📹Putin, Al Nahyan unveil Russia-UAE education development center

Prior to their negotiations, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his UAE counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan inaugurated the Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Center for International Cooperation in Education at the Primakov Gymnasium.

The heads of state attended an Arabic lesson for the Russian students of the center.

The Center for International Cooperation in Education with the UAE is dedicated to developing programs and courses for students and young teachers from across Russia. It also organizes Olympiads, field trips for students and educators, and hosts international scientific and practical forums for university faculty, teachers, and research center staff.

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💲 What were the milestones leading to the global dollar system’s collapse? Part 1 👉 Part 2

The 2024 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) are opening on October 21 to focus on skyrocketing global public debt, which is expected to reach $100 trillion by the end of this year. The debt, in large part, is driven by the borrowing binge of the US, where the government debt currently stands at $35.68 trillion.

Meanwhile, the US’ share of the global economy calculated using purchasing power parity has reached a historic low, plunging below 15%, Sputnik’s analysis of World Bank and IMF calculations has showed. It is expected to sag further, to reach 14.76% by the end of President Joe Biden's term.

When did US finances and the global dollar system start losing clout?

◻️ The US is estimated to have accounted for 48-52% of global GDP and about 60% of global industrial production in 1944.

◻️ America secured its economic superpower status at the end of WWII, when the international monetary system known as the Bretton Woods system was forged in July 1944. The Bretton Woods Conference officially crowned the US dollar as the global reserve currency, backed by the world’s largest gold reserves. Other currencies were pegged to the US dollar’s value.

◻️ International rules for foreign trade were laid out in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947. In 1995, the agreement was transformed into the WTO. The US wielded these “tools” to secure geopolitical influence across Europe and Japan. Eastern Europe, the USSR, and China remained outside the zone of American expansion.

◻️ Under the Marshall Plan, the US provided money, chiefly in the form of grants, to rebuild war-ravaged European economies. At the same time, it funneled lucrative orders to American companies, stimulating its own economy while solidifying its influence over Western Europe's economic systems. US gross national product rose from about $200 billion in 1940 to more than $500 billion in 1960.

👉 Part 2

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💲 What were the milestones leading to the global dollar system’s collapse? Part 2 👉 Part 1

◻️ The US had exhausted its wave of growth by the end of the 1960s, after it got mired in the Vietnam War in an effort to scoop up another lucrative market. The US economy was scathed by its Vietnam debacle, as war spending by the end of the 1960s had led to rampant inflation and a swelling trade deficit.

◻️ In 1971, the gold standard was officially abandoned by the US, with countries forced to use the most common fiat currency system, not backed by any physical commodity.

◻️ The 1973 Arab-Israeli War ultimately led to an oil boycott by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that pushed energy prices upward. Inflation soared, federal budget deficits grew, and the stock market sagged. The US entered a period of "stagflation" (inflation and stagnant business activity). The government resorted to greater borrowing, which in turn pushed up interest rates and increased costs.

◻️ The economic policy of then-President Ronald Reagan – Reaganomics – was implemented in the 1980s to revitalize the crisis-mired economy with reduced government spending, slashed taxes, less regulation, and a slowdown of money supply growth to control inflation. In effect, reliance on unlimited and unrecoverable loans ignited a period of economic growth that lasted until the early 1990s. Under Reagan, the massive federal budget deficit increased from $834 billion in 1980 to $1.5 trillion in 1986.

◻️ During the Great Recession in 2007-2009, when the US housing bubble burst and large amounts of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and derivatives plummeted in value, domestic product declined 4.3%.

◻️ The first alarm bell for the global dollar system rang in 2014, when the West imposed sanctions against Russia after Crimea rejoined the country following a referendum. While Russia displayed resilience, global GDP fell by $4.23 trillion (5.35%) – more than during the 2008 crisis.

◻️ Quarantines and supply chain disruptions in the COVID-19 pandemic year of 2020 cost the global economy another $3.7 trillion (4.2% of global GDP).

◻️ The global trend to abandon the increasingly weaponized US dollar has been gaining steam amid sanctions targeting Russia, Iran, North Korea, China, and companies in other countries cooperating with Russia. The trend is led by members of BRICS, with the group developing a new currency transaction platform to advance the digitalization trend and transition to other currencies in mutual settlements.

👉 Part 1

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State Dept's Crusade Against Rybar Affirms Popularity of Warblog's Approach, Says Founder

The State Department’s offer of a reward up to $10 mln for info “leading to the identification or location” of foreign nationals connected to Rybar under its ‘Rewards for Justice’ program is “a measure of success” for the explosively popular milblog, Rybar founder Mikhail Zvinchuk has told Sputnik.

Highlighting his initial “surprise” at the State Department program’s use against Rybar, since its self-proclaimed aims revolve around the search for suspected terrorists, Zvinchuk suggested the move may be an effort by the State Department to stamp out Rybar’s fledgling presence in the US, “because they understand that if we’ve managed to organize our work in Europe, Ukraine and other countries well – if we touch the US – which we don’t really even care about, perhaps the US will face some difficulties. Seeing us as a potential threat, they’ve decided to be proactive.”

“Rybar set the task for itself of providing high-quality coverage of issues in the information space, primarily concerning geopolitical challenges facing Russia, as well as quality coverage of crisis-stricken regions of the world. Since both the Americans and the British have had a hand igniting these crises, and we engage in the systematic monitoring of what is happening around Russia…it’s likely that the reason [for the listing] was the high-quality processing of information by our analytical team, by our analytical center, of these threats.” This, in turn, “prompts our government and relevant structures to respond to these threats in a timely manner,” Zvinchuk said.

The State Department’s “primary goal is to simply blame the talented Russian team for its own failures and blunders during the election campaign...What can they do in this situation? They can’t say that their own political and media strategists aren’t doing their jobs, so they blame everything on the Russians,” Zvinchuk summed up.

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Key statements made by Russian presidential aide on international affairs Yuri Ushakov ahead of the BRICS summit in Kazan:

▪️ On October 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with China’s Xi Jinping, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, India’s Narendra Modi, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa and New Development Bank president Dilma Rousseff.

▪️ On October 23, Putin will have talks in Kazan with the presidents of Iran and Turkiye.

▪️ On October 24, Putin will hold seven bilateral meetings, including with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

▪️ Following the BRICS summit in Kazan, Putin will hold a press conference.

▪️ 36 countries will be represented at the BRICS summit, with 22 at the highest level, along with leaders from six international organizations.

▪️ The leaders will discuss the mechanism for granting BRICS partner status as a preparatory stage for countries aspiring to full membership.

▪️ At the BRICS+ meeting, leaders will discuss issues of food and energy security, with special attention to the Middle East.

▪️ Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel was forced to miss the BRICS summit in Kazan due to the energy crisis in his country.

▪️ Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, will return to Abu Dhabi after talks with Putin and then head to the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 23.

▪️ Many countries are interested in joining BRICS as full members, but the decision will rest with the bloc's leaders.

▪️ It is possible that Putin will meet with Milorad Dodik, head of the Republika Srpska canton of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Kazan.

▪️ The absence of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic from the summit is explained by long-planned events in the Serbian leader’s schedule.

▪️ Russia and Iran will soon finalize dates for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visit to Moscow, when an updated treaty will be signed.

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Organizers of the 2024 BRICS summit in Kazan have projected a light show on the walls of the Kazan Kremlin.

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Analyst says ‘unrealistic’ to hope Lebanon 'as a state' will accept US-Israeli security demands

It’s “unrealistic” today to hope that Lebanon “as a state” would accept US-Israeli demands to create a security belt in its southern border area, Rome-based Senior Analyst Dr Lorenzo Trombetta told Sputnik.

“Not in these terms. Lebanon won't accept,” he said. However, the UN Consultant on the Middle East reminded that Lebanon is led by a “composite consensus elites including Hezbollah.”

When acting Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and other political sectarian leaders discuss the Israeli demands with US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut, “each one of them is negotiating on two different aspects,” he explained.

“The first one is the institution, the state. Lebanon as a state, of course, won't agree to the idea that Israel, through the Resolution 1701, will create a security belt in south Lebanon to protect northern Galilee,” Trombetta said.

“But if we consider the governance context, Mikati, for instance, is a very influential financial representative … more tied to European and US agendas,” noted the expert.

“Berri himself is a tactical ally of Hezbollah,” he said, which is why the politician is “looking at what's happening on the ground in the south.”

According to Trombetta, Berri would likely “refuse the Israeli demands that are unrealistic, but will be open to discuss a new Lebanon without Hezbollah in the future.”

“So, the state would refuse the Israeli demands, but of course Berri and Mikati are very in line with the idea of negotiation […] because the Lebanon of tomorrow could be the Lebanon of Mikati and Berri themselves.”

While Hezbollah is not outside of the discussion, after the killing of Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah Berri and Mikati are “experiencing a wider space of maneuver,” he said.

As for Israel, it is politically important to “push for its strategic objective to acquire the water energy resources of the Litani and the Awali rivers and to expand as much as possible their influence under direct control in south Lebanon, not only for securing peace in Galilee, as they say, but also to have a better influence beyond their actual border,” Trombetta underscored.

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The White House is deeply concerned about leaks of classified information, National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said on Monday, in the wake of an unauthorized release of documents about Israel's plans to attack Iran.

"We are deeply concerned, and the president remains deeply concerned about any leakage of classified information into the public domain, that that is not supposed to happen, and it's unacceptable when it does," Kirby told reporters.

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🛰 Roscosmos Monitors Unidentified Objects Near US Telecoms Satellite

Russian space agency Roscosmos announced via its official Telegram channel that it is closely monitoring the appearance of unidentified objects near the US Intelsat-33e satellite.

On October 20, approximately 20 unidentified space objects were detected in the satellite's orbital plane, with specialists determining that they likely appeared on October 19.

Roscosmos experts are gathering precise data to refine the orbital paths of the unidentified objects. The closest Russian satellites to Intelsat-33e, including "Express-AT1", "Yamal-402", "Express-AM6" and the meteorological satellite "Electro-L", are under assessment for potential risks. The objects will be factored into calculations of potential collision risks with Russian satellites.

The Intelsat-33e satellite, launched on August 25 2016, by an Ariane-5 rocket from the Guiana Space Center, provides telecommunications services across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.

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The Russian Embassy in Sudan says it is in contact with authorities and is verifying reports that a transport plane with Russian citizens aboard crashed, the diplomatic mission stated.

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Dollar’s diktat will prove its downfall once emerging powers unite – analyst

💬 “Countries are seeking ways and means of conducting trade and business outside the US-dominated financial architecture, because they are fed up with the US dictating terms to multiple countries, especially by preventing countries from doing business with countries under US sanctions,” academic Chintamani Mahapatra told Sputnik, commenting on the implications of the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank Group, which began Monday.

“Countries are seeking ways and means of conducting trade and business outside the US-dominated financial architecture, because they are fed up with the US dictating terms to multiple countries, especially by preventing countries from doing business with countries under US sanctions,” academic Chintamani Mahapatra told Sputnik, commenting on the implications of the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank Group, which began Monday.

“There is no option for third countries” at the moment “to conduct business with countries under US sanctions, even if they do not support US sanctions,” Mahapatra stressed, pointing out that the Chinese yuan has a way to go before it can “emerge as a credible international currency,” and that US-led institutions like the IMF, World Bank and WTO will be sure to do their best to “ensure that the US and its allies maintain their dominance in the global financial ecosystem.”

“The combined West will try not to allow an alternative system from rising. And the non-West is hardly united. Countries have complex interdependence,” the observer said. “Thus, one cannot write the obituary of the dollar dominated system at the moment. Other economies have to improve to a point where the relative US domination declines further, and in that case the alternative system will easily emerge.”

“The first step should be to attempt to create an alternative financial system for global trade, so that the payment system can be other than the current financial architecture dominated by the United States. However, de-dollarization is not easy. The emerging economies will have to resolve their bilateral political and security differences before seeking to create a de-dollarized order based on non-discrimination, equity and justness,” Mahapatra emphasized.

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🇮🇱🇱🇧 The Israeli Air Force will launch new strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon – including in Beirut – in the coming hours, an Israeli army spokesperson announced.

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The IDF has confirmed an airstrike in Syrian Damascus targeting the newly appointed commander of a Hezbollah unit responsible for supplying arms and money from Iran to Lebanon.

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Video has appeared on social media, reportedly from the site of a transport plane crash in Sudan. Russian citizens are claimed to have been among the crew.

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◻️ BRICS Summit in Russia’s Kazan: What’s on Agenda?

◻️ Pepe Escobar: Date with destiny - BRICS offer hope in a time of war

◻️ Putin's Schedule for the 2024 BRICS Summit in Kazan

◻️ Analyst says ‘unrealistic’ to hope Lebanon 'as a state' will accept US-Israeli security demands

◻️ What were the milestones leading to the global dollar system’s collapse?

◻️ Dollar’s diktat will prove its downfall once emerging powers unite – analyst

◻️ State Dept's Crusade Against Rybar Affirms Popularity of Warblog's Approach, Says Founder

◻️ Discover the aircraft used by BRICS leaders and high-level officials for the Kazan summit

◻️ Roscosmos Monitors Unidentified Objects Near US Telecoms Satellite

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🌍🌍🌍 How much of the world’s gold reserves are held by BRICS nations?

Over 20 percent of the world's gold reserves are held by BRICS countries, with Russia and China leading the field, according to Sputnik’s calculations based on World Gold Council data.

As of the second quarter of 2024, global gold reserves totaled 29,030 tons, with BRICS (excluding Iran and Ethiopia) holding 6,200 tons, or 21.4 percent of the world's total. Russia leads within BRICS with 2,340 tons or 8.1 percent of the world's gold, followed by China with 2,260 tons (7.8 percent).

Other BRICS members—India, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Egypt, South Africa, and the UAE—hold smaller shares, collectively less than 3 percent of global reserves. India has 840.76 tons, Saudi Arabia 323 tons, Brazil 129.7 tons, Egypt 126.57 tons, South Africa 125.44 tons and the UAE 74.5 tons.

📊 Check Sputnik's infographics to find out more

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