Germany and France ready to ditch US ?

July 04, 2014

Germany Getting Ready To Divorce U.S. Ally

From recent talks and discussions in Germany I conclude that the U.S. is losing more and more support and sympathies. The admiration of earlier times has turned into disgust. While a lot of higher politicians and some journalists still cling to some (well paid) myth of U.S. friendship the party base in all political parties as well as the general public has changed its opinion.

The NSA spying headlines are only one, though important issue. Consider how you would feel about such an intrusive "ally":

The German constitution, as interpreted by the constitutional court, defines privacy as a basic human right. That the U.S. is so casually violating the basic human rights of all German citizens is met with utter disgust. Even the paid and trained Atlantic Council (a U.S. lobby) trolls in German news-site comments have problem defending this issue.

But the NSA spying is not the only problem. The economic breakdown after 2008 clearly had its roots in the United States and is, in Germany, blamed on lax U.S. regulations. And while Germany itself pressed for a change in government in Ukraine the outbreak of violence, the bloody coup and the fighting in the east is considered as "Fuck the EU" U.S. intervention in European affairs.

It may still take a decade or more but my sense is that the U.S.-German alliance in on its way to an unfriendly divorce. Something that 15 years ago seemed unthinkable.

Itar Tass......

MOSCOW, July 04./ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will have talks with leaders of China, India, the Republic of South Africa and several Latin American countries during his visit in Brazil for a summit of the BRICS developing-nation assembly of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the Kremlin press service said on Friday.

“Putin is expected to have bilateral talks with leaders of China, India, South Africa and contacts with several leaders of Latin American countries on the sidelines of the BRICS summit,” the Kremlin press service reported.

During the visit to Brazil scheduled for July 13-16, Putin will hold talks with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and meet with Russian and Brazilian businessmen. He will visit FIFA World Cup closing ceremony during which Brazil will hand over its host nation status to Russia.

The summiteers are also expected to discuss international issues, including cooperation within the UN, the G20, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and regional integration associations.

The BRICS summit will be held in Brazilian cities of Fortaleza and Brasilia on July 15-16.“The leaders of the BRICS states will discuss issues on political agenda and global management problems. They are expected to sign several important economic documents to establish the BRICS Development Bank and the Foreign Currency Reserve Pool,” the press service noted. Meanwhile, the Dialogue Forum between the BRICS leaders and Latin America is expected to have a meeting in the outreach format and a meeting with the leadership of the BRICS Business Council is planned on the summit agenda.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin will make official visits to Cuba and Argentina for talks with leaders of both countries, the Kremlin says.

Putin will visit Cuba on July 11 at the invitation of Cuban President Raul Castro. The talks will focus on the development of trade, economic and investment cooperation and the implementation of joint projects in energy, transport, civil aviation, peaceful use of outer space and healthcare, the Kremlin says.

Putin and Cuban leaders are expected to discuss international issues. Documents on cooperation in different fields are expected to be signed, it says.

Putin is planning to meet with the Cuban revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro.

On July 12, Putin will visit Buenos Aires at the invitation of Argentina's President Cristina Fernandes de Kirchner. "The presidents of both countries are due to discuss bilateral relations and international issues. Trade and economic cooperation, and the implementation of joint energy projects will prioritise," the Kremlin says.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-02/brics-are-morphing-anti-dollar-alliance

The BRICs Are Morphing Into An Anti-Dollar Alliance

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/02/2014 22:29 -0400

BRICs

Central Banks

China

Creditors

France

Iraq

People's Bank Of China

While numerous massively indebted administrations around the world hope to divert the attention of what's left of their struggling middle class away from its daily impoverished existence and distract it with flashing lights and glitzy animations showing another all time market high on a daily basis, a significantly more important shift taking place behind the scenes is appreciated by very few: the ongoing de-dollarization of the world. For the latest example of how increasingly more countries are setting the stage for the final currency war, we go again to Russia where VOR's Valentin Mândr??escu explains that slowly but surely the BRICS - that proud Goldman acronym which was conceived to perpetuate the great American way of life by releasing trillions in US-denominated debt in heretofore untapped markets - are morphing into an anti-dollar alliance.

BRICS is morphing into an anti-dollar alliance, From VOR

Before the crucial visit to Beijing next week, the governor of the Russian Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina met Vladimir Putin to report on the progress of the upcoming ruble-yuan swap deal with the People's Bank of China and Kremlin used the meeting to let the world know about the technical details of its international anti-dollar alliance.

On June 10th, Sergey Glaziev, Putin's economy advisor published an article outlining the need to establish an international alliance of countries willing to get rid of the dollar in international trade and refrain from using dollars in their currency reserves. The ultimate goal would be to break the Washington's money printing machine that is feeding its military-industrial complex and giving the US ample possibilities to spread chaos across the globe, fueling the civil wars in Libya, Iraq, Syria and Ukraine. Glaziev's critics believe that such an alliance would be difficult to establish and that creating a non-dollar-based global financial system would be extremely challenging from a technical point of view. However, in her discussion with Vladimir Putin, the head of the Russian central bank unveiled an elegant technical solution for this problem and left a clear hint regarding the members of the anti-dollar alliance that is being created by the efforts of Moscow and Beijing:

“We've done a lot of work on the ruble-yuan swap deal in order to facilitate trade financing. I have a meeting next week in Beijing”, she said casually and then dropped the bomb: “We are discussing with China and our BRICS parters the establishment of a system of multilateral swaps that will allow to transfer resources to one or another country, if needed. A part of the currency reserves can be directed to [the new system].” (Prime news agency)

It seems that Kremlin chose the all-in-one approach for establishing its anti-dollar alliance. Currency swaps between the BRICS central banks will facilitate trade financing while completely bypassing the dollar. At the same time, the new system will also act as a de facto replacement of the IMF, because it will allow the members of the alliance to direct resources to finance the weaker countries. As an important bonus, derived from this “quasi-IMF” system, the BRICS will use a part (most likely the “dollar part”) of their currency reserves to support it, thus drastically reducing the amount of dollar-based instruments bought by some of the biggest foreign creditors of the US.

Skeptics will surely claim that a BRICS-based anti-dollar alliance will not manage to deprive the dollar of its global reserve currency status. Instead of arguing against this line of thought, it is easier to point out that Washington is doing its best to enlarge the ranks of the enemies of the dollar. Asked by the Russia 24 channel to comment on Nabiullina statements, Sergey Kostin, the president of the state-owned VTB bank and one of the staunchest supporters of anti-dollar policies,offered an interesting perspective on the situation in Europe:

“I think the work on ruble-yuan swap line will finalized in the nearest future and the way for ruble-yuan settlement will be open. Moreover, we are not the only ones with such initiatives. We know about the statements made by Mr. Noyer, chairman of the Bank of France. As a retaliation for what Americans have done to BNP Paribas, he opined that the trade with China must be done in yuan or euro.”

If the current trend continues, soon the dollar will be abandoned by most of the significant global economies and it will be kicked out of the global trade finance. Washington's bullying will make even former American allies choose the anti-dollar alliance instead of the existing dollar-based monetary system. The point of no return for the dollar may be much closer than it is generally thought. In fact, the greenback may have already past its point of no return on its way to irrelevance.

France sees dollar divestment coming.....South Korea seeing writing on the wall also ?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-06/france-assures-push-against-petrodollar-not-fight-against-dollar-imperialism

France Assures Push Against Petrodollar Is Not A "Fight Against Dollar Imperialism"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/06/2014 15:46 -0400

To complete the French triple whammy offensive against the US Dollar this weekend (first,French central banker Noyer suggesting de-dollarisation; second, French oil major Total's CEO "seeing no reason for the Petrodollar"), French finance minister Michel Sapin says "now is the right time to bolster the use of the euro" adding, more ominously for the dollar, "we sell ourselves aircraft in dollars. Is that really necessary? I don’t think so." Careful to avoid upsetting his 'allies' across the pond, Sapin followed up with the slam-dunk diplomacy, "This is not a fight against dollar imperialism," except, of course - that's exactly what it is... just as it was over 40 years ago when the French challenged Nixon.

Nope - no anti-dollar-imperiliasm here at all...

Single whammy:

NOYER: BNP CASE WILL ENCOURAGE ‘DIVERSIFICATION’ FROM DOLLAR

Here is the full google translated segment:

Q. Doesn't the role of the dollar as an international currency create systemic risk?

Noyer: Beyond [the BNP] case, increased legal risks from the application of U.S. rules to all dollar transactions around the world will encourage a diversification from the dollar. BNP Paribas was the occasion for many observers to remember that there has been a number of sanctions and that there would certainly be others in the future. A movement to diversify the currencies used in international trade is inevitable. Trade between Europe and China does not need to use the dollar and may be read and fully paid in euros or renminbi. Walking towards a multipolar world is the natural monetary policy, since there are several major economic and monetary powerful ensembles. China has decided to develop the renminbi as a settlement currency. The Bank of France was behind the popular ECB-PBOC swap and we have just concluded a memorandum on the creation of a system of offshore renminbi clearing in Paris. We have very strong cooperation with the PBOC in this field. But these changes take time. We must not forget that it took decades after the United States became the world's largest economy for the dollar to replace the British pound as the first international currency. But the phenomenon of U.S. rules expanding to all USD-denominated transactions around the world can have an accelerating effect.

In other words, the head of the French central bank, and ECB member, Christian Noyer, just issued a direct threat to the world's reserve currency (for now), the US Dollar.

Double whammy:

Total’s de Margerie Sees No Need for Dollars in Oil Purchases

Oil major Total's chief executive Christophe de Margerie was responding to questions about calls by French policymakers to find ways at EU level to bolster the use of the euro in international business following a record U.S. fine for BNP.

"There is no reason to pay for oil in dollars," he said. He said the fact that oil prices are quoted in dollars per barrel did not mean that payments actually had to be made in that currency.

So even a major beneficiary of the status quo appears to see the end in sight for the Petrodollar.

And now The Triple Whammy

*FRANCE SAYS INCREASING EURO USE IS ISSUE OF 'GLOBAL BALANCE'
*SAPIN SAYS EURO AREA NEEDS TO LEAD DISCUSSION ON DOLLAR USE
*FRANCE NOT FIGHTING 'DOLLAR IMPERIALISM,' SAPIN SAYS (wo shy mention it?)

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin says that now is the right time to bolster the use of the euro in transactions outside the U.S. Sapin speaks in an interview with Bloomberg News in Aix-en-Provence, France.

“We sell ourselves aircraft in dollars. Is that really necessary? I don’t think so,” Sapin says, adding "I think a rebalancing is possible and necessary, not just regarding the euro but also for the big currencies of the emerging countries, which account for more and more of global trade."

“We can avoid the exchange rate risk, and that’s always useful. We can diminish financing costs in pricing more in other currencies,” Sapin says.

“This is not a fight against dollar imperialism,” Sapin says.

“It’s up to Europe, to the euro zone in particular, to lead this argument,” Sapin says.

As The FT reports,Mr Sapin said he would raise the need for a weightier alternative to the dollar with fellow eurozone finance ministers when they meet in Brussels on Monday, although he declined to go into detail about what practical steps might emerge.

As we showed only yesterday...(and have ever since 2010)...nothing lasts forever

Meanwhile, somewhere Putin is still laughing.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-05/ceo-one-worlds-largest-energy-major-sees-no-reason-petrodollar

CEO Of One Of The World's Largest Energy Majors "Sees No Reason For Petrodollar"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/05/2014 22:28 -0400

China

France

Reuters

The USA is fast running out of friends to support its 'exorbitant privilege'. Having alienated the Germans over NSA-eavesdropping, 'boomerang'd the Russians into de-dollarization,tariffed and quantitatively eased China into diversification, and finally 'punished' France into discussing the dollar's demise; it appears no lessor person than the CEO of Total (the world's 13th biggest oil producer and Europe's 2nd largest), believes "There is no reason to pay for oil in dollars." Clearly, based on Christophe de Margerie's comments, that we have passed peak Petrodollar.

As Reuters reports,

Oil major Total's chief executive said on Saturday the euro should have a bigger role in international trade although it was not possible to do without the U.S. dollar.

Christophe de Margerie was responding to questions about calls by French policymakers to find ways at EU level to bolster the use of the euro in international business following a record U.S. fine for BNP.

...

"There is no reason to pay for oil in dollars," he said. He said the fact that oil prices are quoted in dollars per barrel did not mean that payments actually had to be made in that currency.

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Thursday that euro zone finance ministers would discuss ways of boosting use of the euro in international trade in their next monthly meeting on Monday.

"It would be a way to protect businesses when, outside of U.S. territory, they carry out transactions that are perfectly legal in the country they belong to," he said.

So even a major beneficiary of the status quo appears to see the end in sight for the Petrodollar.

As we showed only yesterday...(and have ever since 2010)...nothing lasts forever

Meanwhile, somewhere Putin is still laughing.

As Brandon Smith concluded previously with regard the 'anything but random' nature of the more frequent discussion of the dollar as resevere currency:

The dollar is no more invincible than any other fiat currency in history.In some ways, it is actually far weaker than any that came before. The dollar is entirely reliant on its own world reserve status in order to hold its value on the global market. As is evident, countries like China are already dumping the greenback in trade with particular nations. It is utterly foolish to assume this trend is somehow “random” rather than deliberate. Foreign countries would not be initiating the process of a dollar dump today if they did not mean to follow through with it tomorrow. All that is left is for a cover crisis to be conjured. Existing tensions in the Mideast signal a pervasive crisis, most likely an energy crisis, in the near term.

It appears that making friends and influencing people is the opposite of what America is achieving...at a time when it needs them the most.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-04/punishing-france-us-just-accelerated-demise-dollar-0

By "Punishing" France, The US Just Accelerated The Demise Of The Dollar

Submitted by Tyler Durdenon 07/04/2014 15:04 -0400

Not even we anticipated this particular "unintended consequence" as a result of the US multi-billion dollar fine on BNP (which France took very much to heart). Moments ago, in a lengthy interview given to French magazine Investir, none other than the governor of the French National Bank Christian Noyer and member of the ECB's governing board, said this stunner at the very end, via Bloomberg:

NOYER: BNP CASE WILL ENCOURAGE ‘DIVERSIFICATION’ FROM DOLLAR

Here is the full google translated segment:

Q. Doesn't the role of the dollar as an international currency create systemic risk?

Noyer: Beyond [the BNP] case,increased legal risks from the application of U.S. rules to all dollar transactions around the world will encourage a diversification from the dollar. BNP Paribas was the occasion for many observers to remember that there has been a number of sanctions and that there would certainly be others in the future. A movement to diversify the currencies used in international trade is inevitable. Trade between Europe and China does not need to use the dollar and may be read and fully paid in euros or renminbi.Walking towards a multipolar world is the natural monetary policy, since there are several major economic and monetary powerful ensembles. China has decided to develop the renminbi as a settlement currency. The Bank of France was behind the popular ECB-PBOC swap and we have just concluded a memorandum on the creation of a system of offshore renminbi clearing in Paris. We have very strong cooperation with the PBOC in this field. But these changes take time.We must not forget that it took decades after the United States became the world's largest economy for the dollar to replace the British pound as the first international currency. But the phenomenon of U.S. rules expanding to all USD-denominated transactions around the world can have an accelerating effect.

In other words, the head of the French central bank, and ECB member, Christian Noyer, just issued a direct threat to the world's reserve currency (for now), the US Dollar.

Putting this whole episode in context: in an attempt to punish France for proceeding with the delivery of the Mistral amphibious warship to Russia, the US "punishes" BNP with a failed attempt at blackmail (recall that as Putin revealed, the BNP penalty was a used as a carrot to disincenticize France from concluding the Mistral transaction: had Hollande scrapped the deal, BNP would likely be slammed with a far lower fine, if any). Said blackmail attempt backfires horribly when as a result, the head of the French central bank makes it clear that not only is the US Dollar's reserve currency status not sacrosanct, but "the world" will now actively seek to avoid USD-transactions in order to escape the tentacle of global "pax Americana."

And, the biggest irony of all is that in "punishing" France for dealing with Russia, that core country of the Eurasian alliance of Russia and China, the US merely accelerated the gravitation of France (and all of Europe) precisely toward Eurasia, toward a multi-polar (sorry fanatic believers in a one world SDR-based currency) and away from the greenback.

Or shown visually (as we have ever since 20120).

Meanwhile, somewhere Putin is still laughing.

and.....

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_07_04/Beijing-Seoul-agree-to-direct-trade-in-national-currencies-4477/

Beijing, Seoul agree to direct trade in national currencies

China designated a clearing bank in Seoul for yuan transactions in South Korea on Friday, coinciding with a visit by President Xi Jinping, as Beijing promotes greater use of its currency overseas, AFP reports.

China's central bank has authorised the Bank of Communications, the country's fifth largest lender, to undertake yuan clearing business in the South Korean capital, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) said in a statement.

The announcement came as Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up a state visit to South Korea on Friday. China is seeking to make the yuan - also known as the renminbi - used more internationally in keeping with the country's status as the world's second biggest economy behind the United States.

A joint communique endorsed Thursday by Xi and his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-Hye also pledged to strengthen efforts to launch direct trading between the yuan and the won.

Catharsis Ours

Friday, July 4, 2014

BRICS Summit in Brazil may be a ground breaking Meeting ! ( July 4 , 2014 ) - BRICS planning to sign documents on development bank, currency reserve pool - Kremlin ......... The BRICs Are Morphing Into An Anti-Dollar Alliance

Germany Getting Ready To Divorce U.S. Ally

BRICS planning to sign documents on development bank, currency reserve pool, Kremlin

The BRICs Are Morphing Into An Anti-Dollar Alliance

France Assures Push Against Petrodollar Is Not A "Fight Against Dollar Imperialism"

CEO Of One Of The World's Largest Energy Majors "Sees No Reason For Petrodollar"

By "Punishing" France, The US Just Accelerated The Demise Of The Dollar

Beijing, Seoul agree to direct trade in national currencies

China designated a clearing bank in Seoul for yuan transactions in South Korea on Friday, coinciding with a visit by President Xi Jinping, as Beijing promotes greater use of its currency overseas, AFP reports.

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