The US Dollar Can No Longer Threaten China and Russia

In 2022, the US kicked Russia out of the SWIFT system, causing significant losses for Russian businesses and ordinary citizens. Even Switzerland’s traditionally neutral banks joined this looting. The monopoly over the financial system and global currency once gave the U.S. and EU such capability, but at the 2024 BRICS summit, Western countries permanently lost this advantage.

The US Dollar Can No Longer Threaten China and Russia

Previously:

Russia outlines proposal for BRICS DLT cross border payment system

Pro-EU forces in Moldova claim victory in questionable vote + More

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The tiny European state of Moldova is increasingly being drawn into the maelstrom of NATO’s war against Russia. On Monday, the US-allied government of Maia Sandu claimed victory in a referendum held the day before over whether the country should join the European Union. According to the Central Election Commission, 50.39 percent of voters supported and 49.61 percent opposed EU ascension. Slightly more than half of those eligible to cast a ballot did so.

Pro-EU forces in Moldova claim victory in questionable vote

The International Republican Institute is affiliated with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). See my “front organizations” page regarding NED and Amnesty International.

Related:

06-10-2024 Daniel Runde and Thomas Bryja: Moldova’s Fate Is Tied to Ukraine’s: Now Is the Time for the West to “Go Big” on Moldova

Daniel F. Runde’s Support for Ukraine (CSIS):

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76 days to get it right in Ukraine

76 days to get it right in Ukraine (translation)

With less than two weeks to go until the US presidential election, and with polls showing a tie that will make the result depend on a small number of swing states, states that could fall to one side or the other and change the course of events, the electoral issue marks the global political agenda and represents a special element of uncertainty in the case of Ukraine. All the certainties that have existed until now under the leadership of Joe Biden, who has managed relations with Kyiv for two terms, since he was in charge of the White House during the years of the Obama administration, will disappear the moment it is announced who will come to power next January. Although, without a doubt, a victory for Trump would be more worrying for Zelensky, who apparently did not get the desired support from the Republican candidate at the meeting held during the Ukrainian president’s last visit to the United States, neither would a victory for Kamala Harris mean the end of concerns. The scant presence of the war in Ukraine in the campaign is compounded by speculation about the candidate’s cold relationship with Zelensky, despite the fact that it was Harris who attended the peace summit in Switzerland representing the White House. However, beyond slogans such as “support Ukraine as long as necessary,” the candidate has not at any time suggested what specific policy she would pursue with regard to the war or the relationship with Russia. Electoral needs are marked by issues of national policy and neither the Republican nor the Democrat candidate are making long speeches detailing their proposals.

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Brazil’s Lula toes the Western line and opposes Venezuela’s and Nicaragua’s membership in BRICS

Source: Gringa Brazilien

Brazil, Lula reiterates opposition to Venezuela’s entry into BRICS

The president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has reportedly informed his international interlocutors that the country will oppose Venezuela’s entry into the BRICS. The newspaper “G1” reported this, pointing out that this “possible veto” would represent a further sign of distancing between Lula and the Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, a relationship which, according to sources at the newspaper, “has been frozen for some time now”.

Lula is definitely compromised! As for UNSC reforms, I’m pretty sure that it’s about China and Russia.

Related:

Pro-Western Rio Times: Lula Blocks Venezuela and Nicaragua from BRICS Amid Diplomatic Tensions

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The racial and class question

The racial and class question

Virtually forgotten due to the discourse of Ukrainian unity and the general lack of interest in analyzing the nuances of events, the racial and class question is going virtually unnoticed in this war. If the Donbass conflict had a proletarian aspect that the press mocked in the first weeks of the DPR due to those Soviet-looking press conferences of workers and academics, in the current context, there have not even been any such comments. Presented as a war of national liberation, no aspect other than nationalism has deserved much mention in the Western press or in academia. Volodymyr Ishchenko and Ilya Matveev, who have sought to study the class aspect in the outbreak of the conflict, are the rare exception. To Ischenko’s surprise, RFE/RL published an article last September that dealt, albeit in generalities and without great depth, with the increase in inequality that war implies, an aspect that is, on the other hand, perfectly evident. “As the war drags on, the gaps in Ukrainian society are widening,” the American media headlines.

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[Updated] Moldova says ‘no’ in vote on joining EU: partial results

DW (Germany): Moldova says ‘no’ in vote on joining EU: partial results

They’ve been building up this election interference narrative for months.

Related:

B92 (Serbia): Moldova decided: Loud and clear – NO!

BBC: Moldova’s EU vote hangs in balance as president blames voter ‘fraud’

BBC changed their headline.

More information on just a few of the front organizations in Moldova:

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Beware of War Hawks in “America First” Clothing

For the past eight years, the two major political parties have been gripped by a messy and ongoing realignment. It began with the election of Donald Trump in 2016, which was a major repudiation of the neoconservative-establishment coalition that had dominated the Republican Party since the presidency of George W. Bush.

Beware of War Hawks in “America First” Clothing

Related:

The Return of Peace Through Strength: Making the Case for Trump’s Foreign Policy

Trump Frees Himself From Bolton – but Robert O’Brien Will Be Just as Bad

New national security adviser recently considered war to free prisoners in Iran

Front Organizations

Robert O’Brien – Project 2025

Project 2025 [under construction]