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The Bulletin: May 8-14, 2025

The Bulletin: May 8-14, 2025

This past week’s articles of interest…

If you’re new to my writing, check out this overview.


“The Fourth Turning Is Now Raging…” And Neil Howe Warns “It’s Gone Global” | ZeroHedge

Disaster of Diesel’s Decrease

Musical Chairs on the Global Chessboard: Greenland, Panama, and the Coming Resource Grab

The Fall and Rise of Peak Oil – Ecosophia

Balsa Wood Logging For Wind Turbine Blades Is A Nasty Scene

The Blackout That Shook Spain: Exploring the Fragility of Modern Electric Grids

Complexity, energy, people and inequality

The Money is in Tomorrow’s Denial – by Misanthropocene

Heat and drought are quietly hurting global crop yields

U.S. Orders Intelligence Agencies to Increase Spying on Greenland – MishTalk

Fact Check on Trump’s Claim “We Don’t Do Much Business with Canada” – MishTalk

Ontario To Debut World’s First Small Modular Reactor, GE Predicts | ZeroHedge

The Pillars of Human Dominance and the Path to Ecological Collapse: A 21st-Century Reckoning

Global emergence of unprecedented lifetime exposure to climate extremes | Nature

50,000 Foot View

I’ve been talking civilisational collapse on MSM… and NOT been laughed out of the country!

Social Overshoot? Dunbar’s Number, Real Relationships, and Musical Chairs

Are we heading for another world war – or has it already started?

Plant communities in the Arctic are changing along with the climate, study finds | CBC News

War Is A Growing Concern Across Europe | ZeroHedge

India And Pakistan Agree To US-Mediated “Full & Immediate Ceasefire” | ZeroHedge

America’s Largest Grid Operator Warns Of Summer Power Shortages | ZeroHedge

Carrying Capacity and Overshoot

On Preempting Collapse – The Honest Sorcerer

Technophilia: The Mental Illness Behind Civilisational Collapse – George Tsakraklides

What if Malthus Was Right? – by Ugo Bardi

The Multi-Pronged Relentless Attacks on Our Oceans. | Kevin Hester

Antibiotics from human use are contaminating rivers worldwide, study shows

A River Starves Through It

The Greatest Disasters In Human History

It’s Not “If;” It’s “When” – Doug Casey’s International Man

Russia, Ukraine Exchange Large-Scale Drone Fire Despite Plan For Istanbul Peace Talks | ZeroHedge

The Green Energy Scam and the Deceptive UN/WEF Narratives of Green Politics – Global Research

Signs of Collapse: How It Seems To Be Unfolding

Finding Lights In a Dark Age

How To Make Your Mind Harder For The Propagandists To Manipulate

Paradise Lost

Journey To End Of Empire


If you have arrived here and get something out of my writing, please consider ordering the trilogy of my ‘fictional’ novel series, Olduvai (PDF files; only $9.99 Canadian), via my website or the link below — the ‘profits’ of which help me to keep my internet presence alive and first book available in print (and is available via various online retailers).

Attempting a new payment system as I am contemplating shutting down my site in the future (given the ever-increasing costs to keep it running). 

If you are interested in purchasing any of the 3 books individually or the trilogy, please try the link below indicating which book(s) you are purchasing. 

Costs (Canadian dollars):
Book 1: $2.99
Book 2: $3.89
Book 3: $3.89
Trilogy: $9.99

Feel free to throw in a ‘tip’ on top of the base cost if you wish; perhaps by paying in U.S. dollars instead of Canadian. Every few cents/dollars helps… 

https://paypal.me/olduvaitrilogy?country.x=CA&locale.x=en_US 

If you do not hear from me within 48 hours or you are having trouble with the system, please email me: olduvaitrilogy@gmail.com.

You can also find a variety of resources, particularly my summary notes for a handful of texts, especially William Catton’s Overshoot and Joseph Tainter’s Collapse of Complex Societies: see here.

 

The Bulletin: May 1-7, 2025

The Bulletin: May 1-7, 2025

This past week’s articles of interest…

If you’re new to my writing, check out this overview.


A Key Longevity Antioxidant Is Fading From Our Food Supply

The Limits of Business-as-Usual in AEO 2025 | Art Berman 

Complexity, Collapse, and the Lessons of Late Antiquity

More Than 150 Nobel-Prize Winning Scientists Warn of Imminent Global Famine: “We Must Act Now”

Major Escalation By Pakistan, Firing At International Border, India Responds

The Spanish Power Outage. A Catastrophe Created By Political Design and a Warning To The World | dlacalle.com

Do You Believe In Magic? – by Aurelien

Pakistan Warns It Has ‘Credible Intelligence’ India Will Attack Within 36 Hours | ZeroHedge

States of Fragility, 2025

Resource Scarcity and Eco-Fascism | Antonio Turiel

Heat and Fire Making Pollution Worse Across Much of the U.S. – Yale e360

Old growth forests in eastern Canada show that the climate started changing almost 100 years ago

Technology Addiction and Lessons, Part 2

Act of Sabotage Directed Against Iran? What Really Happened at Bandar Abbas? Mike Whitney – Global Research

Power Outage and Blackout Games: How the EU May be Using Fear to Tighten Social Control as Geopolitical Tensions Rise – Global Research

Death of Empires: History Tells Us What Will Follow the Collapse of US Hegemony | Covert Geopolitics

The 5 Stages of Collapse: Will We Survive the Breaking Point?

Information Burnout: Are We Past Peak Sensemaking?

The problem squared

The two horsemen of the net zero apocalypse

Self-Inflicted Civilizational Collapse — An Ancient Climate Story

Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the International Dictatorship of the Future

Global Food Prices Climb Toward Arab Spring-Era Highs Amid Trade War Turmoil | ZeroHedge

Europe Goes to War

El Blackout – by Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling

How to reduce microplastic exposure and protect your health

Seabed Mining, Health Mining, and Health/Enviro Unity

A Clash of Titans – The Honest Sorcerer

Implanted Sociopolitical Identities – weapons of mass destruction delivered through trojan horses of the mind

#302: At the end of modernity, part one | Surplus Energy Economics

Human Extinction Ahead: How Many Years Left? – by Ugo Bardi

Why More Shale Oil Is Not Gonna Happen

Trump says he ‘doesn’t rule out’ using military force to control Greenland | Donald Trump | The Guardian

The Fragile Foundations of the Modern World – Why Collapse Is Already Underway | by Vansh Shah | May, 2025 | Medium

The Mouse Utopia That Ended in Collapse — And Why Humanity is Next

Climate change and the Overton Window – resilience

The 6th Mass Extinction | Are We Witnessing a Silent Apocalypse?

Global Wars, Depressions, Defaults & Debt Crisis Begin in 2025 – Martin Armstrong | Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog

Waking Up From The Nightmare Of Western Civilization

Techno-Optimism Won’t Save the Day

US Crude Oil Output to Peak As Early As This Year: Kpler | ZeroHedge

Trump Leaves Another Clue About Who Blew Up the Nord Stream Pipeline

“We Are At A Tipping Point”: Shale Giant Diamonback Says US Oil Output Has Peaked, Slashes CapEx Amid OPEC Price War | ZeroHedge

The Collapse of Civilization is Ongoing. There’s a Lot to Like About That.

Does the Concept of Pollution Match the Complexity of Human-Biosphere Interactions?

India Launches Strikes On Pakistan After Terror Attack | ZeroHedge


If you have arrived here and get something out of my writing, please consider ordering the trilogy of my ‘fictional’ novel series, Olduvai (PDF files; only $9.99 Canadian), via my website or the link below — the ‘profits’ of which help me to keep my internet presence alive and first book available in print (and is available via various online retailers).

Attempting a new payment system as I am contemplating shutting down my site in the future (given the ever-increasing costs to keep it running). 

If you are interested in purchasing any of the 3 books individually or the trilogy, please try the link below indicating which book(s) you are purchasing. 

Costs (Canadian dollars):
Book 1: $2.99
Book 2: $3.89
Book 3: $3.89
Trilogy: $9.99

Feel free to throw in a ‘tip’ on top of the base cost if you wish; perhaps by paying in U.S. dollars instead of Canadian. Every few cents/dollars helps… 

https://paypal.me/olduvaitrilogy?country.x=CA&locale.x=en_US 

If you do not hear from me within 48 hours or you are having trouble with the system, please email me: olduvaitrilogy@gmail.com.

You can also find a variety of resources, particularly my summary notes for a handful of texts, especially William Catton’s Overshoot and Joseph Tainter’s Collapse of Complex Societies: see here.

 

The Bulletin: April 24-30, 2025

The Bulletin: April 24-30, 2025

This past week’s articles of interest…

If you’re new to my writing, check out this overview.


Killing People by Lies: The New CO2 Campaign

$10T Money Print! Fed’s New Plan Will Dwarf Bernanke Era | ZeroHedge

The Wile E. Coyote Recession

How I Unintentionally Became an Urban Farmer

Banned DDT discovered in Canadian trout decades after use, research finds | Pollution | The Guardian

The Once and Future Nuke – by Albert Bates

By Disaster or Design – by Matt Orsagh

Rights of Nature as Direct Action to Confront Unjust Systems of Power

Brace for rapid changes in the economy; the world economy is reaching Limits to Growth

The 19 richest households in America added $1 trillion in wealth last year

Pakistan Warns Of ‘Act Of War’ After India Cancels Landmark Water Treaty | ZeroHedge

Kremlin Issues Nuclear Warning Aimed At West As Ukraine Peace Efforts Stall | ZeroHedge

Told You So. Trump’s Top Adviser Just Confirmed the Reset

Bringing Back the Rains To Southern Africa

“Fragile, impermanent things”: Joseph Tainter on what makes civilizations fall – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Seeing lost winters, not just rising temperatures, shakes climate indifference

India Warned of ‘Act of War’ By Pakistan As Relations Collapse – Newsweek

India, Pakistan Trade Gunfire & Build-Up Militaries After Kashmir Terror Attack | ZeroHedge

There is No Way Out of This That Doesn’t Involve Money Printing | ZeroHedge

Major Iranian Port Paralyzed: 700 Injured, 5 Dead After Massive Explosion | ZeroHedge

“Take Control Of Their Food Supply”: Tractor Supply CEO Says Backyard Chicken Demand Skyrockets | ZeroHedge

Tensions over Kashmir and a warming planet have placed the Indus Waters Treaty on life support

Health Prepping: Seed Oils Are Poison

Energy transition: the end of an idea – by Chris Smaje

Thorium nuclear bombs and reactors have too many challenges – Peak Everything, Overshoot, & Collapse

How Much Is Enough? – Charles Hugh Smith’s Substack

Part 2: Interview With Just Collapse

Longtermism: The Key to Human Survival?

Resources and Our Future

Belligerence On ‘Energy Dominance’ Is Losing The U.S. Respect

It’s Always About the System

The CEOs of Walmart, Target, Home Depot Warn That Store Shelves All Over America Could Soon Be Empty

‘They Lied To Us About Iraq’s WMDs, But They’ve Taken It To Another Level With Ukraine…’; Hitchens | ZeroHedge

The Endlessness of a Temporary Tax – Doug Casey’s International Man

Population Control Versus Population Growth

William of Ockham and the Collapse Of Complexity: A Razor’s Edge for the End Times

Supply Chain Crisis Looms: Shortages Set to Slam Markets! | ZeroHedge

Product shortages and empty store shelves loom with falling shipments from China

How a solar storm could lead to a US nuclear disaster worse than Chernobyl | Mark Leyse | The Guardian


If you have arrived here and get something out of my writing, please consider ordering the trilogy of my ‘fictional’ novel series, Olduvai (PDF files; only $9.99 Canadian), via my website or the link below — the ‘profits’ of which help me to keep my internet presence alive and first book available in print (and is available via various online retailers).

Attempting a new payment system as I am contemplating shutting down my site in the future (given the ever-increasing costs to keep it running). 

If you are interested in purchasing any of the 3 books individually or the trilogy, please try the link below indicating which book(s) you are purchasing. 

Costs (Canadian dollars):
Book 1: $2.99
Book 2: $3.89
Book 3: $3.89
Trilogy: $9.99

Feel free to throw in a ‘tip’ on top of the base cost if you wish; perhaps by paying in U.S. dollars instead of Canadian. Every few cents/dollars helps… 

https://paypal.me/olduvaitrilogy?country.x=CA&locale.x=en_US 

If you do not hear from me within 48 hours or you are having trouble with the system, please email me: olduvaitrilogy@gmail.com.

You can also find a variety of resources, particularly my summary notes for a handful of texts, especially William Catton’s Overshoot and Joseph Tainter’s Collapse of Complex Societies: see here.

July 1, 2024 Readings

Common Household Cleaning Product Found To Release Trillions of Microplastic Fibers

Widespread floods in Bangladesh leave over 2 million people stranded – The Watchers

Neo-Nazi Junta’s F-16s Flying From NATO Countries – Great Way to Start WW3 – Global Research

Amazon Sparks Outrage with “Do Not Promote” Book Ban List Following Biden Admin Pressure

Russia promises retaliation against US for Ukraine strike on Crimea | Reuters

Massive sewage spill prompts beach closures along California’s Central Coast | KTLA

New tipping point discovered beneath the Antarctic ice sheet

What’s Our Disease?

Is Globalization Dead? Two Views, Brad Setser’s and Mine – MishTalk

You Can’t Taper a Ponzi Scheme – International Man

Inflation Keeps Coming in Waves, but Economist Can’t Even Get on their Surfboards

Yet Another Self-Reinforcing Feedback Loop Ensures the Irreversibility of Climate Change

The Big Squeeze: Inflation as a Cover for Profiteering

What happened to Canada? – Lean Out with Tara Henley

Escalating Israel-Hezbollah clashes threaten to spark regional war and force US into conflict with Iran

Norway starts stockpiling grain again, citing the pandemic, war and climate change | AP News

Sydney receives a year’s worth of rain in less than six months, entering one of its wettest winters – The Watchers

From Black Sea to US Midwest, extreme weather threatens crop output | Reuters

Ending Growth Won’t Save the Planet

A Conservative Wins in Toronto for the First Time in Over 30 Years – MishTalk

The Third World War Has Been Cancelled. – by Aurelien

Assange’s Plea: A Controversial End to a 14-Year Legal Struggle and the Impact on Free Speech

Weekend Reads: Big Media’s Big Mistake

The Collapse Is Coming. Will Humanity Adapt? – Nautilus

Delhi Police Deploys Water Cannons on Water Shortage Protesters, Netizens Respond – Thar Tribune

Climate Code Red: 1.5 degrees Celsius is here and now

The “EU Defense Line” Is The Latest Euphemism For The New Iron Curtain

Hurricane Beryl To Intensify Into “Extremely Dangerous Cat. 4” Storm | ZeroHedge

More Than 40% of U.S. EV Buyers Want To Go Back To Combustion Engine Cars, McKinsey Study Says

13 Nations Sign Agreement to Engineer Global Famine by Destroying Food Supply – News Addicts

‘Unliveable’: Delhi’s residents struggle to cope in record-breaking heat

Temperatures of more than 45C have left population of 29 million exhausted – but the poorest suffer most

As the water tanker drove into a crowded Delhi neighbourhood, a ruckus erupted. Dozens of residents ran frantically behind it, brandishing buckets, bottles and hoses, and jumped on top of it to get even a drip of what was stored inside. Temperatures that day had soared to 49C (120F), the hottest day on record – and in many places across India’s vast capital, home to more than 29 million people, water had run out.

Every morning, Tripti, a social health worker who lives in the impoverished enclave of Vivekanand Camp, is among those who has to stand under the blazing sun with buckets and pots, waiting desperately for the water tanker to arrive.

“People have to wait for two to three hours in the queue for just for the couple of buckets of water,” she said. “The increasing temperature has made it worse. As the heat is increasing, we need more water but the supply is in fact decreasing. We are suffering badly and heat is making it impossible to live.”

Mohammad Adil Khan inspects ACs at his rental shop in Delhi.
‘A matter of survival’: India’s unstoppable need for air conditioners

Delhi is no stranger to heat. Its summers always bring stiflingly hot temperatures and the rich confine themselves to their air-conditioned homes, while poor households gather beneath fans and cover themselves with wet rags.

The consensus among experts and residents is that the summer temperatures are now regularly rising far above the norm as India bears the brunt of the climate crisis. A heatwave has enveloped much of north India in May – this week temperatures consecutively rose above 45C…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How Much Of India’s Wastewater Is Left Untreated?

How Much Of India’s Wastewater Is Left Untreated?

As is the case with rapid population growth and urbanization in many so-called developing nations, waste management becomes a problem not only in rural areas but also in densely populated cities.

As Statista’s Florian Zandt details below, a textbook example of this growth outpacing infrastructural capacities is the situation in urban hotspots in India like Delhi, where a report by Euronews from May 2023 mentions neighborhoods with “open gutters […] filled with plastic and grey-colored water”. While the number of operational sewage treatment plants doubled between 2014 and 2020, the capacity for water treatment is still severely lacking.

Infographic: How Much of India's Wastewater Is Left Untreated? | Statista

You will find more infographics at Statista

According to the latest annual report by the Central Pollution Control BoardIndia generated 72.4 billion liters of wastewater per day across all provinces, with Maharashtra (9.1 billion), Uttar Pradesh (8.3 billion), Tamil Nadu (6.4 billion) and Gujarat (5.0 billion) being responsible for around 40 percent of wastewater.

The 1,093 sewage treatment plants only had operational capacities of 26.9 billion liters of wastewater per day, with around 400 plants either non-operational or under construction as of the latest available tally from 2020/2021. This translates to only 37 percent of sewage being treated, exacerbating the risks of communicable diseases and contaminated food and drinking water.

While India is seemingly hard-pressed to keep up with the amount of wastewater its population generates, measures to grant more people access to potable water and basic sanitation and hygiene were scaled up significantly in recent decades. For example, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign, translatable to Clean India, initiated in 2014 aims to eliminate open defecation by installing upwards of 100 million toilets in the country.

Nevertheless, in 2022, only 75 percent of rural Indian households had at least basic access to sanitation, while 30 percent of homes didn’t have their own washing facility with soap and water according to data from the WHO and Unicef’s Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene.

India set to face hotter heatwaves amid preparation gaps, says study

India set to face hotter heatwaves amid preparation gaps, says study

The study advocates for the expansion of mandatory regulations alongside existing action plans to tackle the challenges posed by climate change

heatwave, vendor, summers

Photo: Bloomberg
As summer arrives, India braces for the onslaught of heatwaves, despite having substantial heat action plans in place. A recent study by the World Weather Attribution group reveals significant gaps in preparedness, including underfunded plans, inadequate consideration of local contexts, insufficient targeting of vulnerable groups, and a lack of periodic evaluations.
The incidents of extreme temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in April, which affected billions of people across Asia, were intensified and made more probable by human-induced climate change, according to the rapid attribution analysis by an international team of leading climate scientists from the World Weather Attribution group.
“From Gaza to Delhi to Manila, people suffered and died when April temperatures soared in Asia,” said Friederike Otto, senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute-Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London. “If humans continue to burn fossil fuels, the climate will continue to warm, and vulnerable people will continue to die,” Otto further said.
The study advocates for the expansion of mandatory regulations alongside existing action plans to tackle the challenges posed by climate change.
“Some countries, such as India, have comprehensive heat action plans in place. Yet, to protect some of the most vulnerable people, these must be expanded with mandatory regulations. Workplace interventions for all workers to address heat stress, such as scheduled rest breaks, fixed work hours, and rest-shade-rehydrate programs (RSH), are necessary but have yet to become part of worker protection guidelines in the affected regions,” it stated.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

I Saw the Future of Europe… In India

I Saw the Future of Europe… In India

This is definitely not going to be an article what the title may suggest. At least not for those who still believe in the mainstream paradigm, according to which “everything can only get better with time”. This is also not going to be an article on the subcontinent’s culture or policies. No, this one is about something entirely different, something totally contraintuitive to the technutopist narrative.


I have an admission to make: I do enjoy browsing and watching YouTube videos without any particular goal in mind. You know, just gazing at “random” suggestions from the Home page of the application. Of course, these are neither random, nor unintended recommendations: the algorithm knows full well who I am, what I’m interested in, what type of videos I watch during the day, and what close to bedtime. Nevertheless, I still find it fun to play along, and indulge in watching some of the suggested videos from time to time. As a person involved heavily in dealing with manufacturing and supply chain issues as his daily job, I’m do interested in how stuff is made, and yes, sometimes enjoy watching complex machinery doing their work. (Yes, I’m fully aware that all of these technologies are wholly unsustainable, however that fact alone was unable to slain my fascination towards engineering ingenuity.)

I don’t know how or why, but after watching quite a number of videos featuring high tech manufacturing processes, the algorithm managed to surprise me with a few recordings on how some of the stuff is actually made in India. Let me tell you in advance, that I’ve been traveling extensively on business the past few decades, from North America to China, and saw quite interesting things in both places…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

India’s most innovative cities including Bengaluru run out of water

India’s most innovative cities including Bengaluru run out of water

Tech professionals are leaving India’s IT hub of Bengaluru amid an intensifying drought that has gripped the city as it sweats through another torrid pre-monsoon season

water

A thirsty growth engine | Photo: Bloomberg
At the time Egypt’s pyramids were being constructed, one of the cradles of global civilization grew up in the Indus Valley around the borders of Pakistan and India. Its grid-planned cities produced sewerage networks, delicate artworks and an undeciphered writing system. Then a 900-year drought emptied its urban areas and sent its population back to a simpler, poorer village life on the plains of the Ganges.
Something grimly similar is happening right now.
Tech professionals are leaving India’s IT hub of Bengaluru amid an intensifying drought that has gripped the city as it sweats through another torrid pre-monsoon season, the Deccan Herald reported this month. More than half of the wells the city depends on for groundwater have dried up after failed rains last year, leaving businesses and citizens dependent on trucked-in water tankers.
In neighbouring Kerala, which catches much of the monsoon rainfall before it reaches inland stretches of Bengaluru’s Karnataka state, a minister has even written to Bengaluru’s companies, suggesting they relocate because “water is not an issue at all” in his state, the Times of India reported.
That seems in poor taste in southern India, where fights over the distribution of river flows between parched states have gone on for decades. He’s not wrong, though. Indeed, these pressures are only going to grow as populations rise and climate change makes the cycles of drought and monsoon more pronounced.

…click on the above link to read the rest…

India Produced Record Amounts Of Electricity From Coal In October

India Produced Record Amounts Of Electricity From Coal In October

India produced a record amount of electricity from coal in October to make up for a shortfall in hydro generation following lower-than-normal monsoon rains.

Coal remains fundamental to the country’s energy security, despite rapid deployment of wind and solar generation, underscoring the challenge of reducing emissions.

Notwithstanding the ambitions expressed at the UN climate conference in Dubai, for the foreseeable future, India will depend on its mines and rail network to satisfy rapidly growing electricity demand and ensure reliability.

Total electricity demand met increased by 24 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) (+21%) in October compared with the same month a year earlier.

But hydroelectric generation fell by 5 billion kWh (-30%) as unusually low monsoon rainfall depleted water resources.

Total precipitation across most of India, the Himalayas and Tibet has been less than 80% of the long-term average since the start of the rainy season in June.

The volume of water stored in the 150 reservoirs monitored by India’s Central Water Commission was 20% below the level in 2022 and 7% below the average for 2013-2022 on November 23.

Reservoirs are managed to provide a mix of hydroelectricity and irrigation; depletion would have been even more severe if hydro generation had not been curbed to save water for agriculture.

Despite big increases in installed capacity, solar and wind generation were unable to make up the deficit. Wind increased by 0.3 billion kWh (+10%)…

…. while solar was up 1.3 billion kWh (+16%).

Instead the electricity system turned to extra gas (1.6 billion kWh, +103%) and especially coal (28 billion kWh, +33%) to meet demand.

Coal-fired generators produced a seasonal record of 111 billion kWh in October 2023 up from 84 billion kWh in October 2022.

Coal satisfied 80% of electricity demand up from 73% a year earlier, while the hydro share fell to 9% from more than 15%.

COAL REMAINS KING

India’s installed solar capacity has risen by almost 47 million kilowatts (+24% per year) while wind capacity is up by 9 million kilowatts (5% per year) since the start of 2018.

…click on the above link to read the rest…

The Dieseleuro: Europe Is Guzzling Russian Oil In The Form Of Indian Diesel Imports

The Dieseleuro: Europe Is Guzzling Russian Oil In The Form Of Indian Diesel Imports

As western politicians ever so theatrically pretend to sanction Russian oil imports (just so they can signal to their voters just how virtuous they are), especially now that the war in Ukraine is almost over with the US and Germany “pressing Kyiv to end the nearly two-year old conflict”, and have gone so far as to ‘demand’ Greek tankers no longer transport Russian oil (something which most of the Greek dark fleet is and will continue to do), the true comedy is just how hard everyone is working behind the scenes to keep the status quo in place. For a glaring example of western hypocrisy look no further than the Russia-India-Europe petrodollar or rather dieseleuro triangle, where one year after banning most oil shipments from Russia, Europe is now binging on Indian diesel…  that was made from Russian crude.

Europe’s imports of diesel from India, one of the biggest buyers of Russian crude, are on course to soar to 305,000 barrels a day, the most since at least January 2017, the latest data market-intelligence firm Kpler show.

While it’s not possible to say with certainty that the molecules originated in Russia as India also processes oil from elsewhere – although a blockchain lifecycle tracing would be most useful in this regard – Moscow’s soaring (and cheap) oil exports to India have given Indian refineries an ability to produce abundant diesel and boost both profits and exports.

According to Bloomberg, arrivals into Europe in November include a rare shipment from Mumbai-based Nayara Energy, which imported almost 60% of its crude from Russia this year, according to Kpler. Reliance Industries, Europe’s top supplier of Indian diesel, draws more than third of its crude from Russia, the figures show.

…click on the above link to read the rest…

Xi, Putin Hail First BRICS Expansion In Over A Decade As Gulf Oil Powers Join

Xi, Putin Hail First BRICS Expansion In Over A Decade As Gulf Oil Powers Join

At a moment China and Russia have envisioned the future of BRICS as fundamentally an anti-Western bloc of developing nations, the Gulf oil powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been formally invited to become members, which marks the bloc’s first expansion in over a decade.

“The membership will take effect from the first of January, 2024,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said, adding that additionally Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia and Iran will be added to the fold next year.

Brics pool photo, via NY Times

China’s President Xi Jinping hailed the rare expansion, beyond the current large economies of China, Russia, Brazil India, China and South Africa as “historic”. He said it will “inject new impetus into the BRICS cooperation mechanism and further strengthen the power of world peace and development.”

President Putin too congratulated the soon to be newest members, saying in a video message, “I would like to congratulate the new members who will work in a full-scale format next year.”

“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 leader added. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also hailed the expansion which he said will strengthen the bloc.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s statement said, “the special, strategic relations with the BRICS nations promotes common principles, most importantly the firm belief in the principle of respect for sovereignty, independence and non-interference in internal affairs.”

He vowed in words before the BRICS conference on Thursday that the kingdom will be a “secure and reliable energy provider,” and noted that total bilateral trade between Riyadh and BRICS countries exceeded $160 billion in 2022, the Saudi foreign minister said.

…click on the above link to read the rest…

BRICS Nations Developing “New Currency” as Quest for Global De-Dollarization Accelerates

BRICS Nations Developing “New Currency” as Quest for Global De-Dollarization Accelerates

China and Brazil recently finalized a trade deal in their own currencies completely bypassing the dollar, but that’s not the only bad news for the world’s reserve currency.

Last week, a Russian official announced that the BRICS nations are working to develop a “new currency,” yet another sign that dollar dominance is waning.

State Duma (the Russian legislative assembly) deputy chairman Alexander Babakov said the transition to settlements in national currencies is the first step. We’ve already seen this occur with recent oil deals between India and Russia being settled in currencies other than dollars.

The next one is to provide the circulation of digital or any other form of a fundamentally new currency in the nearest future. I think that at the BRICS [leaders’ summit], the readiness to realize this project will be announced, such works are underway.”

That summit is scheduled for August.

Babakov said the BRICS nations are developing a strategy that “does not defend the dollar or euro” and that “a single currency” would likely emerge within BRICS, pegged to gold or “other groups of products, rare-earth elements, or soil.”

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa make up the BRICS block. It accounts for about 40% of the global population and a quarter of the global GDP.

Last year, Iran officially applied to join BRICS, and according to a report by The Cradle, several nations have expressed interest in joining the bloc, including Saudi Arabia, Algeria, UAE, Egypt, Argentina, Mexico, and Nigeria.

Former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O’Neill coined the BRIC acronym. In a recent paper published by Global Policy Journal, he urged the expansion of BRICS.

“The US dollar plays a far too dominant role in global finance,” he wrote. “Whenever the Federal Reserve Board has embarked on periods of monetary tightening, or the opposite, loosening, the consequences on the value of the dollar and the knock-on effects have been dramatic.”

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Why BRI is back with a bang in 2023

Why BRI is back with a bang in 2023

As Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative enters its 10th year, a strong Sino-Russian geostrategic partnership has revitalized the BRI across the Global South.
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Photo Credit: The Cradle

The year 2022 ended with a Zoom call to end all Zoom calls: Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping discussing all aspects of the Russia-China strategic partnership in an exclusive video call.

Putin told Xi how “Russia and China managed to ensure record high growth rates of mutual trade,” meaning “we will be able to reach our target of $200 billion by 2024 ahead of schedule.”

On their coordination to “form a just world order based on international law,” Putin emphasized how “we share the same views on the causes, course, and logic of the ongoing transformation of the global geopolitical landscape.”

Facing “unprecedented pressure and provocations from the west,” Putin noted how Russia-China are not only defending their own interests “but also all those who stand for a truly democratic world order and the right of countries to freely determine their own destiny.”

Earlier, Xi had announced that Beijing will hold the 3rd Belt and Road Forum in 2023. This has been confirmed, off the record, by diplomatic sources. The forum was initially designed to be bi-annual, first held in 2017 and then 2019. 2021 didn’t happen because of Covid-19.

The return of the forum signals not only a renewed drive but an extremely significant landmark as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched in Astana and then Jakarta in 2013, will be celebrating its 10th anniversary.

BRI version 2.0

That set the tone for 2023 across the whole geopolitical and geoeconomic spectrum. In parallel to its geoconomic breadth and reach, BRI has been conceived as China’s overarching foreign policy concept up to the mid-century. Now it’s time to tweak things…

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War on Cash: India Rolling Out Retail Pilot Program for Digital Rupee

War on Cash: India Rolling Out Retail Pilot Program for Digital Rupee

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We recently reported that the Federal Reserve plans to launch a 12-week pilot program in partnership with several large commercial banks to test the feasibility of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The US isn’t alone in experimenting with digital currency. India is working on developing a digital rupee and recently announced the second phase of testing.

After successfully running a pilot program to test its digital currency at the wholesale level, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced it will test the digital rupee in a retail setting.

According to the RBI, the central bank digital currency “is a legal tender issued by a central bank in a digital form. It is the same as a fiat currency and is exchangeable one-to-one with the fiat currency. Only its form is different.”

Digital currencies are similar to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. They exist as virtual banknotes or coins held in a digital wallet on your computer or smartphone. The difference between a government digital currency and bitcoin is the value of the digital currency is backed and controlled by the state, just like traditional fiat currency.

As the RBI put it, “Unlike cryptocurrencies, a CBDC isn’t a commodity or claims on commodities or digital assets. Cryptocurrencies have no issuer. They are not money (certainly not currency) as the word has come to be understood historically.”

According to a report in the Economic Times of India, the National Payments Corporation of India will host the platform for the digital rupee payment system during the testing phase. The Reserve Bank of India wants each commercial bank in the pilot to test retail use of the digital rupee with 10,000 to 50,000 users.

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