Welcome to Sott.net
Fri, 05 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Gold Coins

Gloves coming off: Russia gets serious on de-dollarizing


Near Eastern Outlook
Sat, 06 Jun 2015 19:41 UTC
worried dollar
Russia is about to take another major step towards liberating the Ruble from the Dollar System. Its Finance Ministry just revealed it is considering issuing Russian state debt in Chinese Yuan. That would be an elegant way to decouple from the dependence and blackmail pressures from the US Treasury financial terrorism operations while at the same time strengthening the bonds between China and Russia - Washington's worst geopolitical nightmare.

Russian Deputy Minister of Finance, Sergei Storchak, announced that his ministry is making a careful study of what would be required to issue Russian bonds denominated in Chinese Yuan. The latest news is part of a long-term strategy between Russia and China that goes at the heart of American hegemony—the role of the dollar as the leading world central bank reserve currency.

The dollar is used in some 60% of central bank reserves today. The second largest is the Euro. Now clearly China is carefully moving, as the world's largest trading nation, to create its Renminbi or Chinese Yuan as another major reserve currency. That has huge geopolitical implications.So long as the US dollar is leading reserve currency, the world must de facto buy US dollar Treasury bonds for its reserves. That has allowed Washington to have budget deficits since 1971 when the dollar left the gold exchange standard. In effect, China, Japan, Russia, Germany—all trade surplus countries, finance Washington's deficits that allow her to make wars around the world. It is a paradox that Russia and China at least, are determined to end as soon as possible.

Last year Russia and China signed enormous 30-year energy deals for delivery of Russian oil and gas to China. The payments will be in local currencies not in dollars. Already in 2014 settlement in national currencies between China and Russia in bilateral trade increased nine times over 2013. Lin Zhi, head of the Europe and Central Asia Department of the Chinese Ministry of Economic Development announced last November that, "About 100 Russian commercial banks are now opening corresponding accounts for settlements in yuan. The list of commercial banks where ordinary depositors can open an account in yuan is also growing." Last November 18 Russia's largest bank, Sberbank became the first Russian bank to begin financing letters of credit in Chinese yuan.

Comment: For those paying attention this is not news. Russia made itself very clear last November: They aren't the only country or economic zone deserting the sinking dollar for the more promising yuan: Furthermore, both countries have been accumulating central bank gold reserves at a dizzying pace:

      Read More...
Star of David

Netanyahu under siege in 'the most embattled democracy on earth'

Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Sun, 07 Jun 2015 23:35 UTC
Image
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has made two statements that demonstrate that a siege mentality has enveloped him due to the progress of the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign (BDS).

First, he issued a statement to the Sheldon Adelson "summit" in Las Vegas aimed at countering BDS to thank those gathered for allowing "young Jews to stand tall" for Israel, "the most embattled democracy on earth that seeks a genuine peace while fending off the forces of barbaric terrorism." In that statement he references the recent challenge in FIFA and the comment by an executive of the French telecom company Orange that he wanted to get out of Israel.

Comment: He kind of sounds like the Islamic State?

      Read More...
USA

FIFA indicted! Loretta Lynch's hypocritical attitude toward Wall St on full display

C. Robert Gibson
US Uncut
Sun, 07 Jun 2015 23:16 UTC
Image
© Don Emmert/AFP/Getty
New attorney general will prosecute foreign sports officials but not criminal bankers in her own backyard
The U.S.-led investigation of top FIFA officials is commendable for its decisive action to punish blatant corruption. But it should also disgust. Far worse crimes occur every day in the financial sector, but the Department of Justice, while obviously aware of them, has done too little. FIFA doesn't come close to Wall Street in terms of havoc wreaked upon the public.

Yes, 1,200 workers have died on the job building structures for FIFA to use during Qatar's 2022 World Cup, and 4,000 will likely die by the time the first game is played. That's an alarming number and a tragic loss of life. But Wall Street's greed-driven destruction of the global financial system in 2008 led to at least 10,000 additional suicides across 54 countries from 2008 to 2010 — more than twice the number of actual and projected worker deaths in Qatar, in a fraction of the time.

FIFA's bribery and corruption are certainly significant to soccer fans, and the harsh treatment of workers building their stadiums is deadly to those workers and their families. But the financial crisis affected every single person alive. Millions of people lost homes, their savings and their jobs and drowned in debt. Thousands of people around the world committed suicide at abnormal rates in the years following the financial crisis. Bankers did not murder these people. But their drastic actions were a direct result of financiers' reckless behavior on the market. And sadly, America's newest top lawyer is one of Wall Street's most loyal allies.

The U.S. government's investigation of football's international governing body is focused largely on financial crimes of racketeering, bribery, money laundering and fraud, making it all the more hypocritical. In the Justice Department's official indictment, nine football officials and five corporate executives from around the world "are alleged to have systematically paid and agreed to pay well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks to obtain lucrative media and marketing rights to international soccer tournaments." That sum is chump change to Wall Street. Big banks' donations to political campaigns, while technically legal, are certainly not done without expectation of reciprocation in the form of loose regulations or a slap on the wrist when the bank has done something meriting a criminal investigation. In the two election cycles leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, Wall Street donated more than $250 million to the congressional campaigns of Democrats and Republicans. And in the three election cycles that followed, those banks donated more than $230 million to congressional campaigns. That's almost half a billion dollars in legal bribery. The resulting kid-glove treatment of Wall Street banks by the government is an indicator that those legal bribes were successful.
      Read More...
War Whore

U.S. creation of its proxy army ISIS in Iraq and Syria part of imperial divide-and-conquer strategy for Middle East

Seumas Milne
The Guardian
Wed, 03 Jun 2015 17:05 UTC
Image
© Eva Bee
The sectarian terror group won't be defeated by the western states that incubated it in the first place

The war on terror, that campaign without end launched 14 years ago by George Bush, is tying itself up in ever more grotesque contortions. On Monday the trial in London of a Swedish man, Bherlin Gildo, accused of terrorism in Syria, collapsed after it became clear British intelligence had been arming the same rebel groups the defendant was charged with supporting.

The prosecution abandoned the case, apparently to avoid embarrassing the intelligence services. The defence argued that going ahead with the trial would have been an "affront to justice" when there was plenty of evidence the British state was itself providing "extensive support" to the armed Syrian opposition.

That didn't only include the "non-lethal assistance" boasted of by the government (including body armour and military vehicles), but training, logistical support and the secret supply of "arms on a massive scale". Reports were cited that MI6 had cooperated with the CIA on a "rat line" of arms transfers from Libyan stockpiles to the Syrian rebels in 2012 after the fall of the Gaddafi regime.

Clearly, the absurdity of sending someone to prison for doing what ministers and their security officials were up to themselves became too much. But it's only the latest of a string of such cases. Less fortunate was a London cab driver Anis Sardar, who was given a life sentence a fortnight earlier for taking part in 2007 in resistance to the occupation of Iraq by US and British forces. Armed opposition to illegal invasion and occupation clearly doesn't constitute terrorism or murder on most definitions, including the Geneva convention.
      Read More...
War Whore

45 dead in Saudi-led raids on Yemen capital

Jamal al-Jabiri
Yahoo News
Sun, 07 Jun 2015 18:59 UTC
Yemeni boy stands amidst rubble
© AFP Photo/Mohammed Huwais
A Yemeni boy stands amidst the rubble of houses destroyed by Saudi-led air strike on a residential area last month, in the capital Sanaa, on May 18, 2015
Sanaa (AFP) - Twenty civilians were among at least 45 people killed in Saudi-led air strikes on the rebel-held armed forces headquarters in the Yemeni capital on Sunday, a medic said.

The raids on the army headquarters in central Sanaa came a day after the kingdom's air defences shot down a Scud missile fired from the war-torn country.

They also followed the UN confirmation of June 14 as the start date for peace talks between warring Yemen factions in Geneva, which both the country's Shiite Huthi rebels and its exiled government said they will attend.

"At least 20 civilians and 25 soldiers and officers were killed" in four raids that hit the headquarters in the Tahrir residential neighbourhood in central Sanaa, the medic said.

The raids hit residential buildings, including five houses that were completely destroyed, witnesses said.

The rebel-controlled Saba news agency said 44 people were killed and more than 100 wounded "including woman and children".

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Gold Coins

​Hungary is the 1st EU country to join China's Silk Road project


RT
Sun, 07 Jun 2015 16:50 UTC
Silk Road Hungary China
© AFP Photo / Attila Kisbenedek
Hungary has become the first European country to join the Chinese 'Silk Road' project aimed to strengthen ties between Asia and Europe and develop trade and infrastructure in the region.

Foreign ministers of China and Hungary signed a memorandum of understanding for the New Silk Road, also known as the "One Belt, One Road" project in Budapest, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on its website late Saturday, Reuters reports.
mandliner.hu, June 6th
Last year Hungarian exports to China increased by 8%, reaching $2.2 billion. Chinese investment in Hungary already surpassed $3.5 billion.
In March, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he hoped the trade among all of the project's participants would exceed $2.5 trillion in a decade.


Comment: The Silk Road Foundation - established in Hungary to coordinate construction projects - already received $40 billion. You can imagine, how much money industry insiders will make - Hungarian members of the parliament, as usual - via their newly established construction companies, because they will be the first to know what and where China wishes to build.


Hungary hopes to intensify cooperation with China that can speed up the construction of the Hungarian-Serbia railway and other infrastructure projects, said the country's President Janos Ader, as quoted by the Chinese foreign ministry. China is involved in financing and constructing a railway between Hungary and Serbia.

The Chinese government plans to inject dozens of billions of dollars to support the project that involves the construction of railways, highways, power grids, oil and gas pipelines, maritime and other infrastructure links across Central, West and South Asia to Europe, increasing the connection between the East and the West.

Comment: The biggest exporters to China are the Volkswagen Group and other foreign interests in Hungary. Signing memorandums don't really affect the business of mega corporations.

      Read More...
Arrow Up

Egypt court overturns Hamas terror blacklisting


BBC
Sat, 06 Jun 2015 07:05 UTC
Hamas supporters
© Reuters
Hamas is designated a terrorist group by many nations, but to its supporters it is a resistance movement
Egypt's appeals court has overturned a ruling that listed the Palestinian militant group Hamas as a terrorist organisation, court officials say.

One of them told AFP news agency the ruling in February was quashed because the lower court was not "competent" to make such verdicts.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, welcomed Saturday's ruling.

Hamas is an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood - itself designated as a terrorist organisation in 2013.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi was ousted in 2013.

Comment: If what makes Hamas a terrorist organization is its long record of attacks and refusal to renounce violence, then what does that make Israel and the United States?

      Read More...
Newspaper

Putin's interview with Il Corriere della Sera

Vladimir Putin
President of Russia
Sat, 06 Jun 2015 15:32 UTC
Putin
© Presidential Press and Information Office
Interview to the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good evening.

Luciano Fontana: Good evening, Mr President. First of all, we would like to thank you for giving us this important opportunity to interview you today.

Vladimir Putin: It is my pleasure.

Luciano Fontana: My name is Luciano Fontana. I am the new head of Il Corriere della Sera, and here with me is my colleague, Paolo Valentino, who worked for a long time in Russia and even married a Russian woman.

Vladimir Putin: You are the new head of the newspaper?

Luciano Fontana: Yes, it has only been a month.

Vladimir Putin: Congratulations you on the appointment.
      Read More...
Eye 1

UK's Big Brother Watch reveals excessive police requests to access private communications


RT
Sat, 06 Jun 2015 15:32 UTC
The overreaching surveillance state in the U.S. certainly takes most of the headlines, but the UK is every bit on par if not worse. A recent report, responded to below by Steve Jolly of NOCCTV, indicates that there have been 700,000 police requests to access private communications in the UK over a two-year period - which amounts to a request every 2 minutes. And these requests are almost never denied; in fact, they have a 96% approval rate. This surely can't purely be to "thwart terrorism."
      Read More...
TV

Behind the Headlines: Interview with geopolitical analyst Stephen Lendman

Sott Editors
Sott.net
Sun, 07 Jun 2015 18:00 UTC
Sott Talk Radio logo
This week on Behind the Headlines we spoke with geopolitical analyst Stephen Lendman. Born in 1934, Stephen is a Harvard University graduate and a prolific writer on major world and national issues. His articles have appeared on many news websites and he maintains a personal blog at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Stephen is a regular guest on alternative news radio shows and hosts his own show on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network three times weekly. The author or editor of four books:Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive For Hegemony Risks World War III, Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity, How Wall Street Fleeces America, Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War and The Iraq Quagmire: The Price of Imperial Arrogance, Stephen is a 2008 Project Censored winner and 2011 Mexican Journalists Club international journalism award recipient.

Running Time: 01:27:00

Download: MP3

      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts