Monthly Archives: September 2023

Everything You Are Not Being Told About Africa & Why It Matters

African High Speed Railway, Belt and Road, British Financial Empire, Current African News

re posted from                               AFRICA AND THE WORLD

  • Is the Western political and financial oligarchical elite brain dead or can they change in accordance with reality?
  • Why is the West scared of the newly expanded BRICS?

Everything You Are Not Being Told About Africa & Why It Matters

September 5, 2023

Please watch this excellent interview with Lawrence Freeman conducted last month. You will enjoy it. Topics discussed:

  • What does the coup in Niger reveal about the failure of Western policy for Africa?
  • Why economic development is a human right?
  • Is the Western political and financial oligarchical elite brain dead or can they change in accordance with reality?
  • Why is the West scared of the newly expanded BRICS?
  • Why is China’s policy towards Africa superior to that of the West?
  • Is Africa on the verge of an economic-political breakout?
  • Are Western leaders smart enough to modify their failed policies.
  • Will Africa have too many people? Can there be too much human creativity?

All of this issues and more are discussed in a conversation with Mel K that you wont see anywhere else.

continue to Source for video:

Everything You Are Not Being Told About Africa & Why It Matters

 

Notes on: Understanding Eskom with Jacob Maroga

ESKOM, Nuclear Energy for Africa, South Africa,

Eskom’s former CEO, Jacob Maroga, private sector energy expert and regular contributor to public debate on South Africa`s energy situation in conversation with civil nuclear engineer, Hugo Kruger.  Jacob Maroga joined Eskom in 1995 in the distribution technology sector. His deployment was to lessen the cost of electricity connection to remote rural areas. He was made CEO of Eskom in 2007.

“Eskom has been a key pillar of the industrialization of South Africa”

Eskom is over 100 years old and back in 1910 and the Union of South Africa the thinking was: to drive an industrial base you need cheap energy, cheap transport, cheap steel. Eskom was created to power the success of mining.

The idea of privatizing the energy sector goes back to 1998

In 1998. the Energy White Paper was produced. This paper was along the lines of energy policies of Britain and Europe: separation (now called unbundling) of distribution, transmission and generation. In other words, privatization. This is when the first ideas started of private sector contribution to energy generation.

Editor`s note: 1990s start of global trend of neo- liberalism /privatization/globalism/increased corporate power

However, cheap electricity is not a motivation for investors.

At that time South Africa had excess capacity because the coal plants were already paid for  that is how the electricity could be made cheap to customers. However, the future has to be paid for i.e. new power plants.Eskom could not get private sector investment at the time so it was instructed to go ahead and build the new plants: Medupi, Kusile and Ingula

[Medupi is a coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 4764MW, Kusile is a coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 4800MW, and Ingula is a pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant with a capacity of 1332MW.]

How Eskom collects payment from customers is via municipalities. Debt of municipalities is directly linked to Eskom`s debt i.e. municipalities have not been paying up.

In the past most municipalities had their own power stations ( for example Kelvin Power Station, Johannesburg, which is still owned by the municipality and not owned by Eskom). Eskom powered industry and municipalities powered residential and commercial.

There then arose the situation where Eskom had excess capacity and it then offered to supply the municipalities with cheaper electricity which resulted in the closure of most municipal power plants. Non-payment has now become a big issue for Eskom as municipalities struggle with debt.

Currently around 40% of Eskom`s customer base is from industry, 40% from municipalities and 20% from direct commercial customers such as farmers. After the end of apartheid in 1994, Eskom also took on as direct commercial customers (direct provision of electricity) some of the townships such as Soweto. Non payment from the unemployed and households who are severely struggling financially is a sensitive  social issue. How can you demand payment from household with little or no income when the Constitution states everyone has a right to live in dignity.

In addition to the social issue of poverty there is a problem of management within many of the municipalities of which there are over 250 in South Africa.

As recently as 2002/2001 Eskom was not obliged to pay tax

Eskom Act of 1922 stated that Eskom will provide electricity to wherever it is needed not for profit, nor for loss.

It was designed to break-even but also put aside money for future new power plants. Eskom succeeded at this right up until 1985 and the De Villiers Commission.

1970s the economy was booming with gold, minerals, commodity prices up. 1980s global economy tanked.

The De Villiers Commission advised Eskom to stop its policy of incorporating into its budgeting, money for future power plants. De Villiers Commission advised Eskom to become a corporate entity like any corporate entity and not to budget for the long-term. This was advised so that Eskom could reduce the price charged to customers in order to adjust the economic slump.

So the issue of how to fund new power generation is the issue South Africans are still trying to solve! And it is because Eskom had to divert money to Kusile and Medupi that the maintenance and infrastructure budget suffered. In 2007, the funding model for the new generation power plants was not quantified, the budget had not been set aside and the government would not agree to funding from increasing tariffs. Big disagreements between Eskom and the regulatory authority NERSA ( National Energy Regulator of South Africa). Ultimate result harmful impact on foreign investment in South Africa.

NERSA was created as the regulatory body in 2003/2004. It assumed roles previously held by Eskom. At odds ever since. However, it is not NERSA`s fault. NERSA is a system designed for countries that have private sector players. Eskom, as the investor, should have been in the position to stipulate that it lacked a clear funding model for the new builds and therefore was not going ahead with them. Eskom was instead compelled to proceed by NERSA.

Going Forward: how to solve load shedding:

poor performance of the current Eskom fleet. Fix coal fleet, build nuclear . Keep coal for stable baseload . Increase renewables – way of using carbon credit and beneficial from a trade risk perspective. Balance in the mix.

Hugo: How affordable are renewables in areas where distance of transmission lines is vast. Who pays ?

European countries do not replace coal with renewables as South Africa is being told to do, they replace with natural gas.

Hugo: South African water crisis can be solved with de-salination by nuclear. Water companies have the SAME problem as Eskom : regulatory framework blocks development and investment.

Phase out coal with natural gas and then look at using the gas infrastructure for green hydrogen. However green hydrogen is not energy dense therefore inefficient and requires abundant water which South Africa does not have.

Hugo: A non-aligned energy strategy

Source: Hügo Krüger

Understanding Eskom

Jul 23, 2023

In conversation with Eskom’s former CEO Jacob Maroga

 

CITIZENS REPORT 31/8/2023 – BRICS 11 – end of Anglo-American hegemony / PO Bank / China not a threat

Belt and Road

Source: Australian Citizens Party

CITIZENS REPORT 31/8/2023 – BRICS 11 – end of Anglo-American hegemony / PO Bank / China not a threat

Sep 1, 2023

1. ‘BRICS Eleven’ is the end of Anglo-American hegemony

2. More towns demand alternative to Big Four

3. Expert abandons group think on ‘China threat’

Presented by Elisa Barwick and Robert Barwick

The BRICS Summit: This Is What a Tectonic Shift Looks Like

Belt and Road, Current African News, South Africa,

re posted from                               EXECUTIVE INTELLIGENCE REVIEW

This article appears in the September 1, 2023 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

The BRICS Summit:
This Is What a Tectonic Shift Looks Like

by Paul Gallagher and Dennis Small

[Print version of this article]

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The 15th BRICS Summit marked a tectonic shift in global relations. At top are leaders of the five BRICS nations. Below: Leaders of the five with representatives of the six newly admitted nations and of others seeking membership. Johannesburg, South Africa, Aug. 22-24.
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BRICS X Page

Aug. 26—It was the perfect metaphor for the rising power of the Global Majority in its unstoppable drive to put an end to 500 years of colonial-style economic looting, backwardness and wars.

On Wednesday, Aug. 23, in the middle of the three-day BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, India succeeded in landing their Chandrayaan-3 module on the surface of the Moon, near its South Pole. One of the tens of millions around the world intently following the live feed from the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Mission Room, was Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who watched from South Africa where he was attending the BRICS summit.

Immediately after the stunning success, Modi addressed the ISRO center scientists—and the world:

India’s successful Moon mission is not India’s alone. This success belongs to all humanity…. I am confident that all countries in the world, including those from the Global South, are capable of achieving such feats. We can all aspire for the Moon and beyond.

The proceedings of the Aug. 23 plenary session of the BRICS summit, which heard addresses from the leaders of all five BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) [see below for excerpts of the five speeches], underscored that a worldwide tectonic shift is indeed underway, fed by the understanding that a new architecture of peace and development is now a condition of humanity’s survival. The BRICS has taken up the responsibility of ensuring that that happens.

‘Star Moments of Human History’

Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche, after expressing her joy at the accomplishments both of the summit, and of India’s space exploration success with Chandrayaan-3, said that “only the Global North is now missing” to bring about a true renaissance for all Mankind:

This is the future; … this is making our campaign which I initiated with the Appeal to the Citizens of the Global North, that we must convince the countries of the Global North to join with joyful transformation of the history of mankind. Because, if the North, at this point, [catches] up with the cultural optimism which is expressed by the BRICS leaders, it can only be to the benefit of everybody. And I think it’s the absolute important moment to stop this geopolitical arrogance—thinking that only the G7 are the good ones and all the other ones are barbarians living in a jungle, as [European Union Foreign Secretary] Josep Borrell had said last October….

So I think this is an incredibly important moment, and I have written this Appeal to the Citizens of the Global North, to absolutely demand that the governments of the Global North join this development and create a new world economic order for the benefit of all of mankind together. That is the demand of the hour, and we must absolutely not let this moment pass, because it is one of these absolute star moments of human history, when you can really change the whole directionality of where things go.

A New Architecture

“The world is changing,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasized in his remarks opening the Johannesburg summit. Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva stressed that the world is facing an extraordinarily dangerous crisis, both economically and politically, and

We are well aware of where this path could lead. The world needs to understand that the risks involved are unacceptable for humanity…. It is unacceptable that global military spending in a single year exceeds $2 trillion, while the FAO [UN Food and Agriculture Organization—ed.] tells us that 735 million people go hungry every day in the world.

Lula urged that a peaceful, negotiated solution to the Ukraine crisis be found, and praised the peace proposals made by three of the BRICS members: China, South Africa, and Brazil.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also stressed that “the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation,” and that peace and development must go hand in hand. As he had emphasized in his remarks to the BRICS Business Forum on Aug. 22:

Should we work together to maintain peace and stability, or just sleepwalk into the abyss of a new Cold War? [This summit] is an endeavor to expand the architecture of peace and development.

That new architecture must assure the security of all nations, large and small, various leaders stressed.

As for overcoming poverty and underdevelopment, President Ramaphosa stated that “we know that poverty, inequality and underdevelopment are the biggest challenges facing humankind.” President Xi said that “development is an inalienable right of all countries, not a privilege reserved for a few,” and that “we need to fully leverage the role of the [BRICS’] New Development Bank.” President Putin called on the BRICS to “build up partnership in science and innovations, healthcare, education, and humanitarian ties as a whole,” and emphasized that they should “develop interbank cooperation, [and] expand the use of national currencies” for trade and investment. President Lula elaborated on the role of the NDB as a source of non-dollar-denominated credit to be channeled to development projects that raise physical-economic productivity, explaining:

The creation of a currency for trade and investment transactions between BRICS members increases our payment options and reduces vulnerabilities.

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India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched his nation’s triumphant lunar South Pole landing during the Summit, and pushed for cooperative scientific, space, and education programs on Earth.

BRICS Expansion Ignores the West’s Threats

On Aug. 24, the final day of the summit, the leaders announced the long-awaited list of new BRICS members. Following months of U.S. and European media “analyses” which claimed China wanted to expand the BRICS but some (constantly changing) combination of other members would block it, the BRICS summit actually set in motion, by consensus, expansion from 5 to 11 member nations, effective Jan. 1, 2024. The specifics show how the entire campaign of threats, blackmail, financial warfare and other dirty operations by the United Kingdom, the U.S. and NATO more broadly, is boomeranging.

For example, the offer of membership to Iran—perhaps the most U.S./NATO-sanctioned and targeted nation in the world—was likely the biggest surprise; it showed that the BRICS, by consensus, do not kow-tow to NATO’s attempts to define “outlaw” or “rogue” nations and push them beyond the pale.

Ethiopia has one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa, but was not on any Western “expert’s” list of nations the BRICS might invite in. Egypt and Argentina, on the other hand, are falsely but loudly called “economic basket cases” by American and European financial elites. This is because they have substantial external debt, greatly aggravated by U.S. interest-rate spikes causing the dollar to appreciate; the IMF is squeezing them as brutally as it can while negotiating “support programs” full of austerity conditionalities that ensure the collapse of their physical economies. Despite the financial warfare against them–and Russia as well—both nations have immense development potential even based on past decades’ infrastructure investments, and the BRICS offers them the environment to realize it.

Argentina had been warned by European Union officials that “this is not the right time” to join the BRICS, as it would supposedly “send the wrong signal” to Russia and China about the Ukraine war. President Alberto Fernández was even pressured, by financial warfare and domestic political destabilization around the upcoming October presidential election in Argentina, to cancel his planned participation in the BRICS-Plus portion of the summit. And yet, Argentina is now part of the expanded BRICS. Finally, the addition of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would mean four of the world’s top oil and gas exporters (including Russia) would be in the BRICS—along with the two biggest importers, India and China. All these major oil producers are already conducting or exploring oil trades with China in national currencies. Saudi Arabia’s statement responding to the BRICS invitation indicated it would make the decision whether to accept it, before the first of the year. It has been under intense, very public pressure—combined with “offers”—from the Biden Administration not to join the BRICS.

Moreover, all annual chairs of the G20 from 2023 to 2025 will be BRICS members: India chairs the G20 meeting this year, Sept. 9-10; Brazil takes the chair next year; then South Africa in 2025. As for Western pressure to isolate Russia and prevent Putin from attending in person, he nonetheless was fully involved in the deliberations at the summit via video-conference. Russia will hold the rotating presidency of the BRICS next year, and will host its 2024 summit in Kazan, Russia.

Tremendous Shift in Trade

Equally significant is the content of the discussion underway to build an alternative—some would say replacement—for the speculative dollar-based trans-Atlantic financial system, with its deadly policies of looting, sanctions and outright theft of foreign assets. BRICS and other developing countries have already begun shifting toward trade and account settlements in local currencies–especially China’s yuan and India’s rupee.

From fossil fuel shipments on down, trade among the BRICS members and trade between them and the rest of the “Global South” is growing. Meanwhile recessionary Europe, in particular, sits in the middle of a contracting sinkhole of trade among “Global North” nations and between those nations and Asia. One extraordinary example is the large increases in recent years in trade of African nations with the four non-African members of BRICS (China, Russia, India, and Brazil), even as G7 nations’ trade with Africa has shrunk. In 2022, these four BRICS nations’ two-way trade with Africa reached about $425 billion, larger than the Africa trade of any group of nations in the world. By contrast, the once-mighty British Empire’s two-way trade with Africa, which was $43 billion in 2012, fell to $14 billion in 2020. As for the United States, for the first half of 2023 its two-way trade with Africa fell to $34.3 billion, compared with $37.6 billion for the first-half of 2022.

Moreover, China and other Asian nations right now see their trade with Europe—especially with Germany and the northern European nations—falling due to European economic contraction, while with the United States, whole sections of trade are being shut off at the American end. Whereas two years ago, container ships from Asia piled up at U.S. West Coast ports with huge pandemic backlogs of ordered consumer and producer goods, now the Singapore Strait is filled with stalled container vessels out of the South China Sea, whose cargos, above all to Europe, are being “blanked,” or cancelled.

Why should the “Global South” nations continue indefinitely to settle this trade in dollars, requiring their central banks and companies constantly to buy U.S. Treasury securities so as to have dollars for settlements? United States policy, through the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy and the U.S. Treasury’s sanctions, is forcing devaluations of developing nations’ currencies, extorting capital flight from them and cutting into their ability to get imports necessary for development.

But, should the United States decide to turn away from endless wars, exert control over Wall Street banks’ speculation, and export capital goods for economic development, the expanding BRICS and the nations participating in the Belt and Road Initiative are waiting to cooperate. And the New Development Bank is ready for new development capital.

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The leaders’ meeting arrangement shows the importance given New Development Bank President Dilma Rousseff: She is seated with the five national leaders—in this photo, near the far right.

‘BRICS Bank’ To Drive Development

As urgent as the trade matter is, the more fundamental issue of providing long-term credit for productive investment, especially in infrastructure projects, is now an immediate focus in the expanded BRICS. Such investments are ultimately the only source of value backing up any currency, as Lyndon LaRouche repeatedly explained.

All eyes are on the New Development Bank (NDB).

The NDB, established by the BRICS nations in 2015, has turned around from stagnation, to accelerating expansion under its new president, Dilma Rousseff. As former president of Brazil, and a close political ally of Brazilian President Lula, Rousseff is the most influential and far-sighted chief the NDB has had. At the summit plenary Aug. 23, she was in the circle of leaders’ desks along with the national leaders of the five BRICS nations.

After being appointed in 2022, Rousseff stated her intention and policy to make it the central institution for development funding in the “Global South.” The Bank will now be gaining four new BRICS members from the Mideast, Africa and Ibero-America (the other two, United Arab Emirates and Egypt, were already members of the Bank before being admitted into the BRICS group of nations at this summit); it will lend much more than before, for development projects and with no conditionalities, either of the financial austerity or the “zero carbon” kind. The new members of the Bank will be Iran, Ethiopia, Argentina, and Saudi Arabia.

Upon arriving in Johannesburg with Brazil’s President Lula da Silva, Rousseff said,

We expect to lend between $8bn-$10bn this year. Our aim is to reach about 30% of everything we lend … in local currency.

The lending in 2023 will therefore be nearly one-third again of the total lent by the NDB since its founding in 2015. The Bank had spent 2022 and part of 2023 effectively under sanctions by “Global NATO” nations and their financial centers, unable to issue bonds in dollars or euros after being overwhelmingly dependent on those currencies; and therefore effectively unable to lend.

But in June 2023 the NDB issued $1.5 billion equivalent in “panda bonds” in China’s bond market, denominated in yuan. It went on to issue just under $80 million in rand-denominated bonds in South Africa, following that up with a $170 million loan (guaranteed by South Africa’s government) for the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. Rousseff said in the Aug. 22 interview:

We’re going to do the same thing in Brazil with the real. We’re going to try to either do a currency swap or issue debt. And also in [Indian] rupees…. We repudiate any kind of conditionality. Often a loan is given upon the condition that certain policies are carried out. We don’t do that. We respect the policies of each country…. We’ll transform ourselves into an important bank for developing countries and emerging markets. Our focus has to be that: a bank made by developing countries for themselves.

As the New Development Bank increasingly issues bonds in national currencies to the domestic institutions and individual investors of its member nations—which now will total a dozen strong economies—its no-conditionalities development lending will keep escalating. Its capital can grow even faster, because any of the NDB’s member governments can also issue sovereign bonds directly to the Bank. This is a step–albeit a small one–in the direction of the kind of Hamiltonian credit generation central to any viable new financial architecture to replace the current bankrupt system.

One Humanity

But perhaps most indicative of the sea-change underway, the emerging new paradigm of cooperation and dialogue of civilizations that was palpable at the BRICS summit, were the numerous comments from the leaders about the common philosophical roots and commitments of each of their cultures to all of Humanity, to the good of mankind. Indian Prime Minister Modi began his remarks to the plenary by noting:

At some distance from [Johannesburg] is the Tolstoy Farm, which was built by Mahatma Gandhi 110 years ago. By combining the great ideas of India, Eurasia and Africa, Mahatma Gandhi laid a strong foundation for our unity and mutual harmony.

Similarly, Brazil’s President Lula welcomed the expansion of the BRICS:

Many said that BRICS were too different to shape a common vision. But experience demonstrates the opposite. Our diversity strengthens the fight for a new order which accommodates the economic, geographical, and political plurality of the 21st Century.

Sounding a similar note, President Xi wrote an article published in a number of South African newspapers on Aug. 21:

South Africa’s Ubuntu philosophy advocates compassion and sharing. It resonates well with the values of Confucianism—“Love the people and all beings, and seek harmony among all nations.”

He concluded his remarks to the plenary session with the following call:

As an African proverb puts it, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” The philosophy of Ubuntu, which believes that “I am because we are,” highlights the interdependence and interconnectedness of all peoples. Similarly, harmonious coexistence has been the aspiration of the Chinese nation for thousands of years. China is ready to work with BRICS partners to pursue the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind … and march together on the journey toward modernization.

Source: EIR

https://larouchepub.com/

BRICS Leaders Speak on New International Architecture

Belt and Road, Current African News, South Africa,

re posted from                            EXECUTIVE INTELLIGENCE REVIEW

This article appears in the September 1, 2023 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

[Print version of this article]

Leaders Speak on New International Architecture

Each of the five BRICS leaders addressed the Aug. 23 plenary session of the BRICS Summit. The excerpts below are presented in the order they were delivered.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa:

BRICS stands for solidarity and for progress. BRICS stands for inclusivity and a more just, equitable world order…. We know that poverty, inequality and underdevelopment are the biggest challenges facing humankind….

Advancing the African agenda is a strategic priority for South Africa during its Chairship of BRICS….

As nations of the world confront the effects of climate change, we must ensure that the transition to a low-carbon, climate resilient future is just, fair and takes into account differing national circumstances….

Peace and stability are preconditions for a better, more equitable world. We are deeply concerned about conflicts across the world that continue to cause great suffering and hardship. As South Africa, our position remains that diplomacy, dialogue, negotiation, and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter are necessary for the peaceful and just resolution of conflicts.

We are concerned that global financial and payments systems are increasingly being used as instruments of geopolitical contestation…. We will continue discussions on practical measures to facilitate trade and investment flows through the increased use of local currencies….

While firmly committed to advance the interests of the Global South, BRICS stands ready to collaborate with all countries that aspire to create a more inclusive international order.

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Cyril Ramaphosa
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South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, who hosted and chaired the Summit, kept the industrialization of the poorest nations front and center. Indonesia’s President Sukarno organized, with India’s Nehru, the 1955 conference of the non-aligned nations in Bandung, and told them, “We are united by a common detestation of colonialism.”

Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva:

In just a few years, we have left behind a scenario of benign multipolarity towards one that resumes the obsolete mentality of the Cold War and geopolitical competition. This folly creates great uncertainty and corrodes multilateralism. We know where this path can lead us. The world must understand that the risks involved are unacceptable to humanity.

We cannot avoid dealing with the main current conflict taking place in Ukraine with global effects.

Brazil’s historic stance is to defend sovereignty, territorial integrity, and all the United Nations’ purposes and principles. We find it positive that an increasing number of countries, among them the BRICS countries, are also engaged in making direct contact with Moscow and Kiev….

BRICS must act as a force towards understanding and cooperation. Our willingness is expressed in the contributions of China, South Africa and my own country to the efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine….

It is unacceptable that global military spending in a single year exceeds $2 trillion, while FAO tells us that 735 million people go hungry every day in the world.

The search for peace is a collective duty and an imperative for fair and sustainable development.… It is very hard to combat climate change while so many developing countries are still dealing with hunger, poverty and other violence. The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities is still relevant….

We need an international financial system that, instead of fueling inequalities, helps low- and middle-income countries to implement structural changes….

External indebtedness constrains sustainable development. It is unacceptable that developing countries are penalized with interest rates up to eight times higher than those charged to rich countries. Liquidity and concessional financing must be expanded; conditionalities must cease….

We can offer our own financing options through the New Development Bank—all of them suited to the needs of the Global South. I am certain that, under the leadership of my partner Dilma Rousseff, the Bank will rise to these challenges. The creation of a currency for trade and investment transactions between BRICS members increases our payment options and reduces our vulnerabilities….

The interest of several countries in joining the [BRICS] group is recognition of its increasing relevance. There will also be a troika with only G20 BRICS members [chairing G20] from 2023-2025. This is yet another opportunity to advance the Global South as to inequalities and sustainable development.

May the impetus that motivated the creation of the BRICS 15 years ago continue to inspire us in building a multipolar, fair, and inclusive order.

Russian President Vladimir Putin:

We are all united in our commitment to shaping a multipolar world order with genuine justice, based on international law and in keeping with the key principles set forth in the UN Charter, including sovereignty and respecting the right of every nation to follow its own development model. We oppose hegemonies of any kind and the exceptional status that some countries aspire to, as well as the new policy it entails, a policy of continued neo-colonialism.

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Russia’s President Vladimir Putin: “In keeping with the principles of the UN Charter … we oppose hegemonies of any kind and the exceptional status some countries aspire to … of continued neo-colonialism.”

Let me point out that it was the attempts by some countries to preserve their global hegemony that paved the way to the deep crisis in Ukraine….

The partner countries are successfully implementing their Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership 2025. In particular, they are strengthening five-sided cooperation in such areas as diversification of supply chains, de-dollarization, and the transition to national currencies in mutual transactions; digital economy, support for small and medium-sized businesses, and fair technology transfer….

Of course, we welcome closer ties between the five BRICS countries in promoting innovation around the world. We expect cooperation as part of the BRICS initiative to establish an international infrastructure network with a dedicated fund, which could be used to support and develop it. Russia stands ready to share the experience it has and the best practices, including in digital transformation and using artificial intelligence….

Russia will assume the BRICS Chairmanship next year. Its motto will be “Strengthening Multilateralism for Justice in Global Development and Security.” We intend to hold about 200 events on political, economic and social matters in over ten Russian cities.

During its Chairmanship, Russia is committed to doing everything it takes to contribute effectively to carrying out the decisions adopted at this summit, including those related to adding new participants to this association….

We will facilitate the further comprehensive implementation of the BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy until 2025, and the development of new long-term cooperation guidelines. As we see it, they should include efforts to enhance our states’ role in the international monetary and financial system, develop interbank cooperation, expand the use of national currencies, and promote collaboration between tax, customs, and anti-monopoly agencies.

Russian priorities undoubtedly include an intention to build up partnership in science and innovations, healthcare, education, and humanitarian ties as a whole. Cultural and civilizational diversity is one of the supporting pillars of the new multipolar world order and implies the creation of an integral and free space for cultural exchange, arts, and creativity.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi:

It is a matter of great pleasure for me and my delegation to be once again in the beautiful city of Johannesburg. This city has a very deep connection with the people of India and the history of India. Tolstoy Farm, at some distance from here, was built by Mahatma Gandhi 110 years ago. By combining the great ideas of India, Eurasia and Africa, Mahatma Gandhi had laid a strong foundation of our unity and mutual harmony….

I would like to put forward some suggestions for further broadening our close cooperation.

The first is cooperation in the field of space. We are already working on the BRICS satellite constellation. Taking it a step further, we can consider creating a BRICS Space Exploration Consortium. Under this, we can work for global good in areas like space research, weather monitoring.

My second suggestion is cooperation in education, skill development, and technology.

To make BRICS a future-ready organization, we have to make our societies future ready. Technology will play an important role in this….

My third suggestion is that we can do skills-mapping together to identify each other’s strengths. Through this we can complement each other in the journey of development….

The countries of the Global South have been given a special importance in BRICS, under the chairmanship of South Africa. We heartily welcome it. This is not only the expectation of the present time, but also the need. India has given top priority to this topic under its G20 presidency.

Our effort is to move forward together with all the countries on the motto of “One Earth, One Family, One Future.”… We have also proposed to give permanent membership of G20 to the African Union….

India fully supports the expansion of the BRICS membership. And welcomes moving forward with consensus in this.

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Xi Jinping, President of China: “We [BRICS nations] choose our development paths independently, jointly defending our right to development, and marching in tandem toward modernization.” Here, he is shown being escorted into the Summit by Cyril Ramaphosa upon his arrival.

Chinese President Xi Jinping:

We gather at a time when the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation….

BRICS is an important force in shaping the international landscape. We choose our development paths independently, jointly defend our right to development, and march in tandem toward modernization. This represents the direction of the advancement of human society, and will profoundly impact the development process of the world….

We should deepen business and financial cooperation to boost economic growth. Development is an inalienable right of all countries, not a privilege reserved for a few…. We BRICS countries should be fellow companions on the journey of development and revitalization, and oppose decoupling and supply chains disruption as well as economic coercion. We should focus on practical cooperation, particularly in such fields as digital economy, green development, and supply chain, and bolster economic, trade, and financial exchanges.

China will set up a China-BRICS Science and Innovation Incubation Park for the New Era to support the deployment of innovation results….

We should expand political and security cooperation to uphold peace and tranquility…. The Cold War mentality is still haunting our world, and the geopolitical situation is getting tense. All nations long for a sound security environment. International security is indivisible. Attempts to seek absolute security at the expense of others will eventually backfire….

International rules must be written and upheld jointly by all countries based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, rather than dictated by those with the strongest muscles or the loudest voice. Ganging up to form exclusive groups and packaging their own rules as international norms are even more unacceptable….

We need to fully leverage the role of the New Development Bank, push forward reform of the international financial and monetary systems, and increase the representation and voice of developing countries.

I am glad to see the growing enthusiasm of developing countries about BRICS cooperation, and quite a number of them have applied to join the BRICS cooperation mechanism. We need to act on the BRICS spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation to bring more countries into the BRICS family, so as to pool our wisdom and strength to make global governance more just and equitable….

As an African proverb puts it, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” The philosophy of Ubuntu, which believes that “I am because we are,” highlights the interdependence and interconnectedness of all peoples. Similarly, harmonious coexistence has been the aspiration of the Chinese nation for thousands of years.

Putin Tells Economics Team:
Crack Down on Speculation, Capital Flight

Aug. 23—After speaking by video to the BRICS Business Forum Aug. 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the Russian Council for Strategic Development and National Projects, on inflation and ruble volatility. The Council includes Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Central Bank director Elvira Nabiullina, among others.

Putin demanded control of capital flight, speculation, and other factors that add to inflation and that contributed to the recent, sharp devaluation of the ruble on foreign exchange markets:

Volatility has grown considerably in the financial markets in recent months. We are well aware of this. Obviously, these fluctuations make it more difficult for businesses, companies, and individuals to make investment decisions. The government and the Bank of Russia should step up their use of the available instruments and adjust them with this objective situation in mind. It is also necessary to work on limiting the unproductive, speculative demand in the economy, control capital outflow, and monitor the actions of the main participants in the financial market.

A return to capital controls, such as the previous requirement for exporters to repatriate 80% or even more of foreign exchange earnings to Russia, may be imminent. For months after the “monster sanctions” placed on Russia by the U.S. Treasury and European Union on Feb. 22, 2022, that 80% conversion of export earnings to rubles was mandated by the Central Bank, which, however, began to loosen the regulation last Fall—a major bone of contention with some leading economic thinkers in Russia.

Putin also reported on recent improvements in the Russian economy, but said that increased productive credit inside Russia was required, including what he called “long money”:

As you may know, in conjunction with the government, the Bank of Russia has drafted a program that stimulates the funding of technological sovereignty projects and projects for structural adaptation of the Russian economy, including such industries and sectors as mechanical engineering, microelectronics, the medical and pharmaceutical industries, to name a few. To reiterate, these initiatives should enjoy additional support from the banking sector and the development institutions….

Creating “long money” in the economy and the banking system is a separate issue…. The issue is about creating a resource for financing ambitious, complex projects with an extended payoff period that can guarantee good return on invested funds and revenue that will last a long time.

Source: EIR

https://larouchepub.com/eiw/public/unlisted/2023/eirv50n34-20230901/igk2n7_scQlZsDMecJuXOst/index.html

Protect Your Family. Save Humanity. Beware of The Mark of The Beast.

British Financial Empire, Current African News

Source: The Anchored Podcast

Protect Your Family. Save Humanity. Beware of The Mark of The Beast.

Aug 31, 2023

The beast and the mark of the beast will likely not be what we have thought they would be. The world is definitely going towards a point of no return and it’s your duty to protect your family from the rise of the beast that is already happening in our world.

Omicron Lab Made? New Evidence from Japanese Researchers

British Financial Empire, Health, South Africa

Omicron was detected in Puerto Rico before it was found in South Africa. “If we are dealing with an artificially created virus, we have a monster on our hands.”

Source: Vejon Health

Omicron Lab Made? New Evidence from Japanese Researchers

2 September 2023

If the SARS-COV2 and/or Omicron was lab created, what were the biological targets to make people sick.

 

Two Mayors in South Africa

Current African News, South Africa

Chris Pappas, Mayor for  uMngeni Municipality in KwaZulu Natal , and Gayton McKenzie , former Mayor of Beaufort West, Western Cape, have both shown what can be achieved when decent people set out to change things step by step for the better

Source: ARTE.tv Documentary

South Africa: A New Mayor | ARTE.tv Documentary

14 August 2023

In a region that is an ANC voting stronghold, Chris Pappas is a rare thing, an opposition party white mayor elected by a black majority population.