The birth of the 'de-Americanized' world

[gurey25]

THE ROVING EYE
The birth of the 'de-Americanized' world
By Pepe Escobar

This is it. China has had enough. The (diplomatic) gloves are off. It's time to build a "de-Americanized" world. It's time for a "new international reserve currency" to replace the US dollar.

It's all here, in a Xinhua editorial, straight from the dragon's mouth. And the year is only 2013. Fasten your seat belts - and that applies especially to the Washington elites. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Long gone are the Deng Xiaoping days of "keeping a low profile". The Xinhua editorial summarizes the straw that broke the dragon's back - the current US shutdown. After the Wall Street-provoked financial crisis, after the war on Iraq, a "befuddled world", and not only China, wants change.

This paragraph couldn't be more graphic:
Instead of honoring its duties as a responsible leading power, a self-serving Washington has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world by shifting financial risks overseas, instigating regional tensions amid territorial disputes, and fighting unwarranted wars under the cover of outright lies.
The solution, for Beijing, is to "de-Americanize" the current geopolitical equation - starting with more say in the International Monetary Fund and World Bank for emerging economies and the developing world, leading to a "new international reserve currency that is to be created to replace the dominant US dollar".

Note that Beijing is not advocating completely smashing the Bretton Woods system - at least for now, but it is for having more deciding power. Sounds reasonable, considering that China holds slightly more weight inside the IMF than Italy. IMF "reform" - sort of - has been going on since 2010, but Washington, unsurprisingly, has vetoed anything substantial.

As for the move away from the US dollar, it's also already on, in varying degrees of speed, especially concerning trade amongst the BRICS group of emerging powers (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), which is now overwhelmingly in their respective currencies. The US dollar is slowly but surely being replaced by a basket of currencies.

"De-Americanization" is also already on. Take last week's Chinese trade charm offensive across Southeast Asia, which is incisively leaning towards even more action with their top commercial partner, China. Chinese President Xi Jinping clinched an array of deals with Indonesia, Malaysia and also Australia, only a few weeks after clinching another array of deals with the Central Asian "stans".

Chinese commitment to improve the Iron Silk Road reached fever pitch, with shares of Chinese rail companies going through the roof amid the prospect of a high-speed rail link with and through Thailand actually materializing. In Vietnam, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sealed an understanding that two country's territorial quarrels in the South China Sea would not interfere with even more business. Take that, "pivoting" to Asia.

All aboard the petroyuan
Everyone knows Beijing holds Himalayas of US Treasury bonds - courtesy of those massive trade surpluses accumulated over the past three decades plus an official policy of keeping the yuan appreciating very slowly, yet surely.

At the same time, Beijing has been acting. The yuan is also slowly but surely becoming more convertible in international markets. (Just last week, the European Central Bank and the People?s Bank of China agreed to set up a US$45-$57 billion currency swap line that will add to the yuan's international strength and improve access to trade finance in the euro area.)

The unofficial date for full yuan convertibility could fall anywhere between 2017 and 2020. The target is clear; move away from piling up US debt, which implies, in the long run, Beijing removing itself from this market - and thus making it way more costly for the US to borrow. The collective leadership in Beijing has already made up its mind about it, and is acting accordingly.

The move towards a full convertible yuan is as inexorable as the BRICS move towards a basket of currencies progressively replacing the US dollar as a reserve currency. Until, further on down the road, the real cataclysmic event materializes; the advent of the petroyuan - destined to surpass the petrodollar once the Gulf petro-monarchies see which way the historical winds are blowing. Then we will enter a completely different geopolitical ball game.

We may be a long way away, but what is certain is that Deng Xiaoping's famous set of instructions is being progressively discarded; "Observe calmly; secure our position; cope with affairs calmly; hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile; and never claim leadership."

A mix of caution and deception, grounded on China's historical confidence and taking into consideration serious long-term ambition, this was classic Sun Tzu. So far, Beijing was laying low; letting the adversary commit fatal mistakes (and what a collection of multi-trillion-dollar mistakes... ); and accumulating "capital".

The time to capitalize has now arrived. By 2009, after the Wall Street-provoked financial crisis, there were already Chinese rumblings about the "malfunctioning of the Western model" and ultimately the "malfunctioning of Western culture".

Beijing has listened to Dylan (with Mandarin subtitles?) and concluded yes, the times they-are-a-changing. With no foreseeable social, economic and political progress - the shutdown is just another graphic illustration, if any was needed - the US slide is as inexorable as China, bit by bit, spreading its wings to master 21st century post-modernity.

Make no mistake; the Washington elites will fight it like the ultimate plague. Still, Antonio Gramsci's intuition must now be upgraded; the old order has died, and the new one is one step closer to being born.

Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007), Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge (Nimble Books, 2007), and Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009).

He may be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com.

(Copyright 2013 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

[Jam Street]

Now, it is a good story that can give myself and many others an orgasm but can it be translated into action?

It is easier said than done sxb.

[gurey25]

I for one welcome our new chinese overlords.
just kidding , china has a long way to go even for a fully working alternative to the dollar, 2017 is too early but it will be halfway there by then,
and it would be protecting itself against the collapse of the dollar.
Its the elites in the US that will be pulling the plug on the dollar, when the system they benefit from becomes too bloated to work.
They will seek to replace it with even more control over the world economy and financial system,
the proposals will sound very nice i am sure and even reasonably.


Thank god china is there to save the rest of the world, and it is no charity its self interest.
so lets all pray chinas plans go without any hickups, so that we can all benefit by hanging on to its coat tails and survive the greater entrenchment of our current servitude.

i advise all of you if you can to open a chinese bank account in yuan/renminbi ,
i have done it myself, in Industrial Construction Bank China ( ICBC).

[FAH1223]

Gurey, what about investing in silver and gold?

[Basra-]

gurey


I have SAID that to YOU before and I will SAY IT again! America is here to stay!!!!!! We are the crust de la crème of our age. Our mighty dollar is supreme and will be supreme through centuries. NO OTHER nation can come even remotely to us. IF we fall, the rest will fall deeper. Pray that we rise and u and other dimishing minions will rise--(in your small way)

[gurey25]

Gurey, what about investing in silver and gold?

Its a good idea but you need to have the stomach for it, because you will be taken for one hell of a rollercoaster ride.
Juts before the crash happens the elite the top 10% of the 1% that run this system will make a run for gold to grab as much as they can with the 95%+ of the fake money currently spinning in the worlds giant obscene casino currently in the hundreds of trillions of dollars.
thankfully they will not be able to move this quickly enough into real assets and thus will only grab a small fraction of the worlds gold/silver reserves.
The problem is that the prices will go up and down very fast, something like $10,000 an ounce even $50,000 an ounce before crashing to less than $100 all in the same week.
Now if you have been buying gold for investment and you bought it at today's $1300 an ounce , you will freak out when your gold multiplies 10 times in value overnight.
and then you will probably have a heart attack when it goes 100 X in the opposite direction and its worth $50 an ounce.
You need to have faith and keep kool because when the price stabalizes you will have something worth value and everyone around you will have useless dollars, and Euros.

so yes buy gold and silver there is a stampede right now as the chinese government allowed regular people to buy gold and even encouraged them,
they are lining up to buy gold all over china and are experiencing shortages.
The Indians are still the largest buyers of gold and will continue to do so, no matter what price gold is in Dollars.

you need to think like an indian, buy gold and silver and sit on it, do not sell it.

[Basra-]

Gurey!!!!


Now I see YOU!! Your hate for America is NOT America the Empire but the crazy ups and down of the American dollar and stock market. Ileyn u r a man after your own stomach and wallet. You are angered by the instability of the American government and politics and how it affects the capitalism of your own wallet. Your essay above shows a staggering knowledge of the fluctuation of gold in the market, it gives me a glimpse into the soul of a rich, unknown scrooge who has had many close heart attack just from greed.

[gurey25]

gurey


I have SAID that to YOU before and I will SAY IT again! America is here to stay!!!!!! We are the crust de la crème of our age. Our mighty dollar is supreme and will be supreme through centuries. NO OTHER nation can come even remotely to us. IF we fall, the rest will fall deeper. Pray that we rise and u and other dimishing minions will rise--(in your small way)

American exceptionalism is really funny when you look at it.
The people are so deluded and kept ignorant that they actually believe that shit, that the US is the greatest and richest country in the world.
when in reality it is the worst country in the list of developed countries when it comes to quality of life, healthcare, and the income inequality.
You also have de-industrialization as factories close all over the country and entire cities become dumps , look at Detroit and Pittsburgh.

They have lost key industries , technologies that are essential for the workings of an advanced industrial country but can no longer be found in the US.
example large steel castings used in boilers for large power stations , Nuclear stations, and even large warships like aircraft carriers.
80% of the market for these are in the hands of 2 Japanese companies , the rest of the 20% are in the hands of Koreans and 1 German company.
When the US wants to build a nuclear power plant, a large part of it will have to come from Japan because noone in the US knows how to build it anymore.
You may have to look in a nursing home to track down the last engineers that know how to build it from the 70's. .
Its even worse when it comes to electronics, most of the worlds ultra pure silicone used in chips is made by just 4 Japanese companies.
Allot of the componensts in advanced weapons from radar, to the F-22 stealth fighters computers are sourced from Japanese companies because there is no US equivalent,
examples are in Gallenuim Arsnide chips.

Due to outsourcing the US has lost technology, skills and entire industries, the very things that China the rising superpower is gaining.

But the most important reason why the US has no future is the near complete takeover of the political system of the Financiers and corporations,
the US is no longer a democracy, it is currently an oligarchy and is heading towards rule by corporations.( Who would have predicted those cheesy 80's B movies like Robocop, and escape from La would turn out to be true )
These same entities care only about profits, they are like parasites that will consume and consume till the host dies and they will die with it.
Apart form the parasitic entities the US is healthy, it has huge natural resources, vast and skilled human resources and lots of land,
it should be the land of milk and honey but it is not.

[samatar133]

Yuan putting up any serious competition with the Dollar as a reserve currency any time soon is a joke!
I think it was 2009 when the Chinese proposed the creation of international reserve currency but as expected it was instantly rejected by the USA and even by the EU if memory serves me well. An international currency that is not supported by US and EU has a zero chance to function.The problem with the dollar is not about a fear that the USA Will default its debt payment obligation, the real problem is the devaluation of the dollar caused by the unending quantitative easing policy by US federal reserve. But china has its own problems too making their currency unattractive, their political system is quite unstable, their economy is not yet well balanced and still heavily dependent on exports rather than domestic consumption. But it is true that the Chinese and generally the Asian growth will make the world more even ending the centuries old western domination and that must be good for the rest of the world!!

[gurey25]

Gurey!!!!


Now I see YOU!! Your hate for America is NOT America the Empire but the crazy ups and down of the American dollar and stock market. Ileyn u r a man after your own stomach and wallet. You are angered by the instability of the American government and politics and how it affects the capitalism of your own wallet. Your essay above shows a staggering knowledge of the fluctuation of gold in the market, it gives me a glimpse into the soul of a rich, unknown scrooge who has had many close heart attack just from greed.

nah basra you do not get it.
If i was a rich speculator i would welcome instability and hate peace and stability because the more instability in the world the higher the profits.
I have no interest in money, flashy lifestyle etc.
i am a simple man, with simple tastes.

[gurey25]

Yuan putting up any serious competition with the Dollar as a reserve currency any time soon is a joke!
I think it was 2009 when the Chinese proposed the creation of international reserve currency but as expected it was instantly rejected by the USA and even by the EU if memory serves me well. The problem with the dollar is not about a fear that the USA Will default its debt payment obligation, the real problem is the devaluation of the dollar caused by the unending quantitative easing policy by US federal reserve. But china has its own problems too making their currency unattractive, their political system is quite unstable, their economy is not yet well balanced and still heavily dependent on exports rather than domestic consumption. But it is true that the Chinese and generally the Asian growth will make the world more even ending the centuries old western domination and that must be good for the rest of the world!!

You are looking at it from a western prespective,
The chinese play GO an ancient and more complex game than Chess that encourages the long term view.
This is only a tiny move in a series of harmless looking tiny moves that they have been playing.
The real story is the currency swaps they have been doing with their biggest exporters of energy and minerals, like Russia, Central Asian countries and more interestingly with Saudi Arabia and Australia.
They have been quietly doing it in a few african countries as well and is today as accepted as the dollar.

But still this will take quite a while,
this is happenning in step with the shift towards internal growth and consumption and away from exports,
The Yuan will increase in value and the chinese are printing more and putting it in the pockets of ordinary Chinese in the form of wage increases and public infrastructure investment.
This is the Chinese and japanese example of quantitive easing, except unlike the US and UK the money is not disappearing into the reserves of the banks that are too big to fail,
but are flowing into loans and investments fueling jobs and growth.

2017 is too optimistic by Pepe Escobar the Chinese themselves have said they expect it to be in the early 2020's so ten years from now.

[Basra-]

"US is healthy, it has huge natural resources, vast and skilled human resources and lost of land,
it should be the land of milk and honey but it is not"


There, Gurey--- your response SHOULD HAVE stopped at that. US is indeed a commanding power in natural huge resources, vast and skill human resources thanks to then nature of our FIRST class political and economic mechanics. and Yes, Lots of land as well. Indeed, land blessed by Allaah swt. I told u before and I will tell u again, USA is a different imperial power. It is a power based on the ordained power of God. (as opposed to previous empires where they sought to make themselves "God" and loose their initial charm of the ascendency to supreme empirical power) Our dollar, states-- IN GOD WE TRUST. This is a true slogan of the people. The secret to our success and hold in the supremacy of our nation.

Sure--it has its disadvantages, and u dactyl mentioned them.


" in reality it is the worst country in the list of developed countries when it comes to quality of life, healthcare, and the income inequality"


That is true, but we are NOT a nation of socialism, like the country u hail from. A socialist country has the advantage of a bigger "CONTROLLED" government, the sheriff in town who calls ALL the shots. America has a bigger government system but like u said, it is controlled by capitalism or as u say, the corporation and the financiers. (aside from the congress and the senate who also check the man on top) In essence that is a true marriage of balance and check. America is found by independent outbackers who cherish individualism and freedom from the big brother government. Socialist countries like in Europe and Canada have the advantage of being virtually unopposed in the creation of national heath care system and all those social goodies that u like and regalia. But when it comes to income inequality we are the same. Socialist countries are the WORST in income inquality---at least America gives u the 'opportunity' to be unequally monetary compensated. Europe--and Canada jobs are scarce and thus do not even have the need of income inequality discussion. (aside from welfare and the dehumanization of government mouth feeding. Now, that's a charming income equality) That is why they come to America. Each country and political system has its advantage and disadvantages. No country is perfect. (But the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, GOD BLESS HER SOUL, comes close)


As to the outsourcing and what not---that is NOT a problem at all. Through out history-- human labor has been outsourced. Beginning from early 19th century industrialization-- when man was replaced by machines. Every century and decade has its own time of change and outsourcing. Its a fact of life. But one thing remain unchanged. We are on the move. (we are the king of technology. The Iphones and Macs are a good example of our rule over the world lol) We move on, and the little minions below us take the pace of what 'We used to do"! Minions like China and Japan. (by the way, you are inlove with Japan u know, do u have a geisha in your bosoms?)

USA is a capitalist nation. At its core, it seeks to promote greed which bring jobs and opportunity. (and it should bring u too since u are as greedy) YES, it also bringz heart attack and uncertainty that u fear in the markets-- but that is the choice America would love or choose to live in. IF u want calm waters- go to Denmark. LOL


Corporations and Financiers are the unsung Tsars simply because they have the money, but also they need the 'vast skillful, resourceful labors' to deserve their title of royality, after ALL what monarch is good without its subjects??????. In essence, the American exceptionalist is NOT about parasitic relationship of the PEOPLE and the CORPORATIONS AND FINANCIERS, but a sweet, honey symbiotic relationship of the respective, willing parties! GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!!!

[samatar133]

Guray
There is an increasing acceptance by the west that in the near future the world affairs will not be dominated by them alone.
But it seems that for moment America is winning the geopolitical war securing the access of more energy and mineral and making China encircled and deprived of essential minerals. Let us hope you right and Chinese chest plan prevails to make the world more even. I am really fascinated about the effect that the rise of Asia will have on the rest of the developing world especially on Africa!
Are we going to benefit from it in the form of fairer trade and transfers of essential technologies, or will retard our industries by flooding our markets with cheap products?

[gurey25]

Not only have these parasites taken control of the government and media but they have also taken control over the education system and have been dumbing down the american people ever since.
The bullshit that just came out of basras mouth just goes to show how much the rot has taken.
It is good i find heart in all this, i am enjoying it, because the parasites are doing a good job, they are reducing the power of the US the only hyperpower on the planet,
in my lifetime i will be seeing a multipolar world where there are checks and balances .

When the dollar bubble there will be no more Iraq wars no more afghanistan adventures because they become unaffordable, the US will be cut down to size.
Still a superpower but not the sole power in the world.

now back to basras bullshit.
There is a glaring ignorance about US history from Americans, they have forgotten or have not been educated about a large part of their history.
This is where the socialism mumbo jumbo comes from.

The US today has gone back to the 1920's with its sharp turn towards the right, the unrestrained robber barons, lack of regulations that led to the 1929 depression.
From the ashes of the 1929 you got a whole load of socialism and this socialism and greater government involvement saved the US from economic disaster and then unleashed all the energies and potential that produced so much that it helped defeat the Nazis and the Japanese and propelled the US into superpower status.
Without socialism there would not have been the massive infrastructure projects like the Tennessee Valley authority , the US highway system, no Manhattan project,
No Apollo missions, no moon landing.
The elites during the recession of 1929 agreed to take a loss of power and allow more movement for the people so that the system doesn't collapse.
The energies unleashed made the wealthy decade of the 50's possible, the babyboom etc .
The US economy has been profiting and enjoying the fruit of the infrastructure built in the 30's and 40's till today, and it is crumbling.
When you look further back you see the "socialist" things done by Abraham lincoln that saved the union, and help fuel the growth decades later, like the homestead act, the creation of publicly funded colleges that evolved into the state universities of today.
Without Abe lincoln there would not have bee the guilded age , the time of edison, rockefeller, carnegie etc.
You go further back and you find yourself tot he time of founding fathers, especially alexander hamilton and his American system that led to the industrilization of the US,
which was strongly opposed by the british, and their minion the bankers and planters in the south.
todays idiots talking about socialism without knowing what it means would see alexander hamilton as a socialism, Lincoln a communist,
and FDR and JFK evil bolshevik communists.



througout US history right from the start you had the same parasites , whenever they were controled the country boomed, the periods they achieved some power where coincidently the time of economic panics, recessions and busts, the last time they came to forefront was the 80's with reagan and they have been growing in power ever since.
This time they are dealing with an ill educated population, that does not know who is the enemy, nor their rights.

The damage they do this time will be massive, i pray that it is not too much,
we still need a USA that is a major power to provide balance.

[gurey25]

Guray
There is an increasing acceptance by the west that in the near future the world affairs will not be dominated by them alone.
But it seems that for moment America is winning the geopolitical war securing the access of more energy and mineral and making China encircled and deprived of essential minerals. Let us hope you right and Chinese chest plan prevails to make the world more even. I am really fascinated about the effect that the rise of Asia will have on the rest of the developing world especially on Africa!
Are we going to benefit from it in the form of fairer trade and transfers of essential technologies, or will retard our industries by flooding our markets with cheap products?

Dont worry the attempted encirclement of china is not going to work.
Why? because china is using soft power, offering deals that benefits both sides while the US offers nothing substantial and infact offers deals that will harm the host countries economies in the long term like the new Trans pacific partnership. This harmless sounding trade deal is actually a trojan horse designed to allow US coporations that cannot compete fairly anymore because their products are crap and technology no longer world class, some access to Asian pacific markets.
The main benficiaries will be the financial industry, countries that sign will have to open their markets to get fucked, they will have to remove regulations and even lower environmental standards. .

China does not expect you to change your laws and the deals they offer are much more attractive to everyone, this is why most countries in the region will try to swing both ways.
and the Pivot to the east is also ridiculos because one of the main countries Vietnam that is a traditional enemy of china, is building a railway and ports jointly with china.
China is building its new silk road mostly through central asia, and they will be getting most of their oil and resources from there and also from Russia's siberian oil fields.
as added insurance the Saudis are hedging their bets and are selling oil to china and allowing the chinese to pay in yaun instead of dollars, surprisingly the US has not uttered a word about this?.

At the same time china is building nuclear power plants like crazy, especially 3rd and 4rth generation plants that are safe and 4 times as efficient.

The resources are taken care of, the markets are still open thanks to the advantages china offers and lastly the millitary startegic encirclement has failed before even beginning.
This is due to the greed of US corporations and the millitary industrial complex, because of greed and the desire for profits they promoted and forced the government to fund projects and weapons systems that are unsuitable for a possible war against china, e.g littoral class ships and the stupid F-35.
They are promoting a lemon the F-35 that is rubbish and will be exceeded and neutralized by the chinese within 5 years if not already, while fighting against and nearly killing the F-22 fighter amongst others that if funded and developed will insure US superiority for the next 20-30 years.

The chinese and russians cannot believe this level stupidity and are scratching their heads thinking nobody can be this stupid seriously.
and Isrealis that have the inside track in congress and are against all this sillyness out of self preservation have been overwhelmed by the greed of the corporations.
its an own goal really, the weapons systems and capabilities do not match the doctrine, making the strategy a no go.