The Russia-China Plan For North Korea: Stability & Connectivity

Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,

Moscow has been busy building agreements that would extend Eurasian connectivity eastward. The question is how to convince the DPRK to play along...

Chinese President Xi Jinping (centre) and his wife Peng Liyuan welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of a banquet dinner during the BRICS Summit in Xiamen, Fujian province, on September 4, 2017

The United Nations Security Council’s 15-0 vote to impose a new set of sanctions on North Korea somewhat disguises the critical role played by the Russia-China strategic partnership, the “RC” at the core of the BRICS group.

The new sanctions are pretty harsh. They include a 30% reduction on crude and refined oil exports to the DPRK; a ban on exports of natural gas; a ban on all North Korean textile exports (which have brought in US$760 million on average over the past three years); and a worldwide ban on new work permits for DPRK citizens (there are over 90,000 currently working abroad.)

But this is far from what US President Donald Trump’s administration was aiming at, according to the draft Security Council resolution leaked last week. That included an asset freeze and travel ban on Kim Jong-un and other designated DPRK officials, and covered additional “WMD-related items,” Iraqi sanctions-style. It also authorized UN member states to interdict and inspect North Korean vessels in international waters (which amounts to a declaration of war); and, last but not least, a total oil embargo.

“RC” made it clear it would veto the resolution under these terms. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the US’ diminishing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Moscow would only accept language related to “political and diplomatic tools to seek peaceful ways of resolution.” On the oil embargo, President Vladimir Putin said, “cutting off the oil supply to North Korea may harm people in hospitals or other ordinary citizens.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Photo: Reuters

“RC” priorities are clear: “stability” in Pyongyang; no regime change; no drastic alteration of the geopolitical chessboard; no massive refugee crisis.

That does not preclude Beijing from applying pressure on Pyongyang. Branch offices of the Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China in the northeastern border city of Yanji have banned DPRK citizens from opening new accounts. Current accounts are not frozen yet, but deposits and remittances have been suspended.

To get to the heart of the matter, though, we need to examine what happened last week at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok – which happens to be only a little over 300 km away from the DPRK’s Punggye-ri missile test site.

It’s all about the Trans-Korean Railway

In sharp contrast to the Trump administration and the Beltway’s bellicose rhetoric, what “RC” proposes are essentially 5+1 talks (North Korea, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea, plus the US) on neutral territory, as confirmed by Russian diplomats. In Vladivostok, Putin went out of his way to defuse military hysteria and warn that stepping beyond sanctions would be an “invitation to the graveyard.” Instead, he proposed business deals.

Largely unreported by Western corporate media, what happened in Vladivostok is really ground-breaking. Moscow and Seoul agreed on a trilateral trade platform, crucially involving Pyongyang, to ultimately invest in connectivity between the whole Korean peninsula and the Russian Far East.

South Korean Prime Minister Moon Jae-in proposed to Moscow to build no less than “nine bridges” of cooperation: “Nine bridges mean the bridges of gas, railways, the Northern Sea Route, shipbuilding, the creation of working groups, agriculture and other types of cooperation.”

Crucially, Moon added that the trilateral cooperation would aim at joint projects in the Russian Far East. He knows that “the development of that area will promote the prosperity of our two countries and will also help change North Korea and create the basis for the implementation of the trilateral agreements.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in visit the Far East Street exhibition at Russky Island in Vladivostok. Photo: Sputnik / Mikhail Klimentyev

Adding to the entente, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha both stressed “strategic cooperation” with “RC”.

Geo-economics complements geo-politics. Moscow has also approached Tokyo with the idea of building a bridge between the nations. That would physically link Japan to Eurasia – and the vast trade and investment carousel offered by the New Silk Roads, aka, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU). It would also complement the daring plan to link a Trans-Korean Railway to the Trans-Siberian one.

Seoul wants a rail network that will physically connect it with the vast Eurasian land bridge, which makes perfect business sense for the fifth largest export economy in the world. Handicapped by North Korea’s isolation, South Korea is in effect cut off from Eurasia by land. The answer is the Trans-Korean Railway.

Moscow is very much for it, with Putin noting how “we could deliver Russian pipeline gas to Korea and integrate the power lines and railway systems of Russia, the Republic of Korea and North Korea. The implementation of these initiatives will be not only economically beneficial, but will also help build up trust and stability on the Korean Peninsula.”

Moscow’s strategy, like Beijing’s, is connectivity: the only way to integrate Pyongyang is to keep it involved in economic cooperation via the Trans-Korean-Trans-Siberian connection, pipelines and the development of North Korean ports.

The DPRK’s delegation in Vladivostok seemed to agree. But not yet. According to North Korea’s Minister for External Economic Affairs, Kim Yong Jae: “We are not opposed to the trilateral cooperation [with Russia and South Korea], but this is not an appropriate situation for this to be implemented.” That implies that for the DPRK the priority is the 5+1 negotiation table.

Still, the crucial point is that both Seoul and Pyongyang went to Vladivostok, and talked to Moscow. Arguably the key question – the armistice that did not end the Korean War – has to be broached by Putin and the Koreans, without the Americans.

While the sanctions game ebb and flows, the larger strategy of “RC” is clear – a drive aimed at Eurasian connectivity. The question is how to convince the DPRK to play along.

The Real Reason The Federal Government Have Been Keen to Blame Russia for Everything

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Posted with permission and written by Rory Hall of the Daily Coin (CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL)

How would you feel if you had planned a gathering of your closest family and friends and your list of invites grows to include some 185 guests. You also invited your known trouble-making cousin. Your cousin shows up drunk, armed and belligerent. He begins harassing a good portion of the guests, smashes some of your prized possessions and then, as an added bonus, he shoots and kills 12 of your guests.

As your cousin is leaving the gathering, he takes your wallet and your wife’s purse. He also goes in your bedroom, opens your safe and removes all your gold and silver. Your cousin now has all your credit and debit cards and all the cash you had on hand. You can not conduct business in any manner. You can’t even pay the caterer for their services.

If this sounds like a horrific story, you’re right - it is. The drunken cousin is a metaphor for how the U.S. has been acting for the past several years and how it has treated countries around the world. Do you suppose some of these nations are more than a little tired of being treated in this manner? Do you suppose that instead of acting as this oppressive “cousin” acts that some of these countries would find it better to simply develop a way to leave the “gathering” in a peaceful manner and get on with their own business?

As we reported on March 30, China and Russia are taking steps to move away from their out of control “cousin”, the Federal Reserve Note, U.S. dollar, world reserve currency.

We learned in March 2016 that Kazakistan had been in formal talks with the Shanghai Gold Exchange regarding gold as currency along the New Silk Road (One Belt One Road) spearheaded by China. Kazakistan also smelts most of Russia’s gold and mines a small amount gold annually and is a member of both the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Eurasia Economic Union (EEU).

Then, in October of 2016 we continued covering how China had been working directly with the IMF to get the yuan/renminbi currency added to the SDR basket of currencies for global trade. That now appears to be a cover story for what lay ahead. With the renminbi now a global currency that changes how the renminbi functions within the currency markets and in global trade negotiations.

For the better part of the past year it has seemed as if the mainstream media, with talking points from the federal government, had been 100% obsessed with “Russia did it!!” “It” could be anything as the story has morphed so many times it’s hard to keep track. The “it” is not near as important as the cheerleading by the MSM to remind the public Russia is to blame!

The Russian obsession has, for the past several months, been running along side a new “enemy” – China. China and the South China Sea has been another point of beating war drums for the mainstream media. We now have two new enemies outside of Syrian President Assad, Iran, Iraq, Libya and whoever else we feel we need to bully. The whole list of enemies continues to grow even though there are exactly zero threats to the U.S. from any of these countries.

China began working their CIPS system, global trade settlement system, in October 2016, the same time the renminbi joined the SDR basket, allowing China to conduct global trade outside the U.S. owned and operated SWIFT system. Both systems are used to settle global trade transactions and the SWIFT system has been geared to the Federal Reserve Note – U.S. dollar – while the CIPS system is geared to the Chinese renminbi.

China International Payment System (CIPS) was launched last October [2015] and is now entering into the second phase of its implementation. Phase Two will allow for a further widening of the trading band between the RMB and USD, which will in turn give the Federal Reserve additional room to raise rates. I predicted almost two years ago that CIPS would not overthrow or compete with the USD dominated SWIFT. I suggested that both platforms would share a base code and would work together to transform the monetary framework. That is exactly what is happening.

China strategically stated their gold reserves for the first time in 6 years in the lead up to the SDR announcement last year. This exact strategic announcement by China was predicted here on POM. Source

Enter Russia and their global trade settlement system based in Russian rubles. It is not quite ready for prime time, but not to worry, they are working around the clock to put the final pieces in place. Within the past two weeks Russia announced to the world where the system is, specifically, along with what is already in place.

“There were threats that we can be disconnected from SWIFT. We have finished working on our own payment system, and if something happens, all operations in SWIFT format will work inside the country. We have created an alternative,” Nabiullina said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

She also added that 90 percent of ATMs in Russia are ready to accept the Mir payment system, a domestic version of Visa and MasterCard.
Source

The picture should be getting a little clearer as to why Russia and, now China, has become the absolute “enemy” and must made into a monster by the mainstream media who are utilizing the warmongers talking points coming out of the back hallways of the federal government. Odds are the people occupying the back hallways of the Federal Reserve are also providing guidance to the mainstream media in just how to keep the “Russian enemy” in front of the American people. If it’s not about the reserve currency, Federal Reserve Note, U.S. dollar, then explain this:

One of the most significant measures under consideration is the previously reported push for joint organization of trade in gold. In recent years, China and Russia have been the world’s most active buyers of the precious metal. On a visit to China last year, the deputy head of the Russian Central Bank Sergey Shvetsov said that the two countries want to facilitate more transactions in gold between the two countries.

“We discussed the question of trade in gold. BRICS countries are large economies with large reserves of gold and an impressive volume of production and consumption of this precious metal. In China, the gold trade is conducted in Shanghai, in Russia it is in Moscow. Our idea is to create a link between the two cities in order to increase trade between the two markets,” First Deputy Governor of the Russian Central Bank Sergey Shvetsov told Russia’s TASS news agency. Source

Let’s take a look at the next step. Now that Russia and China have systems to conduct global trade outside of the Federal Reserve Note, U.S. dollar, both nations can make decisions that benefit their countries, and benefit their business interest, without fear their currencies will be disabled like what happened to Iran in March 2012. Iran was only reconnected to the SWIFT system in February 2017. Having another nation control your currency is a can be devastating. Iran learned the hard way and both Russia and China now have the capability to keep all currencies functioning both internally and globally, outside the SWIFT, U.S. dollar system.

Just last week we learned the BRICS nations are discussing the development of a “gold marketplace”.

Future plans to facilitate transactions between Moscow and Beijing in gold would certainly explain why the two countries are leading gold producers and buyers.

Creating a BRICS “gold marketplace” would be an excellent way of bypassing the dollar while also using a “currency” that could be easily recycled for trade with other member nations.

And while trading in gold won’t happen overnight, BRICS states have already moved towards creating a “new financial architecture” that “tackles the dominance of the U.S. dollar in global finance”:

The initiatives taken by the member nations of BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) to set up a new financial architecture at its eighth summit held in October 2016 in India have recently been under the spotlight. In order to avoid the International Monetary Fund (IMF) type of loan conditionalities and tackle the dominance of the United States (US) dollar in global finance, the new institutions set up by the BRICs are expected to provide a much needed change in the global financial architecture. These institutions include the New Development Bank (NDB), the BRICS-led Contingency Reserve Fund (CRF), and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
Source

The Federal Reserve Note, U.S. dollar, has enjoyed a good long run as the world reserve currency. The Federal Reserve, their member banks and the U.S. federal government have stolen from nations around the world, 185 in total. The Federal Reserve, through the world reserve currency status, has been able to push inflation out of the U.S. economy and onto other nations. China and Russia, along with the member nations of the SCO, EEU and BRICS are in the final stages of moving completely away from the Federal Reserve Note, which is quickly becoming useless on the global stage.

China is already using a gold currency. $14.5 Million worth of gold currency was used in transactions during the 2017 Chinese Lunar New Year across the “we chat” platform. This is not a gold backed currency, this is a gold currency.

While these nations continue acquiring ton upon ton of gold, the U.S. continues to acquire billions upon billions in debt. Which scenario is more sustainable? As these nations continue to build out their trading systems, to circumvent the world reserve currency, how will the U.S. contend with this new reality? The U.S. government is currently acting like the drunken cousin described above.

Why would BRICS nations, who are responsible for a significant portion of global GDP, continue to accept how the U.S. has treated them? The belligerence coming out of the White House and Pentagon, by way of NATO, has created a global divide. The U.S. is broke and can not pay back the owed debt. We can only bully other nations, steal their gold and bomb those that do not fall into line. Russia and China are large enough, wealthy enough and strong enough, militarily, to stand up to the U.S. They have been quietly going about their business – conducting business – while the U.S. has continually conducted war with anyone and everyone. The U.S. has now set it’s sights on these two power house nations. These nations are not Syria, Libya, Iraq or any of the other tiny nations these warmongers have bullied. This time it will be different and the golden rule still applies – he who has the gold makes the rules. China and Russia have the gold, the U.S. has debt.

Questions or comments about this article? Leave your thoughts HERE.

Posted with permission and written by Rory Hall of the Daily Coin (CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL)

Relax, Global Citizen; The CIA Is Benign & Benevolent

Authored by Pepe Escobar via Asia Times,

The massive WikiLeaks Vault 7 release is an extremely important public service. It’s hard to find anyone not concerned by a secret CIA hacking program targeting virtually the whole planet – using malware capable of bypassing encryption protection on any device from iOS to Android, and from Windows to Samsung TVs.

In a series of tweets, Edward Snowden confirmed the CIA program and said code names in the documents are real; that they could only be known by a “cleared insider;” the FBI and CIA knew all about the digital loopholes, but kept them open to spy; and that the leaks provided the “first public evidence” that the US government secretly paid to keep US software unsafe.

If that’s not serious enough, WikiLeaks alleges that “the CIA has lost control of the majority of its hacking arsenal;” several hundred million lines of code — more than what is used to run Facebook.

Someone among the former US government hackers and contractors ended up leaking portions of the CIA archive (Snowden II?). WikiLeaks also stressed how the CIA had created, in effect, its “own NSA” – maximum unaccountability included.

Even though millions already knew – without the technical details – that they were being spied upon by their iPhone or their 4K Samsung, the Vault 7 revelations are far more relevant – and practical – to the average citizen than the 24/7 hysteria fingering President Trump as a Putin puppet. Intel sources are volunteering the – still unexplored – Vault 7 treasure trove is more crucial than what Snowden himself revealed.

And still, vast corporate media sectors embedded with the neocon/neoliberal galaxy are spinning that Vault 7 benefits Trump by changing the subject from alleged Russian hacking interference in the US elections and possible Obama administration-ordered hacks of Team Trump’s communications.

So, if anyone hasn’t got the message, the song remains the same.

• WikiLeaks + Snowden + Russia + Trump = the bad guys.


• CIA deploying its own NSA around the world = the good guys.

After all, CIA spokesman Jonathan Liu duly issued a non-denial denial.

Loony mainstream factions are even advancing that “the Russians” leaked the CIA info to WikiLeaks, thus fueling more suspicion that Russia will interfere in upcoming French and German elections.

May I have an Orwellian iPhone, please?

As we’re mired deep in an Orwellian total screen environment, already conceptualized by Baudrillard in the go-go 1980s, nothing so trivial as the technical proof we’re all being spied upon could alter the (im)balance. The US is already ravaged by a vicious sociopolitical war – and no “threat” to established narratives allows for nuance.

The implication is that, as it stands, there won’t be a US-Russia reset anytime soon – despite hosting invitations from Iceland, Finland or Slovenia; the neocon/neoliberal galaxy nestled in powerful deep state factions will do their best to deny it.

It hardly matters that Trump absolutely does not want war: his entire domestic US economy remix could not possibly allow it. The Pentagon now is essentially an extended special ops unit: it cannot possibly fight a land war (Iran? North Korea? Ukraine?)

Russia, on the other hand, would be ready for war if needs be. The S-500 missile defense system is being deployed: some analysts (not the Ministry of Defense) are sure it’s already protecting the whole Russian landmass. China, by 2021, will have more than 1,000 very mobile warheads, or hidden in those submarines lounging in Hainan. By that time, both Iran and Pakistan will be deep into a strategic defense network with Russia-China, via the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, shielded with their own S-400 and S-500 systems.

Putin is not playing chess. He’s playing Go — and if we look at the board, reality is indeed painful.

Moscow is all but deciding the practical future of Syria, in Astana. Russia virtually wrote the Minsk II agreements, routinely broken by Kiev. Crimea as part of Russia is a fait accompli. Novorossiya for all practical purposes is already a totally autonomous region, with the economy working in rubles. Erdogan owes his imminent regime change in reverse – a presidential sultanate? – to Putin, as Russia warned him about the military coup hours in advance, according to several Russian media sources. Moscow protected Iran’s energy industry during the hardcore OPEC negotiations. Putin all but designed the Russia-China strategic partnership.

Beijing has managed to convince Moscow that One Belt, One Road and the Eurasia Economic Union should be connected, merged and tackled as a win-win Eurasia integration process. If Russia eventually loses economic preeminence across the Central Asian “stans,” it maintains its paramount military/security status.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov never ceases to stress that “our relations with China are at their best level ever in our two countries’ history.”

Add to it a geo-economic gambit; hints of key factions of European business elites getting ready to hitch themselves to China’s growing – slowly but surely – monetary/financial clout, linked to Beijing’s imperative of preventing a collapse of global supply chains. Xi Jinping’s “inclusive globalization,” announced in Davos, sounds more and more like a reality in the making.

In contrast to reality, where China-Russia expand their strategies without exceptionalist illusions, 24/7 neocon/neoliberal hysteria offers a constant barrage of childish, pathetic eruptions. As the self-delusion school of foreign policy refuses to admit Moscow will not sell out China and Iran for a deal with Washington, the last refuge of the scoundrels is cognitive dissonance; fear of Russia incited to cold war 2.0 heights.

So, relax, global citizen; the CIA is benign and benevolent, even when they’re watching you. You have nothing to fear but fear itself – and its name is Russia.