The Ukraine Conflict Is Just a Sideshow, and We Are the Real Targets

Guest Post by Brandon Smith

Way back in 2014 I wrote an article titled False East/West Paradigm Hides the Rise of Global Currency. I was inspired to cover the issue due to three specific trends which at the time were concerning.

The first trend was the increased mention within globalist circles of something called the “Great Reset.” Christine Lagarde who, as the head of the IMF at the time, was suddenly throwing the phrase around in press interviews and in Q&A events at the World Economic Forum. This appeared to me to be a rebranding of the “New World Order” agenda which establishment elites had been known to mutter about in moments of rare honesty. It indicated a concerted push towards global centralization in the face of economic and social decline within nations.

The second trend which I noted was the shift of Eastern nations into a more open partnership with global banks, including the IMF’s inclusion of China in the Special Drawing Rights basket system, and in the case of Russia, Goldman Sachs becoming deeply entrenched as an “economic adviser” to the Kremlin.

The third trend was the inexplicable rush by both Chinese and Russian central banks to buy up as much physical gold as possible. To my mind, the only reason for China and Russia to buy up precious metals was as a hedge against inflation and currency collapse; specifically, as a hedge against the collapse of the U.S. dollar as the world reserve currency. This could be precipitated by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations and others dropping the dollar in global trade, or by an economic war in which using the dollar became untenable for eastern countries.

It was as if the relationship between the East and the globalists had evolved into something else – clearly, I thought, Russia and China had been a warning about the Great Reset agenda and both nations were now positioning to survive the fallout. The program to destroy the U.S. dollar and diminish the U.S. economy has been openly admitted by globalists for many years. Back in 1988 the Rothschild owned magazine The Economist essentially admitted to the plan in an article titled Get Ready for a World Currency.

The article admitted that in approximately 30 years (in other words, today) there would be a decline in the economic influence of the U.S. and the dollar, leading to the institution of a new currency which they called Phoenix backed by the IMF SDR basket. This agenda has been reiterated by global institutions over and over again the past few decades and it appears that it is now being enacted through an engineered economic war between the East and the West, just as I predicted.
In 2014 I stated:

The destruction of the dollar and the institution of a global economic bureaucracy are not actions that can be executed openly by international financiers. These events will coincide with extreme catastrophe, likely worse than the Great Depression era, with millions upon millions of people losing the ability to financially support themselves and their families…

I have warned for quite some time that the development of East/West tensions would be used as a cover for a collapse of the dollar system. I have warned that among the American media this collapse would be blamed on an Eastern dump of foreign exchange reserves and treasuries, resulting in a global domino-effect ending U.S. world reserve status. In turn, the international community would be conditioned to see this as the mere bumbling of a spoiled America gone power-mad, rather than the result of a covert program of economic destabilization. This might lead to all-out war or a fiscal firestorm that leaves much of the world crippled and desperate for aid.

But an economic war with the East might not be enough to undermine the U.S. and herald a new world economy with one world currency. The globalists would have to sabotage our economy from within, as well.

Whose side is the Federal Reserve on?

Another event which I have been warning about for many years is the inevitable action by the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates into economic weakness, causing not only an inversion of the yield curve but the crash of U.S. stock markets in response.

Here’s the problem: the Fed has created a Catch-22 scenario (I believe deliberately) in which U.S. markets have become addicted to central bank quantitative easing, QE, along with stimulus measures. Obviously these same easy-money policies also trigger exponential growth of inflation.

If the Fed was to ever hike rates and take the punch bowl away from the party, stocks and numerous sectors of the economy would crash (we saw a taste of this back in 2018).
But, if they didn’t hike rates and stop asset purchases, then there would be a hyperinflationary disaster.

Either way, the American public loses and the globalists get the crisis they want. Instead of solving either problem of inflation or deflation, the Fed has conjured a crisis event which combines both – a stagflationary crash.

I outlined this threat in detail last year in my article The Fed’s Catch-22 Taper Is a Weapon, Not a Policy Error.

Years back it was hard to say exactly when we would see the breaking point. Today, it is obvious that the moment has arrived, and not surprisingly the mainstream media is barely reporting on it.

Two major events have just as predicted by my warnings years ago, and they could very well result in an epic financial calamity. The public is being kept in the dark on the dangers inherent in these latest developments.

Russia declares end of dollar trade

The BRICS nations including Russia, China and India have been moving away from the U.S. dollar in response to western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine and the removal of Russia from the SWIFT system. This action is primarily focused on Russian oil and gas exports, as Russia now demands that anyone buying the vital commodities must do so in rubles instead of dollars (up to now, the de facto global petro-currency).

The mainstream media has completely ignored the implications of this tactic on the part of Russia; not only that, but they have buried any mention of the fact that the Russian central bank just backed the ruble with gold. This is why the ruble exploded back to life after currency markets reopened in the country after western governments congratulated themselves that the Russian currency was stone dead, guaranteeing a cataclysmic economic depression in the world’s 11^th largest economy. The recent spike in the ruble’s value has bewildered U.S. and E.U. economists, but it was easy to predict if you’ve been tracking Russian gold purchases for the past decade.

This means that the Russian economy is not about to fold anytime soon, and now the EU, which is reliant on Russian oil and gas exports for 40% of their energy needs, is about to face economic doom unless they submit to paying for energy in rubles (which they won’t) or find a replacement source for gas and oil (which is impossible). Furthermore, with Europe on the global market looking for alternative oil sources, a big chunk of the oil market will be rerouted.

What does this mean? Less oil and gas to fulfill the demand in other countries. In other words, prices are about to skyrocket higher yet again.

For now, Biden is trying to temper price spikes by releasing strategic petroleum reserves, but this is merely a stopgap. There’s nowhere near enough in U.S. reserves to offset the sheer volume of oil that Europe needs. I continue to predict that gas prices will rise to at least double what they are today across the U.S. It’s a simple matter of supply and demand.

Beyond the issue of driving oil prices vastly higher, the Russian move to completely drop the dollar as the petrocurrency may be the initial domino in a chain that will lead to the end of the dollar’s global reserve status.

As I have noted for over a decade, Russia and the BRICS nations have been preparing for this outcome for a long time. China and Russia have only moved closer together, and this pairing makes perfect sense strategically – Russia has massive natural resources and raw materials, while China has the largest manufacturing and exporting base in the world. India and China together hold 36% of the global population, more than enough people to act as a consumer foundation.

This does not mean the BRICS will not see some fiscal pain as a result of the economic war, but it’s important for the western public to understand this fact: we are the real target of the conflict, not Russia. It is the U.S. and Europe that will be hurt most, with the dollar suffering the worst damage.

The public is being misled to think that there is no risk on our side of the global chess board when the exact opposite is true. Most of the risk is on our side.

Federal Reserve tapers while the economy bleeds

The conflict with Russia and (for now, only potentially) China has completely overshadowed the second big story in economic news. That’s the Fed’s predictable move to raise interest rates, even though they’re doing so during a time of economic weakness.

Don’t believe me? Numbers for retail, home sales and manufacturing have been in decline along with GDP. At the same time, prices on necessities including food, energy and housing costs have continued to increase at a dizzying pace.

This is a textbook case of stagflationary collapse.

The timing of the Fed’s rate hikes could not be more perfect if they were trying to increase the damage of the crash ahead.

We know for a fact the Fed is capable of such a cold-blooded act, because we’ve seen it before.

Any student of economic history can tell you this is exactly what the Fed did in the early 1930s, which led to an even worse drop in U.S. markets and the prolonged and torturous deflationary event we now know as the Great Depression. Except this time, we will see elements of both inflation and deflation simultaneously.

Consider: the invasion of Ukraine happened conveniently right after the recent official reports of 40-year-record-high spike in U.S. inflation and the Fed’s decision to taper easy money and hike interest rates.
History tells us the likely results: a considerable-to-catastrophic drop in stocks within the next few months, along with frozen credit markets. Just like in 2008, the entire financial system will shriek and shudder to a halt. (But hey, this time the bankers have Russia to blame, so it all works out for them…)

Stock markets don’t really concern me all that much, given they’re nothing more than a trailing indicator of economic disaster. In other words, stocks usually crash after the collapse has already begun.

But because of the overall addiction to easy credit in the corporate world, the effects of the Fed interest rate hikes will be like forcing heroin junkies to go cold-turkey. We’ll see the economic versions of nausea, sweating, severe shakes and muscle spasms, and of course relentless cravings. The smaller, less-resilient businesses who can’t afford lobbyists will die, leaving only the largest and coincidentally government supported companies to feast on the remains.

Time is short – prepare now

I outline all of this not because I mean to frighten people with doom-and-gloom, but to inform you of reality. Time is very short for us to prepare ourselves and our loved ones.

In addition, I hope to shine a spotlight on the propaganda and lies that are being spread within the mainstream media. These ongoing campaigns of lies and omissions of inconvenient truths are designed to mislead the public into thinking the coming crash is all about the East vs. West conflict. After all, that’s a much easier sell, isn’t it? We have to suffer so we can overcome our barbaric foes over there! has been an effective rallying cry for Americans since the days of our Founding Fathers.

But it’s a lie.

The truth is, this is a planned crisis that has been in the works for decades.

Make no mistake and mark my words, in a couple years you will be hearing all about a grand plan on the part of institutions like the IMF and the WEF to “save” the global economy using a new currency system that is nationally “neutral.” They will offer to peg all currencies to the SDR basket and likely a digital currency framework as long as each nation accepts that the globalists are in control of their economies by default.

The attempt will be made. Whether or not the globalists succeed is another matter. It is up to us to insulate ourselves from the crisis as much as possible. That means preparing yourself for a new world where the U.S. dollar is a relic of the past, and the only real enduring safe havens will be the same as they’ve been for the last 5,000 years: physical gold and silver. We must be ready to oppose the new globalist system with everything we can muster.

We cannot let the puppeteers deprive us of our freedom and our future.

Brandon Smith has been an alternative economic and geopolitical analyst since 2006 and is the founder of Alt-Market.com.

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