Countries cannot rely on the currency of a nation with multi-trillion-dollar debt, Sergey Shoigu has said
Washington’s abuse of the dollar is a major selling point for BRICS, which is fostering the transition to a multipolar world order, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu has said.
America’s control over the global reserve currency and the financial system based on the dollar has increasingly been unnerving other nations, as the US government has leveraged it to damage other countries with sanctions and asset seizures, he claimed.
”It is [now] obvious for everyone that whatever savings they have may end up in someone else’s pocket rather than their own,” Shoigu said in an interview published by Russian media on Tuesday.
Governments therefore “realize that they need to go away from the US-dependent financial system. There is a need for a structure that would not be so monopolized and dependent on US domestic laws,” he added. The current system “cannot stand.”
Russia was targeted by the US over the Ukraine crisis, when some $300 billion worth of its sovereign assets held in Western jurisdictions was frozen. This instance alone shows that “the world should move away from the dollar,” Shoigu said, but it is just one of many.
He cited the seizure of Libyan funds during the NATO military intervention to oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. There is also ongoing exploitation of Syrian oil reserves by shady US-linked firms in Kurdish-controlled areas of the country, Shoigu said. Those firms sell “stolen” crude, while Damascus is starved for fuel due to American sanctions, he continued, adding that Western nations are “occasionally acting like vulgar thieves.”
The US federal debt, which surpassed $35 trillion earlier this year, is another reason to worry about the reliability of international finances, Shoigu claimed. Such problems push more nations into seeking BRICS membership, he said, because “here we don’t have some hegemonic power towering over everyone and dictating terms, as this happens in the EU and NATO.”
READ MORE: Washington wants Ukraine’s resources – US Senator
Shoigu also suggested that the excessive global role of the US is detrimental for policy making by other nations. Foreign governments have to tailor their decisions to projected outcomes of US presidential elections and occasionally have to turn on a dime, when some surprise happens, such as Donald Trump’s victory in 2016, he explained.
https://www.rt.com/russia/603758-us-monopoly-global-finances/
The prices of some life-saving medicines have soared to levels that are unaffordable for ordinary people in Venezuela as the United States has ramped up military presence in the Caribbean off Venezuela's coast, alongside escalating sanctions, blockades and military threats against the oil-rich South American nation since late August.
https://www.presstv.ir/default/Embeded/761400
At a northeastern suburb in the capital city Caracas, locals can still purchase most of the commonly used medicines at a major supermarket, where some antibiotics have been sold out, and some first-aid medicines and supplies have become too costly for ordinary residents.
"I'm here mainly to buy antibiotics. I have problems with my lungs. But I can't get all I want, such as vancomycin," said a resident named Alfonso.
"Recent tensions have affected the supplies and prices of drugs. The prices of cancer drugs, insulin drugs and albumin are very high, and most patients here cannot afford them," said Giovanna Gonzalez a ...
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is prepared to use military force to achieve the goals of its special military operation if Ukraine continues to delay peace talks.
During an inspection of a Russian armed forces command post on Saturday, Putin stressed that Moscow will not allow Kiev’s obstruction to prevent progress.
“If the Kiev authorities do not want to resolve the matter peacefully, we will accomplish all the tasks before us in the course of the special military operation by military means,” he said.
The Russian leader noted that the Ukrainian authorities are not moving toward a peaceful resolution, adding, “We see that even today, unfortunately, the leaders of the Kiev regime are in no hurry to resolve this conflict peacefully. I spoke about this a year ago in a speech at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
Putin also received reports from Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov and commanders of Russia’s “Centre” and “East” military groups.
Meanwhile, ...
