Tag Archives: India

WAR UPDATES from Ukraine vs Russia, India vs Pakistan plus Huge Wildfires Engulf Israel

There’s a lot going on again today with different wars and the fires in Israel. Israel has even put out an international call for help in fighting the fires, keep the remnant there in your prayers!

Also Iran has been struck with a bunch of sudden “industrial accidents” around the country with some suspecting Israeli sabotage. Prayed up and prepped up time is short!

Explosions all around Iran

Ukraine could be crushed very shortly

Modi gives India’s military complete authority to respond to Pakistan

Pakistan claims India to attack within 24-36 hours

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Trade Wars, Rumors of Nuclear War and Trump’s Upcoming Trip to Saudi Arabia

India and Pakistan continue to warn each other and the world that all out war between the two nations could breakout within 2-4 days and nuclear weapons are definitely on the table! Also more news on Trump and his upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar which could include an expansion of the Abraham Accords!

Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930

IMF Says Trumps Tariffs are Crashing World Economy

Trump Tariffs to Shock the Economy in USA

Trump Visit to Saudi Arabia in May

Trump says he runs the country and the world

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India Cuts off 80% of Pakistan’s Fresh Water Supply

3:56 PM Eastern US Time, 24 April 2025 — About twenty minutes ago, India closed all the flow gates at four (4) separate Dams along the Indus River, that feed fresh water into Pakistan. Earlier today Pakistan said it would respond with force. We shall soon see. Prayed up and prepped up!

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India and Pakistan are on the Brink of War after Terrorist Attack

India and Pakistan are on the brink of conflict following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, with India announcing a raft of punitive measures against Pakistan. India has suspended the Indus Water Treaty, a key water-sharing agreement, and closed the main border crossing, while Pakistan has canceled visas for Indian nationals and suspended all trade with India. Both countries have accused each other of supporting violence and have a history of mutual distrust and hostility over the disputed region of Kashmir.

Key Developments:

  • April 24, 2025: India downgraded ties with Pakistan, including suspending the Indus Water Treaty and closing the main border crossing. Pakistan responded by canceling visas for Indian nationals and suspending all trade with India.
  • April 22, 2025: At least 26 people were killed and 17 injured in an attack on tourists in Pahalgam, Kashmir. India accused Pakistan of involvement, though Pakistan denied any role.
  • Historical Context: India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which is claimed in full by both but controlled in parts. Tensions have been exacerbated by mutual accusations of supporting violence and terrorism in the region.

The recent attack has escalated tensions, with both countries taking aggressive diplomatic and economic actions against each other. India has also reduced its diplomatic staff in Pakistan and declared Pakistani diplomats persona non grata. Pakistan, in turn, has closed its airspace to Indian aircraft and canceled visas for Indian nationals. The situation remains volatile, with both countries maintaining significant military and nuclear capabilities.

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Why Did Trump Threaten To Modify Or Rescind India’s Sanctions Waiver For Iran’s Chabahar Port?

Guest Post by Andrew Korybko

Threatening the viability of the North-South Transport Corridor pressures Iran, India, and Russia in one fell swoop in a diplomatic-economic masterstroke.

Trump 2.0 is considered to be Indophilic in large part due to his team’s understanding of how India can serve as a partial economic-military counterweight to China in Eurasia, yet he just signed an Executive Order to “modify or rescind sanctions waivers…including those related to Iran’s Chabahar port project”. That port is pivotal to the North-South Transport Corridor (NSTC) that India relies on to balance China in Central Asia and prevent Russia’s disproportionate dependence on it, both of which align with US goals.

The Biden Administration also threatened to rescind this waiver, albeit not as directly nor in an official way like Trump 2.0 just did, in response to last May’s ten-year Chabahar Port deal between India and Iran. The latest threats coincided with an Indian government report about how maritime traffic along that route soared by 43% last year and container traffic by 34%. It also precedes Prime Minister Modi’s trip to DC late next week where they’re expected to discuss trade ties, military issues, and Russia.

The last part could take the form of India explaining the role that it plays in preemptively averting Russia’s potentially disproportionate dependence on China through its large-scale purchase of discounted oil and the plans that they have to scale real-sector trade across the NSTC. Modi might therefore request sanctions waivers otherwise India might either feel compelled to risk a crisis with the US by defying it on Russia-Iran or it’ll abandon its Eurasian balancing act to their mutual detriment.

Having explained Chabahar Port’s strategic importance to the US by way of India employing it to balance Chinese influence in Central Asia and on Russia, it’s now time to look at the reasons why Trump would risk jeopardizing this through that particular clause in his latest Executive Order. What follows are three explanations that aren’t mutually exclusive. It might even be that Trump only had the first one in mind but then realized that the second and third could also be used to his benefit.

There’s no doubt that modifying or rescinding India’s sanctions waiver for Chabahar Port is intended to coerce Iran into concessions to the US since the Executive Order in which this is decreed explicitly concerns the resumption of his first term’s “maximum pressure” policy. The future of the Iranian economy is even more dependent on the NSTC than the Indian and Russian ones are so threatening its viability is meant to raise the chances that it complies with his demands on missiles and nuclear energy.

Nevertheless, seeing as how India and Russia also have important stakes in the NSTC, he might also hope that one or both could then encourage Iran to cut a (likely lopsided) deal with the US in exchange for him then retaining the essence of his first term’s original sanctions waiver as a reward. Building upon that and regardless of whether or not the following was already what he was planning, another possibility is that his threat to modify or rescind that waiver is intended to put pressure on India in a bilateral context.

Trump earlier criticized Modi’s use of tariffs, but the run-up to their summit has seen rumors of them launching free trade talks, so Trump might think that threatening Modi’s Eurasian balancing act could prompt trade concessions. It’s of grand strategic importance for India to prevent Russia from becoming China’s junior partner so India might compromise on trade with the US for a Chabahar waiver in order to retain this balancing act without risking a crisis with the US by defying its Iranian sanctions threats.

The last explanation for why Trump threatened to modify or rescind this waiver is that he wants to pressure Russia by reminding it that the alternative valve from Western sanctions pressure that it’s relied upon for preemptively averting potentially disproportionate dependence on China could soon be cut off. The purpose could be to increase the odds that Putin accepts tough compromises on his maximum goals in the special operation in exchange for India retaining this waiver and thus keeping the NSTC viable.

In this scenario, Russia would be compelled to choose between these tough compromises or becoming China’s junior partner out of desperation to continue the special operation in pursuit of its maximum goals, which would entail selling all natural resources to China at bargain-basement prices. Putin has held off on that till now, even declining to clinch such an agreement over the long-negotiated Power of Siberia II pipeline during his most recent trip to Beijing last May, so he might cut a deal with Trump.

More clarity is expected by the end of the month since Modi’s trip to DC will take place from 12-14 February, the next Munich Security Conference is from 14-16 February, Trump’s Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg will then reportedly visit Kiev on 20 February to share Trump’s peace plan with Zelensky after first briefing Western leaders about it in Munich, and then he might visit Moscow to talk with Putin about it since he’ll be in the neighborhood if Trump doesn’t call him first.

Bloomberg reported that Trump’s plan includes “potentially freezing the conflict and leaving territory occupied by Russian forces in limbo while providing Ukraine with security guarantees” in order to create the conditions for Ukraine to hold its long-delayed presidential and parliamentary elections. This sequence was forecast several days prior to that report here, which pointed out that it would necessitate compromises from Putin.

The Russian leader’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov then revealed that talks with Zelensky are hypothetically possible even though Moscow considers the Ukrainian leader’s continued tenure to be illegitimate in a reversal of Kremlin policy which suggests that Putin might be seriously considering some compromises. That might not be connected to Trump’s Executive Order from the day prior to Peskov’s remark, but it’s possible that forthcoming NSTC-related pressure might contribute to convincing Putin to cut a deal.

Reflecting on the insight that was shared in this analysis, it’s arguably the case that Trump’s threat to modify or rescind India’s sanctions waiver for Iran’s Chabahar Port is motivated by him wanting to pressure Iran, India, and Russia in one fell swoop in a diplomatic-economic masterstroke. This doesn’t mean that he’ll successfully extract the compromises (or even concessions in some cases) that he expects, but just that he’s trying to proverbially kill three birds with one stone, which is very clever.

The views and opinions expressed in this guest post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Don’t Speak News or John Storm.”

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De-Dollarization Continues as Saudi Arabia Won’t Accept Dollars for Oil Beginning June 9th

pexels-photo-534229.jpeg

It appears that the dominance of the US dollar is over as more countries divest from it and now Saudi Arabia has informed the Biden Administration that they won’t renew the petro-dollar agreement on June 9th.

Screenshot

Keep in mind that this agreement is what has kept the dollar artificially inflated since the 70s when this arrangement was first agreed upon. This also kept the dollar as the world’s default currency and of course the USA used it to punish nations who didn’t want to tow the US line. Now the world appears to be done with it as more nations divest from it and agree to trade in their own currencies. Here is more on that subject from Winepress News.

In the month of May, BRICS founding members China and India made significant strides in moving further and further away from the U.S. dollar in domestic and global trade. Now they and other allied nations are doing the same by exiting the dollar for trade and imports.

India, in agreement with Nigeria – which is seeking formal BRICS membership – is strengthening its economic ties together with a local-currency debt settlement.

Their agreement, overseen at the second session of the India-Nigeria Joint Trade Committee (JTC) held in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, also includes local currency trade for energy, pharmaceuticals, and transportation.

Nigeria is India’s second largest trading partner. ‘Bilateral trade between the two countries stood at $11.8 billion in 2022-23. In 2023-24, bilateral trade stood at $7.89 billion, showing a declining trend,’ RT noted.

The Indian commerce and industry ministry said in a statement:

Both sides agreed to the early conclusion of the Local Currency Settlement System Agreement to further strengthen bilateral economic ties.

These include resolving of market-access issues of both sides, and cooperation in key sectors such as crude oil and natural gas, pharmaceuticals, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), local currency settlement system, power sector and renewable energy, agri- and food processing, education, transport, railway, aviation, MSMEs [Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises].

More recently, India and China have agreed to ditch the dollar to trade with Maldives in local currencies.

According to Business Todaythe Maldives plans to launch India’s RuPay service “to bolster the Maldivian Rufiyaa”, per a senior minister of the Maldives. Minister of Economic Development and Trade Mohamed Saeed talked about the soon launch of India’s RuPay while also announcing how both India and China have agreed to use local currency in bilateral trade.

As you can see India and China are exiting out of the US dollar very quickly which in turn tells us that the Saudi Arabia deal is huge! This is the death knell for the US dollar and everyone outside of USA is well aware of it, but the US media is silent on this issue outside of a few crpyto publications.

Will the US economy crash right away? No, probably not but the effects will be felt as the US economy has stagnated and is now in a viscous stagflation cycle.

According to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) outlook, India and China are poised to see the highest economic growth this year with other BRICS members not too far behind, while the U.S. and other G7 nations are projected to have stagnate growth.

It’s just a matter of time before the US economy crashes and shocks the world even though it shouldn’t be a shock at this point. All one has to do is look at rising food prices, the crashing car markets, the businesses that can’t pay their rent (48% last month) and the rising crime rates and you can see the writing on the wall. The problem is that nobody wants to face the reality that it’s over for the U.S. and the West. God’s wrath is coming soon and there won’t anything left to be “made great again”.

Prayed up and prepped up, time is VERY short!

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US-backed military once again targets former Pakistani PM Imran Khan

Imran Khan poses the greatest threat to Pakistan’s military monopoly on political power.

Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher

The arrest of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and leader of the Pakistan Movement for Justice (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI) caused thousands of Pakistanis to take to the streets and protest. However, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered on May 11 his release, offering a significant victory for the onetime leader responsible for bringing Islamabad closer to Moscow and away from US dominance until his removal from power.

On May 9, Khan was detained and arrested for the alleged embezzlement of 50 billion Pakistani rupees ($240 million). This unleashed a wave of violent demonstrations in several cities in the country and threatens to unravel the fragile state.

The current situation is taking place against the background of several military coups because the army continues to play an essential role in the critical decisions of state policy. These internal factors had an even more substantial effect on the situation than the fact that Khan was trying to pursue an independent course in foreign policy, particularly with Moscow, whilst deepening his country’s dependency on Beijing. In addition, his domestic policy is rejected by elite military circles that maintain close ties with Britain and the US.

The former prime minister at first did not depend on any political party, and, in fact, he challenged traditional political and military circles. In Pakistan, there are two older parties: the Pakistan Muslim League and the Pakistan People’s Party, which, apart from the military, have maintained political power.

Khan, a former cricket star, emerged as a “revolutionary” by deciding that Pakistan needed to choose another path and divorce itself from Western dominance.

Pakistani voters protested after Khan was removed from power in a soft coup on 10 April 2022 and continued to support him vehemently. Now, the protesters continue to demonstrate against his targeting. Through imprisonment, Khan would have been prevented from participating in the political struggle because the military had already made its position clear – preserving the status quo, i.e., their own personal interests.

As for the US relationship with Pakistan, the latter is vital for the Americans as it is a state that directly borders Afghanistan and influences what is happening there. In particular, they are interested in and very concerned about the multiple links between the Pakistani military and the Afghan Taliban. It is recalled that Pakistan was even part of the bloc that the Americans had created against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Imran Khan brought Islamabad closer to Moscow, and for this reason, the Americans needed him removed. However, due to his immense popularity, the Americans want assurances that he will never return to power so that Pakistan can stay in its orbit of influence. For this reason, the Pakistani military is using every method to keep him out of politics.

Given that Pakistan is at the crossroads between India, China and Iran, the Americans must keep the South Asian country under its control. In addition, Washington wants the Pakistanis to stop cooperating with Russia or limit their association. Effectively, Khan wanted to stop depending on the Americans and sought to develop a relationship with Russia, but he was prevented from doing so.

As for China, it is Pakistan’s traditional “all-time” ally, as the Pakistanis call it. Only on May 10, China delivered two Type 054A/P frigates to Pakistan, meaning that all four warships of this class, first announced in 2018, have been commissioned into the Pakistan Navy. Global Times reported that the program marks the China-Pakistan friendship and the high-level defence cooperation between the two countries.

In fact, the relationship between Pakistan and China is so deep that the latter objected to a recent proposal from India to add the leader of the Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e Mohammed to the UN Security Council’s 1267 ISIL and Al Qaida Sanctions list. It is also recalled that China last year put on hold proposals to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorists Hafiz Talah Saeed, Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Shahid Mahmood, and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba terrorist Sajid Mir under the Al Qaeda Sanctions regime.

Although the Americans will find it difficult to break the Pakistan-China relationship, especially as the East Asian country is one of the few states around the world willing to invest in the financial blackhole that Pakistan has become, it will be an even more difficult task if Khan was in power. His arrest is related to the fact that even though the US-backed Pakistani military removed him from power, there is every chance he could return as Prime Minister if free and fair elections are held, which would be intolerable for Washington.

Khan’s arrest came hours after the military rebuked him for alleging that a senior officer was involved in a plot to assassinate him, something the army has denied. Crucially, criticism of Pakistan’s military is considered a redline as the state apparatus is effectively controlled by it. Khan poses the greatest threat to their political monopoly, which is why his continued persecution should not be considered surprising.

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Blinken hopes to derail India’s relationship with Russia following Scholz’s failure

The West mounts pressure on India to sever its ties with Russia.

Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher

With Russia’s military operation in Ukraine evidently destroying NATO’s ambitions, Washington is becoming increasingly frustrated that Moscow has not been isolated. Russia did not economically collapse, as was predicted in the West, partly because of the robust and longstanding relationship it has with India. It is unsurprising that in only a matter of days, Germany and the US have pressured India to capitulate their sovereignty and serve Western interests instead of their own.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sought assurances from India on February 25 that it would not only refuse to block, but also support efforts to isolate Russia. Following his talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chancellor refused to reveal what exactly they discussed in relation to Ukraine.

Although the contents of the discussion were cited as being confidential in nature, it is likely that Scholz did not want to humiliatingly admit that India refused to step back from its tried and tested relationship with Russia. Scholz did reveal though that he and Modi had discussed the war in Ukraine “very extensively and very intensely.”

It is noted that this trip was Scholz’s first official visit to India but his fourth meeting with Modi since taking office in 2021. Although they also discussed ways to boost economic cooperation, including through a free trade agreement between the European Union and India, it cannot be overlooked that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in New Delhi only days after Scholz.

Days before arriving in the Indian capital, Blinken said that countries like India, which have not joined the West in denouncing Russia’s military operation, were on a supposed trajectory away from alignment with Moscow. He stressed that the process would not occur “in one fell swoop.”

“There are countries that have long-standing, decades-long relationships with Russia, with the Soviet Union before, that are challenging to break off in one fell swoop. It’s not flipping a light switch, it’s moving an aircraft carrier,” Blinken said in an interview with The Atlantic on February 24.

However, for all of Blinken’s claims that India is moving away from Moscow, there is no actual suggestion that this is occurring. The US and India cooperate through the QUAD format, a naval bloc aimed against China, but this has not meant India’s submission to Washington, as the Americans evidently anticipated.

Although India has faced sustained and continued pressure from the West to distance itself from Moscow, New Delhi has thus far resisted, citing its longstanding ties with Russia and its economic and oil interests. It cannot be overlooked that Russia has been India’s largest weapons supplier since the Cold War-era, particularly since the US traditionally favoured Pakistan.

However, Washington in recent years has looked to turn New Delhi away from its main military supplier (but without wanting to adjust its policy to Pakistan).

“India for decades had Russia at the core of providing military equipment to it and its defences, but what we’ve seen over the last few years is a trajectory away from relying on Russia and moving into partnership with us and other countries,” Blinken said, without mentioning the fact that India is moving towards home-grown production, something that Russia is playing a key role in.

None-the-less, it is expected that Blinken, in the same way as Scholz, will try and convince India to change course regarding its ties with Russia.

As Bloomberg reported, citing Kpler’s lead crude analyst, Viktor Katona, “India purchased almost no Russian oil a year ago, but has become a crucial market after the US and European Union imposed sanctions on Moscow. The Asian country imported around 1.85 million barrels a day from Russia in February, close to its potential maximum of about 2 million barrels a day.”

The cold hard facts are that Moscow and New Delhi have a longstanding relationship that India will not break just for the sake of serving Western interests. Beyond the time-tested security ties, Russia offers energy hungry India the best deal for oil, something that will not be sacrificed because of a far-off war in Eastern Europe.

According to QUARTZ, India has in less than a year saved an estimated $3.6 billion by increasing Russian oil imports. This is a significant amount for a country that depends on imports to meet 85% of its petroleum needs.

It is recalled that in November 2022, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said “Russia has been a steady and time-tested partner. Any objective evaluation of our relationship over many decades would confirm that it has actually served both our countries very, very well.”

With this statement, he effectively confirmed a continuance of the current policy despite sustained pressure – a pressure that Scholz and Blinken are the latest to apply. They are however also the latest that were unable to convince New Delhi to change its policy regarding Russia.

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2022: birth year of the multipolar world

This is a subject we talk about a lot on this website. The power structure of the world is being “reset” by the WEF and all of their cronies and it’s moving from the US and EU nations to Russia, China and India. All you need to do is look at what’s happened to the industrial base of the West since the end of WW2. The world has taken notice and are now telling the West to buzz off, we don’t have to listen to you anymore.

Lucas Leiroz, researcher in Social Sciences at the Rural Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; geopolitical consultant.

2022 was full of geopolitically important events. Despite being a year marked by conflicts, escalation of tensions and high risks, at the same time it was the mark of an extremely significant multipolar turn.

The year began amid rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, which continued to deteriorate and evolve into an open conflict. In late 2021, increasingly adhering to Western anti-Russian paranoia, Kiev began a new campaign of excessive militarization, bringing substantial risks to Russian national security. The Ukrainian neo-Nazi regime also promoted an escalation in the civil war and, according to several intelligence reports released by the Russian government, would be planning a “final solution” to the civil war in the east, with the absolute extermination of the Donbass’ resistance.

To stop this violence and neutralize the risks to its own security, on February 24, Moscow launched a special military operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine. With that, Moscow finally intervened in the eight-year conflict between ethnic Russians and Ukrainian neo-Nazi forces, bringing hope to the people of Donbass.

At first, NATO refused to participate actively in the conflict, sending only financial and humanitarian aid. But the situation began to change in April, when the first arms packages were sent to Kiev. Moscow ignored the move in order to avoid escalation, and then the Atlantic alliance began a wave of systematic arms shipments, starting to participate actively in the conflict – which is now nothing more than a NATO proxy war against Russia.

Russia is obviously superior militarily, with Ukraine having no chance of victory. But the Western insistence on sending arms, instead of mediating peace, makes it possible for the Ukrainians to prolong the conflict, even without making military progress. Furthermore, it is estimated that one-third of the soldiers currently in combat on the Ukrainian side are foreign mercenaries, including retired NATO soldiers – which shows that the West is indeed at war with Russia.

In this policy of anti-Russian aggression, US allies obey Washington’s orders even without benefiting in any way. The year ends with winter arriving in Europe and generating an unprecedented energy crisis, as the EU decided to adhere to the policy of economic sanctions, which has been encouraged by the US against Russia since the beginning of the operation in Ukraine. The US, UK and EU promote all sorts of boycotts against Moscow, while, on the other hand, the emerging world rejects this anti-strategic policy and builds an order more and more based on pragmatism and solidarity.

The plan to boycott the Russian economy with coercion went absolutely wrong, as the sanctions forced even greater integration between Russia, China and India – and consequently between these countries and all other emerging partners that maintain close ties with them. Furthermore, the current situation has accelerated the de-dollarization process, with Russia currently trading energy and oil in rubles.

With no chance of victory in Ukraine, the West resorts to attacks on its enemies in other parts of the world. In August, US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, violating Chinese sovereignty over the island, as Beijing had formally prohibited the visit. The case generated an unprecedented security crisis, with China responding to American provocation through military dissuasion exercises in the Taiwan Strait. Indeed, there is danger of escalation in the near future, and, very irresponsibly, the US promises to support Taiwan militarily if China intervenes on the island, which puts the world at serious risk.

At the same time, the US is trying at all costs to foment social chaos in China in other ways. Protests against the Chinese health policy are encouraged, for example. The aim is to destabilize the country in every possible way. Something similar happens in Iran, where an attempt of color revolution was started in October, with violent protests taking place, even with the use of firearms and terrorist methods by the “demonstrators”.

Also, as a domino-effect, other security crises have been worsening recently. For example, Azerbaijani terrorists began roadblocks and generated a humanitarian crisis in the Artsakh region, as well as started several provocations against Russian peacekeepers. Another point of constant friction has been Kosovo, where armed groups have attacked Serbian forces and disrespected existing peace conventions.

In all cases, what we can see is a simple process of attempt by pro-Western forces to foment chaos in as many regions as possible to try to obtain victories in places other than Ukraine, where the Russians maintain control over the military situation. Most of these destabilization and boycott attempts have been neutralized, but the risks of escalation and the emergence of new conflicts are real.

In fact, the world situation will only stabilize when the US realizes that the unipolar world order can no longer be maintained. 2022 was the birth year of multipolarity, as emerging countries came together to say “no” to Western sanctions and continue trading freely with Russia and China. Obviously, the BRICS are a key player in this world transition, as we can see with the growing interest on the part of new countries to join the group.

In 2023, the situation will certainly continue in the same direction. Geopolitical changes tend to be positive for countries in favor of multipolarity, but the process of consolidating these changes will be done with a lot of struggle and conflict, as the West will resist as much as possible, with all its means. At some point, however, the West will have to admit its defeat and negotiate with the emerging countries a peaceful reformulation of the global order.

You can follow Lucas on Twitter and Telegram.

Russia proposes construction of joint oil fleet with India

photo of ship

This is just another example of Russia and India joining ever closer together with their economic and military ties. As I’ve said numerious times in my videos, the power structure has shifted from West to the East. India and Russia have even recently discussed ditching the dollar as a trade mechanism between them. I just put up this post about Modi and Putin making a joint statment the other day declaring that they have a “privileged strategic partnership” despite Western pressure.

Now to bypass Western sanctions, India and Russia are considering a joint oil tanker fleet to avoid insurance issues and other hassles with shipping. Here is more from Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher

Moscow has proposed to cooperate with New Delhi in building or leasing large oil tankers to circumvent Western sanctions and ensure crude oil transportation capacity. Specifically, this is in order to ship more crude oil to the largest buyers of Russian oil and not to lose profits.

The price cap on Russian oil imposed by the G7, the European Union and Australia has only had a limited effect on non-participatory countries. Since the imposition of the price cap on December 5, Chinese traders are still working as usual and private refiners have bought Russian ESPO oil.

According to the International Energy Agency, India’s import of Russian oil has increased from 30,000 barrels per day in February, to 1.08 million barrels per day, surpassing even China which imports 830,000 barrels per day.

In total, fuel traffic to Asia has tripled to 2.5 million barrels. The surge, according to S&P Global Commodities, has seen China and India now account for 68% of Russian crude oil exports shipped by sea, a reflection of the difficulties Russia faces in the West, such as receiving insurance and transportation services.

It is recalled that earlier in December, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar stressed: “We do not ask our companies to buy Russian oil. We ask our companies to buy oil (based on) what is the best option that they can get.”

None-the-less, there are now complications in transporting Russian oil, resulting in increased freight rates. In addition, as mentioned, Western companies refuse to provide insurance for Russian oil tankers.

“It is necessary to change the routes of about half of the two million barrels per day. A shortage of ships is inevitable,” credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings pointed out.

It is for this reason that India and Russia are seeking to cooperate in shipbuilding – Russia needs oil customers and India is energy hungry, and just as importantly, both countries have an established relationship built on decades of fulfilling mutual interests. As Russian crude oil is mainly exported on foreign tankers, which can no longer be insured by Western companies, building a Russian-Indian shipping fleet is of mutual benefit.

The knock-on effect is clear: New Delhi will continue to buy as much Russian oil as it wants, even at a price set above the G7’s price cap as it can always refine the oil itself and resell it to Europe for profit. Also, complete independence from Western insurance, financial and transportation services is something that would be of mutual Russian and Indian interest as they both consolidate their respective spheres of influence in the Age of Multipolarity.

It is also for this reason that both countries are aiming for de-dollarization, with Russia expected to be one the first countries to use the Indian rupee trade settlement mechanism. Russia is not the only country interested in India’s rupee trade settlement mechanism, with Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Cuba, Luxembourg, and Sudan also expressing interest.

It is recalled that during Jaishankar’s visit to Moscow last month, he said that India will boost economic ties with Russia.

“For us, Russia has been a steady and time-tested partner and, as I said, any objective evaluation of our relationship over many decades would confirm that it has served both our countries very, very well,” he said.

India’s commitment to building relations with Russia is reflected in the fact that it has refused to impose sanctions despite Western pressure and has abstained from United Nations resolutions condemning Moscow over its military operation in Ukraine.

At the same time, as tensions between India and China mount, New Delhi cannot afford to risk upheaval in its military which is heavily dependent on Russian-made tanks, fighter jets and missiles.

Relations between New Delhi and Beijing have been less than ideal since a clash in June 2020 left several Indian and Chinese soldiers dead. With these tensions now renewed, India is especially not looking to sever its relations with Russia despite Western pressure, but in fact deepen them, including in the military industrial sector.

India has also increased its purchases of oil, coal and fertilisers from Moscow as part of their deepening of ties, and are boosting cooperation in the military and financial sectors. Although the West is insistently pressuring India to step back in its relations with Russia, the idea to create an Indo-Russian fleet to circumvent Western sanctions point to the very fact that nothing will undo this decades-old relationship.

Source: InfoBrics

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