Briefly Noted: Where Neocon Screwups Are Leading

The last few days we’ve been looking ahead to 2024. On a slow news Sunday, I’ll add a few items for consideration. No, not about reported Russian breakthroughs. These are some items that may affect politics in the US, perhaps in major ways.

Nothing affects elections like economic conditions. With Zhou’s ratings already down there with whale sh*t—one wag I read said it was in ‘family and friends’ territory—it remains likely that the American economy will take some additional hits in systemic ways for which there may be no quick fix. A lot of this centers around the symbiotic relationship of oil and the USD. The flight from the USD, which was expected to be an inevitable but long term affair, may be picking up momentum to the extent that we could start feeling real effects in 2024.

Most opinions I’ve read maintain that this increased momentum was not inevitable. Rather, it’s a result of hyper-belligerent bullying by the Neocons who actually run our government. A lot of countries are not enamored with our belligerent behavior abroad. US support for regime change, big and small, is a concern around the world. Thus, while few countries like to see major wars—even proxy wars—erupting between, say, the American Empire and Russia, the fact that Russia’s standing around the world has not suffered from its war in Ukraine speaks volumes about world opinion regarding the causes of that war and the proper resolution. Our heavy handed assault on Russia via aggressive NATO eastward expansion in an offensive mode coupled with the sanctions war, was a red flag to many other countries. Not many countries are run by idealists. They can live with a bully—within limits. But the weaponization of the USD based on USD reserve currency status was a bridge too far for many countries. Given an alternative—BRICS—they made their move, or have positioned themselve to make the move.

Zerohedge has republished a gold oriented article that explains this in layman’s terms, and why this could prove extremely important in the relatively short term. Recall, in this regard, that Tom Luongo has been predicting that US efforts to force the price of oil should backfire by mid-2024:

Petrodollar Endgame Moves Even Closer

The decline of the USD as the only real reserve currency is impossible to understand without reference to oil. Without the arrangement by which the US provided military protection to key Middle East oil producers the USD would not have attained and maintained its unchallengeable—until now—status.

The death of the petrodollar is one of the key waypoints in the US dollar losing reserve currency status, as I have written about at length in the past. And while the US dollar used to be the only currency that foreign nations would trade oil in, that has now come to a screeching halt.

Not only is Saudi Arabia trading oil in other currencies than the dollar (notably the Yuan), it now appears the UAE is also strategically shifting away from the US dollar in its oil transactions, marking a significant change in the global financial landscape.

This move, involving potential deals with up to 15 countries including China, Russia, and Egypt, is part of the de-dollarization trend I have predicted, led by the oil sector. Led by the BRICS alliance, the move is redefining global economics and challenging the US dollar's dominance in international trade.

With Russia and Saudi Arabia (KSA) now cooperating closely to maintain oil prices higher than the Zhou regime would like to see, it seems only a question of when, rather than if, KSA depags from the USD. This follows on the UAE’s depeg from the USD. The author sought the opinion of Andy Schectman of Miles Franklin Precious Metals:.

“The US Government has done more to destroy this country in the previous few years than any external enemy could have ever done. By using sanctions and other forms of coercion, we have ... creat[ed] a global backlash that is accelerating.”

The last few years. He’s talking about the Neocons, who think coercion is diplomacy. That works when there’s no alternative, but BRICS is offering an alternative.

“Together with their new members, the BRICS countries currently control two of the three largest nuclear weapons arsenals on the planet, most of the world's strategic commodities, oil production capacity, enormously expanding reserves of precious metals, and, surprise, the majority of rare earth metals required for the production of batteries and other green and renewable energy applications.”

...

“What'll really be frightening is what happens when Saudi Arabia and the rest of OPEC follow suit and move officially away from the dollar as sole settlement for oil, ...”

“Imagine what the world would look like if all the nations that have been forced to hoard dollars for the past 50 years in order to buy oil suddenly had no reason to do so and were dumping dollars. The immediate horrific economic ramifications to the United States is precisely the thing that should worry every American to no end. It worries me, does it worry you? It should!”

To be clear, it wouldn’t take a complete tanking of the USD to trigger an upheaval in US politics. A spike of inflation based on oil prices, as Tom Luongo has explained, is likely by mid 2024. The move away from the USD in international trade settlement would insure that the inflationary effect would persist. The details are here:

Tom Luongo ExplainsTom Luongo Explains

With the prospect for a wider regional war in the Middle East breaking out—again, thanks to Neocon incompetence and ideological intransigence in supporting Netanyahu’s genocide against Gaza—prospects don’t get better. Americans appear to be catching on. CBS News is reporting:

CBS Poll: Americans Increasingly Disapprove of Biden on Hamas War
Newsmax ^ | December 10, 2023 | Eric Mack

The majority of Americans disapproving of President Joe Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war is increasing, according to the latest CBS News poll released Sunday.

Now 61% of Americans disapprove, a rise of 5 points since October's edition of the poll. Also, the approval of Biden's handling of the war dipped 5 points to 39%, according to the poll.

The poll found Republicans and older Americans want more condemnation of protests favoring the Hamas terrorist-run Gaza, while Democrats are increasingly saying Biden is showing too much support for Israel, which is hunting for hostages taken to Gaza after Hamas terrorists conducted a massive terrorist attack Oct. 7.

What’s notable about these results is that they come after fairly relentless pro-Israel propaganda in the MSM. The propaganda has been followed up with coercive attempts to silence criticism of Israeli genocide in Gaza, relying on the heretofore reliable ploy of playing the anti-semitism card. Clearly the Neocons are not connecting with Americans the way they believed they could reliably do—based on past experience. The anti-semitism card is losing its effectiveness, and Americans are coming to resent the drive to shut them up and stop them thinking. And then there’s the debacle in Ukraine, which appears to be gaining momentum on the downward slope.

A sure sign that this confluence of issues—all Neocon own goals—along with the running sore that’s the southern border has Dems worried big time is the spate of stories touting Hillary’s key role in the Zhou campaign. Follow the link—I’m not making that up. Turbulence ahead.