The truth about BRICS and multipolarity
OK, I hate to be negative, or to sort of dampen the collective enthusiasm people have these days about the emerging (alleged) multipolarity in the world; but I think we may need a bit of a reality check.
What we are seeing with the BRICS project, with multiple countries applying or interested to join the bloc, and the talk about creating an alternative currency for trade between BRICS members, and so on; I think we need to realize that this is not a phenomenon that is ambushing the US or the West.
Many regular people may not be aware of this, though it is not by any means secret information; but both the concept of BRICS and the term, were launched by Goldman Sachs over 20 years ago. A man named Jim O’Neil was the chief of Goldman Sachs back in 2001, and he coined the term BRICS, somewhat arbitrarily grouping Brazil, Russia, India, China, and later South Africa; and he predicted — largely because of demographics — that these economies would grow and overtake the G7 in importance within the next 40 years. He believed that globalization could not sustainably continue to be American-dominated because, basically, it is just too politically messy, and too blatantly imperialistic. Goldman Sachs created the idea of BRICS, they marketed it as a brand, so much so that they even tried to trademark the word BRICS. Investment firms across the US and Europe bought the marketing. BRICS investment funds popped up all over the place, and gradually, the governments of the BRICS nations themselves actually created a bloc. This is a grouping that was willed into being by investors, by Goldman Sachs, by the private sector — driven by a belief which, if we understand it properly, was that global business had to free itself from American and Western-centricity. The owners and controllers of global financialized capital outgrew the confines of patriotism, company logos replaced national flags.
This project has been decades in the making, this shift has been planned for nearly half my lifetime; and it has been planned by the global financial elite. Now, that same Jim O’Neil is urging BRICS to create their own currency. He is retired, but that is the voice of Goldman Sachs. No one who matters is hostile to de-dollarization. This is what I have been saying for months now. Moving away from the dollar is just part of the shift in the global economy being driven by the owners and controllers of global financialized capital. The destabilization of Europe is also part of that shift. Over 130 billion euros of direct investment have exited Germany over the past year, with only 10 billion coming in. Corporate bankruptcies in Germany are at record levels. The manufacturing heart of Europe is de-industrializing. And this is because the OCGFC have determined that Europe does not hold any significant promise in the future of the world economy — meaning, they do not see sustainable profitability for themselves in Europe. And the cold hard reality is, they are not wrong. But the colder, and harder reality, is that they, not the governments of Europe, get to decide that this means Europe, and the people of the West are superfluous; because your value is determined entirely by your utility to the owners and controllers of global financialized capital.
Consider this; Europe’s demographic collapse means that the only potential remedy is to ramp up immigration. Well, depending on which country we are talking about, between 40% to 60% of non-European immigrants into the EU are unskilled. That doesn’t actually help you that much, but in a way it represents, instead of a knowledge transfer, an ignorance transfer from the Global South to Europe. Removing unskilled, unqualified, people from the economies the OCGFC want to focus on developing. Unburdening them of their own superfluous citizens. And, of course, the presence of immigrants also allows native Europeans to direct their hostility over their own redundance towards foreigners; and conflict ensues. The OCGFC regard you all as insignificant, and if Europe turns into a giant cage fight between all the white, black, and brown superfluous people, that’s fine. That can turn a profit.
Now, I should also mention that around 10 years ago, BlackRock was promoting investment in emerging markets outside of BRICS, particularly Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. Look at those countries today. Muhammad bin Salman didn’t predict that the Middle East would be the new Europe for nothing. He consults with Goldman Sachs, he consults with BlackRock; BlackRock controls a subsidiary of Aramco.
So, the point is, none of this is unsettling, none of it is surprising, none of it is catching the West or America off guard. And none of this represents the emergence of real multipolarity. It is a logical, if heartless, capitalistically natural transition, largely influenced by demographic trends and by the fact that the West allowed the development of a parallel power structure in the private sector that inevitably surpassed state power, and outgrew nationalism.
This is why I do not believe that de-dollarization will be meaningfully fought by the US, nor will we be likely to see imperialistic wars and occupations of the BRICS nations by the United States. Private sector power has already conquered the US, their armed forces will likely be used more to occupy their own country than any other, to suppress the increasingly dispossessed population.
Think about the fact that the anti-Russian sanctions have actually benefited Russia financially, and not only Russia, India, China, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and others. FDI into Brazil, for instance is at its highest level since 2015. FDI into South Africa roughly doubled since the start of the Ukraine war. Ukraine has basically been a hinge pivoting the global economy to the East and to the South.
Now, don’t get me wrong; I am not saying that this shift would not have happened without Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs, and the OCGFC simply saw the writing on the wall, and took action. They did not cause the demographic collapse of Europe, but they were astute enough to anticipate it, and come up with a plan B; and in this case, that “B” stands for BRICS.
