The Tectonic Plates of Geopolitics Are Starting to Shift

The United States is currently waging economic warfare against one tenth of the world’s countries with cumulative population of nearly 2 billion people and combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $15 trillion.

These include Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, North Korea and others on which Washington has imposed sanctions over the years, but also countries like China, Pakistan and Turkey which are not under full sanctions but rather targets of other punitive economic measures.

In addition, thousands of individuals from scores of countries are included in the Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated Nationals who are effectively blocked from the U.S.-dominated global financial system. Many of those designated are either part of or closely linked to their countries’ leadership…

But in recent months it seems that America’s unwavering commitment to fight all of the world’s scourges has brought all those governments and the wealthy individuals who support them to a critical mass, joining forces to create a parallel financial system which would be out of reach of America’s long arm. Should they succeed, the impact on America’s global posture would be transformational.

– From the recent article: The Anti-Dollar Awakening Could Be Ruder and Sooner Than Most Economists Predict

The peak of American empire has already come and gone, a reality not yet widely appreciated due to the continued dominance of the global financial system by the U.S. dollar, still the world’s preeminent reserve currency. U.S. leaders have always used the USD as a weapon, but it’s only in recent years that geopolitical rivals and long-standing allies alike have started to come to an increasingly vocal understanding that the unipolar role played by the U.S. in the world’s centralized financial system is well past its expiration date.

Mugabe’s exit will make Zimbabwe even closer to China, say Chinese analysts

A file picture of Zimbabwe’s likely new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa (left) standing behind Robert Mugabe. Photo: Associated Press

 

Man poised to take over as head of state has previous ties to Beijing and the need to open up the economy will create further opportunities for cooperation, say observers

Robert Mugabe’s resignation in Zimbabwe after 37 years in power is likely to bring the African nation even closer to China, according to Chinese analysts.

Former vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa is poised to take over as head of state after a military takeover finally forced Mugabe to quit.

Military Coup Reportedly Under Way In Zimbabwe

 

Zimbabwe is on edge amid speculation that a military coup is in progress, with army tanks seen outside the capital a day after the army commander threatened to “step in” to calm political tensions over the president’s firing of his vice president. The Associated Press said it saw three tanks with several soldiers in a convoy on a road heading toward an army barracks just outside the capital, Harare, while Reuters reported that four tanks were seen heading toward the capital.

According to Reuters, two other tanks were seen parked beside the main road from Harare to Chinhoyi, about 20km from the city. Eyewitnesses also saw military vehicles blocking major roads outside the city.

Dollar Reality – End of Petro Dollars

All economies are in freefall, however the U.S. is the safe haven (for the moment) because of a rising currency and still having the world’s ‘strongest’ economy, which is now in all reality propped up by hot air. The U.S. Dollar’s rise, as the article states, will wreck the rest of the world economy before its own demise comes around the corner. Pay attention to the signs. We’re riding the roller coaster to the top before the steep drop.

It’s also true that the Petrodollar is dead. It’s no longer a factor in what keeps the U.S. Dollar alive. It’s already on the chopping block now that this anchor has been removed and is only a matter of time before the axe comes down. That was the last foundation keeping the USD secure.

Because of the wealth of the information found in this article, most of the source will remain archived here.

 

 

QUESTION: Dear Mr. Armstrong,

(a) You say that the world is losing confidence in governments and I do not question that for a minute.

(b) BUT you also say that the dollar will strengthen for various probable sounding reasons, which it is presently doing. (whereas many think it will collapse).

For the collapse theory: it appears the petro dollar is being dumped which bodes ill for the dollar remaining the prime reserve currency. ——– does not think it will and that SDR’s will replace it. Surely as this eminent position of the petro dollar declines, there will be further debasement? (loss of purchasing power) – the opposite of a stronger dollar.

Comrade Xi’s excellent African safari

China’s Xi Jinping with Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Dec. 5.

 

UNITED NATIONS — China’s President Xi Jinxing visited southern Africa both to build upon booming business relations and improve cozy political ties between the People’s Republic and key regional states.

Beijing is already the African continent’s top trade partner with $222 billion in commerce; moreover China is weaving a vast web of infrastructural, road and rail projects which will help speed a flow of natural resources to China’s industries. PRC trade with Africa exceeds declining American commerce with Africa by a factor of three to one.

Greece misses IMF payment, plunges into uncertainty

Greece officially missed a payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and saw its bailout expire on Tuesday (30 June), capping a fortnight of tumultuous politics.rings by the Greek government to get better terms from creditors.

The developments leave Athens without international support for the first time since 2010 and facing a referendum that some EU politicians say will determine its future in the eurozone.

Greece is now in “arrears” on an €1.5 billion bill, the IMF said at midnight Brussels time – a status which sees the EU and Nato member join the ranks of Cuba and Zimbabwe.

Russians start $3bn mine in Zimbabwe

The good news for Zimbabwe is that Russian investors have started a new $3 billion (R33bn) platinum mine about 50km north-west of Harare. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe turned the first sod yesterday.

The bad news for Zimbabwe is that a South African mining firm, which believed it had a licence to extract platinum nearby, and invested millions prospecting and producing a feasibility study, and was then kicked off its claim, last week won an order to seize all Zimbabwe’s diamonds sold in Antwerp over the past 10 days.

Lavrov and Mugabe launched the joint venture to develop the Zimbabwean deposit of platinum group metals in the Darwendale district. The mine was targeting production of 250 000 ounces annually within three years, the Zimbabwean ministry of mines said.

Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe tells white farmers ‘to go’

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has called on the country’s remaining white farmers to cede land to black people.

“We say no to whites owning our land and they should go,” Mr Mugabe told his supporters at a rally.

The white farmers union said it was regrettable that racial tensions were flaring up again.

Russian Ambassadors Discuss Invading Miami, California In Leaked Call

 

A leaked conversation between two Russian ambassadors appears to show the diplomats joking about the crisis in Ukraine and the possibility of future incursions in the United States and Eastern Europe.

The video posted under the YouTube account “Michael Berkan” involves Igor Nilokaevich Chubarov and Sergey Viktorovich Bakharev, the Russian ambassadors to the African nations Eritrea and Zimbabwe and Malawi, respectively.

The call begins with Chubarov congratulating Bakharev on Zimbabwe’s vote against the UN resolution that declared Crimea’s referendum invalid. Chubarov expressed surprise that Eritrea abstained from the vote.

Zimbabwe Adopts the Yuan

We could be seeing the beginning of the end, which has been years in the making. At first glance, the uninformed reader would say “Zimbabwe? Big deal.” However, avalanches don’t start off big, America’s enemy list is exponentially growing world-wide and is far from being untouchable, but most people who invest their time following the Kardashians couldn’t tell you that. As long as the malls are still open, everything is fine.

When the Zimbabwe currency collapsed, they began using U.S. dollars. It was a pretty smooth transition because at the time (2009), the dollar was really very stable. As the global reserve currency, the dollar attracted a great deal of support during the financial crisis. Of course, there were a few problems. One was that while there were plenty of dollar bills to use, there was very little change (meaning coins). The New York Times wrote a story about this reality in 2012:

Zimbabwe in ‘arms for uranium’ pact with North Korea

President Robert Mugabe’s military henchmen have reportedly signed an arms trade agreement worth millions of dollars with North Korea, in return for allowing Pyongyang access to Zimbabwe’s controversial Kanyemba district, which has sparked a uranium mining race pitting Iran and other powers, Nehanda Radio has been told.

Kanyemba district is about 160 miles north of the capital, and is believed to be holding significant uranium reserves, first discovered in the 1970s by German prospectors, but never exploited due to low world prices at the time.

QE3: Dollar Killer

Until recovery or destruction of the Dollar. As surely as the sky is blue, the latter will happen. QE3 is the nail in the coffin. When was the last time you borrowed your way out of debt?

If you really want to know what is going on in the economy, ignore what the Fed says and watch what it is does.

So what is the Fed doing? Bernanke’s announcement says the Fed will now spend a whopping $40 billion per month—$480 billion per year—purchasing mortgage-backed securities from the big Wall Street banks.

He says this is an effort to push down mortgage rates and get more people buying and building houses, and thus create jobs. If this is the best the Fed has to offer, America is in big trouble. Mortgage rates are already at historic lows, and people are not buying houses. Pushing record low rates a few fractions of a percent lower won’t do much. What is more likely to happen is that the big banks will finally have an opportunity to unload all their garbage subprime-mortgage-backed securities at the expense of taxpayers. This is probably the real unspoken motive.

But if that part of the Federal Reserve’s announcement wasn’t shocking enough, what it said next should blow your socks off. The Fed said it was writing itself a blank check for how much it could spend until the labor market improved “substantially.” It gave itself no predefined limit on how long, or on how much it could spend under this new QE3 program. It is completely open ended. It can go on forever.

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Printing money to buy things is “Zimbabwe policy.” We all know what happened to Zimbabwe when it tried this. Eventually it cost Zimbabweans billions of dollars to buy a banana. This is where the QE road leads.

It is happening already. Within just a few hours of Bernanke’s statement, the dollar had lost over half a percent in value. On Friday it lost more than half a percent again.

In two days, the dollar lost more than a percent of its value. And that was due to just the announcement. The dollar printing has barely started.

The Federal Reserve’s QE policy will drive the dollar “through the floor,” says Peter Schiff, ceo of Euro Pacific Capital.

“This is a disastrous monetary policy; it’s kamikaze monetary policy,” Schiff told cbnc. “The dollar … is going to be in free fall at some point … ultimately there’s going to be a currency crisis.”

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America needs to prepare for massive economic upheaval. America’s top banker has signaled that it is quantitative easing or sudden death for the economy. There is no choice. If the money printing stops, America stops. But that means the dollar is going to get killed. QE will destroy the dollar, and America’s standard of living.

Tough times are coming.

Full article: QE3: Dollar Killer (The Trumpet)