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The big story out tonight is, well, here’s how it showed up at Zerohedge:
Saudis, UAE Refuse To Take Biden's Calls To Discuss Ukraine Situation, Talk To Putin Instead
Who ever heard of something like that happening? But it’s coming on top of repeated dissing of the Zhou brain trust.
The most recent, till this, was the way the Poles—obviously totally out of patience, despite their desire to stay on the good side of the US—finally put their foot down without consulting the US. They basically said to the whole world, if the US wants WW3, they can do it themselves.
Now this:
First, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro declined to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Then, India followed suit …
Saudi and UAE leaders are refusing to take Biden's calls as the US president tries to contain surging oil prices, according to the Wall Street Journal, which adds that the Persian Gulf monarchies have signaled "they won’t help ease surging oil prices unless Washington supports them in Yemen, elsewhere."
Yet, both Prince Mohammed and Sheikh Mohammed took phone calls from Russian President Vladimir Putin after declining to speak with Biden, according to the WSJ. They also spoke with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky.
China, India, Brazil and the Middle East kingdoms - basically half the world's population and those who control most of the world's commodities aren't on board with punishing Putin or easing the situation to the west's benefit.
The rift between Mr. Biden and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince stretches back to the 2020 presidential election, when the Democratic candidate vowed to treat the kingdom as a “pariah” state after a Saudi hit team killed Mr. Khashoggi in 2018 in Istanbul. -WSJ
In an interview with the Atlantic magazine published last week, Prince Mohammed said when asked if Biden misunderstood him: "Simply, I do not care," adding that the US president shouldn't have alienated Saudi leaders. "It's up to him to think about the interests of America," he said, adding "Go for it."
Tom Luongo made the point this morning that the same thing that gives the US constitutional order its stability—the difficulty of replacing a president—is working against us. The rulers of the US saw fit to install a complete moron in the White House, surrounded by arrogant, incompetent, ideologues who very obviously could care less about the fate of ordinary Americans. And now here we are. Of course this was a long time coming, but still—to descend to farce like this is humiliating, even if We the People didn’t really have a say in it. The worst part is as Tucker Carlson said, speaking with Col. Macgregor:
What a tragedy, to see all the people of good will I know personally, a lotta conservatives who are supporting this stuff, don't understand how malicious the intent is and don't understand how destructive the effect on our country is.
I was listening to a Luongo podcast this evening, recommended by commenter MikeyinFL. One of the participants made an interesting point. What he said was that this crisis in our order was brought about by a moral collapse—which is obvious enough. However, he traced this collapse to the fractional reserve banking system, which in his view empowers speculators and manipulators who have little connection to the real world of people. Unlike, he said, Putin and Xi—who are now about to eat our lunch. The only consolation will be to see the same thing happen to the Davos crowd.
What A Clownshow
Was it Mr. Wauck or Mr. Luongo who reminded us a few days ago that the only reason President Nixon was able to get away with taking the USA off the gold standard without damaging the status of the US$ as the world's reserve currency was because he simultaneously got the Saudis to declare they would only accept dollars in payment for their oil and would pressure fellow Arab OPEC members to do the same?
The Federal Reserve has in the last three years created ~80% of every American Dollar ever to exist, and it wasn't being stingy with the digital printing press before that either. If the Saudis and Emiratis join the Russians in accepting gold or yuan, or god forbid, rubles as payment for oil and gas, what incentive is there exactly for all of the world's non-American central banks, exchanges, and commodities brokerages to hold massive dollar reserves? "Oh, I don't have to transact in this absurdly inflationary currency in order to purchase petroleum products? Well, I still need American dollars to buy American oil and gas, but their government is doing everything they can to shut down their production, so moot point. I'll hold gold and a basket of currencies instead."
"Barry, is that how you get the foreigners to stop buying the dollar and causing Weimar Republic hyperinflation?"
"Yes it is other Barry."
"The customer is always right." This archaic statement from my youth says it all. You get something and give something in exchange. This is how a moral society can function, and it is good for business. Where do you find responsive customer service today, even after navigating through multiple queries on your phone? You start to get someplace and they cut you off. Start over again. Doctors collect their fees, from insurance or the government and barely look at you. Professors who used to be badly paid and knew something are now replaced by know nothings who are highly paid and who don't even have to show up for classes. The fractional reserve system works fine when money is loaned for productive purposes by intelligent people, and as a result the economy grows. Keynesian economics also works to get us through the rough patches, but the debt must be repaid when we are prosperous again. All this has been thrown to the wind and money is created for non-productive purposes backed up by a stock market that is pure Ponzi. We can only hope that there will be people in the future capable of picking up the pieces and constructing a moral and happy society, but it is all falling apart at the seams now and in danger if imminent collapse.