Gold Revaluation And The Rise Of SCO & BRICS
The organizations front and center of a gold revaluation are SCO and BRICS. Their members, along with countries that have applied for membership, give them a critical mass in terms of global population, global land area, and, by a wide margin, economic size.
SCO
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization founded in Shanghai back in 2001. The SCO currently consists of eight full Member States:
China
India
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Russia
Pakistan
Tajikistan
Uzbekistan
Additionally, the second tier of SCO membership currently includes four Observer States interested in acceding to full membership, which include:
Afghanistan
Belarus
Iran (2021)
Mongolia
The third tier is comprised of six “Dialogue Partners” of the SCO:
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Cambodia
Nepal
Sri Lanka
Turkey
Egypt (2021)
Qatar (2021)
Saudi Arabia (2021)
In 2021, the decision was made to start the accession process of Iran to the SCO as a full member, and Egypt, Qatar as well as Saudi Arabia became dialogue partners.
The Council of Heads of State is the top decision-making body in the SCO. This council meets at the SCO summits, which are held each year in one of the member states’ capital cities. Because of their government structure, the prime ministers of the parliamentary democracies of India and Pakistan attend the SCO Council of Heads of State summits, as their responsibilities are similar to the presidents of other SCO nations. The current Council of Heads of State consists of:
- Xi Jinping (China)
- Narendra Modi (India)
- Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (Kazakhstan)
- Sadyr Japarov (Kyrgyzstan)
- Shehbaz Sharif (Pakistan)
- Vladimir Putin (Russia)
- Emomali Rahmon (Tajikistan)
- Shavkat Mirziyoyev (Uzbekistan)
BRICS
BRICS is an acronym for five leading emerging economies:
The first four countries were initially grouped as “BRIC” (or “the BRICs”) in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill, who coined the term to describe fast-growing economies that would collectively dominate the global economy by 2050; South Africa was added in 2010.
The BRICS have a combined area of (15,346,100 sq mi) and an estimated total population of about 3.21 billion. That equates to roughly 27% of the world’s land surface and 42% of the global population. Brazil, Russia, India, and China are among the world’s ten largest countries by population, area, and GDP, and are widely considered to be current or emerging superpowers. All five states are members of the G20, with a combined nominal GDP of roughly $27 trillion.
The BRICS were originally identified for the purpose of highlighting investment opportunities, versus a formal intergovernmental organization. However since 2009, they have increasingly formed into a more cohesive geopolitical bloc, with their governments meeting annually at formal summits and coordinating multilateral policies. China hosted the most recent 14th BRICS summit in July of 2022. Bilateral relations among the BRICS are conducted mainly on the basis of noninterference, equality, and mutual benefit.
Keynote: The BRICS are considered the foremost rival to the G7 bloc of leading advanced economies, announcing competing initiatives such as the New Development Bank, Contingent Reserve Arrangement, BRICS payment system, and BRICS basket reserve currency.
A Critical Mass- The New World Order
The larger of the two groups is the SCO, whose goal is economic growth and security to protect that growth. What’s truly important about this organization is that it has brought together countries with completely different religions, politics, and culture, showing that joining together for security and economic growth doesn’t mean compromising a country’s sovereignty.
For example, Pakistan and India joined the SCO in the 1990s. While both countries have democratic forms of government, Pakistan is largely a Muslim state, while India is largely a Hindu state. These differences have led to intense conflicts, including India’s relatively recent seizure of a big chunk of Kashmir, while Muslims in India increasingly have fewer rights than Hindus.
Then there are Iran and Saudi Arabia, both nearly certain to become members. While both countries are autocracies, they are hardly friends! Including the UAE, which is applying for membership, the SCO will soon include four members of OPEC+ that provide at least 70% of the cartel’s oil production. It’s not a stretch to view the frayed if not broken relations between the Saudis and the U.S. as evidence of how important cooperation can be.
Getting back to Europe, both Germany’s Scholz and France’s Macron plan to travel to China in November for one-on-one meetings with Xi Jinping. I have no idea what is on the agenda, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the discussions include possible ways to join the SCO. Although not in the eurozone, Turkey is dually a member of NATO and ‘dialogue partner’ of the SCO.
Moreover, in a new world, the euro – and let’s hope the dollar – will likely be part of a new inclusive currency under the auspices of either the SCO or BRICS, perhaps with help from the IMF.
Gold Is The Petrodollar’s Nemesis
Unsung and virtually unreported has been the proposed trip that Xi Jinping intends to make to Saudi Arabia, the second visit outside the country he’s made since 2020. The first visit was to Kazakhstan to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Now, to understand why Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia is of such significance is to also understand the significance of the petrodollar. The petrodollar is based on Saudi willingness to price oil in dollars for global trade. The only reason the United States has maintained status as a reserve currency is due to the petrodollar. If Saudi Arabia joins BRICS, along with advancing its status in the SCO from dialogue partner to full member… It’s game over for dollar hegemony!
BRICS is at the center of a changing currency game, going from the dollar as a reserve currency to a basket of global currencies backed by gold.
Virtually 60% of the world’s population are now either on the list to join or are current tiered members of the SCO. This is an organization which seems to meld people and countries of totally different attitudes together in pursuit for something far more virtuous: economic prosperity.
Honestly, I’ll be very frank with you. I thought gold was going to definitely break $1600 and go somewhere into the $1500s but it stopped when there was more news that Xi Jinping was going to visit Saudi Arabia. This really made it much more apparent that something was up. The key to the petrodollar country, like all the other Arab countries, is gold. Xi Jinping making a trip there would undoubtedly seal the deal of a potential BRICS alliance. If that’s the case, then the beginning of the end of the petrodollar is upon us… And a new BRICS gold backed reserve currency will rise like a phoenix from the ashes.
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