Hugo Chavez Interview, 29Sep09

Greg Grandin: I'd like first to ask you about the Honduran crisis. Manuel Zelaya--the president overthrown in a coup on June 28--is currently in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, having returned to the country in secret. What happens next? What can be done to force those who carried out the coup to negotiate?

Hugo Chávez: It's not for me to decide what the next step is. Zelaya has called for dialogue. That was the first thing he did as soon as he entered the Brazilian embassy. The coup-plotters have responded with repression, death and terror. I believe that the brutal nature of this coup will lead to its failure.

GG: But how do you explain the intransigence of Roberto Micheletti, the president installed by the coup? There is about a month to go before the scheduled November 29 presidential elections, and whether Zelaya is returned to office or not, we know that one of two candidates from either the National or Liberal parties--both conservatives--is going to win. So why wouldn't the de facto government want a negotiated solution, allowing a symbolic return of Zelaya to the presidency for a short period in order to legitimate the outcome of the election?

HC: Noam Chomsky has a book, which I read for the first time when I was in Spain, called Fear of Democracy. There is your answer. Fear of democracy. In Honduras, they had a sham democracy. It was run by elites, what was called a liberal democracy but in reality was a false democracy. Honduras has been governed by a small group that for a long time has been supported by the United States, which used Honduras as a military base against other countries of Central America, against Cuba, turning the country into a colony. Manuel Zelaya came from the ranks of the Liberal Party, he entered the government as an intelligent young man, breathing in the new winds blowing from South America, the winds of change, I would say even winds of revolution. It is different from the revolution of the 1970s. This one is carried out not with rifles but by a peaceful people, it is a democratic revolution. Montesquieu said that men needed to be able to ride the wave of events. And that's what Zelaya did. With his cowboy hat he climbed up and rode the wave. And as soon as he broached the question of convening a constitutional assembly to consult with the people about refounding the republic, the political class that has governed all this time, the Honduran bourgeoisie, became frightened. That is the fear of democracy.

GG: What is the importance of events in Honduras for the rest of the continent? There are signs that the right, the transnational right, is regrouping, and that it sees Honduras as the first battle in a larger struggle to roll back the left.

HC: They are going to fail. Of course, it is important not to underestimate the continental right. It has gone on the offensive in many places. They attacked Venezuela, hard, with the support of Bush, as you know. They attacked in Brazil, trying to destabilize Lula so the Workers Party couldn't govern. They failed. They attacked Bolivia, hard, with all the venom of a serpent, in an effort to overthrow Evo Morales. They failed. They attacked Ecuador, and Rafael Correa is still there. Then, in Honduras, they attacked what they believed to be--and in a way was--the weakest flank. But they were in for a surprise. For three months, the Honduran people have been in the street, with unprecedented strength. That's what they found on the supposed weak flank. So I think the continental right should well consider its next step. They haven't even been able to consolidate their power in Honduras, notwithstanding that they enjoy the monolithic unity of the Honduran bourgeoisie and the support of the military, so if they decide to attack again in South America, they will fail. It is a battle, a game of chess, that we are fighting everyday. But the continental right has lost its way, it doesn't have a project for governance. In the United States, the government is bailing out banks, intervening in the economy, yet in Latin America, the right continues to talk about "free markets." It's totally outdated, they don't have arguments, they don't have any sense.

GG: But they will have seven US military bases in Colombia.

HC: It seems as if there are two Barack Obamas. And hopefully, the Obama who spoke today at the United Nations will win out in the end. But it was Obama who also approved the seven military bases in Colombia. Nobody can think otherwise, because who is the president, who is the commander-in-chief of the military if not Obama? If Venezuela decided to send troops to another country, or to set up a military base in Puerto Rico, it would be me, as president, making the decision. So Obama is full of contradictions, and hopefully the people of the United States, you, the thinking public, need to push your president. If I were I New Yorker, I would say, Mr. President, why are you putting military bases in Colombia? I said to Obama in Trinidad [at the Summit of the Americas in April] what I said to Bill Clinton ten years ago--one could at least talk to Clinton--and the same I told George W. Bush--only one time, because one couldn't talk about anything with him--"let's look for peace in Colombia." Hopefully the people of the United States will demand from its president, and its government, and its congress, to stop with the politics of war throughout the world. Obama said some troublesome things today, veiled threats. I have the phrase here, if I am not mistaken, that the US "will know how to defend the interests of all." Does this mean that tomorrow Obama is going to be able to say that he has invaded Iran in order to defend the interests of Venezuela, or of Mexico, or of Algeria? No, Venezuelan interests are to be defended by Venezuela. The US should defend the interests of the US. Where are the US people, where are the intellectuals, who could put limits on their government?




GG: Since President Obama has taken office, has US policy toward Venezuela changed since the Bush years?

HC: Yes, for the worst.

GG: For the worst?

HC: Yes, for the worst. The seven Colombian military bases. They are a threat to Venezuela. Why hasn't Obama--and today at the UN he listed all the steps he has taken [to improve relations with the rest of the world]--eliminated the Fourth Fleet? It was Bush that re-established the Fourth Fleet, a threat to all of Latin America, with the commander of the fleet saying that its purpose was to patrol South America's rivers. We are all worried about this in Latin America, and each country has expressed concern in its own way, Venezuela, Bolivia, even Brazil. Now with these seven military bases, the Colombian conflict is going to be spilling out across South America. Hopefully Obama will listen to other voices, and not just repeat what the Pentagon says, those same advisers of Bush, the war makers.

GG: Do you think it ironic that the Right in the US now uses the same tactics and rhetoric to attack Obama that the Venezuelan right uses against your government? Did you follow what happened just two weeks ago, with Obama's planned address to schoolchildren, when they attacked him in terms very similar to the criticism used against your education reform?

HC: Ah, yes, I read about that, that it was socialist indoctrination.

GG: Exactly.

HC: If only it were socialism! I believe they are scared. And this fear is dangerous. Because independent of whatever reasoned criticism we might have of Obama--such as that concerning the Fourth Fleet, which is an effort to make his actions be coherent with his words--here within the United States, the recalcitrant right is scared. And they hate him. First, because he is black...

GG: This is a debate now within the United States...

HC: Jimmy Carter is saying it. And hopefully Obama won't be assassinated because of it. But Obama has also taken up the theme of social reform almost as if it were a point of honor, because he made the pledge during the campaign. And also, as Obama knows, out of necessity. Everyday there is more poverty in the United States, everyday there is more uncared-for people who don't have medicine, doctors, or even education. This country is eating itself from the inside. What's happening to the American, how do you say it, Dream [in English]. I believe in the American Dream, but the dream of Martin Luther King Jr., not the dream of consumerism, unbridled capitalism or individualism, that craziness, that's not a dream it's a nightmare. Now, the recalcitrant right attacks Obama hard, calling him a socialist...

GG: Even a Nazi.

HC: Yes, a Nazi! When we met in Trinidad and shook hands, the right roasted him here for doing so: "Chávez! Why are you greeting Chávez?!" Imagine the craziness just for saying hello. It's irrational. The right here is scared that Obama is awakening a popular current in the people of




the US, and they are trying to stop it. Where it is going to wind up, who knows? But I have a question, where is the US people? Where are the people, when their leader tries to propose something in benefit of the people? The people need to go out into the streets, not just to vote but to passionately protest, to support the president, so he can fulfill his promise. Where are the people?

GG: It is the right that is in the street.

HC: Yes, the right has taken over the street. There is much to do. Those who represent progressive thought--and I include you--need to know that without the people, there is no democracy. The people of the United States need to wake up, wake up and help construct a new country, a great nation, a true democracy. Obama can be an opportunity, and you need to support him with great force, in order to contain those that ferociously oppose whatever change. Like in Honduras. It's the same situation. The progressive community of the United States needs to support Obama to achieve change, and then it has to demand more change, and more change, and more change.

GG: There is a sense among progressives in the US that the Bolivarian Revolution has reached its limits, at least domestically. They have heard much about your anti-imperialism and your efforts to form a multipolar world, but they know less about what is happening in the country, the successes and failures in advancing a "protagonist democracy."

HC: Many political analysts--the majority of them spokespeople for the right--along with the media--also dominated by the right--go around creating the idea that the government of the Bolivarian Revolution is on the point of collapse. The fall of the price of oil affected us in a way, but not fundamentally, not at the roots or the base of the process. We are passing through stages. We are starting the second decade of the revolution, and are now approaching a new political horizon. The communal councils for example, continue to extend, continue to grow, and they have evolved into a more ambitious project, a socialist commune. We are leaving behind--slowly, but steadily, not in a day, a year or five years--oil dependency, advancing the industrialization of the country. If some people here believe--people of good faith, readers of The Nation--that the Bolivarian Revolution is exhausted, tell them that it isn't. You can tell them to come and see for themselves. Venezuela is of course a country that has problems, and its revolutionary government has failures, and has made mistakes, but it is an ongoing process.

GG: Venezuela has impressively reduced poverty, inequality, unemployment...

HC: We have achieved nearly all of the Millennium Development Goals. I was here almost ten years ago, in the Millennium Summit, and they even assigned me the task--I wasn't yet considered the devil, though they were undoubtedly still evaluating me--to coordinate one of the roundtables. I was there for a few days, day after day working and talking with Clinton, Fidel was there too. I remember the day Fidel shook Clinton's hand, Clinton and Fidel, and I was witness to their short conversation. We had meetings with delegates from Africa, Asia, from China, Russia. Now, we proposed some goals [to reduce poverty]. But today, at the global level, we are poorer than ten years ago. And not only in absolute numbers but relative numbers. But in Venezuela, poverty continues to go down. Unemployment continues to go down. The minimum wage is the highest in Latin America. Social security continues to reach more and more people. The standard of living has risen in Venezuela and according to the measures used by the United Nations Development Program we are in the top rank of human development. We are far from our goals, but we have left the inferno. Attention to the excluded, literacy, Venezuela is now a territory free of illiteracy. Poverty has been halved from it was ten years ago, which was one of the Millennium Goals. Access to potable water, we passed that Millennium goal a long time ago. In education, we have doubled the number of children going to school. It is possible to leave poverty, it is possibly to pull people out of misery. We call this socialism. In Obama's reflections--the ones I have heard--there are elements of this thought. We don't call it socialist, but it is a revindication of public policy.

GG: What you have achieved inspires many. But can you talk about the failures, or the concrete plans you have to address ongoing problems, such as inflation, crime and insecurity?

HC: On every front, there are failures and still much work to be done. Right now we are in the process of what we call the three Rs: revision, rectification and re-starting. In health care, in education, improving services, correcting mistakes. We are increasing participatory democracy, protagonist democracy. Delinquency is a global problem, not an exclusive Venezuelan one. Corruption is hurting us. I believe Obama talked this morning of the problem of corruption in developing countries. But here, in the US, there is a lot of corruption. In Europe there is corruption. Capitalism is the reign of corruption. Everything that happened with the big corporations, the big banks, the big insurance companies. What is it? Corruption. Corruption of values, fraud against the people, theft from the citizenry. Now, when I mentioned earlier about a new stage, 2010 to 2020, I was talking about above all a project that had to solve these problems, this weakness.

GG: But how, exactly? Can you give some concrete examples, say, in reference to violence and public security? One recent report identifies Caracas--in terms of homicide rates--as the second most violent city in the world, after Ciudad Juárez.

HC: Ciudad Juárez?

GG: Ciudad Juárez.

HC: I think there are cities in the United States that are more violent. I don't want to minimize the problem. Look, we are attacking the problem with a lot of energy, with distinct programs. For example, a little while ago we enacted legislation restructuring the National Police, because historically, going back many years, the police department was penetrated by delinquents. So we are trying to cleanse the police. But at the bottom of this is a cultural problem. Out-of-control crime, in all these countries, is part of a moral crisis. Ask yourself, how many children right at this moment are watching violence on TV, on the Internet? Music that encourages drug use and irresponsible sex? This is a product of the capitalist model, the culture of capitalism, hyper-individualism. It's part of the great crisis of the time. It requires a new world, with new values. As Jesus Christ says, "love others as yourself." If you love others as yourself, you are incapable of hurting others.

GG: One last question. Since 2003, the relationship between you and Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been fascinating. Working together in the field of international relations, you have led what some have described as South America's second independence, or at least have brought about the end of the Monroe Doctrine. But in about a year, that relationship is going to end, when Lula's second, and last, presidential term expires. We are going to be in a "post-Lula" world. Have you given any thought how this is going to affect your foreign policy, since you have worked together in a very...

HC: Closely.

GG: Yes, closely.

HC: Coordinated.

GG: Yes, coordinated.

HC: Lula is a great person, a great compañero. They tried to create a rift between us, but it failed. I have the hope that after Lula comes someone who will continue along the same path. Lula has managed to put his own stamp on Brazil. Brazil had lost its way, it had fallen into the hands of, well, neoliberal governments. It lacked leadership. About four or five years ago, Brazil was at the point of losing its petroleum reserves. But no longer. Lula rescued [the state oil company] Petrobras, he invested resources, and recovered the independence of Brazil. The country no longer depends on the International Monetary Fund. Brazil's monetary reserve has grown exorbitant due to exports. The attitude of Brazil toward its small neighbors has greatly changed, toward Paraguay, Ecuador, Bolivia, the smallest and weakest countries, and above all because of Lula. This is Lula's great legacy, and it is going to be difficult to change. Many things will change. Someone will take office with his or her own stamp, own style. But Brazil is now standing. With Venezuela, there will be changes, in the relationship we have, in the strategic alliance. But I have much faith that the person who comes next will be a man or woman of the left, from the Workers Party, who will continue to try to meet the challenge presented by Lula at his inauguration. Remember, the 2002 coup in Venezuela was not just against me but against Lula, who was a presidential candidate at the time. It was meant as a demonstration effect. They were telling the Brazilian people, look, if you elect Lula, this is what could happen to you. So, when Lula was inaugurated on January 1, 2003, I went. I'll never forget it. We were in a terrible battle at home, of destabilization, economic and petroleum sabotage, terrorism, threats of more coups. But I wanted to go to Brasilia. There, Lula told us that we needed a project that covered all of South America. He knew that this challenge needed to go beyond Lula, beyond Chávez, and beyond Evo. When each of us are gone, the people are left standing, and South America is South America, with its own voice.

About Greg Grandin

Greg Grandin, a professor of history at New York University

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good riddance: the demise of the dollar (and the end of the United States) - 6.10.09
In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading
In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.
Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.
The plans, confirmed to The Independent by both Gulf Arab and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong, may help to explain the sudden rise in gold prices, but it also augurs an extraordinary transition from dollar markets within nine years.
The Americans, who are aware the meetings have taken place – although they have not discovered the details – are sure to fight this international cabal which will include hitherto loyal allies Japan and the Gulf Arabs. Against the background to these currency meetings, Sun Bigan, China's former special envoy to the Middle East, has warned there is a risk of deepening divisions between China and the US over influence and oil in the Middle East. "Bilateral quarrels and clashes are unavoidable," he told the Asia and Africa Review. "We cannot lower vigilance against hostility in the Middle East over energy interests and security."
This sounds like a dangerous prediction of a future economic war between the US and China over Middle East oil – yet again turning the region's conflicts into a battle for great power supremacy. China uses more oil incrementally than the US because its growth is less energy efficient. The transitional currency in the move away from dollars, according to Chinese banking sources, may well be gold. An indication of the huge amounts involved can be gained from the wealth of Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar who together hold an estimated $2.1 trillion in dollar reserves.
The decline of American economic power linked to the current global recession was implicitly acknowledged by the World Bank president Robert Zoellick. "One of the legacies of this crisis may be a recognition of changed economic power relations," he said in Istanbul ahead of meetings this week of the IMF and World Bank. But it is China's extraordinary new financial power – along with past anger among oil-producing and oil-consuming nations at America's power to interfere in the international financial system – which has prompted the latest discussions involving the Gulf states. Brazil has also shown interest in collaborating in non-dollar oil payments, along with India. Indeed, China appears to be the most enthusiastic of all the financial powers involved, not least because of its enormous trade with the Middle East.

Consequences of 2006 dollar-nuking spreading and spreading for all to see.

Anonymous said...

Terrific interview, even if a US is the interviewer. Chavez speaks from the heart and straight to the heart - and not one of his responses can be faulted. A blueprint for a free SouthAm today and as future generations take over. I specially liked his ringing hommage to Lula who will soon be leaving the political field.

Anonymous said...

Firstly, thank you for the Chavez interview. Made my day for me, I can tell you. And secondly below which also braced one up:
Latvia faces collapse
Banks brace themselves as Baltic states return to the eye of the storm.

poiuytr said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
poiuytr said...

> 6:35 -- OPEC dumping the d0llar?

Indeed, it looks as though even the Bush-cabal-run OPEC is at last feeling the stinging gangrene of the masterful petrodollar nuking of 2006.

They've been trying to shake themselves free for a while but USA cleverly cedes a NYC building here and there or a title to a bank thus far managing to keep OPEC relatively happy. But no amount of gifts and bribes, however, can balance the loss they're suffering while under the prolapsed d0llar regime.

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> 6:48 -- yank interviewer

Yes. The sick bias of this unusual baboon creature is felt in every question, sentence, and word. But Chavez slices through the yank brainstem airs of arrogant sleaze like the prolapse through the west bank vaults and more.

----------------

> 7:03 -- It seems even better than that.

As unreal as it appears, the interview is outdated a bit. Colombia seems to have performed an about face on comrade Obama's plans for 7 military bases next door to H Chavez.

Apparently, no USA troops shall be quartered there now. So someone did something to change Uribe's bird brain. Maybe this is why USA is quickly reoccupying Panama. But that's not quite the same for those with a map. 2 bases in Panama are a far cry from 7 in Colombia.

----------------------------

The days of west are numbered no longer in years, or even quarters. It's very possibly down to months now, and maybe even weeks -- if Panarin knew something we didn't.

Whatever it is, pop the cork, fill the challis, raise it high, for the NWO (No West Ogres) has arrived. Let the bells of freedom ring across the Freeworld. Let jubilation reign. And let every yank baboon know the score should you encounter the disease around the web.

Laugh at them. Prod them with their own stats. Remind them it's 40M yanks in poverty, 17-30% unemployment, total loss of currency, death of mfg, and defeat in every nation the war monkey assaulted. In return they'll regale you with amusing mental tricks in unparalleled cretinism adorned with the customary two curse words that seem to fill their skull to capacity.

Anonymous said...

What a treasure of a phrase: NWO (No West Ogres)! Soon only free humanity walking the earth of freedom.

Anonymous said...

More on Barack Obama, the symbolic Great Black Imperialist ... I mean... Hope and Change.

http://raimd.wordpress.com/2009/08/22/obama-more-troops-more-imperialism-more-of-the-same/

Anonymous said...

Good advice, 12:54. But Hugo, our hero, has too much heart and head to be taken in by an
Obey-me. Trust him.

Anonymous said...

why the sudden burst of optimism, poiuytr, that
"The days of west are numbered no longer in years, or even quarters. It's very possibly down to months now, and maybe even weeks -- if Panarin knew something we didn't." when is the next NBN scheduled for? and what about the risk of a new WW if the west really feels cornered? a queasy feeling all in all when one thinks of all the ramifications of our present rejoicings.

Anonymous said...

Why the sudden burst of optimism on poiuytr's part that the end of the west is possibly numbered in months if not days? When is the next NBN scheduled for? And is everyone aware of the risk of a new WW if the west is finally cornered? All in all, a queasy feeling stirs as one contemplates the present situation of joy mingled with apprehension.

Anonymous said...

Hey, sorry, no spam at work. It's me who made a mistake and repeated my posting more or less.

Anonymous said...

While waiting for P. to formulate his own reply, 14:15, 14:25, I'd say the Panarin predictions are part of it, naturally. But also the sorry state of west finances as expressed in the lines below:

"The US financial system crashed because it was built on the false assumption that an unregulated shadow banking system could generate an infinite amount of credit without sufficient capital. This proved to be wrong. Capitalism requires capital. The trillions of dollars in loans, complex debt-instruments, off-balance sheet operations and derivatives contracts were all stacked atop a tiny scrap of capital which eventually collapsed beneath the weight of the debt. This system (securitization) which created the mess, cannot be restored. It required a strong currency, artificially low interest rates, and credulous investors who were unaware of the inherent risks of illiquid assets. Those conditions no longer exist, nor have they for more than two years. Even so, the Fed continues to pump blood into a corpse hoping for some fleeting sign of life. This is why an even bigger crisis cannot be too far off."

Anonymous said...

Pleased the Chavez interview was posted over which there can only be wholehearted agreement. Many things can be doubted, but no one can doubt Chavez' commitment to bettering the lot of Freeworld dwellers.

Anonymous said...

Irreversible Decline
There are two factors in the dollar problem.
1) The incessant trade deficits.
2) The current account balance (investment income flow), which has now also turned negative. The US has borrowed so much that the interest payments exceed the income from previous US investments abroad.
So the process of decline is a continuous process which it is not possible to reverse, and it is even impossible to stop.

Anonymous said...

"Yes. The sick bias of this unusual baboon creature is felt in every question, sentence, and word. But Chavez slices through the yank brainstem airs of arrogant sleaze like the prolapse through the west bank vaults and more."

That was funny. The American interviewer is still promoting the nonsense the B.O. (Barack Obama) is deep down a "progressive" and will start instituting some sort of benvolent American policies.

Just you wait, it will begin any day now. LOL.

American deceptions die hard.

Anonymous said...

May I in passing tip my hat to elderly Elaine Brown and husband who didn't just do "fun" things to mark dissent, but were sentenced to a 35-year prison term for their principled stand. Body Odour is, of course, just that: sick and sickening.

Anonymous said...

RE the Demise of the Dollar, no basket of currencies will be successful unless the rouble in included.

Anonymous said...

"Body Odour is, of course, just that: sick and sickening."

Shhhhh....

As Jimmy Carter recently announced, dissent and criticism of President B.O. is ... racist, donchaknow.

Worship B.O.

He is our Messiah in Chief.

Anonymous said...

Messiashs in this form and shape have taken humanity to perdition. But the problem is whoever replaces him in the event of his eventual disappearance will turn out to be just as satanic. However much they worship, no hope for the USans as far as the eye can see.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it a bit early to write off the west as we have a tendency to do? The place is full of tricky bastards. Might they not stage a comeback, after all?

Anonymous said...

We haven't written off anyone. It's something they did to themselves all alone. No help from us! Comeback? How do you manage that when you've reached the stage of fiscal meltdown?

Anonymous said...

Dollar Hysteria - 6.10.09 (Part One)
Robert Fisk lit the fuse with his hyperventilating narrative which appeared in Tuesday's UK Independent titled, "The Demise of the Dollar". The article went viral overnight spreading to every musty corner of the Internet and sending gold skyrocketing to $1,026 per oz. Now every doomsday website in cyber-world has headlined Fisk's "shocker" and the blogs are clogged with frenzied comments. "International cabal"? C'mon, Bob, you're better than that. Reports of the dollar's demise are greatly exaggerated. The dollar may fall, but it won't crash. And, in the short-term, it's bound to strengthen as the equities market reenters the earth's gravitational field after a 6 month-long ride through outer-space. The relationship between falling stocks and a stronger buck is well established and, when the market corrects, the dollar will bounce back once again. Bet on it. So why all this bilge about Middle Eastern men huddled in "secret meetings" stroking their beards while plotting against the empire?
Yes, the dollar will fall, (eventually) but not for the reasons that most people think. It's true that the surge in deficit spending has foreign dollar-holders worried. But they're more concerned about the Fed's quantitative easing (QE) program which adds to the money supply by purchasing mortgage-backed securities and US Treasuries. Bernanke is simply printing money and pouring it into the financial system to keep rigamortis from setting in. Naturally, the Fed has had to quantify exactly how much money it intends to "create from thin air" to placate its creditors. And, it has. (The program is scheduled to end by the beginning of 2010) That said, China and Japan are still buying US Treasuries, which indicates they have not yet "jumped ship".

Anonymous said...

Dollar Hysteria (Part Two)
The real reason the dollar will lose its favored role as the world's reserve currency is because US markets, which until recently provided up to 25 percent of global demand, are in sharp decline. Export-dependent nations--like Japan, China, Germany, South Korea--already see the handwriting on the wall. The US consumer is buried under a mountain of debt, which means that his spending-spree won't resume anytime soon. On top of that, unemployment is soaring, personal wealth is falling, savings are rising, and Washington's anti-labor bias assures that wages will continue to stagnate for the foreseeable future. Thus, the American middle class will no longer be the driving force behind global consumption/demand that it was before the crisis. Once consumers are less able to buy new Toyota Prius's or load up on the latest China-made widgets at Walmart, there will be less incentive for foreign governments and central banks to stockpile greenbacks or trade exclusively in dollars.
A UBS report maintains that the gradual slide of the U.S. dollar is being driven not by the world’s central banks, but by the private sector, as individual companies increasingly abandon the greenback as their international currency of choice. “The private sector’s use of reserves is more important than official, central bank reserves – anything up to 20 times the significance, depending on interpretation,” Mr. Donovan said. “There is evidence that the move away from the dollar as a private-sector reserve currency has been accelerating since 2000.” As private industry veers away from the dollar, governments, investors and central banks will follow. The soft tyranny of dollar dominance will erode and parity between currencies and governments will grow. This will be create better opportunities for consensus on issues of mutual interest. One nation will no longer be able to dictate international policy.
So-called "dollar hegemony" has added greatly to the gross imbalance of power in the world today. It has put global decision-making in the hands of a handful of Washington warlords whose narrow vision never extends beyond the material interests of themselves and their constituents. As the dollar weakens and consumer demand declines, the United States will be forced to curtail its wars and adjust its behavior to conform to international standards. Either that, or be banished into the political wilderness. So, what exactly is the downside? Superpower status rests on the flimsy foundation of the dollar, and the dollar is beginning to crack. Fisk is right; big changes are on the way. Only not just yet.

The American take on the Demise of the Dollar.

Anonymous said...

There can and will be no Dollar Demise.

His Majesty Barack Obama will simply not allow it.

Plus, it would be racist to go against Obama's decree.

Anonymous said...

Dollar falls on oil plan report - 6 Oct
Nations including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were speaking to Russia, China, Japan and France, said the UK's Independent newspaper. However, Saudi Arabia subsequently said the report was "absolutely inaccurate".

Obviously, Saudi Arabia has a strong financial incentive to dismiss the report until they can unload their dollars. So I am more inclined to trust Robert Fisk, zio-propagandist though he is, on this one.

Anonymous said...

Racists, we are, we admit that. But we are against the entire west, not against s.o. who wears a darker shade of colour or is of this or that religious persuasion. As the months pass, we discover much to our horror that we find not a single thing to say in favour of the B.O. presidency.

James Wolfe said...

Robert Fisk’s article has really set the cat amongst the pigeons. Read the comments on the Independent, the racist right wing West scum have taken hysteria and hypocrisy to a whole new level.

Unsurprisingly the Saudi, French, Japanese finance ministries have all denied Fisk’s story. Just why are the French supposedly involved, aren’t these "nouveaux impérialistes" of the Sarkozy Regime threatening and plotting war against Iran? Are the French switching sides to join the Russian-Chinese-Brazilian-Venezuelan-Iranian New Freeworld Order? Perhaps the French are “hedging their bets”?

The Whitehouse and US have remained silent on this issue. The US has entered a new financial year in October, the next phase of the collapse must happen this month. The US economy is a like corpse that’s sleep-walking, how it continues to function is mind baffling. Its like it’s on autopilot.

James Wolfe said...

I recommend everyone to read the articles and watch the videos on Max Keiser’s site.

http://maxkeiser.com/

James Wolfe said...

Latest article by AEP

China calls time on dollar hegemony
You can date the end of dollar hegemony from China's decision last month to sell its first batch of sovereign bonds in Chinese yuan to foreigners.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/china-business/6266790/China-calls-time-on-dollar-hegemony.html

poiuytr said...

It's far far simple than all this.

Yes, trade deficit for USA is an issue. Yes, death of mfg, chem, construction, media sectors are an issue for USA. Yes, unlimited credit (or just drawing zeros on paper with nothing to back it with) is bothersome to west banksters. Yes, debt eating west GDPs coupled with the deficit outlook for the next few decades is troublesome. But none of these eulogies have anything to do with the astonishingly simple reason for the dollar death and thus the death of the entire west cesspit from Cuntberra, TelAviv, EUnuchia, to the baboon stolen plateaus of NorthAm.

It's a simple equation that no west loudmouth has caught on yet including the pretense dissidents like R Fisk, C Roberts, Engdahl, R Paul, G Galloway, J Rense, A Jones, and the rest of the laughable baboon gang.

It's this: No dollar monopoly, no dollar. No dollar, no west.

That's it! That's the scope of the entire econ one needs to know.

Debt building, trade deficit, bla bla bla, printing cash is all well and sound, so long as you've got a money monopoly.

The monopoly allows any dollar pricing without any anchoring it to reality, USA product, west product, anything real at all. And it works cuz it's a monopoly. That's why everything in west is a monopoly like media, politics, banks, corporations, etc...

The monopoly was however laid to rest in May 2006. On that day, dollar became a real currency, backed by real USA product, hindered by suddenly real enormous debt, and all these woes the west media whores are at last finally admitting like trade deficit, derivative rubbish, credit printing, etc. All that became real overnight lacerating the ugly dollar to shreds.

It died in 6 months after a near 4 decade domination in the last oil-based monopoly reincarnation.

So why not just make dollar a monopoly again may be a good question just about now, certainly bantered about in the psychotic war meetings the west beast is holding.

Certainly someone must have asked it.

But the answer remains WWIII. The only way to resurrect the west dollar monopoly today is by destroying Iran, Venezuela, and what's particularly difficult, Russia.

And so the choices of west shrivel to two. Stay the course and bleed to econ death. That means dollar devaluation or effectively death and wall to wall poverty mayhem across the entire west cesspit.

Or throne another Hitler, build a 2M strong baboon army and begin marching toward Moscow again. I've suggested this course to west before. This means a very quick end to the west woes.
...

poiuytr said...

PT2


Either way one looks at it, it's completely over and been so for 3 yrs.

The only thing debatable today is how will USA topple. Is it Panarin? Is it a comrade Obama dictatorship with fiendish FEMA raping its own land. Is it the west war junta packing up what they've sacked via bailouts, lighting a fuse, and running into hiding like they did in 1945?

But whatever it is, it's GAME OVER for all baboon lands.

They can shut down internet. They can amalgamise EUnuchs and rule them with the butcher fist of Bliar. They can tax the 60% employed in USA to death, to pay for all the corporate defaults and zillion dollar bailouts. They can peddle heroin from Afghanistan. They can pour a trillion every 6 months into their Stalingrads. They can demonise with vulgar USA/UK sputter whomever they dislike. They can rename econ prolapse to new fetching slogans that the baboon can eat easier.... none of it matters! None of it!

The result, I'm afraid, is the same. It's NWO (No West Ogres) from here on.

And it's better even than that!

If WWIII is avoided -- so far it's been by the masterful chess game of Moscow -- in 10 yrs the mighty continent of Africa shall rise and join the Freeworld in settling the score with the genocidal west disease.

Dollar death, we're witnessing right now, will predicate in actuality the loss of west lands and all that's west managed to pillage from the planet during its 2000 yrs of its particularly evil and verminous life.

So raise the glass I've been telling you to fill for west is being laid into a casket. The dollar eulogies are pouring in even from them, from the freckly baboon now. Enjoy the amusing service. Let the jubilation reign! If you listen carefully, you'll hear the west band strike the mournful tone.

James Wolfe said...

poiuytr

Great stuff, let us all celebrate the demise of the most evil and depraved civilization to have existed, 500 years of West dominance and exploitation is coming to an end.

Yes, let jubilation reign.

Anonymous said...

Unicef details severe child sex abuse in rich nations
http://www.uruknet.de/index.php?p=m58628&hd=&size=1&l=e

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