Russia announced today that starting immediately, they will begin selling natural gas to ‘unfriendly countries’ in Rubles. This is a far bigger development than is being reported. 🧵
Russia currently supplies about 40% of Europe’s natural gas, which is used to heat homes and power their grid. Current EU sanctions against Russia have conveniently excluded nat gas for this reason.
There is no way for Europe to cut off such a significant portion of their own gas supply and not cause complete chaos. Even if the US and other countries swoop in to frantically try and make up the shortfall, the infrastructure to switch to LNG isn’t yet built.
The EU could maybe limp their way through the rest of this cold season, but by next fall they’ll be unable to heat their homes or power their grid. So they need Russian nat gas for the foreseeable future.
But given that the EU’s sanctions place them firmly within the ‘unfriendly’ camp, they are now faced with needing to procure Rubles to be able to purchase Russian nat gas. But how do they procure Rubles?
The EU have 4 options: 1. exchange gold for Rubles with Russia. 2. sell goods to Russia. 3. exchange Euros for Rubles on forex market 4. buy Rubles from Russia’s central bank with Euros/USD.
1 gold is sanction proof.
2 is impossible without lifting sanctions.
3 will cause the Ruble to appreciate against the €, something the US is vehemently fighting against.
4 Russia may not accept USD/€ given the ways their holdings could (and would) be weaponized against them.
If 4 occurs, this will force unfriendly countries to first purchase an intermediary currency, like the Yuan. The prospect of being forced into purchasing Yuan is something the west has been anticipating but has little defence against.
And this is the reason behind the recent barely veiled threats and gunboat style diplomacy from the US toward China for helping Russia skirt their unilateral sanctions. This bifurcation of the world into "with us or against us" is setting the stage for renewed sanctions on China.
The resulting prices on not just gas, but on all imported commodities in the EU are set to skyrocket. This is going to cause massive instability, which the US eagerly hopes to exploit.
Thus, we see that this entire conflict is arguably less about the west isolating Russia and more about cleaving a receding Europe off of Asia and forcing it back into dependency on the US.
The EU now has a choice to make: if they continue down the path of subordinating to US aggression against Russia, Europe will be plunged into chaos.
But if they break from the US, they have a chance at a soft landing. So far, they seem to be veering decisively toward the former.
Zooming out further, this conflict is a direct result of a declining rate of profit and the increased difficulty the core is having in imperializing the periphery, which is why we’re seeing the core begin the process of eating itself.
US-backed attempts at foreign destabilization always try to leverage *real* grievances, not to bring any resolution to the aggrieved. Quite the opposite, they attempt to intensify.
The only correct position for the western left to take is to oppose *ALL* forms of intervention.
Yellen is once again traveling to Beijing, this time to try to get China to curb “overproduction”.
What's the real goal? 🧵
The goal of this pressure campaign is to somehow convince China to self-sabotage the foundation of their budding prosperity—their means of production—thereby eliminating the competition.
Why don't the capitalist countries try to out-compete China on commodity prices instead?
They've tried!
But due to decades of offshoring productive capacity and hoovering up their best and brightest minds into the financial and "tech" sectors, regaining a competitive edge will require a lot more effort than simply throwing money at the problem.
On Monday, Israeli fighter jets bombed the Iranian consulate in Damascus killing over a dozen people in an outrageous act of provocation against both Iran and Syria.
It is clear that Israel is intent on instigating a direct confrontation with Iran.
What’s the goal? 🧵
While this attack represents a blatant provocation, it is not without precedent by western powers. Those old enough might recall a similarly atrocious act by the US in the 1999 bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
Iran's increasingly close alignment with Russia and China over the past few years is something Israeli and American foreign policy experts have feared since Brzezinski's warning in 1997.
In America, a "FICO Credit Score™ " is a blacklist administered by an unelected private oligopoly.
Americans are inducted into this capitalist credit initiative from birth, which controls everything from where they can live and which employer they are allowed to work for.
In order to be allowed to live in a house when they're older, Americans must begin taking out loans starting from an early age—even if they don't need a loan.
Americans call this ritual to appease private banks and landlords "building credit".
Before being hired, many employers require Americans to divulge their FICO credit history to assess their trustworthiness.
If deemed insufficiently trustworthy, an applicant will not be hired.
It has become clear Israel has no plan beyond trying to force millions of Palestinians into the Sinai desert by starving and bombing all that remain in Gaza. Israel is acting as if any Egyptian objection to this plan is a bluff.
This is utter insanity. 🧵
Despite being led by a US puppet, Egypt is facing a dramatic economic crisis of their own that worsens each day of Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.
Both Suez transit fees and tourism—key buttresses of govt revenue—have fallen off a cliff since Oct 7.
Egypt's recent decision to increase transit fees betrays a level of desperation, since higher fees only make the shipping via the alternate route around Africa more attractive when new insurance risk premiums are factored in, and thus risk additional rerouting.