{"id":25862,"date":"2023-04-08T13:31:10","date_gmt":"2023-04-08T20:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=25862"},"modified":"2023-04-08T13:31:12","modified_gmt":"2023-04-08T20:31:12","slug":"what-american-media-wont-tell-us-about-the-putin-and-xi-meeting-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/04\/08\/what-american-media-wont-tell-us-about-the-putin-and-xi-meeting-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"WHAT AMERICAN MEDIA WON’T TELL US ABOUT THE PUTIN AND XI MEETING, PART I"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MON, 4\/3\/2023 – BY\u00a0CARL GIBSON<\/a> (Occupy.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After several days of talks in March, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping appear to be closer than ever. It\u2019s widely assumed that with China on his side, Putin\u2019s war in Ukraine won\u2019t come to an end anytime soon, at least not in a way that would benefit Kyiv. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the summit, Putin notably endorsed<\/a> Xi\u2019s 12-point plan<\/a> for peace in Ukraine, even though by all applicable standards he\u2019s directly in violation of the first point of the plan, which pertains to respect for international sovereignty:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUniversally recognized international law, including the principles and purposes of the United Nations charter, must be strictly observed,\u201d the plan, which is posted on a Chinese government website, reads. \u201cThe sovereignty, independence, and territorial dignity of all countries must be effectively upheld.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solidifying relations with a major international power player like China is a significant positive development for Putin, particularly given the International Criminal Court\u2019s recent indictment<\/a> of Putin for human rights violations and given the fact that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on countries that belong to the ICC to arrest Putin<\/a> if he sets foot within their borders. But the Putin\/Xi meeting signifies more than a few worrisome developments for the West, and for democracy in general, that American media has mentioned only in passing, if at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

BRICS EXPANSION AND CHINA\u2019S BIG PLAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s likely that, along with the Ukraine war, Xi and Putin discussed the expansion of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) economic coalition to include the potential membership of several Middle Eastern countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xi Jinping has lately been fashioning himself as a grand statesman, and his 12-point peace plan in Ukraine \u2013 as well as the recent meeting with Putin in the midst of Russia\u2019s widely condemned war against its neighbor \u2013 is merely his latest effort at high-stakes international diplomacy. By all accounts, he\u2019s done remarkably well so far this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier his year, Xi brokered<\/a> a tentative diplomatic agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Both countries have been at loggerheads since 2016, when the Saudis killed a prominent Shiite cleric and Iran retaliated by burning the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Writing for Energy Intelligence, veteran US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter wrote that the new Iran-Saudi Arabia peace agreement could \u201cradically transform regional and global geopolitics,\u201d particularly when it comes to economics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Significantly, the deal also ushers in a potential new era of Chinese economic involvement with the two most important Mideast Gulf nations. If the deal is implemented, China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative could become an even more integral part of the social and economic futures of both Saudi Arabia and Iran. If anything defines a regional pivot away from the West and toward the East, this is it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s role in restoring diplomatic relations between two of the largest economic powers in the Middle East will no doubt prove fortuitous for BRICS. According to Ritter, BRICS countries already outpace the combined GDP of the G7 coalition (US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan) when adjusting for purchasing power parity. Iran and Saudi Arabia are hoping to join BRICS, along with other emerging economies like Argentina and Egypt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With China restoring diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, their membership in BRICS could become official much sooner than imagined. BRICS\u2019 expansion could prove harmful to the US dollar\u2019s dominance in global markets, and in the long term, to the West\u2019s geopolitical influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

THE END OF THE PETRODOLLAR COULD COME SOONER RATHER THAN LATER<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 1974, just a few years after President Richard Nixon blew up the Bretton Woods agreement<\/a> \u2013 in which foreign governments could exchange US dollars for gold \u2013 the US effectively replaced<\/a> the dollar\u2019s gold backing with oil backing: In exchange for the US\u2019 promise to uphold and protect the Saudi royal family\u2019s political power, the Saudis agreed to trade oil exclusively in US dollars, hence the term \u201cpetrodollar.\u201d And since Saudi Arabia is a leading member<\/a> of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), this meant the US dollar would be used as the standard reserve currency for oil trading, cementing the petrodollar for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The petrodollar could soon come to an end, however, with Saudi Arabia signaling<\/a> at the World Economic Forum\u2019s summit in Davos, Switzerland in January that it is entertaining the idea of trading in currencies other than the US dollar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are no issues with discussing how we settle our trade arrangements, whether it is in the US dollar, whether it is the euro, whether it is the Saudi riyal,\u201d Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said in an interview with Bloomberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saudi Arabia already hinted<\/a> last year that it was considering trading oil in the Chinese yuan, so Jadaan\u2019s statement at Davos could indicate a temperature change in favor of China. And in the context of Saudi Arabia\u2019s potential BRICS membership and warmer diplomatic relations with Iran, it seems evident that Xi is intent on ending the petrodollar and undermining the US dollar\u2019s dominance as the global reserve currency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to note that even if that\u2019s the goal, the dollar\u2019s decline likely won\u2019t happen anytime soon. According to a recent Yahoo News report, the dollar makes up nearly 60%<\/a> of estimated global currency reserves, whereas the euro makes up around 20%. China\u2019s currency, for comparison, makes up just under 3% of global reserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChina could expand its market share by twenty-fold and still lag the US dollar by a wide margin,\u201d Yahoo reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, China\u2019s moves in the Middle East and apparent endorsement of Putin\u2019s imperialist goals in Ukraine necessitate a response from the West. Not out of America\u2019s selfish desire to preserve US hegemony in global affairs, but because the strategic moves of authoritarian regimes to expand their influence can shake the foundations of democracy around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(This is the first half of a two-part series analyzing geopolitical events in the wake of the Xi Jinping\/Vladimir Putin summit.Stay tuned for Part II of this series, which proposes solutions that the US and western democracies can do in response to the rise of authoritarianism.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carl Gibson<\/a> is an independent journalist and columnist whose work has been published in CNN, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Houston Chronicle, Barron\u2019s, Business Insider, and The Independent, among others. Follow him on Mastodon @crgibs@mastodon.social<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MON, 4\/3\/2023 – BY\u00a0CARL GIBSON (Occupy.com) After several days of talks in March, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping appear to be closer than ever. It\u2019s widely assumed that with China on his side, Putin\u2019s war in Ukraine won\u2019t come to an end anytime soon, at least… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[385,386],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25862"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25863,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25862\/revisions\/25863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}