare to look at the United States in this way, there is a certain pluralism of opinions. In the sense that some believe that all problems can be solved by disbanding police departments (by sharply cutting their budgets), after which racial peace and economic grace will arrive in the United States. But it seems to some that the United States needs to concentrate on its new cold war with China, probably implying that identifying a common and very serious enemy will become a kind of "sociocultural glue" with which the shattered American society can be re-assembled.
 
Both of these estimates, most likely, are very far from the truth, and their supporters can (and even should) be suspected of a certain bias, but it is more interesting to analyse the opinion of an elite that does not so much offer a "cure" but points out the possible exacerbation of all America's problems because not only American democracy and the image of the world hegemon, but the very foundation of American welfare, the US dollar, is also threatened.
 
It is noteworthy that the author of this forecast (or rather an apocalyptic financial prophecy) is not an ordinary expert or analyst, not a marginal journalist, but a representative of a completely different class, the “ideal American elite” in the person of Stephen Roach, who wrote a column for Bloomberg, published under the emotional headline, unusual for an American financial agency, "A crash in the dollar is coming."
 
Stephen Roach is a PhD in economics, a former member of the board of directors of the US Federal Reserve, a senior fellow at the influential analytical centre Brookings Institution, a former Asian leader and former chief economist at leading US bank Morgan Stanley, and now a senior fellow Research Associate at Jackson Institute of Global Affairs at Yale University, the most influential Ivy League university.
 
His column is noteworthy in that it immediately discards at least some attempts to give the current version of the world financial system at least some illusion of justice, validity or honesty. No, Dr. Roach calls things by their proper names – with the bluntness that many Chinese or Russian journalists will envy:
 
“The era of the U.S. dollar’s “exorbitant privilege” as the world’s primary reserve currency is coming to an end. Then French Finance Minister Valery Giscard d’Estaing coined that phrase in the 1960s largely out of frustration, bemoaning a U.S. that drew freely on the rest of the world to support its over-extended standard of living. For almost 60 years, the world complained but did nothing about it. Those days are over.”
 
When regular attempts to de-dollarize Russian exports or European imports, and in general any part of the global financial system, come across in the information field the caustic sarcasm of “experts” explaining that the dollar cannot and should not be replaced, then you should remember this beautiful description of the problem: even a leading American expert recognizes that dollar status is a privilege that gives the United States unfair preferences, and that the standard of living in the United States is not supported by any magical achievements of the authorities, but by the use of these privileges against the rest of the world.
 
Despite the fact that all dollar problems worsened during the era of the coronavirus, the Yale economist indicates that the problems are systemic and structural in nature:
 
“Lacking in domestic saving, and wanting to invest and grow, the U.S. has taken great advantage of the dollar’s role as the world’s primary reserve currency and drawn heavily on surplus savings from abroad to square the circle. But not without a price. In order to attract foreign capital, the U.S. has run a deficit in its current account — which is the broadest measure of trade because it includes investment — every year since 1982.”
 
Covid-19, and the economic crisis it has triggered, is stretching this tension between saving and the current-account to the breaking point.  The culprit: exploding government budget deficits.”
 
According to him, when the initial global shock passes and the world realizes the state of the American economy, in 2021 the dollar will depreciate to 35% against a basket of currencies of countries in which the United States conduct international trade, and, apparently, this is far from the limit of a possible devaluation. Protectionism by the Donald Trump administration and the deterioration of the US international image (and Dr. Roach recalls that “international leadership” is an element supporting the dollar’s ​​status) will make the situation worse, ing the main problem unresolved: Americans really want to spend a lot (and the list of those wishing to spend a lot of money includes primarily the US government), but they have forgotten how to save money and basically do not want to re-learn how to do it. [Actually, it is not a matter of not wanting to learn. The US government is locked into the spending habit by politics. Lobbies, including the arms makers and the Israel lobby, in tandem with a culture of paranoia toward Russia and China (perpetually accused of “aggression”) among the grassroots, and Evangelicals adhering to the cult of Zionism, leave no alternative to government overspending.]
 
The warning from the former chief economist of Morgan Stanley, is particularly striking against the backdrop of news that the US Federal Reserve does not see a quick economic recovery after the coronavirus, and also expects dollar interest rates to be around zero for about two years.
 
The recent promise of Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin to again turn to the US Congress for permission to increase debt even more (in fact, to print money and pour it into the budget) only strengthens the arguments of "dollar pessimists." But one must admit the obvious: the United States still has one, typically American, method of protecting its privileges. All they need to do is make sure that all other countries are even worse off than the USA itself, and then the American financial system and the dollar will look quite promising. The problem is that the world has changed dramatically since the 1960s. And now the United States is unlikely to have enough opportunities to carry out an operation of this kind with impunity, although Washington will definitely try using sanctions and provocations, including against Russia, China and the European Union. [Congress is already escalating sanctions related to the Russian pipeline project Nord Stream 2 and Germany is furious]
 
END TRANSLATION
 
WAR NEWS
 
Iran was prepared to attack US ships if oil tankers were intercepted en route to Venezuela: report
 
By News Desk
 
2020-06-13
 
BEIRUT, LEBANON (9:40 P.M.) – On Saturday, a news agency close to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said that Iran had prepared to target American merchant ships in the Gulf in the event that the U.S. Navy intercepted Iranian tankers that were en route to Venezuela.
On its website, the Noor News reported that Iran sent a fleet of five fuel tankers to its ally Venezuela, which desperately needed gasoline in May, and Tehran said it would continue these shipments if Caracas requested more, despite Washington’s criticism of trade between the two countries.
Both of these nations are currently under strict sanctions by the U.S. and its allies, which makes it difficult for them to trade with other nations internationally.
“After increasing military threats against Iranian ships heading to Venezuela, an order was issued to the Iranian armed forces to identify and track several American commercial ships in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman,” the agency said.
Iran complained to the United Nations, last month, and summoned the Swiss ambassador to Tehran, who represents U.S. interests in Iran, about possible measures Washington might take against Iranian tankers.
A U.S. official had previously told Reuters last month that the United States, which had not blocked Iranian tanker shipments, was considering imposing sanctions on dozens of additional foreign oil tankers for its dealings with Venezuela.
 
Relevant:
 
http://www.newsilkstrategies.com/culture/the-parable-of-the-good-samaritan-the-part-they-didnt-teach-you-in-sunday-school

Vince Dhimos answered a question at Quora.
 
Before we look at my answer to this ethnocentric question, the link below provides some pertinent details about the progress in the current Trump-declared trade and propaganda war. In addition to these commentaries, note that the IMF has issued a forecast for China establishing that China will have positive GDP growth in 2020 as opposed to the 5.7% contraction (that’s negative growth) forecast for the US. Even before the pandemic, China had increased its trade with the world by $1.34 trillion and showed a big surplus in 2019, while the US showed a deficit, even after all the rhetoric about the US slapping down China and eliminating the US deficit. The lesson we should be learning here is that talk is cheap but in economics, it’s the numbers that count.
 
Oh, and yesterday, the DOW dropped 1,800 points.
 
https://www.quora.com/How-do-we-reverse-Chinas-economic-dominance-over-the-US-their-efforts-to-end-our-role-as-a-viable-world-power/answer/Vince-Dhimos
 
HOW DO WE REVERSE CHINA’S ECONOMIC DOMINANCE OVER THE US AND THEIR EFFORTS TO END OUR ROLE AS A VIABLE WORLD POWER?
 
Vince Dhimos
 
Editor-in-Chief at New Silk Strategies (2016–present)
 
When you use the word “our” in this context, you identify your nationality. However, may I remind you that there is a huge percentage of non-Americans here and that this is not a US-centred forum. A little etiquette is therefore in order.
 
Before anyone can answer this, you would need to show:
 
How China is dominating the US except by the free market principles that are the most cherished principle of American economic theory?
 
Why it is important for us citizens of various countries, not just you Americans, to have a strong America that has so far murdered millions in your wars and continues to sanction innocent citizens of our countries, making it more difficult for us to get food and medicine?
When you can show why it is important for the US, which routinely murders and starves us, to dominate in the world and not China, which has never waged war on us and never imposed sanctions on us to starve us and deprive us of medicine and fuel, then we can talk.
 
So far your side has done a lot of ineffective things to maintain your hegemony, including imposing sanctions on your friends and allies in Europe and murdering 4,000 Europeans in your Kosovo war. And under Trump you have used sanctions to kill an important gas pipeline project, Nord Stream 2, which was intended to supply our friends in Europe with affordable energy. Your excuse was that this affordable energy represented a “risk” to our “energy security” but the EU and Germany agree that it was a cheap trick to force Europe to buy your overpriced fracked LNG. China has never done this to us. Why should be favour you over them?
 
And you demanded that your ally the UK deny China the opportunity to take part in the rollout of 5G in the UK under the shaky pretext that this would give them the ability to spy on Britain – for which there is not a shred of evidence. But it was the US, not China, that was caught eavesdropping on the cell phone conversations of Chancellor Merkel a few years back. Why should we trust you more than China?
 
And speaking now on behalf of our friends in Syria, they desperately need fuel, but you have embargoed this commodity. How would you like to spend all winter without fuel to heat your home? And they need an income, but your troops have blocked the oil fields in the oil-rich region of Deir Ezzor. This oil belongs to the Syrian people but has been stolen by your people without any basis in law. Should we care about your country maintaining its dominance so that you can continue to steal our resources and starve us? China has never done this to us.
 
You have done likewise in Venezuela, directly harming the people of that brave nation. It was the Chinese, along with Iran and Russia, that helped restore the electric grid and supplied them with much-needed fuel. Do you think they want you to dominate the world?
 
So first, please tell us what’s in it for us if we support your continued world dominance. Will you stop slaughtering us with your wars and starving us with your sanctions?
 
Let us better understand how to help you.
 
 
WAR NEWS
 
Two blockbusting items today:
​
I had written here that I suspect Egypt will help defeat the terrorists and the Turks that import them if the going gets rough for Khalifa Haftar. I had provided a list of reasons for those suspicions. Now solid evidence of this emerges:
Egypt is building a new military base at its border with Libya to thwart terrorist attacks.
 
https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2020/06/07/mig-29s-destroyed-a-huge-turkish-convoy-of-military-and-gna-forces-video/
 
Here is some good news from the site Bulgarian Military.
 
I had read pessimistic commentary from the Russian-language press criticizing Putin for his relationship with Erdoğan and complaining that he was letting Turkey get the upper hand. That critic must now eat crow. The following report tells the story. The MiGs had appeared in Libya a few days earlier and it now seems evident that they were acquiring coordinates for an imminent attack on the GNA-Turkish convoy that they completely destroyed. I had no doubts that Russia would eventually prevail, but there was no hint of their plans in the Russian or Western press, and that was because Russia never tips its hand about an upcoming operation like this.
 
MiG-29s destroyed a huge Turkish convoy of military and GNA forces (video)
By Editorial Team On Jun 7, 2020
 Share
TRIPOLI, (BM) – A few hours ago, unknown combat aircraft inflicted a powerful blow to the huge military convoy of the Turkish military, militants and forces of the Government of National Accord [GNA], who tried to storm the city of Sirte, learned BulgarianMilitary.com citing news agency Aviapro.
Read more: 24/7 BulgarianMilitary.com – All about Libyan civil war
According to the source, we are talking about many MiG-29 fighters that were previously seen on the territory of Libya.
On the presented video frames you can see that a massive military convoy consisting of dozens of vehicles, which included several hundred people, was eliminated by an air strike. The military convoy was completely destroyed by airstrike, which disrupted the offensive operation on the position of the forces of the Libyan National Army, while, apparently, the speech. We are talking about multiple air strikes, as evidenced by the destruction of enemy equipment at large distances from the shooting point.
“Twitter” account “Last Defender”, which published the shots of the destroyed military convoy preparing the attack on the Libyan Sirte, expressed confidence that we are talking about MiG-29 fighters, which is probably due to the fact that these combat aircraft significantly exceed the capabilities of the air defense systems that are in service with the GNA forces, and if other combat aircraft were used, the latter would almost certainly have been shot down.
Among other things, a few days ago, the Twitter account of the Syrian Military Capabilities reported that the Russian MiG-29 fighters transferred to Syria were performing mysterious flights to North Africa, apparently thereby covering the Libyan National Army after the latter suffered a series of devastating defeats, having lost two air bases and a large number of weapons.
Libyan civil war
In Libya, armed clashes are currently taking place between supporters of different leaders. The country is led by the Government of National Accord (GNA), headed by Prime Minister Fayez Saraj, the “eastern government” led by Abdullah Abdurrahaman at-Thani.
The eastern government is supported by the commander of the Libyan National Army, Khalifa Haftar.
Recall that January 13 in Moscow, negotiations were held between the heads of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalif Haftar and the Government of National Accord (GNA) Faiz Sarraj. Also present were members of the Foreign Ministries of Russia and Turkey.
On the meeting the commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, has notified Russia about the conditions for continuing negotiations on the signing of a peace agreement in Libya.
According to the requirements of Haftar, the militias operating in Libya are required to surrender weapons in the period from 45 to 90 days. This process should be controlled by a special commission created by the LNA together with the UN
Haftar also refused to recognize Turkey as an intermediary in resolving the situation in Libya, since the Turkish side is not neutral and supports the Government of National Accord (GNA).
***
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LIFE'S NOT FAIR. OR IS IT?
 
Below is our translation of an article by Maksim But (pronounced boot) from rueconomics.ru with an introduction and notes [in brackets] by Vince Dhimos.
 
The Russian author points out what US political analysts have known for years. When US presidents see their re-election chances in jeopardy, they generally turn to war to save their presidency. According to the author GW Bush consciously chose to kill up to an estimated one million people just so he could get re-elected.
 
That number struck me as being on the high side, but one study actually concluded that as many as 1.2 million people died as a result of that war. The following quote is from Wikepedia:
“Opinion Research Business (ORB) poll conducted August 12–19, 2007, estimated 1,033,000 violent deaths due to the Iraq War. The range given was 946,000 to 1,120,000 deaths. A nationally representative sample of approximately 2,000 Iraqi adults answered whether any members of their household (living under their roof) were killed due to the Iraq War. 22% of the respondents had lost one or more household members. ORB reported that "48% died from a gunshot wound, 20% from the impact of a car bomb, 9% from aerial bombardment, 6% as a result of an accident and 6% from another blast/ordnance.”
 
Other estimates are lower, but given the number of people reported as missing in that time frame, the author may well be correct. Add to that the number who died as a result of the destroyed infrastructure and the sanctions. The sanctions on oil sales lasted a full 7 years after the war and were hardly justified since Saddam was long gone. Specifically, until 2010, these sanctions prevented the Iraqis from freely selling their oil, preventing them from rebuilding, and from receiving adequate health care and sufficient food. This was particularly critical because the US had destroyed their water supply and sewerage system.
 
But all this hardship was worth it in Bush’s mind because it got him re-elected.
 
But as author But points out, Trump, facing uncertain re-election chances, does not have the luxury of starting a war because that would cost additional funds on top of the emergency funds from the latest round of quantitative easing – which may not be the last in view of the real possibility of a second wave of COVID, expected this fall.
 
BEGING TRANSLATION
 
Wrecked economy throws the US into a political tailspin                                                      
 
June 11, 2020
 
https://rueconomics.ru/446840-rukhnuvshaya-ekonomika-vyvodit-ssha-v-politicheskoe-pike
 
It’s not for nothing that the Fed sharply downgraded the forecast for the US GDP - the situation in America is catastrophic both economically and politically. Konstantin Blokhin, an expert in American Area Studies at the Centre for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, spoke about the development and prospects [of the US] to FBA "Economika Segodnya."
 
Analysts at the US Federal Reserve System (Fed) have sharply downgraded the outlook for the US economy. Thus, according to the updated data, the GDP will decrease by 6.5% this year and and unemployment will involve almost 10% of the population by the end of the year. To date, as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said, his official rate of 13.5% is seriously underestimated and actually is up to 17%. And the decline in US GDP in the second quarter of 2020, in his opinion, will be a record for the entire history of the country.
 
"The coronavirus pandemic entails enormous difficulties and extreme uncertainty about the future. There is exceptional uncertainty about the scale of the economic downturn. The rate of decline in GDP will depend on the further spread of the coronavirus. A prolonged health crisis will affect future economic development," Powell concluded following a two-day Fed meeting.
 
“Powell’s conclusions cannot be called politicized or exaggerated – the economic situation in the United States is most accurately characterized by the word “catastrophic,” Blokhin notes. “It couldn’t be worse.” Now experts are saying that the situation is quite comparable to that during the Great Depression of 1928-1933 and back up their findings with specific statistics.
 
There are as many as 42 million people of working age in the country – an unprecedented figure. This phenomenon is really new – brought about by the epidemic of coronavirus. However, it significantly aggravated the existing negative trends. Thus, the middle class is declining quantitatively, with 13% of the population living below the poverty line. The national debt has exceeded $26 trillion. Further, more than 70% of citizens do not trust the government considering it virtually corrupt – this has not happened for 60 years."
 
The economy puts pressure on politics
 
The Federal Reserve in its findings indicated that it sees signals indicating stabilization of the American economy, and expects that it will begin to recover starting in the second half of 2020 [But this depends on how long the pandemic lasts]. In 2021, according to Powell, GDP can recover up to 5%; that is, after a record failure it will still remain in the negative range. In 2022, growth is expected to reach 3.5%, of which 1.5% will be outside the negative range. Thus, even in the long run, growth will be minimal.
 
In April, it became known that more than 40% of Americans lost their jobs or faced wage cuts due to the economic crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic. In the same month, analysts predicted that US GDP in the second quarter of 2020 would fall by 25% in annual terms, which would be the worst recession in the country's history. The White House for the first time did not begin this summer to publish its annual forecast for the development of the American economy. [Meanwhile, the IMF forecasts 1.2% growth for China in 2020, despite the trade war, which was supposed to stunt China’s economy but boost the US]
 
"The coronavirus highlighted the problems already existing in the US economy and exacerbated them, so the States are going through one of the most difficult periods in its history. The economy inevitably affected politics. President Donald Trump came to power on promises of an economic miracle and prosperity for the country, and now COVID-19 has undermined all his four-year achievements. In particular, for re-election, Trump planned to ensure an economic growth of 4% in 2020. [Note, however, that part of Trump’s “achievement” was in the field of military spending, which, while boosting GDP, did not bring in real revenues except in terms of military exports, which were promoted by threatening potential customers of Russia, not through fair trade practices]
 
The presidential election is already in November, and Trump saw a platform for victory literally knocked out from under his feet. Stability is no more, and neither is growth. And even the racial protests that are now taking place in a number of cities in the country can be considered harmless pampering in comparison with the effect that COVID-19 had on the president’s re-election plans. The most remarkable thing is that the United States cannot even use a proven means today, ie, unleashing a war to change the situation, Blokhin notes.
 
No chance of military spending
 
The United States has historically habitually unleashed wars around the world in response to internal [US] crises. Thus, it was always possible to solve several problems. First of all, to support the image of America as an omnipotent and invincible power, unaccountable under international laws. [And amazingly, the grassroots, while generally considering themselves a “Christian” nation, never rose up in significant numbers to protest this ungodly practice of taking countless human lives simply to support a political system that had all the earmarks of paganism – human sacrifice for its own sake, unsupported by anything Jesus had ever taught them, and in fact, completely contrary to all His teachings! How did this get started and how did it perpetuate itself generation after generation? Many of today’s “Christians” claim Trump was anointed by God. Whose God? Isn’t this the very embodiment of idolatry?].  In addition, colossal cash injections into the military sector created a huge state order, creating thousands of jobs and solving a whole set of economic problems at the same time. [The author is obviously being sarcastic. Government spending on goods and services counts as part of GDP but this does not solve economic problems, just creates more debt. Thus, the GDP reported by the government is vastly overrepresented. How can government spending be considered income?]
 
Thus, after the shock of September 11, the public needed a clear-cut victory, and in the [UN] Security Council, US secretary of State Colin Powell announced the presence of chemical weapons in Iraq – and a million people were killed. In the 75 years after World War II, the United States fought in at least three dozen countries, not counting the secret CIA operations, coups, and civil wars backed by Washington. Each time, the attention of Americans was shifted from internal problems to external problems, and US businesses received resources from the defeated country. [But how could normal otherwise intelligent, decent and moral people think that killing people that had never harmed an American could possibly be an acceptable solution to their economic ills? Why did Americans’ minds turn to mush every time one of their sleazy psychopathic “leaders” concocted a cock-and-bull story about a supposed enemy? Why did they continue to be suckered even after the story about the WMDs in Iraq was debunked? Even if you aren’t a believer, how is it possible for so many to avoid the suspicion that only Satanists could create such senseless havoc and harm so many innocents? Could anyone familiar with the scriptures not automatically connect all this mischief to 2 Thessalonians 2:11?]
 
“Trump’s problem right now is that he can’t even take advantage of the proven technique and start a new war – for him it would be comparable to political hara-kiri. The US population would accuse him of inciting conflict and risking American citizens, which would finish off the ratings of the head of state. This is a political nosedive for Trump.
 
“And it’s not clear with whom the States would be able to quickly launch a small victorious war. Venezuela would turn into their Latin American Vietnam [But this author knows that this is not the reason Trump couldn’t invade Venezuela. It was the 2 nuclear-capable Tupolevs and the unknown number of Russian “advisors” that changed his mind!]. Iran has shown its military power and determination to defend itself. North Korea has nuclear weapons, which crosses the "red enemy" off the list of potential victims. And starting a war with China or Russia is crazy. So Trump can only try to mobilize his electorate with promises and act as new problems come up,” concludes Konstantin Blokhin.
 
Author: Maxim But

Below is our translation of an article by Maksim But (pronounced boot) from rueconomics.ru with an introduction and notes [in brackets] by Vince Dhimos.
 
The Russian author points out what US political analysts have known for years. When US presidents see their re-election chances in jeopardy, they generally turn to war to save their presidency. According to the author GW Bush consciously chose to kill up to an estimated one million people just so he could get re-elected.
 
That number struck me as being on the high side, but one study actually concluded that as many as 1.2 million people died as a result of that war. The following quote is from Wikepedia:
“Opinion Research Business (ORB) poll conducted August 12–19, 2007, estimated 1,033,000 violent deaths due to the Iraq War. The range given was 946,000 to 1,120,000 deaths. A nationally representative sample of approximately 2,000 Iraqi adults answered whether any members of their household (living under their roof) were killed due to the Iraq War. 22% of the respondents had lost one or more household members. ORB reported that "48% died from a gunshot wound, 20% from the impact of a car bomb, 9% from aerial bombardment, 6% as a result of an accident and 6% from another blast/ordnance.”
 
Other estimates are lower, but given the number of people reported as missing in that time frame, the author may well be correct. Add to that the number who died as a result of the destroyed infrastructure and the sanctions. The sanctions on oil sales lasted a full 7 years after the war and were hardly justified since Saddam was long gone. Specifically, until 2010, these sanctions prevented the Iraqis from freely selling their oil, preventing them from rebuilding, and from receiving adequate health care and sufficient food. This was particularly critical because the US had destroyed their water supply and sewerage system.
 
But all this hardship was worth it in Bush’s mind because it got him re-elected.
 
But as author But points out, Trump, facing uncertain re-election chances, does not have the luxury of starting a war because that would cost additional funds on top of the emergency funds from the latest round of quantitative easing – which may not be the last in view of the real possibility of a second wave of COVID, expected this fall.
 
BEGING TRANSLATION
 
Wrecked economy throws the US into a political tailspin                                                      
 
June 11, 2020
 
https://rueconomics.ru/446840-rukhnuvshaya-ekonomika-vyvodit-ssha-v-politicheskoe-pike
 
It’s not for nothing that the Fed sharply downgraded the forecast for the US GDP - the situation in America is catastrophic both economically and politically. Konstantin Blokhin, an expert in American Area Studies at the Centre for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, spoke about the development and prospects [of the US] to FBA "Economika Segodnya."
 
Analysts at the US Federal Reserve System (Fed) have sharply downgraded the outlook for the US economy. Thus, according to the updated data, the GDP will decrease by 6.5% this year and and unemployment will involve almost 10% of the population by the end of the year. To date, as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said, his official rate of 13.5% is seriously underestimated and actually is up to 17%. And the decline in US GDP in the second quarter of 2020, in his opinion, will be a record for the entire history of the country.
 
"The coronavirus pandemic entails enormous difficulties and extreme uncertainty about the future. There is exceptional uncertainty about the scale of the economic downturn. The rate of decline in GDP will depend on the further spread of the coronavirus. A prolonged health crisis will affect future economic development," Powell concluded following a two-day Fed meeting.
 
“Powell’s conclusions cannot be called politicized or exaggerated – the economic situation in the United States is most accurately characterized by the word “catastrophic,” Blokhin notes. “It couldn’t be worse.” Now experts are saying that the situation is quite comparable to that during the Great Depression of 1928-1933 and back up their findings with specific statistics.
 
There are as many as 42 million people of working age in the country – an unprecedented figure. This phenomenon is really new – brought about by the epidemic of coronavirus. However, it significantly aggravated the existing negative trends. Thus, the middle class is declining quantitatively, with 13% of the population living below the poverty line. The national debt has exceeded $26 trillion. Further, more than 70% of citizens do not trust the government considering it virtually corrupt – this has not happened for 60 years."
 
The economy puts pressure on politics
 
The Federal Reserve in its findings indicated that it sees signals indicating stabilization of the American economy, and expects that it will begin to recover starting in the second half of 2020 [But this depends on how long the pandemic lasts]. In 2021, according to Powell, GDP can recover up to 5%; that is, after a record failure it will still remain in the negative range. In 2022, growth is expected to reach 3.5%, of which 1.5% will be outside the negative range. Thus, even in the long run, growth will be minimal.
 
In April, it became known that more than 40% of Americans lost their jobs or faced wage cuts due to the economic crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic. In the same month, analysts predicted that US GDP in the second quarter of 2020 would fall by 25% in annual terms, which would be the worst recession in the country's history. The White House for the first time did not begin this summer to publish its annual forecast for the development of the American economy. [Meanwhile, the IMF forecasts 1.2% growth for China in 2020, despite the trade war, which was supposed to stunt China’s economy but boost the US]
 
"The coronavirus highlighted the problems already existing in the US economy and exacerbated them, so the States are going through one of the most difficult periods in its history. The economy inevitably affected politics. President Donald Trump came to power on promises of an economic miracle and prosperity for the country, and now COVID-19 has undermined all his four-year achievements. In particular, for re-election, Trump planned to ensure an economic growth of 4% in 2020. [Note, however, that part of Trump’s “achievement” was in the field of military spending, which, while boosting GDP, did not bring in real revenues except in terms of military exports, which were promoted by threatening potential customers of Russia, not through fair trade practices]
 
The presidential election is already in November, and Trump saw a platform for victory literally knocked out from under his feet. Stability is no more, and neither is growth. And even the racial protests that are now taking place in a number of cities in the country can be considered harmless pampering in comparison with the effect that COVID-19 had on the president’s re-election plans. The most remarkable thing is that the United States cannot even use a proven means today, ie, unleashing a war to change the situation, Blokhin notes.
 
No chance of military spending
 
The United States has historically habitually unleashed wars around the world in response to internal [US] crises. Thus, it was always possible to solve several problems. First of all, to support the image of America as an omnipotent and invincible power, unaccountable under international laws. [And amazingly, the grassroots, while generally considering themselves a “Christian” nation, never rose up in significant numbers to protest this ungodly practice of taking countless human lives simply to support a political system that had all the earmarks of paganism – human sacrifice for its own sake, unsupported by anything Jesus had ever taught them, and in fact, completely contrary to all His teachings! How did this get started and how did it perpetuate itself generation after generation? Many of today’s “Christians” claim Trump was anointed by God. Whose God? Isn’t this the very embodiment of idolatry?].  In addition, colossal cash injections into the military sector created a huge state order, creating thousands of jobs and solving a whole set of economic problems at the same time. [The author is obviously being sarcastic. Government spending on goods and services counts as part of GDP but this does not solve economic problems, just creates more debt. Thus, the GDP reported by the government is vastly overrepresented. How can government spending be considered income?]
 
Thus, after the shock of September 11, the public needed a clear-cut victory, and in the [UN] Security Council, US secretary of State Colin Powell announced the presence of chemical weapons in Iraq – and a million people were killed. In the 75 years after World War II, the United States fought in at least three dozen countries, not counting the secret CIA operations, coups, and civil wars backed by Washington. Each time, the attention of Americans was shifted from internal problems to external problems, and US businesses received resources from the defeated country. [But how could normal otherwise intelligent, decent and moral people think that killing people that had never harmed an American could possibly be an acceptable solution to their economic ills? Why did Americans’ minds turn to mush every time one of their sleazy psychopathic “leaders” concocted a cock-and-bull story about a supposed enemy? Why did they continue to be suckered even after the story about the WMDs in Iraq was debunked? Even if you aren’t a believer, how is it possible for so many to avoid the suspicion that only Satanists could create such senseless havoc and harm so many innocents? Could anyone familiar with the scriptures not automatically connect all this mischief to 2 Thessalonians 2:11?]
 
“Trump’s problem right now is that he can’t even take advantage of the proven technique and start a new war – for him it would be comparable to political hara-kiri. The US population would accuse him of inciting conflict and risking American citizens, which would finish off the ratings of the head of state. This is a political nosedive for Trump.
 
“And it’s not clear with whom the States would be able to quickly launch a small victorious war. Venezuela would turn into their Latin American Vietnam [But this author knows that this is not the reason Trump couldn’t invade Venezuela. It was the 2 nuclear-capable Tupolevs and the unknown number of Russian “advisors” that changed his mind!]. Iran has shown its military power and determination to defend itself. North Korea has nuclear weapons, which crosses the "red enemy" off the list of potential victims. And starting a war with China or Russia is crazy. So Trump can only try to mobilize his electorate with promises and act as new problems come up,” concludes Konstantin Blokhin.
 
Author: Maxim But

Below is our translation of an analysis from rueconomics.ru with an introduction and notes [in brackets] by Vince Dhimos.
 
A Bloomberg analyst agrees with our Russian author. But his analysis actually is more direct and hard-hitting than this Russian one! Russian analysts rarely directly blame Trump for the current woes, and in fact, US analysts also go easy on the president. But the Bloomberg analyst doesn’t spare Trump.
 
QUOTE:
 
“...the coming collapse in saving points to a sharp widening of the current-account deficit, likely taking it well beyond the prior record of -6.3% of GDP that it reached in late 2005. Reserve currency or not, the dollar will not be spared under these circumstances. The key question is what will spark the decline?
 
“Look no further than the Trump administration. Protectionist trade policies, withdrawal from the architectural pillars of globalization such as the Paris Agreement on Climate, Trans-Pacific Partnership, World Health Organization and traditional Atlantic alliances, gross mismanagement of Covid-19 response, together with wrenching social turmoil not seen since the late 1960s, are all painfully visible manifestations of America’s sharply diminished global leadership.”
 
BEGIN TRANSLATION
 
US recession impacts global dollar’s clout
 
June 9, 20201           
 
The American economy has now entered the recession only formally - negative processes started long before the start of the coronavirus epidemic. This opinion of FBA "Ekonomika Segodnya" was voiced by the head of the department of international economic organizations, Centre for Economic Research, Vyacheslav Kholodkov.
 
The United States economy has entered a period of unprecedented recession due to the coronavirus pandemic. This was officially announced by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). According to their conclusion, the recession in the United States began in February 2020, and now, based on the results of two quarters, a recession can be observed de facto. The decline ended the 128-month growth of the US economy, which began in June 2009. The report notes that this is the longest period of recovery since the 1950s.
 
According to the traditional definition, a recession is a decline in GDP for two consecutive quarters. However, NBER generally draws attention to a wider range of factors: first of all, to monthly changes in economic trends. "The unprecedented scale of the reduction in employment and production, as well as its wide coverage throughout the economy, guarantee that this episode will be called a recession, even if it turns out to be shorter than previous declines," the bureau said.
 
“The approach of the global economic crisis became obvious as early as 2018, and it must have started in the USA,” Kholodkov notes. “It happened. All economic indicators of the US economy at the beginning of 2020 were negative – overwhelmed by $22 trillion in public debt, a huge a budget deficit and a negative trade balance, and the only reason why the country did not slip into recession earlier is that America actually plays the role of a world bank.
 
That is, the United States is printing money that the countries of the world still recognize as the main means of payment. This is the last factor by which the American economy managed to keep afloat. But everything indicates that this situation is coming to an end. Almost all prominent world economists, including American ones, long before the arrival of COVID-19 predicted a systemic crisis in the US economy. So blaming the coronavirus for it is a mistake, it just launched certain negative processes."
 
Hopes for Production
 
US President Donald Trump came to this post at the end of 2016 on the slogan "Make America great again!"  At the same time, he promised serious social reforms - in particular, to solve the issue of Americans' access to medical care, since now a quarter of the population is cut off from medical services due to the inability to buy insurance. In addition, Trump announced serious tax reforms and support for the US economy – the opening of new industries and protection of existing ones from competition.
 
By the end of May, the number of unemployed in the United States exceeded 40 million people in a total population of 300 million. This means that a quarter of the able-bodied population remained unemployed in the country. The US Congress was forced to approve an expanded unemployment benefit program that covers freelancers, self-employed, and others who are not usually covered by government assistance. But the economic crisis is turning into a political one – now mass demonstrations and riots are taking place in US cities.
 
"The coronavirus was the last straw that overflowed the chalice of negative pressure on the American economy. If the economy were normal, the US epidemic would have survived without a serious recession. Now all serious investors are getting rid of US assets –
securities denominated in dollars. They understand: Following the crisis, not only GDP but also the dollar will fall in the USA, and this reduces its impact on the world economy and trade.
 
Of course, this is primarily a blow to Trump and his economic policy. The much ballyhooed tax manoeuvre failed and failed. Price wars with the whole world have helped to slightly reduce the imbalance in foreign trade, but this achievement is already "burying" the crisis. And social unrest is fuelled, including by the economic problems of the population. So Trump’s chances of being re-elected are diminishing every day,” emphasizes Kholodkov.
 
Hope for a recession
 
According to NBER estimates, it is likely that the United States will soon begin to overcome the recession. In particular, after the removal of quarantine for coronavirus, economic processes will resume, and GDP will begin to recover. However, experts at the National Bureau of Economic Researchers have already recognized that the current recession is the deepest since 1954. And increasingly, the state of the American economy is compared with the Great Depression of 1928-1933. This is an unprecedented decline.
 
The International Monetary Fund predicted that in 2020, the US economy will “collapse” by at least 5.9%. Trump promises an instant increase in GDP immediately after lifting the quarantine measures and returning to the pre-crisis level within a few months. However, global analysts tend to disagree with him. In their opinion, the process will proceed slowly and unevenly in the form of a “W” and be affected by unfavourable factors that arise along the way. [Experts are predicting a second and third wave of the pandemic]
 
“We are witnessing the decline of America – there are no more countries with high-performance economies, state-of-the-art technologies and large-scale domestic production. And real production is always the growth driver. Over the past few decades, the vast majority of plants and enterprises have moved from the USA to Asia, in particular China – Trump’s program to return them has failed – we have to admit it already, so no quick exit from the recession is expected.
 
The American president announced the benefits and preferences for companies that agree to return production to American territory. He even threatened Apple with a ban of its products’ sales in America. But in Asian countries, production costs are much lower due to minimal overhead and operating costs. Apple, however, has stated that they cannot find in the US such qualified and disciplined personnel as in China.
 
Home production in the USA is so small that it will not become a driver of powerful growth. This means that hopes for a quick exit from the recession are not backed up by anything,” concludes Vyacheslav Kholodkov.
 
Author: Maxim Booth
 
Similar opinion from the US financial press:
 
https://e-markets.nordea.com/#!/article/56742/global-once-we-are-out-of-this-mess-the-usd-could-be-hammered
 
https://e-markets.nordea.com/#!/article/56742/global-once-we-are-out-of-this-mess-the-usd-could-be-hammered
 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2020/05/11/a-trump-china-and-coronavirus-perfect-storm-could-destroy-the-dollar/#640e92cf5024

Below is our translation of another article by the brilliant Ivan Danilov from RIA Novosti with an introduction and notes [in brackets] by Vince Dhimos. What makes Danilov unique is that, though Russian, he scours and analyses the US financial press for news that is pertinent to the non-US-aligned East, ie, Russia and China and their friends and allies. His facts are American but his analyses are common-sensical and straightforward, unlike US state-controlled financial journalism.
 
QUOTE:
 
“Henry Paulson, in his article, also in Foreign  Affairs explained that, despite all the technical advantages, China does not have political and financial stability, and it does not have the reputation of a truly reliable financial centre that the United States has. In essence, this means that the reasons why many in Washington are convinced that the dollar will be the forever attractive (and de facto standard) world trade currency are purely psychological or image-related. That is, the United States has a reputation of a reliable financial centre, but China does not have it and, according to American financiers, it is unlikely to be such without ‘democratic reforms.’ “
 
This is hilarious. So this great American financial analyst claims that the US, with its constant wars with countries that are not a threat to the American people, wars that it never wins, with its sanctions even against allied countries, and with its economy based on the Fed’s issuance of unbacked dollars, and now with riots in the streets of its major cities, is a “truly reliable financial centre” while China, with a real economy backed by goods, services, a stable of top-notch professionals several times larger than that of the US, and with several times more STEM graduates and universities specialized in training them, and with a relatively unified stable society, is “unlikely to be a reliable financial centre” because it does not have a “democratic” system like that of the US, where citizens cannot agree on anything and are now on the streets in a pre-civil war situation beating each other up! (I explained here why the US cannot be even remotely be considered a democracy).

The US could have had a stable currency but it chose to weaponize the dollar instead.

BEGIN TRANSLATION
 
China is preparing a killer for Bitcoin and a problem for the dollar
 
May 06, 2020
,
Ivan Danilov
 
American analysts have suddenly realized that China has been preparing a technology that would become a killer for Bitcoin and a threat to the US dollar. And if investors are worried about the competition for the main world cryptocurrency unless they have invested in this exotic digital asset, then the future of the US dollar as the main currency of world trade immediately turns into a national security problem. But even before it comes to crowding out the dollar from its pedestal as the base currency for the international exchange of goods and services, the very fact of launching a financial instrument that is “invisible” to the United States and has great potential to be used as a means of ensuring trade is already becoming a direct threat to the geopolitical interests of Washington, which is afraid of being denied the opportunity to impose sanctions and spy on its opponents.
 
In a sense, the Chinese instrument for combating the dollar-based US financial superweapon reflects, like a drop of water, the ability of Beijing strategists to combine seemingly completely opposite things, such as an ancient form of money, and high technology, which is at the forefront of the development of cryptography, cybernetics and finance. The Central Bank of China (People’s Bank of China) has decided to cross the “banknote” (or “coin”) with cryptocurrency and untie the circulation of money from the banking system, closely linking it to direct state control.
 
Concerned experts at the American agency Bloomberg are discussing the specifics of this financial hybrid:
 
“Most of the money exchanged electronically is just loans and debits in accounts with different banks. Digital cash (that is, the so-called digital yuan of the Central Bank. – author’s note) In China is designed to be an electronic version of banknotes or coins: it simply lives in a digital wallet on a smartphone, and is not present in a physical wallet. The value (digital yuan. – author’s note) will be set by the state. But virtual money will be faster (circulating in the economy. – author’s note) and easier to use than paper, and will also give the Chinese authorities a degree of control that cannot be obtained with physical money. "
 
Critics of this innovation may point out that this, in fact, is a step backward into the past, ie, the Middle Ages or even Antiquity, when money had a material component, and was not (if very crudely) just a form of debt of various banking structures with which consumers and producers of goods or services exchange among themselves.
 
Proponents of this approach, however, will note that China is taking a step not into the past, but into the future, ridding itself of several problems at once. For example, there is no need to fear for the banking sector, because a payment system based on this kind of “digital banknote” (or “coin”) does not depend on the financial condition of banks, their credit rating and interaction among themselves; that is, the stability of the country’s basic level of the financial system rises sharply. No bank manager will be able to steal money, withdraw it somewhere or give it out for dubious loans. In this case, the state has full transparency of all payments almost in real time, as well as the ability to use the data to fine-tune the economy. And all this without the additional cost of servicing inconvenient paper or metal cash. And most importantly, there are no technical restrictions that would hinder the removal of this system from China. And here’s where the fun begins.
 
Bloomberg reporters cite assessments by scholars worried about the prospects for economic sanctions: "Aditi Kumar and Eric Rosenbach of the John F. Kennedy Harvard School of Management in a May issue of Foreign Affairs magazine claim that the digital version of the renminbi (the Chinese virtual currency is officially known by this name [it is also known as the e-RMB or virtual yuan]) may ultimately allow Iran and other countries to more easily avoid US sanctions or transfer money without being discovered by the United States government, because at some point it may become possible to transfer digital currency across borders without going through dollar-based international payment systems."
 
At the same time, we must pay tribute to the Washington political and financial establishment – they took very seriously the threat of the digital renminbi, that is, a digital form of payment, for access to which, by and large, just a (probably, Chinese) smartphone is enough. The problem is that, having examined this threat, they came to the conclusion that the dollar is, in general, not in danger, despite the obvious advantages of the digital renminbi.
 
The best argument in support of the perpetual hegemony of the dollar came from the pen of the former US Treasury Secretary under Obama. Henry Paulson, in his article, also in Foreign  Affairs explained that, despite all the technical advantages, China does not have political and financial stability, and it does not have the reputation of a truly reliable financial centre that the United States has. In essence, this means that the reasons why many in Washington are convinced that the dollar will be the forever attractive (and de facto standard) world trade currency are purely psychological or image-related. That is, the United States has a reputation of a reliable financial centre, but China does not have it and, according to American financiers, it is unlikely to be such without "democratic reforms."
 
Accordingly, in this picture of the world, the future of the dollar depends solely on the American ability to maintain, strengthen, and invest profits from its privileged position in the global financial system in its own economy. The drawbacks of this logic are that for a week now, on every television screen and monitor of the planet, surprised earthlings have been watching dozens of American cities burn, with police kneeling before marauders (advocating social and racial justice), and the US president arguing with high army ranks about whether he can send troops to suppress riots. It is difficult to come up with a more effective advertising campaign in favour of the digital renminbi, and we will definitely see the results.

​ 
WAR NEWS
 
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syria-responds-to-offer-to-ease-sanctions-after-us-mocks-economic-crisis/?utm_medium=ppc&utm_source=push&utm_campaign=push%notificationss&utm_content=varies
 
Syria responds to offer to ease sanctions after US mocks economic crisis
 
By News Desk 2020-06-09
 
BEIRUT, LEBANON (6:30 P.M.) – Syria criticized the statements of the American envoy, James Jeffrey, about the current situation in Syria, stressing that it affirms that the United States is looking at the region with “Israeli eyes”, and it also represents a recognition by Washington of its responsibility for the suffering of the Syrian people.
An official source in the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told state-owned SANA, “The intensification of sanctions is the other side of the declared war on Syria after the aggressive project staggered in the face of successive defeats of its tools from terrorist groups,” according to the Syrian News Agency.”
The source said, “These statements confirm once again that the United States is looking at the region with Israeli eyes, because the demands that Jeffrey talks about are old and renewed Israeli demands to impose their control on the region.”
He continued: “This American policy, which constitutes a flagrant violation of the most basic human rights and international humanitarian law, will fail again in the face of the Syrians insistence to adhere to the sovereignty of their homeland and the independence of their political and economic options.”
The U.S. envoy to Syria, James Jeffrey, said in a video interview with a number of Syrians abroad two days ago that the U.S. sanctions against Damascus “contributed to the collapse of the value of the Syrian pound” and that “the Syrian regime is no longer able to manage an effective economic policy, or launder money from Lebanese banks, due to the economic crisis that is also affecting Lebanon. ”

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He added that “the U.S. Congress stood behind (Caesar’s law), and that the sanctions covered by the law to protect Syrian civilians, will automatically affect any economic activity, as well as any dealings with the Iranian regime.”
The U.S. administration recently approved the “Caesar Law” which comes into effect this month.
The Caesar Law, in addition to the Syrian government, targets all individuals and companies who provide funding or assistance to Syria, as well as a number of Syrian industries, including those related to infrastructure, military maintenance, and energy production.
In this context, Jeffrey indicated that his country had presented Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with a way out of this crisis, and that if he was “interested in his people, he would accept the offer. Washington wants to see a political process and it may not lead to a regime change.”
Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas revealed Jeffrey’s offer, noting that “it requires going to a political solution to implement Security Council Resolution 2254 and the decision, and Completion of a new constitution and holding elections under U.N. supervision after achieving a safe and neutral environment and acceptance of international decisions,” stressing that Washington’s offer is Assad’s commitment to the “Geneva 1” statement, which he says is not possible to stay in power.