Geez, so once ya begin ponderering how all of this crap mixes together into some sort of cohesive stew that is somewhat palatable, some of the dots begin to be connected to that missing plane that has captured everyone imagination for some reason. While the article below may have its speculative flaws, the credible backgrounders it provides along with some geo-polical realities from other reliable sources that have recently played out, combined with others that are purposely left outta the msm narratives, it seem to be on point. In other words, it might be wise to not believe a single scripted word that flows from Harper, Baird or the Regime Loyalists forked tongues nor the controlled media. Instead buckle up for a rather rough ride because of them if they dont calm down their inflammatory rhetoric. To further illustrate this Ukraine sanction paradox that, for some reason the Harper Regime jumped on-board, we really only need to look at the other Russian gas/oil pipelines that traverse Eastward to China and Japan and to the Southern Stans and Indochina, specifically the Koreas and Vietnam, then backtrack to Western Asia, aka: Middle East, and then dip further Southward into Africa and then across to Latin America. Mix in the pending crisis in Turkey, thanks to Erdogan vs Tw*tter, the divisions within the Gulf Coop Council between the Sauds, UAE, Bahrain and Qatar, then add Israel, Palestine and Iran into the mixture along with Syria and Iraq. Add them all together and, for better or worse, it would almost seem as if the Dollar, Pound and Euro have effectively been neutralized and the debt ridden remaining G7, now that they lopped off the only one member without massive public debts or oppressive IMF obligations, with their crumbling infrastructures may have passed their best before date. Who really knows where it all goes since it will be based upon speculative global investors, oil, gold and real tangible commodities that can immediately reach global markets today, not 5-10-15 yrs from now, along with actual physical currency reserves vs currency traders, plus divestments away from the West vs investments to the South and East, as well as the future of commodities based currencies that the West does not have access to due to its reliance on the unsustainable Fiat debt-based petro-currencies that are pegged to the negative $17 trillion USD... Petrodollar Alert: Putin Prepares To Announce Holy Grail Gas Deal With China 03/21/2014 09:41 -0400 If it was the intent of the West to bring Russia and China together - one a natural resource (if somewhat corrupt) superpower and the other a fixed capital / labor output (if somewhat capital misallocating and credit bubbleicious) powerhouse - in the process marginalizing the dollar and encouraging Ruble and Renminbi bilateral trade, then things are surely going according to plan. For now there have been no major developments as a result of the shift in the geopolitical axis that has seen global US influence, away from the Group of 7 (most insolvent nations) of course, decline precipitously in the aftermath of the bungled Syrian intervention attempt and the bloodless Russian annexation of Crimea, but that will soon change. Because while the west is focused on day to day developments in Ukraine, and how to halt Russian expansion through appeasement (hardly a winning tactic as events in the 1930s demonstrated), Russia is once again thinking 3 steps ahead... and quite a few steps east. While Europe is furiously scrambling to find alternative sources of energy should Gazprom pull the plug on natgas exports to Germany and Europe (the imminent surge in Ukraine gas prices by 40% is probably the best indication of what the outcome would be), Russia is preparing the announcement of the Holy Grail energy deal with none other than China, a move which would send geopolitical shockwaves around the world and bind the two nations in a commodity-backed axis. One which, as some especially on these pages, have suggested would lay the groundwork for a new joint, commodity-backed reserve currency that bypasses the dollar, something which Russia implied moments ago when its finance minister Siluanov said that Russia may refrain from foreign borrowing this year. Translated: bypass western purchases of Russian debt, funded by Chinese purchases of US Treasurys, and go straight to the source. Here is what will likely happen next, as explained by Reuters: Igor Sechin gathered media in Tokyo the next day to warn Western governments that more sanctions over Moscows seizure of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine would be counter-productive. The underlying message from the head of Russias biggest oil company, Rosneft, was clear: If Europe and the United States isolate Russia, Moscow will look East for new business, energy deals, military contracts and political alliances. The Holy Grail for Moscow is a natural gas supply deal with China that is apparently now close after years of negotiations. If it can be signed when Putin visits China in May, he will be able to hold it up to show that global power has shifted eastwards and he does not need the West. More details on the revelation of said Holy Grail: State-owned Russian gas firm Gazprom hopes to pump 38 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year to China from 2018 via the first pipeline between the worlds largest producer of conventional gas to the largest consumer. May is in our plans, a Gazprom spokesman said, when asked about the timing of an agreement. A company source said: It would be logical to expect the deal during Putins visit to China. Summarizing what should be and is painfully obvious to all, but apparently to the White House, which keeps prodding at Russia, is the following: The worse Russias relations are with the West, the closer Russia will want to be to China. If China supports you, no one can say youre isolated, said Vasily Kashin, a China expert at the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) think thank. Bingo. And now add bilateral trade denominated in either Rubles or Renminbi (or gold), add Iran, Iraq, India, and soon the Saudis (Chinas largest foreign source of crude, whose crown prince also happened to meet president Xi Jinping last week to expand trade further) and wave goodbye to the petrodollar. As reported previoisly, China has already implicitly backed Putin without risking it relations with the West. Last Saturday China abstained in a U.N. Security Council vote on a draft resolution declaring invalid the referendum in which Crimea went on to back union with Russia. Although China is nervous about referendums in restive regions of other countries which might serve as a precedent for Tibet and Taiwan, it has refused to criticize Moscow. The support of Beijing is vital for Putin. Not only is China a fellow permanent member of the U.N. Security Council with whom Russia thinks alike, it is also the worlds second biggest economy and it opposes the spread of Western-style democracy. This culminated yesterday, when as we reported last night, Putin thanked China for its understanding over Ukraine. China hasnt exactly kept its feelings about closer relations with Russia under wraps either: Chinese President Xi Jinping showed how much he values ties with Moscow, and Putin in particular, by making Russia his first foreign visit as Chinas leader last year and attending the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi last month. Many Western leaders did not go to the Games after criticism of Russias record on human rights. By contrast, when Putin and Xi discussed Ukraine by telephone on March 4, the Kremlin said their positions were close. The punchline: A strong alliance would suit both countries as a counterbalance to the United States. An alliance that would merely be an extension of current trends in close bilateral relations, including not only infrastructure investment but also military supplies: However, China overtook Germany as Russias biggest buyer of crude oil this year thanks to Rosneft securing deals to boost eastward oil supplies via the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline and another crossing Kazakhstan. If Russia is isolated by a new round of Western sanctions - those so far affect only a few officials assets abroad and have not been aimed at companies - Russia and China could also step up cooperation in areas apart from energy. CASTs Kashin said the prospects of Russia delivering Sukhoi SU-35 fighter jets to China, which has been under discussion since 2010, would grow. China is very interested in investing in infrastructure, energy and commodities in Russia, and a decline in business with the West could force Moscow to drop some of its reservations about Chinese investment in strategic industries. With Western sanctions, the atmosphere could change quickly in favor of China, said Brian Zimbler Managing Partner of Morgan Lewis international law firms Moscow office. Russia-China trade turnover grew by 8.2 percent in 2013 to $8.1 billion but Russia was still only Chinas seventh largest export partner in 2013, and was not in the top 10 countries for imported goods. The EU is Russias biggest trade partner, accounting for almost half of all its trade turnover. And as if pushing Russia into the warm embrace of the worlds most populous nation was not enough, there is also the second most populated country in the world, India. Putin did take time, however, to thank one other country apart from China for its understanding over Ukraine and Crimea - saying India had shown restraint and objectivity. He also called Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the crisis on Tuesday, suggesting there is room for Russias ties with traditionally non-aligned India to flourish. Although India has become the largest export market for U.S. arms, Russia remains a key defense supplier and relations are friendly, even if lacking a strong business and trade dimension, due to a strategic partnership dating to the Soviet era. Putins moves to assert Russian control over Crimea were seen very favorably in the Indian establishment, N. Ram, publisher of The Hindu newspaper, told Reuters. Russia has legitimate interests, he added. To summarize: while the biggest geopolitical tectonic shift since the cold war accelerates with the inevitable firming of the Asian axis, the west monetizes its debt, revels in the paper wealth created from an all time high manipulated stock market while at the same time trying to explain why 6.5% unemployment is really indicative of a weak economy, blames the weather for every disappointing economic data point, and every single person is transfixed with finding a missing airplane. zerohedge/news/2014-03-21/petrodollar-alert-isolated-west-putin-prepares-announce-holy-grail-gas-deal-china
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 07:58:27 +0000
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