BRICS admits Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE, several other nations.

[sharkman]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/24/business/saudi-arabia-brics-invitation-intl/index.html

In a video message, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the new BRICS members, adding that the bloc’s global influence would continue to grow. 

“I would like to congratulate the new members who will work in a full-scale format next year,” Putin said. 

“And I would like to assure all our colleagues that we will continue the work that we started today on expanding the influence of BRICS in the world,” the Russian president added.

This has major international implications, as the largest trading block in the world gets larger.  For instance, they want to issue their own currency, gold backed.  This alone would crash the current internationally used currency, the US dollar.

[eyeball]

3 minutes ago, sharkman said:

This alone would crash the current internationally used currency, the US dollar.

Why, am I supposed to be impressed or terrified? I suspect meh but maybe I'm missing something.  Let me guess, it must be cause I'm a lefty. 

[sharkman]

59 minutes ago, eyeball said:

Why, am I supposed to be impressed or terrified? I suspect meh but maybe I'm missing something.  Let me guess, it must be cause I'm a lefty. 

Uh, why what?  Could you clarify?

I'm not sure whether you should be frightened and your political leanings are irrelevant in this case.

Perhaps just go back to you crab pot thingy.  

 

 

[SpankyMcFarland]

They’re a diverse set of countries that have had their run-ins with the US over the years - more substance in their enmities than in their love, to paraphrase Mr. Yeats. If they were able to sink their many differences they would be a serious force in geopolitics. For the ME nations, keeping in with two of their major customers and neighbours seems like a prudent move, albeit a worrying one for the West. What will the new acronym be? 
 

[eyeball]

34 minutes ago, sharkman said:

Uh, why what?  Could you clarify?

It's not obvious to you? Here's a clue...look where I quoted you then wrote the word why underneath with a question mark.

You're probably no good at catching crabs either.

[sharkman]

1 hour ago, eyeball said:

It's not obvious to you? Here's a clue...look where I quoted you then wrote the word why underneath with a question mark.

You're probably no good at catching crabs either.

I don’t have any crabs, I can promise you that!

1 hour ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

They’re a diverse set of countries that have had their run-ins with the US over the years - more substance in their enmities than in their love, to paraphrase Mr. Yeats. If they were able to sink their many differences they would be a serious force in geopolitics. For the ME nations, keeping in with two of their major customers and neighbours seems like a prudent move, albeit a worrying one for the West. What will the new acronym be? 
 

I think Putin is trying to come up with the acronym, “BRICSCHITHOUSE.”

Edited August 24, 2023 by sharkman

[eyeball]

So can anyone answer why this new currency will crash the US dollar?

Something to do with the price of crabs presumably.

[Dougie93]

6 hours ago, sharkman said:

This has major international implications, as the largest trading block in the world gets larger.  For instance, they want to issue their own currency, gold backed.  This alone would crash the current internationally used currency, the US dollar.

the US Dollar is the reserve currency simply because America spends more money than any other state

by many orders of magnitude

thus countries end up getting paid in US Dollars for their products & services

hence every country ends up holding a vast quantity of US Dollars

making it the easiest currency for those countries to do business in

that cannot be challenged by the BRICs

because they simply cannot spend enough of their currencies in comparison to the US Dollar

it really has nothing to do with gold, the gold standard is a separate issue from the reserve currency

[Moonbox]

8 hours ago, eyeball said:

So can anyone answer why this new currency will crash the US dollar?

Because a collection of Islamic fundamentalist, communist, and kleptocratic dictatorships are totally going to cooperate smoothly with each other and suck demand out for the USD.  

India and China?  Not friends. 

Iran and Saudi Arabia?  Straight-up enemies. 

It's going to work out great.  

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by Moonbox

[sharkman]

6 hours ago, Dougie93 said:

the US Dollar is the reserve currency simply because America spends more money than any other state

by many orders of magnitude

thus countries end up getting paid in US Dollars for their products & services

hence every country ends up holding a vast quantity of US Dollars

making it the easiest currency for those countries to do business in

that cannot be challenged by the BRICs

because they simply cannot spend enough of their currencies in comparison to the US Dollar

it really has nothing to do with gold, the gold standard is a separate issue from the reserve currency

Did you know that many nations have their central banks hoarding tons of gold?  More tons every year, when 5 years ago they weren’t doing this.  They are doing this to buy insurance against something.  
 

Also, read down the list of BRICS nations and new incoming members.  Did you notice how many heavy hitters there are in annual oil production?  That’s gotta be 2/3 of the global oil reserves right there.  And they are forming an alliance.  For some specific reason.  

[Moonbox]

10 hours ago, sharkman said:

Did you know that many nations have their central banks hoarding tons of gold?  More tons every year, when 5 years ago they weren’t doing this.  They are doing this to buy insurance against something.  

Did you know that the United States holds the largest stockpile of gold reserves in the world, and more than the next 3 closest nations combined, none of which were part of the BRICS group?  ?

[SpankyMcFarland]

13 hours ago, Moonbox said:

Iran and Saudi Arabia?  Straight-up enemies. 

Those two do seem to be working on their relationship of late and a full-on war between them looks less likely than it has for decades. China will be an ever bigger factor in their calculations. 

https://www.mei.edu/blog/monday-briefing-saudi-iran-rapprochement-amid-regional-and-global-shifts

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by SpankyMcFarland

[Moonbox]

Working on their relationship is nice, but whether there's any material changes remains to be seen.  The Chinese and the Americans have been working on their relationship lately too.  

[Boges]

BRICS is G8 for the Fascist friendly? 

[Moonbox]

No fascists yet, but very friendly to communist and Islamic dictatorships.  

They're going to love having Mao 2.0 running their bloc too. 

Start the countdown now for how long it takes before India about-faces.  

[SpankyMcFarland]

8 hours ago, Moonbox said:

Working on their relationship is nice, but whether there's any material changes remains to be seen.  

KSA has re-opened its embassy in Tehran. That is surely a material change?

Edited August 26, 2023 by SpankyMcFarland

[Moonbox]

11 hours ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

KSA has re-opened its embassy in Tehran. That is surely a material change?

Surely?  They had an embassy there seven years ago and they were enemies then too.  

[CITIZEN_2015]

With Islamic republic joining Russia and China, now The team of murderers and dictators is now complete.

[sharkman]

On 8/25/2023 at 8:22 AM, Moonbox said:

Did you know that the United States holds the largest stockpile of gold reserves in the world, and more than the next 3 closest nations combined, none of which were part of the BRICS group?  ?

And why do you suppose the US government is holding gold?  Just because other nations are doing it too?

Edited August 26, 2023 by sharkman

[SpankyMcFarland]

9 hours ago, Moonbox said:

Surely?  They had an embassy there seven years ago and they were enemies then too.  

They have restored diplomatic relations. That is progress, yes? BTW, ‘surely’ there was intended as a term of politeness, not certainty. I am tentatively expressing an uncertain opinion, as also indicated by the question mark. 

Edited August 26, 2023 by SpankyMcFarland

[Moonbox]

22 hours ago, sharkman said:

And why do you suppose the US government is holding gold?  Just because other nations are doing it too?

The same reason most countries hold gold:  Emergency, diversification etc.  They've been doing it longer than you and I have been alive.  

15 hours ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

They have restored diplomatic relations. That is progress, yes? BTW, ‘surely’ there was intended as a term of politeness, not certainty. I am tentatively expressing an uncertain opinion, as also indicated by the question mark. 

It's better than no embassy, but I don't think it changes much.  

[sharkman]

5 hours ago, Moonbox said:

The same reason most countries hold gold:  Emergency, diversification etc.  They've been doing it longer than you and I have been alive.  

…

Again, the level of gold bullion holdings among certain nations has drastically increased in the last several years.  It is not business as usual.  
But I doubt that the main stream news sources you follow give a fig about such developments.  They just report what they are given…

[Nationalist]

On 8/24/2023 at 6:28 PM, Dougie93 said:

the US Dollar is the reserve currency simply because America spends more money than any other state

by many orders of magnitude

thus countries end up getting paid in US Dollars for their products & services

hence every country ends up holding a vast quantity of US Dollars

making it the easiest currency for those countries to do business in

that cannot be challenged by the BRICs

because they simply cannot spend enough of their currencies in comparison to the US Dollar

it really has nothing to do with gold, the gold standard is a separate issue from the reserve currency

Partially true.

However if and when the BRICS gang begin full scale trading internationally, this will damage the USD somewhat. The amount of damage is yet undetermined...but it will shake it some. That may...probably will...shake the confidence in the USD and in the final analysis, its the confidence in the USD that keeps it afloat.

[Moonbox]

18 hours ago, sharkman said:

Again, the level of gold bullion holdings among certain nations has drastically increased in the last several years.  It is not business as usual.  

It's not nearly as interesting/significant as you make it out to be, scraping your twitter for doom-porn to convince yourself everything is going to blow up.  ?

The world (not just the US) dropped the gold standard 50+ years ago for one very simple reason, and that reason hasn't gone away.  

[Nationalist]

29 minutes ago, Moonbox said:

It's not nearly as interesting/significant as you make it out to be, scraping your twitter for doom-porn to convince yourself everything is going to blow up.  ?

The world (not just the US) dropped the gold standard 50+ years ago for one very simple reason, and that reason hasn't gone away.  

Indeed. They dropped it to make deficit spending and bloated debt easy and a reality.

And this has resulted in massive deficits and debts. OH Goodie.